From the Alps to the Atlantic

It's hard to believe that it is already the end of February.  Just when the kids were back to their routine after a three-week Christmas holiday, they had another ten days off in February for "ski break."  Europeans love taking proper holidays. 

One weekend in February we headed to Champery, Switzerland and skied the Swiss Alps for the first time.  I will say, you have much more confidence skiing at a place you know, it is very nerve-wrecking not knowing exactly how you are getting down the mountain once you reach the top.  Chris and Adalyn were able to successfully navigate their way down, while I preferred to go down the known with Eliza, the nursery slope! 

We ❤ the Alps! 

After a weekend in the mountains, I was seeking warmth and Chris was seeking culture, so we visited Seville, Spain.  We were very impressed by the city.  We could have spent days meandering our way through the narrow streets discovering new plazas, restaurants, parks and shops.  Seville serves as a great base for visiting Southern Spain. 

The first day we drove only one hour and reached the Atlantic Ocean.  We had a great afternoon walking along Playa de Donana and searching for seashells.  The girls are both beach girls like their momma! 

Walking along the beach-

The second day, we took a day trip to Cordoba, which is historic city in southern Spain.  The main attraction is the Great Mosque of Cordoba which was built in 785.  After the Christian conquest in 1523, the cathedral was built inside.  We were blown away by the complexity and beauty of the Mosque and left wondering how it was built. 

The prayer hall is filled with almost 500 slender columns and striped arches.

On our way there, we stopped at a little town, Carmona.  Carmona is a town built on a ridge, offering many beautiful views.   

Carmona

Carmona surrounded by white villages-

Our third day happened to be the Seville Marathon, so we decided to stay in the city and explore since many of the streets were closed. 

Started the day attending mass in the Cathedral-

The tomb of Christopher Columbus- being held by four figures representing the four kingdoms of Spain during Columbus' life. 

We attended a Flamenco show which is a traditional Spanish form of dance and music.  We all really enjoyed the show and the girls are now both inspired to be Flamenco dancers!!

Walking along the streets-

Carriage ride around the city-

One of our favorite spots in Seville- Plaza de Espana

Bottom's up to a great day in Espana! 

Our last full day, we drove to Portugal.  We first visited Tavira, which is a small town only thirty minutes from the border.

White-washed buildings in Tavira

Our next stop was the beach, unfortunately it was windy and cloudy, but we enjoyed listening to the waves and building sand castles. 

We had a great time and could have spent many more days exploring the Andalusia region.  We highly recommend Seville as a must-see city to visit! 

The weather has been unusually warm this past month, similar to Minnesota, so we haven't been able to ski as much as we had hoped.  This past weekend we attended a Carnival (Mardi Gras) celebration in Sion, Switzerland which was very lively and festive.  This week looks like snow in the mountains, so we are excited to hopefully get back on the slopes! 

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful holiday in Minnesota spending time with family and friends.  We always look forward to those few weeks, although very busy, they are a lot of fun.  Here are a few highlights from our trip back home.

So happy to be back together!! 

Grandpa Pothen pulling the kids sledding on the lake- Minnesota style fun! 

We were SO excited to see this little guy!!  He has grown up so much! 

Time with grandparents is the best! 

Celebrating Grandma Pothen's Birthday-

We arrived back in Geneva and within two days we were skiing in the French Alps.  This year, all four of us are able to ski together, which makes it a great outing on the weekends.  Adalyn is now able to ski on her own with Chris on the harder slopes, while Eliza and I master the easier slopes!

Last week, we were lucky to have been invited by our friends to stay at their Chalet in Les Gets, France, which is a popular ski resort village.  We had never skied there before, so we were very excited to try it out.  Luckily, they had about a meter of snow right before we got there, so the skiing conditions were ideal. 

Fun skiing with good friends-

Eliza's first chairlift ride and probably her last for the season!! 

A bit stressful...

When there is a ton of snow, this is how you get to dinner! 

One way to ride the magic carpet...

We look forward to spending our weekends in the mountains throughout the winter.  The girls are back to their school routine, while I occasionally am subbing at their school.  It has been fun to get back into my role as a teacher and see how schools operate in Geneva. 

Ben visits!

We just spent a great week hosting Chris' brother, Ben.  He was only here a week, but was able to see and do so much during his visit. 

