I woke up around 7am and no one else was stirring yet. I quietly made my way downstairs, fumbling in the dark for the light switches, and made myself a hot cup of tea. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, the sun was just beginning to peek out over the horizon. I went outside with the camera to catch the sunrise as it looked to be a promising one. Connie and Mägge have a beautiful house (that has been the family home for over a 100 years) which they recently renovated and modernized. They also have two wonderful kids, Amy (nicknamed "Trouble" as per Rod) and Allison. Their house is right at the beginning of a valley, next to a small gurgling stream, and on the edge of the town of Davos which is only a 15 minute walk away. Davos itself is in a valley and is surrounded by mountains on all sides which makes it a popular summer and winter destination.

Around 8 am, everyone else was stirring. I learned how to operate their espresso maker and got Connie to show me where things were in the kitchen so I could be self-sufficient. A few minutes later, I was in charge of making espressos and café lattes for everyone. The kids went off to school and Mägge to work. Connie had a few errands to run in town so we were on our own pretty soon. Connie had suggested that we do a 2-3 hour hike that started right from the house, went up a mountain, down the other side and alongside the Davosee (Davos lake) and back to the house. We had clear skies and the sun was out so after packing some snacks, we set off on the hike. We made our way from the house towards what most locals affectionately refer to as the “ugly golden Easter egg” hotel where Intercontinental is building a behemoth luxury resort that is completely out of tune with the natural surroundings. The hotel also marks the start of the trail up to the top of the mountain. The hike up was a very steep one and very soon we were taking off layers to keep cool. We gained elevation quickly and once we broke through the tree line, it was a really beautiful view over the town of Davos and the surrounding mountains. The fall colours near the peak were really gorgeous, especially all the wild blueberry bushes that were a deep red-orange hue, providing a stark contrast to the evergreens and brown grass. We tried a few blueberries but they were definitely past their prime. We had a quick stop for some snacks up at the top which is when Tan and I decided to hike up about another hundred meters or so to the apex while Megs and Rod continued on down the other side of the mountain. We got amazing 360-degree views from the top and I was glad that we had made the little detour. We soon caught up with Rod and Megs again.

On the descent down we began to catch glimpses of Davosee and within about 40 minutes, we were alongside the lake and walking back towards the house. The lake is clearly a popular place during the summer months as there were lots of paddleboats, kayaks, sailboats and even windsurfers stored away. We were wondering how they managed to sail and windsurf on such a small lake but it turns out that there is usually a strong wind that sweeps through the valley and across the lake. The water looked deceivingly inviting but none of us were lured in to go for a dip. We were soon back at the house and Connie was back, too, so we all sat outside for lunch. We met Mägge's mother (who lives next door) and is around 98 years old. She’s still very active and greeted us all in German. She started speaking to us in German so I had to say “Ich spreche kein Deutsch” (I don’t speak German) to which she promptly smiled and replied “Ich spreche kein English”. I guess we were at a stalemate…

After lunch, we all walked into Davos to pick up groceries for dinner. We had decided that we’d cook our hosts an Asian dinner: coconut curry, vegetable fried rice and cucumber salad. They were thrilled about it because they love Asian food but don’t often make it at home. It was quite an interesting challenge trying to find Asian ingredients that we take for granted back in Vancouver at reasonable prices. For example, a can of coconut milk was over $2.50! Nonetheless, we were able to find almost everything we required. While we were shopping, Mägge had called Connie and was wondering if Rod and Tanya were interested in going for some mountain biking. Tan opted out but Rod was keen so he got picked up by Mägge while Tan, Megs and I walked back to the house. Connie had left earlier to go back home to get the girls ready for their swimming lessons.

Once we got back to the house, we prepped for dinner and Tan was twitching because she was indoors when it was a beautiful day out (this is a natural occurrence for Tanya). So we urged her to go for a quick bike ride while we continued prepping. I think she was happy that we offered because within a few minutes, she was out the door and on her bike. Once everyone was back from the bike rides, I served up a few more espressos and shortly after, we took over the kitchen and began making dinner. Rod was in charge of the coconut curry, Megs handled cucumber salad and I took care of the fried rice. Tanya was content to continue prepping and cleaning as needed. We all chowed down our small Asian feast and pretty soon after, we all went to bed as it had been a long day.

Sept 29:

Today was a forced rest day since it was raining out for most of the day. Rod, Tanya and Mägge set out for bike ride that morning while Megs and I stayed warm in the house. Hille was coming over to help us fix the leak in the roof of the van. I can’t remember if I had mentioned this before but when we were camping near Alpe d’Huez, it had absolutely poured and the following morning, I had noticed that we had quite a pool of water up top at the front of the van. After corresponding with Jason from VW Campersales (the folks that sold us our van), he promptly suggested that we might patch it up with some silicone sealant. Since we were constantly on the move during those days, we had decided that it could wait until we were in a single spot for a few days. Hille had graciously offered to fix it up and had even picked up some silicone seal. So he came over that morning and applied a layer of the silicone to where we thought the leak might be originating from. Just after he had finished patching it up, a downpour began – the perfect test. The next morning, there was no water pooled up front so we figured that the seal had held.

