Best Laid Plans.

December was all about great plans but for one reason or another most of them fell through. Doing things, getting out of my house, seeing people this is what I wanted to do this month. It is very easy to sit around and not do much when you aren't working, I have many tour director friends that can back me up on this.

I had big plans to go to LA to visit KH, who had just moved out to the west coast and was moving into her own place. We were both excited about it, we hadn't been able to hangout since the beginning of July. The weather was worrying me a bit but I figured I would be fine with my trusty Subaru. First however, I had to run up to my sister's to drop some new clothes for the baby and spend some time with them before I was gone for a 2 weeks. As I drove up there, it started snowing, but usually it doesn't last very long and rarely do they get much snow in December. The next morning we woke up to over a foot of snow and still falling. It was going to be very difficult to get out of there and once on the road the conditions were going to be awful. So I postponed the trip until February, I later discovered that the Grapevine was closed due to snow. Good decision.

The following week, Carrie, the girls and I were supposed to travel to Reno to visit our aunt and uncle for a few days. Unfortunately, again, the weather was threatening and it was decided that to keep certain men in our family from worrying themselves sick, we postponed this trip also. This time the weather would not have been and issue but it turned out that my family in Reno had a medical situation that would have made our stay inconvenient.

Finally, this last weekend was supposed to be full of festivities and I ended up with a cold. Saturday was our Davis/Folsom family dinner, which had been on the calender for months but instead of risking infecting the kids and the future mom, I decided to stay home and get myself healthy before Christmas. The following day was the twins birthday, which I missed last year while in Zurich, however, since the house would be full of kids, I again decided the best gift I could give them would be keeping my germs to myself.

I did do many great things this month; my first Sharks game with Michelle, playing in the snow with my nieces, reliving some of the good times of Zurich with the Watson's, cutting down my first Christmas tree with MW, the fantastic Christmas party at the DePaoli's, and getting my running endurance up to 28 minutes, among other events. January is all about Thailand, that better not get disrupted.

Thanks for reading.

Flashback: Prague

The final destination on my six week trip was Prague, a city that I had heard so much about but had yet to travel. We knew it was going to be cold, temps were predicted for the teens and twenties for the weekend we were there. I was worried it would alter my feelings for the city. Though I am sure if I had visited in spring time my feelings toward Prague would have been stronger, it didn't take long to fall in love and catapult this gem to #2 all time city. If the weather had been better Paris may have felt some heat for it's #1 spot but as of now the city of light remains firmly in first place. Our apartment was in the heart of the Josefov, or Jewish Ghetto, less then 5 minutes from the heart of the Old Town and amid many good little restaurants. This turned out to be a bigger benefit then usual for us. Generally, the W's and I prefer to wander about and luck upon a small restaurant, that more often then not would have great food and the perfect atmosphere. However, with such cold weather, when we left the apartment for dinner we wanted to know exactly where we were going and take the shortest route. During the day we did explore and definitely liked what we saw. The city is way ahead of Budapest in recovering from the Communist years, the buildings are well restored, services such as trams and and buses are full speed ahead and the tourist infrastructure is in place. We did our best during the day to wander the streets, visiting whatever struck us as interesting, persevering despite the weather. We spent much of the time in the heart of Prague, between the Old Town, Josefov and Mala strana, so we were never too far from home and a chance to thaw out.

Our first destination was the unusually crowded Charles Bridge and after crossing we found a great little cafe. The shop had tea and specialty coffee drinks, we enjoyed it so much we returned a couple of days later. We visited the Alphonse Mucha museum, he is one of the most famous Czech artists and MW is a huge fan. It was a wonderful little museum and I gained a new appreciation of the artist. One of his very famous works is in St. Vitus Catherdral in Prague Castle. The window was beautiful, full of color and his Art Nouveau style made it stand out from the standard religious stained glass window. We spent a few more hours exploring the castle complex, one of the largest in the world. The 10th century Basilica of St. George was a beautiful contrast to the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral and just as impressive due to it's age. Of course, we are always on a mission for good drinking so we made sure to visit some of the local brew pubs and enjoy some true pils. I enjoyed the Czech beer we taste much more then the beer from our Germany trip. We also tried the local mulled wine while we explored the beautiful old streets and did some shopping. We ventured out to see Wenceslaus Square, which is the main shopping area of the town center. It was filled with chain stores for all wallets but nothing you can't find in any other big city. The view to the National Museum was very nice though. Near there we did find a place with great Czech beer and food where we took shelter for a few hours.

