Laowai

On our third day we went to a dam on the other side of the mountains from our hotel. It’s called the Grande Dixence dam. Brian rode his bike and the girls and I drove there. Here’s some info about the dam from its web site:

The Grande Dixence dam, the world’s highest gravity dam, is part of a vast complex that includes four pumping stations and three power stations with a total output of 2,000 MW.

The Bieudron power station alone holds three world records: the drop height (1,883 m), the output of each Pelton turbine (3 x 423 MW) and the output at each pole of the alternating current generators (35.7 MVA). 100 km of tunnels in the midst of the mountainous area collect meltwater from 35 glaciers in the canton of Valais. Thanks to 75 water catchment points, the water that powers the turbines comes from a vast area, all the way from the Mattertal valley (Zermatt region) to the Val d’Hérens.

The Grande Dixence hydroelectric power complex generates some 2 billion kWh of power per year and accounts for 20% of Switzerland’s energy storage capacity. It provides enough electricity to power the equivalent of 500,000 homes.

There’s Brian powering up the switch backs.

The dam was fascinating and surreal. Here’s the view at the bottom:

And the view standing along the top of the dam:

We saw lots of people on the zip line. Yikes!

Our last full day of vacation was the sunniest. We went for a hike to a nearby lake – Lac Bleu. It’s a popular destination because the spring fed lake is a very very pretty blue. It was a good hike – hard but not too hard. We spent a long time just basking in the sun and enjoying the view.

After our hike Brian took a run way up high into the mountains behind the hotel. Here are his photos:

And since it was Brian’s birthday we did the touristy thing and ate fondue in summer. Yum.

And that’s the end of our vacation. Good-bye lovely old hotel. 

And now we have less than a week before we fly back to the US. 

Hey look at that – everyone is smiling.

We’ve been getting down to the lake for swimming and paddle boarding lately. Oh I do love swimming in Lake Zurich – it’s the best! 

We didn’t get to ride on that boat – I just thought it was cute so I took a picture.

And I made cinnamon rolls.

We’ve had a bit of an uptick in Covid cases here in Switzerland. So the government has made masks on public transport mandatory. It’s a new experience that I know we will have to get used to in the US.

In other news I came across some pretty linen gingham and so I had to make a shirt. Some quality time with my sewing machine before it gets packed up in our shipment. Sniff. It’s the Wilder Gown pattern from Friday Pattern Company again.  Such an easy pattern – just three pieces plus the ties. I should brush my hair…

I’m going to miss our view so so much! Back in Wilmette I look out my kitchen window through tree branches and I can see birds and squirrels nibbling berries. It’s a charming view – intimate and green – but it doesn’t really compare with what I have here in Switzerland. The two views are completely opposite. 

This week a crane went up. Glad it’s only gone up now because it does disrupt the scene.

Yesterday Brian went for a massive bike ride. He rode all day and over big big mountain passes. At the end of the day I drove to pick him up and he greeted me with the biggest smile (see below). These rides, in the amazing mountains, are the reason we’re here in Switzerland. I’m so glad that the silver lining of this pandemic has been a little extra biking time for Brian. 

This old quilt needed a wash – it’s my Swiss baby, Claire’s, quilt. Washing a quilt stresses me out a little. But it all went fine and we had a good hot sunny spell so it dried quickly on our patio. Now it feels clean and fresh again.

I have 400 hexagons sewn together now. I think 800 will be a good size and then I’ll add some white hexagons around the edge.

Taking the papers out is very satisfying. I try to leave them in around the edges to give the quilt a little strength until it’s almost done. I take out the papers in the middle hexagons and reuse them.

And I saw this pattern in a book a few days ago. It might be the inspiration for my next quilt.