Knabenschiessen - awesome way to spend a day off!

Just got back from the Knabenschiessen festivities! Knabenschiessen is a half-day holiday for the city of Zurich which is celebrated in the second week of September with a shooting competition for teenage boys and with a big fun fair in Albisgüetli. We went on three really wild rides and it was so much fun but my stomach and head aren't quite in place. Great way to celebrate a day off work!

And Eunyoung of course who is taking the photo! 

Mikiel il-Wikkiel: Recipe Time!

Today I forced myself to cook a decent meal (been having too much pasta with ready-made sauces for my liking). It's an Italian pasta dish called 'Farfalle al Salmone' and happens to be one of my favourite dishes back home (miss my mum's cooking!). It's also very easy to prepare, so I thought I'd share it! Apologies for the low quality pictures from before hand.

You will need (serves 2): 250 g pasta (I prefer to use farfalle for this dish), 200 g smoked salmon (sliced into strips), 1 medium onion (diced), 1 tablespoon caviar, 1 shot vodka (optional), 250 mL cream (for cooking)  

Fry the onion in some olive oil until it becomes slightly brown all over and soft. Cook under medium heat to avoid burning!

In the meantime boil the pasta according to the packet instructions

Add the smoked salmon and cook for 3-4 minutes. At this stage one would also add the vodka and let the salmon absorb the flavour . Season with fresh pepper (no need to add salt, the caviar is already salty enough!)

Add the cream, and bring to boil under high heat. When it does boil, reduce hear and simmer for 5-10 minutes with the pan's lid slightly tilted to allow vapour to escape. This will allow the cream to thicken without making a mess.

Once the pasta has finished, add to the sauce followed by the caviar. Mix thoroughly.

Et Voila`! Enjoy your meal!!

Zermatt, Matterhorn and the Aletsch Glacier

The Matterhorn's distinctive peak from Zermatt (photo taken by Somil)

Located in the Canton of Valais close to the Italian border, Zermatt is the southernmost German-speaking town in Switzerland. It is surrounded by mountains, the most famous of which is undoubtedly the Matterhorn, with its distinctive peak rising at 4,478 m and which has been dubbed the most photographed mountain in the world. However, it is perhaps most well-known as being the mountain found on the wrapper of the Toblerone chocolate (Yum!). 

Given that Zermatt is around 4.5 hours away from Zurich by train, we traveled on Friday evening and spent an extra night there, either way it was going to be the last weekend for some of my friends so we wanted to celebrate it to the full! After a few drinks we made our way to the town centre to look for a bar and randomly ended up sitting down on the pavement stroking a couple of dogs and chatting with their owners the whole night (don't ask how that happened). They were really friendly and even offered us a beer which we gladly took (9 CHF for a beer was too much to ask for from a bunch of students, even though my conscience was kicking me to politely refuse). There was going to be a marathon the next day and we did get shouted at a bit because we were making too much noise in the streets and people wanted to sleep for the big day.

Early next morning after grabbing a quick snack from a nearby Migros, we made our way towards the cable car which would take us up the Matterhorn's little brother, the mountain known as Klein Matterhorn. One cannot actually go up the Matterhorn unless one is an expert climber/mountaineer, and must ideally also have a guide, since it has cost the lives of some 500 people who have tried to reach its peak (including 4 of first 7 people to conquer it) ever since the first ascent in 1865. Luckily for us tourists, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise situated on Klein Matterhorn offers fantastic views of the mountain practically all throughout the year and sits at an elevation of 3,883 m making it the highest vantage point in Europe. The cable car took us up to Furi station, where we then went into another Gondola and climbed further up.

The Gornerschlucht (Gorner Gorge)
taken by my friend Maebh

Unfortunately we were rather unlucky with the weather and it was all cloudy and our view was obstructed. Thankfully for me, I have plenty of time to visit once again and I definitely intend too! I just loved standing outside taking in the fresh alpine air and feeling the icy wind lash on my face, it's rejuvenating. You mustn't exert yourself too much though, at that altitude I found myself quickly losing my breath as the air is very thin. Inside the complex we also visited the Glacier Palace which was interesting and I had what was perhaps the most delicious Goulash soup of my life.

On our descent it began to rain, but that did not put some of us off from hiking back down from Furi station to Zermatt. Here we passed through the beautiful Gornerschlucht (Gorge), which somehow seemed even more spectacular in the rain! A tasty dinner concluded our programme for the day and made way for the party to begin (which incidentally involved all sorts of outrageous games but more importantly involved copious amounts of alcohol).

The next day, we checked out of our hostel and made our way to the train station where we caught a train to Betten from where we would catch the gondola up to Bettmerhorn. Here we would begin a 4 hour panoramic hike along the Aletsch Glacier, a massive 23 km long glacier covering 120 square km and one of Switzerland's UNESCO World Heritage sites (http://goo.gl/dbnjtt). At one point we even managed to get down close to  the glacier itself and we were immediately dwarfed by its gigantic size. From high above the Glacier does not look that high but down there we were amazed to look up at it. As we were running late we had to take a shortcut through a tunnel in the mountains and finally arrived to Fiescheralp, where we caught the cable car down to Fiesch to conclude our trip and catch the train back home.

Rough estimate of the hike along the Aletsch Glacier (seen on the left)

The Aletsch Glacier captured beautifully by my friend Dong

A small alpine lake (photo taken by Dong)

More stunning photos by Dong of the Aletsch Glacier Park

Dwarfed by the Aletsch Glacier! Thumbs up to Diego for the photo

We decided to catch the longer but more panoramic train back home to Zurich (via Andermatt) and I don't think I could handle any more beautiful scenery. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and I definitely recommend checking this area out if you happen to be in Switzerland, the alpine views are breathtaking! 

Taking it all in (Cheers Diego) 

Farewell!

This week was a sad week as so many of the friends I made here in Switzerland have finished their internship and are going back home. Although saying goodbye is always hard, I prefer to think that it is more of a 'see you another time'. Thanks for all the great memories we had together and I wish you all the best in whatever lies in store for you in future!

Until we see each other again in some other part of the world!