whoa...what happened?

I think I lost a day!

     I swear, I went to bed Thursday night and  woke up Saturday!  Friday just flew past.
    I trained to Zurich to visit the other Dickows in Switzerland, nephew Mike and family.
Megan met me at the train station and we had a great afternoon wandering through a Christmas market in Zurich and enjoying a traditional lunch at a center city restaurant.
    The market here was a little neater than I expected.  Great food booths, we had a hot wine and an apple cake thingy that was delicious.
    There was also a Christmas market at the train station....but it was pretty crowded, so we breezed in and out pretty quickly.
    We had raclette for supper and just sat and visited.  I really lost track of time and did not even post pictures.
     We had planned to go sledding this morning.  You take a bus to the top of a mountain, get a little one person sled, then go down the mountain at a leisurely pace.  There are food stands along the way to stop and get a bit to eat or a war drink.
     But we were missing something:  snow.  Not enough snow on the mountains for skiing or sledding.  It was great visiting the boys and touring their town.
The temperatures were pretty mild for mid December.  People were enjoying the weather, walking and biking around the country side and in town.
    I trained back to Julia's......timing is important.
    I missed the 12:31 train by 10 seconds.  If I hadn't stopped to pee, or if we made one more light, or I had the needed amount of money out for the ticket, I would have made it.  The next train was in half an hour so I waited, munching on a pretzel bun sandwich while I waited.  The second train involved two changes, which always make me nervous, but they went off without a hitch.
     Back at Julia's , the plan was to stack wood but Niece Cindy is visiting Julia and we ended up going shopping for the holiday party.
     Yes, holiday party.  Julia had a Christmas party tonight with about 20 people here.  It was a great time, with so much food of different types........and hot cider.  And wine. And laughter.
     It's a little after 2  a.m. and I am too tired to post pictures.  The last guests recently left and we did a little clean up.....but the rest was put off until tomorrow.
    Maybe I'll get the wood stacked then.
     I hope all you folks in Illinois are safe.  I feel so helpless here while you get a winter storm with epic    snow.
     Take care, be safe.