Hiking near Lugano, Switzerland

I couldn't believe we had spent an entire year here and never actually been to Ticino - the "Italian" Canton of Switzerland!  Well, we had seen it on the train - but clearly that doesn't count - right?  So it took me a few days, but I convinced Nathan that we should do a hike here for our last weekend in Switzerland! 

I found a hike on myswitzerland.com (one of my favorite sites!) from Monte San Salvatore to Morcote and then ending with a boat trip back to Lugano.  Boat trip?  Um hello - you know I'm in!  The train ride was a little far for a one day trip - 3 hours there and back but we had a lot of stuff to do on Sunday (including pack) so we sucked it up and even convinced Sarah and Zann to come with us!

This 4 hour hike was said to have some of the best scenic views in Switzerland and it didn't disappoint!  From the very start it was beautiful!

The summit of the Monte San Salvatore

Same location but to the South

I thought we would have better views of the water during the middle part of the hike, but the trail went through the forest a lot - we even hiked through the Lugano Botanical Gardens - it was still a little early in the season but I know it will be beautiful in a few weeks when everything is in bloom!

Nathan chillin' in the botanical gardens:)

The end of the hike was so amazing - I really thought we were in Italy!

And then - the boat ride back to Lugano!

It really felt like we were in Italy - but cleaner and the public transportation ran on time - ha!:)

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

(ok.- beer the generic beer of Switzerland - ahhhhh!)

The whole time we have been here I have been trying to get a good picture of Nathan and I with the Swiss Flag and Sarah finally got it for us!  I like to call this the money shot!:)  Thanks Sarah!

We walked around the quaint little town of Lugano then had a great Italian dinner at Tango near the water- and topped it off with some gelato, of course!  Great final weekend in Switzerland!

Here's a link to the rest of the pictures it you want to see them!

Hiking the Uetliberg

Today is catch up on the blog day! There are several things I never got around to writing about so here I go...

The Uetliberg is the mountain range that you can see from downtown Zurich. It isn't that high - only 873m (2864 ft) but it has a great view of the entire city of Zurich, Lake Zurich, and a beautiful panaramic view of the Swiss Alps.

View of the Uetliberg from around Bellevue area

During the summer, right after I got back from the States, we decided to do a hike along the Uetliberg mountain range. While I was gone (it was almost a month) Nathan had been riding his bike up to the top (it is his goal to get to the top without stopping before we leave Zurich) so he wanted to take me there. I would like to take this opportunity to say that this is not MY goal. I NEVER want to ride my bike up that thing!:) Hike yes. Bike - not no but HELL no.

I can't believe I never shared the pictures from the "Top of Zurich". During this particular trip we took the S-bahn (line 10) to the Uetliberg Station, climbed to the top of the tower for some spectacular views of the city, and then hiked from the Uetlierg Kulm to Turlersee (about a 4 1/2 hour hike). It was really beautiful (as most hikes are in Switzerland) and a great leisurely day during the summer. I vaguely remember getting lost (which is almost impossible to do in Switzerland b/c there are little yellow signs pointing you in the right direction all over the place) but I'm pretty sure we did on this particular day. But since it is Switzerland (and the public transportation system is amazing) when I had finally had enough (after about 6 hours of hiking) we searched for a bus stop and were taking to Thalwil where we caught a boat back to Zurich. The only probably with catching a bus in the mountains is that they don't come very often, so be ready to wait - I think we had just missed it so we ended up waiting for about 45 minutes. But anything was better than continuing - I still remember how my feet felt on that particular day!

Cool light posts on way from Train station to viewing tower.

Zurich photo op from top of viewing tower.

View towards Swiss Alps

View of Zurich

Boat ride from Thalwil to Burkliplatz - you know how we like to BE ON A BOAT!

This is one of my favorite shots of downtown Zurich and the lake!

