Girl's nights, summer breezes and well....it's kind of a funny story!

I had my beloved friend Aryan here visiting me from Sweden this weekend....a great choice in terms of timing as the weather was really amazingly beautiful!! We've been getting lots of sun on our noses, dipping our feet in the lake, eating lots of good food, enjoyed quite a few ice creams, breakfasts, popcorn and numerous episodes of Cougar Town (seriously girls!! Watch it!! ;)), accompanied by plenty of laugh-out-louds ;))

The view from half-way down Mont-sur-Rolle

Ary and I made a stop at a Gelateria in Rolle and enjoyed it by the lake. 

Swans, flying in....

.....and then landing on the water right in front of us.

Our Saturday BBQ:
Tiger Shrimps, Scallops and Asparagus served with a Saffron Couscous Salad, Roasted Garlic and Avocado...yummy!!

OMG!!! We tried putting Gruyere Double Cream and Fresh Blueberries on top of the classical Swiss bread Butterzopf and I swear it is DIVINE!!!! Not sure I can ever go back to butter, cheese or jam.....hehe!

Refreshing feet dipping in Lac Leman.....

Me, 20 week's pregnant! Half way there!!

A new breakfast favorite!! A delicious yoghurt from Mövenpick =p

The thing about Aryan and I is that we always, ALWAYS, end up in the funniest situations together (here, one of the occasions I previously blogged about: http://linda-lostinswitzerland.blogspot.com/2010/03/treasured-visit-awesome-birthday-party.html ;)). Probably because honestly, we are both a bit.......well let's just call us spontaneous and perhaps a bit disorganized, shall we? ;)


Yesterday, we decided to go for a hike in the beautiful Vallee de Joux. To be more precise, to the Dent de Vaulion. A beautiful spot at 1483m's in the Swiss Jura mountains with a view of Lac de Joux. I had hiked up this route before, so in theory, I should have probably recognized the way to go. In reality, I simply didn't. I remembered it being something like 6 km's one way, which is a reasonable distance in my "condition" (20 week's pregnant), considering the hike up and the hot day we had chosen.
So, as any pregnant lady would do before heading into the wilderness, I prepared a picnic for us with amazingly yummy looking Tuna/Egg/Mayo Baguette's and a big bottle of mineral water and put the Baguette's in the refrigerator for cooling while we were getting dressed and getting our gear together.

Blossoming trees along the way....

One hour later,we had arrived at the parking spot and headed in (what we thought was) the right direction, full of energy, excited to get to the top and have our picnic. Around 15 minutes later, after a whole lot of gossiping and catching up, we found ourselves a bit insecure about which way to go as there were no signs and quite some options. We had a guy walking behind us so we asked him (who didn't speak a word of English) which way to go to the Vaulion. He told us to go straight.....we think......and so we did. Then we walked......and walked......and walked.......and walked a bit more.....and realizing we were a bit lost, we asked another kind lady for directions as there were still no signs anywhere and we had reached a dead end. She pointed us in the direction of the top. Most of this way, which was probably already 6km's, was flat and we had been walking in the shade of the forest the majority of the time, so we were still very fresh. 5 minutes later, we were starting to walk upwards in the hot and blazing sun and to keep our energy level high while the road was elevating, we started to fantasize about the picnic we would have at the top. We were considering turning back several times as we never seemed to reach that darned peak and the heat was almost unbearable!! But the thought of those Baguette's kept us going. 


1 hour later, we finally saw it, our destination!!! The TOP! We had now hiked for 15km's. By now our legs felt like led and the last 100 meters felt like a marathon, but we just knew it would be worth our efforts. Finally there, we chose a beautiful spot and started to make ourselves comfy for our picnic. Aryan, who was unpacking everything suddenly stares at me with a weird, kind of frightened look and says "Linda.......did you take the Baguette's out of the refrigerator??" and that's when we reached the ultimate anticlimax!!! We were about to have a picnic - with WATER being our only food!!!!