Though we did much more, the trip was mostly about discovering a beautiful city. I can't wait to get back and visit when 3 layers of clothes aren't required.

Thanks for reading.

To see the photos from this city, visit my Flickr Prague set.

Postponed

JMA's first snow and not sure

she likes it.

CEA's snow angel CMA

I was very excited to head to LA and visit my marvelous tent mate from this year's Suntrek training. KH and I spent 3 weeks sharing a tent and were the only women in a group of 11 trainees but still came out of it great friends. She moved to the west coast after the end of our tour season and now has her own sublet. I was hoping to help her get settled in the new place. However, Mother Nature had other ideas. Yesterday, I swung up to Foresthill to see the nieces before heading to LA today and while sleeping last night 14 inches of snow fell. Of course, I knew that a storm was scheduled to come through but we rarely ever have cold, snowy weather in December, that happens in January or February. I figured the meteorologists were going to be as accurate as usual. So I waited through the morning hoping the snow plow would come by and the restriction of 4WD with chains would be lifted. It was eventually but the weather all the way to southern California was going to be ugly and I preferred to be safe then sorry. So here I remain, in Foresthill, and if I didn't know better I might think that CMA had something to do with the weather. She kept saying how sorry she was that I couldn't go to visit my friend and then would snuggle up a little closer to me with a big smile on her face.

Thanks for reading.

The Running Thing

The faithful shoes taking a well deserved rest.

I started running again for the millionth time. I often take up running for exercise and then give it up because of sore knees or lack of motivation. This time I have good motivation. MW started the Couch to 5K program and I thought this might be just what I needed to get moving again. Not only would I have a slow build-up that would guard against knee pain, hopefully, and keep me from getting discouraged. Also, MW and I would keep each other on track. So far the program is working great and my stamina is better then I thought, I even did a 5K early on in the training. I will get done with the program just before I leave for Thailand and though I won't run a 5K organized run right then, I plan to do one upon my return and then start working towards a 10K. Another plus of running over biking is that it is a lot more portable on tour. Of course, then I just need to find time to run during those 12 hour days.

Thanks for reading.

Back on the Bike

...of course it may not last long since the rain is due to arrive any day but it had to be done. For some reason I have avoided my beautiful two wheeled living room decoration since early spring. It has sat under the stair collecting dust and mocking me while I sit on the couch and watch reruns. To avoid the guilt, I have done many things: drove tourist around the U.S., gone to Foresthill to be with the nieces, spent time in the Bay Area adventuring with friends and taken up running. So after spending the last few days thinking about what a waste of time my last month and half has been, at least while at my house, I decided I needed to start with more physical activity. I have been running but that is only 3 days a week and the beaches of Thailand are looming. So today I pumped up the tires, put on the spandex and headed out into the California sunshine. The sun wasn't as warm as it appeared but I was ready to go. It was a good ride even though technology let me down. First, I realized that my speedometer wasn't working, which I would have remembered if it hadn't been 9 months since my last ride. Second, my new toy, a heart rate monitor that I bought for running, is impossible to use while riding a bike. I should have listened to the reviews that MW read to me but I was so excited to find a heart rate monitor at Costco right when I decided I wanted one. I will be testing Costco's return policy soon. What did work for me was the one thing that is always consistent when I ride...the unbounded thinking that usually results in clarity on a topic that I wasn't concerned about. Today was no different. I also remembered how much I love to ride so watch out my lovely black and silver companion, I am back in the game. If the rain doesn't ruin my new found motivation.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I do not have memory loss, I realize that I have casually ignored the last nine months. I will do my best to update the blog before I head out on my next adventure.

