Photo of the Week - Windy Day!

On Sunday I had the day to myself I was wandering around Zurich taking photos for one of my A to Z series, when I saw this art on the wall. I thought it look lovely with everyone trying to cope with a windy day.My long weekend starts tomorrow and with it comes a trip to Alasce to visit a friend.

Jucker Farm

Yet again it is that time to visit Jucker farm to see the wonderful pumpkin exhibition and partake in the many delicious goodies to eat. It began at the end of August and carries on until November 6th. We arrived in time to see the weighting of the pumpkins, it is hard to imagine growing such huge ones.This year the theme of the exhibition is Swiss cliches most of them you know what they are suppose to be, plus it is written down. A swiss cow!
I did not check what this is but I think it is Heidi and family.

This is the Matterhorn!
Marmot animals, they run riot all over the place!
Alpine horn!
William Tell!
Not sure what that is supposed to be!


Of course you can buy from a huge assortiment of vegs and of course pumpkins. You can also carve out your pumpkin while you are there!

I bought a selection to use as decorations. As for food you can eat lots and with pumpkins in nearly everything, even the beer. I had a delicious dessert with pumpkins and the soup was just very tasty.
There is a giant haystack, a small petting zoo, hammocks to relax in and a orchard where they grow there own fruit. The location next to Lake Pfaffikon is wonderful and if you go on a sunny day it is just a great day out. It gets very busy but you can park at the train station and a shuttle bus takes you up to the farm.

On the 19th & 20th November they have a Christmas market, I have not been but will try to go this year, I am sure it will be great fun!

Zermatt - Gronergrat!

During our weekend in Zermatt we decided to go up the Gronergrat (Groner Ridge) which is just below 31oom. The Gronergrat railway goes all the way to the top and what a journey it is, wynding and twisting all the way up! Here again is the Matterhorn, we really had a wonderful view of it!


You can see from the top 29 peaks over 4000m quite unbelieveable! This is the Monte Rosa Massif and it has the tallest mountain in Switerland Dufourspitze at 4,634m. It is the second tallest in the Europe after Mon Blanc. Also you can see the Groner glacier at 14km in length, it is the second largest glacier in the Alps.




Once we had some refreshment we decided to walk down to Riffelberg station which is at 2582m. This is the view we had while walking down, it is not that easy walking downwards and our muscles were quite sore the next day.
This is Lake Riffel at 2757m it is said that you can see the reflection of the Matterhorn in the lake but sadly clouds had started to appear, so we could not see it.

Many people were out walking up and down, also we saw some mountain bikers, not for the faint hearted!

We see the end of our walk downwards the station Riffelberg, where we enjoyed food and drinks. We had a longish rest for our poor legs and got the train back to Zermatt.
It was a wonderful day, all those mountains surrounding us was very impressive, it really felt amazing to be so high up. If you want to go higher then the Klein Matterhorn is for you at 3820m.

A is for Apples

I decided to start A to Z posts, I wanted to do it on travelling but found it hard to think of ideas. So I am doing it randomly and started with Apples as they are everywhere I look these days. There are many apples trees out and about and they look really lovely!We even managed to find some apples not bruised!
This is at Jucker Farm (which I will do a separate post as a fab place to go).
Finally with all these apples around I had to make a apple dish so I went for apple crumble, quite easy to make. It tasted really good if I do say so myself!
Happy Weekend!

A visit to Melchsee- Frutt

At the end of August we went for the day to Melchsee-Frutt in the Kanton of Obwalden, not so far a drive from Zurich. The weather was great to be in the mountains we drove all the way up but there is a gondola to take you up the 1920m. Once up we had our lunch, here is Alessio waiting for his to come.Afterwards we took this cute train, you can walk there and back but Alessio really wanted to go on it. We walked back most of the way, enjoying the views
There is another resort at the top here, a gondola takes you up.
From here it is possible to the Titlis mountain!

The lakes looked lovely and inviting, with the sun glimmering on the surface!





