Author Archives: lauren

Gratitude Friday: New Bionic Toes

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Post by Lauren

Today, I am grateful for my new bionic toes. Yesterday, I had a successful operation in which the surgeon performed two procedures on both of my big toes. The procedures are a osteotomy and chilectomy.

The purpose of the chilectomy was to remove the arthritis that has been causing me pain, restricting my sports activities, and literally cramping my style for the last 5 years….seriously, you should see how many cute pairs of shoes I have had to give away*.

During a chilectomy, they scrape the arthritis of the joint. Also, the surgeon drills into the toe joint to clean out the arthritis inside the bone. Kind of like getting a “filling” on your tooth. Except for the fact that they let the foot heal itself by developing scar tissue. The scare tissue isn’t as good as normal cartilage but better than the pain-causing arthritis.

The chilectomy isn’t guaranteed that the arthritis won’t reform in the future, so the osteotomy was done to help my odds at a preventing its re-growth. In the osteotomy, the surgeon takes out a wedge of bone in the toe joint near where the arthritis was bad. The goal is that this shifts my weight from where the arthritis damaged the cartilage to an area where there is healthier cartilage. On the right side, he ended up breaking an additional bone to supplement the osteotomy and to reconstruct the foot as my cartilage was entirely missing from the silly arthritis. He affixs his work with a screw in each foot.

If you are curious, you can YouTube the procedures. However, a word of warning….Gabe did this one day and says its gross.

The foot igloo

I am grateful for being able to have the opportunity for surgery. Although its not fun that I won’t be able to walk for 3 months, not everyone has the insurance and healthcare available where they live to address issues like this.

While I have long given up the idea of running again, I am just glad that this surgery will eventually make me pain free in day-to-day activity.

Bon weekend, everyone!

* If you don’t believe me, please look at the type of shoes I had to wear on my wedding day. Birkenstocks!!!

*Luckily, I have a dear friend who has my shoe size. She continually has to justify to her husband that she didn’t buy the 10 pairs of shoes that magically appear in her closet every few months…they were sent by Lauren, in waves of realization she’ll never wear them again

Lavaux Wine Tasting

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Post by Lauren

The Lavaux wine region is definitely a place you should see in your lifetime. On our first trip to Switzerland we took a day trip to Montreux, and I remember driving through this area with my mouth wide open in awe.

 

This particular time was in the winter, but is truly beautiful any time of year. See the Schwingen in Switzerland blog for a recount on spending a summer day in Lavaux. I had the pleasure of hiking* in the Fall as well and it was gorgeous:

 

 

 

When The Captain and Swiss Miss were here, they had wanted to hike in Lavaux; however, the Geneva record low temperatures prevented us from doing so. Nonetheless, we still took the train from Geneva to Rivaz to check out the wine cellar, Vinorama.

Vinorama is cut into the side of the Lavaux countryside. It offers “dégustations” (tastings in French) of different Lavaux varieties. It also has a wine store offering hundreds of Lavaux bottles .

Vinorama

 

During our visit, they showed us a short film about the region’s wine production. It was incredibly well done, depicting the ups and downs of a local farmer throughout the year. This helped to bring personality to this special region and to understand how hard it is to farm the land.

The primary reason Lavaux is special are its terraces. They are steep, staggered, and require a lot of maneuvering on the part of the wine workers. I have seen similar ones in Cinque Terre in Italy, but no where else in the world have I seen anything like it. It takes incredibly hard work to farm that land – both in the upkeep on a slanted slope and transportation of the grapes in the harvest. And they have been doing it since the 11th Century.

The film explained that it is the terrace that affects the taste of the wine. The heat from its walls warms the earth underneath the vines. This as well as the sun’s reflection off of Lake Geneva bodes well for the grapes.

