It’s often been said – Why does anybody do anything? And the answer is inevitably “Because they can”. So when you come across a picture of four 30 something professionals standing around an apartment at 2:00 am with Ski helmets and Goggles on and you ask yourself “Why are they doing that?”, well – Because we can!
And I give you night number 1 of ski week with our two close friends Matt and Louis who came all the way from U. S. and A. (thanks for bringing that Borat movie Lou!) to join us in Switzerland for a week of vacation, skiing, a little debauchery, and all around good times.
From the picture above you can pretty much figure out the first night’s events. Dinner, blah blah blah, few drinks, blah blah blah, some duty free cocktails courtesy of our international guests and BAM! wearing a helmet in the living room. The next morning after sleeping in and a few cups of coffee it was off to the train station, skis over shoulders to head off to Interlaken which is about a 2 hour ride from Zurich. If we haven’t mentioned before, the train system here is absolutely amazing.
Late afternoon arrival in Interlaken, some light snow falling and we’re off to see what this town is all about. It was a Sunday, which means pretty much everything is closed. We did manage to find a place called Riki’s which is a small random Portuguese bar with the only cheap beers and jukebox I think in the whole country. Needless to say we stayed here for a bit before finding a place for dinner. The restaurant recommended to us was closed. Shocking except that you remember it's Sunday. The place next door was open, looked like a good Swiss menu so we gave it a shot. Really glad we did if for no other reason than the gemischter salat (mixed salad) was probably the best salad any of us had ever had. When was the last time you found yourself talking about the salad for three days post-meal? If the answer is anything other than “never” either you are a vegetarian or you regret the menu choice you made that night. Really, this salad was amazing and you are probably bored right now from hearing about it.
Waking up the next morning to a fresh few centimeters (hey, that’s how they measure things here) of snow and on our way to ski at a place called Grindelwald. Interlaken sits at the base of 3 huge ski areas and the plan was to hit one each day. Hop on the train, make our way to the mountain and finally up the lifts which took longer than we expected. This “longer than expected” would unfortunately be a common theme for the next few days. Once up there though it was well worth the trip. Epic day of skiing, weather good for the most part on fresh snow, still fairly cold and some amazing views throughout the day.
After a full day, made our way back down the hill to town where we went on walkabout for 45 minutes trying to find a place for dinner. This was not a Sunday which led us to believe Interlaken was either super sleepy or we can’t read a map. We’ll go with the former. Finally ate, few beers and off to bed – it was a glorious but long day.
Pretty much rinse and repeat the next two days, more good skiing, long trips up the mountain, (talking like an hour+, so really not that bad) and back to town at night. Broke off for one day where Matt and I went skiing while Cleaver and Louis stayed in town to sightsee. We even ate chicken wings at an American chain restaurant one evening that will remain nameless however orange dolphin shorts were involved. We went back to Riki’s for a second time, this time emptying out their supply of Portuguese beer. Apparently in this town 4 people can result in more business in three hours than they get in a typical week.
After our few days in Interlaken we headed back to Zurich for two nights in the middle of the week to rest for a day and perhaps see some of the sights in Zurich. Completely by chance our friend’s brother-in-law Johnny who lives in Nashville and is a musician was playing a gig in Zurich of all places. He plays with a country / rock band name Scarletta and they were doing two nights in Zurich fairly close to our house at some country music festival that we had no idea existed. This ended up being a lot of fun.
Reasons why this was fun:
- The band was great, clearly professional grade and not a bunch of losers playing three chords in the garage. In fact one guy in the band was called the following week to play in the band on American Idol. Not a contestant but as a musician on the stage prominently featured. Legit.
- No idea Zurich liked country music. Literally people with cowboy hats, boots, and a bunch of Harley Davidson’s lined up at the venue. They had a massive American flag on the ceiling. They had two massive Confederate flags on either side of the American Flag. So massive that one guy in the band who is from Alabama claimed he had never seen the “Stars and Bars” in such a size. Only thing missing was the General Lee and Rosco P. Coltrane.
This little gem which for a litany of liability reasons would never be allowed in U.S. and A. consists of a giant stump of wood, nails, and a hammer. We found this to be everywhere in Austria a few years ago but had yet to see it in Switzerland but oh the joy when we saw it. The game is complicated and I’m sure there is a full Wikipedia explanation detailing all the rules but to the best of my ability here goes an explanation:
- Tap three nails into the wood just so they no longer wiggle and are in there firm.
- Try to hammer these nails into the wood one hammer swing at a time with the back “claw” side of the hammer.
Our last day of skiing which was a bit warm and slushy especially as you got lower down the mountain but still lots of fun. This is also where we decided to give Cleaver a nickname. At least when skiing she will now be known as “cheese grater”. Because all she does on the mountain is shred. A fourth great day of skiing in one week, great being pretty much defined at my age by leaving the hill with my body intact.
Back to Zurich that night for our final night in town which we spent at home with Durum Doners and more duty free drinks. No helmets though. Perfect way to end a great week with our friends in town. We had some great skiing, explored more of Switzerland, had a few beers along the way, and thoroughly enjoyed the time.
Next up – Dublin! If we see the blarney stone, a leprechaun, or a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow we’ll be sure to update you accordingly.
Auf Wiedersehen!
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