Les Diablerets

The other day I spotted an ad in craigslist for some second hand skis. I arranged to meet with the very nice man who was running the nestle seniors ski club and who was selling the skis belonging to some workers who had been relocated outside of Switzerland.

The deal was almost too good to be true - located in Vevey, they were the right size, in excellent condition, and he even had some matching boots that by some miracle fit my feet (ski boots are notoriously difficult to fit).

We asked if he also had some skis for Linda, which he did, and which were in even better condition than my ones, although unfortunately no matching boots for Linda (we bought them separately). Anyway, we were now suddenly and unexpectedly the proud owners of a full set of ski gear and therefore had to go skiing!

A friend at work recommended Les Diablerets since it has been quite warm recently and Les Diablerets is quite high altitude, while still relatively close to Vevey. Anyway I had always wanted to go there because there is also a lift to Glacier 3000 - unsurprisingly, a glacier at 3000m altitude.

We made our way there by train, queued to have our ski bindings adjusted at a rental shop (internet advice for adjusting bindings is: "take them to a professional"), and hit the slopes!

Okay so the snow was a bit slushy (definitely spring skiing) but the cover was good and the slopes were about right for Linda to find her skiers legs. Unfortunately Glacier 3000 was closed because of the wind at that altitude. On the plus side, the views over the mountain range were amazing, it was sunny and warm, and where we were there was no wind at all!

Val d'Anniviers

A few times now Linda has gone off to various parts of Switzerland on her own, usually for some job-related activity. So far she has visited to Moudon, Bern, Geneva, Leukerbad, and I guess one or two other places. The other weekend, however, Linda was tied up with work and so it was my turn to have a solo adventure.

In my French class we had been shown a picture of Val d'Anniviers, near Sierre in Valais (just up the road from where we live, really). I didn't really know anything about the place but covering it in French class seemed like as good a reason as any to visit it.

I jumped on a train to Sierre, and then caught a postbus along the steeply winding road up the valley to Chandalin. From there I caught a lift to the top of the mountain, and then climbed on foot to the top of the nearest hill, which was bare of snow after some warm weather.

The view from the top was amazing. There was no clouds, no wind, and it was warm enough that I managed to get by in a t-shirt. I had a little picnic and took plenty of photos of the view before walking slowly down again.

Eventually I made my way back down into the town and caught another bus to Grimentz. I was disappointed that I couldn't catch the lift up the mountain because it was getting too late, but anyway I had gone to Grimentz because the town is meant to be one of the most picturesque in the valley, rather than for the mountains.

I walked around the town admiring the old challets with their burned-black wooden frames and strange, elevated floors. It would be an amazing place to come in the depths of winter, with snow covering everything, but I'm sure in summer it would be equally as attractive a town.

Soon enough it was time to start heading home and I climbed on another postbus to Sierre. It was getting dark but I thought I should have a look at Sierre before going home, which generally gets ignored as an access hub for the valleys, so I tried to locate a couple of the Chateaux mentioned in my guidebook. I found them, without a map and in the half-light of dusk, and they certainly improved my impression of the town. Inevitably, I ended up taking a cross-country bolt in the dark through some private vineyards in order to make my train home.

It was certainly a fun adventure but, of course, less fulfiling than it might have been, without Linda to share it with.

Basler Fasnacht - The Rest

Since it has taken me a couple of weeks to post just our first day in Basel, I am now massively behind in my blogging so I will cut to the chase in this post.

Due to the cumulative effect of our our pre-dawn adventures in the town and the red wine at dinner the night before, Monday got off to a slow start. We had a late breakfast with our generous hosts and then took our little car to the hostel where we were going to spend the second night.

We took some time to wander through the town where the pace had picked up from the night before and the orderly marching was replaced by a rowdy procession with band music and confetti, sweets and, for some reason, oranges being thrown around.

We got ourselves nicely lost a few times but the old town of Basel is quite small anyway it is fun to get lost sometimes.

In the evening we went out with Linda's friends to an Italian restaurant in a very nice part of Basel they are thinking of moving to, filled with tudor-style houses. By the time we got back to the hostel we were well and truly ready for bed. There were a few tense moments while a family with small children turned up in the room next door but fortunately the noise levels dropped quickly and we dropped off to sleep.

The next day was a bit more of the same, only more so because more shops and sights were open (Monday was a public holiday). We did some more walking about the town watching the antics of the processions (amazing they can keep it up for days on end) and visited the Munster cathedral, where we climbed up the tower to look down on the city and the lanterns that had lit up the town on Monday morning.

Eventually it was time to go, and we made our way back to our car past still more masked revelers.

We took a slower road home, via Solothurn, which is a very nice little town with some good chocolate (as though there is a shortage of good chocolate in Switzerland).

On reflecting on the time, I guess I was surprised that the celebrations were so relentless, but also impenetrable as the masks and the language barrier kept you away from understanding the event or the people. It was a spectacle, to be sure, but next year I think we may travel to Lucerne where their celebrations have more of a reputation for inclusiveness.

Lots more of my photos from Basel can be found here.