The end of the visitors "era" ;)

Yep......so since yesterday and for the first time in ages, we have no visitors planned! It feels strange, quiet, great, relaxing and sad, all in one go!! I have greatly enjoyed all the company and the fantastic visitors, especially since Chris has been away a lot in the military service, but being pregnant especially, I also must say I enjoy some quiet times, knowing that after mid October, this might be quite a rare thing ;))


Currently, I'm........

Inspired by: Chris who just found out he passed his qualifying exam to become European Patent Attorney (his first try!!!)!! He worked soooooo hard and was so disciplined and it all payed off =)))) I am so so proud of him!!!! This calls for major celebration and we already started yesterday when he came home from the military.....I had made a little surprise welcome for him ;)) 

Such a happy camper ;)))) 

Lots of Champagne for Chris.....two sips for me, just to get a taste ;))

....all though the color is not revealing it, these are vanilla cupcakes with Caramel & Sea Salt flavored topping.

Happy about: The above (obviously)!! Also having had friends and family here lately to make memories with and to cheer me/us up! They were also all taking very good care of me. Am also happy to now have some quiet times ahead to fully get my head around the fact that we are becoming parents.... Exciiiiiting times!

Disappointed about: My physical health as I am struggling to breathe properly due to the pregnancy. This is very frustrating and tiring. I am functioning normally most of the time, but when the difficulty to breathe starts, it's impossible to feel comfortable and to avoid panicking at least a bit. Knowing that it's not dangerous for me or the baby helps though ;)

Looking forward to: Going home to Sweden for a couple of weeks!! We are going together with Chris's youngest sister and her boyfriend and I hope to have many lazy days there, just enjoying being "home" for a while.

Planning: Hmmm.....not sure if I ever told you, but Chris proposed to me back in March so now we are planning our wedding next year.....better to start all the planning early as soon, there will be other things occupying our minds. Hehe!
Listening to: Right now I'm listening a lot to "Drumming song" by Florence and the Machine.

Eating: Cupcakes that are left from yesterday..... 

My goal, post-pregnancy

Wanting: To go back to this shape (see photo on the right) after the pregnancy and remembering how incredibly good it feels to be in good shape will be my motivator! I know some people think I'm obsessing over this thing, but for me this is the hardest thing by far about being pregnant.... Really....the feeling of your physical condition deteriorating is not pleasant. I speak only the truth, so this is what you'll get from me ;)) Ayway, I don't want to be skinny or supermodel sized, I just want to go back to a fit me.

Wondering: If we will be lucky with the weather in Sweden.... It will make all the difference and I want to be sure we get the most out of these precious days.

Thankful for: All the wonderful people (friends and family) in our lives!!! We love them all so very much.....and it's amazing to think about what a great circle of people our child will get to be around! Lucky child =)
Remembering: This one part I'll do in photos ;))))

This gorgeous view at sunset in Annecy in France.....stunning, no?

My friend Madde (in the picture) and I walked up to the Dent de Vaulion. Probably the last uphill hiking for me during this pregnancy...in just a couple of weeks, it had gotten sooooo hard! I had to stop several times to catch my breath and get my pulse back down. Oh well.....

My week 27 pregnancy bump! Last week of the second trimester......hard times ahead they say ;)))

A much needed cool down swim in the Lac Leman

One of the best ice creams I've ever had. Mine is the one to the right containing Coconut, Macaroon and Caramel/sea salt flavors =p

Sunshine sunshine sunshine!!!!

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!!!! 

xox

Hiking up to Dent de Vaulion - again ;))

Right.....so last time I was brave enough to try hiking up to Dent de Vaulion, I got us lost....and forgot the picnic at home. This time, Chris was around to guide our visitors (my dad and stepmom) and myself and that was lucky as the result was much better ;)) He heeee!

Quite a tough uphill at the end of pregnancy week 23, but certainly achievable and I was pretty amazed that I can still almost go in the same speed as without being pregnant! All the walking I've been doing seem to be helping me stay at least somewhat in shape. 

