New Years In Verbier

Happy new year! Today is my last day in beautiful Switzerland, and tomorrow I'm heading back to Perth. My stay here has been awesome, and I've had such a fun and different holiday season this year.

On the 30th, we drove to Champex to spend the night at Tom's chalet in the mountains. It really was in the mountains! We had to walk through a massive path of snow (that's usually a road) to get there. The chalet was beautiful; made of wood and decorated with cosy furniture and creepy old paintings, with nothing to see outside the windows but trees covered with snow, it really made us feel like we were the middle of nowhere.

That night we walked to a restaurant in Champex where we had a different kind of fondu (fondu a la tomato). It should have been a 15min walk each way but I think it took us double the time because we were playing in the snow! The snow was like powder, it was so much fun to play in.



On new years eve (after dislodging the car from the snow) we drove to Le Chable where Yvonne had hired a dorm at an awesome backpackers place. The place was directly next to the train station and the tele ski, so it was really easy for us to catch transport to and from Verbier (where we spent new years). Yvonne organised an amazing new years eve with a bunch of friends all staying in the same backpackers.

After some drinks in the common room, we caught the bus to Verbier for dinner at Fer a Cheval, a rowdy pub with hearty meals and cheap steins of beer. Dinner was amazing, I'm so glad it was good because it prepared us for a big night of street drinking! We had a couple of rounds of shots, and for some reason it's tradition in Switzerland to chant (starting low and going up to a scream) before taking a shot. It turned into a bit of a competition between the tables at the restaurant, and I think we lost dismally to the English mob on the table next to us.



Next we headed onto the streets of Verbier where there was music, street drinking, random fireworks, and snowball fights. It was nuts! To be honest I was even a little scared at times, because people had their own fireworks and were launching them quite low just above the crowds. There were a couple of policemen around, but they didn't seem to concerned, it was crazy! The countdown was my first new years countdown in French, and my first without a boy to kiss! However it didn't matter because everyone was hugging and going crazy, so I didn't feel too lonely.



We managed to push our way into the front of the line to catch the bus back to Le Chable where we had some more drinks over another game of jenga in the common room.

This morning we started 2012 with the long drive back to Neuchatel. We gave up and decided to stop for McDonalds; I'm a little ashamed that maccas was my first meal for the new year! It's actually the first time I've eaten a burger from McDonald's since I was 15, but it seems much better in Switzerland (the smell didn't make me feel sick for one). It was really nice! Maybe I just really needed a burger after last night.

Tonight we're going to relax over a movie, and I'm going to try and pack for my trip back tomorrow. And so my swiss holiday comes to an end!