Chrilaudias in Geneva -- March 29 - April 1

Next up on the guest train - Chris Price and Claudia Fuentes of New York City! Come on Down!

4 days with our good friends from New York, particularly interesting because of the prominent role food plays in all of our lives -- odd parts of unusual animals prepared in unorthodox ways.

the pair came in Thursday, and after a quick moment to get cleaned up, we headed out to explore the city. Regular readers of this blog will know the sights we saw -- Reformation Wall, Old Town, The Cannons, the Commercial district -- and luckily the day was sunny and bright. After stopping for a wine in the Bourg du Four square, the crowd was hungry and ready for a feast.


Having perfected the recipe, Jaren was eager to lay out the fondue spread. With both cheese and meat fondue queued up, we chowed down .

The original plan for Friday (long way around Lake Neuchatel to Bern) got scrapped in favor of something far more relaxing. Having rented a car for the weekend, we decided to drive up to the Alpine spa town of Lukerbad in the Valais region.

Taking the long way and local roads, we took every opportunity to stop and look at something cool.

Vineyards in Vevey:

Once in Valais, the drive up the mountain was everything one would expect in a switchback road. We white-knuckled up one face and crossed a single lane bridge onto another (freaking out the entire time, I promise) until we finally reached the secluded town of Lukerbad.



And man was it worth it. The Alpentherme complex had a series of mineral pools at varying temperatures, the highlight of which was the outdoor pool looking out onto a horseshoe shaped ring of mountains:


Dinner followed the 4 hour swim, and then a long drive back in the dark. We made it home, so in the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I've got to say about that."

Saturday was another day where best intentions met reality. Originally planning a ski day, we unfortunately were a little to relaxed after spa night and overslept. In realizing we weren't going to make it to the mountain in time to enjoy any bit of the day, we decided to have lunch in Carouge and work our way back via the Plainpallais market.

Well, after enjoying a delicious lunch that included Lake Perch and Fois Gras Penne, we made our way to the market for some historical Swiss trinkets (including Claudia's pair of St. Bernard coasters). Of course, we had to grab a bite of something funny looking, which in this case was a form of grilled sausage.


And sausage makes people thirsty, so we went for a beer. Well, that just led to more, and we ended up drinking and eating our way back across Geneva. Dinner was Charbonnade and, well, we'll let the pics tell the rest of the story...

For a nightcap, we hit up The Grand Duke Pub, the English-style pub a few steps from our apartment for darts. Apparently none of us are very good, because our one game ended up taking so long we closed the place down. Oops.



The plan for Sunday was a trip to Gruyere, but first up we had to pick up our fifth for the day -- Jaren's mom Annie.

Portes du Soleil--March 11, 2007

Uncle Matty's hangover remedy 231 - elevation and exertion of course.

Saturday we had the pleasure of joining a couple of Steve's French classmates for a social gathering. In a room where the the crowd included three Americans, two Czechs, two Venezuelans and a Spaniard (not to mention our hosts young son, Santiago, who happened to be born in Scotland), the two constants was good conversation and good wine. Before we knew it, we were staring down the barrel of 4am, not normally a problem except that we had to catch an 8:30 bus out to France for our last ski day of the year. Oops.

Not to say it wasn't worth it - heck, finding out that Tichy is the Czech word for "quiet" was alone enough to make it worth it. But after a very short nap, we dragged our exhausted bodies out of bed and marched the three blocks to the bus pick-up. I'd tell you more about the bus trip, but we just slept clean through the drive.

Flash forward two hours and we're at the back of a tour bus heading up a winding mountain road. Stomach contents were kept in check, but just barely.

Was it worth it - absolutely. Portes du Soleil is an Alpine area crossing the French-Swiss border south of Lake Geneva, with the resort areas all well over 1500 meters. Arrival at the base of the telecable was near immediately followed by a couple of much needed cups of coffee, getting us to about 50%, which is about as good as we were going to get that day. Nonetheless, 50% was all we needed to have our best ski day of the year.

Avoraiz, the are we focused on, can only be described as a ski village built at the edge of a cliff - not one ounce of hyperbole in that statement either. Some of the lodging is no more that 10 feet away from a 500 foot drop. Just breathtaking natural presence, and nerve wracking for the skier who may not be in total control.

Conditions were perfect - piles of powder under a blue sky. We spent the day cruising along the long trails, mixing in periodic snacks (of the greasy variety) and drinks (of the caffeinated variety).

Apologies for not having any pictures, but not really. Today was a day for us to share, and one that through sleepy eyes and headaches, we'll never forget.

Babbo Goes to Switzerland -- March 3-9, 2007

What better excuse to live out your "Heidi" fantasies than to visit a child in Switzerland?

Looking to escape the fantastically exciting world of surgical coding, Steve's mom Barb took a week to come visit us here in Geneva and put her boots down on a new patch of earth. Of course we weren't going to let her go the guided tour and posh hotel route, but we did promise her good amounts of chocolate-filled pastries which seemed to take care of any problems in advance.

