TipTopSwiss 366:366

So here we are on the last day of 2012, and the last day of TipTopSwiss366.

It's been a year of many firsts - our first full year of living in Switzerland, my first (and second) half marathon, my first trip in an ambulance, a first visit to Italy, and so many 'first time I've done (...) in German' that I gave up counting!
I now own a Freitag bag, my neighbours finally greet me in (Swiss) German as much as they do in English and I get annoyed by untidiness, inefficiency and people and things being 'unpunktlich' so I'm certainly more Swiss than I was this time last year!

Today's picture is from earlier this month and is chosen as the traditional greeting to wish someone Happy New Year in German is En guete Rutsch or have a good slide.

Happy New Year to you all!

PS If you've enjoyed TipTopSwiss366, I'm going to carry on the Swiss theme on SwissMiss-Adventures which has sadly been neglected since last January thanks to this blog!
And I have a new challenge for 2013! It's called...

http://lisasmiles365.blogspot.com

TipTopSwiss 365:366

In the UK we have Blue Cross Days. In Switzerland we have Rotstiftwochen or Red pencil weeks.

TipTopSwiss 364:366

Isaac's birthday outing today took us to Bern and the Zentrum Paul Klee. Really enjoyed the exhibits, especially Die Engel Von Klee exhibition. And the building was pretty spectacular too! www.zpk.org

TipTopSwiss 363:366

My favourite lamp post in the park! Reminds me of Narnia but no sign of Mr Tumnus.

TipTopSwiss 362:366

My lovely reindeer window art. It's our chosen way of making the house look festive with a minimum of mess and damage. It also stops us walking into the huge windows!

TipTopSwiss 361:366

Liking the Olympic 50p pieces. My nephew is collecting them - from his Mum's purse of course!!

TipTopSwiss 360:366

Merry Christmas! Fröhliche Weihnachten. ¡Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Nöel. Buon Natale.

TipTopSwiss 359:366

Fröliche Heiligabend x

TipTopSwiss 358:366

Carol service at Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church. Christmas carols + candles + being at SCBC = happy Lisa

TipTopSwiss 357:366

Jude loves Dylan and Ruby. He's been hugging and playing with them constantly since we arrived in Burgess Hill.

TipTopSwiss 356:366

Jude has new glasses. I've been trying them on for size and pulling silly faces too! Isn't that what everyone does in Nandos when waiting for food?

TipTopSwiss 355:366

All together now!

TipTopSwiss 354:366

Chocolate on the plane back to England.

TipTopSwiss 353:366

I love these brightly coloured cows. I must find a way of smuggling one into England for my garden...

TipTopSwiss 352:366

Well! Somewhat amused by this box beside the Migros stand at the run yesterday!

TipTopSwiss 351:366

Today I ran the Silvesterlauf for the second time. Still elbowed rather a lot but I was ready this year!

TipTopSwiss 350:366

As the trees weren't for sale until Friday and we're going to England mid holidays, a 'real tree' wasn't an option this year.
We were going to do without and just put up the decorations and the lights, but then I went to IKEA and saw this.
So this year we have a cardboard Christmas tree. Very minimalistic too as the boys didn't want to put decorations
on it bar chocolate bears and a few mirrored bells and stockings. And we love it.

TipTopSwiss 349:366

Great to see the Winti Nativity carvings are back - and they're even better than last year. New stable and a star. And snow too!

TipTopSwiss 348:366

Late night shopping in Winti tonight - and the whole of Oberer and Unterer Graben is lit with tea lights. All along the shop fronts, around lampposts, on windowsills and in star shapes along the middle.
Winti ist sehr schön.

TipTopSwiss 347:366

In December households in lots of villages and neighbourhoods in Switzerland take it in turns to decorate a lighted window each day. It's a lovely alternative to an Advent Calendar and one that is shared with your neighbours.
Here's one I spotted today.

TipTopSwiss 346:366

Mince pies! A little British tradition in Switzerland, thanks to 'Baking Lisa' (I'm Running Lisa!)

