Blog Updates

Ok, so I know I'm very behind on my blog. I have a few posts lined up to finish, but I don't think I'll have time in the next while to get them all done. I'm finishing work and leaving for Croatia and Greece this wednesday. I'm travelling for a month, and then back in Calgary on June 29. Sometime after that I'll try and catch up completely.

Here's a partial list of what you can look forward too

Scotland - done!
Istanbul - done!
Belgium - done!
Lausanne/Geneva - done!
Ponte Brolla - done!
Cinque Terre

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Also, one quick update:

White Trash Party updated link to fireworks video

Cinque Terre

This post is long overdue, but I am finally armed with all the time, pics and enthusiasm necessary to write it! However, I am not armed with a memory awesome enough to remember all the details, so I will just try my best.

Cinque Terre! It was the first trip for many of the new praktikants, and Adrienn and I were eager to teach them the tricks of the trade. One of these included how to underbook accomidation, thus becoming cheaper for everyone! Of course, that means that there has to be a bunch of bed sharing...but who doesn't love spooning! Haha....

Adrienn, Sean, Tammy and I arrived on wednesday evening as the first wave. We got settled into our tiny 2-person room (4 people sharing 2 single beds....eep!) and went out for the first of many awesome dinners. Later on that evening Evan and his mom arrived... by sheer coincidence they were staying in the same place as us, but on the other side where the higher class rooms were. Aka, they each got their own bed, haha.

On Thursday the 5 of us went on a hike in the higher ground away from the coast. We were in forest most of the time, but occasionly got a nice glimps of the water. It was a farily strenuous hike that took most of the day. The final stretch was trekking down some ruggard ground that got pretty sketchy at times. We made it though, and took the train back to Monterosso. The only fiasco was the mint slush I decided to try....ew.





View looking back towards Monterosso













I think we're trying to end up down there...












Taking a snack break: Evan's mom, Evan, Adrienn, Sean and Tammy














"Are you sure this is a path?" (It was)












Adrienn, me and Evan (and two random people) relax at the end of the hike










I guess I should explain a but about Cinque Terre. It is a stretch of 5 towns (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) along the northish west coast of Italy. We were staying in Monterosso, the northern most town (and one of the larger ones). It is a great region for hiking, beaching, awesome eating and gelato! Also, there was a lemon festival the weekend before, so there was plenty of awesome lemons around (lemon gelato....mmmm!)



Thursday evening the rest of the praktikant clan arrived at the train station where Adrienn and I met them. The group consisted of: Brandon, Paul, Mike, Andy, Paul, Darren, Taryn, Brian Cox, Krispen, Brian Boldt and Louise. We escourted them back to the apartment and checked them in (a tricky manuver since a bunch of people had to hide while the management was showing us the room, haha). They got a pretty sweet full apartment with a kitchen and everything. By the end of the weekend it was basically a beach...complete with sand and water that leaked from the sink, hehe.




The apartment.... near the end of the weekend I think










We searched around for a place to eat where the was room for all of us (memories of Prague came flooding back...), and eventually found somewhere good by the water. I got pesto gnocci, yum! Apparently pesto comes from that region, so I made the right call :)

We met up with Evan, bought some wine and hit the beach for some serious chillaxing. This was basically our activity every night in Cinque Terre, it was fun just talking and joking around. We also got some jackpot frisbee going a few times, that was a bit of an adventure.





Louise, me, Brandon, Adrienn, Darren and Mike having some wine on the beach












Evan, Andy and Brian Cox enjoying the beach at night










Friday was the day for the big group hike through all 5 towns. This is the most popular hike in Cinque Terre, and varies in difficulty. We set out in a big group, and even managed to stay together most of the time. At least there is only one path, so worst case we could meet up when we reached each town. It was a beautiful walk, and we stopped for gelato, snacks and swimming along the way in all the towns :)





Excited about sun protection














Dramatic cliffs... check out that beautiful water


















One last view of Monterosso before we set forwards












"Look at THAT!"


















