The final blog....

Well, it's only 2 more sleeps until we return God willing and this blog has no news about exciting adventures or places we've visited...
It's simply some of our recollections of the ordinary, special and unique events or experiences we've had during our time away (compiled during a brainstorming session one evening over dinner)...
We've played in the snow, picked and eaten blackberries, scraped the car when it's frosted over, survived -1 to -14 degrees weather, slid in the muddy, waterlogged fields at the park, fellowshipped with many different brethren and sisters, shattered some ice on a large pond with the top layer frozen over, seen the sun go down at 4pm and not rise until 8am, tried various cuisines, ski-ed, driven for hours together, slipped on black ice, climbed mountains, crossed rivers (by bridge!), walked miles, seen beautiful forests and waterfalls, been awed by the grand mountains, walked in the tropics of Singapore, seen the night sky of the northern hemisphere, sung together, felt overwhelmingly homesick at times, prayed for you all, been encouraged by brethren and sisters along the way, cooked meals together, eaten out so much we're sick of it, seen snow making machines on the ski slopes, seen a single snowflake with it's unique design, played indoor hockey and badminton at the gym, endured squad twice a week in a 25m pool, watched the rushing of the River Dee after torrential rain, waited for an hour in traffic to drive through the flooded motorway, driven in mist, ski-ed in the clouds, seen red deer, laughed at Mase as he fell over in the mud, eaten cheese fondue, tried mead (Irish) and Gluhwein (Swiss), devoured too many Swiss chocolates and Dutch salted licorice, had days with no central heating or hot water, made use of many different toilets, driven through the Highlands, felt what it's like to land in new snow, had fingers, toes and face numb with cold, gotten used to the drip that's always on the end of your nose in the colder climates, experienced the silence of the snowy mountains on a chairlift, been thankful for safe travel, watched trees heavy with snow bend under its weight until finally the snow slides off, appreciated a comfortable bed and a warm shower, been confused by the traffic signals near roundabouts, eaten a bridie, had 'frosty' moments when discussing direction in the car, split our sides laughing together, read together, eaten many tatties and rosti, used the underground train system, lost (and then found) each other, been locked in and kicked down doors, survived long distance schooling, made flapjacks, sleep walked in a London hotel, taken thousands of photos, watched a backyard fireworks display, played in a ball pit after the meeting, been to Sunday School during the meeting, played on the percussion instruments at Aberdeen, woken up to the stairs creaking as Dad went to work each morning, eaten curry in the car at Inverness, hit our heads on the low angled ceiling upstairs and the stairwell in the bathroom, eaten mushy peas, stovies and orange cheese, seen Highland dancing, tried haggis and black pudding (Mase), endured the narrow, windy roads, driven at 70mph, marvelled at the huge grocery stores open 24hrs, toured castles and their gardens, been to a country fair, shot clay pigeons, lived in a two-storey house, gotten used to parking on the road at the front of our house, learnt some new words (by the noo, wee, aye), eaten baguettes in Paris, lived in the typical Aberdeen grey, granite house, thrown stones in the rivers, tried curling, used different currencies, enjoyed Wed Bible class in homes, driven on the A90 countless times, seen the unending stone walls in Scotland and Ireland, observed carnivorous plants, tried haddock, chips and turnip mash, touched sleeping grass, been up close to the huge Angus cows and much, much more.
What will I miss most? Definitely the Wednesday night Bible classes where 5 or 6 of us got together to do the readings, listen to a tape or present a talk. For me that was the highlight of the week, as there was always interesting discussion, debate or opportunity to talk about life in the Truth. It was also where we got to know Joe, Vernon, Tony and Jack and appreciate their wit and wisdom. (It will be a very special memory for me.)
But I think we'll also miss the cold, refreshing water straight from the tap, the quiet evenings together during the week, the grandeur of the mountains that make you look up and consider their Maker and the cold air on our faces when we're out running/walking...these are a few of our favourite things!
God be with you, till we meet again....

From Zermatt to Geneva

Saturday, 5 Dec was the beginning of the ski season for Zermatt - fortunately we were leaving that day (before the village was invaded by skiers) and hadn't had to contend with crowds of people. Once we'd packed up we wandered around the village - took a few more photos of some of the older style houses and one of Matt holding a piece of ice which he told us was the Matterhorn! Here's a few more photos of the village and surrounding mountains (note the house on the side of the mountain) and then headed for the train station for the long trip back to Geneva. We remembered to get out the pack of cards this time and so the time flew quickly as we played 500's and snap and other games with the kids - Mase took the opportunity to take in the grand mountain views as we made our way back...We arrived in Geneva and checked in at the hotel and then caught a bus into the city - it was vibrant and busy - there was a street market - few photos attached. Lots of big name stores which I thought some of you would know the names of! Couldn't ignore the garden clock in Switzerland of all places. There were some mirrors set up in the english gardens along the river foreshore where we stopped and had fun watching our body shape change depending on where we stood. Later we saw the last stages of a fun run with various groups of competitors - the serious runners and the ones who got dressed up - here's a few photos of the 'runners' - mice, sumo wrestlers, nurses, skeletons (might be an idea for a HCP Fundraiser). By this time (5pm) the streets were beautifully lit up with xmas decorations and there were heaps of bystanders lining the streets

