a couple of sick days at home last week, which wasn't all that bad just did some relaxing, played some guitar. pretty chill weekend, watched the movie '500 days of summer' which i really like actually, pretty cool movie i thought. on sunday went out to flumserberg for some skiing, great weather, great snow. it's about 1.5 hours away by train to the bottom of the gondola which was really convenient. i have never seen so many people walking around in ski boots either, they just wear them everywhere, for the 1.5 hours from baden on the bus to the bottom of the gondola, i don't understand how their feet are not just killing them. the skiing was great though, exponential increase in ability, i feel great now, just to hit the trees and the bumps, excited for that for sure. off-piste is also something that people do not do here, there is untouched snow everywhere. good day.
ate some cheese fondue yesterday, also made some wings the night before that which were also good. baked some shortbread cookies with some assistance also, turned out pretty good i thought. not many people at work this week, mostly just me, and my boss unfortunately. in any case it's been slow, can't wait till thursday night, hopping on a night train to vienna, from there to budapest and prague, i'm really looking forward to this christmas trip with some great company.
merry christmas happy holidays and have a great new year!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
winter
last thursday i went to germany for groceries, except for this time to familia markt which was just glorious, it's like superstore. i was overwhelmed by the selection and spent two hours in there and too many euros. yea, and ate chips and drank beer on the train home.
friday went to zurich to play in this amateur volleyball tournament sponsored by alstom. there were like 80 teams or something, we got manhandled pretty well, i don't think any swiss people got the 'amateur' memo. they all showed up in court shoes and kneepads. in any case, i thought it was really fun and now i want to play volleyball again. got a couple good hits in any case.
saturday i made banana pancakes and i will certainly be making a lot more banana pancakes in the future. took a train to basel, walked around and hung out. it was pretty cold actually - it's been snowing the past few days, just a little bit though, but even at -5 or -10 it's soo cold for some reason. hung out at the christmas market in basel, i thought it was really good. drank some gluhwein (hot wine) and checked out the decorated streets. good stuff, took the hot wine into a bank to use the bank machine. is that weird? drinking wine from a mug at an atm? i wonder how that would be received in canada. went for dinner in this restaurant that i had found on the internet, basically it's some sort of vietnamese/chinese/indian/thai/indonesian type restaurant which was actually really, really good. i got some 'beef noodle soup' not quite the same as the original or whatever, but definitely really good. there is one in zurich as well so i will be going a few more times for sure. after dinner was a chilly walk to the theatre, went to go see the nutcracker ballet performed by the madrid ballet. basically i would not want to fight a male ballet dancer. i don't understand how it is possible for people to make their feet do that also. it was pretty cool though, i liked it and i definitely want to see another one, with a live orchestra next time hopefully too. wandering around the streets at night, we stumbled into some cafe/restaurant type thing where there was a live funk/soul/jazz band playing and chilled out there for awhile, pretty cool. stayed the night in basel in the plainest hostel room ever.
next day, woke up and hit up fondation beyeler, a really awesome museum art space thing. the building itself was beautiful, and there was some really amazing art in it as well. some van gogh, monet, a bunch of picasso, giacometti, cezanne, all of those guys basically were there. my favorite was an impressionist painting of water lilies by monet. the temporary exhibit was really great too, this artist named jenny holzer and she had a bunch of led lights and some really striking pieces i thought. very very cool place.
hopped on a train to cross the border to mulhouse in france, to check out that christmas market. probably don't need to go to mulhouse is my overall impression. the market was pretty good, the basel one was better though in my mind. again, all the streets were decorated and stuff which was quite nice. ended up walking around for awhile, bought a model dinosaur, drank a bunch of hot wine, ate macaroons which were so good, tried to find a restaurant but then just ended up going back to basel to the same place as the night before. it's called lily's and it is so good. they also have really good tea.
so far this week, there was a christmas party on monday, we did secret santa and beer pong tournament as well as photo contest results - the photo contest was an idea by brittany and i to have, it turned out quite hilarious and pretty well. did a bunch of cleaning last night, and then today, i have taken a sick day. i am unfortunately kinda sick, this is terrible. oh well. so far i have played guitar and ate soup, i guess i can't complain too much.
this weekend i'm gonna rock some skiing on sunday i hope. and getting ready for christmas trip. time's flown by so fast, can't believe it's already christmas. happy holidays everyone!
friday went to zurich to play in this amateur volleyball tournament sponsored by alstom. there were like 80 teams or something, we got manhandled pretty well, i don't think any swiss people got the 'amateur' memo. they all showed up in court shoes and kneepads. in any case, i thought it was really fun and now i want to play volleyball again. got a couple good hits in any case.
saturday i made banana pancakes and i will certainly be making a lot more banana pancakes in the future. took a train to basel, walked around and hung out. it was pretty cold actually - it's been snowing the past few days, just a little bit though, but even at -5 or -10 it's soo cold for some reason. hung out at the christmas market in basel, i thought it was really good. drank some gluhwein (hot wine) and checked out the decorated streets. good stuff, took the hot wine into a bank to use the bank machine. is that weird? drinking wine from a mug at an atm? i wonder how that would be received in canada. went for dinner in this restaurant that i had found on the internet, basically it's some sort of vietnamese/chinese/indian/thai/indonesian type restaurant which was actually really, really good. i got some 'beef noodle soup' not quite the same as the original or whatever, but definitely really good. there is one in zurich as well so i will be going a few more times for sure. after dinner was a chilly walk to the theatre, went to go see the nutcracker ballet performed by the madrid ballet. basically i would not want to fight a male ballet dancer. i don't understand how it is possible for people to make their feet do that also. it was pretty cool though, i liked it and i definitely want to see another one, with a live orchestra next time hopefully too. wandering around the streets at night, we stumbled into some cafe/restaurant type thing where there was a live funk/soul/jazz band playing and chilled out there for awhile, pretty cool. stayed the night in basel in the plainest hostel room ever.
next day, woke up and hit up fondation beyeler, a really awesome museum art space thing. the building itself was beautiful, and there was some really amazing art in it as well. some van gogh, monet, a bunch of picasso, giacometti, cezanne, all of those guys basically were there. my favorite was an impressionist painting of water lilies by monet. the temporary exhibit was really great too, this artist named jenny holzer and she had a bunch of led lights and some really striking pieces i thought. very very cool place.
hopped on a train to cross the border to mulhouse in france, to check out that christmas market. probably don't need to go to mulhouse is my overall impression. the market was pretty good, the basel one was better though in my mind. again, all the streets were decorated and stuff which was quite nice. ended up walking around for awhile, bought a model dinosaur, drank a bunch of hot wine, ate macaroons which were so good, tried to find a restaurant but then just ended up going back to basel to the same place as the night before. it's called lily's and it is so good. they also have really good tea.
so far this week, there was a christmas party on monday, we did secret santa and beer pong tournament as well as photo contest results - the photo contest was an idea by brittany and i to have, it turned out quite hilarious and pretty well. did a bunch of cleaning last night, and then today, i have taken a sick day. i am unfortunately kinda sick, this is terrible. oh well. so far i have played guitar and ate soup, i guess i can't complain too much.
this weekend i'm gonna rock some skiing on sunday i hope. and getting ready for christmas trip. time's flown by so fast, can't believe it's already christmas. happy holidays everyone!
Monday, December 7, 2009
skiing
last week i saw people carrying umbrellas in the snow, i didn't really realize what was going on but then i realized that it would be so weird if i was carrying an umbrella in the snow at home, so i put it away and put a hat on.
the weekend was pretty good. it was a very long train getting to this ski resort, les diablerets, close to lausanne and lake geneva in the french part of switzerland. carry skis boots and pole and a massive backpack for 4 train transfers was not that fun really. makes me appreciate throwing stuff in the car and driving 45 minutes to the closest ski hill. in any case. there were like 70 people on this iaeste organized ski trip, rented out a whole chalet so that was good. beers on the long train ride, hot wine at the chalet, hung out for the rest of the night more or less, flip cup and stuff. also ran outside and slipped and smoked the back of my head soo hard on the ice, but all it well and i have used my regenerative healing ability to heal it within 2 days. funny thing is that was the only time that i needed a helmet.
walking in ski boots is not that fun either, the walk to the bus station, the bus, and then two gondolas before getting on the glacier was not really appreciated. the gondolas were 150 people jamming into small boxes, not even close to being as good as the 8 person gondolas at home. in any case there were only like 5 runs open at this place on the glacier so i will reserve my judgment of skiing here for a while longer.
so i have never put skis on before, so more or less i looked like a new born baby deer for about half an hour until i got my life together. in any case by the end of the weekend i was throwing down some decent turns and from now it's basically just hitting bigger stuff and getting better, pretty excited, i love learning new things. also i had a pretty awesome teacher that helped me out a lot. good thing is that dave is the exact same size as me somehow and he's going from skiing to boarding so we can switch it up whenever basically so i hit a couple runs on the board and that was fun too.
i guess there was a lot of debauchery the ensued at the chalet, as can be expected from any regular ski trip. i brought speakers and the laptop to start a party, and that certainly happened. ate some cheese fondue which was delicious, washed some dishes, took some showers, good weekend overall basically.
train home, took a long time, more carrying of skis on transfers, went through lausanne. from what i saw of lausanne it is quite pretty (i.e. the train station and the street outside the train station haha) basically just everywhere is decorated with christmas lights and stuff now, even just here in baden it is very very nice in the station and in the old town. i got an advent calendar it is awesome.
i think that's about it except for today is the day somehow that i have miraculously made it this far in my life, 21 years is a long time now that i think about it. good times all around, lots of great friends and great people in my life, thanks to all of you.
the weekend was pretty good. it was a very long train getting to this ski resort, les diablerets, close to lausanne and lake geneva in the french part of switzerland. carry skis boots and pole and a massive backpack for 4 train transfers was not that fun really. makes me appreciate throwing stuff in the car and driving 45 minutes to the closest ski hill. in any case. there were like 70 people on this iaeste organized ski trip, rented out a whole chalet so that was good. beers on the long train ride, hot wine at the chalet, hung out for the rest of the night more or less, flip cup and stuff. also ran outside and slipped and smoked the back of my head soo hard on the ice, but all it well and i have used my regenerative healing ability to heal it within 2 days. funny thing is that was the only time that i needed a helmet.
walking in ski boots is not that fun either, the walk to the bus station, the bus, and then two gondolas before getting on the glacier was not really appreciated. the gondolas were 150 people jamming into small boxes, not even close to being as good as the 8 person gondolas at home. in any case there were only like 5 runs open at this place on the glacier so i will reserve my judgment of skiing here for a while longer.
so i have never put skis on before, so more or less i looked like a new born baby deer for about half an hour until i got my life together. in any case by the end of the weekend i was throwing down some decent turns and from now it's basically just hitting bigger stuff and getting better, pretty excited, i love learning new things. also i had a pretty awesome teacher that helped me out a lot. good thing is that dave is the exact same size as me somehow and he's going from skiing to boarding so we can switch it up whenever basically so i hit a couple runs on the board and that was fun too.
i guess there was a lot of debauchery the ensued at the chalet, as can be expected from any regular ski trip. i brought speakers and the laptop to start a party, and that certainly happened. ate some cheese fondue which was delicious, washed some dishes, took some showers, good weekend overall basically.
train home, took a long time, more carrying of skis on transfers, went through lausanne. from what i saw of lausanne it is quite pretty (i.e. the train station and the street outside the train station haha) basically just everywhere is decorated with christmas lights and stuff now, even just here in baden it is very very nice in the station and in the old town. i got an advent calendar it is awesome.
i think that's about it except for today is the day somehow that i have miraculously made it this far in my life, 21 years is a long time now that i think about it. good times all around, lots of great friends and great people in my life, thanks to all of you.
Friday, December 4, 2009
i have been eating for like 4 people i think
okay i don't think i did that much last week. oh wait, i bought skis! so friggin excited. going skiing tonight, i have never been skiing and only snowboarding before, i am actually just so jacked to learn to throw down some switch 5's. it is gonna be a good weekend.
went to all you can eat sushi again on the wednesday, so ridiculous, it's just that the food is moving, stimulates the hunter instinct, every time i go i eat far too much, yet i keep going back. last week was american thanksgiving so this guy duane from work had a nice dinner that again i ate far too much at. it was actually good though, turkey and stuff. other than that just playing a lot of guitar and it's cold out, just started snowing last week or so, it's nice though, i like it, it's kinda a bit like home. went exploring in the forest behind the house on sunday, wandered around and somehow ended up climbing a ridge, then found that there were stairs that were just on the other side. very cool though, i'm going to miss that so very much, the fact that i have a forest and a mountain behind my house essentially. went and ate a bunch of cheese fondue as well. work christmas party a couple nights ago as well, got a guided tour of baden which i actually thought was pretty interesting. the oldest train station in switzerland in 1854 or something, the clock tower used to be a prison up until 1984, the castle used to be a fortress and there were some wars here and stuff. made the biggest burgers on record last night and watched some planet earth, pretty good.
anyways, that's about it i think. SKIING!
went to all you can eat sushi again on the wednesday, so ridiculous, it's just that the food is moving, stimulates the hunter instinct, every time i go i eat far too much, yet i keep going back. last week was american thanksgiving so this guy duane from work had a nice dinner that again i ate far too much at. it was actually good though, turkey and stuff. other than that just playing a lot of guitar and it's cold out, just started snowing last week or so, it's nice though, i like it, it's kinda a bit like home. went exploring in the forest behind the house on sunday, wandered around and somehow ended up climbing a ridge, then found that there were stairs that were just on the other side. very cool though, i'm going to miss that so very much, the fact that i have a forest and a mountain behind my house essentially. went and ate a bunch of cheese fondue as well. work christmas party a couple nights ago as well, got a guided tour of baden which i actually thought was pretty interesting. the oldest train station in switzerland in 1854 or something, the clock tower used to be a prison up until 1984, the castle used to be a fortress and there were some wars here and stuff. made the biggest burgers on record last night and watched some planet earth, pretty good.
anyways, that's about it i think. SKIING!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
london
on tuesday i purchased 'battle studies' by john mayer for an exorbitant price at the local record store. it is a good one, pretty chill and maybe a bit more serious, still good and worth it though. on wednesday, i baked a delicious meat pie, tourtiere as it is called in french canada. and attempted lemon meringue but that was a failure, i will work on that one, still baking is not my area of expertise.
left for london on friday night after work. it was a logistical nightmare, i hate flying out of basel and the basel airport on cheap airlines like ryan air and easy jet. it takes ~1.5 hours to get to the basel airport on train+bus. then 'jamming' to get on the plane cause there are no assigned seats. the flight is only 1:10 or so. london gatwick is a ~45 minute + ~20 pound train to the city center. between leaving work and getting to our hostel, took about 6 hours. next time, flying out of zurich to london heathrow, on british airways or swiss air, i will pay the extra little bit for a little more quality.
