Driving In The Swiss Alps

75 Years Gstaad Ski School

Gstaad Ski School looks pretty good for being 75 years old! This weekend is their big Anniversary Celebration. Friday night is Snow Night, which is a snow on skis put on by the Ski School. Reto is participating as usual. At least this year he's got a cool role as opposed to last year when he had to be dressed like a witch and ski down holding a burning torch. This year he gets to ski down on a pair of old wooden skis from the 60's. The skis are much narrower than ones from today and much, much longer, over 2 meters! Poor Reto, who's an excellent skier, had a real hard time coming down the slope on those babies. He had rehearsal last night and has one tonight. Hopefully, he doesn't come down the slope on his behind instead of on his skis tomorrow night with hundreds of people watching.

The celebrations continue Saturday night with a fondue party and a show again. For 50.00 CHF one gets entry, aperitif, apetizer, fondue and desert, plus one gets to watch the show. Not bad for Gstaad standards. But of course for ski teachers of the Gstaad Ski School (and their spouses lol) it's all free of charge.

The Ski School has to compete with the High Fly event for attention this year. High Fly is a show of real cool guys jumping over a ramp and doing tricks in the air, some on skis, others on dirt bikes. Unfortunate misunderstanding and misplanning between organizers and sponsors of the two events has resulted in both events being held on the same weekend. High Fly activities are scheduled for Saturday night.

Ah well, that just means double the party!

Not For Veggetarians

My husband had heard about this restaurant where they make the best steak served on hot stone. A "hot stone" is like a hot plate that the steak somes on and keeps sizzling on it the whole time. So we went to check it out.

They had a choice of beef or horse meat and then the full portion and a half portion. We decided on the horse, I know some of you may not approve of eating horse but it is really tender and tasty and quite alright here in Switzerland. And we both ordered the full portion. We were starving from a day of skiing. The waitress looked at me and made a suggestion that I take the half portion. I hesitated but agreed.

The dinner arived and I was oh so glad I went for the half portion! The half portion was a 300g piece of horse while the full one was half a kilo!! Of course I couldn't finish it, I could only manage to put away half of the half portion. My husband ate all of his but with difficulties :) We took the rest home. We both swore we won't eat ever again, but that only lasted for that evening while our tummies were overfilled. Looking at the picture now, I won't mind having another one of those monsters!

Where's The Nearest Bomb Shelter?

I was chilling at home yesterday, talking with a friend on the phone when suddenly the sirens started whaling. I could hear them on my side coming from the back of the house and I could hear them on the other side of the phone at my friend's place. She lives down in the valley. Of course I freaked out! What the hell? I'd never, ever heard sirens here in Switzerland before and now it seemed like they were blasting away all over the country! I thought, is this a joke? Is someone actaully attacking the Swiss? Must be a poor guy with no Swiss account over here!

My friend put my mind at ease. She told me it was "just a test" they do once a year. JUST A TEST?! A test for what? In case the bombs start falling? And if that's the case, where the hell should I run to? Questions, questions. I could hardly wait for my husband to get home so I can get some answeres!

My husband confirmed that it was only "a test" and appologised about a million times for forgetting to warn me that it was coming! Yeah, thanks! He said if there ever is a real bomb allarm, we should run to the designated bomb shelter. Where would that be then? He had no clue! Great! We don't even have a basement! My husband was fiercely insturcted to find out where the bomb shelter is immediately and report! I mean what the hell does he go to the army for then?! He tried to reasure me that the chances of anyone bombing Switzerland were slim to none, but those bloody sirens really freaked me out! It's the most terrifying sound one can ever hear! My husband said we have more danger of the damm at Arnensee giving out and flooding us over here than getting bombed. He said those sirens will also sound if that happened. So I asked what the procedure was in that unfortunate case, what should we do?

Go up, he said.

Ski Challenge vs Damsel in Distress

My husband's usually pretty good at running to my rescue every single time I am faced with a life threatening situation such as chipping a nail, or getting a run in my stocking, or running out of mascara, except when he's playing the blasted Ski Challenge game, which is exactly what he was doing the evening an eight-legged monstrosity decided to drop by for dinner.....literally!


Now, I'm not sure if that's my phobia talking, but I say that Switzerland has an unusual amount of spiders, more than I have seen anywhere else, and they're bigger and hairier and nastier. So I have kind of gotten used to seeing them around the house quite often, but they usually tend to keep to the walls and ceiling....until the other night!


My husband was in the computer room racing down the slopes in Ski Challenge. I was cooking dinner in the kitchen. The door to the computer room was closed in order to keep the fumes of my cooking out of that room, for as delicious as my cooking smells (and tastes) I don't wish to have anything to do with it anywhere else but in the kitchen. I was stirring away on the stove with the vent above my head open and blasting away when suddenly, a large dark blur appeared in my peripheral vision on my right. I directed my gaze towards it. It was a huge, black, hairy spider hanging down on its websting from somewhere up in the vent, dropping down quickly towards my food. I screamed at the top of my lungs, chucked the wooden spoon I'd been using to stir the food into the air and ran. I ran to the furtherest corner of the living room where i crouched behind the couch shaking.



I heard my husband's muffled voice coming from the computer room: "Schatzi? Are you OK?" but I couldn't find my own voice to call back at him, so I just crouched there silently. He called out again and then again, but he never left the computer to run to my rescue. After a few minutes I managed to roll over the couch, curb the corner and rush into the computer room quickly closing the door behind me. "When you hear me scream, that means I'm in trouble, eh?!" I said to my husband. He looked away from Ski Challenge, "What's the matter now?" he asked, "Are we out of olive oil?" I smirked, "How would you like to eat a big, black, hairy spider for dinner tonight?" I asked. "Huh?" So I proceeded to tell him what had happened. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry" he gave me a quick hug and rushed out the door into the kitchen. I followed behind him. There was no trace of the spider, and he wasn't to be found in the food either, which was now burning away on top of the stove. They always do this to me those bloody creatures. They always come after me when I'm alone and then disappear without a trace when Reto comes along.



Anyways, we had racklette that night instead of spider stir fry!

P. S. the spell check is not working so don't mind the spelling mistakes (English is my second language)