Via Ferrata Switzerland

At the end of August, we headed to Switzerland to conquer a Via Ferrata (Mürren to Gimmelwald Route) as an end of the summer challenge.

"A via ferrata (Italian for "iron road") is a protected climbing route found in the Alps and certain other locations. The essence of a modern via ferrata is a steel cable which runs along the route and is periodically (every 3-10m) fixed to the rock. Using a via ferrata kit the climber can secure themselves to the cable, limiting any fall. The cable can also be used as aid to climbing, and additional climbing aids, such as iron rungs (stemples), pegs, carved steps and even ladders and bridges are often provided. Via ferrata therefore allow otherwise dangerous routes to be undertaken without the risks associated with unprotected scrambling and climbing or need for climbing equipment ." -wikipedia

Luckily, via ferrata courses are free, but you have to own or in our case rent a harness set and helmet to complete them. We rented ours in a nearby hostel and then headed up the mountain for a picnic.

If you haven't heard, Switzerland is crazy expensive so we brought our own picnic! We did get a really pretty view though for free!

After lunch we headed to the course with our gear!

It started out nice and easy....giving all of us a false sense of pride!

 Then it started getting crazy!

As Stephen and I were about to start the exposed area of the course a man came running along and jumped up onto a platform. He zipped up his suit....

checked his camara.....

and then just jumped off the side of a 3000 foot mountain......

while we all clung to the steal cable and prayed our harness wouldn't break!!!! 

And we thought we were awesome....hahahha!!!!!

We had a string of waterfalls to cross,

 ladders to climb down, 

beef jerky sticks to eat, 

strange metal hats to put on, 

and to save the best for last, swinging bridges 3000 feet up in the air to traverse. 

But in the end, we conquered the via ferrata!!!!

We would love to take any willing participants next summer, come and visit!

Via Ferrata

Just wanted to give you a little preview of a recent trip to Switzerland! More to come...

"It brought me to my Knees!"

First off I would like to thank my dear friend Anita (seen in the picture below) for her continued thoughtfulness in trying to make me into a gardner.   

Anita and me in Basel Switzerland (near to where she lives)

This past May she very kindly bestowed upon me some lovely plants she started growing from seeds. I was ever so delighted to oblige and attempted to keep the two tomato plants and one pepper plant alive. I am not the best at remembering to water my plants every day....I mean people have lives, but somehow they survived for a time and even produced a couple little vegetables or fruits (that is an argument for another day).

As you see below we received one ever so cute pepper and thought we better eat this thing after months of "watering". At the time Anita said she was unsure as to what kind of pepper plant it was, but I am pretty sure I know now!

Deceptively cute, isn't it!

Stephen decided we should both take a sliver to try it.....I think he forgot I am a girl! My mouth is burning just thinking about eating that tiny pepper. I literally was sitting on the ground drinking milk out of a coffee cup...it was that bad!

Ridiculous, I know!

 Thought you would enjoy!

Swiss Indoor Championship!

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending the Swiss Indoors Tennis Championship in Basel, Switzerland (a 25 minute drive). I am not sure you can call the qualifying tournament an actual part of the championship, but it is much easier to get tickets to and a lot less strain on the pocket book so I am counting it!

Sorry we are looking a tad....greasy, it was a saturday is my only excuse.

Some of our close friends Ralf Widmann and his wife Margitt (you may remember them from the wedding) were headed their to watch Stefane Bohli play and we could not pass up the opportunity! I know what you are thinking, "I have always wanted to see Stefane Bohli (Swiss competitor currently ranked #233 on the ATP Tour, who has in the past hit with Roger Federer) play tennis!" 

Stefane Bohli

My exact thoughts! Okay, but lets be serious, no one has ever heard of this guy including myself, until last year when I found out that he is Margitt's first cousin. All of a sudden I was very interested.....I mean we are basically related, how can I not go and watch him play, right? So that is what Stephen and I did. He was playing the qualifying tournament to get a spot in the main draw so we took a Saturday afternoon off and headed to cheer on our "almost cousin"!

It was a great match and he defeated a higher ranked American player (I know a little sad, but we couldn't root against our "almost cousin").

Stefane's Opponent

Altogether it was a nice day and now we are great friends with our "almost cousins" father...even if we didn't get to meet up the Stefane, maybe next time. 

Spring Rolls that almost made up for their ridiculous price tag.

We ate some delicious Spring Rolls and finished the tournament off by watching a not so exciting upset between another low ranking Swiss player and a decent Uzbekistan player.

"I love Spring Rolls!"

And just a little bit more proof of how famous our "almost cousin" is, we basically know Roger Federer!

Stefane and Roger Federer