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Picking up from the last blog...we're on the plane from Geneva to Amsterdam on Saturday, 5 Dec. As we descended for landing I caught my first glimpses of the Netherlands and I was prepared for canals and water but not like I saw...wow!! The country was a mass of water canals - like roads - covering the landscape.
We landed at Schiphol (larger and busier airport than I expected) and caught a train to Amsterdam Central where we had a five minute walk to our hotel - A Train Hotel. We arrived at the hotel too early (10.30am) to check into our room so we left our suitcases there and headed out for a walk. We'd had breakfast in Geneva at 6am and now Matt let us know that he was starving hungry. We foolishly tried to hold him out until midday which rather spoilt our walk along the main streets and some of the canals. We saw signs to the Anne Frank House (the place she and her family hid in for 2 years) and also to a few other places of interest. However Matt was not letting up, so Mase introduced the kids to the Dutch street style chips - hot chips served in a paper cone topped with mayonnaise - they didn't like the mayo (and I don't blame them, there was too much of it) but they devoured the chips (photo attached). We then decided to book a 24 hour open ticket to cruise the canals in the inner city area. Unfortunately it was raining and windy and the windows were fogged up, so we couldn't see anything really. When we finally got a seat near a window, Mase opened it to try and reduce the fog and got some annoyed from people nearby - so no photos that day. We did learn some interesting facts though. We had noticed that many of the buildings looked like they were tipping over or at least not vertical. Well we had this explained. Apparently because the houses were tall and skinny, it was impractical to carry shopping/large items up the narrow staircases, so when they built the houses they installed a beam with a hook from outside the top floor - this was used to lift larger items up to the top floors. However this presented another problem - the items could damage the buildings/windows - so they built the houses in such a way that they were wider/larger at the top than the bottom to prevent items knocking against the house as they were raised. Also - while the houses are tall and skinny, they don't exceed 4 or 5 floors because the ground is so soft and muddy and require deep pile foundations. Another interesting thing is that some old wooden pile foundations had rotted and caused houses to sink so now they use concrete. Apparently Amsterdam is called the Northern Venice and we did see a row of houses built along the canal where doors/windows opened directly onto the water...see photo. We headed back to the hotel around 3pm and spent the afternoon there - researching places we'd like to visit with the kids on the next day. Our room was rather interesting - top floor (3rd level) of the hotel, accessible by a very narrow spiral staircase up which Mase had to haul three big, heavy suitcases. We had a split level room - attic area with 3 single beds for kids, then downstairs two single beds for Mase/I and a small cot on the other side of the room with a kids play area which had a kitchenette and table/chairs for them - so Jo and Matt cooked us some wonderful meals while we were online. While talking about the hotel, you'll remember it was called A Train Hotel - apart from being a stone's throw from the central train station, the hotel was furnished as if it were a train. As you entered the foyer there were train tracks leading to the 'carriage' which served food and then on to the private carriages (bedrooms) for patrons. There were train seats in the foyer and eating areas, with old suitcases stored on the overhead rails, pictures of trains, miniature trains, memorabilia, boomgates that opened when the breakfast carriage was in use and many other 'train/rail' features to make the experience unique. Just backtracking slightly, my first impressions of Amsterdam after a few hours walk thru the city were: loads and loads and loads of bikes - everywhere (I thought Paris had heaps but that was nothing compared to Amsterdam as the two photos prove - yes, it is three floors of bikes!); consequently they have separate bike 'roads' next to the main traffic roads; also trams in the centre of the roads; chips in a cone with mayonnaise; lots of beautiful flowers; city of canals (never imagined it would be like this); marijuana cafes as you wander down main streets; immorality confronts you on/in many street shop windows; heaps of eating places to tempt the tastebuds....I have to say that as a city it didn't really impress me greatly but that may be because I didn't visit the right places. Here's a photo of one of the types of bikes the mothers with young children ride...
Sunday morning we continued our canal cruise which was to take us to the Jewish History Museum. On the way we saw NEMO - a huge boat shaped building (called the 'Titanic' by locals) which houses science exhibits and activities for children (similar to Scitech) - see photo which has an old pirate ship in the foreground. We also saw some of the typical tall skinny houses - photo. The photo of the large building surrounded by water was built in the mid-1600's in a record 9 months - due to the need for munitions storage. Anyway, we'd seen info about the Jewish History Museum on the web and it promised to give the history of the Jewish community in the Netherlands, as well as having a Kindermuseum - designed to be child friendly and it was. We went thru the kindermuseum first with the children and it had all sorts of interesting exhibits, movies, pictures, books, a Jewish kitchen (with blue/red divisions) etc. Then we moved into the main museum - we didn't have time to go through all the areas but it was extremely well laid out and gave options for pursuing particular subjects in more detail via audio or visual aids. They had a whole floor dedicated to explaining the internals of a synagogue - layout, some of the rituals, furniture and furnishings. Very interesting reading (but no photography allowed). Time was limited by our evening flight, so we then went to an indoor kids play area where the kids could run around, play soccer, climb and play on slides, bikes etc to wear off some energy before sitting in a plane for a few hours. Photos attached. Then back to our hotel via the canal cruise boat to collect bags and head by train to the airport. I must say that by this time I was very ready to be heading back to Aberdeen with the thought always in the back of my head that every day was bringing us closer to our return to Perth, God willing...which makes me ponder whether I am counting the days, with the same longing, until the return of Jesus Christ - as Paul said in Hebrews 10 - 'for he that shall come, will come'...

