Tartiflette

Last night Colin cooked a French dish called tartiflette. It’s potatoes, onions and bacon bits, topped off with Reblochon cheese.

To say it’s filling is a bit of an understatement.

While we were eating the temperature was dropping outside, and this morning it was minus 8 on the balcony, and minus 14 up the mountain. With the restaurants all closed that would be pretty uncomfortable, so we settled for a wander around the village. Lots of people tobogganing – the Swiss kids are still off school.

We’ll have a quiet night in tonight, before more entertaining tomorrow.

More fog

Gloomy again today, and very cold, and we had some snow overnight. The big tent to the right of the tourist office is a Corona test centre for the staff looking after the races. Apparently they’ll all be tested every day while the races are taking place.

Later on, as temperatures plunged, the fog began to disperse, and we got an amazing sky.

Colin is cooking tonight, so we’re expecting something French.

Train trouble

Val is still under contract to ski school this week, so she has to be up and ready to go each morning. No call came today though, so we ambled down to the railway halt at Wengwald and caught the train down to Lauterbrunnen.

Here we change to the Interlaken train which headed off down the valley. Swiss trains are renowned for their punctuality, but with snow and sub-zero temperatures things do go wrong, and sure enough our train broke down at Zweilütschinen. They fixed it within about 15 minutes and we were off again. 15 minutes lost meant 15 minutes less shopping time, but we sprinted around the Co-op and were soon back in Wengen.

Building the race course

The fog lifted today, so for a while at least we got to see the sky and the mountains. The Lauberhorn ski races start next week, so the courses have to be built. Safety netting and a TV tower have appeared at Canadian Corner.

Wengen is still bustling. The Swiss kids are still on holiday, so there are plenty of visitors.

One of our central heating radiators has stopped working, so at lunchtime I called the plumber. He arrived about 90 minutes later and had fixed the problem within half an hour. Amazing!

Not going out

The shops were closed yesterday, and it’ll be the same story tomorrow. This morning therefore, we had little choice but to drag our trolley full of empty bottles up to the recycling skip at the station before visiting the Co-op.

The station was busy – lots of people are leaving at the end of their Christmas break. It’s a good day to leave, cold and foggy. There’s nothing worse than leaving on a lovely day. The weather means that any thoughts of popping down to Interlaken this afternoon are soon dismissed – I’ll spend the time making a Thai curry for dinner.

Takeaway lunch

It’s another cold, rather cloudy day. Restaurants are all closed, but they’re all offering takeaway lunches. Here’s the menu at the Bahnhof up at Scheidegg.

It’s pretty good value, but you have to eat quickly to avoid your meal going cold. Down in Wengen the queuing system for the cable car has been refined, meaning skiers no longer have to wait on the tennis courts.

Central Sport are doing a roaring trade renting out toboggans. It’s always popular during school holidays, but this year there are hardly enough sledges to keep up with demand.

People enjoying a beer at lunchtime. Despite the bars being closed there’s a nice atmosphere in the village.