Mark Pospesel (Coding and Other Stuff)
Coding, tech, living abroad, travel, hiking, vintage plastic bricks
Morning hike, Ämsigen: 5.5km, 950m ascent, 2h15m, 13°C. Halfway up Mt Pilatus was already the toughest hike I’ve done this year. Great views of Lake Lucerne. We bought Alp cheese from the farm up at Ämsigen before taking the cogwheel train back down.
Morning hike, Zugerberg: 8km, 390m ascent, 2h30m, 11°C. Easy hike but also easy to fit in midweek. Cool and misty in the forest this morning.
Wow. It’s sort of hard to believe that it’s been three years to the day that we arrived in Switzerland. Also hard to believe that it’s already been two years since I wrote this post. On the other hand, the past five months have felt like two years unto themselves.
Some things have changed, others have not. We still don’t know how much longer we’ll stay here (our right to stay depends upon a local job and a permit that must be renewed annually). We still have not really integrated into society here.
On the other hand, I’ve learned a lot more German (after two years of twice-weekly German classes), we’ve traveled pretty extensively both within Switzerland and around Europe (not so much in 2020), and I’ve hiked quite a few mountains.
I still love it here. It’s not perfect. No place is. As much as we complain about the (belated, confusing, mistake-ridden) coronavirus response here, it’s worlds better than the tragedy/disaster that is the United States’ handling of the pandemic.
What’s next? I’m not sure, but it looks like we’ll get another year here. Hike some more mountains, I guess. Explore Portugal more when it’s safe to do so. Work on our bagel baking.
Morning hike, Rigi Scheidegg: 9km, 950m ascent, 3h10m, 17°C. Hardest hike I’ve done in a year. Beautiful walk through forest and then meadows.
Morning hike, Wirzweli: 4.3km, 630m ascent, 1h45m, 17°C. Short but fairly steep. Pretty hike although you don’t get the views until the end. We went early so that we could go down in an empty gondola. 😷
We also made fresh cream cheese (with chives) to serve with the bagels. Surprisingly easy.
We made our first ever bagels today (NY style, naturally). They might look like Benjamin Button, but they were so delicious. First decent bagel I’ve had since moving to Switzerland three years ago.
Training hike, Niederrickenbach: 5.1km, 640m ascent, 2h, 17°C. Short but relatively steep. We bought local sheep milk cheese at the top and then took the gondola down (our first use of public transportation since COVID happened— there was one other passenger, we all wore masks).
Sun rays peeping through the clouds over Neuheim (there should have been a heavenly choir vocalizing)
Training hike, Josefsgütsch and around the Baarburg: 8.3km, 270m ascent, 2h10m, 18°C. Easy but pleasant walk through forest and farm fields. Rain threatened but never materialized.