Vinorama offers tastings in white, red and combinations. The tasting that we did included the following:

Epesses – La braise d’enfer
Vilette – Clos du roches
Domaine Moulin la Vignette Lutry
Lettres des Noblesse (malbec/cab) st saphorin
Epesses plant robez blaise duboux

My favorite was hands down the Lettres des Noblesse. However at 40 CHF per bottle, it didn’t make it into our cellar on that particular day.

A few days after our trip, my French tutor and I were discussing the Lavaux region. She is French and advised that of course, any agriculture product in Switzerland is very expensive. I totally agree with that statement. The terraced type of farming and harder labor can’t lend to an economical product. However, with the magic that can be found here in Lavaux, I’d also say that their wine is certainly worth it.

 

*For hiking: we got off the train at St. Saphorin and walked to the Lutry station. It was four hours and we had magnificent views every step of the way. This of course could be shortened or you could do the wine stop as we did.

All Aboard the Glacier Express!

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Post by Lauren

When The Captain and Swiss Miss were visiting, we took the Glacier Express. No, this isn’t the train to Santa’s house….it goes to St. Moritz. Which is sort of like the North Pole, if you think about it, full of wonder, make-believe and furry suits.

The Glacier express is a very nice excursion to do if you are visiting a short time, since it covers a large part of the country of Switzerland. It travels the path in red, below.

Photo credit: The Glacier Express

In its entirety, The Glacier express travels through 91 tunnels and 291 bridges. At altitudes of up to 6500 feet, it cuts through breathtaking mountain passes, glaciers, and by rushing mountain streams. From its windows you can experience a part of nature that has remained untouched. In fact, there is a certain part of the railway that has a UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site, the Rhaetian Railway from Thusis towards Bergun. This was given due to its role in developing access to remote areas in the Swiss Alps as well as how the civil engineering blends seamlessly with the nature surrounding it.

The Glacier Express

The Glacier Express started in 1930, a remarkable feat considering the economic crisis that was happening during that time. It experienced a slow down as well in WW2 as it didn’t run between 1943 and 1946, during the war.

Up until 1982, it could only run during the summer months because the Oberalpass became impassable in winter with snow. In the 1980s, they made improvements in tunnels, allowing it to operate. Since that time, they have upgraded the cars to be equipped with panoramic windows* for tourist’s photo taking and comfort.

One of the many tunnels the Glacier Express travels through

While the Glacier Express isn’t really an express at all (average speed is 20 km/hour), I appreciated the extra time it took to get to our destination due to the beauty of the landscape it traversed.

We would recommend this to those visiting Switzerland. We also hope to check out some of the other scenic trains such as the Golden Pass, or Bernina Express during our time here.

What you should know :
–If you are interested in taking a scenic train, Rick Steves has some great descriptions about the differences on his site.
–If you are visiting, you can take the scenic trains on a Swiss pass or Swiss Flexi pass. Same goes for residents with a day card. For the Glacier express, you must get a reservation for 13 CHF in the winter or 33 CHF in the summer for a seat.
–They serve great meals on the Glacier Express; however picnics are also allowed. We brought an assortment as well as two bottles of wine.

*The large windows created a magnificent view. We were blessed with a lot of sunshine on our journey which was great for us, but made our photos a little worse because of the glare. Sorry.

Where the Wild Things Are

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Post by Lauren

Carnival is a big thing in Switzerland. Many of the teeny tiny communities have celebrations starting the Thursday prior and leading up to Ash Wednesday.

I’ll be honest…what I knew of Carnival prior to this weekend was this and this:

 

It always looked fun and we decided since it was Carnival weekend in many towns, we should head out into the Swiss countryside with S & S to check it out.

When we arrived we found this:

 

These strange creatures are the Tschäggätä. The tradition of the town men marching through the streets at Carnival in wearing animal skins, wood masks and ringing cow bells has been passed down through the generations in many mountain villages of Switzerland. This particular one we witnessed was in Wiler.

 

If you attend, I’d recommend not bringing little children. Some of the kiddies were not amused by the scary beasts clad in animal fur.