Last Days in Zermatt

Today's Friday and our last day of skiing....We woke up to find it snowing lightly and the mountains were enveloped in cloud but we were going to ski no matter what! We headed up to Riffleberg ski point to try the slope we'd done the day before - we could hardly see anything the cloud was so thick...this meant for a challenge ski down the mountain. Here's the view from the cable car - gives you an idea of the height of the cars... Off we went and it was a very different experience to the day before when we'd had clear blue skies. We were all very cautious and did lots of traversing to control our speed as we had no idea of what the slope was like - if the snow was smooth, rough, uphill or down - it was horrible. I couldn't wait to get down but the good news is we all did it without a stack despite the conditions - that's impressive! Anyway we reached the bottom and I said I wasn't doing anymore skiing until we could see where we were going - here's a photo taken from outside the restaurant towards the slope - visibility was about zero! However Mase and Jo were keen to retry and then Sam and Matt agreed to go too. I stayed in the warm restaurant and waited for them to finish. This time visibility was even worse and all the children stacked it in some way or another (Sam in particular completely missed a turn and shot off the side of the run!) ... Well we'd had enough of Riffleberg and so we decided to go back Sunnegga at Matt's request because as he put it 'I've got that track all worked out in my mind and know how it goes and I just want to do it'. I opted out of skiing until conditions cleared and spent the morning wandering round Zermatt village - seeing the old wooden style houses they lived in, the church, the patisseries, the tourist trinket shops etc - quite boring all on your own but I got a feel for the place. It's a car-less village but they do have taxis and buses so it has quite a quaint, old worldy feel to it in some ways. The snow covered paths that were steep made life interesting and I slipped and nearly fell over a few times. At 1.30pm we all met for lunch at Sunnega - rosti and egg or ham and cheese - is a very traditional Swiss food and is served in all the ski restaurants. We shared a couple of plates between us and it was nice - a little bit oily - but otherwise nice. Rosti is basically seasoned grated potato and the kids liked it so much that I've promised to make it when we get back to Perth God willing. After lunch, as conditions had cleared and there was a nice blue sky I joined the children skiing down Sunnegga beginner's slope and Mase headed off to Rothorn to try an averagegrade slope on his own. He made it from the top of the mountain to the bottom without stacking it (a vertical drop of 1700m) - so that's an achievement in 4 days. He did admit to having pretty tired/sore legs by the end of the run. Apparently the views were magnificent up there - way up the top of the seeable world, on a snowy white mountain top with cloud below - sounds spekky. Meanwhile the children and I went down our slope three of four times and I only stacked it once. The kids took the steep slopes faster than me but my greater weight would catch them up on the slower runs, so generally we finished about the same time which I was very pretty happy with. Jo's fastest time was 4.22mins to do the whole run - Mase did it in 3.20mins. The rest of us didn't time ourselves but approximately 5 to 6 mins would be fair for me - so we've all improved and had a great day. So that's it for skiing - we've returned all our hire gear and now are resting our weary legs.
Friday night was our last night in Zermatt and we decided to have a Swiss meal. We shared a cheese fondue - served with bread and steamed potatoes to dip in the cheese - this was a new experience for all of us. Jo and Matt didn't like the fondue so they ate bread/potato. Mase, Sam and I thought it was alright but nothing to rave over. As Mase said, it's just another excuse for the Swiss to eat bread and cheese. They eat it for breakfast, they eat it in rolls for lunch and for dinner as fondue. But back to our meal - Mase and I tried veal sausage with rosti and salad for our main course. Jo and Matt had chicken schnitzel with rosti and salad, Sam had ham and cheese rosti. Over our meal we discussed the week's adventures and Mase awarded Sam with the best stack, Jo for most improved at traversing, Matt for his speed demon approach, me for facing and conquering my fears and we decided he was best all round skier in the family. The kids said they wanted to ski again and Mase jokingly said 'maybe in 10 years time'....Matt didn't forget this because at breakfast on Saturday Mase asked if they wanted to go and play in the snow for the last time before we left and Matt said he didn't want to. Mase suggested he may not see snow again and Matt quickly replied 'yes, we will - in 10 years time'....apparently they're not going to let that line pass! Anyway, we had an interesting Swiss experience - rosti is definitely something we'd try again. We've also enjoyed some other Swiss foods - melt in your mouth Swiss chocolates, some lemon shortbread cookies, bircher muesli, plum kucehn (similar to a light custard tart with plum) and appfelstrudle (spelling?)...
Now it's Saturday and we need to pack up and train back to Geneva, where we stay one night and then catch a plane to Amsterdam early Sunday morning.

