Swiss Family Roe-Irwin: February 2008

The Swiss are serious about their winter sports. So much so, the schools close for two weeks every February so residents can enjoy their favorite Alpine activities.

When in Rome, or Zurich in our case, one does as the locals do. The first picture is actually from January. We did a little advance work to scope out possible locations for our longer February vacation. We found a lovely hostel in a town called Filzbach in the Canton of Glarus that is right next to a major sledding hill. We took the lift up the hill and rode down for more than 25 minutes on these classic (and highly effective) sleds.

The hostel was simple but incredible. It extremely kid-friendly. We got two rooms next to each other at the end of a long hall way - the boys in one, Elena and I another. It featured two different game rooms: one with blocks and toys and another with ping-pong, fussball and tumbling mats. Plus, there is a cafeteria with a fireplace, a cupboard full of games and puzzles and an honor-system buffet of snacks and drinks. The boys would get up and run down to the game room and leave us to sleep a little longer. During our ski week

there, nearly all the rest of the hostel was occupied by a church group from the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Isaac regularly found himself in these crazy ping-pong matches where up to 7 kids (mostly much older than Isaac) were running around the table hitting a ball to determine who would match up in the final one-on-one match up. The boys could also go outside on the warm days of our ski week and jump on the trampoline -you can see it in one of the pictures below and catch a glimpse of the great view from the hostel.

We rented a car during ski week so we could travel from the hostel to the ski hill called Flumserberg. The boys both took 4 days of lessons and went from never skiing before to being able to handle the 'blue' hills with confidence (the progression - from easiest to hardest - is bunny, green, blue, red, black, double black or black diamond). Isaac even went down a red with Elena on the final day. As part of his lessons, Isaac even got to be in a small race on the last day in which he finished 6th out of about 50 kids taking beginners lessons. You can see a picture of him getting hug from a huge penguin on skis named Bobo (the ski schools mascot) right after he finished his run in the race.

Elena took a couple days of lessons as well and rekindled her interest and competence in skiing.

By the end of the week she was tackling some red hills. Skiing really didn't agree with me. Between my wide feet and arthritic right hip, attempting to ski

simultaneously hurt all parts of my lower body. So, I tried snow boarding instead (yes that's me on the bunny hill in a picture below with a snow board), which only usually hurt one part of my lower body at a time. Needless to say, even with one lesson, I was on the bunny hill for the duration.

One day - Valentines Day in fact - while the boys were in lessons, Elena and I went to the top-most part of the ski area and got a great view of the all the nearby peaks and enjoyed a hour together. The weather and visibility were near perfect for our entire week there.

At the end of the week, we decided to drive an extra 45 minutes and tour Vaduz, the capital city of Lichtenstein, one of the world's smallest countries. You can see one picture where the boys are waving flags and way up in the backround is the castle where the ruler of Lichtenstein actually lives. We walked up the hill to get a better look, but you can't tour the inside because, apparently, the crown prince must use all 130 rooms.

After our barnstorming of Lichtenstein (appropriate as it is not much bigger than a barn but has more banks), we headed back to Zurich a little sorer and happier.

In New Orleans, it's called Mardi Gras; in Brazil, it's called Carneval; in Germany, it's called Fasching. Anywhere in the world where the Catholic faith requests a sacrifice for Lent, the locals sacrifice nothing in the pursuit of one last fling. Well, not to be outdone, Switzerland has Fassnacht.

The distinguishing feature of the Swiss pre-lenten bash are the elaborate parades featuring various guilds, clubs and bands - many wearing intricate wooden masks carved to elicit fear and laughter.

To get into the spirit of the season, we took off Monday afternoon and took the one-hour train ride to Lucerne to watch one of Switzerland's grandest Fassnacht parades (Basel being one of the other historical ones). To blend in, Elena decided to paint the faces of the boys: Isaac chose to look like Harry Potter while Elliot chose to look like a lion.

To be fair, Elena then (bravely) allowed the boys to paint her face, though I convinced the boys that I looked scary enough without paint.

Some of my favorite entries include the 'natural yodellers' who donned flesh colored suits that let it all hang out. Unlike the commercialized bits of Mardi Gras, this was a family event, though we didn't hang around for the night time activities, which looked a bit more crazy.