And, watch out….they are known to take women hostage*:

 

*Okay, so they didn’t really take S hostage for good. But they got me soon after her and it isn’t exactly comforting to be grabbed by one of these things. Our husbands didn’t quite know if they should save us or not.

For more history on this bizarre custom, check out S’s blog. She also has a great one on the remoteness of the valley as well.

For video footage, you can view a clip at :

St. Moritz and the Engiadina Valley

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Post by Lauren

As you read from previous posts, we quite enjoyed the White Turf races in glitzy St. Moritz. What was left out of those recaps, was the stellar beauty of this region of Switzerland.

The Engiadina Valley is in Eastern Switzerland. It took 9 hours for us to get there on the Glacier Express but using faster trains, it can be done in 6 hours.

St. Moritz itself is a pretty town. At 6000 feet, its lakes are frozen most of the winter. I am standing on the lake while taking this photo.

The town of St. Moritz

Sunset also isn’t bad in this part of the world:

Sunset in St. Moritz

The day after the races, we took a little funicular / cogwheel up to Muottas Muragl. This point is about 2456 m high, roughly 8000 feet. On this particular day, it was about -12 C in St. Moritz, but about -20 C at the top. Brrrrr.

From the vantage point in the photo below, St. Moritz is the town in the center of the image. You can see the frozen lake to the left of it. Because we aren’t high-rollers, we stayed in the village of Celerina, which is the town in the foreground. Samedan and Pontresina are also nearby and came recommended.

View of Celerina & St. Moritz from the top of Muottas Muragl

This region is of course famous for skiing and outdoor sports. We saw a ton of cross country skiers, because apparently the valley is quite suitable for that sport.

It is also popular for tobogganing. From the top of this mountain, there is a 4.2 km toboggan run down to the bottom. You can see the little specks (people) zipping around the track.

Nearby Bergün boasts a 6 km track. Its the longest in Europe and travels on a road that is turned into a sledging track since its impassable in winter.

About a year ago, Forbes published an article entitled, “Don’t try this at home”. The article talked about the irony of how cautious this Swiss are, but how this popular sport is so very dangerous.

However, Gabe would still like to try this out before we leave. Perhaps we’ll put it on the docket for next year!

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

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Post by Lauren

Last weekend, we went to St. Moritz for the horse races. Since it was my first horse race, I didn’t know what to expect. Also, we had read that the town was a bit fancy. It is known to be the oldest winter resort in the world. In fact, it is said that alpine tourism was invented in 1846 when Johannes Badrutt built his first hotel here.

Prior to Badrutt’s era, St. Moritz was also known for its therapeutic spas in the Middle Ages, dating back to 1466 BC.

It has also been the home to two winter Olympics.

We stopped for a drink in Badrutt’s Palace but the average cocktail selling at 25 CHF, we only enjoyed one round of hob-nobbing with St. Moritz’s finest. We were a little out of our league, but nonetheless, enjoyed the fashion trends that this glitzy winter town offered:

THE DO’S IN ST. MORITZ:

All white & black is a good choice. When in doubt, dress the entire family in aviators.

 

 

You must get points for wearing fur. My best guest is that one fur item equals one point. If you include the tail of the animals, you get bonus points.

 

For that matter, don’t let your dog be caught in anything less than Louis Vuitton or Burberry. How cruel would that be!!!

 

Just remember, no matter how well someone dresses, some things just never change.


The White Turf: Horse Races on a Frozen Lake

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Post by Lauren

This summer, I read an article in a travel magazine about St. Moritz and their annual horse races on the frozen lake. I tore it out thinking it was something Gabe would like to do sometime while we were living here. However, we had our friends The Captain and Swiss Miss visiting during February, right at the time in which the race was held. Thus, we all decided to make it an epic Swiss weekend.

