Snowy Weekend

The recent cold weather gave us the need for snow action, so on Saturday morning we stocked up on pancakes and headed to Chaumont. Since it's spring, the snow has tended to be better in the morning and slushier in the afternoon. It was perfect at 10am :) The sun was hidden by the haze and didn't burn a hole in our unprotected retinas and there was hardly anyone else there. Much bobbing was done.

Where's the hill, Daddy?


Where's the bob, Allie?


Chocolat chaud for knackered boys.


SnowBunny saw it all.


Live action bobbing!
Dr.WK Stylie


Speedy McTobister


Allie Twirliebirdie


Mrs. Emma Retainingsome-Dignityson




Next stop on Sunday was Grindlewald in the beautiful Alps, at the base of the Eiger to be exact. We met Kim, Christian and "baby" Loic (I guess we should make the boys just call him Loic, but he's just so cute!) in Grindlewald itself, rented some sleds and took the train up to Alpiglen and a nice short sled run to Brandegg (called the Eiger Run). I didn't know that there are many sled runs which can take hours to complete. Ours only took 10 mins, and it split into the family run or the fast run. We took the boys down the family run, but it had a nice steep end where snow was eaten. Even Toby the speed addict kept saying "Be careful. Too fast. Slow down." After only 1 run, we were all sore from holding a prone position, with legs raised and holding a boy in front. Luckily, there was a restaurant at the end of the run, at the train station.

Eigerriffic




Another rice cracker, Emma?

Why'd you bring hardly any food, Emma?

Chrisian and Loic watch the train dissappear and leave us to it.



MEN ALL MEN MANLY MEN about to conquer.

Hahaha. We think that's funny.

WKnTobe start the mayhem.

WKnTobeFristToTasteTheGoodStuff.

Christian and Loic do it in style.

Kim adds panache.

Walter tries Allie on for size.

Toby was unbelievably knackered, so I had to take him back down to the restaurant on the train. Kim came (thanks Kim!!) to help. He got to sleep in Loic's stroller.


How does one occupy one's time when the bubbas is sleeping? One consumes a "Schumli Flumli". Coffee, sugar, cream and plum schnapps.

Then one really sleds in style.

Home again Jiggety Jig.


That was one of the best weekends. I had forgotten how brilliant the snow and Alps are. Thanks KimnChristian :)

Happy Birthday to Walter and Happy Equinox to All

We woke up to this, this morning. The first snow of the season. On the first day of spring. It didn't lie where we are, so we may take a trip to the mountains to see it, as more is forecast for the rest of the week.


Walter's birthday was last Friday, and he came home from a business trip to 2 excited boys and a treasure hunt on Saturday. We played 'hotter/colder' after the boys had hidden his presents. Allie's a master at it and Toby's responses consisted of pointing and telling where the present was. We got him a trotinette, so now he can keep up with the wee boys. He's been riding it to work too... until the snow!

The three boys and the most important cake. I bought it at the BEST chocolatier-confisier in the whole wide world: Walder. This is the only reference I could find to them. I would say that they have better chocolate than Wodey/Suchard! The cake didn't disappoint either. I was a bit nervous about choc. people making lemon cake, but it blew our minds. I've never tasted anything like it.



I forgot the camera on the trotinette excursion. Next time though, and there will be many judging by how happy the boys were to have Walter trotting along with them. I was taking up the rear on quad skates. It's been a looong time, and I really need to practice. The locals got a good laugh, though.

A picture for a present too


Here's an extra tidbit. "Are those teeth marks in the butter? Did you eat the butter again, Toby?" "No, Mummy" "Tell me the truth, Toby, did you take a bite" "Allie did it" and so on.... Toby actually did it, and he's an accomplished liar now. Isn't he a bit young?

The Bienne Funicular

Due to the "Premier Mars" holiday, Walter had Thursday and Friday off a couple of weeks ago. The canton of Neuchatel was closed for business on Thursday, but not so the neighbouring canton of Berne. We took a trip to the 'giant' Jumbo hardware store in Bienne (Biel) since it would be nice and quiet (it was, but the staff were 'quiet' too). On the way back ,we thought we'd stop at the funicular. It was a nice 10 minute ride to the top, where we could see Lac de Bienne, the town itself and some Alps. At the top is the town of Malcolin (Magglingen), which must be a little removed from the station. All we could see was an office building and a farm so we decided to walk down the trail for a fun hike. Switzerland is a big 'walking' country, with a great network of trails. They're marked with a yellow diamond (usually painted on a tree) and yellow signs, and one can buy all kinds of maps. I rather wish we'd brought ours.

The lovely view on the way up the Bienne Funicular.


Let's hike back down to the bottom. A 2 hour hike downhill can't be that bad, can it?


Still happy, looking at the view.


Plenty of interesting flora.


Toby starts to get somewhat miffed. By this time, the trail is a little more like a gulley for water to flow down when it rains. Maybe it is, as the yellow diamonds have disappeared.


Walter casts his magic, gets his knife out and crafts some niffty hiking sticks. we now have them sequestered in the car and on the porch.


Why would the signs have the same names on them as when we started? At every fork in the road, we looked for Biel Bahnhof (station). All of a sudden... it was gone, but some new places had appeared. Actually, we should have known that thsi sign was pointing to a 'stop', as haltestelle is German for train stop and we're always hearing it on the train.



Even if this is the right road, we're not going down it.


A miraculous site- the only stop on the funicular. We were actually heading towards it (without knowing) when we accosted a poor jogger and tried to find out where we were, in Frenglish.


A view of the 'up' funi while we wait for the much needed 'down' funi.


"Look mummy, I can see the ground". "Grunt"


We were in high spirits at the bottom, and feeling rather proud of ourselves. Not much whining, arguing or crying happened, and we had an interesting couple of hours. This is all preparation for the Matterhorn.

Mammoths and Aglagla

Herb and Vero invited us to go to the Natural History Museum a couple of Sundays ago, to see 2 new exhibits. We got there just before 10am on a very rainy Sunday morning. Then the rest of Neuchatel with children did the same! The museaum staff looked quite horrified when they openned the doors. The first exhibit "Mammoths!" is on tour from Paris, and features bones, a full sized, furry replica and interesting information (eg mammoths had anal flaps to stop heat loss). The boys, Julia and Alec had a nice time, and we got to have some adult conversation along the way :) Herb had researched places to eat in Neuchatel on a Sunday (NOTHING is open) for lunch after museum fun. He found one crepe place- a 10 min walk from the museum, so we marched over. It was well and truely closed. They hadn't updated their website to reflect that. The web is a slippery customer in Switzerland, and if you live there you should already know what's open and when....

Vero and kids in front of the woolly mammoth.


A mammoth skull.


Better pic of the bunch


THe Aglagla exhibit was about the ice age and glaciers in Switzerland. It was quite interesting, but we were hungry....