I *heart* planning ahead

Coming up:
- Amsterdam
- Copenhagen
- Helsinki
- a bunch of trips to Burgdorf
and, most likely one to Paris too.

I'm so Swiss...

One step closer to becoming a real Swiss...I finally got a Freitag! I've been looking for one for awhile, but didn't find the perfect one until this past saturday. Once you see it, you'll understand. Oh, I'm still looking for more though. I can't have just one of course!

Only in Europe...

would you have a chain-smoking skating coach that smokes on the ice (indoor rink) as he talks and coaches. He's learned how to stick his cigarette under the middle of his upper lip so that it's hanging straight down and I guess as he breathes he's inhaling the smoke.
I found it pretty amusing.

It's official...

You've got an extra year to get your butt over here and visit me!

Home comforts

Seeing friends from home makes all the difference.
Good times with good friends.
Please make plans to visit me soon...it'll make everything so much easier.

Free view of a lake and alps included.

Working on the pack...

The problem with being so flexible is that you're naturally a lot weaker. I gotta get back into the game. I'd like to get my six-pack back sometime in the summer.

My obliques are uber-weak right now.

I still hate running, but I know that I've got to do something. Yucky...what should I do?

Barcelona (April 12th - 15th)

After leaving Rome early morning on the 12th, we arrived to Geneva airport and waited around for about 4 hours for our next flight. I was dead tired, and ended up taking a little nap on the hard concrete floor for a bit. Slightly uncomfortable, but the airport people like putting in chairs with armrests just to deter people from sleeping horizontally on them, so I had to make due with the floor. Anyway, we finally got on our flight and arrived to sunny Barcelona.
Once we got to our hotel, via metro (tee hee), we planned out some stuff (I made a list of course) and then head out for late dinner near La Sagrada Familia and went back to hotel to crash.

The next day, we started off by going down to Las Ramblas. This busy pedestrian street was so nice. I love walking around in crowds, and all of the street vendors and buskers made it quite lovely. In Europe, there seems to be many human statue buskers...I know they exist in North America, but it seems to be the main method of busking here.
I've always wanted to buy a pigeon. I wonder if they're intended to be a pet...or dinner? One stretch of Las Ramblas was buskers, then flower shops, then pet shops and then artists. I've never seen bird shops like this before. It was pretty amusing.
Of course we had to visit the Picasso Museum along with everyone else. Cubism is pretty cool to look at. It was interesting to read about what he did and see the progression of different works.
After the museum, we walked back up to Placa de Catalunya and up one of the shopping streets there. Kind of like how in Canada there's a McDonald's or Tim Hortons on every block, in Europe, there's a Benetton or a Zara or a Mango. I also discovered Massimo Dutti. They had really jeans with a great wash for quite a reasonable price, but darn the "low-rise" craze.


I guess every country needs its own Holt's.





That night, we ate on Las Ramblas (seafood paella!!!!) and then headed out for a flamenco show. It was at a small venue and was standing room only at maybe 30-ish people. The music and emotion was amazing. I'm sure I don't even have to tell you how much I loved the dancing. One "instrument" was just a wooden box which was used like a drum, but the different tones and rhythms that they used was absolutely incredible. It was a fantastic show. I want to learn how to dance like that.











The next day, we hopped on the Tourist Sightseeing Bus (would recommend) and hopped off at La Sagrada Familia. The line up wasn't too long and thus began the 5 hours (or something like that) of sheer awe. It was so fab. I'm a smidge bored with seeing churches in Europe, but this was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I was seriously geeking out about the math and sciencey-ness of the architecture. It was wicked cool. I mean, c'mon...trees, rotating figures, fractals, magic squares? Dude...



Gaudi's stuff is just cool. It's such a different style than anything I've seen before.

One cool thing that Gaudi did when making his designs for the church was to make a 3-D representation of the exterior. He hung weights off of strings to made a free standing (or free hanging, I guess) structure, and when inverting the picture, the shape of the church appears.



After climbing to the top (which took way too long), we hopped back on the bus and hopped off again in Montjuic. This was where they have a bunch of 1992 Summer Olympic stuff. The telecommunication's tower, stadiums...





On the bus, we also pass by the FC Barcelona stadium. Barcelona's apparently doing well in the Champion's League. Good luck to the team (or maybe they've won/lost by now)!



Back on the bus we go and make our way back down to the centre of town. We pass by more of Gaudi's work...this stuff is just too cool.












