The Alps

It was still very early in the ski season, but since I had the opportunity, I thought I would try and ski.  I wouldn't be going just anywhere to do this either, I would go to ski in the Swiss Alps!

Living in Australia has always made skiing an expensive and difficult hobby to maintain.  It's been even harder with the knee injury and subsequent surgery.  The recent attempt at skiing in Dubai had been a nice test of the knee since the surgery.  It had been successful, so it seemed like it was now the time to increase the intensity of the testing.

It had been great staying with Zubi and his family in Bern.  He dropped me off at the train station and I started heading towards the Alps.  Of all the different ski resorts close to Bern, one of the closest happened to be Zermatt.  I had read about this place since I was a kid and most people are familiar with the unique profile of the Matterhorn (anyone who has ever eaten a Toblerone should be familiar with its shape).  I had been on a lot of incredible train rides recently, but the train ride up to Zermatt was probably the best I had ever been on in my life.  It was a slow and scenic train with big windows that covered half the roof of the carriages.  Sitting back, you could look up and see high into the mountains.

I arrived in Zermatt late in the afternoon.  The sun was setting and there was a chill in the air.  The two itself was quiet.  It was again, the very beginning of the ski season, and so the town was largely still in set up mode.  I didn't know it until I arrived, but Zermatt doesn't allow cars, so walking around the town is a relaxing activity free of any need to be careful.

It was too late in the day to go skiing, so I just wandered around the town.  It had been a while since I had experienced any real cold weather, so I was enjoying being able to breath the cold air and the chill on my skin.

The next day I headed straight up the mountain.  I was surrounded by skiers and boarders who were all chatting about how terrible the snow was, but none of this really mattered for me.  Being able to ski again after all these years was what was important to me.  I skied for most of the day and I was nothing short of terrible.  All those years away meant that my technique was gone and even basic carving was something I needed to relearn.  I didn't care at all though.  I had a great time!  Every now and again, I heard other skiers talking about how few runs were open.  It amazed me that they could complain about this.  Even with the limited runs, it was still possible for me to ski on runs that were 6 or 7 kilometres long.  These bad conditions were still twice as long as even the very best runs in perfect conditions in Australia.

As I carefully navigated myself down the slopes, every now and again I would stop and look back towards the Matterhorn.  It felt surreal to be skiing in its shadow, to be able to enjoy this experience of skiing in one of the world's great alpine locations with a backdrop this beautiful.  As I finished my day skiing, I sat in a restaurant looking out of a window at the Matterhorn.  I ordered a rosti with egg and bacon, which seemed to be the appropriate meal for the occasion.  I thought about whether to go and ski more, but before I could make the decision a huge storm started to roll in over the mountains.  The clear skies disappeared and the lifts were closed.  The skiing was over, but it had been a good day.

Swiss fondue

The temperature had dropped a bit when I left Zurich and headed to Bern.  The train ride over was peaceful.  The scenery consisted of the most bucolic of rolling hills and pastures.

I arrived at the main train station in Bern where I was picked up by Zubi.  It was great to see him.  I would be staying with him and his family for only a night.  Since it was getting cold, Zubi thought it would be a good night for fondue.

It was the first time I had ever actually had fondue.  It seems like something which everyone "knows", but it isn't something that everyone has necessarily tried these days.  On the way to their place, we popped into a cheese shop named "Chäsbueb" (which apparently translates to "Cheese Boy" and bought a packet of fondue mix which consisted of a variety of different cheese which had already been prepared for a fondue.  Back at home, Zubi and Corinne pulled out their fondue set, something they said every Swiss person has at home, and made the delicious pot of melted cheese.

As Zubi and Corinne prepared the dish and cut up piece of bread, I asked them whether there would be any other food.  It wasn't a question asked out of greed, but I more curiosity as I wasn't used to taking a meal where there would only be bread and cheese.  Zubi immediately offered to make some potatoes and vegetables, but once our confusion passed, he explained to me that this was indeed the way any family in Switzerland would normally eat their fondue.  No additional accompaniments, just the cheese and the bread.  I was more than happy to eat it the way the locals did.  It is a "simple" dish, but there is a complexity to the makeup of the mixture that doesn't become apparent to you until you actually start eating it.  Different people will have different preferences and there will be a variety of different mixes and proportions that can go into making the fondue of your choice.  We cleaned out the pot fairly quickly and it was fantastic.

Zubi and Corinne lived in a converted barn about ten minutes drive outside of the centre of Bern.  Zubi apologised to me for living so "far way".  The barn was in a field next to a small mountain.  It was unimaginably beautiful and I couldn't believe he was apologising for letting me see his incredible home.

The inside was modern and well furnished, but the history and original purpose of the building was still very apparent.  It had been a long time since I had been anywhere so peaceful and I fell asleep faster than any time I could recently remember.

Back to Zurich

I left Nader and Pinar in Abu Dhabi and flew to my next destination, Zurich.

I had visited Zurich before and I honestly never thought that I would be back.  However, this time I wasn't just visiting a strange city by myself, instead I was visiting friends.  For the past few years living in Australia, I had spent most of my time socialising with Swiss lawyers who were doing their masters degrees in Sydney.  I had met them all whilst doing my own masters and it was nice to find a group of people who were generally looking to explore Sydney.  It gave me a chance to go out and do some extra sightseeing of my own city.  Sadly, most of them were now back in Switzerland now.  The plus side to that I now had people to visit in Zurich.

My first trip to Zurich had been a quiet affair.  Sightseeing and wandering the perfectly clean and manicured streets of the city.  I went up to look at the scenery from all the high places and I caught the boat around the lake.  Everything was "nice", but it wasn't all that exciting.

This time, it was a completely different story.  I spent most of my time going out, visiting friend's homes, getting meals, catching up for coffees and generally just partying.  I very quickly saw Zurich in a different light.  It felt warmer and more welcoming.  It wasn't just a strange and cold place that I had once visited, but it felt almost like a second home where all my friends happened to live.  I'm constantly reminded of the importance of people when I travel and for me, this trip was more evidence of that.