Switzerland, 35 years on!

Having not skiied for more than five years until I went last moth I have just returned from a nother ski weekend. This time we went to the small resort of Champex-Lac in Switzerland. Denise and I went down and met Steve, and his daughter Helen, from work who had gone there the day before us and came back the day after us. It was Helen's first time on skis so she gave all but the nursery slope a miss.

Champex-Lac

After a warm-up ski session on the Champex Lac nursery slope we headed to the large resort Verbier where Steve and I did some more serious skiing with aches to show for it. I had last visited Verbier on a summer holiday in August 1973.

Verbier

Whoops, back on your feet!

Perhaps I'll just take a rest!

Steve's moment of glory

Move over, my turn at Champex-Lac

Still my go! Champex_lac nursery slope

On the drive back from Verbier to Champex-Lac

Two bits of wood and some white stuff

Somewhat overdue, here are some pictures of my first ski outing in more than five years. Abdi (from work) and I travelled by overnight train to Munich, transferred to Salzburg, transferred to Wrogl and finally transferred to St. Johann-in-Tirol when we donned our ski stuff. A word to the wise - next time take the overnight car train (http://www.autozug.de/) and drive the rest of the way! there was too much wasted time waiting for connections (1 1/2 hours just in Salzburg).
Abdi looking apprehensive as we near St. Johann- what have you let yourself in for!

Here comes Abdi!

It was Abdi's first time on skis (I had to wonder if he had even seen snow before!). It was a good weekend although I would have liked to do a bit more skiing but at least we had each other for company and with a beginner I was unlikely to do anything remotely risky.

On the train back to Berlin

A moving experience

The keenly awaited trip back to Ottawa to take ownership of the new house finally came around. As we prepared to leave the apartment at the start of the journey we seemed to have plenty of time to get to the train station. However, as it often does, those spare five minutes dis-appeared in about 30 seconds and so it was at a fast pace we set off to the train station. We got to the station as the train heading in the southerly direction pulled in and we knew that gave us only a minute until our north bound train pulled in. We raced as much as we could, having to go down one flight of stairs and up two with all our luggage and buy Denise's train ticket before we could board the train. After the first flight of stairs a passing man offered to carry one of our cases for us and so he did, he did not need to insist. We somehow got to the platform, bought and validated the train ticket with just seconds to spare before our train closed it doors and pulled out with us aboard.

When we got off the train we had to catch a bus and we were only halfway across a three lane in each direction road, on the median when the bus appeared! Fortunately the driver saw us on the median and waited a few extra seconds at the bus stop to give us time to complete the crossing and board.

The flights themselves were pretty routine although we did get some awesome views of Greenland from 35,000 feet. We tried to spot some polar bears but they would have had to be pretty big for us to have spotted them although the snow and rock of Greenland seemed only just beyond our reach.

southern Greenland from 35,000ft.


Due to high winds in Munich our flight across the pond was delayed and the knock-on effect was that we missed our next flight from Toronto although we were put on the next flight after ours which was only an hour later.

The house closing was routine although when we went to the house for the walkthrough we were dis-appointed that it obviously wasn't quite ready. There was still a lot of dust around (everywhere) and some things were not complete such as cabinet doors missing but, by the time we left, the final clean up was at least under way.

The builder explained that there had a been some minor problems and we were glad that at least we didn't have a removal truck outside waiting to unload.

We came back on Friday and although some of the minor jobs had now been completed, there was dust everywhere (again!). It turned out that the building inspector had instructed the builder to put more insulation in the attic. They had done so but someone had not made sure the attic door was closed and in fact it was slightly open. Hence when insulation was blown into the attic a good deal of it came straight through the attic door and through the house. That evening the cleaners were back again! Again grateful that the main move was not scheduled until Saturday.

Saturday was clear and sunny though cold but the work of loading the truck with things from Daniel and Gill's as well as our storage unit and moving it into the house kept us warm enough. Thanks to all those volunteer helpers, you earned your pizza!
Hallway Basement


Kitchen and second bedroom


from Lounge to Dining Room



Who's got time to take it easy?
There's work to still be done!

We got everything out of the old house and most of the storage unit cleared and into the new house after a fashion in time for a cuppa towards the end of the afternoon.

