I've been in the UK for most of 2013 trying to 'grow up' and work hard. Having a Christmas alone wasn't very pleasant (although I had my cat Tinks to keep me company) so when I was chatting to an old friend on Facebook I jumped at a last minute idea to go to Switzerland to celebrate New Year.
I hadn't seen my fellow friend from Australia, Fleur in ~ 7 years and she was the same as I remember her to be back in Australia (although now a 'retired' elite rower). The only difference is we both have travelled a lot since, with Fleur now with a Master's Degree teaching German and French back in Australia and me being like a gypsy still not having settled down.
I've been to Switzerland during summer 2006 and enjoyed it the most out of my trip in Europe that year. I spent majority of my money and time in Interlaken enjoying the outdoors, Lucern, and Zurich.
This time I flew into Geneva and got the train and a local bus to Blatten, Löeschental in the Swiss-German speaking region and UNESCO World Heritage site.
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New Years Eve up Lauchernalp
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Fleur and I had a few hours to kill in Wien (one of the next towns along from Blatten) so we decided to get the gondola up the mountain to check out the view. We weren't told that the gondola didn't go all the way up Lauchernalp. We were 2 typical 'tourists' that day as we had to get 2 chair lifts up the mountain after the gondola (a challenge when you aren't on a pair of skis! I did let out a funny scream at one point being not quite on the chair lift) and luckily one more gondola to the very top. Although we felt slightly ridiculous without skis at least Fleur pointed out that the man skiing in a pair of jeans was probably creating more laughs. We were both very greatful for this day because it was an extremely sunny day with clear blue skies, and although we did get another clear day on the mountain it definately didn't create as greater photo opportunity as the one we had that day.
We arrived on New Years Eve and were welcomed with a 'Colour Party' meaning we had to dress in one colour only. Red seemed to be a popular colour this year. The animal onesies (although not one colour but added some fun) made an appearance also.
Fleur and I were fortunate to get 3 days of skiing with one of them being a bargain at 1/2 price being 'Ladies Day' with a free class of champagne (that everyone asked to swap for something else such as mulled wine, tea with a shot of schnaps etc). There was only one overcast day with a lot of snow but I didn't care, it made skiing so much more fun when you can't see what's in front of you and having more people fall over very humourously. The nicest thing was no matter what ability people were everyone stuck together in groups on the mountain and considered it more of a group activity where we could meet new people and socilise.
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| Really pretty sunset up Lauchernalp after a day of poor visibility |
There was some sort of entertainment and group meals every night consisting of Pakastani Food on New Years Day (still to date the best dinner of 2014), cheese fondu, a portable jacuzzi and games. I did have my doubts when we found out that the jacuzzi was after the cheese fondu and wondered if it would be more of a spa but luckily it stayed pretty clean with the entire party in the pool.
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| Town of Blatten |
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| Lots of houses with character. |
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| Like a scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
The town of Blatten is very small with one local store and an old time feel to it with neat little wooden houses decorated outside with trinkets of all sorts giving them life and character. I'm also new to the Couch Surfing scene and found it fantastic as everyone seemed so down to earth and are interested in sharing and listening to other people's experiences. I also loved how everyone wanted to stay together as a group on the mountain. It didn't matter if you were the best or worst skier or snowboarder in the world, we were all there together and there to have fun.
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| Very, very neat wood stacks |
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| Even the fire hydrant is given some character |
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| Little trinkets and figures everywhere on window ledges and around houses in Blatten |
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| Fleur with her new friends |
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| Christmas decorations in Blatten |
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| Santa either climbing the local pub, or maybe falling down |
On the way back to Geneva I stopped in Bern with Fleur and an American guy callled Nainoa who we meet over New Years and had enough time to explore the city. Fleur has lived and worked in Bern in the past so she was our walking tour guide through the city. I made a comment that Fleur should work as a tour guide and she mentioned that she already does walking tours in Melbourne! It was the only day during my time in Switzerland with bad weather and I was told the following day was perfectly sunny but we didn't let it stop us from enjoying Bern.
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| Fleur and Nainoa still smiling in the rain |
Of course I couldn't leave Switzerland without buying some Swiss chocolate to take home (not that we were in any shortage of great Swiss chocolate during the week and many other amazing Swiss delights). I really enjoyed this trip and am still keeping in touch with the new friends I made and will hopefully get to see some of them soon.
