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Long time, no blog entries. Guests, skiing, and more guests have interfered, but certainly not unpleasantly. Indeed, we had delightful visits from one of Henry's sisters and two brothers-in-law, and I had three more good skiing days at Davos/Klosters.

Janice and Neil drove down from Berlin for a few days, where they have been visiting Janice's son, Ben. Any guests staying with us in Zurich for more than a day are treated to our "hausgemachte" fondue, served right from the stove (due to our lack of a fondue pot), and Janice and Neil were no exception. We have become regulars at the Mom and Pop cheese, wine, and mini-grocery store just up the street from our apartment. Henry and I are known to the owners as the couple that loves cheese fondue. While they grate and mix the number of grams of fondue cheese we want, we chat about this and that in an assortment of English, French, and German. In the process, I found out, for example, that Mom (of Mom and Pop) was a ski racer in her youth. Mom also makes wine recommendations and gives tastes from their array of cheeses. Generally, we leave the shop with our fondue mix, fondue wine, fondue bread, fondue garlic, and a fresh apple tossed in by Mom for her good customers.

Fortified by the fondue, Janice, Neil, Henry and I left the next morning for a lovely drive to Luzern and its wooden, covered bridges. We then drove along the edge of the Viervalstatter See (the lake at which Luzern sits), with striking mountain panoramas at every turn. Using a GPS, we were guided to the parking lot below the cable car that would take us to the mountain village/ski area at Stoos. As we entered the parking lot, the ever reliable GPS voice directed us to "now, take the ferry!" In a manner of speaking, the cable car "ferried" us up to Stoos. From there, we were afforded outstanding views of the mountain ranges surrounding us and a lunch of tagesuppe and the local brew on tap. One can rarely go wrong with that combination--company included!

Having the car certainly gave us flexibility in our excursion, but upon our return to Zurich, we were reminded of the reasons why many city folk do not own cars and they manage quite well with public transportation and plain old "fuss" power. We got stuck in rush hour traffic as we approached Zurich and then could not find a legal parking space (i.e., having a daily parking permit, which we had, and parking only within the blue lines painted here and there along the street--we've seen parking tickets on cars just inches outside the blue lines). Neil solved the latter problem by parking illegally in the alley next to our building, then watching from our apartment and sounding an alarm the moment he saw a driver heading toward one of the cars legally parked nearby. He rushed out to his car, yelling at Janice to come outside and stand in the now empty space to prevent any other cars from slithering in ahead of him. Janice saved the day (or at least the parking space) as Neil maneuvered in reverse to secure the space just ahead of another driver facing the same predicament. Now, whenever I see an empty parking space in front of our apartment, I want to contact Neil and Janice and watch them repeat their seamless performance!

No sooner did Janice and Neil leave (and laundry done) when brother-in-law Alan arrived for an overnight stay before returning to Berkeley. We were lucky with another mostly sunny day as we took Alan, via the funicular Rigiblick, for a hillside view of Zurich, the Zurich See and environs, and a pleasant walk home. We later discovered that Jimmy's Pizzeria, not very Swiss-sounding, but just a block away from our apartment, served very good food!

In a fashion reminiscent of Henry's and my years of heading off in different directions, just hours after Alan left for San Francisco, I took the train to Klosters Dorf and Henry flew to Vienna for a meeting. I lucked out with my choice of hotels and my timing of this ski adventure. As part of its service to its guests, the hotel offers a ski guide on Mondays and Tuesdays--the first two days of my three-day ski trip. Four of us (three gents--Brit, German, and Swiss--and me) signed on to ski with the guide. We skied together, without the guide, for the third day as well. With the exception of the guide, Ina, who skied like every run was a slalom race course (she had practice at Taos Ski Valley, having spent a high school year in Clovis, New Mexico, on an exchange program), we all skied at about the same level. Technique-wise, I was probably the best of the four (certainly on the few bumps we found), but the others had far more success keeping within seeing distance of Ina, even though two of them were 10-15 years my senior! Although I ate my meals with the Brit, whom I met when we were picked up at the train station by the hotel shuttle upon our initial arrival in Klosters Dorf, I took advantage of the many opportunities I had to speak German. I enjoyed chatting in German with the reception desk staff and with my German and Swiss skiing partners. The German, a dentist who grew up in what used to be East Germany (and dreaded studying Russian as the mandatory second language in school), spoke limited English. Although he insisted that my German was better than his English, we managed to communicate well enough. In any event, at the fast pace at which Ina skied, we managed to ski two of the five Davos/Klosters ski areas--Parsenn (by far the largest and having the best access from Klosters) and Jakobshorn (accessible from Davos). Among the highlights was the stop for spiked coffee (and in my case, hot chocolate) at one of the several mountain restaurants on our ski to the back door of our hotel. Another highlight was our tour through the igloo hotel on the slope near the top of Parsenn. No joke--you can spend between 150 and 500 Swiss Francs a night for the pleasure of staying in an igloo (sleeping bags and throne shaped (with snow) portable toilets included). Sauna, fondue dinner, and mulled wine are also offered. Our visit to Jakobshorn (reached by bus or train) confirmed the wisdom of my decision to stay in Klosters Dorf. Davos is a real city and has lost its mountain village quaintness. Not a big late-night carouser, I did not miss the see and be seen scene! We skied Parsenn again on the third day, but finished off with the 12km run from the top of the Parsenn area down to the village of Kublis, a 20-minute train ride from Klosters Dorf. Two more observation from my skiing trip which have nothing to do with skiing--A popular expression was "Merci, vielmals," a combination of French and German, meaning thank you very much. I suppose this is in recognition of the multi-lingual Swiss society. Also, one of the hotel receptionists remarked that she could understand my English better than my Brit associate's English. It must be because I have an English accent (inside joke for those of you who have seen the movie, Princess Bride!).

Before I get more behind on my blogging, I'm posting now, and will update further at a later date.