As she arrived on a Sunday, our touring options were limited as just about everything was closed. So we decided to spend the day taking a short boat tour of the area, heading out to Hermance on the French border for a look at a typical little country town and enjoy the ride. (Regular readers my remember our own bike ride to Hermance our first week in town, documented here).

The day was perfect, sun shining overhead and calm waters. After a short game of "Did Stephen screw up and misread the boat schedule" (one of America's most popular past times according to the two women who know me best), the boat indeed came and we headed off.

Jet d'Eau from the port
The ride was pleasant and in no time we arrived.

Hermance really is as advertised - small and old. We took a walk to the medieval tower, had a bite and took the afternoon boat home, where Jaren made a fondue dinner and we settled in for the night.

Monday threw us a curveball in the form of torrential downpour. Steve had French class that morning, and the plan was for Barb to walk around the big commercial area, followed by the two meeting up for a tour of Old Town. Well, you can imagine how well all of that went in a thunderstorm. Barb, however, was a great sport and made the best of her time by using the shops as a way to stay dry. That afternoon, the two toured all of the left bank as the sky finally cleared. Dinner with Jaren, called it a night.

Tuesday was a travel day, and the pair headed to the Valais region to take in Switzerland's instantly recognizable natural landmark, the Matterhorn. Getting up at 6AM, they caught the early train to Visp where they transferred to a local train to Zermatt, which them took them to a cog train up a neighboring mountain (along the precipice I might add, one that all agreed would give both Bob and Greg - specifically their respective fear of heights - a fit.


We finally reached the top, and the views were as advertised. The picture doesn't even do the view justice - the smell of the air and the movement of the clouds all add to the majesty of the view.
We asked another viewer to get a picture of us in front of the mountain. Just three simple elements to the picture - woman, son, giant shark-tooth shaped mountain top. What a great souvenir, something that would be treasured always. Easy, right?

Moron. Somewhere to the left of Steve is the Matterhorn. At least we got the side of the information building, right?

As for our own photographic adventures, I just couldn't resist this one:

Instant classic. The rest of the day was spent on the Swiss railroads taking in the country side and making our way back to Geneva.

Wednesday, much like Monday, was a French class day in the morning. With better weather this time, Barb did a bit of sight seeing on her own, followed by an after lunch trek up International Hill to see the UN and surrounding buildings. Also included was a tour of the International Red Cross museum - a highly stylized and moving tribute to the relief organization and its good work all over the world. Interesting, yes, but not exactly happy stuff. Luckily, Jaren was able to spring out of work an hour early and met up with us for a trip to everyone's favorites, Manor and Migros. The ladies did some shopping, Steve pushed some little kids out of the way to play videogames, and Barb loaded up with souvenirs (read: chocolate) to take home.

Thursday was another travel day, this time to the capital city of Bern and the medieval cheese-making region of Gruyeres.

For a more in depth description of Bern, check out the post from Aaron's visit. Much like the boys before her, Babs enjoyed the town, the views and people. Of particular interest was this statue of a man eating babies. For those who haven't heard it, there's a great story about Aaron making a VERY ill-timed comment about eating babies at the christening of one of our father's colleagues. To see this, well, it gave Barb and Steve the giggles.

This one, well, kind of just explains itself.
After a long morning in Bern, we took off for Gruyeres, which was an adventure in itself as it involved changing a bunch of local trains in off-the-beaten-path-places at funky times. Considering that we weren't travelling that far, its seemed like an arduous production, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Arriving in Gruyeres, we headed straight for the creamery. Taking our audio guide on a tour of the facility , we learned all about the cheesemaking process and the traditions of the area (did you know the word Gruyeres comes from the French word for crane)? Our guide that day was "Cherry," a local cow who if she doesn't check her attitude is on a one way road to flank steak town. But I digress, and after some samples, it was up the hill to the castle.


This is the view from the top.

And this is the hill where Barb damn near killed Steve


The castle was very cool, complete with all the medieval accoutrement. There was even a room dedicated to baroque art, which gave the opportunity for a chorus of "If it ain't Baroque..." jokes.

With the tour completed, we took in a bit more of the town, picked up some meringues made with the local cream and a bag of caramels, and headed home (of course, on the way, every time we achieved something such as finding the train station, getting on the train, switching trains, etc..., we rewarded ourselves with a caramel).

Arriving back in Geneva, it was one last dinner together which could only mean one thing -- more cheese. On the menu was dried beef and raclette, which is nothing more than melted cheese scraped off a block onto potatoes. And of course, it was excellent. Sitting under a painting that eerily resembled the late Bruno Kirby, we enjoyed the rest of the night and prepared to send Barb off the next morning.

Good time all around, and great to give Barb the opportunity to get away from the coding books for the week.