in any case, london was absolutely amazing. like one of my favorite places so far. threw down our stuff at the hostel, it was chris' birthday on the friday actually, so had to go out, there was no other choice. met up with rachel who got there earlier in the day and her two friends that are living there, it was very much appreciated as well to have locals show us around. proceeded to eat some MACdonalds which was probably a poor decision, and then wandered the streets of london essentially to get to this one bar. got there at around 2, drum and bass was playing, the tube doesn't start running till about 6, so there was no choice but to stay out until about 7 am. great decision. woke up the next day, went to the natural history museum, there was a skating rink outside, it was funny watching people skate. pretty clear why canada vs. england in hockey has never happened. the natural history museum was so awesome. animals, nature, dinosaurs, pretty much just everything that is awesome that exists was in there. spent a good long time hanging out in there, it was very very cool. after the museum we went out to eat at this local pub, it was kind of out of the way but very nice, the food was just very, very solid. just good, proper food, i got a steak, there was a meat pie, and fish and chips. nothing special, i love just good food though. after this pub, we headed over to camden market, this big permanent outdoor/indoor market that i'm pretty sure sold everything, and it was about infinitely big. vintage clothes, shoes, bags, hats, everything for cheap too. we were only there for a couple hours, although if we had stayed longer, i would have likely bought 100x more stuff. so cool. smelled like food too. good food that was available for reasonable prices, like 3 pounds ~= 5 chf maybe. man, i would go back to london just for proper food. also had a starbucks latte, not like i love starbucks that much or anything, but for 2 pounds ~= 3 chf it was actually reasonable rather than the 7 chf that you would pay in zurich. after the market was a theatre show. took the tube to picadilly circus, there were just a ton of people there. i guess it's supposed to be pretty much like times square so yea there were a lot of people. the show was very good, Avenue Q, it's like an adult version of sesame street, pretty inappropriate but hilarious and very well done. seeing as the previous night had been a late/early? one, just headed back to sleep after the show.
the sunday morning we walked through hyde park, just this big park with trees and a ton of squirrels. lots of people walking their very english looking dogs. guards riding horses. overcast day. very nice walk. went to join this free walking tour of all the palaces and such. got devastated by an intense rainstorm. finished the tour. saw most of the sights. went shopping a bit more. got ready to catch the tube to the heathrow airport to go home that night. yup, pretty much just did not make it to the airport on time at all. completely missed the flight. luckily, there was a little bit of confusion with the flight time etc., and the very nice british airways man changed our tickets to the monday morning free of charge. what a nice guy. british airways is pretty classy. so is the heathrow airport. so rachel calls up her friend and she lets us stay over at her house for the night. went and got some greasy chinese take away. it was probably not the greatest, but i haven't had black bean sauce in forever so it was pretty good. woke up early the next morning just to make sure not to miss the plane this time. ate breakfast and had a pint of cider at the airport. it was great.
just a great trip, read a paper on the way back, missed doing that. understanding what people say, reading signs, doing a crossword, i miss just being able to speak to people. definitely want to go back.
callouses on my fingertips, guitar is so fun. i would rather do that than sitting at work right now.
left for london on friday night after work. it was a logistical nightmare, i hate flying out of basel and the basel airport on cheap airlines like ryan air and easy jet. it takes ~1.5 hours to get to the basel airport on train+bus. then 'jamming' to get on the plane cause there are no assigned seats. the flight is only 1:10 or so. london gatwick is a ~45 minute + ~20 pound train to the city center. between leaving work and getting to our hostel, took about 6 hours. next time, flying out of zurich to london heathrow, on british airways or swiss air, i will pay the extra little bit for a little more quality.
in any case, london was absolutely amazing. like one of my favorite places so far. threw down our stuff at the hostel, it was chris' birthday on the friday actually, so had to go out, there was no other choice. met up with rachel who got there earlier in the day and her two friends that are living there, it was very much appreciated as well to have locals show us around. proceeded to eat some MACdonalds which was probably a poor decision, and then wandered the streets of london essentially to get to this one bar. got there at around 2, drum and bass was playing, the tube doesn't start running till about 6, so there was no choice but to stay out until about 7 am. great decision. woke up the next day, went to the natural history museum, there was a skating rink outside, it was funny watching people skate. pretty clear why canada vs. england in hockey has never happened. the natural history museum was so awesome. animals, nature, dinosaurs, pretty much just everything that is awesome that exists was in there. spent a good long time hanging out in there, it was very very cool. after the museum we went out to eat at this local pub, it was kind of out of the way but very nice, the food was just very, very solid. just good, proper food, i got a steak, there was a meat pie, and fish and chips. nothing special, i love just good food though. after this pub, we headed over to camden market, this big permanent outdoor/indoor market that i'm pretty sure sold everything, and it was about infinitely big. vintage clothes, shoes, bags, hats, everything for cheap too. we were only there for a couple hours, although if we had stayed longer, i would have likely bought 100x more stuff. so cool. smelled like food too. good food that was available for reasonable prices, like 3 pounds ~= 5 chf maybe. man, i would go back to london just for proper food. also had a starbucks latte, not like i love starbucks that much or anything, but for 2 pounds ~= 3 chf it was actually reasonable rather than the 7 chf that you would pay in zurich. after the market was a theatre show. took the tube to picadilly circus, there were just a ton of people there. i guess it's supposed to be pretty much like times square so yea there were a lot of people. the show was very good, Avenue Q, it's like an adult version of sesame street, pretty inappropriate but hilarious and very well done. seeing as the previous night had been a late/early? one, just headed back to sleep after the show.
the sunday morning we walked through hyde park, just this big park with trees and a ton of squirrels. lots of people walking their very english looking dogs. guards riding horses. overcast day. very nice walk. went to join this free walking tour of all the palaces and such. got devastated by an intense rainstorm. finished the tour. saw most of the sights. went shopping a bit more. got ready to catch the tube to the heathrow airport to go home that night. yup, pretty much just did not make it to the airport on time at all. completely missed the flight. luckily, there was a little bit of confusion with the flight time etc., and the very nice british airways man changed our tickets to the monday morning free of charge. what a nice guy. british airways is pretty classy. so is the heathrow airport. so rachel calls up her friend and she lets us stay over at her house for the night. went and got some greasy chinese take away. it was probably not the greatest, but i haven't had black bean sauce in forever so it was pretty good. woke up early the next morning just to make sure not to miss the plane this time. ate breakfast and had a pint of cider at the airport. it was great.
just a great trip, read a paper on the way back, missed doing that. understanding what people say, reading signs, doing a crossword, i miss just being able to speak to people. definitely want to go back.
callouses on my fingertips, guitar is so fun. i would rather do that than sitting at work right now.
Monday, November 16, 2009
guitar
last week after coming back from berlin was for the most part pretty relaxed. went to a wine tasting on boats in zurich on wednesday, that was very good. i really like wine now. i feel like it's an extension of loving food, i can honestly say that i can smell and taste a lot of flavours in good wine. that was pretty fun.
went out to zurich again on thursday, looked for more shoes, ate the worst piece of pizza i have ever had from some really sketchy place. and then went and ate some good indian food after which made up for it. also reserved trains for my christmas trip, i am really excited for that now actually. vienna, budapest, and prague. looong train rides, but with great company, it will be awesome i know already.
friday was a big birthday party at one of the intern houses. it was a great party. like one of the best house parties ever.
saturday, went to this photo exposition just here in baden, stayed only for a little while cause it was in german - i would have really really enjoyed it i think if i understood what was going on. but saw some new cameras and massive lens and some pretty good photography so that was good enough. then went out to zurich on a mission to find a guitar, which i did, and i got. i am so excited to learn to play, my fingers hurt already but i like it. also tried to find a ski shop to rent skis, but me and chris obviously didn't write down directions or addresses, being the men that we are. so we just wandered around zurich hardbrucke for awhile, it was a beautiful day though so i wasn't fazed at all. going home through zurich, we walked down by the lake and saw the alps in behind zurichersee. very cool, reminds me a lot of how you can see the rockies on the horizon from calgary...
yesterday i made some butternut squash soup, and it was pretty good. new john mayer album tomorrow, i am also excited for that.
going to london this weekend, should be fun!
went out to zurich again on thursday, looked for more shoes, ate the worst piece of pizza i have ever had from some really sketchy place. and then went and ate some good indian food after which made up for it. also reserved trains for my christmas trip, i am really excited for that now actually. vienna, budapest, and prague. looong train rides, but with great company, it will be awesome i know already.
friday was a big birthday party at one of the intern houses. it was a great party. like one of the best house parties ever.
saturday, went to this photo exposition just here in baden, stayed only for a little while cause it was in german - i would have really really enjoyed it i think if i understood what was going on. but saw some new cameras and massive lens and some pretty good photography so that was good enough. then went out to zurich on a mission to find a guitar, which i did, and i got. i am so excited to learn to play, my fingers hurt already but i like it. also tried to find a ski shop to rent skis, but me and chris obviously didn't write down directions or addresses, being the men that we are. so we just wandered around zurich hardbrucke for awhile, it was a beautiful day though so i wasn't fazed at all. going home through zurich, we walked down by the lake and saw the alps in behind zurichersee. very cool, reminds me a lot of how you can see the rockies on the horizon from calgary...
yesterday i made some butternut squash soup, and it was pretty good. new john mayer album tomorrow, i am also excited for that.
going to london this weekend, should be fun!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
berlin
last week there was a small christmas market in baden, just alongthe main street badstrasse and there were a lot of stands selling stuff like mittens and sweets like candied almonds and gingerbread and stuff like that, it was very cool, looking forward to going to a big christmas market in germany in a little while.
went to berlin on friday after work from basel, about an hour and a half flight. got there at night, went to the hostel, took awhile cause the s-bahn was a little messed up just then. walked to the reichstag at night, stood in line for a bit, but it was very awesome going up there at night. mirrors, glass, windows, view of the city at night. so it was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall so there as just a ton of stuff set up around brandenburg gate, it was very very cool. something once in a lifetime for sure. proceeded to go eat some kebabs at 'pergamon bistro' where we would end up eating 90% of our meals in berlin. nothing better than 3 euro kebabs, that is about 4.50 chf which is less than half of what a 10 chf kebab is in switzerland. and also ate a currywurst as well as the kebab. it was alright, i expected better. come to think of it i also ate a falafel in addition to that as well. after dinner we pretty much started wandering around. somehow wandered into the most awesome art collective building ever. it's called 'tacheles' and it's an old building that artists have been squatting for years. randomly, we followed these people carrying old beat up brass instruments up these stairs in this completely graffiti-ed building. there were people selling stuff like clothes prints and jewellry, very very cool. i honestly was so taken away in this place. stood there and listened to the band play for a long time. somehow they were so good, so into it, just a great time. there were 4 floors i think in this place, we explored all of them. there was another band playing home pipe instruments including a homemade bagpipe. this other artist's exhibition was really just incredible as well. and just all over the place awesome graffiti. there are also two bars i think that are attached to this place.
the next day, got up and went on a free walking tour of the city. started by brandenburg gate, there were a lot of people there obviously for the whole event thing, but managed to get on the tour. walked around for a good 4.5 hours actually, but it was very good. lots of history, lots of stuff to see. cool city. went to the holocaust memorial again and went through the museum, it was pretty sobering but yea, should probably have gone through it. went for more food, obviously kebabs again, and then went out that night. didn't really stay out too late though.
sunday we went to go see the east side gallery, all of it had been freshly repainted - just a long section of the berlin wall that's now a big outdoor gallery, it was very cool, about the length of an interval between s-bahn stops. it was also pretty cold this weekend just throwing that out there. after this, we went to a great outdoor market, forget what it's called now, but there was a lot of just junk there, but also some really neat stuff. old cameras, food, i bought a couple t shirts, lots of socks, ate some corn. watched some random karaoke, started a dance party in a field with random speakers at 4:30 in the afternoon. it was great. didn't really do too much else this night, just hung out at the kebab place, wandered around some more - the next morning was getting up at 5:00am to get to the airport to get home, and then for work once getting back to baden at 9:30 am. but it was a really cool trip, nothing like i have ever seen before.
the city is somehow so "real". it's kinda dirty, artsy, grungy, just a lot of stuff has happened there, and it definitely shows still, but the people are cool, lots of arts and culture going on. yea, an interesting place, i feel like everyone should visit there.
went to berlin on friday after work from basel, about an hour and a half flight. got there at night, went to the hostel, took awhile cause the s-bahn was a little messed up just then. walked to the reichstag at night, stood in line for a bit, but it was very awesome going up there at night. mirrors, glass, windows, view of the city at night. so it was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall so there as just a ton of stuff set up around brandenburg gate, it was very very cool. something once in a lifetime for sure. proceeded to go eat some kebabs at 'pergamon bistro' where we would end up eating 90% of our meals in berlin. nothing better than 3 euro kebabs, that is about 4.50 chf which is less than half of what a 10 chf kebab is in switzerland. and also ate a currywurst as well as the kebab. it was alright, i expected better. come to think of it i also ate a falafel in addition to that as well. after dinner we pretty much started wandering around. somehow wandered into the most awesome art collective building ever. it's called 'tacheles' and it's an old building that artists have been squatting for years. randomly, we followed these people carrying old beat up brass instruments up these stairs in this completely graffiti-ed building. there were people selling stuff like clothes prints and jewellry, very very cool. i honestly was so taken away in this place. stood there and listened to the band play for a long time. somehow they were so good, so into it, just a great time. there were 4 floors i think in this place, we explored all of them. there was another band playing home pipe instruments including a homemade bagpipe. this other artist's exhibition was really just incredible as well. and just all over the place awesome graffiti. there are also two bars i think that are attached to this place.
the next day, got up and went on a free walking tour of the city. started by brandenburg gate, there were a lot of people there obviously for the whole event thing, but managed to get on the tour. walked around for a good 4.5 hours actually, but it was very good. lots of history, lots of stuff to see. cool city. went to the holocaust memorial again and went through the museum, it was pretty sobering but yea, should probably have gone through it. went for more food, obviously kebabs again, and then went out that night. didn't really stay out too late though.
sunday we went to go see the east side gallery, all of it had been freshly repainted - just a long section of the berlin wall that's now a big outdoor gallery, it was very cool, about the length of an interval between s-bahn stops. it was also pretty cold this weekend just throwing that out there. after this, we went to a great outdoor market, forget what it's called now, but there was a lot of just junk there, but also some really neat stuff. old cameras, food, i bought a couple t shirts, lots of socks, ate some corn. watched some random karaoke, started a dance party in a field with random speakers at 4:30 in the afternoon. it was great. didn't really do too much else this night, just hung out at the kebab place, wandered around some more - the next morning was getting up at 5:00am to get to the airport to get home, and then for work once getting back to baden at 9:30 am. but it was a really cool trip, nothing like i have ever seen before.
the city is somehow so "real". it's kinda dirty, artsy, grungy, just a lot of stuff has happened there, and it definitely shows still, but the people are cool, lots of arts and culture going on. yea, an interesting place, i feel like everyone should visit there.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
nothing that special
last weekend was very relaxing. didn't really do too much, watched the movie "desparado" on friday, it is very ridiculous/good. went to zurich on saturday, walked around, ate some chestnuts, went shopping, there are some cool shops in the old town area of zurich. got a pair of shoes and a sweater. went home and made some noodles, hung out and drank some wine, went back out to zurich to find a halloween party, ended up just wandering around and getting lost and coming back late.
it was one of the best sundays ever, just really chill, went for a walk in the forest which is just beautiful now with all the fall colours and stuff.
went to go see rise against in zurich yesterday! one of my favorite bands and it was a good show in a small bar, it was a good time rockin out.
going to go bowling this week, and then berlin on the weekend!
it was one of the best sundays ever, just really chill, went for a walk in the forest which is just beautiful now with all the fall colours and stuff.
went to go see rise against in zurich yesterday! one of my favorite bands and it was a good show in a small bar, it was a good time rockin out.
going to go bowling this week, and then berlin on the weekend!