Zermatt Ski Experience - Days 2/3

Well we've all had a big learning curve at different rates over the last two days - but I think I could say we're all pretty confident on the beginner slopes now. Mase is going to give one of the medium slopes a try by himself but the rest of us will just stick on the beginners runs. Day 2 (Wed, 2 Dec) we had Andrei the ski instructor for another three hours. However it was really only me that needed his instruction as the others were all keen and able to ski down the beginner's slope...so I was glad to have his undivided attention and he was no doubt frustrated at my slow progress. After a while Andrei decided it was time for me to try the beginner's slope (as in photo). Starting down it I can only say I was petrified and stacked it heaps of times - luckily Andrei was there to retrieve me from massive piles of soft snow. I did have one nasty stack when I caught the ski stick under my skiis and instead of sliding nicely along the slope I crunched my neck and shoulder - but I can still ski despite the stiff neck. As for Mase and the kids they had piles of fun while I was facing my fears and trying to 'climb every mountain' and so here's Mase's recount of their day... he took each of the kids down the beginner's slope individually first to see how they coped and they all had a stack or two. Then they all went down together - Sam is the most accomplished of the kids and is pretty good when it comes to speed and confidence. He is also pretty good at traversing and taking corners to keep his speed under control but because he's so light he can generally get away with going straight down. As for Jo - she can snow plough down the slopes really well because she's so light and low to the ground but she needs to work on her turns and traversing across the slope. She's quite happy to go as fast as possible because she's able to stop really well. Now to Matt - he's so light he can get away with going straight down the steepest slopes in the snow plough position without traversing across the slope. Many times throughout the day the kids have said how much they love skiing - Matt was even prepared to stop eating to get back to skiing which says volumes!!

In the afternoon we took the cable car and then the chair lifts up to the highest point in the Zermatt Alps - the Matterhorn Glacier. Riding in the glass lifts gives a great view of the area below and around and the height we climbed from Zermatt (at 1620 m above sea level) to the top was more than 2000 metres. So when we reached the top we were at 3883 m above sea level. The ride was freezing - my toes and fingers were numb - and the temperature at the top was around -14. The views were spectacular - a world of white mountains with streaks of black now and then, the sky was blue and we were as high as we'll ever get in this life! (Here's a couple of photos to prove we got there.)

When we were talking at the end of Thursday and saying we only had one more day's skiing left they all said they wished it was longer! As for Thursday (3rd day skiing) - we all started out together for Gohnergrat where they had a beginner's slope. Mase and the kids took the chair lift to the top of the slope, while I waited at the bottom to see if it was wide enough and easy enough for me to attempt. While they were gone I tried skiing on a small slope to the cable car to see if I could still remember yesterday's lessons - I made the slope but by the time I got to the bottom (about 3 mins later) I was shaking all over. I then had to climb back up the slope and just as I was about to retry the slope Mase appeared and I was saved. Only to face a worse option - apparently the slope was wide and would be fine for me to try....
The kids were not too keen on my going up with them because I'd slow them down so they went on ahead and Mase kept me company going down. It was very daunting but we made it with me stacking it only twice - the kids took 10-15 mins whereas I took about 35 minutes. This slope had some fairly steep slopes and all the kids had some pretty unglamorous stacks when they couldn't control their speed but they loved it and did the same slope about 3 or 4 times. From my point of view it was worth the challenge as I was able to practice my traversing and turning and build my confidence. The photo is of us at Gohnergrat taking a break from the mornings work! The weather was much better than forecasted (light snow) and we had good visibility, almost clear skies and temperatures around 0 to 5 degrees depending on where we were.
Here's a photo of Mase and Matt sitting in a comfy snow seat while we waited for the bus to take us to Sunnega for the afternoon. Once there we all went down the beginner's slope at varying speeds. The kids are now pretty accomplished on this one but it was my second time down and this time I was all alone...I did it 4 times and on two of the runs I didn't fall - soooo exciting - I was getting better and faster and my times were improving from about 30 minutes down to 15 minutes - still slower than the kids but definitely gaining in confidence - yay! I think the kids were even slightly impressed that I went down some slopes without slowing my speed. One thing I should say is how magical it was to be sitting on the chair lift, all alone, looking out over the valley and mountains and the quiet/peace was amazing - a very special moment. Unfortunately Mase hasn't been on the chair lift alone but he's planning to try one of the medium slopes tomorrow by himself and hopefully he'll have a similar experience. Oh and one other thing - Libby wondered if we had sore muscles after Day 1 - we didn't - but by Day 3 - absolutely - my inner thighs are sooo sore!! Mase says he's fine apart from a few blisters on his feet from walking in ski boots too much and the children seem to have taken everything in their stride.

