Enjoying a Swiss winter

Spring is in the air. Temperatures are soaring up to 10C, the snow is gone, birds are chirping, and the first Snowdrops and Crocus are poking their heads through the grass in the front lawns. Not before long we are going to have the bushes and trees in bloom, and I'm going to wear my shorts. Greetings to Three Hills.
With prospects like this it's high time I tell you about our Swiss winter adventures. Most interestingly we had, not lots, but always enough snow to go tobogganing and "skiing" even down here in the low lands of Bern. That's what we did then, especially with Niklas always picturing himself racing down the steepest hills on his skis (or better yet his snowboard). So one day we replaced his imaginary skis with real ones and off we went to a nearby slope.

First "steps" on snow

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Childproof Après Ski

First, we only went parallel to the slope, though. But after a short time only, Niklas got quite comfortable so we tried to actually go down a little bit. He finally managed to ski with holding my hand only.
For our second adventure we went to the Alps and up to a mountain top called Niederhorn.

View of the Bernese Alps

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Preparing for the ride (Note the Swiss toboggans)

We were invited by Madeleine's sisters to go tobogganing and this was the closest place from where we live. You have to know that in Switzerland tobogganing is much more popular than in Canada. There are a lot of traditional ski hills that offer a special track for people with a sledge with routes between 3 and 6 km in length. Ours had two parts: the first one was rather steep and riding with the kids you always had to make sure you didn't go too fast. However, with the feet on the ground to brake, snow whirled right into their faces, which didn't make riding all that pleasant as well. The second part, though, was great. It followed a snow-covered road closed during winter. The gentle slop allowed for a pleasant ride. It was so smooth that Joelle actually went to sleep (obviously, it also tells you something about my sledging skills :).

Mister Niklas the Viking

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Miss Joelle the Cheeky