June 1-2 Weekend in Glarus, team pizza party

This past weekend I visited a friend in Glarus, Switzerland. If anyone has been watching the news, there has been so much rain in Europe and many places began to flood this weekend. We were actually having a sunny, warm weekend south of the Alps in Lugano, but my plans took me to rainy Glarus!

In the meantime, the Lugano Lakers had a football game in St. Gallen, which is north of Glarus. Originally we were going to go to Glarus after the game, but plans got all messed up so just I went to Glarus by train and didn't attend the game. Good thing.... the team rode up to the other end of Switzerland, played 1 quarter of the game in the rain (and were winning, 16-0), when a player hurt his ankle. Under Swiss rules, a doctor has to be present at each game. The doctor was there at the beginning of the game, but when the player got hurt early in the 2nd quarter, the doctor was no where to be found. The referee had no choice but to stop the game! A long ride there and back for a few minutes of play. Good news is that both the junior and senior teams are still both undefeated! :-)

Despite the rain I had a wonderful time in Glarus. Fortunately, even though it was raining on Saturday, the clouds were high enough to see the spectacular mountains - although it only gave me a peak. My friend and I still managed to take a one hour walk in the rain along Lake Klontal. I enjoyed a 5-star home-cooked dinner of osso bucco, homemade noodles and sauce, sauteed Swiss chard and zucchini, salad and heavenly wine from my friend's vineyard. The next morning I had a super delicious breakfast of homemade rösti potatoes, ham, and onions with a fried egg on top!

On my way home on Sunday, my friend dropped me off in the town of Einsiedeln, where I saw the Einsiedeln Abbey, which is a site of many pilgrimages. It sure seemed like the largest and most ornate cathedral in Switzerland! It was quite splendid! Unfortunately it was still raining outside. I then took the train back to Lugano, where I could see so much flooding that was taking place over the weekend. Even some of the train lines had interruptions from mudslides or falling boulders. Fortunately I was able to make all my connections just fine.

In the evening, I was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing evening, while Rick was going to attend a pizza dinner party with the coaches and the football team. Just as they were about to leave I was told that the dinner was for all the coaches wives and families too! I had taken a hike when I got home, I was hot and needed a shower and was TOTALLY unprepared to go to a "goodbye" dinner which we thought was just for the guys. Well, I had to go and make do with a quick change of clothes but was far from looking my best. Gee, I wish someone would have told me! It ended up being a very nice evening and all the coaches and team have been so nice to Rick and I!

We are on our last week here. This coming weekend there is a game on Saturday and Sunday and then we leave Monday morning. :-(  But at the same time I am ready to come home. :-)

Checking the weather report for Glarus... what is "unknown precipitation"? Is it raining cats and dogs???

Lake Klontal - I must come back - in beautiful weather I'm sure it is even more spectacular!!!

On our hike to one of the many waterfalls. I'm wearing my new rain jacket I had to buy in Lugano, because of all this rain! I'm wearing my light down jacket under this rain jacket - just lovely weather.

On our spectacular mountain ride, fog rain fog.

An amazing gourmet dinner. The large windows give the impression we were eating outside.

The Einsiedeln Abbey

Fog and rain on the train ride between Einsiedeln and Arth-Goldau.

Flooded lake below as the train comes down into Arth-Goldau. 

At the football team's  "All you can eat" pizza dinner party!

One of the odd pizzas - with french fries on top! There was even one with seafood - mussels, shrimp, and calamari - no cheese.

A wonderful dinner out on our balcony. We are taking advantage of every moment without rain.