TipTopSwiss 345:366

I got stuck at the level crossing on my run AGAIN! This time I snapped the beautiful horses in the snow.

TipTopSwiss 344:366

Love the way that the snow is hanging on that railing like a wave. And, as the boys said, the post has an "snow afro"!
And it's snowing again. Wonder how our world will look when we wake tomorrow?

TipTopSwiss 343:366

These bright red berries dusted with snow stopped me in my tracks as I ran. So pretty.

TipTopSwiss 342:366

Fondue-Zelt today for Grade 8 Mums' Christmas lunch. Heavy snow falling as we ate - very Christmassy!

TipTopSwiss 341:366

Not only do I have my own 'garden' (aka Lindengut Park) but also my own snow plough! Well, it belongs to Stadt Winterthur but it parks outside my window!

TipTopSwiss 340:366

Getting ready for Sankt Nikolaus or Samichlaus tomorrow, baking biscuits for the neighbours. Look and smell delicious so I wonder how many will actually make it into the bags...?

TipTopSwiss 339:366

Norwegian omelette? I'm not sure that's what I'd expect if I ordered an omelette...

TipTopSwiss 338:366

I love these dates. I have to ration myself or I'd eat the whole box!

TipTopSwiss 337:366

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

TipTopSwiss 336:366

Something is afoot in Obertor this evening. There's a man inside that yellow illuminated tent fixing cables or something. His friend is outside the AXA building opposite. He's not so fortunate. He just has a ladder and a torch down his end of the hole.

TipTopSwiss 335:366

Funny glasses on the boys' advent calendars. - and they survived the post! Thanks Nanny Mu!

TipTopSwiss 334:366

We love Velostation, the perfect plane to park your bicycle safely and securely.

TipTopSwiss 333:366

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Jot!

TipTopSwiss 332:366

That song gets everywhere!

TipTopSwiss 331:366

Lots of pictures today from Zibelemärit today in Bern. A whole festival for onions. Only in Switzerland! And to add to the artistic onion strings, the onion bouquets, the onion models of pigs, ladybirds, people and the onion tarts, soup and bread, you are randomly showered with confetti and hit on the head with plastic hammers by the fellow market visitors. It comes as a bit of a shock, even if you are forewarned! 

TipTopSwiss 330:366

The number 12 tram from Stettbach to Glatt via Dübendorf. Jude's a happy boy. That tram will always be his favourite!

TipTopSwiss 329:366

Jude's 11th birthday party this afternoon. You can tell he's getting more Swiss - he was concerned about his friends making noise during 'quiet time' so scheduled it for the end of said period then got worried when people were early!

TipTopSwiss 327:366

Christmas lights twinkling away. As you look down from Obertor to Untertor, they look like a river of light. Very pretty.

TipTopSwiss 326:366

Autumn tree at a junction.

TopTopSwiss 325:366

Still not well so a collage of Swiss pics today!

TipTopSwiss 324:366

Still feeling rotten but cheered by these videos from Saturday. I've been trying to upload them to Facebook all day to no avail so I'll try here. The beautiful panorama from the top of Pilatus accompanied by the sound of the Alpine horn (and an annoying man who kept shouting at his Dad!), and the music makers themselves.

TipTopSwiss 323:366

I'm not feeling well today so no picture :0(
I'll use one from yesterday when we went up Pilatus.

TipTopSwiss 322:366

Rosehip tea today. I have a cold so it was very welcome - coffee and colds do not mix! And I love the little cloth teabags too. Makes a very pretty picture as the teabag goes into the water.

TipTopSwiss 321:366

The ISW 10th anniversary event was great - a stressful day leading up to it but a great time come 'showtime'.
I promised to take loads of photos and managed...4 acceptable ones! And I only took 2 of them. Thanks Jade for capturing Krislyn, Carolina and me :o)

TipTopSwiss 320:366

Tomorrow is the ISW 10th anniversary event. Getting excited!

TipTopSwiss 319:366

Today I noticed these corn-like sculptures near ISW. After more than a year of walking nearby, that's the first time I've seen them!