Here's a photo of Mase and the boys beside the river (which doesn't have much water at the moment as the water source is frozen). Then Mase and Matt sitting in a comfy snow seat as we waited for the bus to take us to Sunnega. So as you can see Day 3 ended well and everyone was pretty happy with their achievements...

Zermatt, Switzerland

How do you describe in words what it's like to see and touch snow for the first time? Here's some words that came to our minds - soft, white, light, fluffy, cold, silent, powdery, crunchy, slippery, ethereal, white blanket, compacted, hard ice....this covers many of the stages of snow we've seen in the last couple of days.
We flew into Geneva on Monday morning and caught a train to Visp, then another to Zermatt - took about 4 hrs. The weather forecasts which Mase has been following for the last few weeks and especially the last few days forecasted possible snowfall on the Sunday night but otherwise maybe one or two clear days. Our trip is not within the usual ski season times - tho' only a week early - so skiing couldn't be guaranteed. Well as our train took us up into the mountains we saw some very light snowfall commence. When we reached our train connection to take us the last stage we got out into wet light snow which the kids thought was good but it melted as soon as it touched us or the ground. Anyway, on the train to Zermatt the snow began in earnest and when we stopped at one of the stations the kids and I jumped off quickly and grabbed a handful of snow each - wow! We were amazed at the feeling of it - so light, so powdery, so nothing - Jo says it was much softer than she thought...anyway the kids then ate their snow and got a huge mouth freeze when they didn't swallow it immediately - that was a laugh! At every station stop after that we hopped out and grabbed snow and tried to make snowballs - which was harder than we expected - we had to compact it a lot to keep the shape of a ball. During the train ride there was at least 10cm of snowfall and heaps more fell during the afternoon - it was up to Matt's knees that evening and up to Sam's knees the next morning. It was the first major snow for Zermatt this season (apart from 4cm in early Nov) and so we were very fortunate to be here to see it. Driving through the mountains and seeing the snow fall silently and thickly - creating a thick white blanket over everything - cars, houses, trees, fences, wires...the view of the mountains and the pine trees was absolutely beautiful.
Finally with much excitement we arrived at Zermatt - all kitted out in gloves, beanies, rain jackets...with the snow falling. The kids were desperate to have their first snow ball fight but we held them off until the got to the hotel and got them dressed in their snow suits etc - then we went downstairs and it was free for all. Sam quietly made his snow balls and would throw them with silent accuracy, Jo would thrust a few lumps together and throw wildly at whoever was nearby and Matt made snowballs and threw them at our faces at point blank range wherever possible....he was a snow plough for a while, then he lay in the snow but Sam and Jo were a little more concerned about snow up their arms but that didn't last long. Soon they were lying in the snow, digging holes, burying their heads, making snowmen and having a ball. When we put them to bed that night it was with great anticipation and excitement about the next day's skiing lessons and experience.
So now our first day skiing - Tuesday, 1 Dec - the learner's ski area wasn't opened until about 10.30am, so we waited for about at hour and then took the ski train up through the mountain - probably takes 5 minutes to get to the section where the ski area was and I we had to adjust to the air pressure as we gained height. Finally at the top we then had to get our gear organised and then take another ski car down to the actual learner area. Andrei our instructor then showed us some basic skiing tips for the next three hours and the time just flew by.
You can just see all four of us learners in the photo (I'm in all the foreground in black, Matt is going down the slope and Sam and Jo are coming back up the travelator). We were too busy too take many photos and this was the best - hopefully we'll do better tomorrow. The white gusts of snow in the photo are from the snow makers. Anyway, back to the story - Sam and Matt picked up the idea quite quickly but Jo was a bit slower and I was even worse - but eventually we all mastered the learner's slope. Mase having ski-ed before took a refresher course and did pretty well. There were a few stacks - but I'm proud to say my only stack on the learner's slope was when my skiis got stuck on the travellator... At the end of our lesson the instructor took Mase and Sam halfway down a beginner's slope to have a try and they did pretty well - but both had some stacks along the way.
At this point I should say that kitting up to ski is a laborious process and the gear is heavy and cumbersome to carry around..the boots are weighty and you can't walk normally...not something I'd want to do all the time but we all loved our first attempt at skiing.
Matt says his first day was heaps fun! Jo says it was boring because she could only do the learner's slope and couldn't go as fast as she wanted to and Sam says he doesn't know what he thought - but I think he had a great time and picked up some skills really well...and that was our morning.
We had some lunch and then headed back to the slopes for more practice on our own. Mase had ski-ed down a beginner's slope to meet us - it was pretty steep and he had to really control his speed to avoid stacking it.
I felt pretty comfortable on our learner's slope and was keen to try something a little harder - as were the kids. So Mase took Sam up to the top where he'd just ski-ed and they came down together - Sam did pretty well but stacked it once when his speed got a bit too much for him. Then Jo went up and she and Mase slowly made their way down, then Matt with a little more speed. Not to be outdone I then said I'd try it and all the kids clamoured to come down with us. Well from my point of view it was a bit scary and I stacked it three or four times coming down - which means I really need to practice stopping a bit more and remembering which way to turn on the curves - but it was fun and we're all looking forward to tomorrow - God willing.
Just to explain what the snow is like here though (you can ignore this bit if you're bored) - yesterday when it was snowing it was easy to walk and you just had to watch out for harder, compacted snow that was slightly yellower in colour as it was more slippery. There are machines constantly pushing and spraying the snow out of the road and pathways and that makes walking more treacherous. However today, as it hasn't snowed much in the day the roads/paths are even more slippery which brought my downfall literally. I was taking some bags of washing to the laundry and had just stepped out of the hotel and hadn't started thinking about slippery pathways and as I put my shoe on the steps outside, my foot slid out from under me and I landed on my backside - oooh, that hurt...Our hotel room is on the third floor and we usually race up the stairs - but now I can feel my bruised bottom as I run up - I'm expecting to see a massive bruise in the morning.
We're still struggling with wearing the right clothes for this weather - we rugged up far too much for skiing this morning and the kids ended up in singlets and snow suits out on the slope. When we went out this evening Matt and Sam had on short sleeved t-shirts which we told them wasn't suitable. With many complaints Sam got a jumper and Matt a thermal long sleeved shirt. By the time we came back Matt was freezing - hopefully he'll learn to take a jacket..
What else is there to say? This afternoon when we came back from skiing the sky had cleared and the mountains were really majestic - rising up 500 metres or more above the village where we are. Zermatt is 1620 metres above sea level and the Matterhorn glacier is about 3899 metres above - we hope to get up there tomorrow and try an easy slope - we'll be on top of the world. I really feel we're experiencing another whole world of God's making with it's own unique beauty - amazing.
When we woke up this morning the view over the village and up to the mountains was beautiful - smooth snowy blanket untouched by human footstephs - so still and clean, cold (freezing doesn't sound quite so enviable), crisp air - it was a special moment.
We had a Swiss breakfast this morning - rye breads, cheeses, cold meats, eggs, fruit, muesli and cereal - an interesting and welcome change to french breakfasts.