Short Update

The switch to the new job this summer has been a great success. I have traveled throughout California, northern Arizona and southern Utah. There are times when I miss my friends and the adventures in Alaska but the benefits, both personal and professional, have been worth it. Click here to see a bunch of photos from the summer. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

Much Maligned Milan

So many people asked us why we wanted to go to Milan. Most say that it is just a big city that doesn't have much character, others say only go if you are interested in fashion. MW and I decided to go because...we could. Milan a was a mere 4 hours or so from Zurich and honestly we both needed some Italian food. Potatoes, gravy's and beer was getting very old, I needed pasta, sauce and wine. The early morning train from Zurich to Milan provided me with my first real views of the Alps on this trip and we couldn't have known that the beautiful snow covered scenery would take us all the way to Milan. Our first stop upon arrival was a restaurant recommended by PDP, so into the metro we went, emerging into 3 feet of wet snow and rain. Not a good combination. We easily found the restaurant though and were seated in the mostly empty dining room. The food was good and we were happy to relax and beat the lunch cutoff time since it was almost 2pm. We both had pasta but MW was the smart one and got a dish with the homemade pasta as opposed to me going for the sauce that sounded the best. No matter, the food and wine were still good. From lunch we headed out to see the heart of Milan, the piazza at the Duomo. The Christmas tree was still standing, at least for another 24 hours, and there was an exhibit on the Beatles in the piazza but it certainly didn't detract from the glory of the Duomo. For the rest of the day, MW and I did what we do best and wandered even though the wandering wasn't easy. Snow was piled up in the cutters and on top of the cars but it was sloushy due to the warming weather and the rain. After checking into our hotel, Hotel Ariosto, we headed back out to find some of the famous free food. Many Milan bars have free snacks during happy hour, we intended to make a meal of this but we never found anything that wonderful and we were visiting Milan for the food after all. Back near our hotel we found what we were looking for but you never would have known from the outside. We just happened to stop in front of a very unobvious restaurant that from what we could tell was empty. However, the proprietor was standing in the entryway and opened the door, we could tell then that this would be good. The restaurant was almost full and it seemed that everyone in there was a local, as the owner walked around and talked to each table. We tried about 4 different dishes that were all phenomenal and we left there truly happy.

The next day we packed up and headed to the train station to lock

up our luggage. We noticed that the earlier version of the train we would take later in the day was cancelled. We hoped that was not going to impact our trip later on. We headed back out to visit the

La Scala, the amazing theater that Milan is famous for. It was very

beautiful and truly impressive on the inside. From there we headed over to see the inside of the Duomo. The Duomo is an amazing church, giant in size and with the spires and ornamentation, it feels so much more gothic then any other church I have seen. It was also a great way.

to stay out of the rain for a bit. That was the end of our short time in Milan, but it was well worth the trip.

However, we didn't go straight back to Zurich, we made an afternoon stop over in Lake Como. Lake Como is a quaint little town that was pretty deserted the day we were there. We wandered about, enjoying the view of the lake, the hillside homes and the small shops. We found a small

local place to have a late lunch and continued the wandering. As night fell we headed back uphill to the train station to head home. We grabbed a quick snack and headed out to wait for the train.

The platform was empty and there was no information on the

arrival sign. We waited quite a while, almost an half hour before any information was put

on the sign. Finally, the train arrived, we settled in for our 3.5 hour trip to Zurich. As we pulled into the Lugano station there is an announcement saying that we are going to have to change trains. The tricky part was that it was said first in Italian, then German, then French and when they finally announced in English, everyone was jabbering away and MW and I couldn't hear the information. Of course, we had put together what was said using our knowledge of the first 3 languages, however, with something this important we wanted to be sure. Fortunately one of the train attendents took a special interest in us and was sure to inform us of what we were going to have to do, which was make 4 more train changes. The trip in the end only took about an hour longer then what had been schduled but it certainly was more exciting then a straight shot into Zurich.

Next: The final adventure - Prague.

Thanks for Reading.