Monday, October 26, 2009
wellness weekend
went to ikea the other day and it was quite good, i like just walking around in there. i bought a knife which i have been needing for awhile, i can cook twice as fast again now.
went on this wellness weekend thing on friday night with iaeste. basically hiked through the night, it was snowing for a couple hours, it was cold, i was wet, the trail was deceptively uphill, i was tired. drank a bunch of wine prior as well. stopped for hot soup and stuff, it was good. made it to this shelter thing at like 4 am. the stars came out, there was a fire, i threw a sandwich on the ground, i tried to eat a sandwich and pulled my jaw muscle. ate breakfast, walked down and the sun was coming up, napped for like 20 minutes on the grass. went down to the town brunnen, to this place called swiss holiday park. there are roman baths there, which are basically just nicely set up hot tubs and steam rooms and saunas, it was so relaxing. there was also a nap room that smelled nice, had calming music and comfy chair/bed things. great! after the spa was dinner at this italian restaurant, i had some delicious pasta and soup. took the train home, got stuck in arth goldau for like 45 minutes. went home and still stayed up for a bit to frame some pics and put them up around the house, it's much nicer now with a bit of art on the walls, also dave painted a picture and that is up as well.
had a good sleep in day on sunday, made some delicious breakfast of eggs benedict. nothing better than poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. just chilled all day, went to play some telephone pictionary which is a sweet game, put some pictures up, stuff like that.
it's been a good week so far, just cooking a bunch of food and baking again tonight. no plans for halloween weekend yet, just party somewhere i guess.
went on this wellness weekend thing on friday night with iaeste. basically hiked through the night, it was snowing for a couple hours, it was cold, i was wet, the trail was deceptively uphill, i was tired. drank a bunch of wine prior as well. stopped for hot soup and stuff, it was good. made it to this shelter thing at like 4 am. the stars came out, there was a fire, i threw a sandwich on the ground, i tried to eat a sandwich and pulled my jaw muscle. ate breakfast, walked down and the sun was coming up, napped for like 20 minutes on the grass. went down to the town brunnen, to this place called swiss holiday park. there are roman baths there, which are basically just nicely set up hot tubs and steam rooms and saunas, it was so relaxing. there was also a nap room that smelled nice, had calming music and comfy chair/bed things. great! after the spa was dinner at this italian restaurant, i had some delicious pasta and soup. took the train home, got stuck in arth goldau for like 45 minutes. went home and still stayed up for a bit to frame some pics and put them up around the house, it's much nicer now with a bit of art on the walls, also dave painted a picture and that is up as well.
had a good sleep in day on sunday, made some delicious breakfast of eggs benedict. nothing better than poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. just chilled all day, went to play some telephone pictionary which is a sweet game, put some pictures up, stuff like that.
it's been a good week so far, just cooking a bunch of food and baking again tonight. no plans for halloween weekend yet, just party somewhere i guess.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
eindhoven
last week i baked some chocolate muffins and they were very tasty. it is also very cold here now. i ate some roasted chestnuts from the roasted chestnut stand in the train station.
last thursday i took a plane to dusseldorf and some of my relatives (my dad's cousin and her kids who now also have kids) came and picked me up for the hour drive to eindhoven in holland. it was a great time, i ate so much food. went to go see these giant seawalls in zeeland on the north sea which was like an hour and a half drive away, went on a boat, ate a lot of mussels. these dams were built in the 60's-70's and they are massive. without dams, 65% of the netherlands would be underwater. pretty cool. it is really flat there. holland is famous for windmills, but the only windmills i saw were giant wind turbines. and i saw a lot of them. it was also really windy.
last thursday i took a plane to dusseldorf and some of my relatives (my dad's cousin and her kids who now also have kids) came and picked me up for the hour drive to eindhoven in holland. it was a great time, i ate so much food. went to go see these giant seawalls in zeeland on the north sea which was like an hour and a half drive away, went on a boat, ate a lot of mussels. these dams were built in the 60's-70's and they are massive. without dams, 65% of the netherlands would be underwater. pretty cool. it is really flat there. holland is famous for windmills, but the only windmills i saw were giant wind turbines. and i saw a lot of them. it was also really windy.
came back to the house, ate hot pot for dinner, just ate so much food. shrimp and beef and some crab too and it was just good. stayed up and chatted for awhile and now i know a lot of stories about my dad.
woke up the next day and went to go see one of the kids' football matches, it was pretty cool just to kinda walk around and act like a local. the kid was very good, scored two goals. also after every game they make them take penalty kicks, so that when it comes down to penalties in the world cup or something they will have a lifetime of experience. pretty serious.
after the game i went just for a drive around eindhoven, got some of the stuff pointed out to me, places that my dad used to work and go to school and live and stuff like that. very cool. then went to eat dim sum in this restaurant in the middle of the city. it was also pretty good food. then just walked around town for a bit, some pretty cool art and stuff just around the city. then went to phillips stadium, where PSV plays their matches, there was a game that night but tickets were sold out...next time though.
i got the kids to take me around the neighbourhood and show me their school and parks and stuff, they took me to the bibliotheek. it was fun, kids are cute. also pretty cool seeing a bunch of asian kids running around speaking dutch. went out to the most ridiculous restaurant for dinner, all you can eat pretty much everything that exists. so much fish and seafood, i must have eated 100 shrimps. like sashimi, pickled herring, shrimp, carpaccio, and choose your own grill, so steaks and lamb chops and fish and more shrimp and fish and just. have not eaten that much good food in a long time.
they also took me to a store and i bought some food supplies, like noodles and lemongrass and stuff like that. i went home and just had so much stuff in my backpack. the best were stroopwafels and this dutch black licorice called droop.
i had to get up at like 6 on sunday to drive back to dusseldorf to catch the plane back to zurich, it was such a good weekend though, i'm gonna go back soon.
i came back on sunday morning and pretty much immediately went hiking by kandersteg, it was very cool, green fields, red and yellow trees, and white snowy mountains. a little chilly, but nice fall weather and colours. it was looking really terrible when we walked out the door but i'm glad i went hiking, it was a good short 3 hour one. took a bunch of good pictures too i think.
Monday, October 12, 2009
thanksgiving and europapark
chilled out last week for the most part, went to watch district 9 in perhaps the smallest theater in history, it was a good movie though. went on a tour of a nuclear power plant on saturday morning, it's about 30 minutes away from here, close to germany. very cool to go and stand inside the cooling tower, it's like a big steam room. lots of info that i'm sure i should have remembered from the past 2 years of studying stuff like that. definitely neat to see and something that i would not be able to see at home.
we had thanksgiving dinner on saturday night, got together and ate so much food, chicken, sweet potatoes, pie, just lots of really good food. and some good wine too, nothing better than friends and food and good times really.
had to wake up early on sunday morning, to take the train to freiburg for europapark. apparently the biggest amusement park in germany/europe? in any case it was pretty cool. roller coasters are awesome. after bungee jumping, all of a sudden theme park rides are pretty chill, it's a really cool feeling. of course some carnie food like mini donuts, but i think the ones at the stampede are still pretty good. slept a lot on the 3 hour train ride there and back though, all that food for thanksgiving really took it out of me haha.
flatmates were out for the weekend in istanbul, it was pretty nice to have the place to myself for awhile though. the leaves are falling off the trees, i crunched a bunch of them on my walk to work today.
we had thanksgiving dinner on saturday night, got together and ate so much food, chicken, sweet potatoes, pie, just lots of really good food. and some good wine too, nothing better than friends and food and good times really.
had to wake up early on sunday morning, to take the train to freiburg for europapark. apparently the biggest amusement park in germany/europe? in any case it was pretty cool. roller coasters are awesome. after bungee jumping, all of a sudden theme park rides are pretty chill, it's a really cool feeling. of course some carnie food like mini donuts, but i think the ones at the stampede are still pretty good. slept a lot on the 3 hour train ride there and back though, all that food for thanksgiving really took it out of me haha.
flatmates were out for the weekend in istanbul, it was pretty nice to have the place to myself for awhile though. the leaves are falling off the trees, i crunched a bunch of them on my walk to work today.
Monday, October 5, 2009
oktoberfest
went for all you can eat sushi last wednesday in waldshut in germany, ate far too much and couldn't really breathe. after not having sushi in months i realize now that it could very well be my favorite food, very tasty. and some other asian foods besides sushi too which was also good i have to admit.
oktoberfest is in munich and we took the train there on thursday night, it's like a 5 hour train ride from zurich. drank some beer on the train there in preparation. got there and found our campsite, which i liked a lot actually, there's nothing better than camping period, even if it's not really that legit and it's kinda like camping in your backyard. just something about sleeping outside under the stars.
w0ke up early, head down to the oktoberfest fair grounds by a short tram ride. eat a big pretzel. manage to get seats in the hofbrau tent, proceed to drink 3 liters of very good tasting beer in about half an hour. the atmosphere in the tents is just incredible, people singing, drinking, cheers-ing, in general having a great time. and also the food, the food smells/tastes so delicious. the fair itself is also very cool, pretty much like stampede except for more drinking and different (tastier) food. went on some rides after the beer tent, after eating half chickens. bought a sweet hat. went on the ferris wheel, in a fun house, some spinny ride that was probably not a great idea, and bumper cars. the bumper cars were difficult to drive. kind of slept in a park i think. ate some more random food like popcorn and a sausage. walked into another beer tent which was very rowdy, but unfortunately could not get a seat. by the way you need to be sitting at a table in order to buy beer. went back to the campsite and somehow managed to meet up with everyone else that we separated from after the beer tent at a convenience store on the way. just chilled out and ate some delicious pork roast dinner at the campsite. played some settlers of catan which i won. i like that game. felt great, just chilled out, laid on the grass outside for awhile, i would say that 70% of the group weren't doing that well and were passed out in their tents.
head out to the grounds again on saturday morning. pretty much repeated what happened the previous morning, but this time the tent wasn't the greatest. food in there was still delicious though. went on some more rides after that, roller coaster, giant swings. ate half a roasted duck. left the grounds, wander through some trains to get to this giant park. a standing wave on the river through it had people surfing on it. took a nap in the grass by a small waterfall. the city of munich is very pretty, i really liked the buildings. walked around the center of town for awhile, past the royal palace, some churches, and ended up in some bar/restaurant. it was pretty much like the german equivalent of an irish pub. ate some sausages and sauerkraut for dinner, it was soooo good. and a few more liters of beer obviously, it was really, really good weissbier too, definitely one of my favorites of all time. too bad they don't export augustiner from munich. just means i'll have to go back. some delicious apple strudel for dessert too. wander back to the campsite, singing very loudly on the tram ride back. played this game called telephone pictionary which was very fun.
woke up and packed up, caught a free walking tour. ended up eating and drinking more, in the hofbrauhaus, this big beer hall. caught the train back home.
oktoberfest is in munich and we took the train there on thursday night, it's like a 5 hour train ride from zurich. drank some beer on the train there in preparation. got there and found our campsite, which i liked a lot actually, there's nothing better than camping period, even if it's not really that legit and it's kinda like camping in your backyard. just something about sleeping outside under the stars.
w0ke up early, head down to the oktoberfest fair grounds by a short tram ride. eat a big pretzel. manage to get seats in the hofbrau tent, proceed to drink 3 liters of very good tasting beer in about half an hour. the atmosphere in the tents is just incredible, people singing, drinking, cheers-ing, in general having a great time. and also the food, the food smells/tastes so delicious. the fair itself is also very cool, pretty much like stampede except for more drinking and different (tastier) food. went on some rides after the beer tent, after eating half chickens. bought a sweet hat. went on the ferris wheel, in a fun house, some spinny ride that was probably not a great idea, and bumper cars. the bumper cars were difficult to drive. kind of slept in a park i think. ate some more random food like popcorn and a sausage. walked into another beer tent which was very rowdy, but unfortunately could not get a seat. by the way you need to be sitting at a table in order to buy beer. went back to the campsite and somehow managed to meet up with everyone else that we separated from after the beer tent at a convenience store on the way. just chilled out and ate some delicious pork roast dinner at the campsite. played some settlers of catan which i won. i like that game. felt great, just chilled out, laid on the grass outside for awhile, i would say that 70% of the group weren't doing that well and were passed out in their tents.
head out to the grounds again on saturday morning. pretty much repeated what happened the previous morning, but this time the tent wasn't the greatest. food in there was still delicious though. went on some more rides after that, roller coaster, giant swings. ate half a roasted duck. left the grounds, wander through some trains to get to this giant park. a standing wave on the river through it had people surfing on it. took a nap in the grass by a small waterfall. the city of munich is very pretty, i really liked the buildings. walked around the center of town for awhile, past the royal palace, some churches, and ended up in some bar/restaurant. it was pretty much like the german equivalent of an irish pub. ate some sausages and sauerkraut for dinner, it was soooo good. and a few more liters of beer obviously, it was really, really good weissbier too, definitely one of my favorites of all time. too bad they don't export augustiner from munich. just means i'll have to go back. some delicious apple strudel for dessert too. wander back to the campsite, singing very loudly on the tram ride back. played this game called telephone pictionary which was very fun.
woke up and packed up, caught a free walking tour. ended up eating and drinking more, in the hofbrauhaus, this big beer hall. caught the train back home.
Monday, September 28, 2009
lyon
took at train to lyon on friday night after work, it was about 5 hours. it was helped along by some wine and cheese and bread on the train, it was awesome. the best train ride ever. there was a metro strike so we had to take a cab to the hostel which was more like a hotel really. some more wine and just wandered, hung out by the river.
got up slowly, wandered into town, really cool old town in lyon. had some coffee, i bought a leather bag, wandered some more. found this restaurant for lunch, probably one of the most leisurely lunches ever, great food and wine, just chillin in front there. found this pretty cool cathedral, and then walked up a hill to another one on top of the hill. there was a roman amphitheatre close by, hung out there, laid in the grass. went back to the hotel, drank more wine and ate more cheese, then went out for dinner, it was soooo good. a stuffed duck breast with mushrooms, and just goood food and goood wine. and good dessert. after dinner we partied on a boat on the rhone river. it was the first time i have partied on a boat.
another lazy morning on sunday, got some coffee, ate another long delicious lunch, wandered around some more. took the metro to the train station, turns out part of it is closed, tried to power walk to the station, miss the train by like 30 seconds. for the two hour wait till the next one, just slept in a park, it was great.
most relaxing weekend ever!
got up slowly, wandered into town, really cool old town in lyon. had some coffee, i bought a leather bag, wandered some more. found this restaurant for lunch, probably one of the most leisurely lunches ever, great food and wine, just chillin in front there. found this pretty cool cathedral, and then walked up a hill to another one on top of the hill. there was a roman amphitheatre close by, hung out there, laid in the grass. went back to the hotel, drank more wine and ate more cheese, then went out for dinner, it was soooo good. a stuffed duck breast with mushrooms, and just goood food and goood wine. and good dessert. after dinner we partied on a boat on the rhone river. it was the first time i have partied on a boat.
another lazy morning on sunday, got some coffee, ate another long delicious lunch, wandered around some more. took the metro to the train station, turns out part of it is closed, tried to power walk to the station, miss the train by like 30 seconds. for the two hour wait till the next one, just slept in a park, it was great.
most relaxing weekend ever!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
ran a half marathon
ran a bunch last week, and then carbo loaded for the run on saturday. really, the carbo loading is just more fun than it actually helps i'm sure on friday i ate two loaves of bread. also had some delicious morroccan food last thursday too. slept in both days on the weekend, it was great. ate more pasta, ran the half marathon, felt great, went out to party in zurich that night till 5 am, no big deal. most ridiculous hydration drinks on the run, with milkserum in it - essentially uncarbonated rivella, so ridiculous...also people with the pre and/or post run cigarettes, it doesn't make any sense at all. and also the beer garden on the other side of the finish line. only in switzerland could that happen.
rachel's birthday last weekend, so went out for lunch the next day. played and dominated some settlers of catan, ate some cake. watched spirited away, may or may not have had two bottles of wine.
played badminton again on monday, ran home, legs feel good, just chillin, watching some flight of the conchords. went shopping in germany, ate a very cheap kebab. doing work at work for once. ate some more of this awesome spanisch broedli pastry, it has nut paste and carrot in it. most baked goods with nut paste in them are delicious. also chocolate filled croissants. i feel like so far my health and fitness level has not suffered from the food and drink which is only a bad thing because it encourages just more poor life choices. reading some books too.
going to lyon this weekend, allegedly the gastronomic capital of the world, i am terribly excited. and also oktoberfest the weekend after, which i am also terribly excited for. ahhhh
started drinking straight up warm water instead of coffee now, this is good progress - props to my dad for that idea, the guy that perpetually has a cup of warm water hanging around.
rachel's birthday last weekend, so went out for lunch the next day. played and dominated some settlers of catan, ate some cake. watched spirited away, may or may not have had two bottles of wine.
played badminton again on monday, ran home, legs feel good, just chillin, watching some flight of the conchords. went shopping in germany, ate a very cheap kebab. doing work at work for once. ate some more of this awesome spanisch broedli pastry, it has nut paste and carrot in it. most baked goods with nut paste in them are delicious. also chocolate filled croissants. i feel like so far my health and fitness level has not suffered from the food and drink which is only a bad thing because it encourages just more poor life choices. reading some books too.
going to lyon this weekend, allegedly the gastronomic capital of the world, i am terribly excited. and also oktoberfest the weekend after, which i am also terribly excited for. ahhhh
started drinking straight up warm water instead of coffee now, this is good progress - props to my dad for that idea, the guy that perpetually has a cup of warm water hanging around.