A French Experience

Well we're in Paris - city of ....well we're finding out!
But first, we left home at 4.20am and drove to Edinburgh, checked in and sat around for a while before boarding. Small plane (ask Mase for all the details about it if you want!)... but good leg room. Flight lasted about 1.5hrs but the taxiing into Charles de Gaulle airport was another thing!! it's huge and I reckon we were taxiing to our drop off point (not a gate into the terminal) for at least 15 mins before we disembarked. Then we boarded a bus which took us to the terminal - I guess it was the shortest way but that too took about 10mins - but the kids enjoyed seeing some of the planes and different vehicles involved in refueling, baggage carrying etc. One thing Mase is finding quite frustrating/testing is the toilet stops that 3 children and a wife need to take. As I try to pour at least a litre of water down their throats each day and 2 litres down mine it makes for frequent ablution - which means we get to the airport and we go straight to the toilet, then onto the plane and straight to the toilet and then on the flight the kids make frequent trips to the little room. Arriving at the terminal, we walk fast and even though we get to the customs desk close to the front of the line - nature calls - and so we go to the back of the line...queueing is not a Linden family custom - dating back to Father John Linden!!! (or as Mase is in the habit of saying "I come from a long line of people who avoid standing in long lines"). Anyway leaving the airport we got to the train station and funnily enough someone's absolutely busting for the toilette - so off we go but this time it's 50euro cents for each person (most expensive toilet trip we've made in our entire stint away). The train station was another 'underground type experience' - our photo is taken with the train schedule in the background...On to the train and finally to our hotel....Hotel Favart - a petit hotel which has retained the old french style of furnishings (in a slightly more modern way). What matters most is that the bed is comfortable and the pillow not too thick - which after a night's sleep has proven to be tres bien! However the children have now been introduced to a bidet and a very interesting tiled bathroom - there's a bath with a detachable shower hose nozzle in each bathroom but no shower curtain - so it's a sit down bath/shower affair - different.
This is our first experience in a country speaking a foreign language primarily, so we've been practising our french - au revoir, bon jour, bon soir, merci, excuse moi, pardon, sil vous plait, d'accor - but Jo and I have had some fun trying to translate different things (with some success - at least we think so). Anyway we unpacked and went out to do an initial reconnoitre of Paris. We walked past the Academy of Musique - a grand and beautifully ornate building - stunning to see the sun glinting off the 'gold' statue at the top. We then walked along a few more streets seeing many cafes and restaurants to finally arrive at des Gallerie La Fayette. Having walked thru this massive shopping gallerie (it doesn't seem appropriate to call it a centre - that wouldn't be posh enough) I can only say that Perth has nothing like it. Here's some photos of the dome ceiling and lower floors. The Xmas tree is suspended from the roof. The entire complex covered three blocks and had heaps of exclusive brand shops etc - but what I liked wandering through was the gourmet food market. There were gorgeous little stalls selling french cold meats, sausages, cheeses, chocolates (Mase bought a little something here), vegies, fish, asian food, indian spices - very aromatic, candy section (kids chose to share a soft nougat bar - it took them ages to chew through it and kept them quiet while we explored). Des Gallerie La Fayette had huge Xmas light displays on the outside of the building and also automated stringed soft toy scenes in the outside windows. We took lots of photos and the children were entranced with the window displays. One thing we haven't been able to miss noticing is the number of beggars and street people on blankets/beds on the pathways. It's been more confronting here than in London or Singapore, though Aberdeen has a few people that you see regularly sitting on the main street. In Paris many of the beggars have signs asking for money or a ticket (to a restaurant). This has provoked lots of discussion with the children. There is one man whose 'outdoor lodging' is on the same street as our hotel. Last night we saw him lying on his mattress as we went out around 6pm then when we returned at 7pm he was well stocked with some Baileys and cigarettes. This morning we walked past again at around 8.30am and he was lying on his mattress on the ground in a sleeping bag with a mate beside him, both sound asleep. Today it's Saturday, 28 November - after an early night we woke feeling much better. Breakfast was included in our accommodation and was a french breakfast. Each of us were served our breakfast on a silver tray which had a basket of pastries, butter, jams and a bowl of cornflakes - much to the delight of the kids. I managed the croissant and a wholemeal seed roll but that was enough. However the boys managed to polish off their entire tray, Mase and Jo left their rolls. Then we were