Christmas 2008 & my Holiday travels to Switzerland

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you had a very blessed Christmas and have a fantastic 2009!
Wow it's been a while since I've blogged! I just have to be in the mood to blog typically...and I guess I just haven't been in a blogging mood much the last half of 2008! I still need to finish up on writing about my summer travels back in August & September (which were FANTATIC)...but I'm going to jump ahead an blog a bit about my most recent travels so it doesn't take me 5 months to write about those! I just arrived back from Switzerland yesterday, so it's still fresh on my mind.


Christmas 2008
This year I didn't go home for again Christmas since I was able to go home for Thanksgiving. Instead a friend of mine (Patti) & her husband (Fernando) came and stayed with me for Christmas. I met Patti back in 2001 when we started together at PwC in Houston. She and Fernando now live in Jakarta, Indonesia. I was so happy they came! First of all because I haven't seen them in years, & secondly because I did not want to spend the holidays alone! If you have to be thousands of miles away from your family during the holidays, you at least want to spend it with some good friends!
Patti and Fernando were with me in Rome from December 23-26. During that time, I took them to see some of the Rome sites and do a bit of the 'tourist' things. Then on the 24th we attended midnight mass at St. Peter's. I went last year with my sister and learned that if you want good seats, you must get in line extremely early for this even though the doors don't open until 10:30. So since I live about 10 minutes walking from St. Peters and there were 3 of us, what we did was get in line around 5pm (yes that is over 5 hrs before the doors opened!) and at least 1 of us stayed there to hold the spot the rest of the night. Fernando was a really great guy and stayed there for the first couple hours. We even went and picked up pizza and just at it there in line. It did get a bit hectic as it was getting closer to opening because people were showing up everywhere and cutting in line - but I guess you have that everywhere...even at St. Peter's!
Mass was amazing! Even though I've been fortunate enough to attend mass at St. Peter's when the Pope has celebrated numerous times...it is still amazing each time! And one thing I've learned is that if you want to see the Pope up close you have to 1) get an aisle seat (even if it’s in the back, that’s okay), & 2) have a baby next to you when he walks in & out since he always kisses the babies. This time we had both! Patti and Fernando laughed at me when we got inside the Basilica and we got our aisle seats and then I said out loud 'Ok now we need to find a baby!' A couple with a baby sat several seats down from us a bit later, so at the end of mass we asked the mother if she wanted to come stand by us with the baby so the Pope would kiss her…and of course he did!
On Christmas day, we went to St. Peter's at noon when the Pope did the Urbi et Orbi Blessing. It is just an amazing site to see so many Catholics from around the world gathered there and then to hear the Pope wish a Merry Christmas in like 100 languages!
On Christmas day we also joined another couple from the US that I'm friends with here in Rome (April & Russ - April works at PwC) for a late lunch/early dinner. We had a fantastic dinner with a mix of American and Italian dishes and had a great time. It was fantastic to have a group of people to spend the day with and have some good times!
Here are some pictures from Christmas: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199473&l=6e1fc&id=800405227

Switzerland
Basel & Seirre/Crans Montana
On Dec. 26th, Patti, Fernando & I headed to Basel, Switzerland to join a couple they know that lives there (Felipe & Rachel). Then from Dec. 27-29th, the 5 of use drove to Sierre/Crans Montana in the Southern part of Switzerland to go skiing.
The first night we decided to go snowshoeing - which I really enjoyed! Originally our trek was suppose to be around 3 hrs and on some pretty steep paths, but after the first 5 minutes we had to ask him to change that plan since at least half of us were having a hard time getting up the first hill!! It was a workout, but we had some great views and it felt good to be walking in the snow like that. We also had dinner together at a restaurant in the mountains, so it was a really great time.
The next day we went skiing. I was a bit nervous since I never skied before and didn't even know if I could do it or what it would be like. Patti, Fernando & I all took lessons for the full day since none of us had been on the slopes before. I actually only feel twice that day...but that was because we never got off the training facility!! :-p Our teacher was only so-so & didn't speak English all that well, so I didn't really learn as much as I had hoped…but that's how it goes when you take lessons in a foreign country right?!? Even though we didn't get off the 'bunny hills' it was tiring & I DID NOT like having to carry all that heavy equipment around!
We went back to the slopes the last day, but unfortunately for me my ski boots had rubbed the front on my ankles and shins so bad that I could not stand to be in them for more than a couple hours day two. I just couldn't handle being in pain as I tried to ski – never have been much of an athlete. :-o
I spent most of the second day just hanging around the ski area in the snow and watched the other skiers. I would like to try skiing again though!!

