Ski school in Brunni

Last week we were admiring the snow in Einsiedeln. But let's face it, snow is not a real fun in an abbey. But just ten kilometers from Ensiedeln lies the ski resort of Brunni, the hearth of the Mythen region.

You need to be careful when you drive to Brunni, the roads are winding and slippery. Of course, they have snowplows in Switzerland. It is just that the amount of snow they have in this country is beyond what you would normally expect. You can judge it by the orange sticks on the side of the road. You guessed it right, they are here to show to the snowplows where the road is. They are over 1.5 meter high.

It is snowing quite a lot today but already early in the morning the parking lot is filled with cars.

 In Brunni you can find slopes of different level of difficulty. The easier ones are accessible with lifts.

There is even one for sledges!

The higher ones can be reached with a cable car.

And the highest peaks, well, I guess they could only be reached with a helicopter. Still, I am not sure if trying to ski there would be a good idea.

Those of you who already know how to ski can join the others on the slopes.

The others follow me to the school.

They have classes for ski-lovers of all ages. They even have a snow garden (yes, a kind of ski- kindergarden).

I must say I was impressed by the enthousiasm of these small kids. They seem to have only recently learnt to walk and now they try to ski.

After the classes, the children can enjoy the winter playground.

Did you notice the snowy structure? Yes, it is the foundation of an igloo!

If you think that an igloo is too difficult then you can always try something easier.

Since they did not have ski boots my size, I will wait for you here, by the little river.

And well, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...

Rapperswil

Last week we were bathing in the Zurich Lake. This week, I will show you a nice little town on its East side - Rapperswil. To arrive there, we will take the Pre-Alpine Express that runs between Lucerne and St.Gallen.

We will use it mainly to cross the Lake. As an alternative, we could also walk. Oh, no, I do not expect you to walk on water, this is not the season for miracles. Just look through the window.

And yes, there is a bridge over the lake. It is built on wooden pillars and connects Rapperswil to Hurden. Wooden pillars are of utmost importance in this area as it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps". Obviously nowadays you will not see any of these pile dwellings, and the bridge is pretty modern.

To my surprise, I have found out that the bridge and Rapperswil are on one of the many pathways to Santiago de Compostela.

Rapperswil has a nice little Old Town. The first building on the left is the Town Hall. The big inscription in the middle reminds everybody that school has started again.

The Zurich Lake lies in a valley surrounded by hills. No surprise then that all the little town are located on the banks of these hills and most of the streets go up. Let's take one of them.

On top you will find the St John's church. This is a catholic church, which is not so obvious since Zurich was one of the centers of Swiss Reformation.

Next to the church (but on the other side of the hill already) there is a little cementary.

The church was built in the thirteenth century and rebuilt many times since. You can see the influence of gothic style.

The big organ behind is again made of wood, not metal.

The ceiling is also wooden.

But the biggest surprise was not in the walls and ceilings. It was the first time that I saw a group of altar servers made predominantly of girls.

As already mentioned, the church of St. John is located on top of a hill. On a sunny day it offers a spectacular view. On one hand you can admire the Zurich Lake and the numerous villages that surround it.

On the other side - the Alps.

When you look down you can spot the Old Town ...

... and just next to it - vineyards.

And of course - the wooden bridge.

But the biggest attraction in town is located just next to the church, on the very top of the hill. It is the Rapperswil castle.

The castle in Rapperswil houses a little surprise. I will show it to you next time.

Katowice

Recently, I decided to visit another postcrossing friend of mine - Laura. Laura lives in Katowice and she runs a very interesting blog about her posctard collection.

Katowice is an industrial town in the South of Poland, in the region called Silesia. It is best known as a large coal and steel center. But it has also many cultural places of interest. Like the Silesian museum. It exhibits mainly ethnological and archaeological artefacts but you can see there also paintings of famous Polish painters like Stanisław Wyspiański or Olga Boznańska.

If you prefer moving arts, you may visit the cinetheater Rialto, the oldest in Silesia. You may have a virtual walk inside by using this link.

 Another option could be the Silesian Theater on the market square.

 Have you noticed construction works? They are everywhere! This was very unusual, as if the whole city was undergoing a kind of refurbishment. I went to see Spodek, the famous show and sports arena. And guess what I saw? Construction works again!

Katowice is also the center of education for the entire region. It has there very good high schools, e.g. the the famous High School of Adam Mickiewicz, located in a nice 19th century building.

And of course the Silesian University. Here you can see the Faculty of Philology. It is a building with a very interesting history. Before the war it was the seat of some governmental office, during World War II it was the seat of the nazi police (gestapo) and after the war - the house of the Polish communist party.



Inside it looks probably like any other biulding of any university. Here you can see where the future librarians study.

In front of the Faculty of Filology, you will notice the monument of Wojciech Korfanty, a 20 century journalist and politician who faught for Silesia to become Polish after the First World War. He is very respected in the region.

Korfanty was a member of the Silesian Parliament, a governing body of the Silesian Voivodeship between the First and Second World War. The building houses now the regional government of Silesian region.

They did not let me in saying that the odd-toed ungulates are not admitted! Well, after all pigs are even-toed ungulates. And you know what the say of polititcians ...

Finally, I was lucky to meet some more postcrossers who came for Touristic Fairs.

I guess you will not be surprised that they were not really interested in travelling. Here you can see what Laura brought home from the fairs (believe it or not but Agata had even more).

For me the most important memory for the Fairs was the dinosaur ride!

Yeah! Rick the Dinosaur Whisperer!

Thanks a lot Laura. This was a great trip!

Back to school

Winter has come to Poland, dark and gloomy. As a result, it gets more and more difficult to convince my human family to go on a trip. Luckily, I have many friends among the postcrossers so I asked for help. The first to answer was Magdalena. She is one of the most active Polish postcrossers (17^th on most postcards sent from Poland!) - if you want to have a closer look at her impressive collection you can follow her blog.

When I arrived at Magda's place she smiled at me and asked if she can take me with her to work. I agreed of course. And then it turned out that it means that:





When I arrived at the classroom I first checked if my name was on the list in the class journal and what was the topic of today's lesson.

Then I got a sudden interest in the white powder just below the blackboard.

One thing that I can tell you for sure is that chalk tastes horrible, do not try it for yourself. To change a bit the taste I asked Magda to take me to the canteen. There I saw some amazing machines. Like this huge dishwasher ...

 ... a mincing machine ...

 ... or a machine used to crumble food.

All this walking made me thirsty. Luckily, I found some excellent compote!

Time to go home. Thanks a lot Magda! It was very nice meeting you in person :).