Monday, September 14, 2009
belgium
flying swiss air is awesome. so comfy, food and wine and beer and chocolate up for grabs on the flight. brussels airport is ridiculous, from the gate to the train track took like 20 minutes of walking up and down through the entire place it seemed. train to brussels north station, kinda got lost in the sketchy part of town, found the hostel, with ineffective ladders to the top bunks. went to eat mussels in brussels. with fries, and beer. awesome mussels, just a big bowl of them. walked around and found a street with many kebab shops. and then i ate a kebab. saw some guy sprint down the sidewalk in full running gear. kinda did a convenience store pub crawl to try a bunch of belgian beer. some good stuff - the standard beer, jupiler, is quite good. kriek is a cherry flavored one, which is actually really delicious and almost shouldn't be allowed cause it is. leffe is pretty strong, 8.4%, an interesting one, definitely couldn't drink a lot of it though. stumbled onto some sort of party in a church square for a bit. ate some frites. wandered around trying to find waffles. chris and i picked up the scent and found some. it was not the first time that has happened. somehow it was quite late already, but i guess we did only get there at 8 or so. back to the hostel to sleep.
woke up to catch breakfast and to the train station, taking the train to ghent. 3o minute train ride or so, and we're there. hit up a botanical garden with big lily pads and carnivorous plants. a contemporary art museum, then a fine art museum. there was an awesome sculpture in the contemporary one. and now i think my favorite paintings are impressionist landscapes, very very cool. walked through a park to find allegedly the greatest place for fries in ghent - and potentially in belgium - and potentially the world. in any case, these fries were awesome, and the sauces just made them better. pretty much, can't go wrong with dipping deep fried potatoes in anything invoving mayo. pat and celia proceeded to eat deep fried burgers as well. also so cheap, 2 euro for a massive box of fries. and beer was cheap too.
wandered toward the city center, went through some vintage stores, a bit of cool stuff but didn't pick anything up. the graffiti in the city was just awesome too. also a really beautiful city, lots of old buildings. it seemed like around every corner there would be another awesome thing to see. really suggest going to ghent, friendly people, lots of stuff to see. got a chocolate pastry and essentially just inhaled it. found this cafe for a really good cappucino and a real belgian waffle, which was so good. saw a parade of geese with a one man band. found some market thing in a cool square, was tempted to eat a burger. bought a bunch of chocolate from a grocery store, and more beer. went to a candy store for some belgian candies. chilled out by a canal to have more cherry beer, and also of course a stella and a hoegaarden, in belgium after all. found an old castle, took a bunch of pictures in the nice lighting when the sun was going down a bit. ate dinner, some italian restaurant that was actually really good, some spinach lasagna, gotta get veggies in there somewhere. and a trappist beer too, called westmalle - these beers have a cool story behind them too. and it was pretty tasty. walked around and by this time it was night, and kinda chilly actually, didn't bring a sweater which was a bit of an oversight. in the city center along the canal, there were people packed in cause there was a stage set up. so somehow we got essentially front row seats to see the brussels philharmonic play a free show. it was so awesome. and some guy shredding a guitar on a balcony on top of a building. and cool lights shining on all the buildings along the canal. and fireworks. had to power walk back to the train station to catch the last train back to brussels. the train was very late, definitely not swiss standards.
tried to get up to take sunrise photos, that didn't work at all. so ended up sleeping in. got breakfast at some cafe, another good coffee, and a piece of cheesecake for breakfast. yes, that happened. then got more fries. and another trappist beer, chimay - which was also delicious. there was another orchestra playing in the main square, with some old army jeeps and stuff there too. really cool. bought more chocolate. wandered through some street market thing. went to the royal palace, walked through it - maybe not as impressive as the one in madrid but cool nonetheless. there is a room that has these jewel beetle casings on the walls, it is really awesome. and there was a random science center in the palace too. walked back to the city center, got some more chocolate, more fries, more beer. and then a deep fried burger. and then there were some really good buskers. this old guy just singing his heart out and playing some good guitar. probably one of the best buskers i've ever seen actually. to the train station, airport, and then home. they also sell beer out of vending machines. i now have a pile of chocolate in my room.
will be running a lot this week to get ready for the race on saturday. and also to recover from the two days of food eating.
woke up to catch breakfast and to the train station, taking the train to ghent. 3o minute train ride or so, and we're there. hit up a botanical garden with big lily pads and carnivorous plants. a contemporary art museum, then a fine art museum. there was an awesome sculpture in the contemporary one. and now i think my favorite paintings are impressionist landscapes, very very cool. walked through a park to find allegedly the greatest place for fries in ghent - and potentially in belgium - and potentially the world. in any case, these fries were awesome, and the sauces just made them better. pretty much, can't go wrong with dipping deep fried potatoes in anything invoving mayo. pat and celia proceeded to eat deep fried burgers as well. also so cheap, 2 euro for a massive box of fries. and beer was cheap too.
wandered toward the city center, went through some vintage stores, a bit of cool stuff but didn't pick anything up. the graffiti in the city was just awesome too. also a really beautiful city, lots of old buildings. it seemed like around every corner there would be another awesome thing to see. really suggest going to ghent, friendly people, lots of stuff to see. got a chocolate pastry and essentially just inhaled it. found this cafe for a really good cappucino and a real belgian waffle, which was so good. saw a parade of geese with a one man band. found some market thing in a cool square, was tempted to eat a burger. bought a bunch of chocolate from a grocery store, and more beer. went to a candy store for some belgian candies. chilled out by a canal to have more cherry beer, and also of course a stella and a hoegaarden, in belgium after all. found an old castle, took a bunch of pictures in the nice lighting when the sun was going down a bit. ate dinner, some italian restaurant that was actually really good, some spinach lasagna, gotta get veggies in there somewhere. and a trappist beer too, called westmalle - these beers have a cool story behind them too. and it was pretty tasty. walked around and by this time it was night, and kinda chilly actually, didn't bring a sweater which was a bit of an oversight. in the city center along the canal, there were people packed in cause there was a stage set up. so somehow we got essentially front row seats to see the brussels philharmonic play a free show. it was so awesome. and some guy shredding a guitar on a balcony on top of a building. and cool lights shining on all the buildings along the canal. and fireworks. had to power walk back to the train station to catch the last train back to brussels. the train was very late, definitely not swiss standards.
tried to get up to take sunrise photos, that didn't work at all. so ended up sleeping in. got breakfast at some cafe, another good coffee, and a piece of cheesecake for breakfast. yes, that happened. then got more fries. and another trappist beer, chimay - which was also delicious. there was another orchestra playing in the main square, with some old army jeeps and stuff there too. really cool. bought more chocolate. wandered through some street market thing. went to the royal palace, walked through it - maybe not as impressive as the one in madrid but cool nonetheless. there is a room that has these jewel beetle casings on the walls, it is really awesome. and there was a random science center in the palace too. walked back to the city center, got some more chocolate, more fries, more beer. and then a deep fried burger. and then there were some really good buskers. this old guy just singing his heart out and playing some good guitar. probably one of the best buskers i've ever seen actually. to the train station, airport, and then home. they also sell beer out of vending machines. i now have a pile of chocolate in my room.
will be running a lot this week to get ready for the race on saturday. and also to recover from the two days of food eating.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
salad, zermatt, and fantoche
last week there was a Big Salad party, where we all brought large bowls of salad to eat. there we are, 15 young people, eating salad in a park. it was great.
on the weekend, i went on an iaeste trip to zermatt, the village where the matterhorn is. zermatt is the swiss version of canmore, exactly. it was weird, i got off the train and everyone is wearing hiking boots and there was a north face and peak performance store, seriously, exactly canmore. took a few ski lifts up to this glacier on a mountain, where people do some summer skiing. it just made me think of how fun it's gonna be this winter. got a good view of the matterhorn, it was just a little bit chilly - like +5 - still t-shirt weather, all good, probably what it is in calgary right now. it was like 3500 m and some people were struggling with that and with the "cold". hiked down back to the hostel, ate some good dinner, went out and tore up a dance floor, went back and slept. woke up, good breakfast, train to some other gondolas, scrambled 200m up a peak, pretty sketchy but pretty fun. hiked along a glacier, the glacier was pretty big, easy hike, a couple decent photos. walked through a tunnel through a mountain, ate some ice cream, took the cable car down, train home. the train was 40 minutes late, just an absolute catastrophe for the swiss train system really.
went for a couple great runs earlier this week, feeling pretty good for this half now, excited about the pasta party the night before too. it honestly is one of the greatest highs, i love the adrenaline and the feeling after a good workout. there's this animation film festival in baden this week, so we went to see the swiss premiere of "up" which i thought was pretty good, not my favorite pixar movie, but still good. then last night was a short film competition which i thought was really cool too.
also i don't even think i like pastries, but for some reason they are so good. chocolate filled croissants will be the end of me. also chocolate too. but i am still maintaining a fairly health position until now. it has been 4 months already!
going to belgium for a short trip this weekend, it will be an attempt to eat as much as possible. chocolate, frites with mayo, belgian beer.
on the weekend, i went on an iaeste trip to zermatt, the village where the matterhorn is. zermatt is the swiss version of canmore, exactly. it was weird, i got off the train and everyone is wearing hiking boots and there was a north face and peak performance store, seriously, exactly canmore. took a few ski lifts up to this glacier on a mountain, where people do some summer skiing. it just made me think of how fun it's gonna be this winter. got a good view of the matterhorn, it was just a little bit chilly - like +5 - still t-shirt weather, all good, probably what it is in calgary right now. it was like 3500 m and some people were struggling with that and with the "cold". hiked down back to the hostel, ate some good dinner, went out and tore up a dance floor, went back and slept. woke up, good breakfast, train to some other gondolas, scrambled 200m up a peak, pretty sketchy but pretty fun. hiked along a glacier, the glacier was pretty big, easy hike, a couple decent photos. walked through a tunnel through a mountain, ate some ice cream, took the cable car down, train home. the train was 40 minutes late, just an absolute catastrophe for the swiss train system really.
went for a couple great runs earlier this week, feeling pretty good for this half now, excited about the pasta party the night before too. it honestly is one of the greatest highs, i love the adrenaline and the feeling after a good workout. there's this animation film festival in baden this week, so we went to see the swiss premiere of "up" which i thought was pretty good, not my favorite pixar movie, but still good. then last night was a short film competition which i thought was really cool too.
also i don't even think i like pastries, but for some reason they are so good. chocolate filled croissants will be the end of me. also chocolate too. but i am still maintaining a fairly health position until now. it has been 4 months already!
going to belgium for a short trip this weekend, it will be an attempt to eat as much as possible. chocolate, frites with mayo, belgian beer.
Monday, August 31, 2009
spain
went to spain, flew to madrid then valencia. early wednesday morning, like 6, took a train to bunol, for the tomato fight. had a beer and a sangria and a sandwich for breakfast. they grease up this 30 foot pole and hang a ham on top of it, and get people to climb up and get the ham before the tomato fight starts, i don't even know. meanwhile, people were getting antsy and began throwing wet balled up t shirts at each other. i'm pretty sure i got hit with one in the chest. the streets were filthy to begin with. then the tomatoes started, these big trucks rolling through, people tossing them off. i got behind one of these trucks, and then it dumped all the tomatoes out. i was quite literally drowning in tomatoes. there were people with massive water hoses spraying the fight, which was so necessary and appreciated. an hour later, everyone is just disgusting. taking the train back to valencia was fun. after one of the greatest showers of my life, we went into town, and to the beach, just chillin out in the mediterranean, no big deal. then ate paella for dinner. then went to sleep, so tired. also a legitimate "hostel" which was actually a hotel room in a best western, for 20 euro a night. also it is hot in spain.
there are these sweet buildings in valencia, the city of arts and sciences, with an aquarium, science center, etc. so the next day we went there. saw dolphins, walruses, sea lions, sharks, other awesome stuff. i realize now, that i had never seen those animals before i'm pretty sure - at the time i didn't really think about it. took the bus, 4 hours to madrid in the afternoon, got there and went about the town late at night, got a kebab, still +30 at midnight, it was good. some beers and some sangria. spanish beer is not very good i've concluded.
next day went to the royal palace, i guess i've never been in a palace before so that was alright. so ridiculous, i wonder what it'd be like to be the king of spain. went to this park, slept in the grass as per usual. ate a spanish omelette sandwich. went to the reina sofia museum, some sick art, i really liked a couple of the exhibits, and then there's a bunch of dali and picasso stuff. went out for tapas, ate a big plate o' octopus. went to see a flamenco dance show, that was cool. got some churros and chocolate. bought a wine bag for like 5 euro.
got up early to try and catch a running of the bulls, but got there just a little too late, but got tickets to the bullfight that night. returned to the city, ate a calamari sandwich. went shopping a bit. stuff is cheap. found a sweet market. it was awesome, seafood, fresh bread and fruit. also spanish people love ham. just ham everywhere, just big ham legs everywhere. found a park to sleep in for the afternoon again. went to this bullfight. it was alright. quite gory, lots of blood. at this point, i was prepared to spend the next 12 hours in transit. so took the madrid metro an hour to the bus station. actually, on the way i passed a stop called santiago bernabeu, and i recognized the name. and then about a million people crammed on the metro and i realized that it was real madrid's season opener. it was cool actually, found out that they beat deportivo 3-2. also ads with cristiano ronaldo were everywhere. missed the 10:30 pm bus by 15 minutes, got a ticket for the 1:00 am one. slept in the bus station - on the floor of course, for a bit. slept on the bus. quite cramped, the AC was blasted too. arrive in valencia at 5:30 am, take a taxi to the airport, get on the 6:30 am flight back to madrid - stupid eh? probably, i would say don't fly with iberia, they're terrible. slept there for a bit, caught the flight back to zurich. took the train back to baden. yep, used pretty much every form of transport possible there.