Most of the rest of the time that week was spent organising the house, constructing a very large (4' x 10') storage shelf in the garage as well as installing a garage door opener and getting the last few things out of storage.

We did fit in a flying visit to Moises and Lolita in Markham which including catching up over dinner in the CN tower restuatrant. The trip down took longer than planned as there was a snow fall all day. Traffic on the 401 was heavy and slow although at least there were no accidents in the westbound direction though there were several on the eastbound side that necessitated completely closing the highway in that direction.

CN restaurant with Moises and Lolita


Hope you enjoy the pictures, more to come later.

Did we blink?

Our last blog talked about getting Christmas cards written and sent as Christmas was rapidly approaching. Now it is rapidly dis-appearing!

We spent a good ten days back in Bristol and the surrounding area. Christmas day and Boxing day were at Nanny and Grandad's house (along with Bev, Matt, Emma and Carl).

Most of the rest of the time was spent shopping or hanging out with the other clan. That included a 'blow-off-the-cobwebs' walk around Corton Denham which naturally included a stop at the atmospheric 'The Queen's Arms"!

Just to show that we did actually do some walking here a few pictures on the beautiful countryside and one of it's inhabitants.

Having arrived back in Berlin on 31st December we were surprised at how many fireworks the Germans let go all evening and well into the New Year. It was like being in the blitz!

This morning, 1st January, we got up to find it snowing and by the time it finished about an inch had accumulated so we went for a walk and took a picture near the apartment complex little shopping area.

Getting in the spirit

Well, December has finally arrived and despite leading a quiet life here in Berlin, we still have to scrabble to write Christmas cards to avoid missing the posting deadlines!

Today we went to Spandau (inspiration in the naming of pop group 'Spandau ballet') for one of the many Christmas markets being held in and around Berlin.

Here are a few self-explanatory pictures. I did try some video but having at least remembered to take the camera and, with fully charged batteries, I still have to master the video shoot of the digital camera.

Well, due to popular demand, here is a short but best of the bunch clip. Don't worry, it can only get better...

BBrrrrrrrr.....

Today started much like most other Saturdays here, a slow start to the day and a mid-morning coffee before going out on our English newspaper buying trip. Before we left the apartment the sun was out and the weather was bright although on the walk to the train there was a nip in the air.

Having bought the paper, once we arrived back in Mahlow, though the sun was still shining here, there were some ominous black clouds hanging over Berlin to the north.

It did not take long for rain, make that sleet, no, snow began falling! It didn't amount to much by our Canadian standards but below are a few pictures of the first snow of the winter.

Reformation Day

31st October is more commonly known for Halloween in the UK and USA but, thankfully, here in Germany it is more commonly known as Reformation Day. This day marks the day in 1517 in Wittenburg, Germany when Martin Luther grasped a hammer and a long piece of paper covered with his writing. He walked out into the street and straight over to the castle church door, where community messages were often posted.

He nailed his 95 points of discussion on the door. He only wanted to lay out his newly discovered views of the Bible to other church leaders in the Medieval Catholic church. He thought he was free to do so even though his thoughts were radical. After all, he was an Augustinian monk and a professor of theology.

Without his knowledge someone printed his words on the newly invented Gutenburg press, distributing it all over Germany. Within a very few days, Martin found that he was the subject of everyone’s thoughts. In the cathedrals and great stone castles of his homeland, the pubs and peasant’s cottages—everyone was talking about the views of Luther. Without a signal to announce it, the Protestant Reformation had begun!

Whilst we are thankful for the Reformation we also enjoyed the bank holiday now instituted in it's memory!

Being a very autumnal sort of day we drove upto Niederfinow, about 80 miles northeast of Berlin. Niederfinow is the site of one of the largest, if not the largest, boat lifts in Europe. It links two canal systems and allows a number of boats / barges into a kind of bathtub from one canal system and raises or lowers them to the other canal system. The boat lift structure is about 60 metres high but the actual 'bathtub' takes the boat a height of 37 metres.

Not for the first time, I had camera battery problems although I did take some video that I have not yet worked out how to load here. in the meantime I scanned some pictures from the accompanying brochure so you can see what it's like.

After we looked over the structure and watched some boats passing through the system, we drove to the nearby town of Eberwalde and from there took a scenic drive through the forested area in which the trees were nice shades of yellow and amber before heading back to Berlin.