Time to switch gears

So, today was my last day of German classes. Nearly everyone in the class is continuing, but I had to make a choice between German class and skiing, and chose skiing. I feel I got a very start, and am hoping to study more on my own--at least to get through prepositions and two more cases! Learning German requires a lot of memorization, especially which nouns are masculine, which are feminine, and which are neutral, as well as the plural form of each noun. Then there's splitting verbs in two, making sure the second part of the verb is in the second position in a statement or question and the first part of the verb is the last word before the ending punctuation. Of course, there are irregular verb conjugations as well. In any event, I am now able to read menus well enough to figure out what dishes have dreaded (to me) liver, sweetbreads, and certain particularly nasty vegetables. And, I can say "Nehmen Sie VISA?"

Last weekend, Henry and I chose Sion as our train destination. Sion is located in the Canton of Valais, where French is spoken. Yay!! I could practice my French. The weather was very yucky (a term of art) on Saturday morning. The train from Zurich was packed with weekend skiers, snowboarders, and other snow lovers, but most of them got off in Visp, to connect to ski areas. The highlights of Sion are castles set on top of two hills--the city sits mostly in the valley in between. One of the castles has a delightful museum, chronicling the history of the area, from prehistoric times through the present. Because of its geographical position, Valais became a popular route for the Crusades and trade through the Alps. With about at least a foot of snow already fallen in some spots, and with the snow continuing to fall, it was no easy task to hike up the hill to the museum. After a number of slips and slides, we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the castle ruins atop the adjacent hill, and, when the sun came out after our tour of the museum, the city of Sion below and the Alpine peaks along the horizon. Although only a few of the explanatory notations in the exhibit were in English, Henry and I managed between the German and French explanations. I also managed to explain in French to the cashier why Henry should receive a discounted entry to the museum. As we left the museum, I commented to Henry that we would never find a museum like this in the United States--it couldn't comply with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)! At the same time, part of what made the museum so interesting was its layout--many small rooms (close to 30 in two buildings) on half floors (four steps here, five steps there), each room with a separate theme.

Back to food--About the only way to get low fat (forget no-fat) food is to buy Weight Watchers products! Go figure...

The last few days, Henry has been in Potsdam, Germany, giving a talk and serving on an advisory committee of a scientific institute there (PIC, but don't ask me for what it stands!). Following his return, we will head off to Andermatt, so I can ski and Henry can "avant-" and "apres-" ski.