Pan forward from that weekend in July to the last weekend in February. It was a particularly warm weekend and most of the winter here has been freezing(!), so we really wanted to get out and do something active. We decided to hike up the Uetliberg. A lot of Zurichers do this on the weekend as it is a pretty leisurely hike (for Swiss people) and it takes about an hour. We took Tram 14 to Triemli (the end of the line) and started our hike there. It was a great day and we both loved being out and hiking again.

I think Nathan has finally been Swissinized - do you see this outfit? I think it would have been better if he had on "man capris" though!:) Which of course he REFUSES to wear - although he was okay being seen in public like this - hmmm...

Here are a couple other pictures from our hike on this day - totally different from July! I for one am ready to see the green trees again! I know we wouldn't appreciate spring and the rebirth of everything but geez - enough is enough! (Can you tell I'm done with the winter?) We hiked from Triemli to Uetliberg Kulm to Felsenegg (another 1 1/2 hours) and then took the cable car down to Adliswil.

The very next weekend (last weekend March 5 -7th) our friend Miriam flew in from Hamburg for a ski weekend! We were so excited to ski again, but Mother Nature had a different idea. A HUGE snow storm basically covered all of Switzerland and it was impossible to ski on Saturday(at least for us non-expert skiiers). So after it snowed about 6 inches in Zurich we were stir crazy in our tiny apartment and decided to hike the Uetliberg again. It was a little late in the day to go farther from home and we were excited to hike up and sled down!

This time we took Tram 13 to the end of the line and started there. This hike was more "straight up" but it was SO beautiful covered in snow (even though I am done with the snow I do appreciate its beauty:)). I REALLY want to show you guys pictures, BUT I forgot my memory card on this day and ended up taking pictures on the internal memory of the camera. So whenever I find the cord to get the pictures out I will update this post - okay? It was truly a winter wonderland!  I found the cord - woo hoo! 

There were a lot of shenanigans hiking up - Nathan couldn't resist throwing snowballs, shaking all the snow off of the trees onto us, etc - but we all made it to the top without frostbite. Although the ridulous amounts of snow that went down my back - inside of my jacket - could explain the terrible cold I have now! But I won't dwell in that...

We ended up renting sleds from the Uetliberg train station and sledding down. It turns out the sledding course ends up at Triemli - basically the same path we hiked in February. The fresh powder (and possibly the public sleds) kept us from going at warp speed but it was still fun! All three of us ended up in a snow bank face first at some point and I really wish I could have gotten a video of when Miriam landed in a ditch and her sled kept going - good times!:) Another great day in Zurich!

Link to all the Uetliberg pics!

Krati in Zurich!

I can't believe I haven't written since the scary Zombie photos! Sorry! I left that next day for the States and since my parents (love you guys) are still stuck in the 90s and don't have wireless internet in their house (but I did find out they upgraded from dial-up to DSL this year - yeah!) it was hard to update the blog! Also, I was so busy with Swagger stuff that I didn't have time to write anyway - I was even in bed before 9:30 pm several nights! Totally lame I know, but I am getting old!

Anyway, so I couldn't believe that my older sister, Marla, came to visit last week - seriously I had put her on the "it's never gonna happen list" - something about a full time job, expired passport and 3 kids under 4:)! But her job sent her to London (thank you Bank of America!) so she got to visit with us in Zurich last weekend!

Marla arrived on Wednesday night. After picking her up at the airport (which I was late to - damn on time Zurich train system - can't you ever be a few minutes late!) we headed out for a few drinks at Hiltl with Miriam. This a great Restaurant/Bar-Lounge/Club off Sihlstrasse. Very cool lounge area with couches and a dance floor that people were Tangoing on while we were there.:)

For the record - I am leaning in - my butt is NOT that big!

The one thing I can say about Marla is she is awesome to shop with! She even has more shopping stamina than me (and that is saying a lot)! We hit the Bahnhofstrasse and I took her to a few of my favorite places including Globus and Sprungli (of course!).

That night I "made" (bought at the store) Cheese Fondue! We had Miriam and James over (seriously I think they had enough of us by the end of the weekend:)) and had a great night! Although Marla didn't like the Fondue - what's up with that? She said it tasted too much like Liquor (Kirsch)- um...duh - that's the point isn't it:) I'm so pissed I didn't take a picture b/c this was the first "party" in our flat!