just chilled on sunday. some pics of spain up now, some old ones i found of the eiger, jungfrau and monch too - somehow there were some of those just hangin out on my computer. back to work now, not too much is goin on. gonna learn to ride a unicycle now, should be fun. should train for the half marathon i've signed up for, septemeber19th - it's like 2 weeks, i'm terrified. going to zermatt this weekend, gonna see the matterhorn! i love mountains.
there are these sweet buildings in valencia, the city of arts and sciences, with an aquarium, science center, etc. so the next day we went there. saw dolphins, walruses, sea lions, sharks, other awesome stuff. i realize now, that i had never seen those animals before i'm pretty sure - at the time i didn't really think about it. took the bus, 4 hours to madrid in the afternoon, got there and went about the town late at night, got a kebab, still +30 at midnight, it was good. some beers and some sangria. spanish beer is not very good i've concluded.
next day went to the royal palace, i guess i've never been in a palace before so that was alright. so ridiculous, i wonder what it'd be like to be the king of spain. went to this park, slept in the grass as per usual. ate a spanish omelette sandwich. went to the reina sofia museum, some sick art, i really liked a couple of the exhibits, and then there's a bunch of dali and picasso stuff. went out for tapas, ate a big plate o' octopus. went to see a flamenco dance show, that was cool. got some churros and chocolate. bought a wine bag for like 5 euro.
got up early to try and catch a running of the bulls, but got there just a little too late, but got tickets to the bullfight that night. returned to the city, ate a calamari sandwich. went shopping a bit. stuff is cheap. found a sweet market. it was awesome, seafood, fresh bread and fruit. also spanish people love ham. just ham everywhere, just big ham legs everywhere. found a park to sleep in for the afternoon again. went to this bullfight. it was alright. quite gory, lots of blood. at this point, i was prepared to spend the next 12 hours in transit. so took the madrid metro an hour to the bus station. actually, on the way i passed a stop called santiago bernabeu, and i recognized the name. and then about a million people crammed on the metro and i realized that it was real madrid's season opener. it was cool actually, found out that they beat deportivo 3-2. also ads with cristiano ronaldo were everywhere. missed the 10:30 pm bus by 15 minutes, got a ticket for the 1:00 am one. slept in the bus station - on the floor of course, for a bit. slept on the bus. quite cramped, the AC was blasted too. arrive in valencia at 5:30 am, take a taxi to the airport, get on the 6:30 am flight back to madrid - stupid eh? probably, i would say don't fly with iberia, they're terrible. slept there for a bit, caught the flight back to zurich. took the train back to baden. yep, used pretty much every form of transport possible there.
just chilled on sunday. some pics of spain up now, some old ones i found of the eiger, jungfrau and monch too - somehow there were some of those just hangin out on my computer. back to work now, not too much is goin on. gonna learn to ride a unicycle now, should be fun. should train for the half marathon i've signed up for, septemeber19th - it's like 2 weeks, i'm terrified. going to zermatt this weekend, gonna see the matterhorn! i love mountains.
creux du van hike and a chill weekend
did this hike a couple weekends ago, supposed to be 23k, close to neuchatel which is like 2 hours away from here, in the french part of switzerland. got a little ways in, then there was a detour, which in the end ended up taking two hours, and probably like 6k longer. got some ice cream on the way. by the time we got to this creux du van, this massive canyon/gorge thing that's like 200 m cliffs, it was getting dark. ended up hiking down in the dark with headlamps, it was alright though. supposed to camp in neuchatel overnight, but just terribly exhausted, took the train back home to sleep off the ridiculous hike.
just chilled on sunday, rested the feet, went for a swim, ate ice cream for dinner, it's all good.
just chilled on sunday, rested the feet, went for a swim, ate ice cream for dinner, it's all good.
Monday, August 17, 2009
liechtenstein
took the train a couple hours to liechtenstein, a small country between austria and switzerland. it was their national day so there was lots of festival stuff going on. the buses were free all day, so we took a bus, the sweatiest bus ride in history, up to the austrian border, then proceeded to run the 12 k back to the swiss border, it was really great actually. me riley and chris made it through the +30 C sun across the rhine which is the border. proceeded to jump in a fountain that probably was not meant to be jumped in, and then went ahead and ate some of the greasy food at this festival. ice cream, pretzels, beer, all spoils of the victory. we were camping for the night in a place a ways down from the city of vaduz, so had to return there to pick up some stuff before heading back into town for the night's festivities. after getting off the bus, immediately joined the dance party that was going down in front of one of the stages set up, rockin out to some cover band that was pretty good. continued on until the night, when there were some great fireworks, some coming off of the prince's castle as well. continued dancing until the morning, then went back to camp.
the next day was a long walk in the sun back to sargans in switzerland, and then the train home. came across some corn on the way, which i will be putting into the massive salad that i will be eating tonight.
the next day was a long walk in the sun back to sargans in switzerland, and then the train home. came across some corn on the way, which i will be putting into the massive salad that i will be eating tonight.
street parade and a hike
zurich street parade is a party they have every year the second saturday of august. there was a lot of music. there are trucks that go around the lake playing music with people dancing on them, and obviously there was some dancing that i participated it. good times, it rained, but it made it better, the streets were dirty though, something that never happens in zurich. so basically just a day full of dancing - i don't know if there has been a weekend without dancing to tell you the truth.
sunday was a nice little hike, like 16 k or something from baden to dielsdorf - from across the river here it goes up a little ridge and then following it, it takes you up over to a couple close towns. lots of fruit trees on the way, can't wait till september when all the blackberries, pears and apples are ripe.
sunday was a nice little hike, like 16 k or something from baden to dielsdorf - from across the river here it goes up a little ridge and then following it, it takes you up over to a couple close towns. lots of fruit trees on the way, can't wait till september when all the blackberries, pears and apples are ripe.
Monday, August 3, 2009
potentially the greatest weekend ever
took a trip down to ticino in the south of switzerland, the italian part. went for a bike ride completely downhill, no handlebars for the majority of it, the hands were used for dancing while riding, from airolo to biasca. stopped a few times, in this beautiful valley. just burning hot too. vineyards everywhere. stopped for lunch in this restaurant in the middle of nowhere, but just to use the grill.
checked in to this hostel in lugano, then proceeded to invade and dismantle the swimming pool that was there. cleaned up and went to take this furnicular up mt. san salvatore, got a great view of lake lugano and the area, very nice. after the furnicular, we walked along lake lugano to the middle of town where there was a parade, music, and fireworks for swiss national day, august 1. stopped for dinner in this pizzeria, which was some delicious pizza. smoked salmon and capers and some other stuff on mine, it was great. and apparently free wine too. the big fireworks started shortly after dinner, and they were incredible, probably one of the best shows i've ever seen. took a bunch of photos, hope the work out. continued to essentially start a dance party on a dock on the lake, just happened to find this area where there were dj's playing music. definitely one of the better dance parties i have ever started, that's for sure. set off some fireworks that i had bought the day before. great night.
the next day, woke up to a good breakfast, and a train to tenero, then a short hike to the verzasca dam, apparently the 25th highest dam in the world. then, proceeded to bungee jump off of it, i had the pleasure of going first, and it was great, the best feeling ever, the greatest rush ever. i can't describe the feeling, but everyone should do it. you have to. ate ice cream, took a bus to lavertezzo, it was raining on the way there - 10 minutes later it was bright blue sky and hot sun again. just a beautiful river with smoothed out rocks all in it, and a 12 meter bridge, which we consequently jumped off of into the river. also a great time. i don't get that feeling of the stomach dropping anymore...it's great, i would like to test it out on roller coasters or jumping off more stuff now. also climbed up and down all these rocks along the river, found a big one, and proceeded to sleep on it in the sun. also amazing. the streak of 7 weeks in a row sleeping outside is still alive. i think that on a rock in the middle of a river counts. bus and train back to bellinzona, which had 3 castles in the town. it was awesome, legitimate castles. found this kebab place, where they had them in a wrap but also toasted it on a panini press, soo good, one of the better ones i've had for sure. when you're in ticino it feels like italy, the red and yellow buildings, the hot sun, people speaking italian all around you, just that laid back atmosphere - a few late trains. like a completely different country. palm trees everywhere too. great weekend. just incredible.
i also have started to really hate shoes. far too constricting, hence i walked around barefoot for probably 50% of this weekend. actually i lost one of my flip flops in the mud at gurtenfest so i haven't had flip flops for awhile, i need to go buy some new ones. replacement havianas cause they are awesome.
checked in to this hostel in lugano, then proceeded to invade and dismantle the swimming pool that was there. cleaned up and went to take this furnicular up mt. san salvatore, got a great view of lake lugano and the area, very nice. after the furnicular, we walked along lake lugano to the middle of town where there was a parade, music, and fireworks for swiss national day, august 1. stopped for dinner in this pizzeria, which was some delicious pizza. smoked salmon and capers and some other stuff on mine, it was great. and apparently free wine too. the big fireworks started shortly after dinner, and they were incredible, probably one of the best shows i've ever seen. took a bunch of photos, hope the work out. continued to essentially start a dance party on a dock on the lake, just happened to find this area where there were dj's playing music. definitely one of the better dance parties i have ever started, that's for sure. set off some fireworks that i had bought the day before. great night.
the next day, woke up to a good breakfast, and a train to tenero, then a short hike to the verzasca dam, apparently the 25th highest dam in the world. then, proceeded to bungee jump off of it, i had the pleasure of going first, and it was great, the best feeling ever, the greatest rush ever. i can't describe the feeling, but everyone should do it. you have to. ate ice cream, took a bus to lavertezzo, it was raining on the way there - 10 minutes later it was bright blue sky and hot sun again. just a beautiful river with smoothed out rocks all in it, and a 12 meter bridge, which we consequently jumped off of into the river. also a great time. i don't get that feeling of the stomach dropping anymore...it's great, i would like to test it out on roller coasters or jumping off more stuff now. also climbed up and down all these rocks along the river, found a big one, and proceeded to sleep on it in the sun. also amazing. the streak of 7 weeks in a row sleeping outside is still alive. i think that on a rock in the middle of a river counts. bus and train back to bellinzona, which had 3 castles in the town. it was awesome, legitimate castles. found this kebab place, where they had them in a wrap but also toasted it on a panini press, soo good, one of the better ones i've had for sure. when you're in ticino it feels like italy, the red and yellow buildings, the hot sun, people speaking italian all around you, just that laid back atmosphere - a few late trains. like a completely different country. palm trees everywhere too. great weekend. just incredible.
i also have started to really hate shoes. far too constricting, hence i walked around barefoot for probably 50% of this weekend. actually i lost one of my flip flops in the mud at gurtenfest so i haven't had flip flops for awhile, i need to go buy some new ones. replacement havianas cause they are awesome.
Monday, July 27, 2009
running and sleeping in the sun
so ran this 11k run in Davos, wanted to get under an hour so i rocked 59 minutes - got beat by numerous children, but you know what, it felt great. they were also handing out coke at the water stations - no, i don't want coke, give me water, was what was going through my head. also handing out alcohol free beer at the end, you know, with all the b vitamins and carbs to rehydrate yourself better. only in switzerland.
after that it was a pretty chill weekend, needed a good relaxing one anyways - basically just fell asleep for hours in the sun at schwimmbad, i'm still continuing the streak of sleeping in parks, 6 weeks and counting.
after that it was a pretty chill weekend, needed a good relaxing one anyways - basically just fell asleep for hours in the sun at schwimmbad, i'm still continuing the streak of sleeping in parks, 6 weeks and counting.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
gurtenfestival
last weekend was this gurtenfestival, in berne, about an hour from here.
the link:
http://www.gurtenfestival.ch/program/program_en.aspx
it was such a good time, i wish they had some music festivals like this at home - but alas, no one would be happy with music till 5 am in canada. some really great shows, franz ferdinand was awesome, got right up to the front. some cool ska bands, danced barefoot in the mud - oh yea, it pretty much thunderstormed for two nights, essentially rained inside the tent. it was so great though, definitely the mud and dirt and rain just made it better, just classic. just the atmosphere was amazing, just lots of people having a good time together. this was a terrible job of explaining, but honestly, the experience was one of the best i've ever had. came home with a bag of wet clothes, covered in dirt, tired from dancing, but completely worth it.
in other news, i really like kebabs. been running a lot lately. work is alright, just hangin out mostly. hair's getting long but i'm gonna leave it.
coming up: 11k run this weekend, and bungee jumping 220 m the weekend after that, i'm terrified.
the link:
http://www.gurtenfestival.ch/program/program_en.aspx
it was such a good time, i wish they had some music festivals like this at home - but alas, no one would be happy with music till 5 am in canada. some really great shows, franz ferdinand was awesome, got right up to the front. some cool ska bands, danced barefoot in the mud - oh yea, it pretty much thunderstormed for two nights, essentially rained inside the tent. it was so great though, definitely the mud and dirt and rain just made it better, just classic. just the atmosphere was amazing, just lots of people having a good time together. this was a terrible job of explaining, but honestly, the experience was one of the best i've ever had. came home with a bag of wet clothes, covered in dirt, tired from dancing, but completely worth it.
in other news, i really like kebabs. been running a lot lately. work is alright, just hangin out mostly. hair's getting long but i'm gonna leave it.
coming up: 11k run this weekend, and bungee jumping 220 m the weekend after that, i'm terrified.
Monday, July 13, 2009
surenenpass hike
went on this hike in the alps, started in a town called altdorf and hiked to engelberg. it was like 28k with 1800m elevation, pretty much just another typical hike. it was quite nice though, came up over this surenenpass, it was raining a bit, which made for some nice clouds and fog. after going on a few of these hikes, i think that i have a bit of perspective on the mountains here - and i think that i still like the ones at home...it's just different i guess, but i'm the kind of guy that goes trekking because it's a chance to challenge yourself and to push it to the limits, to go where no one has gone before, to get away from everything - and here it's more like, there are cable cars and furniculars to take you up to trailheads, warm and comfy mountain huts to sleep overnight in, cows, sheep and farms everywhere. it's not the same looking down into a valley and seeing a town instead of just trees and rivers. that being said, of course it's still very pretty and there are tons of alpine meadows filled with flowers, once you get high enough there are all those little blue forget me nots just like at home.
for this particular hike, we started up under this cable car path to the trailhead, and then proceeded to do a bit of up and down through a more or less flat section, through to a bit of a ridge walk that led to a some snow covered paths. essentially walked up a glacier, up to this surenenpass. it was quite foggy and rainy that day, made for some great photos though. after going over this pass, it was a short walk down to an alpine hut. this was actually quite nice, there was a room just for the 10 of us that were there, dinner and breakfast included. pretty much just ate a ton of pasta and cheese for dinner, and loaded up on bread and milk for breakfast, definitely from the cows that were all over the trail. of course, walking through the typical swiss valley, one can hear just a ton of cowbells at once. the next day was a walk down to the town of engelberg - a nice mountain town might i add, seemed like it would be a great ski base in the winter. lounged around until 7 again, for the free train, played some dutch blitz - i have slept in a park for 5 weeks in a row now - and then took the train through lucerne, back home.
definitely gonna hit up a couple more hikes in august, gonna try and find a bit of a tougher one, and try to get higher to see what 3500 or 4000 m feels like.
also i think it was this week that i had, in consecutive days, lunch at work: 1. all you can eat thai restaurant 2. the most massive doner kebab in history. patrick meunier, you will be the death of me if you keep convincing me to eat as much as i can.