It's Good Friday, so we know that there's bound to be something going on in this mainly Catholic region. Sure enough, we stumble upon a couple things. I'm all for experiencing new thing, and understanding new cultures and religions, but those pointed hoods were just not my cup of tea. And the huge Mary was a little scary too. It was interesting, but I felt a little unsettled watching it all. We'd also gone into a church during a mass and it was interesting seeing what was going on there. It's not my thing, but I can appreciate different religions and cultures.
That night, more seafood paella (love it!) in the centre of town and then a much needed good night's sleep.


The next morning is started off with a tour of the Gran Teatro del Liceu (ie. the opera house). Apparently its claim to fame is the fact that the seats have built in screen into them so that each audience member has his/her own text to read off of. I can't wait to go to an opera.
After a little more shopping and walking around Las Ramblas, we took a short train ride out to the nearby town of Sitges. It was a really cute town, with a great beach! Nice warm sand, and lots of naked babies running around. Augh!!! Anyway, we decided to make the most of the sun before it set and got some Vitamin D.

As we were walking along the beach we saw some pretty amazing sand sculptures.






In Sitges, all of the street signs looked like this. How Mediterranean feeling!










We made our way back to Barcelona for our last night in the city. We quickly visited the Venetian Towers in front of the National Gallery. It really did remind me of Venice!
That night, I decided to change things up a bit and have tapas instead. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. Yummy food. I tried to eat foods that I wouldn't have a chance to eat on a regular basis.

Barcelona is a pretty touristy place though. I heard lots of different languages being spoken while I was there, and definitely can't tell the difference between Spanish and Catalan.

Barcelona is such a great city. I know I HAVE to go back. There's just so much more to see and do that I didn't have a chance to do this time around, and I don't mind seeing a couple things again. Oh, and the food...I'd go back just to eat more.

I think my list of "places to go back to" is growing exponentially. Darn it.

Italy Trip (April 6th - 12th)

After a long day of traveling (Geneva to Rome, Rome to Naples), we arrive to the airport, but our luggage does not. Yuck. Oh well, it's never happened to me before, and it's a new experience. I know that our luggage will show up eventually, and just look forward to going to the hotel and being horizontal for awhile.
On the way to the hotel, we stop at Herculaneum, an ancient city that was completely covered by ash from Vesuvius. I felt like I was stepping into my Latin textbook from high school. I really loved that course. I don't remember too much in term of vocab and stuff, but I did learn some interesting things about their culture and the roots of our English language.
That night was quiet. Just staying at the hotel and staring out at the Mediterranean Sea. We had an amazing balcony.

The next day, in the same clothes, we hiked up Mount Vesuvius. Definitely cool. It was really cloudy and hazy that day, so a lot of the walk was spent in the fog, but every so often you could see Naples below. The volcano was smoking, and sure, it would have been a cool experience to see it erupt, but you know how that would end. Oh, I took a could pieces of pumice stone for safe keeping.
That afternoon, we went to visit Pompeii. Too cool!!! Everything that I learned from Latin class was right there. The forum, the layout of the houses with the mini pool in the foyer, the baths.
At one of the town amphitheatres, there was a French school group putting on a performance. Now THAT'S how school should be. That's interactive, and cool. That's making the most out of your experience.
Another cool thing that they had were stepping stones. The sidewalks were higher than the road itself, and to keep people's feet dry during floods/rains, there were these stepping stones that you could use to cross the street. That's not all. The stones were spaced out in such a way that the wheels of carts would go between the stones. You could even see indents on the stone roads where the wheels ran. Those Romans were smart people.
The Roman version of a McDonalds. They were really into their wine, so instead of burger bars, they had wine bars.
The grounds of our hotel have lots of lemon and orange trees. There were also these strange oversized grapefruits, but they weren't exactly grapefruits either. Not pomellos either. The skin has a different kind of consistency. They weren't really ripe, or else I would have tried one. This lemon looked like it was a little squished in its surroundings. I definitely took a couple lemons for myself. They smelled ridiculously fresh. Like an uber-lemon scented thing. Sounds like an obvious choice, but trust me, they were crazy cool smelling.

The next day, we took a boat out to the island of Capri. It was gorgeous. It reminded me of the Greek Islands that I visited last year. Up on a mountain, surrounded by the beautiful sea. Unfortunately there weren't any donkey's to get to the top like in Santorini, but a funiculaire which was identical to the ones in Zermatt was fine. Capri is definitely a place where the rich go to play. Lots of chic hotels, boutiques and restaurants. I spent a little time window shopping and soaking up the warm sun and enjoying the beautiful scenery.


Afterwards, we took the boat back to Sorrento (which docked at the port just below our hotel), and had a pretty quiet afternoon. It's a really cute town (very touristy though) with lots of little stores and lots of places selling lemoncello.


