A weekend in Zurich

This weekend we took our first train-trip through Europe, of what we hope will be many. This time, we only made it to Zurich, but we’re still working on getting the paperwork for the dogs to travel outside Switzerland, and we definitely wanted to take them along. They did so well on the train ride – it was such a smooth trip! And we’re so glad we decided to visit Zurich. We absolutely loved this city. It has so many beautiful sights to see and it’s small enough that we didn’t feel overwhelmed there. It is in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, so David got to practice a bit of his German. But everyone spoke English, “of course,” as they all said when we asked “sprechen Sie English?” Our hotel was fantastic, and it had an amazing Swiss restaurant where we ate seasonal-mushroom salads and traditional fondue our first evening there. You can see the front of the hotel and restaurant in one of the pictures - it's the salmon-colored building with green shutters and all of the chairs out front. Zurich is a perfect place to just wander around and see the sights – so that is exactly what we did. The old part of town is along the river, with newer parts along the lake further south. There are two churches across the river from each other, the Fraumunster, which has a set of Marc Chagall stained-glass windows, and the Grossmunster. You can go up one of the Grossmunster towers, by stairs, and see some beautiful views of the city. One thing I loved the most about this city was that the tallest buildings were the churches – from the top of the Grossmunster, you could see so many of them. There were fountains all over the city, with low spouts for the dogs. All this combined with the old Swiss buildings and cobblestone alleyways, it was just a wonderful place to be. We also went to the art museum, the Kunsthaus, on the recommendation of a few Zurich locals we met on the train. We didn’t know how many pieces were there that we were already familiar with – so many by Picasso, Matisse, Rodin, Van Gogh – including one of my favorites, Wheatfield with Cypresses. We also saw pieces by a Swiss painter, Ferdinand Hodler. Look him up if you get a chance – his work is all typical Swiss landscapes. Beautiful. Logan and Lucy loved the trip as well, especially all of the roasted chestnuts dropped on the ground! Lucy also enjoyed all the pigeons on the streets and the swans in the river and lake. The only place they weren’t allowed were the chocolate shops – an absolute must when you’re in Zurich. All in all, it was a great weekend – Zurich is definitely one of our new favorites that we will certainly be re-visiting in the future.

Festa d'Autunno Lugano

This weekend was the Autumn Festival in Lugano, celebrating the harvest and all the local traditions and foods of the area. Area ristorante and grotti had stands all through the pedestrian areas of the city, with fall dishes and homemade foods. David and I went down into the city Saturday with a friend and Sunday with the dogs to taste all the local specialties... polenta e gorgonzola - a cornmeal dish that we ordered with gorgonzola cheese... roasted castagnole (chestnuts) - they smelled so wonderful throughout the streets!... raclette - this was ridiculous - they basically take a heating element and melt cheese off a big wheel, then scrape it onto a piece of bread and put pickles on top - so amazingly good... cream of pumpkin soup... crepes with Nutella... grilled lamb... pastries... and of course, wine! We also got to see alpenhorn players (those big, long horns that you think of when you think of Switzerland), and bought local alpine flower and chestnut honeys. This is all after going to see a symphony in Locarno Friday evening, held at a concert hall which is a former church. What a weekend!