Next day more....SHOPPING! I took her to the grocery store (I know it doesn't sound exciting, but they really are different than in the States - you have to "pay" for your shopping cart, the eggs and milk are in the middle of the floor, and people have no respect for your personal space - it was an experience for sure), the Niederdorff/Old Town, and finally down to Zurich Lake and to see a few sites. We headed back early to take naps before the Glocals Black & White Party that night!

View from Limmat River to Grossmunster (Great Church)

View of Lake Zurich

Glocals is an expat community that we are members of here in Zurich. It is a great group of people that organize events so you can go out and meet people! We've done everything from hiking, to cricket, to bbqs with them - I highly recommend joining some type of expat community if you move over seas! Anyway, so on Friday night, Glocals rented out the the 2B Lounge for a Black & White themed party. We haven't been "out" dancing, drinking, and carrying on in a long time so it was a lot of fun:) Maybe too much fun as I was worried we wouldn't be feeling so well for our Liechtenstein Hike on Saturday!:)

I love public transportation - you can legally drink a "40" while in transit! (Okay well not a 40, because they don't do ounces but still pretty BIG BEERS!)

Group Photo! (Marla, James, Miriam, Me and Nathan)

I had to put this photo in to prove I'm not as fat as I look in the previous photo!:)

Seriously Girls, the line isn't THAT long! And yes those are taps at our TABLE - well not OUR table, but somebody's table!

Liechtenstein is a 160 square kilometer Principality (very small if you can't do the conversion i your head:)) located between Switzerland and Austria. The Liechtenstein website says they are "the last German-speaking monarchy comprised of 11 municipalities with 35, 000 inhabitants". To get there from Zurich you take a train to Sargan then a bus to Liechtenstein - we headed to the capital, Vaduz. I'll be honest here - the city wasn't all that - but THEY sure think it is! Apparently the Liechtensteiners (whatever you call them) are very proud people! You should have heard the lady going on about all the "sites" in Vaduz!:) We did look at everything she pointed out (except the stamp museum - I didn't think Nathan could handle it) which took about 45 minutes. The vineyard was beautiful though so I'm glad we checked that out!

So thankful we were planning on hiking though or the trip would have been a bust (at least in my humble opinion). We hiked from Vaduz to Triesenberg. Nathan's boss recommended the "Three Sisters" hike, but when we asked the lady at the tourist info center about it, she looked me up and down then said "You can't do that". Not sure what THAT meant, but Miriam tried to convince me that it was because we didn't have the proper "snow hiking" equipment as that hike is very high up. Sure, whatever. That lady is just lucky I didn't show her what I CAN do.:)

The hike was only about 2 hours and it was a beautiful 60 degree day! I loved this photo of Marla and I near the top of the hike.

When we got to Triesenberg we went for a beer (little hair of the dog if you know what I mean). Marla said her view consisted of "The Alps and cute little Swiss Chalets". It doesn't get much better than that!:) And the Liechenstein beer wasn't half bad!

On the hike back down to Vaduz I saw this in someone's yard.
I promise right here and now that when I get back to the States I am going to start a garden so I can build this in my backyard! Priceless. Maybe I should start collecting gnomes now......hmmmmmm. But I'll probably have to charge admission because you guys are going to want to come over and hang out around it all the time!!!!:)

Great Krati (plural for Kratus in Latin - oh never mind) Weekend! Love you Marla! Now we just have to get Courtney and Missy over here!

xoxo, Mandy

p.s. - Here are the rest of the photos from our weekend!

Hiking... and Oktoberfest in Zurich

7 hours of hiking then several 1 liter beers at Oktoberfest - you can't get much more Swiss and German than that!

Yesterday we had planned a day of hiking with our friends Miriam and James. We wanted to go somewhere near Zurich (basically to cut down on travel time and train cost) and to go to Oktoberfest that night. Miriam had a book of hikes "in and around Zurich" and said she would pick a "blue" hike. What is a "blue" hike you ask? The book described blue hikes as easy and good for young children.