The rest of the afternoon, we just spent catching up on some blogs, photo editing and playing with the kids. Around 4 pm or so, Connie began the raclette preparations! Yes, we were going to have authentic Swiss raclette! Connie had even picked up a variety of raclette cheeses (paprika, plain, garlic and smoked) the previous day. We were really excited about having raclette because we hadn’t gone out for fondue or raclette during our initial visit to Switzerland. Hille came over for raclette, too, as we were all going out to watch an ice hockey game between Davos and Lucerne. We toasted the meal with “Viva la Grischa” (long live the Grischa region – which is the region that Davos is part of) and began to fix our first round of raclette. If you’re ever in Davos, and you use that local toast, Mägge informs us that you’ll instantly make friends. The raclette was simply delicious, especially with the variety of cheeses and fixings we had to go with it (bananas, onions, pickled onions, pickled zucchini, canned corn, baked potatoes and even pickled chanterelles!). About an hour later, after we were all sufficiently stuffed, Connie informed us that there was dessert, too. I didn’t know if I had room left for dessert but I thought it best not to offend our hosts J . It was a traditional ice cream cake that Connie’s mom had made. That was the perfect way to round out our raclette dinner since we had all gotten really warm sitting around the raclettes.

We then waddled outside and piled into the car to head into town for the hockey game. The guys and girls were sitting in separate sections since Mägge had only been able to get tickets in two different parts of the arena. The NHL was in a lockout so we had a couple of Canadian NHL players playing in the game that evening. I don’t normally watch or follow hockey at home because of the unnecessary fighting and the constant commercial breaks that drag out a 60 minute game to 180 minutes. Since the Swiss play with slightly different (and better in my opinion) rules, there was no fighting and no commercial breaks! And the game is much faster paced and we could see it as the NHL players were lagging behind in some plays. Unfortunately Davos lost 4-0 but it was a really entertaining game.

Sep 30:

The next morning, Tan and I got up a bit earlier than the others and went for a run. It was a beautiful day out and the valley with its autumn colours was especially pretty. We got back in time to have a pancake breakfast cooked by Allison which was very tasty. We were all going to go for a hike that morning so we marched off towards town and the lift that would take us up one of the local mountains. The hike was mostly downhill and quite enjoyable with some really nice views. We even spotted some Steinbock grazing on the mountain slopes – good thing we had our binoculars! We had a small picnic lunch half way along and then made our way back down. Rod, Mägge and the kids caught the lift partway down while the rest of us walked back to the house. The whole hike was about 3 hours long and once we got back to the house, Mägge was itching to go for a bike ride. Rod was definitely not interested in riding but offered to drive and pick up whoever was riding up to the pass. He even offered his road bike to me and suggested I give it a try. I figured that this was probably going to be the last big hill climb of our trip (since most passes were closed during the winter and I wasn’t likely to be inspired then), so off I went. Rod’s bike was definitely a lot lighter but came with the disadvantage that it had fewer gears. We set off around 5 pm for our ride and Rod started off in the car a little while later. I was able to keep up to Mägge and Tanya for about the first half hour of the ride but then had to fall back. It was a steep ride and they were keeping a good pace since the sun was beginning to set. It was very scenic as we rode up out of the valley towards a pass. This was the same pass that we had driven over to get into Davos a few days back but I didn’t remember any of it. One place in particular that was really memorable was a short waterfall (about 10 meters) that split into two because of a rock part way down and then joined back up at the base. The road wound around the waterfall, which was on the right hand side as you headed up to the pass. When you completed the switchback, you got a really nice view down the valley and of the waterfall. That’s one of the things I’ve realized being on a bike – the scenery, the memories are completely different. For one thing, you’ve got a lot more time to enjoy the scenery and take in all the details. In addition to that, you get all the natural sounds and smells that come with the ride. There was quite a bit of traffic on the road and I distinctly remember quite a number of Porsches passing me in both directions - I think I counted over twelve of them. That’s the other thing being on a bike – you have a lot of time to take in the details. Rod passed me about a kilometer from the top and he stopped to take some photos. When I made it to the pass, the others had been waiting for about five minutes so we loaded the bikes right away on to the van and headed back home.

Connie had made absolutely delicious pasta that night for dinner. For appetizers, she’d put together skewers of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, sprinkled with a balsamic vinaigrette. The pasta sauce was a creamy, whiskey-tomato sauce. I just had to get the recipe and it was so good I had a few helpings. We then had to get packed up to leave early the following morning as we had a 7 am start to drive Rod and Tan to Zurich International airport and then drive ourselves over to the Berner Oberland. The Berner Oberland pass we were planning to get is valid for 3 days within a 7 day period so we had been keeping a close eye on the weather which had been constantly changing. We had postponed our exploration of the Berner Oberland due to inclement weather and it seemed like we would have a few days of sunshine over the coming week so we decided to chance it.