Recent Snow Adventures

We have been having some fun in the snow around our house. The rumor that it rarely snows at the lake level is purely false. Just a couple of weeks ago, we got more that 12 in at the house, which apparently was the most snow at that level since the 60’s.
So we are making sure that we get our fill of snow while we are over here. Every weekend is either packed with skiing or snowshoeing or sometimes both. The views are amazing and sometimes the only way to see the sun after a few days is to strap on the snowshoes and head for a mountain peak. We have made it to a only a few of the great ski areas and have quite a few left to explore. So far, we’ve seen Crans Montana, Gstaad, Villars, Chamonix, Port du Soleil and Grindlewald. That’s just the tip of the snow capped alps here. They apparently close up shop after easter and with us traveling the USA in spril, we are going to have to double time it to get more in.

A lot of the snow excursions have been to simply explore out our back door. We’ve yet to conquer Rocher de Naye from the doorstep to the top and back in a day. The mountain has gotten the better of us on a few occasions. The last time after 2 feet of fresh snow, we crossed the second avalanche run out and Clara pulled the plug. We had the av-gear but it was too dicey to approach the really vertical section that late in the day. We instead practiced our snow cave building skills. Considering that was the first one that either of us had every built, the skills were pretty weak. We managed to get it big enough to have lunch in and head home.

My gut opinion at this point has been confirmed by a few expat-locals. The snow in US/Canada is better than the alps but the steeps and above the tree line skiing is better here. But when the snow is good, and the clouds break, every two planker and boarder heads for the hills because it’s epic. I’ve yet to really piece together the perfect day but I can feel it coming in the next couple weeks. It’s been an epic year for snow here, so it’s only a matter of time. We’ve yet to venture to the farther resorts, which are higher and more snow. It’s just been time and cost prohibitive at this point. The snow pack will likely last long into the summer months this year. That will make it interesting at the mountain top finish for the tour in Verbier and summer hiking.

We also ventured out to scope of a snow adventure race. We had aspirations of participating. Or maybe I just did, but I’m glad we didn’t. XC skis were the derigueur and we would have been at a serious disadvantage with only our raquettes de neige (aka snow shoes). The course was nice and the O-points were mostly on marked XC trails. It was a two day stage event, where teams had to build and sleep in an igloo at the end of day 1. We also took some notes on igloo building techniques. It turns out a snow saw would be pretty handy if not essential. We will be back next year to compete for sure.

Valentines Day Style

Living high style in Geneva, we went and staying a bonafide 5-star hotel suit and ate in a Michelin star restaurant to celebrate Valentine ’s Day and life in general. Until we become independently wealthy, that feat will not be repeated again but it was nice. 7 course truffle tasting menu with 98 Bordeaux’s was quite nice. I would have to say that we’ve done better with food for 1/3 the price at fancy restaurants in the US though.

http://www.hoteldelapaix.ch/en/

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/switzerland/geneva/restaurant-detail.html?vid=1154654630896

No pictures, sorry.... ;)

Rosie Noses While Traveling Greece

Work life got in the way of the start of this journey, I had to reroute myself from Wyoming directly to Athens to catch up with Clara. Fortunately for me, this gave her 3 hours in the airport to scope the area and make plans to get to the hotel. Typical off-season, the metro was down for repair. Note to future travelers, X95 bus runs directly to the tourist area of the city every 5 min. However, the typical directions to our hotel had us coming from the metro not the bus. We had a bit of urban nav our way to the hotel Hera, nice place and great location. Although we probably stood out as likely targets while wheeling our suitcases down alleys after dark.

The acropolis section of town is where you want to stay, filled with walk streets, outdoor cafes, and a marble stone’s throw away from the ruins. The off season travel is great because deals are abudent, crowds are sparce, but the weather is a gamble. Fortunately, I was prepared having arrived directly from the biting cold of Wyoming with thermal underwear and a balaclava. I didn’t make use of the balaclava while in Athens, I just stuck to the baklava. I did however, where the thermals most days. It probably was necessary the whole time but it just felt nice. You know what they say….
Jet lagged and sick, I persuaded Clara to spend more of the first morning in the hotel sleeping. That plan was repeated daily for most of the trip. Then we ventured out. If you visit Athens, make sure you plan to visit the tourist sites early as most close by 2-3pm. A worker strike a the Acropolis forced us to adjust our plans. But instead, we saw a wider area of the city and a MC Escher exhibit. That guy was brilliant and insane. Did you know that most of his works were wood carvings that were press printed?

Bright and early (3:45a) off to Santorini the following day for some fun in the sun. We were greeted by a very friendly inn keeper at the Galatia Villas, in Fira. He allowed us to check in early and stay late the following day. If you go, I would put in a good word for that place. We took the a long walk 10-15km from Oia back to Fira along a old stone path. We picked up what we dubed the three amigos, which in reality were feral dogs that thought we would feed them. Almost from the start, they followed us all the way back. It was amazing at times, but a little strange. You can see them in a number of pictures from that walk. The views from the cliff of the stacked houses overlooking the dormant volcano caldera were inspiring. Along that walk, we realized that at the top of every hill was a small white washed chapel, unlike Switzerland where hill tops are adorned with small hotels and restaurants.

