Engelberg, Switzerland

We were off again this past weekend to beautiful Engelberg, Switzerland.  Engelberg is an adorable ski village on the edge of the Titlis Mountain, about an hour outside of Zurich.  We were fortunate to go on this adventure with our neghbors here in Warsaw.  We had a great weekend with them and are going to be sad to see them go back to the states this summer.  Having never been to Switzerland before I wasn't sure what exactly to expect.  But, Engelberg was postcard perfect!  Every view was literally breathtaking.  We stayed in an adorable apartment up over the town therefore had views of the village and the mountain from every angle.  We were also blessed with beautiful weather.  It was 60 degrees out during the day but there was still plenty of snow for skiing. 

We spent our first day riding the lifts all the way to the top of the mountain for some incredible views and of course, we had to indulge in a drink at "Europe's Highest Bar" while up there.  On our way back down the mountain we stopped for some snow tubing.  It was a total blast!  We were largely outnumbered by little kids, but we didn't really care.  We finished our day with a traditional Swiss dinner in an old chalet in the village. 

Sunday was our big skiiing day so we were up and off to the slopes!  Now this was only my second time EVER skiiing so I was a bit nervous to "get my groove back" (i.e. remember an ounce of anything I learned in my first ski lesson).  And, Engelberg is a much larger ski resort than the one that we had gone to in Austria.  We headed off to the blue (beginner) slopes and hoped for the best!  These slopes looked a bit more advanced to me, but I guess this is what you get when you are skiing in the Alps!  I surprised myself and did pretty well.  We had a great time spending the day skiing.  Tom did really well and has a new found love for the sport.  I see many more ski vacations in our future.  : )  After a long day of skiing we were ready to head back to the apartment and relax.  So, we decided to spend the night in and cook a traditional swiss dinner...fondue!  Fondue is one of my favorite things so I was super excited.  And, when we went to buy the groceries the ladies at the store were very eager to explain the proper process to us to ensure that we had the tastiest fondue.  Did you know that you are supposed to put a small amount of cornstartch into your cheese fondue to prevent it from sticking and browning?

Monday we checked out of our loveley apartment in the morning and were off to do some sightseeing.  Unfortunately, the beautiful snow up in the mountain meant lots of nonstop rain below the mountain.  But, we were determined to see the sights.  So, we headed over to the city of Lucerne and walked around the charming city for awhile stopping into a cafe to dry off and stay warm.  After Lucerne we checked out Zurich for a bit before heading to the airport.  

Switzerland is a gorgeous place and we hope to head back sometime in our travels!  Another wonderful trip and even better that we got to share it with great friends!



The view from our apartment looking into the village



Another view from our apartment

Up in the mountain - snow everywhere

Good times with good friends!

The 4th lift to get to the very top of the mountain - and the cable car spun in a circle to see a 360 degree view - a bit scary!

Cheers - at the highest bar in Europe

Tom loves snow tubing!

So do I!

The view from our apartment after a long day of skiing!

Engelberg at night

Vacations = Relaxing!

Who knew there was specific fondue wine?

Our delicious fondue dinner

The best part - dessert

The final morning we had a big snow storm come through - Gorgeous!

Lucerne

We took this pic in honor of Grandma Mac.  Her favorite phrase....Vonderbar!



Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #20

Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #20: Environmental Consciousness

Environmental consciousness is everywhere in Europe...from hotel rooms where the lights automatically turn off unless you have your room key inserted into a special switch to reusable bags.  The reusable bags have been the one thing that we have definitely adopted in our time here.  I always carry one in my purse and use it for everything from picking up some advil at the drugstore to my weekly trip to the market for produce.  As you walk around Warsaw you see everyone toting their brightly colored reusable bags. 

Pretty much every store charges for plastic bags if you need/want one.  So, not only does it help the environment but it also helps your wallet!  I know that some states in the US are considering charging for bags and I think it is a great idea.  We used to have a whole drawer filled with old plastic bags and now we simply have our few reusable ones. It's an easy way for me to feel like I am doing my small part to make a difference.

Teatr Wielki

I had the opportunitiy to take a backstage tour of Teatr Wielki, the Grand Opera House, in Warsaw.  Since Tom and I had attended an opera performance in the theatre in January it made it even cooler to go behind the stage and see how the performances all come together. 

A bit about the theater:

The Grand Theatre in Warsaw (Polish: Teatr Wielki w Warszawie), the Grand Theatre—National Opera is a theatre complex and opera company located on historic Theatre Square in Warsaw, Poland.

The theatre was inaugurated on February 24, 1833, with a production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

After the building's bombing and near-complete destruction in World War II, the theatre was rebuilt, and the building reopened on November 19, 1965, after having been closed for over twenty years.

Today there are over 1,000 employees who help the theater run every day.  And, the theater is used for both the Opera and ballet performances - so there is a ton of work since they have to turn the sets, costumes and performances around every 4 weeks or so.

Gorgeous glass sculptures in the lobby

Backstage rigging

Sets from the opera we saw, Nabbucco

Lots of options for hanging sets

Scenes for the upcoming opera



On stage facing the audience



Interesting props in storage

From high above the stage - where the lighting guys sit

More props

The costume room - The opera has over 30,000 costumes in storage dating back to the 70's.  They rent them out to other performing companies all over Europe.

The costumes went on and on...and we only saw one of three storage areas.

Sitting in the audience

The outside of the Teatr Wielki today