for this particular hike, we started up under this cable car path to the trailhead, and then proceeded to do a bit of up and down through a more or less flat section, through to a bit of a ridge walk that led to a some snow covered paths. essentially walked up a glacier, up to this surenenpass. it was quite foggy and rainy that day, made for some great photos though. after going over this pass, it was a short walk down to an alpine hut. this was actually quite nice, there was a room just for the 10 of us that were there, dinner and breakfast included. pretty much just ate a ton of pasta and cheese for dinner, and loaded up on bread and milk for breakfast, definitely from the cows that were all over the trail. of course, walking through the typical swiss valley, one can hear just a ton of cowbells at once. the next day was a walk down to the town of engelberg - a nice mountain town might i add, seemed like it would be a great ski base in the winter. lounged around until 7 again, for the free train, played some dutch blitz - i have slept in a park for 5 weeks in a row now - and then took the train through lucerne, back home.
definitely gonna hit up a couple more hikes in august, gonna try and find a bit of a tougher one, and try to get higher to see what 3500 or 4000 m feels like.
also i think it was this week that i had, in consecutive days, lunch at work: 1. all you can eat thai restaurant 2. the most massive doner kebab in history. patrick meunier, you will be the death of me if you keep convincing me to eat as much as i can.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
amsterdam
went to amsterdam last weekend. basically, friday night was a party in the football stadium with 40000 people dressed in white, for sensation white. pretty much one of the most ridiculous events i have attended, didn't stop till 6 in the morning, at which point i took the train back to central station and slept in a park for several hours. oh yea, the black eyed peas decided to show up to this event at about 2 in the morning - almost forgot that happened. after sleeping in the park i had a herring sandwich, with onions and pickles. i thought i was good, but it gives you terribly bad breath. hit up the albert cuyp market, which is a big street market that had some cool stuff in it. went to the heineken brewery, that was alright - pretty touristy, but you get free beer - in retrospect, i had to pay 15 euro to get in so that point is invalid. kinda had to do it though i guess. ate some pretty good noodles and curry - i thought there was a fairly large asian population there actually, judging from the size of chinatown. wandering around the canals, chinatown, dam square and all the bridges was pretty cool. other amsterdam activities as well obviously.
went on a bike tour in the morning, saw a windmill, ate dutch gouda cheese. saw some dutch cows. took photos of wooden shoes. went through these big parks that were neat. went to the rijksmuseum which i thought was really cool, loved the paintings. rembrandt was kind of a big deal, i have to admit. it's also kinda neat, when you put your face really close to the painting and see the detail...just careful of the security. continued on, to drink some heinekens, naturally, and continue our wanderings. ate fries with mayo, delicious waffles with ice cream.
finally, went on a walking tour in the morning, got an explanation of everything, which was good - turns out that we had already wandered around most of the city already. after that, i got fast food out of a vending machine wall simply for the novelty of it, it was terrible. then took the train about 30 minutes west, to zandvoort aan zee, on the north sea coast. went to the beach, it was actually very nice - nobody there though, it was late afternoon on a monday though. the water was pretty warm, and the sand was definitely there. the sun was out for a bit, but it got somewhat windy and sand got everywhere, particularly on the cheese i had purchased for sandwich making, it added great texture. i quite liked this small town, nice to get away from the crowded streets of amsterdam. sat down and had a delicious dutch pannekoek, a pancake thicker than a crepe but thinner than a pancake, i think, with apples and cinammon. it was great. stayed for the sunset over the north sea, i thought it was pretty cool cause the sun sets in the west and all. tried to take some photos, they might work out, i'm not sure.
i think i could have done without so much time there - it was definitely pretty cool and all that, but being there for too long was a bit overwhelming just with it being packed with tourists and the crowded big city atmosphere.
went on a bike tour in the morning, saw a windmill, ate dutch gouda cheese. saw some dutch cows. took photos of wooden shoes. went through these big parks that were neat. went to the rijksmuseum which i thought was really cool, loved the paintings. rembrandt was kind of a big deal, i have to admit. it's also kinda neat, when you put your face really close to the painting and see the detail...just careful of the security. continued on, to drink some heinekens, naturally, and continue our wanderings. ate fries with mayo, delicious waffles with ice cream.
finally, went on a walking tour in the morning, got an explanation of everything, which was good - turns out that we had already wandered around most of the city already. after that, i got fast food out of a vending machine wall simply for the novelty of it, it was terrible. then took the train about 30 minutes west, to zandvoort aan zee, on the north sea coast. went to the beach, it was actually very nice - nobody there though, it was late afternoon on a monday though. the water was pretty warm, and the sand was definitely there. the sun was out for a bit, but it got somewhat windy and sand got everywhere, particularly on the cheese i had purchased for sandwich making, it added great texture. i quite liked this small town, nice to get away from the crowded streets of amsterdam. sat down and had a delicious dutch pannekoek, a pancake thicker than a crepe but thinner than a pancake, i think, with apples and cinammon. it was great. stayed for the sunset over the north sea, i thought it was pretty cool cause the sun sets in the west and all. tried to take some photos, they might work out, i'm not sure.
i think i could have done without so much time there - it was definitely pretty cool and all that, but being there for too long was a bit overwhelming just with it being packed with tourists and the crowded big city atmosphere.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Eating and Rafting
this past week on wednesday we went out to zurich to this restaurant called The Blind Cow. it was really cool cause you ate in complete darkness, definitely an awesome experience and i think that everyone should do something like that sometime.
also went to the beer gardens here in baden for the first time this week, it's a cool place where basically drink beer outside, it's cool to see old people in suits and young people hanging out in the same place and having a good time.
last weekend i went to interlaken with a bunch of people from iaeste which is the organization that kind of puts together these internships, so met a few people from around the world which was good. went rafting in this river close to interlaken, in a valley beneath the eiger and such. the rafting itself was pretty fun, definitely gonna do some more when i get home. one time i fell out cause the guides smashed the rafts together on purpose which was great, i kinda wish i could do that, just travel around the world and be a guide for outdoor stuff. the river ended in the lake of brienz, which was actually warm enough to swim in. pretty much just wandered around interlaken that night, found a playground, it was good. saw a guy wearing a CFL t-shirt which i thought was hilarious.
the next day we took a hike up this mountain a little ways away from spiez, where there is a canadian bar, where i think i will return one day. the hike was good, a few sections with some fixed ropes, probably more for safety than for necessity but still good. got up to the top there and had a good view of the valleys and mountains and lakes. hiking so far in these mountains reminds me a lot of home, and what it's like to trek around those. in particular, the town of interlaken reminds me a lot of banff and how touristy it is. after the hike we went down to the lake of thun in which i swam, then proceeded to lay in the sun for awhile before going home, after 7 pm of course so i can ride the trains for free.
also went to the beer gardens here in baden for the first time this week, it's a cool place where basically drink beer outside, it's cool to see old people in suits and young people hanging out in the same place and having a good time.
last weekend i went to interlaken with a bunch of people from iaeste which is the organization that kind of puts together these internships, so met a few people from around the world which was good. went rafting in this river close to interlaken, in a valley beneath the eiger and such. the rafting itself was pretty fun, definitely gonna do some more when i get home. one time i fell out cause the guides smashed the rafts together on purpose which was great, i kinda wish i could do that, just travel around the world and be a guide for outdoor stuff. the river ended in the lake of brienz, which was actually warm enough to swim in. pretty much just wandered around interlaken that night, found a playground, it was good. saw a guy wearing a CFL t-shirt which i thought was hilarious.
the next day we took a hike up this mountain a little ways away from spiez, where there is a canadian bar, where i think i will return one day. the hike was good, a few sections with some fixed ropes, probably more for safety than for necessity but still good. got up to the top there and had a good view of the valleys and mountains and lakes. hiking so far in these mountains reminds me a lot of home, and what it's like to trek around those. in particular, the town of interlaken reminds me a lot of banff and how touristy it is. after the hike we went down to the lake of thun in which i swam, then proceeded to lay in the sun for awhile before going home, after 7 pm of course so i can ride the trains for free.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
first hike
went hiking over the weekend, in the berner oberland about 1.5-2 hours away from here - that's where the eiger etc. is. started in kandersteg, climbed up over gemmipass and stayed at a mountain hut on the top there. it was a solid hike, about 1000 m or so elevation gain in maybe 10 k or so? the mountain hut was really good actually, more like a good hostel. lucky that the weather stayed nice until we got there, about an hour later the snow just came down. the hike there was really nice, passed through some alpine meadows and old glacier paths, a couple of lakes as well. the next morning we walked down the opposite side of the pass down into a small village called leukerbad, which is in the canton valais, the valley on the other side of these mountains. so i guess i crossed the alps on foot. the way down was quite steep, passed by some sheep that were apparently also crossing these mountains presumably in search of greener pastures.
since i have the train pass that lets me go on trains after 7 pm for free, i waited around from noon in this small town leuk. where i slept in a park like a vagrant. and then went to another town brig for a bit before taking the train home. it was quite a tiring weekend, but tremendously fun as well.
since i have the train pass that lets me go on trains after 7 pm for free, i waited around from noon in this small town leuk. where i slept in a park like a vagrant. and then went to another town brig for a bit before taking the train home. it was quite a tiring weekend, but tremendously fun as well.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
last two weekends- one close to home, one on the beach
can't believe that it's been ten days since i last put something up, this is gonna be a bit long i think.
last weekend we had a get-together on friday night, it was nice to have all the interns for this year in one place at one time. saturday was probably one of the strangest days of my life, it started with going to the europride parade in zurich in the afternoon, you know, just your typical saturday in zurich, complete with floats blasting music and all that. walked around zurich a bit as well, there's a lot of cool stuff in the city that's literally 15 minutes away but i haven't really explored yet. had some chocolate, it rained, but it was the nice warm rain that they have here, so i got soaked by the time i got home but it was great. that night, we continued back to zurich to find this particular dance club which in itself was a ridiculous process, ran for the train in baden, loitered in the train station in zurich, took the wrong train to wherever we were going. when we finally made it there, we promptly got "depeche mode-d"...so weird, everyone dressed in black, listening to some pretty depressing music, candles everywhere - so we took over the dance floor, just a really really strange situation. the way home was equivalently eventful, working out at the train station, on the train, took the train a few times before finally managing to get home. words don't do it justice right now, you'll just have to believe that it was one of the weirdest nights of my life. sunday was a schwimmbad day again, soccer, swimming, waterslide, volleyball, laying in the sun - just good times in general.
so thursday last week was a holiday from work, so of course i took wednesday and friday off and headed off to sardinia, an italian island in the mediterranean. the airport that has most of the cheap flights actually flies out of basel, which is about an hour train from here, meaning that somehow i woke up at 5 in the morning on wednesday. when we got to cagliari, we picked up the car rental that luke had set up, it was a very compact little fiat 500, but actually pretty spacious enough for 4 people and their stuff. every day that we were in sardinia it was at least +30 out and incredibly sunny - stores aren't open in the afternoon because people are taking a nap. the first thing to do was to get food and sunscreen, and get out of the city of cagliari where the airport was. found a grocery store and a park, enjoyed some bread and cheese and tomatoes, which is essentially the same meal that i would go on to have over the next few days as well, but delicious nonetheless. also, somewhat enjoyed the 90 eurocent carbonated one litre of wine that was in the grocery store as well - but not really because it was terrible. driving through the countryside, we made it to alghero on the west coast of the island where we were staying that night, but on the way hitting a couple beaches, just generally relaxing as much as possible. the drive there along the coast was incredible, just some beautiful scenery and also going through some of the small towns was neat as well.
the next day we spent the morning on a beach in alghero, pretty busy but we got there early and it was still very nice, there's not too much to complain about when there's sun, surf and sand aplenty. we then proceeded to make our way over the to east coast of the island, towards olbia, and to a small town where our hostel was on top of a hill, overlooking the beach and the sea. took awhile to find, so we just hung out on the beach again awhile - this one was particularly nice, white sand and blue water. spent the night watching the sun go down over the mountains next to the beach below, while listening to some of the great tunes of the 90s. the next morning we drove down the coast to a small coast town, cala gonone, probably one of the most beautiful places i have ever been to. we went snorkelling in a sea cave, but the boat ride out to the cave was worth the money in itself. no pictures to show it, but the cliffs on the sea were just incredible, the colour of the water was like nothing i've ever seen, the sun was shining, the sea was warm. the snorkelling itself was good, actually the first time i'd ever done it, caught on in 15 minutes or so, as soon as i stopped breathing out through my nose, just a habit that i had from swimming. there were lots of fish, starfish, anemones, cool stalactites and just in general a really awesome experience. the guides were really casual, basically ended up ditching the snorkelling gear after awhile and just jumping off the boat and swimming and laying in the sun. i love the smell of salt in the air, especially when you're on a small boat flying through the water. i'm pretty sure i'm going to try to get in to scuba diving now, another terribly expensive hobby i guess, but it would be a really cool thing to get started in i think. after the snorkelling, it was time for gelato, and an espresso for me as well. i love the coffee and the ice cream especially when it's +30 out. the roads in sardinia are all on the sides of mountains somehow, and would be a fun drive at some point in time. what i was really amazed by is how diverse the land is for being just an island - it looks like there are beaches, cliffs, mountains, forests, deserts, grassland - just incredible. the rest of the day, like most of the trip, was beach time, with pizza and beer for dinner. the sardinian beer was actually pretty good, but i'm pretty sure that it'll be impossible to ever find it again. last day, the main goal was to get back to the airport in cagliari in the south, but at the same time hitting every beach on the east coast on the way down. at one beach there was an ice cream truck, but in this case selling homemade gelato instead - definitely the best ice cream i've ever gotten out of a truck. getting back to cagliari, it was a bit of a mess trying to find the airport and to return the car again, but things worked out in the end. the flight back to basel was at 6:30 in the morning, so we decided to sleep at/around the airport to save the money on a hostel, which actually was a great decision. loitered around outside on the grass until about midnight, when it was still very warm, and then i basically slept on the floor of the airport which was perfectly comfortable as well. got home this morning, went home and had a shower to wash off all the sunscreen and salt everywhere, and then promptly went down to the river in baden to go lay in the sun and swim again. now, i am fairly tired, but i don't need to complain that i have relaxed too much in the past week.
last weekend we had a get-together on friday night, it was nice to have all the interns for this year in one place at one time. saturday was probably one of the strangest days of my life, it started with going to the europride parade in zurich in the afternoon, you know, just your typical saturday in zurich, complete with floats blasting music and all that. walked around zurich a bit as well, there's a lot of cool stuff in the city that's literally 15 minutes away but i haven't really explored yet. had some chocolate, it rained, but it was the nice warm rain that they have here, so i got soaked by the time i got home but it was great. that night, we continued back to zurich to find this particular dance club which in itself was a ridiculous process, ran for the train in baden, loitered in the train station in zurich, took the wrong train to wherever we were going. when we finally made it there, we promptly got "depeche mode-d"...so weird, everyone dressed in black, listening to some pretty depressing music, candles everywhere - so we took over the dance floor, just a really really strange situation. the way home was equivalently eventful, working out at the train station, on the train, took the train a few times before finally managing to get home. words don't do it justice right now, you'll just have to believe that it was one of the weirdest nights of my life. sunday was a schwimmbad day again, soccer, swimming, waterslide, volleyball, laying in the sun - just good times in general.
so thursday last week was a holiday from work, so of course i took wednesday and friday off and headed off to sardinia, an italian island in the mediterranean. the airport that has most of the cheap flights actually flies out of basel, which is about an hour train from here, meaning that somehow i woke up at 5 in the morning on wednesday. when we got to cagliari, we picked up the car rental that luke had set up, it was a very compact little fiat 500, but actually pretty spacious enough for 4 people and their stuff. every day that we were in sardinia it was at least +30 out and incredibly sunny - stores aren't open in the afternoon because people are taking a nap. the first thing to do was to get food and sunscreen, and get out of the city of cagliari where the airport was. found a grocery store and a park, enjoyed some bread and cheese and tomatoes, which is essentially the same meal that i would go on to have over the next few days as well, but delicious nonetheless. also, somewhat enjoyed the 90 eurocent carbonated one litre of wine that was in the grocery store as well - but not really because it was terrible. driving through the countryside, we made it to alghero on the west coast of the island where we were staying that night, but on the way hitting a couple beaches, just generally relaxing as much as possible. the drive there along the coast was incredible, just some beautiful scenery and also going through some of the small towns was neat as well.