W.T.F. Never trust the Swiss and their hikes - especially if you aren't Swiss! Easy enough for a 6 year old? Really. No - really? I want to see these 6 year olds.

The hike started in Lachen, said it would take around 5-6 hours, and had a vertical change in height of 1000m. Miriam told us she thought the 1000 meters was 500 up and 500 down. Okay - we have done that before. No biggie. But.....I'm pretty sure they left out a couple words in the book, because the 1000 m were definitely all uphill (and then of course 1000m down hill) and we were hiking through cow pastures and cow crap. Good Times:)

But after all the bitching (sorry Miriam:)) the view from the top was amazing! One of the best panaramic views we have seen on our hikes!

This was also a great hike b/c with all the cow pastures and cow crap came.....the cows! We were definitely up close and personal with them - so much fun!

This is one of my favorite pictures I have taken in Switzerland!

So I finally got to see one of those Swiss 6 year olds. After we stopped for a coffee at a little restaurant, we headed down for our last 1 1/2 hours of the hike. A dad and his son were there - which I didn't think much of - but after they left (who knows how long AFTER us) they basically ran by us and down the very steep hill at Olympic speeds. Seriously - I wanted to trip them but I refrained. This of course after we had already been lapped by some 65 year olds hiking UP the mountain!

There was snow - it really was treacherous!

I'm probably just jealous. But come on - that was a tough hike! It definitely wasn't "blue"! I started sweating and breathing heavy after the first 15 minutes of hiking straight up the side of a mountain! Whatever - I don't need to justify my physical abilities to you people. I'm simpling going to say the book had a typo and that the 6 year old was on speed. And all I know is that this is how I felt after we were finished.

The only thing that kept us all going was that we planned on heading to Oktoberfest in Zurich when we were finished! Of course this seemed like a great idea when I thought we were going to have a leisurely hike through the country side, but half way through the hike - I was drenched, pretty sure I smelled, and had cow dung all over my shoes. But hey - a plan is a plan - right? And we were meeting another couple so we couldn't bail!

We arrived at the Oktoberfest tent near Burkliplatz around 6:30 pm. We didn't have reservations so we had to stand in the "ohne" (without) line. Our other friends, Sarah and Zann, joined us shortly after and we waited for nearly an hour before they let one person from our line in the door. However, it really didn't seem that long and it was definitely worth it once inside! Granted it wasn't the Haufbrahaus, but I think Zurich did have a pretty respectable showing!

We ended up sitting with some cool Zurichers and started making "friends" immediately. Nathan loves the waitresses and I got to meet Bond, James Bond.

Nathan loves him a woman that can carry 6 1 liter beers at a time!

This was Bond. James Bond:)

The band was fun and since I had Miriam to translate all the cheesy German songs for me it was really hilarious! There was a song about a red dingy boat and one where the crowd shouted "you horny pig" (in German of course). It really made me wish I had studied up on my German a bit more.:) Of course they also played German classics like Sweet Home Alabama and Country Road too!:)

This was the crew:

Zann - "Sweet Home Alabama"

Sarah - "Peace Dude - now give me back my glasses"

James - "This wool hat is really hot!"

Miriam - "Wow - you speak really great German." "That's b/c I'm German."

Nathan - "Wow that's a really big pretzel you have there"

And Me - "You can have her for $5...I need another beer."

So here we all our - getting a bit tipsy off our 1 liter beers. And yes we are standing on the benches with our cow dung infested shoes - but don't judge us - we were in the moment (and probably had been overserved). :) But I wouldn't go sit down at the 2nd table from the front on the right side of the stage either - just sayin'. Surely they do a thorough cleaning every night - right? I mean it is SWITZERLAND.:)

Another great day living the life of a Swiss German! Now I've got to go to bed - I'm still not feeling that well.....

Prost, Mandy

View Album from Hiking in Lachen

View Album from Zurich Oktoberfest