Snowboarding in Andermatt

Andrea has two days off. We drive an hour to Andermatt. We take the Glacier Express up to over 2000 metres to go snowboarding. My first day in the snow for more than two years. Snowboarding is not like cycling. You forget how to do it. The snow is two weeks old and hard, my legs are shaky. I feel my way down the slope on imaginary crutches.

It only gets better after a while. Snowboarding is actually very similar to kitesurfing. Nevertheless, the falls when kitesurfing are more fun due to the lack of pain. The ski area near the Gotthard is quite small, only a few lifts, but nice pistes and quite cheap by Swiss standards. Then the sun comes out and there’s nothing left to be happy about anyway.

A few refreshment stops, descents and a good lunch later, we head back over the top of the pass to Andermatt. Andrea had even researched where to go snowkiting in Switzerland. There is a spot in Andermatt. The 8 knots blowing in the late afternoon should actually be enough to get us started. But the two-week-old snow is just too hard for me and the sun is gone too soon. Back to Risch.

In the evening we head for Zurich. A short tour through the old town ends at the BARfuessig Sushi Bar. Excellent, well-styled from the video projector to the hand dryer and expensive like everything else in Zurich. The international comparison currency kebab is estimated at 6 euros. Andreas Freudin shrugs his shoulders when I ask him for a more hip bar. So we just go to the next best one.

It goes by the name of Casa, is a mountain hut in the middle of the city and offers live music. Four guys on four square metres play jazz, blues and funk at the highest level for the remaining 40 square metres. I can’t stop grinning, my legs want to dance. After a long slapped bass solo, the saxophonist is suddenly behind me. He talks to people over his saxophone. He goes from table to table, everyone gets different notes, a gay couple a micro-hymn. You should leave when it’s best. That’s what we do.