Traditional Christmas dinner last night with Colin and Ali.
Our terrace has half a meter of snow covering it at the moment. A heating system slowly melts the snow from beneath, and the meltwater drains onto the path below. This results in a spectacular icicle.
After lunch today we popped across the valley to the little restaurant at Winteregg. We enjoyed a coffee and the spectacular views.
Tonight we’re off to an apero at Paul and Anne-Marie’s place.
Colin played in Rocks last night; he started early to catch the apres ski crowd.
I popped out to the takeaway to get fish & chips for dinner. Anne-Marie has arrived in time for Christmas. I couldn’t resist trying her fur hat.
The snow finally stopped some time in the early hours of this morning. Wengen is looking good.
Today has been spent cleaning the house and preparing Christmas dinner, which is traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve hereabouts.
This morning we headed up to the Co-op, wading through knee-deep snow. A couple of ski lifts were open at Scheidegg, but it wasn’t really a day for skiing. The hill back down to our house from the village.
This evening Colin is playing in Rocks, so we’ll have a few drinks and fish & chips. Everyone is thoroughly fed up with the snow now, even though it will mean a great start to the season once the avalanche danger has subsided.
It started snowing at breakfast time this morning, and it hasn’t stopped since. We had no need to go to the shops, so we were happy to stay indoors all day. It’s Sunday, so we don’t expect to see the council workers out clearing the snow, but late this afternoon the plough turned up. I diligently sweep the balcony about once an hour, until I realise that it’s snowing faster than I can sweep. OK, maybe once every half hour then.
It’s been very windy, with blizzard conditions at times, and almost all the ski lifts have been closed all day. Right now (11pm) the wind is whistling down the chimney and the storm shows no sign of abating. The forecast is for the storm to continue tomorrow, but we’ll have to venture out for bread in the morning, and later on Colin is playing in Rocks. It promises to be quite an adventure, and I suspect the snowshoes will soon be liberated from their summer confinement in the cellar.
This evening was the official start to the winter season. Along the street are lots of stalls supplying gluhwein and other warming drinks. It’s very popular, and the street is packed.
Kids toasting marshmallows and sausages by the tourist office.
To get the free drinks you have to buy a mug for 5 francs. It’s a good deal. The problem is always the cold – it’s usually not long before I need to seek refuge in a cosy bar.
The snow that started yesterday finally petered out at lunchtime today. We trudged up to the village to get shopping and to dispose of our recycling. This afternoon the clouds finally cleared and the sun peeked out.
I grabbed this photo of it just before it disappeared behind the mountain. This evening it’s very cold and clear. There’s a huge storm forecast for the next few days, so we’ll head up to the village for shopping tomorrow morning, before we batten down the hatches for the bad weather.
We’ve had a couple of days of mild, gloomy weather, but this evening the temperature dropped from +10 to zero. It’s time to get Chalet Iltis ready for Christmas.
This afternoon we went to the butcher in Lauterbrunnen and picked up a lovely looking joint of pork. Our friend Beanie gave us a super fruit cake – we’d brought an eBay package from the UK for her. Outside it’s snowing, and it looks like we’ll have a white Christmas here in Wengen.
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