Andermatt

So I'm finally getting around to telling you about this weekend. A friend and I took a student trip to Andermatt. This is apparently a trip that different faculty head every year, and we were the first to sign up. David stayed home to watch the dogs, but also because we had originally thought there would be an Oktoberfest trip for faculty at the same time! We only ended up with 3 middle school students, so other faculty and their families joined us. David took a trip to the top of Monte Bre, but since I had the camera... Anyway, we left Saturday morning to drive to the town Andermatt, which is about 1 1/2 hours north of here (although it took us a little longer since all the buses here are set to not accelerate past 100 kilometers per hour!) The town is beautiful - what you would typically think of as Swiss mountain town. That's the first picture. We met our guides at the sports shop, got suitable hiking boots, harnesses, and gloves, and drove further up a mountain pass (in a 15 passenger van - yikes!) to the Rhone Glacier. That's the second picture. It was amazing - but also sad. It was so big to my eyes, (if you look closely at the bottom, you can see a walkway built into it where they've dug tunnels to walk through) but one of the faculty with us grew up in the area and had been going there for ages - he remembered it doubled in size. One of our guides said that the lake you see in the picture was mostly covered this past spring! The black that you see on top of the glacier is all pollution from the cities. I felt a little guilty walking across it in my crampons, to tell you the truth. Ma basta! On the glacier, we were able to use crampons and ice axes to learn how to ice-climb, then we also hiked across the glacier. It was very strange - I'm used to hiking on boulders, in the woods, on loose ground, and even though the ice wasn't really slippery (think walking on a heavy snowfall the morning after a sunny day when it's hardened) I didn't feel like I had my footing. We walked and jumped across crevices and heard the water running underneath. We walked through the tunnel, and it was so crystal blue inside. After the glacier, we drove back down the pass, only about a mile or so, and parked along the road. We hiked for about 1 1/2 hours up to the hut where we spent our evening. It was at 2730 meters, and we had done a 430 meter elevation gain. (That's about 8957 ft. and a 1410 ft. gain). You can see the hut from another picture - it was taken from the glacier lake (yes, another one) on a little hike a few of us took before dinner. As we walked around this glacier, we noticed all the boulders and rocks that were on top of the glacier here. Toward the end we were walking across the side of the mountain back to the hut, and about 25 feet in front of us, one of those giant boulders suddenly came loose and started sliding down the side. The four of us just stopped, half laughing and half scared out of our minds that it would create a further landslide! More about the hut - a couple lives there and runs the hut. The guides such as ours bring supplies up to the hut, including all the fresh food such as produce and meats. Once or twice a year a helicopter flies in with bulk supplies - canned goods, drinks. There's running water, but you're not encouraged to drink it. The beds are about 6-8 to a room, all lined up in a row on the floor or in a second row as a bunk. No strangers here! They provide you with meals when you stay and you can even buy wine! The next day after breakfast, we hiked part of the way down the mountain and across the alpine landscape (again, guilt!) and spent the day rock-climbing and repelling. I told you I was going to do it all! It was a great weekend, and since we went with the faculty member who's familiar with the area, I now have lots of great ideas for return trips to the area, including a fantastic fondue restaurant in one of the valley towns. The last picture is of the road that we took to get there, St. Gotthard Pass, while we were on the way back. That itself was worth the trip - we passed by a mountain golf course where grey cows grazed on the greens, and all the beautiful villages, alpine hotels, the original St. Gotthard Pass made of cobblestone (we were on the second version, still scary to drive/ride on). I'll end now, sorry this post was so long, but there was so much to tell!!!

Cannobio

The second trip of this weekend... A friend and I (while David was on duty in the dorm) tagged along on a trip, again with some returning faculty, who were leading a student outing to Cannobio, Italy, just across the border on Lake Maggiore. On Sundays, Cannobio has a huge outdoor market with clothing, handbags and shoes taking up most of the stands, as well as amazing food stands with fresh produce, meats, cheeses, Italian cookies, olives, dried fruits, homemade pastas... It was overwhelming, really. I could see myself going every weekend as a Sunday outing. It took about an hour to get to: 20 minutes of driving through Switzerland and then into Italy to a town called Luino, then catching a ferry across Lake Maggiore to Cannobio. Besides all of the markets, there are the town's beautiful cobblestone streets with cafes and boutiques... Having a cappucino in a town like this seems the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning. I, of course, had to end the afternoon buying a mezzo-kilo of olives, which you can see in a picture of the stand with the dried fruits and massive bowls containing capers, marinated mushrooms, tomatoes, and of course, my olives.

