I'm sure you have been reading about the "big freeze" here in Europe. Cold air coming in from Siberia has ended the mild weather we've been having. The papers have been going crazy with their headlines, but a cold winter is actually normal. The mild weather we were having is not. So I'm not complaining!

Back in April of last year, I was asked to photograph a friend's wedding. They went on their honeymoon to the island of Réunion and when they returned I was given not only vanilla pods from the island but also a very generous voucher to the Hotel Fravi in Andeer. The hotel was built in 1828 as a resort for people wanting to take the waters in Andeer.  It's a beautiful hotel with direct access to the spa. We stayed in one of the historic Swiss stone pine rooms and ate in the hotel restaurant. The staff was very friendly in the hotel and made us feel at home. The food was equally good, and we very much enjoyed our stay.

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while, will have noticed that we often spend time in beautiful Graubünden. The last time was in December. We were of course overjoyed to have a reason to explore an area we haven't been to before. Around Christmas we made reservations for this weekend, of course not knowing that we'd be in for a very cold weekend. The sun was out and there was a brisk breeze which made the -17°C (1.4°F) feel like it was even colder. We were smart enough to decide against taking our cross country skis with us. We would have frozen to human popsicles if we had! Instead, we took the bus to Splügen and walked from there to Sufers, about an hour. It was the coldest walk I have ever been on. While we were in the woods and protected from the wind, it wasn't all that cold. But once we were out in the open again, my face stung and I have never felt so cold before. Still, it was a beautiful walk.

In Sufers, we stopped for a bowl of hot soup and after deciding against walking through the snowy gorge to Andeer (we're saving that for summer), took the bus to Zillis and from there walked back to Andeer.

We saw a group of ducks in the Rhein River diving for food. There must have been something good since there were pieces of ice floating in the river and it can't have been fun to swim in it.

We were happy to get back to the hotel and soak in the hot baths.

Vielen herzlichen Dank, dass ich eure Hochzeit fotografieren durfte!