off for the day. We had to catch a train to Arc de Triumphe at one end of Champs de Elysees and then we walked to the Louvre at the other end - a couple of kilometres walk in. Mase handled the whole underground train system with great ease and so our train experiences in France were pretty good. What was interesting was the children's worry that we would be separated - some on the train and some left behind - I think the London experience was playing at the back of their minds and a few times I was pulled anxiously onto the train or held back by the kids. The morning was pretty chilly and we had numb lips at one stage and the usual drip on the end of the nose. Anyway, we got to the Arc de Triumphe (the start of our day) - we looked at the names of people and countries listed on the arch, saw the flame commemorating the unknown soldiers of world war I and then began searching for the closest la toilette! After this slight diversion, we then walked down Champs de Elysees taking a slight detour at the Arcade Champs de Elysees. Another shopping complex, many of these shops weren't open at 9.30am but nevertheless we got a good feel for the place and the sort of people who go there. Put simply, it's way out of our range - we showed the kids some shoes priced at 2250 euros, small girl's dresses for 200euros and higher, some fur coats for 2380+ euros - some of the price tags have been almost beyond belief. How people justify shopping here when there's people without homes/food just outside is something to wonder about.Continuing further along Champs de Elysees we saw McDonalds with a french twist - some pastries and briochs. So many of the buildings have stunning sculpture and carvings on the exteriors - a lot more than ornate than London was. As we walked along Jo spotted the Eiffel Tower in the distance and took a photo to prove she was first to see it! Finally past an ornate light post, to the jardine la tuilleries (not very impressive in winter - trees are mainly deciduous and so the branches are bare, the grassed areas and fenced off and it's freezing cold. But this jardine brought us to the Louvre which is an absolutely stunning building - both inside and out - lots of statues of presumably famous people along the outside of the building. As you approach the Louvre there is another arch similar to la Arc de triumphe (but much smaller) though just as ornate. Once at the Louvre, we queued for the security check at the glass pyramid - at this point the children had the foresight to suggest we time our wait in line...in total we waited 50 minutes to get thru security and purchase our tickets - the lines were huge and it was only 11am. Tickets in hand we decided to view a section of the Egyptian Antiquities
display. To be honest though I could have spent just as much time looking at the Louvre interior (which is art in itself) as the displays. We saw some egyptian gods carved from stone, hieroglyphics on stone tablets (we imagined similar to the tablets of stone for 10 commandments), sphinx, jewellery, wooden combs, razors, tweezers and bronze mirrors, some egyptian wooden carvings of boats and people...not all of which was to the children's taste. Then we went into the French/Italian painting exhibit. Here the Louvre interior architecture was even more amazing - some photos of the painted ceilings etc give a small idea of what it was like. We saw many paintings of Biblical scenes - the wedding of Cana, Jesus and the apostles, Mary and the Child etc, which was interesting for the children...and much more - including the Mona Lisa. The kids ascended some temporarily empty raised displays and posed as the latest Louvre exhibits representing the entire
Australian modern art collection. After we left the Louvre we had some lunch and then crossed la Seine. Everywhere we go there's beautiful buildings. We also visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame which again is a beautiful building inside and outside. We walked past some seats reserved for people awaiting their confession with the priest - this was something the children couldn't understand. Jo particularly had lots of questions about the process - why tell the priest, what does he say, does God want this, is he able to forgive sins etc, etc. We had quite a discussion about God's views of the Catholic system based on Revelation. Sam was really impressed with a circular stained glass window in the cathedral and to my surprise described it as awesome - so maybe they are appreciating some of the sights we're seeing together - unfortunately the photos of the cathedral interior didn't turn out due to the lighting inside. Then we walked past St Michel - presumably
depicting the scene of Revelation 12 where John says michael and his angels cast the devil and his angels out of heaven. Then down a small alley to reach a labyrinth of lanes lined with cafes, restaurants and other little eating places - very nice! Mase resisted the kids pleas for a treat until we got to the last shop which was icecream - his achilles heel! The
