Start of the Year

For us the start of the New Year took place in

Hütten and we were not alone! A delegation

from Holland was present to help us eat the

food, drink the wine & champagne and sing all

those Karaoke songs from the seventies and

eighties. The New Year started with a ‘red

nose’ for all of us ;-). Luckily there was enough

snow in the mountains to test the skies, show

off all the new skills and to get some fresh air.

Flachau – Ski Vacation

This year we were late to book our February

ski vacation so we had to do a lot of ‘internet

surfing’ to find a nice place – and we found it:

in Flachau. The hotel was not on the ski piste,

but the bus trip in the morning (and

afternoon!) was not too bad. The ski pistes at

Flachau were great and there were a lot of

fast runs. We had great sunny weather. The

snow conditions were ideal at the beginning of

our week, but at the end of the week, the high

temperatures made the snow slushy, so the

last day we stopped early and enjoyed the

time in the sauna. As we were close by, we

also paid Salzburg a short visit, but the

Start Year

Flachau

Full Moon snow Walk

Easter in Holland

Dutch Tradition

School Trips

Kitchen Project

Sailing in Croatia

Culture in Italy

Summer in Hütten

Sportive Year …

Cats & Mice

Flying through the Air

Sinterklaas

Visits

‘Hüttener See’ winter view from our garden

1

shopping facilities were not at par with the

desires from the ladies….. which was better

for the credit card ;-)

Full Moon Snow Walk

Careful planning was required to organize a

full moon snow walk to the Drüsberghutte.

We were extremely lucky this year with fresh

snow on the path and a clear sky with a full

moon. The 5 kilometer hike up made us all

sweat ‘like a pig’ and we had to regularly stop

to enjoy the view (and recapture our breath).

In the berghütte we had the famous cheese

fondue afterwards a fast sledge (snow gamel)

run downhill.

Old Boys Ski Weekend

Also this year the ‘old bones’ were tried &

tested in St. Anton, Austria. A long weekend

starting Thursday night with over-night

experiments with intoxicating substances,

following the next day with demanding high

speed black piste test rides. In the afternoons

& evenings loud noise sing-along experiments

in the famous Mooserwirt (Wahrscheinlch die

schlechteste Skihütte am Arlberg) followed by

short nocturnal snoring concerts ….

It’s always appreciated that these ‘weekends’

end on Saturday afternoon, recuperation

during the Sunday ;-)

School Trips

Also this year the ZIS sent the girls on trips.

Merel Snowboard Trip to Davos/CH (March)

2

Merel’s Yearly Class Trip to Anzere/CH (May)

Fleur’s Trip to Leysin/CH (August)

Merel’s Trip to Leysin/CH (September)

Clover Marie born !

A new member of the family joined us this

year: Clover Marie van Baal. After the first

acquaintances were made in April in London,

she came over with her Mum & Dad to enjoy

Switzerland in summer time.

Lounge Terrace

After building the new kitchen last year, we

kept busy with a new building project in the

garden this time. The “jeux de boules” or

“petanque” alley that over the years turned

into the most favorite cat litter place for all

neighborhood cats, was going to be

transformed into a relaxing sunny lounge area

overlooking the Hüttner lake.

Unfortunately the ‘remote’ location in the

back of the garden and the steep hill made it

difficult to transport the building materials to

the right place. Luckily enough our neighbor

building

master –

just retired

– took on

the job,

with a

little bit of

help from

us. In the

summer

our lounge

terrace

was

finished so

we could

still enjoy

the new place and view.

Merel Celebration

This year was also the last year of Merel at the

‘lower’ school. A special ‘celebration’

ceremony was organized to send the kids off.

A very proud Merel received her certificate.

Even though the summer vacation had to

start, she was already longing for the ‘middle’

school: traveling by public transport (bus –

train – bus) to her new school and new

‘freedom’.

4

World Championship Soccer

We were all a bit crazy this year. The World

championship soccer allowed for wearing

orange shirts, ridiculous outfits, hanging flags

around the house and do a lot of cheering &

celebrations. Hütten has changed this year –

no one can claim they do not know any

Dutchies in Hütten

Ionian See

After last year’s successful experiment in

Croatia when we proofed that our family

formed a ‘competent crew’, we decided to go

for a full two week sailing cruise in the Ionian

Sea. We found out that not a lot of Swiss

travel to from Switzerland to Preveza: we had

to fly over multiple legs via Germany to

Greece (and back) to get to our sailing boat.

We all had a great time, one of the best

vacations we had.

We had good weather, fair winds. The small

fisher harbors and bays we stayed overnight

had nice tavernas with honest food (in some

cases also the necessary TVs to watch Holland

win …. and loose one time).

Marian learnt to dance the sirtaki with the

help of the owner and kitchen personnel of a

tavern on Kastos. On bare feet, but the wine

did its work.

One evening were captured by Pirates and

had to eat BBQ and drink lots of strange drinks

on the beach. We made new friends – Pirates

of the Animagus –After each match of Holland

we drank another bottle of Champagne.

Crazy Bowling Night

It was

Cats & Mice

Also this year the cats brought home lots of

‘little friends’ (some of them a bit bigger to

the dismay of Marian). Some of them planned

to stay longer. To secure their stay we had to

install special safe rooms. As you can see

these were used under great interests of the

cats. Paris

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas decided to have audience this year

in Goor in the Netherlands, which meant that

we had to drive up & down to Holland in the

first weekend of December. The snowy

weather conditions and warning for sleet and

black ice did not bring us of course. We met

the old man and his helpers and he made

everything up with lots of presents & poems.

Visits

Also in 2010 we were lucky that lots of folks

paid us a visit, either to celebrate New Year,

to test their skies, to experience the ‘other

part’ of Switzerland, to keep our house clean

(thanks Richard ;-)) or just to enjoy our

company (is that possible?).

Whenever you are around, come by. There is

always extra food (& wine) and a place to

sleep.

6

Michael, Marian, Fleur & Merel de Braaf

http://blog.familie.debraaf.com