We took the Glaicer Express from Geneva, a nine hour winding train that took us all the way to St. Moritz. We ended up staying in a nearby town, Celerina, because affordable rooms are rare in glitzy St. Moritz. The average hotel in St. Moritz is around 1000 CHF a night. Not kidding.

Races included normal (jockeys on horseback), ski races (jockeys on skis) and sleigh (jockeys on sleigh).

 


Here are a few videos of the horses!

 

Gratitude Friday: Winter

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Post by Lauren

I know, an odd Gratitude Friday shout-out after all my complaining about the ice and snow and -20 temps. However, I just wanted to reflect on my gratitude for experiencing a full Swiss winter.

If anyone asked me whether to visit in summer or winter, I would have said whatever they would like; however, summer is probably better.

My dental hygienist actually lived 2 years near St Moritz when she was out of school. She provided us great info before coming. Anyhow, I visited the dentist on our home leave in November and posed this question to her. She is newly married and said she plans to take her husband to Switzerland for his first time….but she noted “it must be the winter”. She recounted that her favorite memories are in the winter and that is what she wanted him to see. Good to know.

And now dear readers, after only 6 weeks in the Swiss winter wonderland, I’d agree. Winter here is fabulous. It is unlike anything that I have ever seen before. So, don’t be scared of the ice and frigid temps…..its all a part of this beautiful world we live in.

I am grateful I got to witness this winter beauty!

Bon weekend, everyone!

Famous Swiss Foods: Chocolate

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Post by Lauren

Maybe one reason that the Swiss don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day is that it is it is an occasion for chocolate EVERY DAY here.

General Facts:
-The Swiss eat the most chocolate in the world. The average Swiss eats 25 lbs of chocolate per year compared to the 11.7 lbs consumed by Americans.
-The Swiss eat 54% of their chocolate production, only exporting 46%

Personal fact: Gabe and I eat four pieces of amazing Swiss chocolate every night after dinner. We haven’t gained any weight. In fact, Gabe has lost weight.

I was lucky to get a tour of Stettler last week. I felt like Charlie let loose in the chocolate factory.

It was 100% in French so I caught about half of the information being that I haven’t learned all my vocabulary for chocolate production yet. However, one doesn’t need to catch every word to be blown away.

This “chocolate laboratory” is in Geneva and is just one of the many chocolate factories and tours in Switzerland. If you are a francophone, I would highly recommend checking this particular one out.

Valentine’s Day and other non-events

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Post by Lauren

Before coming to Geneva we knew that American holidays like Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving would not be celebrated in our new country. Throughout the year, we have also learned that thematic ones like Halloween are also not as popular on this side of the pond.

Today’s holiday of Valentine’s Day also falls into this bucket. It is simply not a big thing here….or at least compared to the $17.6 billion USD Americans will spend on Valentine’s this year. I have seen a few heart shaped window displays and a few gentleman toting flowers on the bus, but its really a dime a dozen. The plus for ex-pats is that you would have zero trouble booking a restaurant with your sweetie on February 14th. Not that it matters to us — we planned a nice quiet dinner at home.

When it comes to other life events, I learned recently that they do not do “baby showers” or “wedding showers” in most other cultures. I discovered this in the summer when I was trying to explain to my French tutor that I attended a lot of baby showers in the US because all my friends were having kids nowadays. When I said “douche de bébé”*, you should have seen the look I got. I pulled out my photo album to further explain and demonstrate the concept – pages of my pregnant friends and games and gifts. However, she still wrote it down in her day journal because she thought it was such a funny concept.

And its not just a French/Swiss thing. Last week, we threw a baby shower for some moms at a local women’s shelter who had just given birth. The women had varying origins in Africa and the Middle East. We had to explain the concept as “an American tradition” before we started the refreshments and gifts as this type of events wasn’t familiar.

In case you would like more information on baby showers, check out S’s blog as she recently hosted a beautiful multi cultural attended one for friends M & C.

*Doucher is the French verb for shower.