Episode 6: October 2005

Welcome back! We start this entry with an editorial note: We’ve received a few emails from readers expressing their disappointment that we are no longer sending thru the links to our digital photos. Actually, we are. With every blog posting, we include some pictures from the month. When you click on one of these photos, you will be taken to the site where we post our photos (Kodak’s Ofoto site). It’s just a bit of technology brought to you by the Shorg blog! Now, on with October!

For those of you who have had to read our past entries in shifts (because they were so darn long), you will be happy to know that October was a relatively clam month for us, much to our delight. The first day of the month started with a hike in a lovely part of Switzerland known as Wildspitz (about a 30-minute drive south of Zurich). Deb’s friend, Daphne, decided to celebrate her birthday by inviting 12 people to hike to the top of one of the small mountains and stay the night in a full-service hut before hiking down the next morning. On paper, this was a great idea, and everything went very well…except the weather. We started the party by driving to the meeting point – roughly halfway up the mountain -- in sleet and rain, parked our cars, and then hiked up for an hour in the freezing cold. Luckily, there was a warm hut and a tall beer waiting for us at the top!

The whole point of visiting the hut was to take in the beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Unfortunately, due to low-lying clouds and rain, we basically had no visibility! Nevertheless, we had a great evening. After defrosting and changing into dry clothes, we chatted, ate dinner, and chatted some more over glasses of wine and dessert. We had a reasonably good sleep that night and the next morning awoke to breakfast and our first sight of snow! By late morning, we all hiked together to our cars and then headed our separate ways.

[One note about Switzerland’s mountain huts. We admittedly do not know much yet about these huts, but we hear that they are quite the experience (as we found out firsthand). Switzerland has loads of mountain huts that accommodate to the day-hiker and serious backpacker. The huts are typically known for their remote locations and spectacular views of the surroundings. Many of the huts are “rustic” and are equipped with the bare essentials. The hut at Wildspitz is much more well-appointed than the typical hut. In the basement are three or four rooms with dorm-style sleeping arrangements. The main floor features a full-service restaurant, and the owners of the hut cook up a variety of meals and coffees throughout the day. We hope to have many more adventures at these huts throughout the country. For any backpackers and hiking enthusiasts who are reading, if you are interested in learning and seeing more, we suggest you visit the Swiss Alpine Club’s website, www.sac.ch (website is only in German or French).]

The following weekend was relatively quiet. We babysat our friends’ kids for a few hours on Saturday so that the parents could have an afternoon to themselves. On Sunday, we joined a group of friends to see Cirque Du Soleil’s new show, Dralion. For those not familiar with the Cirque shows, they are basically human circuses. There are no animals – instead the show is based on people doing what can best be called unusual feats to a fantastic, driving musical soundtrack. It’s an experience we highly recommend seeing. As expected, Dralion did not disappoint!

The following weekend, we had our first visitor from the Sheorey clan. Neal’s dad (Ravi) came to spend five days with us. He was in Hungary on a work trip and managed to stop in Zurich before flying back to the US. On the day he arrived, we spent the afternoon walking through Zurich and showing him our beautiful city. The next day we took a road trip to the quaint town of Neuchatel, located on the French side of the country. There, we met up with my dad and stepmom, Julie. Believe it or not, though Neal and I have been a couple for over three years, this was the first meeting of any of our family members! We labeled the whole event as a “meet the Fockers” experience. We found Neuchatel to be a very nice town, based on French Barroque architecture. It’s definitely one location that we are considering for a second visit in the summer. On this visit, we stayed long enough to have lunch together and walk a bit through the town.

The next day I left for a trip to the US, leaving the “boys” together. Neal’s dad spent the day visiting a nearby mountain called Pilatus. It was quite an adventure for him. He took the train from Zurich to Luzern, boarded a boat to cross Lake Luzern, and then rode a cog train up to the top of Pilatus. At the summit, he took some lovely pictures of the surrounding mountains, and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy the entire outing. The next morning, Neal’s dad left Zurich to return to the US. It was a short trip for him, but we’re glad that he was able to visit us and see how we are living in Switzerland.

Once I returned from my trip to the US, we decided to have our own little adventure. Knowing that the winter months are quickly approaching, we took advantage of a nice day to hike along a mountain range known as the Rigi. The Rigi is known by some as a “family mountain”. It’s a very popular range overlooking Lake Luzern that is not terribly strenuous and is perfect for casual day-hikes. We hiked a track that we had read about some time ago. The adventure began with us taking our packed lunches on a train to Luzern. From the Luzern train station, we caught a boat to the village of Vitznau, where we jumped on a cog train to the top of the mountain. Starting at the summit, we then followed the crowds down a path known as the Felsenwegg. All together, we hiked for three hours (not including our rather long stop for ice cream and to take in the view). The walk was spectacular. In some spots, the path carved into the mountain to provide spectacular views of the lake below and the mountains all around us. There are so many paths to explore that we will probably be back again for another hike.

The hike provided a nice end to the month of October. Overall, it was a calm month and one in which we took some adventures within Switzerland. As we ended the month, we were well aware that the colder months are upon us. I’m sure that we can expect a whole new and different set of adventures with the arrival of the snow!