The Swiss Alps

Today was absolutely INCREDIBLE!

It started verrrryyyy early with a quick hills run downstairs (I’m supposed to be training for 3 half marathons, right????), then quickly, I threw on seven layers until I couldn’t put my arms down.

Then, headed down to breakfast to grab the usually Meusli, fruit, cucumbers, and maters with cottage cheese!

It’s so funny that they eat vegetables for breakfast here…just my kind of place! I <3 veggies.

We hurried to catch the tram (5 minutes), followed by a train (1.5 hours), followed by a bus (45 minutes), followed by two shuttles (20 minutes) to get to the Swiss Alps (timeless).

Train trip views…

Let me tell you what. We picked no ordinary day to go to the Alps. It was a rather blustery day! In fact, many of the chair lifts were closed, so we couldn’t go the top of the mountain at LAAX (pronounced "locks") where we went to see.

The steepest chair lift ever!!!

Here’s the website…

http://www.laax.com/en/

I feel like I gained some badass status just by being around these world class snowboarders. It was pretty ridic to see just how cool some of them were. We were just there to sled though. Or sledge as they say it hahaha

Since I spent my last ski trip laughing so hard with my friends because we were so bad that I peed my snowsuit, I decided not to chance this on the Alps and look like a total douche bag. Let’s be honest, the Swiss aren’t as forgiving as Americans.

In fact, although very friendly, they’re rather rigid. Forget about asking for a mocha (even if they have both hot chocolate and espresso) if it’s not on the menu… and forget about asking for no mayo, or to substitute something for something else. It’s almost like when you ask, they suddenly don’t speak English and have no idea what you mean. Like, “How could I possibly remove tomatoes that I haven’t even put on yet? Absurd. Stupid Americans.” And don’t even THINK about being late somewhere, or for a train. They leave on the SECOND that clock ticks 7 or whatever time it says it’s leaving. Remember the bus incidence?

Shyeah.

So, anyway, after we finally figured out how to get to the actual resort and buy tickets (literally about 5 hours after we all met up to leave, phew!)…we went to the top of the mountain where the restaurant and bar is to get some grub!

It was an adorable little Swiss lodge with some great food and TONS of people! There was even a bar! Nothing like drinking and skiing. Great mix.

After a salad with all kinds of junk and a stellar bread bowl of chili (it’s the only thing I could read on the menu)…

we hits the slopes (gosh, I feel so cool saying that)…

"Snowboarding"

Let me tell you what folks, sledding (or sledging as they call it here in the alps is not for the faint of heart.

It is EXTREME SLEDDING (said in a movie trailer voice for X-MEN)….

I cannot tell you the amount of time we spent running into each other’s sleds and laying in the snow laughing about it. I can tell you though that we spent more time doing that than we did sledding.

The sled trail was 3 Kilometers long!!!!! It literally took us about an hour to get down the mountain. The snow was extra thick and fluffy today because there was a storm, so it made it super fun to crash into each other…and crash we did. I almost had a second peeing in my snowsuit happenstance at one point.

I will have pics of us sledding later, they're not on my camera, but I can't wait to show you!

More pics of the Swiss Alps..

After a good four hours of fun in the sun(it didn’t blow in the snow), we headed back to Zurich for our friend Heather’s birthday dinner.

But on the way…we met the most awesome little Swiss boy ever. We played with him the entire time…

Here's a few videos I took…


In the beginning, he kept sharing his Lidnt Chocolate with us (even after he dropped all of them on the floor). You HAVE to watch around 2:25 when he laughs so hard at a game we're playing that he spits water all over himself.

She has a 15-year tradition of going out for fondue on her birthday (I think I might start!), so we went to a real Swiss fondue restaurant in Old Towne (Niederdorf).

The experience was awesome, but the cheese smelled of feet. I guess that’s why they call it stinky cheese. They don’t take that expression lightly here. Luckily it didn’t taste like feet (yes, I have eaten a few feet in my lifetime), and we gobbled it down with a GIANT basket of bread and potatoes in a burlap bag! So awesome.

Heather and Vick with their fondue!

My meal

I also got an entrée of tofu and vegetables.

We stopped by a bar after that and headed home to get some rest before going to the Czech Republic tomorrow to explore Prague!