Milano

What a busy weekend... On Friday we took class hikes with the students - every grade went to a different area hike. David went to Monte Tamaro with the 9th grade, which has an outdoor park with zip lines and rope courses in the trees, and I went back to Valle Verzasca (where we jumped off the cliff...) with the 11th grade. On Saturday, we took a trip to Milano with some friends - one returning faculty who knows Milano very well, so we were able to see an "insiders" view of it. We split up for some of the day, so David and I saw different parts of the city, and we will definitely be making a return trip to see more and exchange what we saw with each other. We did meet up to look at the Duomo (3rd largest cathedral in the world) and go inside. Unfortunately, the roof and underground excavations were closed by the time we went, so that will have to happen on a return trip. Thanks, M, for the tip about covering your shoulders! They were definitely stopping people who were wearing sleeveless tops to make sure they put on a sweater. We also ate gelato and walked around the Galleria with all of the upscale shops (and a Lush, S!!!), saw La Scala, the opera house where David will be taking students to see performances, and David saw many art galleries around the city as well. It was beautiful, and we can't wait to go back - so many more things to explore!

The Boat Dance

Today was the traditional, first-weekend-of-school Boat Dance, where two boats take the 380-something 7th-12th grade+ students and about 40 first- and second-year teachers, get tied together, and to have dinner and dancing while cruising around Lake Lugano. It was a little chilly toward the end, but all in all, a good time, and of course, some amazing views. From the water, we got to see Gandria, where we walked the other day, as well as the rest of the peninsula that we've been exploring for the past three weeks. It all looks so different and massive from water-level. Monte Boglia, which looks like it has a "bowl" of grass at the top, is one of the greatest sights - we can see this from campus, and it is one of the first on our list of mountains to hike. This was the first time we saw it from this angle, where you can really see the full "bowl". Another view is of a church in Morcote. There is no road to the church, only something like 400 steps. You can also see the cemetery to the right of the church. Morcote apparently has many different little shops along the water, and it is also where we ate pizza on one of our first nights here with all the rest of the new faculty, at Ristorante Della Posta, though we couldn't eat on the terraces that night since it was raining! Our list of places to spend more time keeps growing... Another place is Ponte Tresa, Italy, which we also saw from our tour around the lake.

Gandria

It's been a little while since I last wrote, but we've really just been having a lot of meetings and settling the students into their dorms. Tomorrow is the first official day of classes after two weeks of orientation for new faculty, and two days of new student orientation. David and I are both really liking our dorms (we live in the one where David is the head, but I work in another one so we can be on duty the same night -yes, only one a week- and weekends). I'm working with 11th grade girls, which so far is fantastic. It seems to be a great group of 56 girls, and two of them are also in my advisory group. David's dorm is also going very well, and he's really loving being a dorm head. He has to be on for the first two weeks straight to "train" his dorm parents, but we think this will make for great consistency in the dorm. His dorm actually has the biggest mix of any on campus, but it seems to be working so far - 7th-10th grade, and 11th/12th grade proctors as well - boys and girls. (On different floors, of course!) I still don't know what other duties I will have here, but as classes begin, it seems like I will be needed more and more, which I'm looking forward to. In the meantime, I've decided to work on my Italian by taking a class with some students - Italian 2, mostly with 11th graders. Apparently, this is something that's done often here - joining a student class to work on a language, or even sitting in on an art class. I decided to try Italian 2 since I did take some in college - we'll see how that goes! I think it will be great to have the practice everyday. Now on to the scenic part of this post... We went with a few friends to Gandria today when we had a few hours of free time. It's a small town a bit east of Lugano, built on a hillside. The only way to get to it is to walk along a path built on the hill, or to take a boat. We walked - and here are some pictures along the way. Once you are in Gandria, it's like a scene from a movie - stone houses built close together with stairs and paths and archways between them... little shops and restaurants selling fondue and gelato... a beautiful old church with a tall bell tower... old doorways and religious sculptures... and of course this is all built into the hillside on the water. We had gelato on a patio over the water (I had apple gelato - yum!), while a boat pulled up to a dock below us. And we took the dogs! Their first excursion out of the little village where we live. Hope you enjoy the photos!