Here are some pictures from Basel & Sierre/Crans Montana: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199501&l=0f749&id=800405227

Zurich
From December 30th - January 1st I was in Zurich. I went from Basel to Zurich with the 4 others I had previously been traveling with, and then we had to part ways (they were going on to France etc.). I met up with another friend I know from PwC (Jeff) there in Zurich and travelled with him the rest of the trip.
While in Zurich, Jeff and I just walked around the town using my guide book and some walking tours I got online to see some of the sights. We also did a 'Best of Zurich' tour that took us around in a bus to see the sites. It's a very pretty city and nice to walk around in...with great public transportation as well! Since it was a bit cold, we didn't do much site seeing at night.
One of the biggest surprises to me was when we were sitting at dinner on Dec. 31st and it started snowing...BIG snowflakes! I couldn't wait to get outside to walk around it in since I've never been in falling snow except the small flakes we had back in Houston years ago. I was like a little kid walking around in it all excited! Later that night we went to watch the fireworks show the city had on the lake at 12:20am (to allow people to have their own celebrations at home before I guess). By then it had stopped snowing, but was all nice and white like a winter wonderland! We went to this hill near our hotel (the guy at the front desk told us about it) & there were only about 40 other people there together - so nice and quiet…especially compared to my experience in Paris last New Year's Eve!
Here are my pictures from Zurich: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199861&l=efe12&id=800405227

Chur
On January 1st, Jeff & I headed to Chur. Chur is a real cute little town! I loved our hotel there because I was on the top floor and the room just felt like it was a guest room in someone's house...plus it had a fantastic view from the window.
In Chur we took a gondola up to Chur-Brambrüesch (up the mountain where there is a ski resort etc.). It was fantastic (yet cold) up there! And I've never seen so many people with sleds in my life!!! I thought sledding was just for kids...but I saw people of all ages sledding! I kind of wished we would have had enough time to do it ourselves...maybe on the next visit! We did have enough time in Chur to see a couple other sites.
Here are my pictures from Chur: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199885&l=5df85&id=800405227

Glacier Express Train Ride
On January 2nd, we took a train ride called the Glacier Express from Chur to Zermatt. This is a very slow and scenic train ride and so it took us about 5 1/2 hours to get there. But the views were amazing!! Plus it was really comfortable seats and you can even get a full, hot meal served to you at your table and everything. I would really suggest a train ride like this for anyone who has the chance. I loved it!!!
Here are my pictures from the ride: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199893&l=6fe25&id=800405227

Zermatt
After our train ride, we stayed in Zermatt for the night (from January 2-3). Zermatt is a skiing town & known mostly for 1 thing - Matterhorn! The mountain overlooks the town of Zermatt and is very distinctive. So of course, we had to take the gondola (well gondolas since it takes 3 to get up/down) to see it! You can't actually go on Matterhorn, but you go up to a mountain close to it where you are able to see it. It was quite impressive. It was also -15C (about 5F) up there, so we didn't stay for all too long!
In Zermatt they don't allow combustion-engine vehicles in the city in order to prevent air pollution which could disfigure the town's view of the Matterhorn. So only electric vehicles are allowed...and there aren't even many of those.
Another interesting thing I found out is that the area where Zermatt is located is called Valis in English, but Wallis in German....I thought that was cool since my hometown is Wallis! :-)
Here are my pictures from Zermatt: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199901&l=03a52&id=800405227

Geneva
My last stop was to Geneva (January 3-5). Since Jeff & I arrived in Geneva late on Sat. and most of the shops & various places were closed on Monday, so we mostly just walked around Geneva doing a walking tour I had and seeing a couple of sites. I think Geneva would be a fantastic place to see in the Spring and Summer...especially around the lake area, but in the winter a lot of that stuff was not out or in bloom (like the flowers, famous fountain in the water, etc.). We still had a great time.
The only museum we visited there was the Red Cross Museum. I found this museum to be interesting since it had displays & videos showing about how the Red Cross was formed and what the Red Cross does etc. To me it was really a display of how one person (Henry Dunant) could take something horrible he had seen and come up with an idea and start something that would end up helping millions and millions of people throughout the world for centuries to come.
Here are my pictures from Geneva: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199918&l=4d6c1&id=800405227

To close, here are some of my overall thoughts of Switzerland:
-Since the various regions in Switzerland are German, French & Italian and they speak various languages, it almost seemed that I was going to a different country when I went from one region to another (for instance going from Zurich to Geneva). I had to keep reminding myself I was still in Switzerland!

-Switzerland is EXPENSIVE! Living in Rome, I'm now a bit use to things being a bit more expensive than in Houston...but in Switzerland it was even more than Rome. A basic meal would easily cost about 25 Swiss Francs (which is almost the same as the US dollar) at a minimum (that’s without wine or anything like that).

-Being a Texas girl I'm not use to the cold...and when I travel in the winter to cold places, I always have to remind myself of that and think that next time I travel in the winter I need to go somewhere south! Most evenings we spend just at the hotel because we didn't want to be in the cold any longer.

-Even though I don't care for the cold weather much, after being in all the mountains and trying a couple of the winter activities, I now better appreciate the mountains and the whole mountain environment and activities. I really saw some breathtaking views on this trip!

Overall I had a great time!