We spent an amazing afternoon hiking through the beautiful forest until we reached our destination. Only 6km's up and down and the actual hike only took 1.5 hours......then we probably spent 1.5 hours up at the top, just enjoying the marvelous views and some refreshing drinks. I adore this place and this time, the sky was very clear so we also had the most fabulous view of the Mont Blanc.

Dad, Paula and Chris taking on one of the first and smaller uphill parts.....

The fabulous Mont Blanc <3

View from the top

Chris pointing out some of the sights

We found some super cute donkey's and goats at the top that I enjoyed feeding =p

After our hike, we were quite hot and our muscles somewhat tender so we went for a refreshing swim in the Lac de Joux afterwards. Absolutely great way to spend a day in this region!!

No words can describe how lovely this water felt!!

.....could have stayed here forever <3

Something I would never do under normal circumstances, but since this is the first time I'm proud rather that ashamed to show my belly, I'm gonna flaunt it ;)) Hehe!

....and then the reward for our efforts - Cheeeeeeeese fondue!!

Fondue accessories

This year's fondue number....eeehh....uuhh......lost count!!!

This little ball of fire practically BBQ'd us on the balcony!! Such a hot day!

 ....we were all in bed around 21:00. That say's it all really!!
Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!!!


xox

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

Hiking the Creux du Van

This weekend, we have had the pleasure of having Chris's parents visiting us.

On Sunday morning, with beautiful sunshine outside our window and a big breakfast in our bellies, we headed towards Neuchâtel to hike up to and in the surroundings of Creux du Van, an amphitheatre-shaped, 150 meters high and 1400 meters wide rock wall. A beautiful and quite spectacular hike, but unfortunately for us, that sunshine that we saw outside in the morning did not choose to follow us up the mountain. Instead, once we reached the wall, it was freezing cold and very very windy, making it quite difficult to fully enjoy the glorious views this destination has to offer (not to mention that the fingers almost froze when trying to take pictures). Also for me, with my ridiculous fear of heights, I was never daring to step so close to the edge ;))

Even so, we had a beautiful day with a 10km hike containing a 350 meters climb that took roughly 2 hours excluding our break for hot chocolate and Blackberry pie. Highly recommended, but probably better to go in June when it's a bit warmer.

Below some photos:

xox

A hike among the clouds - Appenzell

Coucouuuu Dear Readers! Hope you all had a sunny weekend! At least in your minds ;)


It's Monday and the Swiss national day, which means that in Switzerland, we are off today..... So first of all: Happy Birthday Switzerland!!


Yesterday we went on a lovely hike in the Appenzell region with Chris's family. It was a wonderful day!! Unfortunately, the sun didn't feel like accompanying us, so the photos don't really do the feeling of hiking justice, but all though we had lack of visibility, it was really great walking amongst what felt like the clouds.  Also, the air was soooo fresh!! Thanks to Danny and the iPhone app called "Run Keeper", I now know that the hike was 7.75 km's with a climb of 1004 meters and excluding the breaks (it's a must while hiking to sometimes stop and seep in the beauty of the landscapes and of course, to have some refreshments ;)), the hike took us 2 hours and 35 minutes. Not that I was ever really in doubt, but now I know for sure that I have to get myself an iPhone ASAP!! ;))

Choosing paths... 

At the start of the hike, we had a lovely little brook on the side of our path. 

Stopping for refreshments at Sämtisersee

At the top

It was VERY muddy on the way up!

The view from the Bergbahn on the way down...

After the hike, we made a stop in the little charming town of Appenzell where we had some drinks at one of the many sweet little cafes. We also bought some regional specialities, like chocolate and cookies and also managed to find a new favorite cheese in a little cheese shop.

My mouth is watering.... I love Swiss cheese!!!

I'm telling you.....the cheese on the right is to die for =p

Typical Appenzell style of houses

The perfect day!!

Now continuing the celebrations on this much needed day off with some relaxation while consuming some of the stuff we bought yesterday and hopefully, finishing off with some nice fireworks in the evening ;))
xox