Grüezi (hello) Switzerland

The following weekend I eagerly left work early, rushed to Heathrow airport and sat in a delayed plane on the London tarmac in anticipation of a weekend with my friend Ang and her family in Switzerland.
When I arrived in Zurich, I was met by Patrick, Ang’s hubby, and we drove to their little town, Gams, which is just over an hour out of Zurich near Lichtenstein.
We had pasta for supper, and after over wine Ang and I chatted and caught up way into the night.
The next morning we went up to Wildhaus, a ski resort just behind Gams in the mountains.
We caught a ski lift up to the top of the mountain, a weird experience without snow :-)
At the top we went on a walk to the next ski lift.
The walk is called the Klangweg, it is a really interesting walk because it has little stops along the way with different things that make sound.
Ang told me there are different themed walks along this piece of mountain.
At the next ski lift we stopped and ate lunch at a restaurant frequented by cold skiers in winter for schnapps and hot chocolate.
We had salads and cold drinks, a stark contrast to our winter counterparts.
Then it was down the lift, and a pleasant walk along a river back to the car.
In the afternoon Ang and I headed off to Lichtenstein and went and looked at all the expensive shops in one of the little towns there, and then sat down for giant cups of tea (just the way Ang and I like them – lots of tea!) and a lovely creamy bowl of ice-cream each.
We’d used Patrick’s little sports car (Mazda MX5 I think) to travel there and had felt like pop stars out for a jaunt. We luckily clumsily put up the hood in the parking lot before leaving Liechtenstein as it was bucketing down with rain when we drove home. If we’d left the hood down, it might have been a case of more drowned rat rather than glamorous pop star….
That night we had the most famous of Swiss meals, the cheese fondue.
It was wonderful. I was terribly careful not to drop any bread or vegetables into the warm cheese mixture, as the forfeit was downing a tot glass of schnapps which I have about as much appreciation for as tequila!
I had a good night’s sleep - Ang and Patrick live on the side of a mountain and it’s wonderfully quiet at night compared to London where noise abounds even with the double glazed windows. The next morning we made our way to the local swimming pool.
It was a lovely sunny and hot day, and I even managed to get a little bit of a tan before jumping into the pool. The water was a little chilly, but that didn’t seem to stop the many, many people who were also at the pool enjoying the sunshine, water and playing around.
It was rather funny swimming and sun tanning when there was snow dusting the very tops of all the surrounding mountains.
Ang dropped me off at the airport on Sunday afternoon after a lovely and fun weekend, and I made my way back to rainy England.

Picture 1: The view from Ang and Patrick's house

Picture 2: One of the sound makers on the Klangweg

Picture 3: Ang, Patrick and Oliver on our walk

Picture 4: The view from the top of the mountain at Wildhaus

Picture 5: Me window shopping in Lichtenstein

Picture 6: Ang, Oliver and I at the swimming pool (see the snow on the mountains behind!)