The view from the top

....a quite tired and hungry Aryan 

.....and an even more exhausted, preggers Linda.....

Honestly speaking, if it wasn't for the fact that we knew from previously passing it, that 100 meters down, there was a restaurant, I think we would have broken into tears......instead, we laughed ourselves to those tears, wondering how on earth it is possible for things like this to ALWAYS happen when we're together!! =)))))

So....Cheese Fondue instead of picnic....I guess it could be worse ;))

After enjoying the view for 15 minutes or so, we headed down to the restaurant and had a great dinner, Aryan had a Carbonara and I had a Cheese Fondue. Not sure how often you eat these kind of foods, but considering the amount amount of energy they contain, they make you surprisingly tired!! Anyhow, we knew we had to walk the 15 km's back as we didn't dare to walk any other way than the one we knew, we'd better get started.....


After walking downhill for about 5 minutes, I made a joke saying "Ha haaa! Maybe we should just hitchhike back??" and by the time I had finished the sentence, a car was coming and as if we were totally telepathically connected, both of our thumbs went up and 10 seconds later, we were in that car, intending to just hitch a ride down the steep part as our legs were so tired........but it was just too comfortable and before we knew it, we saw our car.
Yep! A weekend in typical Aryan/Linda fashion ;))


xox

I ♥ PICNICS

Just came back from a FANTABULOUS day picnicking outdoors in the sunshine at Husemersee (inbetween Schaffhausen and Wintherthur)!!

It is truly amazing how an afternoon of fresh air, sunshine, picnicking & playing in the green grass does wonders for ones soul! ....and it's so simple!

Just pack a cooler bag of some goodies & cool drinks, bring a blanket, a swimsuit, sunglasses, sunscreen, something to read, something to play with, your camera, your loved one, your family or some good friends and just find a spot somewhere (preferably by the water)! THE WORLD IS TRULY YOUR OYSTER!

This time, we also brought soap-bubbles.......they are so pretty!!

As I stated in my previous posts, I would really have liked to try to have a picnic in a tree, but still think that would be a little premature ;)) Besides, a tree picnic would require a big old oak tree or similar and they don't errhhmmm really grow on trees here (oh gosh, I'm such a nerd!)........

 

The weekend was spent in Winterthur and it has been really great and veeeeery calm.... Still being very careful with my back as I don't want any relapses! Missed the fireworks in Neuhausen on Saturday on purpose as we got a little tooooo comfortable in front of the TV, having a 30 rocks marathon......with popcorn!

....and we easily convinced ourselves that as we had seen fireworks just a few days earlier, it wouldn't be a disaster to miss them (if any of you reading this were there - please do tell how it was??).

It is Sunday evening so, like every Sunday evening, I'm thinking about the week ahead of me!

This time with a little bitter-sweet taste... Bitter as I will go to Germany on a business-trip this week, for a few days, and I'm a little bit afraid of what my back will have to say about that and because, like after any great weekend - I just don't feel compleeeeetely ready for a week of hard work ;))

So why is it sweet? Well.... Believe ir or not, but I actually really LIKE my job! I have a great, challenging job and some wonderful collegues! Also, this week in Germany, I will get to meet the people I work with practically every day over phone, e-mail & web-conferencing, face to face again, which is always fun!

Now time to once again snuggle up in the sofa, watching a good movie or perhaps some more 30 rock?? Eeeeehhhh.... Do I have an addiction? Does it sound bad?? Could be worse, right?

How about making a vow to do the following things this week? I hope you're with me!!

1. Give someone that is not a close friend a compliment!

2. Smile at and say Hello to all the elderly people you pass by...

3. Call an old friend with whom you haven't spoken for a while.

Remember, it is nice to be important - but it's MORE IMPORTANT TO BE NICE!

I really hope you had a great relaxing weekend and that you'll enjoy the rest of your Sunday!!

Sending you all a big smile right now (regardless of your ages ;))

xox

Linda

Happy, but a little lost in her Sunday dwelling....still in Switzerland