kids exploited this knowledge and with great skill got him to walk in and buy!! Then to the train station - past the latest cold weather fashion model walking the street and past the long line of hire bikes and motorcycles that everyone seems to ride on (at their own peril)! We're also trying to get used to the cars driving on the wrong side of the road and most drivers on the wrong side of the car - makes crossing the street a little more hazardous! For tea on Sat night we went to a little French restaurant in St Michel (one of the cafes we'd seen earlier when we walked thru the labyrinth of lanes lined with restaurants). The children tried french onion soup and choc mousse and creme caramel. The menu even had escargot on it but we declined to order it. I had a salad nicoise (tuna and salad) and profiterole, Mase had duck l'orange with creme brulee. We all had a try of each other's desserts and Mase's was definitely the nicest. Then back to the hotel to get the
kids into bed before 9pm after a long day.Sat night/Sunday morning we were woken many times during the night to hear the drunken, happy singing and shouting of men in the square opposite our hotel - the window opened out onto the square - but we all went back to sleep fairly quickly. Sunday morning we had breakfast - I opted for some fruit we'd bought as the thought of pastries/bread to start the day was not good.
On to the Eiffel Tower for the morning - it was raining lightly at times and we walked through the green parkland area to the Eiffel Tower taking a few photos from spots along the way. The photo of us all together in front of the Tower was taken by some Americans girls we met. From this viewpoint I felt that the Eiffel Tower was a little disappointing -it looked like a huge mess of dirty metal rather than the impressive, warmly lit attraction that you see on postcards (possibly because it was an overcast day)...anyway as we got closer it began to look better and by the time we were underneath, it's reputation was restored in my mind. We searched for la toilette as Mase lined up for tickets - we all
wanted to climb the 600+ stairs to the second level (you can only reach the top by lift and we weren't going to worry about that). The kids loved the climb - it was the morning's exercise and by the time we reached the top I was glad to stop. The view was fantastic - a full 360 of Paris and suburbs. We were able to see the Arc de Triumphe and track our walk to the Louvre which was a lot further than I'd realised. Also, on the first floor they have information points around the platform pointing out important landmarks - this was really interesting as I found out a little more about some of the buildings we'd seen. They also had some interesting facts about the design and building of the Eiffel Tower - it took 2yrs, 2mths, 5 days to build. For the engineers out there they hammered in 2.5million rivets - Mase tells me that's an awfully big job and a horrible way to have to do it - but that was how it was done back then. Apparently Gustaf whoever- he-was (designer) expected the Tower to last about 20yrs but as he was smart enough to let weather forecasters and TV
broadcasters use the tower for their broadcasting it has proved invaluable. So the Eiffel Tower continues on until today as the symbol of France - proven by the number of hawkers trying to sell us 5 mini eiffel tower key rings for 1 euro...and we succumbed! Fortunately the rain held off while we were up the Tower but the wind made up for it. Then we headed for the quarium la Paris - this was for the kids as we'd dragged them to all the places we'd wanted to see and we thought this would be more to their interest. There were lots of individual windows showing ocean habitats of the world and they had coral, anenomes, small coral fish, large cod, leopard shark, reef sharks...heaps of varieties - many different to what we've seen in Perth. There was a huge aquarium and a touch pool for the kids which they loved and ended up with soaked sleeves but very happy with their efforts to touch the fish. Matt says that the fish were too slimy and slippery too catch and that when he had one it moved it's muscles and they were so strong he lost grip. They also had some 'green' movies - we watched a couple - one was about polar bears and the impact of global warming causing the ice to melt quickly, leaving them little area to hunt food, having to swim in freezing water for long distances (causing a huge loss of body weight) only to die from weakness and starvation - this was the only movie with english subtitles - the rest were in french and while we could pick up the odd word or two, it was a bit hard for the kids to follow. However Sam/Matt still wanted to watch the one on tiger sharks.
After this we returned to the hotel to get our baggage and head to the airport hotel as our flight left at 6am the next morning to Switzerland. When we got to the hotel the kitchen staff and receptionist were having a birthday celebration. They invited us to join them for some cake - we thought we'd better show our thanks by singing happy birthday in english which they seemed to appreciate and then one of the men sang happy birthday in Gambon - he sang and clapped in true african style. The kids had strawberry gateaux - we declined.
On to the hotel at the airport where we relaxed for the afternoon - this hotel had a shower (blissful sigh). The children spent an hour or so in the bath having a wonderful time while we got a few things organised for departure. I'll post this blog here as the end of our French experience and will add photos later....au revoir