the next day we spent the morning on a beach in alghero, pretty busy but we got there early and it was still very nice, there's not too much to complain about when there's sun, surf and sand aplenty. we then proceeded to make our way over the to east coast of the island, towards olbia, and to a small town where our hostel was on top of a hill, overlooking the beach and the sea. took awhile to find, so we just hung out on the beach again awhile - this one was particularly nice, white sand and blue water. spent the night watching the sun go down over the mountains next to the beach below, while listening to some of the great tunes of the 90s. the next morning we drove down the coast to a small coast town, cala gonone, probably one of the most beautiful places i have ever been to. we went snorkelling in a sea cave, but the boat ride out to the cave was worth the money in itself. no pictures to show it, but the cliffs on the sea were just incredible, the colour of the water was like nothing i've ever seen, the sun was shining, the sea was warm. the snorkelling itself was good, actually the first time i'd ever done it, caught on in 15 minutes or so, as soon as i stopped breathing out through my nose, just a habit that i had from swimming. there were lots of fish, starfish, anemones, cool stalactites and just in general a really awesome experience. the guides were really casual, basically ended up ditching the snorkelling gear after awhile and just jumping off the boat and swimming and laying in the sun. i love the smell of salt in the air, especially when you're on a small boat flying through the water. i'm pretty sure i'm going to try to get in to scuba diving now, another terribly expensive hobby i guess, but it would be a really cool thing to get started in i think. after the snorkelling, it was time for gelato, and an espresso for me as well. i love the coffee and the ice cream especially when it's +30 out. the roads in sardinia are all on the sides of mountains somehow, and would be a fun drive at some point in time. what i was really amazed by is how diverse the land is for being just an island - it looks like there are beaches, cliffs, mountains, forests, deserts, grassland - just incredible. the rest of the day, like most of the trip, was beach time, with pizza and beer for dinner. the sardinian beer was actually pretty good, but i'm pretty sure that it'll be impossible to ever find it again. last day, the main goal was to get back to the airport in cagliari in the south, but at the same time hitting every beach on the east coast on the way down. at one beach there was an ice cream truck, but in this case selling homemade gelato instead - definitely the best ice cream i've ever gotten out of a truck. getting back to cagliari, it was a bit of a mess trying to find the airport and to return the car again, but things worked out in the end. the flight back to basel was at 6:30 in the morning, so we decided to sleep at/around the airport to save the money on a hostel, which actually was a great decision. loitered around outside on the grass until about midnight, when it was still very warm, and then i basically slept on the floor of the airport which was perfectly comfortable as well. got home this morning, went home and had a shower to wash off all the sunscreen and salt everywhere, and then promptly went down to the river in baden to go lay in the sun and swim again. now, i am fairly tired, but i don't need to complain that i have relaxed too much in the past week.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
zurich vitaparkour
there's this wicked running/exercise trail here in baden, and i ran it for the first time today, and it's awesome. turns out that it's literally a minute up the street behind my house, and it's like a 30 minute run with a bunch of exercise stations on the way: rings, pull up bars, stretching, step-ups, etc. thought i'd just share that bright point in my day.
i drank 2 1.5 L water bottles at work today, that kept me busy for awhile.
this weekend i'm not planning to go anywhere special, just into zurich to explore the city, and go swimming on sunday probably. the weather is still really nice here, sunny but not overwhelmingly hot, it's pretty close to perfect.
i drank 2 1.5 L water bottles at work today, that kept me busy for awhile.
this weekend i'm not planning to go anywhere special, just into zurich to explore the city, and go swimming on sunday probably. the weather is still really nice here, sunny but not overwhelmingly hot, it's pretty close to perfect.
Monday, June 1, 2009
wine in france
after another week of work, so it is called anyway, i took a trip by train to the towns of strasbourg and colmar in the alsace region of france. by train, it took about 2 and a half hours or so to get to strasbourg, but it really was an enjoyable train ride there and back, it would be shorter if we had taken the TGV, train a grande vitesse, the very fast train. leaving on saturday morning and coming back in the early evening on monday, it was just beautiful weather, and the only time that it was overcast we were inside.
from the strasbourg train station, which itself was very cool, a giant glass and steel dome that was built to cover the outside of the existing old train station, went and dropped off stuff at the hostel, and went to go wander around the town. basically there is a giant island surrounded by a canal type thing, lots of old buildings, shops, restaurants, cobblestone streets, museums, churches and more all on it. the big notre dame cathedral is the main thing that people go to see i guess, the outside was certainly impressive, the "astronomical" clock inside was neat as well, climbed the stairs to the top, looked around and such. after the cathedral was some french coffee, and stumbled into this super cool store with awesome clothes and stuff, wish i had more money to have had bought some. there's this one cake/bread thing that they have in alsace, it's something like kugelhof, like a big upside down muffin with raisins and almonds and a big hole in it, but it was definitely tasty. it was really fun just wandering the streets and seeing what there is to see. there are canals and bridges all over the place, with lots of flowers everywhere too, it was a pretty town for sure...lots of tourists though, it was nice in the morning and at night when it quieted down some. stumbled upon a fete de jeux, aka game party, a bunch of games set up for kids to play in a courtyard, but definitely just took that over, there were some sweet games, in french of course but here is where the little bit of french language skills came in handy. i'm glad that i learned some french in school, and also that i remember quite a bit of it as well, it's a beautiful language and i'm going to try to learn more while i'm here...it sounds much better than german...
in one of the canals there were these people playing something like a cross between kayaking and water polo, it was cool really, basically water polo with kayaks and nets suspended several meters in the air, pretty ridiculous at first but then i kinda wanted to play. dinner was good, ate at table on the street, like everyone else does, except for nobody eats at 6, it's just way to early to start the night then, it's more like an apertif at 6, dinner at 8 or 9, then stay out all night - such is the life that i'd like to lead. alsace is supposedly known for it's white wine, riesling, pinot gris, some special ones like muscat as well, had some with dinner, it was very good.
the next morning we headed out to the modern art museum in strasbourg, which i was very pleasantly surprised with how it was. there was at first this really creepy "silences" exhibit with basically just really creepy and messed up stuff, but nonetheless interesting. next was this colours exhibit which was nice because it kinda gave a scientific explanation of colours and such, and then went through how they're interpreted and all that sort of thing, very cool actually. the contemporary art part of the museum i thought was great, although clearly i would say that a lot of "contemporary" art is funny because it's just straight up ridiculous, but there definitely is some really neat stuff that people do. the highlight of the museum for me was the statue of "the thinker", basically the really famous statue of the guy with his chin on his hand and sitting down and thinking, it' on the television and in popular culture and all that. also, this one artist gustave dore, who i had not heard about before, had a bunch of his paintings up in an exhibit, there was one that must have been at least 50x50 feet, just incredible how much detail was in it, just incredible. the rest of his paintings were also very nice. besides all of these exhibits, they had their permanent collection, you know, no big deal, just some picasso thrown in here and there. i'm really glad i went to this museum, until now i haven't seen anything like that before, and i'm looking forward to checking out some of the other great art museums in europe.
in the afternoon we took a short train to the town of colmar, about 50 minutes or so away from strasbourg. i really enjoyed this place, it was a sunday so most of the shops were closed but i really liked the small town atmosphere, it was quiet and it was cool to see some french people go about their everyday business. i love the old squares and the fountains and the people riding around on their scooters and motorcycles and bikes. wandered around a bit, found a beautiful rose garden, listened to some jazz on the street, and had supper, a tarte flambee - basically a really thin piece of dough with creme fraiche cheese and bacon on it, and of course the alsace wine again. also, went on the carousel that was there, made me feel like a child again.
train back to strasbourg, had a good sleep, went out in the morning to get some peaches, chocolate croissants, and coffee, one of the best breakfasts i've had in a while, i wish that cafes at home would have take out coffee as good as that. a little ways away from the train station there was the university campus, which itself was a very old and beautiful building, it's hard to believe that anybody actually goes to school there...i would love to do a semester abroad, anywhere besides calgary now, i think it'd be an amazing experience, it's definitely something i'll think about when i get back. behind some of the university buildings there was this big botanical garden, with just a ton of awesome stuff. a pond with lily pads and flowers, frogs, turtles, baby birds, olive trees, grapevines, bamboo, and definitely some canadian content with douglas firs and trees like that.
after a lot of walking the past few days, we just took the train back to basel, decided to walk around for a bit, went down to the rhine, a pretty big river in europe i guess, but after that i was pretty much done with walking and went home.
in other news, work and everyday life is good, i don't do too much at work, a lot of reading the globe and mail online, drink some terrible coffee from the machine, play with some excel worksheets once in awhile, go on wikipedia, it's all good stuff. but my boss is really cool, and such a good guy, i'm pretty happy with the whole situation really.
from the strasbourg train station, which itself was very cool, a giant glass and steel dome that was built to cover the outside of the existing old train station, went and dropped off stuff at the hostel, and went to go wander around the town. basically there is a giant island surrounded by a canal type thing, lots of old buildings, shops, restaurants, cobblestone streets, museums, churches and more all on it. the big notre dame cathedral is the main thing that people go to see i guess, the outside was certainly impressive, the "astronomical" clock inside was neat as well, climbed the stairs to the top, looked around and such. after the cathedral was some french coffee, and stumbled into this super cool store with awesome clothes and stuff, wish i had more money to have had bought some. there's this one cake/bread thing that they have in alsace, it's something like kugelhof, like a big upside down muffin with raisins and almonds and a big hole in it, but it was definitely tasty. it was really fun just wandering the streets and seeing what there is to see. there are canals and bridges all over the place, with lots of flowers everywhere too, it was a pretty town for sure...lots of tourists though, it was nice in the morning and at night when it quieted down some. stumbled upon a fete de jeux, aka game party, a bunch of games set up for kids to play in a courtyard, but definitely just took that over, there were some sweet games, in french of course but here is where the little bit of french language skills came in handy. i'm glad that i learned some french in school, and also that i remember quite a bit of it as well, it's a beautiful language and i'm going to try to learn more while i'm here...it sounds much better than german...
in one of the canals there were these people playing something like a cross between kayaking and water polo, it was cool really, basically water polo with kayaks and nets suspended several meters in the air, pretty ridiculous at first but then i kinda wanted to play. dinner was good, ate at table on the street, like everyone else does, except for nobody eats at 6, it's just way to early to start the night then, it's more like an apertif at 6, dinner at 8 or 9, then stay out all night - such is the life that i'd like to lead. alsace is supposedly known for it's white wine, riesling, pinot gris, some special ones like muscat as well, had some with dinner, it was very good.
the next morning we headed out to the modern art museum in strasbourg, which i was very pleasantly surprised with how it was. there was at first this really creepy "silences" exhibit with basically just really creepy and messed up stuff, but nonetheless interesting. next was this colours exhibit which was nice because it kinda gave a scientific explanation of colours and such, and then went through how they're interpreted and all that sort of thing, very cool actually. the contemporary art part of the museum i thought was great, although clearly i would say that a lot of "contemporary" art is funny because it's just straight up ridiculous, but there definitely is some really neat stuff that people do. the highlight of the museum for me was the statue of "the thinker", basically the really famous statue of the guy with his chin on his hand and sitting down and thinking, it' on the television and in popular culture and all that. also, this one artist gustave dore, who i had not heard about before, had a bunch of his paintings up in an exhibit, there was one that must have been at least 50x50 feet, just incredible how much detail was in it, just incredible. the rest of his paintings were also very nice. besides all of these exhibits, they had their permanent collection, you know, no big deal, just some picasso thrown in here and there. i'm really glad i went to this museum, until now i haven't seen anything like that before, and i'm looking forward to checking out some of the other great art museums in europe.
in the afternoon we took a short train to the town of colmar, about 50 minutes or so away from strasbourg. i really enjoyed this place, it was a sunday so most of the shops were closed but i really liked the small town atmosphere, it was quiet and it was cool to see some french people go about their everyday business. i love the old squares and the fountains and the people riding around on their scooters and motorcycles and bikes. wandered around a bit, found a beautiful rose garden, listened to some jazz on the street, and had supper, a tarte flambee - basically a really thin piece of dough with creme fraiche cheese and bacon on it, and of course the alsace wine again. also, went on the carousel that was there, made me feel like a child again.
train back to strasbourg, had a good sleep, went out in the morning to get some peaches, chocolate croissants, and coffee, one of the best breakfasts i've had in a while, i wish that cafes at home would have take out coffee as good as that. a little ways away from the train station there was the university campus, which itself was a very old and beautiful building, it's hard to believe that anybody actually goes to school there...i would love to do a semester abroad, anywhere besides calgary now, i think it'd be an amazing experience, it's definitely something i'll think about when i get back. behind some of the university buildings there was this big botanical garden, with just a ton of awesome stuff. a pond with lily pads and flowers, frogs, turtles, baby birds, olive trees, grapevines, bamboo, and definitely some canadian content with douglas firs and trees like that.
after a lot of walking the past few days, we just took the train back to basel, decided to walk around for a bit, went down to the rhine, a pretty big river in europe i guess, but after that i was pretty much done with walking and went home.
in other news, work and everyday life is good, i don't do too much at work, a lot of reading the globe and mail online, drink some terrible coffee from the machine, play with some excel worksheets once in awhile, go on wikipedia, it's all good stuff. but my boss is really cool, and such a good guy, i'm pretty happy with the whole situation really.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Of Gelato and Espresso
Took a 4 hour train on wednesday night after work to Milano...it was a terrible, terrible idea to bring cheese and meat and bread for dinner on the train...terrible. Got into Milan around 11 at night, stumbled around for an hour before we found the hostel. Got up the next morning and had my first real cappuccino, and it certaintly did not disappoint. Perhaps, there is not a better breakfast than a cappuccino and a warm chocolate pastry. The main goal for the day was to see the duomo or cathedral of milan, just huge and intricate and layered with stone spires. The walk through the city though, was enjoyable - italy is definitely not as clean as switzerland is though, there cars parked everywhere, it's loud and bustling, especially in milan. the cathedral was very impressive, also climbed to the top as well, and the view was certainly one to remember. of course, milan is the famous for the shopping and the fashion, so some window shopping was in order. if i had the money, i would surely have picked up some italian leather shoes, but alas, another time. the main shopping street, via buenos aires, was full of all those typical stores, all the dolce and gabbana and the like. also, there was soooo much fake stuff being sold on the streets, with the putting of the sunglasses on the cloth so that when the police come they pick up the whole thing and run. i think milan is one of those cities that sure, you'd like to visit sometime, but probably don't need more than a day there.