The next day was a travel day, with a pit-stop in Sperlonga to relax on the beach. I think all of the beaches in Europe that I've visited were rocky beaches, so my feet were sure happy to be walking on sand for once.
Once we arrived to Rome, we settled in to our hotel and then, after dinner, we went on a walk, first passing by the colosseum. WOW.
We kept walking, got some gelato, made some wishes at the Trevi Fountain and ended up sitting on the Spanish Steps listening to a small group of people playing on their guitars and singing. What a fabulous way to spend the first night in Rome.


The next morning, we took the metro (teehee) to the Vatican City. The line up was unreal. It moved pretty quickly, but it was the longest line that I think I've ever been in. We got through security, and throughout the whole museum, I felt like I couldn't enjoy myself because
there were so many people and I just felt like I was shuffling along through the place. We did get to stop in the Sistine Chapel for awhile, and yes I know that pictures are not allowed. Meh, it's not like I was the only one doing it. Anyway, that stuff didn't impress me too much.
We finally got outside and of course I mailed a postcard home through the Vatican Post (which interestingly enough, goes through Switzerland - I wonder if it's because there's a link with the Swiss Guards?).
That afternoon we walked around town, I had more gelato, window shopped in their "Yorkville" (BTW, Yorkville is such a disappointment now), came up with some more dreams, thought about buying something from Dimensione Danza (again though,…I don't really dance anymore) among other places, wound up on the Spanish Steps again, and after lots more wandering, ended the night thoroughly exhausted, but quite content.
Oh, there was also awhile where I'd thought that I'd lost my wallet. I was surprised at how calm and rationally thinking I was during that whole time. It's strange how something like that doesn't throw me off (where I know that most people would be freaking out), but other little things may throw me into a frenzy. I think it's because I could deduce where I must have left my wallet and that it couldn't have gotten stolen and that there was nothing I could do about it if it was lost, I'd just have to cancel credit cards and take a loss in the cash that disappeared, but other little things that throw me into a frenzy are things that I thought I knew, or had control over, but all of a sudden they weren't how I'd planned/thought about it in my head. I guess I'm just a control freak.

The next day, we started off my going into the colosseum (too cool for school), walked through the forum, visited the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain (again). I ate more gelato, window shopped, tried different kinds of pizza and walked around so much that I was exhausted before the end of the day was up. But you know what? It was worth it, because it was our last day in Rome and I crossed everything of my list.

What a great trip.

But, it's not over. Next up: Barcelona.

London (February 25th - March 1st)

Since I knew that I would have five days off directly following my last trip back from Torino, I wanted to take advantage of it by taking a trip to London, where I knew that just a weekend trip wouldn't be enough. Little did I know that 5 days wouldn't be enough either.

The trip started off a little shaky. I booked my flight for mid morning, knowing that I'd probably be exhausted after my Olympic experiences, but I guess mid morning just wasn't late enough. Of course, I slept in and missed my flight. Again, I freaked out, but in the end, I'm glad it happened, because my body needed the extra couple of hours sleep and I learned about rebooking flights and such. It was a learning experience.

I got on my new flight, and arrived to Gatwick, took the train into the city, rode the Underground for the first time (yipeeee!), found the hotel and relaxed for a couple hours. While I didn't fall asleep per se, my mind was pretty blank as I stared blankly at the TV screen.
Of course, as with most trips, I had a list of "Things to Do". Among them was to see a musical every night. On the list of potentials: Chicago, Fame, Lion King, Phantom of the Opera and The Producers. It would all depend on which shows had the best deals available and the best seats. Gotta love those 50% Ticket Booths.
I headed down to Leicester Square, and decided to go for The Producers, since it had been raved about all those years ago (and of course it fit all the other criteria above). It was a really funny production, that's for sure, although I would have loved to see Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

The next day, I slept in (my body was SO exhausted), and then when I was good and ready, I took the underground to the Natural History Museum...when I was greeted by a whole bunch of people with carrier bags. In the bag of my head, I remember reading somewhere about some huge sale that happened at the end of London Fashion Week and that it was practically the greatest sale of the year and that it would be sold out or something. Anyway, to make a long story short, I followed the crowd, and found myself waiting in line to get in to this sale (which was sold out) and lucked out and got a ticket off of a passerby who had an extra one. It was in one of the wings of the Natural History Museum and I spent the whole afternoon there. Lots of designers to choose from at some killer prices. I couldn't bring myself to spend the cash on some fabulous items (sure, they were 70% off, but, still a little steep)...I ended up with a Lulu Guinness bag, a Juicy Couture make up case, Les Nereides jewelry and a fab hat by Ann-Louise Roswald. I think I could have done a lot more damage to my wallet, but I didn't. Sigh. I'm happy with my purchases though.
Afterwards, I visited Harrods and was absolutely blown away. That place is ridiculous!
Dinner was a grab bag of stuff from Marks& Spencers Food. That store always reminds me of mom and when I was younger.
No show tonight...Sunday and all.

