Every year a dozen or so Christmas trees appear. These are usually ‘adopted’ by the businesses in the high street who will put them outside their shops and decorate them.
Val went up to Scheidegg with her colleague Ryan. They’ve both had injuries this year, so they wanted to find out whether their legs were working properly. It was very quiet.
New bar where the teepee used to be.
As you can see, it’s been a gloomy day, but it’s less cold than it’s been, which is nice.
This morning at was still pretty gloomy, but a ray of sunshine is beaming down on the Lobhorn.
There’s lots of snow now, and this weekend Männlichen has opened. We wait for the cable car.
Glorious views at the top.
This guy is running as fast as he can through the deep snow, trying to get enough speed to take off. He did, eventually.
With plenty of people and lots of ski lifts and restaurants open, it feels like winter has begun.
There’s a football tournament going on at the moment, in case you hadn’t heard. Argentina vs Holland should be a good game, so we booked a table down at the Three Tells in Matten. Ryan, Will and Tanja joined us.
We had a good dinner and the game was very good. Unfortunately, the last bus back up the valley goes at 10pm, and with the match going to extra time we had to leave before the end. Extra time didn’t produce a result, so when we got back to Wengen we were just in time to see the penalty shootout in Rocks. Randy is still smiling despite the fact that his team lost.
Today it’s been snowing a lot. Time to clear the steps again.
It’s sunny today, but looks can be deceiving. It’s really cold! This is exactly the sort of day we’d normally spend hunkered down at home with a film or a good book, but as luck would have it, Val has an appointment at the eye clinic in Interlaken.
I sat in the youth hostel and nursed a coffee for half an hour while the surgeon pronounced that Val’s eyes were ‘perfect’. To celebrate this, we hopped on a bus and went to the Café de Paris for lunch. Delicious, as ever.
Back in Wengen, it got colder still. No kids in the playground today.
Val spent the afternoon at Emily’s while I did a bit of IT stuff for a friend. We were glad to get home though, and there’s certainly no temptation to go out to the pub tonight.
Yesterday evening the skies cleared, and we had a beautiful moonlit night.
This morning the sun was out, so it’s time for some exercise. We wander up to the village. Some of this season’s ski instructors were having staff training.
We strap on our snow shoes and head up the hill.
Modern snow shoes work really well. You can ascend and descend slopes that you’d never believe possible.
It’s quite hard work though, so plenty of stops are in order.
Switzerland are playing football later, so we’ll be heading out.
I’m never quite sure when it’s appropriate to start putting decorations up, but yesterday seemed as good a time as any. We’ve accumulated all sorts of things.
And of course, a tree.
Even our Christmas cactus is getting the festive spirit.
And as if that wasn’t enough Christmassy stuff, this morning we awoke to a snowfall.
This is good news for skiing, but bad news for me, as it means I’ll have to sweep the 40 steps that lead up to the house from the path.
We’ve had all sorts of weather today, most of it unpleasant. We got the Christmas decorations out and made a start on getting the house looking festive.
After lunch however, the sun put in an appearance. An afternoon stroll around the village seemed in order. There’s a tiny bit of snow on the nursery slope, but the snow cannons stand ready for lower temperatures.
Even in murky weather, Wengen looks good.
England are playing football tonight, so we’ll all be off to Rocks.
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