that evening we took the train to torino, about an hour and a half or so away for milan. supposedly the olympics were there in 2006, but in three days there in the middle of the city i found no evidence at all of them ever being there, which is weird since calgary still plays it up all the time. the train there was almost unbearable - i think i forgot to mention, every day i was in italy it was at least +30 C and incredibly humid, pretty much just too hot and i was sweating like crazy, although i guess that isn't too much to complain about. so the train ride was definitely one of the more uncomfortable sitations i've been in for a while, but nonetheless part of the experience. torino is much much more relaxed and laid back than milan, and probably more like what i had thought italy would be like. the buildings were amazing, the streets beautiful, it seemed like around every corner there was something new to look at. from the train station it was about a 2o minute walk down a main street to the hostel, which was incredibly situated on the top floor of a building on piazza san carlo, one of the bigger plazas in torino. that was definitely a good find on the internet. for dinner that night, we went out to a fairly nice restaurant and got some pizza, and it was absolutely delicious. i personally went for the buffalo mozzarella and tomato and was not disappointed. pretty hard to put into words, but i think it will be difficult to find anything similar to that outside of italy. the wine with dinner was also very good, and pretty cheap for something of similar quality at home. i could get used to this kind of dinner all the time. after dinner was a walk around torino, which at one time was the capital for the house of savoy, and so there is a massive palace there. then of course, came time for the gelato. i'm pretty sure between coffee and gelato i could survive for weeks.
the next morning was a trip to the cathedral of torino, where there is a museum that shows how the church had been originally three churches, a crypt, a graveyard, old roman houses - it's incredible to see and touch things that have been there for thousands of years. there was a very nice lady there who gave us a guided tour as well, which was appreciated. this particular church is important, because it is where the shroud of turin is kept, although you don't actually get to see it, there is a replica and such and you get to see the box that it's in. basically the king of savoy managed to acquire it through a series of events involving the crusades etc, and now it is in torino. walking on the streets after the church, there was a pretty big open air market with all sorts of great stalls, especially for someone like me who love food; olives, sun-dried tomatoes, bread, cheese, vegetables, it was just incredible. those are the kinds of places that i wish i could buy food in. for lunch we picked up some bread, cheese, proscuitto, wine and strawberries - it may have been one of the best lunches i've ever had. pretty cheap too, compared to switzerland anyways.
torino is on the Po river, so luke and i ventured down and had a beer by the river - on a +30 day, it was more appreciated than usual. later in the night there are a bunch of tents along the river that turn into bars/clubs and the whole place gets loud and busy. the rest of the time in torino, there was a really cool egyptian museum with a bunch of stuff, that again the royal family had collected and is now a museum. there were a lot of displays, and almost overwhelming because it's so hard to wrap your head around even just a few thousand years of history. also had the best kebab ever, with fresh made bread and actual doner meat.
the people are all always very well dressed, men in suits and shoes even in +30 weather, the women get dressed up and ride their bikes everywhere, i think it's true that they just love life and love living it, eating and drinking, staying out late, going for walks, cruising on motorbikes, i think that's what i remember the most of anyways. i am looking forward to travelling much more in italy, every day i was there i had coffee and gelato, and i think i miss it already. one last thing, torino is famous for something called gianduia, which is hazelnuts and chocolate.....so essentially this is the birthplace of nutella - so of course the gianduia gelato, with fresh hazelnuts in it was the greatest thing ever.
that evening we took the train to torino, about an hour and a half or so away for milan. supposedly the olympics were there in 2006, but in three days there in the middle of the city i found no evidence at all of them ever being there, which is weird since calgary still plays it up all the time. the train there was almost unbearable - i think i forgot to mention, every day i was in italy it was at least +30 C and incredibly humid, pretty much just too hot and i was sweating like crazy, although i guess that isn't too much to complain about. so the train ride was definitely one of the more uncomfortable sitations i've been in for a while, but nonetheless part of the experience. torino is much much more relaxed and laid back than milan, and probably more like what i had thought italy would be like. the buildings were amazing, the streets beautiful, it seemed like around every corner there was something new to look at. from the train station it was about a 2o minute walk down a main street to the hostel, which was incredibly situated on the top floor of a building on piazza san carlo, one of the bigger plazas in torino. that was definitely a good find on the internet. for dinner that night, we went out to a fairly nice restaurant and got some pizza, and it was absolutely delicious. i personally went for the buffalo mozzarella and tomato and was not disappointed. pretty hard to put into words, but i think it will be difficult to find anything similar to that outside of italy. the wine with dinner was also very good, and pretty cheap for something of similar quality at home. i could get used to this kind of dinner all the time. after dinner was a walk around torino, which at one time was the capital for the house of savoy, and so there is a massive palace there. then of course, came time for the gelato. i'm pretty sure between coffee and gelato i could survive for weeks.
the next morning was a trip to the cathedral of torino, where there is a museum that shows how the church had been originally three churches, a crypt, a graveyard, old roman houses - it's incredible to see and touch things that have been there for thousands of years. there was a very nice lady there who gave us a guided tour as well, which was appreciated. this particular church is important, because it is where the shroud of turin is kept, although you don't actually get to see it, there is a replica and such and you get to see the box that it's in. basically the king of savoy managed to acquire it through a series of events involving the crusades etc, and now it is in torino. walking on the streets after the church, there was a pretty big open air market with all sorts of great stalls, especially for someone like me who love food; olives, sun-dried tomatoes, bread, cheese, vegetables, it was just incredible. those are the kinds of places that i wish i could buy food in. for lunch we picked up some bread, cheese, proscuitto, wine and strawberries - it may have been one of the best lunches i've ever had. pretty cheap too, compared to switzerland anyways.
torino is on the Po river, so luke and i ventured down and had a beer by the river - on a +30 day, it was more appreciated than usual. later in the night there are a bunch of tents along the river that turn into bars/clubs and the whole place gets loud and busy. the rest of the time in torino, there was a really cool egyptian museum with a bunch of stuff, that again the royal family had collected and is now a museum. there were a lot of displays, and almost overwhelming because it's so hard to wrap your head around even just a few thousand years of history. also had the best kebab ever, with fresh made bread and actual doner meat.
the people are all always very well dressed, men in suits and shoes even in +30 weather, the women get dressed up and ride their bikes everywhere, i think it's true that they just love life and love living it, eating and drinking, staying out late, going for walks, cruising on motorbikes, i think that's what i remember the most of anyways. i am looking forward to travelling much more in italy, every day i was there i had coffee and gelato, and i think i miss it already. one last thing, torino is famous for something called gianduia, which is hazelnuts and chocolate.....so essentially this is the birthplace of nutella - so of course the gianduia gelato, with fresh hazelnuts in it was the greatest thing ever.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
canyoning and such
canyoning was really fun, i going to find something like that to do when i get home in the rockies. essentially they put you in a wetsuit and you walk down a river, jumping off waterfalls, slide down ropes etc. good times
i also loved interlaken, it's a swiss mountain village kinda like jasper or canmore or something like that, where the swiss alps are. the eiger is right there as well, i'm definitely going back there to do some hiking or camping or something like that. there were also lots of paragliders and skydiving and things of that nature to do there as well.
not too much else has been happening, just lots of walks around town, taking more pictures, which will be up soon hopefully. went out to the schwimmbad again today for some swimming and laying in the sun and volleyball - got really sunburned though, my face hurts and it kinda hurts to lift my arms...i will be using sunscreen from now on.
it's a national holiday on thursday this week, so i'm taking friday off and planning some sort of trip for the weekend, we'll see where i end up going...
i also loved interlaken, it's a swiss mountain village kinda like jasper or canmore or something like that, where the swiss alps are. the eiger is right there as well, i'm definitely going back there to do some hiking or camping or something like that. there were also lots of paragliders and skydiving and things of that nature to do there as well.
not too much else has been happening, just lots of walks around town, taking more pictures, which will be up soon hopefully. went out to the schwimmbad again today for some swimming and laying in the sun and volleyball - got really sunburned though, my face hurts and it kinda hurts to lift my arms...i will be using sunscreen from now on.
it's a national holiday on thursday this week, so i'm taking friday off and planning some sort of trip for the weekend, we'll see where i end up going...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
next few days
i'm kind of settling in a bit more now, i'll have been here for a week in the morning. just went out to get groceries, it was pretty good across the border in germany, 25 euros/35 swiss francs/40 cad for a full backpacking bag of food, a lot better than it is here in baden anyways. work is going well, i think i'll enjoy working on the project, it will definitely be a bit challenging but i'm up for some work. they have these 1.5 L water bottles at work instead of a water cooler, so i have been polishing those off like no tomorrow. it's pretty casual, you can where what you want, there lots of young people working there, it's like the U.N. - people from all over the world. all day i hear italian, french, german, english, russian, pretty much anything you can think of. but the work is just to pay the bills, what i'm really looking forward to is canyoning this weekend at interlaken. i've never gone before, but from my understanding canyoning is basically using any means necessary to get down a canyon i.e. rappelling, swimming, jumping off waterfalls, climbing. i'm a bit nervous but excited for sure. i'll try to keep updating more often but it seems like there's something to do after work everyday! time also seems to be short when you have a place to take care of, i.e. worrying about food, cleaning, garbage and recycling, etc.
anyhow i'm feeling much better now, need to get some more rest!
anyhow i'm feeling much better now, need to get some more rest!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
First Few Days
Arriving here on thursday morning slept for a bit and then went out to buy groceries - they're pretty expensive but not completely unreasonable, though i am looking forward to going to germany for food. friday, i went out and wandered around baden for essentially the whole day, did all my paperwork and opened a swiss bank account. that night we all went out to zurich, but getting home was just a mess. luke and i didn't have the right train tickets, then went and tried to get some from the machine, then missed the train by 10 seconds, then had to wait for another hour until 2 in the morning. at which point, when we got on the train, they checked our tickets and it turned out that we still didn't have the right ticket, but the lady let us off easy, probably cause we looked so sad and tired.
saturday, we all went out to the schwimmbad, which is a super cool park/pool place a 15 minute walk from the house. there are some big fields for lounging/playing sports, volleyball courts, a wave pool, a swimming pool and diving towers, and the best part, a metal waterslide. let's just say that there may or may not have been one or more waterslide accidents. after the swimming we played ultimate for awhile which got kinda intense.
after the schwimmbad we walked home, i decided to go through the forest - there's an awesome running trail that has stations every 500 meters or so where there is exercise equipment set up - i.e. chin up bars, box jumps etc. which i'm going to try in the next little while here. there are also so really cool old war bunkers hidden in the hills that are literally invisible from the air. on the way home though, it started raining pretty hard. the route that we took led to my friends' apartments, so i ended up walking for ten minutes home in just pouring rain...it was really nice though, i was soaked but it was nice and warm.
the next morning we took a train to kandersteg, past interlaken by the swiss alps, rented bikes and went for a bike ride. it was incredible, going through the mountain valleys, full of meadows and flowers, cows with big bells around their necks. villages where the bike path was the road, people hanging out having a sunday picnic...life should be like that. one thing that i have found so amazing, is that there are fountains everywhere, and the water you can drink. basically just a bunch of cool water fountains that you can fill up your water bottle in, it's such a simple idea but it's so incredible, there is nothing like that ever in canada.
after the bike ride we took the train back to berne, where we grabbed some food at the local coop in the train station. another thing, the train stations are pretty much the greatest things that exist, they're big and open, there's everything you could ever need in them - restaurants, cafes, shops, grocery stores on and on. had the typical backpacker dinner, bread, cheese and sketchy meat - but sitting on the corner of an old swiss street and eating that is better than any five star meal i think. walking around berne was really cool because that's the capital city, and the parliament building was just incredible. you can't help but think about how long that has been there. wandering around the city, we ended up by the river, and then on top of a big hill that had an incredible view of the city, as well as a very large chess set, which of course we had to play with. on the way home we missed our train transfer and ended up in basel, and then had to take the extra little while to get home. it was a really good day.
first day of work was quite good, all the people there are really helpful and everything, the job itself seems pretty neat actually, thermo and fluids and heat transfer stuff mostly which i think i'm pretty good at and i like. i am getting sick though, which sucks but was probably a byproduct of having such a good time on the weekend. i'm working in the power tower, whcih is just such a sweet name for a building. it's good times i'm working with bianca and luke, which is interesting because i've gone to school with them but work is such a different environment - the meetings are sure gonna be a good time! anyhow, i've gotta get some rest, i'm sick and tired, just made myself some delicious chicken soup and i'm feeling a bit better. i'm glad i can make myself things like that.
saturday, we all went out to the schwimmbad, which is a super cool park/pool place a 15 minute walk from the house. there are some big fields for lounging/playing sports, volleyball courts, a wave pool, a swimming pool and diving towers, and the best part, a metal waterslide. let's just say that there may or may not have been one or more waterslide accidents. after the swimming we played ultimate for awhile which got kinda intense.
after the schwimmbad we walked home, i decided to go through the forest - there's an awesome running trail that has stations every 500 meters or so where there is exercise equipment set up - i.e. chin up bars, box jumps etc. which i'm going to try in the next little while here. there are also so really cool old war bunkers hidden in the hills that are literally invisible from the air. on the way home though, it started raining pretty hard. the route that we took led to my friends' apartments, so i ended up walking for ten minutes home in just pouring rain...it was really nice though, i was soaked but it was nice and warm.
the next morning we took a train to kandersteg, past interlaken by the swiss alps, rented bikes and went for a bike ride. it was incredible, going through the mountain valleys, full of meadows and flowers, cows with big bells around their necks. villages where the bike path was the road, people hanging out having a sunday picnic...life should be like that. one thing that i have found so amazing, is that there are fountains everywhere, and the water you can drink. basically just a bunch of cool water fountains that you can fill up your water bottle in, it's such a simple idea but it's so incredible, there is nothing like that ever in canada.
after the bike ride we took the train back to berne, where we grabbed some food at the local coop in the train station. another thing, the train stations are pretty much the greatest things that exist, they're big and open, there's everything you could ever need in them - restaurants, cafes, shops, grocery stores on and on. had the typical backpacker dinner, bread, cheese and sketchy meat - but sitting on the corner of an old swiss street and eating that is better than any five star meal i think. walking around berne was really cool because that's the capital city, and the parliament building was just incredible. you can't help but think about how long that has been there. wandering around the city, we ended up by the river, and then on top of a big hill that had an incredible view of the city, as well as a very large chess set, which of course we had to play with. on the way home we missed our train transfer and ended up in basel, and then had to take the extra little while to get home. it was a really good day.
first day of work was quite good, all the people there are really helpful and everything, the job itself seems pretty neat actually, thermo and fluids and heat transfer stuff mostly which i think i'm pretty good at and i like. i am getting sick though, which sucks but was probably a byproduct of having such a good time on the weekend. i'm working in the power tower, whcih is just such a sweet name for a building. it's good times i'm working with bianca and luke, which is interesting because i've gone to school with them but work is such a different environment - the meetings are sure gonna be a good time! anyhow, i've gotta get some rest, i'm sick and tired, just made myself some delicious chicken soup and i'm feeling a bit better. i'm glad i can make myself things like that.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
I'm Here!!!
Just arrived here, the flight was terrible, running around 2 airports was tiring. I was also inordinately hungry for some reason. Also, probably never going to take an american airline again, they are just not good. One good thing though, managed to catch the sunrise over the atlantic, which was pretty awesome, sucks that i didn't get a window seat to snag a couple pictures.
my first impression here is that there are a lot of trains.
my first impression here is that there are a lot of trains.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The winds of change
Ahh I can feel the winds of change blowing through my life. I feel as though I am standing on the precipice between the young Bruce Duong and some mysterious future Bruce. Who is this man? What challenges will he face? While I journey to Switzerland I will seek truth and beauty. And if I cannot find either I shall construct a beautiful lie by which I can live, so that I may not be rattled by the traumas of this sometimes cruel world. Like a polyester pelt I feel real and contrived at once and wish to meld this juxtaposition into my new reality,
HERRRRRRRRRRREEEEE's BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE
<3 <3 <3 <3 ;-P lolzzzzz
HERRRRRRRRRRREEEEE's BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE
<3 <3 <3 <3 ;-P lolzzzzz
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