The first full day he was here was Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is obviously not celebrated in Switzerland, so business is as usual, but we decided since Uncle Ben was here the girls could skip school.  They ended up spending the day at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, looking at all of the artifacts from previous Olympics. 

The real torches from previous Olympic games-

That evening, I made a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Turkeys are hard to find in Switzerland, and our ovens are tiny, so I cooked up two turkey breasts instead.  We were able to enjoy turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, pumpkin bars, and apple crisp.  After the meal we watched the Vikings game, which was perfect timing for us at 6:30pm. 

The next morning, Chris and Ben flew to Rome, Italy for the weekend.  They were able to tour all of the main attractions and enjoy the delicious Italian cuisine.

Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

On Sunday, when they flew back, we headed to Anney, France.  Last time when Ben visited, we did not go to Annecy, so we knew we wanted to take him there.  The Christmas market season has begun and we love walking around the markets seeing the different items for sale, enjoying vin chaud, and getting in the holiday spirit. 

Old Town Annecy

Eliza loved this bear-

Lake Annecy

Monday, Ben visited CERN.  He is very interested in science, so this was a perfect outing for him.  CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research and operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.  Many physicists and engineers work there using the largest and most complex scientific instruments to study fundamental properties.  One fun fact, CERN is the birthplace of the World Wide Web.  It began as a CERN project in 1989 and the first website was activated in 1991.  A very important day was April 30, 1993, when they announced that the web would be free to anyone.  Can you imagine life without google search???  

Sadly, on Tuesday Ben had to head back to Minnesota.  We had such a great time with him!  After he left, it was time for birthday prep for Adalyn.  She had a "Tea Party" birthday party and had a fabulous 7th Birthday! 

So thankful for her friends in Geneva- a wonderful group of girls!

Excited to see our family and friends in TWO weeks!!! 

Autumn in the Swiss Alps

The hills are definitely alive in Switzerland in the fall.  There really is no better time to head to the mountains.  The girls had off the last week for fall break, so we decided to visit two mountain villages for two long weekends; Verbier and Zermatt. 

Last weekend, we headed to a well-known ski village, Verbier, in the southwestern part of Switzerland.  We stayed in a chalet in the town of Le Chable, which is a ten minute drive from Verbier.  We spent the first day exploring the village and ice skating. 

The second day, we took a cable car up and did a hike along the mountain.  It was a perfect hike with the kids, wide and flat.  In the afternoon, we did a scavenger hunt hike that the kids loved.  We were in the forest area reading clues and answering questions.

Sculptures along the trail-

View from the hike-

Hooray for hiking!! 

Scavenger hunt hike-

On our way home Sunday, we visited Barryland, the museum of St. Bernard dogs in Martigny.  Since the early 18th century, monks who lived along the St. Bernard Pass kept the dogs to help them rescue people after bad snowstorms.  The St. Bernard Pass was the only way for people to travel through the Alps between Italy and Switzerland.  Over a span of 200 years, it is estimated that about 2,000 people were rescued because of the dogs.  The dogs were able to find buried travelers, and provide them warmth while the other dog would go back to the hospice and alert the monks.  Fast forward to today, they now have 18 Bernard dogs, that spend their time either at the hospice on top of the mountain, or below in the town of Martigny.  As for rescues, those are now done with helicopters.  We were lucky to be able to see the dogs and the new puppies that were just born in August. 

This past weekend, we visited another well-known ski village, Zermatt.  We had visited Zermatt once two years ago, but only for a day and it was cloudy and we weren't able to really see the true beauty of the Matterhorn.  The forecast was showing mild temperatures and clear skies all weekend, so we booked a last minute weekend getaway.  We are so happy we did.

The highlight of our trip to Zermatt was taking the Gornergrat train which goes from Zermatt to Gornergrat (10,266 ft) which offers up close views of the Matterhorn. 

Loving the snow! 

Hot chocolate with a view-

Natural beauty-

Admiring the reflection of the Matterhorn in Riffelsee.  Unfortunately, the lake was partially frozen, but still pretty amazing.

We decided to hike down from Rotenboden to Riffelberg, which turned out to be a very icy descent, but the girls did great and we were able to spend time in the open mountain air. 

Adalyn excited she made it down the icy trek! 

A perfect ending to our weekend-