There are plenty of places to grill!

A really lovely day!

Playball - A Sports Programme

PLAYBALL

Playball is a sports programme which began some 24 years ago in South Africa and it is now a successful global business. It is not only a sports programme but importantly, also teaches life skills to children. In Switzerland, Playball has only been around for two years and Nadine McGaw – Troxler introduced it firstly to the Pfäffikon area and will soon be expanding closer to Zurich. She will also be training all new area managers and staff in the country. Here are some questions I asked Nadine about Playball.

1. How long have you been involved with Playball?

17 years

2. What made you get involved with Playball?

My daughter did Playball in South Africa when she was 4 years old. I saw that she gained lots of self-confidence and because of it, later became a great athlete, winning many medals. I was asked to get involved and took the chance.

3. How did you work your way up?

I started out as an instructor, then had my own centre in Pretoria called Playball Brooklyn with over 500 children. I decided to move to Switzerland when I was offered the opportunity to launch Playball here.

4. Why do parents like their children doing Playball?

Parents are happy that their children are active and do sports. Also the fact that it is in Swiss German and English is also very appealing.

5. What sports can my child do and what groups are there?

Football, Volleyball, Field Hockey, Basketball, Baseball and Mini Tennis.

Also available is Playgolf and Swimrite. Classes have between 4 and 8 children in each

All groups are taught age appropriate skills. There are 4 groups: 2-3yrs, 3-4yrs, 5-6 yrs and 7-9yrs.

All children receive 2 assessment reports per year as well as a certificate on completion of a programme.

6. What qualifications do you need to be an instructor?

To be an instructor you need to have a love for children and sports. You would also need to have patience, energy and experience or an interest in teaching. Coaches receive extensive training before coaching a class. There are in-house training updates and courses every 12 weeks.

7. What opportunities are there if I want to be involved in Playball?

You can train as an instructor/coach and when qualified work for a centre or buy a franchise.

8. What ist he response so far? The response is very positive from the parents, lots of good feeback. Word of mouth is a important marketing tool for Playball.

9. Will my child learn other skills other than physical ones? Yes, Playball is also a very social oriented programme and such important skills such as independence, co-operation, respecting other children, and helping with self-confidence are taught.

10. What is your ultimate goal while living in Switzerland? That Playball is available to all children and that it would be part of the Swiss Educational System.

If you are interested in your child participating in Playball or in a job opportunty please contact Nadine directly.

The website is www.kidinmecoaching.com, please check it out!

Thanks to Nadine.

TRAVELLING WOES

Travelling normally conjures up images of excitment, fun and enjoyment, not at the moment due to the lovely volcano on Iceland Eyjafjallajoekull. It has been spewing up ash since Wednesday when it erupted and continues to do so now five days later. The wind has blown the ash over Northern and Central Europe and UK which means big disruptions for airlines, airports and travellers. The ash can cause damage to the aircraft therefore no flying.

I am sure we all know of someone affected by the disruption. A work colleagues`daughter cannot return to the UK, our neighbour should have been in London this weekend and my parents should have been in Rome. I myself was going to go to Geneva for the weekend and had to change that (can`t blame the ash for that one though)

Even for the funeral of the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski quite a few of the invited guests will not be able to come, including Prince Charles and President Obama. Also the actor John Cleese paid £3000 to travel by taxi from Oslo to Brussels. A group of people in Belfast paid a taxi driver£700 to drive to London, desperate times call for desperature measures.

In fact it is a little worrying as to how long it will continue to erupt and how long the flight disruptions will last. We are supposed to go to Scotland early May, let`s pray that by then everything will be ok.

Now travellers need to find other options and this means the trains and ferries will get overbooked. Or else just have a holiday in your own country instead.

The advantage of living in Europe is that you can still visit another countries quite easily not only by train but car too.

So fellow travellers I wish you all good luck if you do venture somewhere and hope you get there too!

HAPPY TRAVELLING