This past weekend, we headed to Davos, Switzerland for yet another ski weekend (when in Rome, am I right?).  This time, we actually headed there with a group of 17 others from Zurich and had an absolute blast.  One of the coolest experiences was the Après-ski (Swiss for cocktail hour).

At 3pm on Saturday, everyone met at a ski hut (Jatzhuette) at the top of the mountain.  This place is not only equipped with observation decks and bars, but it also has palm trees, lounge chairs, and even hot tubs!  After a few cocktails, the entire place (packed with 20-30 year-olds) turned into a huge dance party.  Keep in mind that everyone is still in ski boots, so you can imagine how fantastic our dance moves were …

Around 4:30, the place cleared out and everyone skied from the very top all the way back into town.  It was absolutely beautiful to watch the sun set over the Alps while skiing down them.  The view seriously never gets old.

We went skiing again this weekend, and while the trip shared a lot in common with previous Swiss skiing trips (amazing views, great runs, good food, etc.), there were a few interesting details/moments that set this trip apart from others:

• Engelberg is a quaint Alpine village situated in Central Switzerland that was primarily developed by Benedictine monks.  The monastery actually dates back to 1120 and is tucked away in a little valley surrounded by the Alps.  On Sunday, we enjoyed a walk through the gardens and explored their active cheese factory.  Of course, Sarah couldn’t leave without buying a few wheels of brie.

• Because busy season is in full swing in January, celebrating Sarah’s birthday has been a challenge in years past.  This year, however, we were able to get away and properly celebrate together.  Chris was a dear and had the restaurant bring out a special dessert (thankfully without an embarrassing birthday song) and he went out of his way to fulfill all of Sarah’s birthday whims and wishes.

• Our hotel this weekend was lovely.  It was a great location with incredibly hospitable staff, but our favorite amenity was definitely the outdoor hot tub.  After a long day of skiing, it was truly a treat to relax our muscles and enjoy a few cocktails in the 20-degree weather.
• Engelberg is actually the home of the first rotating gondola, Titlis Rotair (yes, you guessed correctly – we could not stop giggling at the name).  It was only about a 5-minute ride, but it gave us a full, 360-degree view of the alps.
• We were both surprised by the amount of crazy adventurists in Engelberg.  We saw parachute skiing, snowmobile races, and the most extreme off piste skiing.  While it was obviously entertaining to watch, we are both content with our cautious courage and ‘black’ diamond adventures.

Chris has been pulling some pretty lengthy hours lately, so this past Sunday, we decided to blow off some steam by taking a day trip to go skiing in Pizol, Switzerland.  Mike and Mary (our Zurich friends) tipped us off to the fact that there are often discount lift-tickets available when the weather is bad, and Switzerland has been getting hit pretty hard by big snow storms as of late.  After checking the webcams (fun fact, it was actually called Wangs Webcam, and we were terrified to open the link – Nudity? Chinese man doing laundry? Ski slopes?), we decided that even though there was lots of fog, there was also lots of snow.  We went ahead and purchased tickets thinking that at the very least, it would be a good way to test out Sarah’s new ski boots (an early birthday present from Chris).

We caught a 7 am train from Basel and were on the mountain in Pizol by 9:30.  The operation was definitely smaller than our last skiing experience in Zermatt, but we were still pleased with the amount of runs to explore.  To start the day, we took a long chair-lift up to some intermediate runs.  The temperature was a mere 9 degrees, the wind was gusting, and it was snowing.  Needless to say, after sitting still for 15 minutes on the lift, we were eager to get moving, and consequently, we spent the rest of the morning doing as many runs as  possible.

Right before noon, an incredibly dense fog settled in, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of our skis.  It was honestly so thick that Chris, a usual speed-demon, was forced to slow down and ski at Sarah’s granny pace.  There’s simply no easier way to wipe out than by hitting an unexpected mogul at high-speeds.  Given the conditions, we took a lunch break, enjoyed some Goulash and Käsespätzle, and waited for the fog to pass.

The afternoon ski conditions were perfect.  It was still very cold, but the wind died down, the sun finally came out, and we had a blast exploring the other side of the mountain.  After a few frozen fingers (Chris) and a few bruises (Sarah), we called it a successful day trip, turned in our rentals, and headed home on a 3:10 train to Basel.  Choo Choo!

 

Our crazy 2-week holiday adventure was rounded out with a trip to London for New Year’s Eve.  Our friends, Erick and Jess (who live in Rotterdam), were staying with one of their good college friends, Nick, in Kentish Town.  While Kentish Town is a little ways out of central London, we decided to rent an Airbnb in the same neighborhood thinking that getting home from the party on NYE would be easier if we didn’t have to worry about hailing a cab.

London is actually a very short, one-hour flight from Basel; however, getting from London Airports into the city was quite a pain.  One hour and three train transfers later, we arrived at our Airbnb in Kentish Town and hustled off to a cozy dinner.

During the days, we played tourist.  On our last visit to London in 2010, we did all of the big touristy things (walking tour, changing of the guards, Big Ben, Parliament, etc.), so this time we decided to focus on some of the lesser visited attractions.  On the first day, we toured The Museum of London which covered London’s history from the prehistoric ages to modern times.  That afternoon we wandered into a great Indian Restaurant and over-indulged in curries, grilled meats, and okra fries.  It was delicious!

Sarah has always wanted to see a show while in London, so she splurged on tickets to see The Lion King that evening.  The production at Lyceum Theatre had some hiccups (they had to pause the show for about 20 minutes and recast the role of Nala), but the show was lovely and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Afterward, we met up with our friends at a piano bar and had a fantastic time dancing and singing along to covers.  Chris was thrilled that the band selected his song request as their last song for the evening, and once again, D.C. got a pretty good shout out as we all swayed to and sang (rather shouted) “Wonderwall.”

Though the bar was closing, our crazy group wasn’t ready to call it quits just yet.  We went to a 90’s themed bar which turned out to be incredibly weird and empty, but we stayed just long enough to request the sweet, sweet tunes of Whitney Houston.  Finally, we ended the evening at a restaurant called Duck and Waffle – it is situated on the 40th floor and is the highest restaurant in all of London.  Even though it was 4 in the morning, we sat down for … I’m honestly not sure what to call food that is eaten at 4 in the morning. Pre-Breakfast? Late-Dinner? Either way, we enjoyed some serious comfort food (Sriracha grilled cheese, sloppy joes, and duck and waffles) and took in amazing views of the city.  Staying out until almost 5 am the day before NYE was certainly aggressive, but we had a fantastic time and regret nothing.

We obviously got a bit of a late start the next day, but we still made it to the Churchill War Rooms.  The line to get in was long, but Chris grabbed some pizza for us to eat while waiting and boy did that make the other patrons jealous.  We honestly could have sold that pizza for one hell of a profit, but we were too famished ourselves to give it much thought. We found The War Rooms were very interesting – perfectly preserved and much bigger than we had both expected.  One of our favorite parts of the museum was the map room.  The technology is obviously dated now, but it was really fascinating to see how troops were charted and tracked.  If you looked closely, you could even see the pin holes from the movement of thumbtacks.

That evening, we celebrated the New Year at Nick’s apartment.  There were about 20 people there in total, and it was a healthy mix of ex-pats and Londoners.  Everyone brought food and drink to share, and we had a fabulous time meeting new people, counting down to midnight, and watching fireworks from the window of a London apartment.  While neither of us made New Year’s resolutions for 2017, we have a feeling that it’s going to be a great year.