Pearl of the Alps

 

Switzerland!  And yes, being there makes you want to scream to the heavens, "RICOLA!".  We spent the first week of February in the Swiss Alps.  It was amazing.  All of it.  We stayed in the main village called Saas-Fee (Pearl of the Alps), which is located in the Saas Valley.  This trip completed considerable milestones for the boys- first time on skis, first gondola ride, first trip to Switzerland, first ski run down with Mom and Dad. Sometimes pictures show just how amazing or how beautiful something may be. Unfortunately, our pictures of the Swiss Alps do not do them justice. It is hard to capture their entire beauty.  When I tell you how surreal, peaceful, vast, calm, and majestic they were - you just have to take my word for it.

 

 

 

 

A view from our room in Chalet Annahof. 

 



 

The bar across the street from our Chalet, Rudi's, was our go to après ski spot.  Around 2pm, the music would start pumping out of their speakers and people would start to tuck in.  It was a fun place to unwind and do some serious people watching.

 

Saas-Fee is a traffic free town. That means there are no public vehicles allowed into the town.  You have to park in a special car park and walk in.  There are a few modes of transport once you are in Saas-Fee. The train that is below is one of them.  It runs around the town throughout the day. There are also small taxi like vehicles that take people from the entrance of the town to their chalet. But that is it.  The town was so pretty and idyllic- it would certainly be a shame if it was congested with cars.

 

 

These peanuts had fun doing many, many things.  One of them was sledding or as they say in the UK, sledging.

Henry is on a bum board- yup it is called bum boarding! They actually get you down a hill pretty well- and they are so much easier to tote around.

 

Tough life.

 

 

One of the fun things we were able to do is rent these car/sleds and pull them all over town.  This prevented the "mom, my feet are telling my legs that they are tired" comments.

Quote courtesy of Oliver.

 

 

A view down into Saas-Fee from a mid-mountain lift.

 

Woo hoo! Skiing together for the first time in almost 2 years!

 

Let's not forget the other part of skiing.

And back to the routine.

 

Some general information about the Chalet and our vacation: The Chalet had a Snow Club for the kids in the morning (which they loved) and in the afternoon they were in ski school for a few hours.  Mark and I were able to ski together at least 3 days, have nice adult dinners in the chalet (thanks to the baby listeners outside our door) and enjoy some long over due time together on a vacation. 

 

Wednesday morning we all got on the gondola to go mid-mountain for some lunch and hot chocolate.

 

And when we got to the top, this monkey decided to pout because the pizza wasn't exactly the way he wanted it. 

 

And it was too hot.

 

Oliver just wanted to drink hot chocolate.

 

Complete with a chocolate moustache.

The boys on our way down the mountain.

 

 

 Not sure why we thought it was a good idea to give them large icicles to play with but no one was hurt.

 

I think Henry has the "say cheese" thing down pat.  I'll take it.

 

Yay for sun!  Thursday was the first full day of sun and blue sky for as far as you can see.  Mark and I were out in it all day long,

 

The Mittelallalin (below): (3456 m) is a minor summit below the Allalinhorn situated above Saas Fee. This place is well known for the revolving restaurant which is the highest in the world. (wiki)

 

 

It was an amazing view.

 

 

Now, let's ski!

Happy dances all morning!

 

And way, way, way down there is the village.

Where our little ones were learning how to ski- we snuck a peek. 

 

If you want to have a good smile- here is Oliver and Henry coming down the hill.

Sochi here we come!

 

 

 

We had a great view of the main street from our window.  Here the boys are taking in some of the night life.

 

And Daddy is enjoying the music!

  

Friday morning it was more sledging and a walk through town. 

 

Friday's lessons ended with a well deserved medal ceremony for this small group of skiers.  This medal is what got the boys up on skis every day.  Brilliant!

Saturday we decided to take them out skiing with us- well, on the little practice hill. Although Mark wanted to try and take them up a little bit higher on the button lift.  If anyone knows the story of how I learned how to ski, then you would know that I was not going to let him take them up. Nope.

 

Henry had so much fun!

 

 

 

Oliver and Dad- first run down!

 

Oliver liked it too - and the gear. 

The boys were passed out by 7/730 every night. Not a peep, not a sound.  They really spent every last bit of energy by the end of each day. 

 

I hope you enjoyed the window view into our Swiss vacation. We enjoyed it so much we are already trying to decide where to go next year!