The next day consisted of a lot of walking (of course), rides on the metro, and good food from Harrods Food Halls. That place is fab.
The Food Halls at Harrods is so cool. There's an area for produce, flowers, meat, international cuisine, tea, candy, chocolate, seafood, pastries, bakery, fine foods, and counters where you can sit down and have something to eat. I had some yummy salads and sandwiches for lunch and dinner.
Nearby was a Burberry store. I'm glad that the salespeople weren't pretentious. They were very helpful and definitely followed me around for awhile (grrr), but it wasn't too much that I couldn't stand it. Of course, I'm happy to report that I made my purchase. It's fabulous and I'm so happy. I love it when dreams come true.
While walking around I stumbled upon a Freed and a Bloch store. Anyway, I thought that was pretty exciting. If I still danced, I would have definitely bought something. Maybe next time I'll by something for skating from there (I always think the same thing about Repetto in Paris - although, I might just buy a pair of their shoes instead).
Oh, I bought a Paddington Bear from Paddington Station. Ha ha ha.
Tonight's show:
I love this musical. The singing, the dancing. So amazing. I think this one was my favorite out of all the ones that I saw. There was a girl in the chorus who seemed like she could be another Kristin Chenoweth. And Mary Sunshine...whoa...that was an interesting way to go about it.

I started the next day with a tour of the Royal Opera House which was so fab. I love visiting opera houses. We got to watch some of the principals in class. Saw Darcy Bussell. Darn nice arches. That was kind of cool. They were doing rehearsals of Romeo and Juliet on the main stage, but of course we weren't allowed to watch. I'd love to see a show there (I did think about it for my visit, but there wasn't anything really big showing that I wanted to see).
I walked around some more, towards St. Paul's Cathedral.
"Feed the birds...toppins a bag...toppins, toppins, toppins a bag..."
I stumbled upon a Thomas Pink store, and suffice it to say, I would like to make some purchases there next time. Yum.
I crossed over London Bridge, which is much less exciting to look at than the Tower Bridge, and then looped around to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminister Abbey.


I didn't end up going into Westminister Abbey (next time)




















There was a sundial outside of Westminister which was nicely calibrated to the time of year. Anyway, I thought it was cool.
Next up on the list of touristy things to do, ride the London Eye. Luckily, the line up wasn't too long, and it was a pretty clear day. So, around we go and try to spot all of the sights that I'd already walked by earlier.
More walking after the ride was over and a visit to Royal Albert Hall. Yet another place I have to revisit, because I was to tour the inside.
More walking and a quick pop into the Science Museum (not enough time on this trip!!!) and ditto for the Natural History Museum. Love the fact that they're free!
More rushing around, but end the night at another show...
If I never saw The Phantom of the Opera in my lifetime, I would be disappointed with myself, so I decided to do something about it. I lined up really early and got a great seat. It was cool because it was really a production. It was intense and dramatic, the performers were great singers and the songs are classic, but it was a little too much for me. I mean, it was great and all, but I really like my musicals to be "feel good" and with singing and great dancing. So at least I've seen it, and I'd recommend it because everyone should see the show at least once in their lifetime, but I know that I wouldn't see it again.
Another great day, in a great city, and I go home after a quick visit to Picadilly Circus.

The last day and the last thing on my list (from this trip, at least) was seeing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. As usual, I had everything timed out perfectly...except I wasn't sure how long the changing of the guard would be, but I knew at what time I needed to do certain things. Everything was going smoothly (although I need to go back to watch it again, because now I know where I'd want to stand - it was mayhem) except it was a lot longer than I had expected. I wanted to stay longer...to watch more of it, but I was really pushing my schedule and of course I didn't want to miss my flight home! Actually, I wouldn't have missed my flight, I would have just had to forfeit another great lunch at Harrods Food Halls. The police wouldn't let me leave anyway. We had to stay behind the barrier until everything was done...but I still thought I would have enough time to run to Harrod's (me being the Underground whiz that I am) and such.

Weird thing: The British complained about how cold it was when I was there...why don't they put on more clothes then? Most of them weren't wearing coats. Just sweaters (or jumpers, as they like to call them).

I know I have to go back to London (I'm already making plans to do so). There is just so much to do and see there, and although I was there for an extended weekend, it just wasn't enough time. I could see myself taking a full day to visit the Science Museum for example. Could London be my new Paris?