Today we were all up around 8AM. That is a good change from sleeping late due to the time change. We made eggs, oatmeal, and french toast for breakfast. The kitchen is well equipt and the dining table is huge.
We mentioned sledding, and Sara got up and put her snow pants, jacket, turtle neck boots, hat, and gloves on. She said, "I'm ready!" standing there a puffy blur pink. We got Julia ready too, and headed out.
The sledding here means, walk to a gondola (Hannig is the name of it I think) and buy a ticket for me. I cost 12 Swiss Franc, the kids were free, and Dan used his lift ticket. No one else was there. We were the first ones. The lift opened at 8:45. The lift operator was still getting the office ready. She sold me the ticket and 2 sled rentals 8 SF each. We got the kids onto the gondola platform. Sara asked, "where does it go? how fast does it go? have I been on one before?" We told her "up, pretty fast, and yes, she was on a gondola before in Wengen Switzerland, and Kitzbuchel, Austria."
We had our own gondola. Probably the only ones on the whole gondola itself. We rose up into the sky. The village got smaller as we rose up. Sara looked around at everything - the mountains, the sky, the village, and the snow. It was fun. Julia sat on Dan's lap, then pushed herself onto my lap, where she snuggled in for the ride, while keeping her eyes open to check everything out.
We got to the top. The man gave us 2 sleds. We exited the building to find a playground- up in the Alps! Sara ran to it. Julia ran to it, as fast as a little kid can run in snow pants. It is like trying to run through molasses, but Julia did her best to keep up with her sister. "Ahahhhh!" Julia said, pointing while running. Sara and Julia played on the playground. No one else was any where in sight. Just us, the Alps, 2 sleds, and 1 bird soaring over head. I could hear the whir of the gondola, running with out passengers.
We started down the sled run. We were about 2,500 meters high. The sled run is 5 KM long. Sara and I were on one and Dan and Julia on the other. The snow was groomed. Sara said "My shadow has ridges" because of how it looked on the groomed snow.
The sled run had an exciting start, with a steep down hill. I yelled the whole time. Trying to slow down. We made it okay. I got a crash course in how to "steer" a wooden sled with out actually crashing. There is no steering other than my own feet. I did fine.
We continued sledding. Down, around, straight, fast, slow. In to the glade, and also some wide open area. Sara said, "this is fun!" "go that way!" "now that way!" she was trying to make sure we didn't go flying off the edge, which would have sent us sky rocketing straight off a ledge with no guard rail and only trees and snow below. We had one close call, where I crashed us into a snow bank rather than having us go plummeting down off the ledge. After that Sara kept telling me how to steer - which was funny.
Julia was unsure about the whole thing. She went with Dan, and did some sledding, some riding on shoulders, and some sleeping. Yes, towards the end she slept. By that time we could see the village and it was her nap time so she decided to sleep. Dan pulled her along on the wooden sled, so she had the best fresh air imaginable for her nap. It was sweet really.
Sara and I went fast, slow, and really fast. I got good at digging my heels in to slow down, or raising them up to zoom along. The sled run had switch backs, so we'd get off, wait for Dan and Julia, then keep going. It seemed like we were sledding for hours. It probably was an hour or longer. The scenery was gorgeous. Blue sky, sun, and sparkly snow. The only other people were one lady with a dog pulling her sled. They went fast, the dog was having the time of its life.
Towards the end we took the hiking trail down since they were working on the sled run. We came to probably 60 rock steps. I carried Julia. Dan carried the sleds, and Sara walked. It was actually fun.
We turned in the sleds, and walked back to our apartment. Julia took a nice nap in her cozy crib, probably dreaming of sledding, while Sara and I made grilled cheese (with REAL swiss cheese) and then we played with some polished rocks. Dan went skiing (he is out now) and we are all having a good day so far. It is 1:50 PM for us. We are probably going to go out for a walk now to enjoy our sun. There is supposed to be a lot of snow in the coming days, so Sara should love that. Dan has an 11 day ski pass. He will go for a few hours each day. He is working in the evenings.
I'm going to sign off for now. Thanks for reading.
Quotes of the day:
(before sledding) "Let's go! I'm ready."
(while sledding) "Faster!"
(after crashing into a snow bank) "go that way Mama" (pointing towards the mountain away from the drop off.
(after we were half done) "I'm done sledding, lets walk down" (not a chance!)
(a little further) "come on Mom! Let's sled!" (I was walking at the time, it was flat so I needed to pull Sara, she wanted me to hop on and go! I had to explain how gravity works.)
(after we were done sledding) "Can we go to a bakery now?"
END
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