The following day, we set out on what was planned to be another walkabout across the island. This time starting from the opposite end at the ancient city (ruin) of Thera. The Gods were angry at us apparently as we approached the ruins atop the mountain, they whipped up a fury of 50 kph winds and strong rain that derailed that plan. A few hasty pictures and a quick descent, put us back at the sea. We warmed ourselves at a great restaurant, Nicolea’s. I’m not sure if anyone’s told the Greeks yet but smoking is bad for you and your neighbor. For that matter, no one’s told the Swiss in Vaud either, but I digress. Every restaurant, airport, hotel, or other confined space, was hot boxed in a way that only a Phillip Morris employee could appreciate. We were lucky to have the winds subside long enough to fly back to Athens later that night.
We stayed in the Sofatel by Athens airport that night. I was cursing yet another goofy Euro “shower” with a odd hose with no attachment until I noticed water coming from a rain shower head in the celing. There was much rejoicing. The last day in Athens, we got a sort of early start. The concierge confirmed the strike was over and off to the sacred rock we went. The sun was out and so were the throngs of other tourists. It didn’t matter to use because I’m sure the crowds were thinner and temperatures lower than at the height of the season in summer. The Acropolis was all it is cracked up to be. It’s hard to look at a pile of rocks and get a feel for the pinnacle of Greek. The archeologists have done a good job rebuilding just enough and providing 3D renderings what it might have looked like. The collective will required to build such structures with primitive tools up on that rock surely rivals any historic feats of construction. We also wandered that Agora, which was a market back in the day. They’ve rebuilt a Stoa, large multistory collanade, where 20 shops would have once stood. It is a ancient version of a stip mall. Who knew the Greeks invented that too? If Starbucks could go back in time, they would make a killing.

Great times in Athens, check out the pictures on our Picasa.

A Milano Thanksgiving

Our first foray into European travel as a “local” was a success this past week with the short hop adventure to Milano. The Italian soldiers with large machine guns were none the wiser and did not request our Suisse papers at either crossing but a eagle eye conductor did bust us for trying to run afoul of Clara’s half price rail card. We won’t soon make that mistake again. There were however, some interesting sights to share….
Since leaving LA, I’ve had the effect of snow following me where ever I go. The first day in CH (henceforth, I will use this acronym for Switzerland because I’m too lazy to type that long word each time), it showed at lake level where we live, a 5x per year event. More recently in Atlanta, there were flurries when I arrived too. The funniest part was is also snowed and roughly 2 cm stuck. This might now seem like a significant event in a town with a latitude roughly equivalent to NYC, but in the last 30 yrs is has only snowed 3x (1986, 2006, and when I showed up). An interesting trend is developing. I should head back to LA to see if I can break that 100 yr record.
I would also like to take this opportunity to voice my displeasure with the euro style “shower.” That stupid handheld thing on the hose pisses me off more than I can say. It’s no wonder people don’t like to shower here. I don’t like it either with that thing. What I’m struggling to comprehend is that the swiss and germans engineer the crap out of everything else. How the hell have they missed the boat on the shower? Needless to say, the “shower” in our hotel room was sub-par. Everything else was satisfactory. The location was killer. If going to Milano, I would recommend it but you would have to consider the bathing strategy in warmer months during an extended stay. Info at http://www.the-place.it/
We also went to see the Cencalo, aka the Last Supper by Da Vinci. Some of you might have heard of this from some book or movie. I can’t remember the name. I just remember a really bad haircut on Tom Hanks in the film. The irony of going to see something called the last supper on a holiday known for its fabulously lavish supper was not lost on us. It was quite impressive. I’m not sure if I can attest to John looking like Mary Magdalene but I’m certainly not the most scholarly person out there. The word on the street was you have to book months in advance to see it since they only allow 25 people in at a time on a scheduled basis. While this is likely a scam, we still had to book with a giant yellow tour bus group to get in to see it on such short notice. It was our first time on a tour bus group. While the stories were rewarding, it still felt very stale and canned to me. Since the trip was impromptu to we had not done any research on the sights in Milano, it was educational to hear from an expert. Oh yeah, no pictures allowed so you won’t find any pictures on our Picasa sight of the painting.
Also part of the tour was a visit to the original and oldest prada store in the world, founded in 1913. Even though they were offering free orange juice on a silver platter to all who dared to enter the store, I still was not compelled to purchase a overpriced purse for clara. She tried her best to convince me (not really). One of the more amusing sites that I was just outside the door.
In the cross roads of the galleria, there were some mosaics tiled into the floor. One was the shield of Milano, another a seal of the king, but the most interesting one had to be of this bull. Not sure that I recal the significance for the bull. There was a depression in the bull’s netheregion. The tiles had been removed and concave, concrete depression in its place. Apparently, the legend is to place your heal in the recessed area and turn 360 degrees around while keeping that heel in place. The net result is thousands of people annually, smash this poor bull’s balls into the earth and grind it in for good measure. The locals say it’s for luck. I say it to laugh at the tourists. Pictures of this fiasco are posted on our picture site.
Along with the bull pix, you might also find a picture there of some mushrooms. Not just any shrooms though. We are talking fresh, white Alba truffles. Retail price 15,000 euros per kilo. Needless to say, we did not purchase. If they had offered a 10% rebate after filling out 17 forms, we might have considered.
Other interesting culinary oddities included Italian meatballs, sans meat. Yup. I dunno? Also, we had a mozzarella feast one night with 5 fist size balls (lots of ball references in this post, n’est pas?), each having a dramatically different flavor. You might be interested to know that Italy has very proudly surpassed the French with having more types of cheese than there are days of the year. Between france, Italy, and CH, I must have died and gone to cheese heaven. Spare tire, here I come.
Blah. Blah. Blah. More next time…..

Hello World

This is our maiden voyage into the blogosphere. It's late, we're lazy, so we are just going to kick this out there to get things going....... Twas the night before thanksgiving and we are preparing for a trip to Milano. Evan needs a new pair of shoes, so we are off to ground zero for stylish shopping. Anyone think this is going to help his style? Unlikely.

One parting shot for now.... this is one of the views from our balcony