Forest Fire

At the weekend, there were 3 forest fires in the region here - so we have learnt that March and April are the most dangerous fire season, as the trees do not shade the ground yet and the leaves at the bottom are dry and likely to cause fires.

Splügen

So.... the sands of time have slipped away on another year of my life and to celebrate this inextrable decline towards 40, we went on a ski trip to Splügen. 

Why Splügen? Well, you can get there on the bus inside of an hour and they aren't Ticinese :-)

(I managed to leave the camera battery on the charger at home, so the pics may of lower quality as I had to use the phone) 

Unimog U4000.
Note the concrete slab counterweight on the back.

Meike (L) Mark (R) at the top of the cable car.

So.....is anyone else coming to ski?

Mystery tunnel on the decent back to the carpark.... but this is Switzerland and they have a LOT of mystery tunnels

Friday morning and what a view

Hotel Bodenhaus, Splügen

The lounge

Saturday morning....Why go to St Moritz when you can come here and have the place to yourself.

More heavy equipment. Piste bashers this time.

Hands up who's sleepy?
Have another beer then :-)

The hotel came equipped with a sauna, swimming pool and .....fallout shelter.
Here we see Mark checking it out.(outer door) Oddly, we met some people coming the other way.....

Outer door from the "foyer". Note spanner.
Not sure how effective this would be if you have a stairway full of rubble and a 2 ton door to shift. 

On Sunday it snowed. Mark in the snow, warming up his Spider Senses.

Andy in the snow....Warming up his hands.

New Apartment

After having to be interviewed by the owners mother, we finally get the keys to our new apartment in Daro. Its up a short sharp hill above the railway station with great views over the town. The view could be described as being better at night.....when you cant see the town. That said, we get more sun as the "cram them in" town planning policy has not reached Daro yet and we have a garden, a garage, a basement and an attic room... and the views of the mountains are brilliant. People even smile up here too......

We are the flat with the middle balcony. West facing, so we only get the sun towards evening  but will still be plenty hot enough come the summer.

Front of the property. Our flat is the middle one. 

Cycling back up to the house after work requires an element of commitment

Until you have a label on your post box, you don't exist in Switzerland.
Meike had this badge made in Bellinzona. Neat eh.

We negotiaited some furniture from the previous tennants.
Tables, book cases, bed, wardrobes....and light fittings, as you are normally expected to bring your own and an eletrician when you move in and as we have neither it's one less thing to worry about.

Hallway with living room and diner to the left and bathroom to the right

Bedroom with bed frame. We have since occupied the space inside the bedframe with  the supports and the worlds hardest mattress..... but still better than sleeping on the floor.

Matching wardrobes....Matching bed.... I am so happy :-)

This is where the sofa will go but in the mean time its Thermarests.

Bathroom....Yes really...

Spare room. 

Kitchen....wall to wall Bosch and everything works :-)

Other end of kitchen where I am typing this from

Lounge, now we have moved in a bit.

Looking a bit more like home.
We have to set up the wireless router yet, hence the cables for the internet

View from the lounge with  Castle no 1 to the left

Castle No 1 at night

Bellinzona by night

View from the Bedroom with Pizzo Erra (2416m) in the background

View from bed

View over Bellinzona (or some Eastern block country)  from the lower level of the garden

Lower terrace of garden with a happy Meike.
We have been granted permission by the land lord (who's OK really)  to dig over some of the garden and grow some veg, we are very grateful to him as I am sure he would have had to consult all the neighbours, possibly the bishop and made a sacrifice to the Swiss god of complex legislation.
Its good to work on the basis, that everything is illegal in Switzerland, unless there is a sign saying its legal.

The strange stone builing was once used for chicken breeding.
We have use of the terrace above

We also have a palm tree

...and here it is in a better light.

Meike on the terrace

Sunset on a long weekend of moving house.
Considering we have no furniture it was very hard work.
Thankfully our old land lady gave us the use of her car for the weekend, which was very kind of her.
No...she's not Swiss...

.

Skiing in Bosco Gurin

What do you mean we have to ski to the hut.....

This was as busy as it got

Dinner, bed and breakfast, £36 per person.
Basic but fun.

Lunch stop, pasta and beer.

Our group. Work mates and kids.

Pick and mix family.
Kids don't match the adults but its no stress as they all ski better than us anyway.



Federico, some bloke, Lauro



Nora, Meike

Next morning on the summit.
2500m, lovely and warm with great views across the Alps and not many people either.

Meike, Nora and Lauro at the summit, after talking Meike into going up there.

Looking back up to the summit station

I hate crowds....Just as well there wasn't one then :-)

Restaurant, cable car station. Great self service buffet in quite a cool building.
I can only imagine how they got the glu lam beams up to this height.

Meike, Matteo, Patrizia and Nora.
Homeward bound, ready to ski back to the carpark 800 meters below

Goodbye from Lauro