My amazing husband booked us a trip to Zurich, Switzerland for Christmas. Neither of us have much of a family to visit, we're not particularly religious & we don't have (or want) kids, so Christmas for us just means Dustan doesn't have to work because the courts are closed!! When the courts are closed, we always take full advantage of the time he has off by traveling. Usually we spend Xmas in Park City, Utah, but this year it was actually cheaper to visit Switzerland.
On December 22nd, we boarded a plane to Amsterdam. We had a 6 hour connection in Amsterdam because we initially planned to venture out into the city, but we were so exhausted that we went straight to the lounge & went to sleep. We boarded a short 35 minute flight to Zurich & checked into our hotel. It was only about 6pm, but we went right to bed. We woke up at 4am [Swiss time] and could not get back to sleep. Thank goodness for internet because nothing in Switzerland opened until 9am. The sun didn't even come up until around 8:30am! After a very expensive & horrible lunch [they don't serve breakfast] at McDonald's, we headed to Luzern to visit a glass making museum & factory. The museum tour was free & informative, but it was super creepy. The put us in a room & closed the door behind us. Little video screens would pop up out of the dark & explain parts of the glass manufacturing process. Doors would open randomly & a new video would start playing in a different room. It was REALLY creepy and I was scared the entire time. I've seen too many horror movies to feel comfortable in a situation like that!! The tour ended on the factory floor. There were people making glass products & we got to blow our own glass ornament. It was pretty neat!! Dustan was so excited about his ornament...he was just like a little kid on Christmas! After the museum, we made our way back to the hotel for our very early 6pm bedtime. For some reason, we could not function past 6pm. It had been raining most of the day, but the snow started to come down on the drive home. By the time we woke up at 4am the next morning, there was a thick blanket of snow on the ground & more to come. We had originally planned to drive 5 hours into Austria to visit a very large Christmas market, but the road conditions were too dangerous. We chose to stay in Switzerland & ski instead. All of the ski resorts are on the outskirts of the city & we had to ride a cable car to the top of the mountain. It was interesting & scary, but mostly just annoying. I'm not a patient person; I want to get up & start skiing!! We had to drive for an hour or more to get to the resorts and then spend an additional 30 minutes on the cable car. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we had to spend extra time renting our ski gear. In Park City, we're on the slopes in less than an hour. In Switzerland, it was closer to two hours. Christmas day was very snowy & cold. By late afternoon, we could barely see our hand in front of us because it was snowing so heavily. Down the mountain, it had barely started snowing. It was mostly ice...which made driving home a very slow, painful process. By 6pm, we were sound asleep. The next morning we were up at 4am again & waiting for the sun to come up. The day after Christmas is Boxing Day. A holiday I had never really heard of before, but apparently is bigger than Christmas in Switzerland. EVERYTHING was closed, except the ski resorts. Lucky for me, we got two days of skiing!! Dustan doesn't particularly like to ski & he didn't plan on spending two days hitting the slopes, so he stood back & let me ski alone on day two. It was super cold, but the sun was out & the wind was minimal. It was a wonderful ski day! Although, I broke my 'no fall' record by going down the big girl hill without my big girl panties on. I thought I could handle the intermediate hill, but I got really scared at the end because I gained so much speed. Instead of stopping, I fell on my butt. Which, is what you're supposed to do, but I felt like a retard immediately after doing it...especially since I am SO GOOD at stopping. My mom broke her knee a few years ago on the slopes, so I have a slight paranoia when it comes to skiing. It's my fear that inhibits me, but it's my fear that keeps me safe. We had some dinner at the resort since nothing else was open. I was not a fan of the food in Switzerland. The Sprite didn't have fructose corn syrup, so I assume they use mostly natural products in their food & drinks. I'm a fan of the 'fake' stuff, to be honest. We watched the sunset over the mountains, which was absolutely breathtaking, and made our way back down the mountain. We went back to the hotel, packed up our bags & went to bed. We woke up the next morning & headed to the airport. Check in was a breeze & we cleared security with no issues. We boarded the plane & got comfortable. A few minutes after leaving the gate, the pilot announced a mechanical issue. A solid 3 hours later, we finally got off the plane & headed to the free hotel room that the airline was obligated to provide for us. The next day, bright & early, we headed to the airport for round two. Check in was a DISASTER and security was ridiculous. After a pretty significant delay, we were finally off the ground & headed to Washington DC!! After hearing about the blizzard in the states & seeing my best friend's photos of the huge winter mess in Jersey, we expected to be delayed due to inclimate weather. We ended up being delayed 22 long hours due to a mechanical issue!! It just was not in the cards for us to get home on time. However, we had cozy business class seats & the airline is providing us with a free future trip, so it wasn't too bad! I love getting free trips...now we just need to decide where to go with our free tickets! All in all, we had an amazing Christmas vacation. I wanted a white Christmas and my husband delivered, yet again. It was wonderful!
For the record, you are the ONLY woman I know who can make snow pants look sexy!
ReplyDeleteLove you!