The Föhn

On our recent hike in the Glarner Valley we had amazingly warm weather for mid-November--the wind was so warm it felt like a July evening. We'd heard about the Föhn (a crazy warm mountain wind) but never actually experienced it. You can read about it here. And this note was in the paper the following morning.

Wandern: Klöntalersee

Last weekend we hiked in the Glarner Valley through the city of Glarus, through some pastures, along a river to the Klöntalersee. Then we hiked up to Schwammhöchi for an even better view of the lake and the surrounding snowy mountains.

Playing cards on the train

Wandern: Schnebelhorn

We took a fall hike toward the tallest peak in the canton of Zurich (which is not too high). Many of the hikes we've taken in the past few months are too snowy now for wandern--and most of the lifts are closed until ski season starts up.

Second lantern parade

We had a second St. Martin's Day parade with our Austrian neighbors. In Austria they make their lanterns out of paper. They also taught us another song, which you can hear below.

Räbelichtli book

We got a nice picture book about this Swiss tradition. One of the cool things about the book is that it has recipes on the back end page. Our favorite is the Bappe (see below).

Räbenbappe

600 g turnip

300 g potatoes

1 dl water

1 T salt

20 g butter

1 dl cream

optional pinch: nutmeg and/or cumin

Wash and peel turnips and potatoes and cut into small pieces. Boil water, add salt, turnips, and potatoes. Cook for about 15 minutes. Drain off the water. Stir in butter and cream, and season with salt and spices.

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne

We learned this song to sing for our parade:

You can listen to the tune here.

Räbelichtliumzug

Räbelichtli parade

We joined our school friends for the Räbelichtliumzug (little turnip lantern parade), complete with a marching band and perhaps 200 kids. We marched through the neighborhood streets and sang songs in a group at the end to celebrate the season.

Räbelichtli

Here in Zurich, to celebrate St. Martin's Day, all the kids carve turnips and turn them into lanterns (Räbelichtli) for a nighttime parade. Zoë and Annie carved theirs at school and Steve and Heidi couldn't resist carving their own, too.

St. Martin's Day

The Swiss don't celebrate Halloween much, but around the same time of year, they have a fun parade for St. Martin's Day. You can read about St. Martin's Day here. It's a way to celebrate the fall and the coming of winter.

Meow