Me, Krispen, Brandon, Brian Boldt on the hike














Walking past some terraces


















A lemon tree!
















Darren, Adrienn and I rock a bridge
















Lathering on some more sunscreen, haha
















Me lovin the awesome view















Adrienn and me, with the town of Vernazza in the background













Stopped for some beaching in Vernazza













Darren, on the way to Corniglia, which is high up from the water













Pat, Krispen, Mike, Adrienn, Evan, Darren and Brian Cox waiting for the group at Corniglia










Group pic in Corniglia (blurry, too bad)

Brandon, Mike, Andy, Brian Boldt, Evan
Adrienn, me, Louise
















Mmmmmm, I love gelato!















Manarola! So cool looking














Scandelous picture from above post-swimming













Walking back from swimming in Manarola












The home stretch to Riomaggiore












Brandon capturing the view














Searching for a reasturant in Riomaggiore















We ended in Riomaggorie and had another amazing dinner. Then we took the train back, cleaned up, grabbed some wine and hit the beach for some more fun times (hmm, this sounds familiar). After awhile it got chilly, so we went back the big apartment and hung out there.



Adrienn, Krispin, Darren, me, Mike and Paul enjoying dinner in Riomaggiore















Brian Cox, Pat, Louise, Brian Boldt and Taryn at dinner












Darren devouring some calamari...look at it's tentacles!













Krispin, Brandon and Mike waiting for the train home










Saturday some of the more ambitious people went on a day trip to Pisa. The rest of us lazy bums hit the beach for a day of relaxing in the sun. It was nice to have a chill day to check out the town a bit more, and get my daily foccacia, pizza and gelato fix, mmmmmm!





The lovely beach in Monterosso










That night we went out to dinner at a place reccomended by Evan and his mom. Some of us (myself included) just got standard yummy meals, but a couple tables went for the seafood feast. Basically, they bring out this big urn and upend it into a giant dish that has been placed on the table. Mussles, squid and various other sea creatures some splashing out. The waiter gives the urn a bit of a shake, and an entire octupus slides out next, as though it had been born from this clay pot. Everyone is amazed, but it seems it's not over....it sounds like something is stuck in side. The waiter uses his pro waiter skillz and gives the urn a violent shake and out comes the remaining dinner item, a whole lobster. I watched this in amazement from one table over, just happy that I don't have to partake in the devouring of the dish of creatures (I am not quite that ambitious yet) . The seafood feast is designed for 2 people, but two groups of 3 found it was quite enough food for them.





Paul, Darren and Adrienn about to chow down on some sea creatures












Brian Boldt, Louise and Mike prepare to tackle their freakish dinner








After the giant meal there was only one thing to to....get wine and go to the beach! We sat there for awhile, and then decided to walk up the big hill dividing different parts of the town. There is a big graveyard at the top, which was pretty creepy. What's even cooler though, is that on the walk up you are surrounded by lightning bugs! Honestly, it was one of the coolest parts of the weekend for me...having little points of light floating by in the darkness (as long as they don't land on me!). We were high enough up that we could only hear faint noises from the town below, that was all illuminated in light, pretty cool atmosphere.




Beach party!















Monterosso down below














Oh ya, that night was also Andy's birthday, so we presented him with a gift of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (he loves the stuff).





Happy birthday Andy!











The next day we had a few hours to kill before our train ride home. It was filled with some final gelato, picture taking, souviner buying. And of course a game of human chess on the giant board near the water. We all also each bought a pizza for the train ride....haha.






Adrienn and her lemon














For me and a few others, the 8 hour train ride was mostly filled with card game after card game. I taught a bunch of them how to play kaiser and got a nice fix that I had been missing in my life, haha.

And that was the trip! It was cool to get a chance to hang out with some of the new praktikants, and their first-trip excitement was totally contagious. I was also happy to have a chance to enjoy all the things I love about Italy (mainly, the food) one last time. AND, Adrienn and I got a nice base tan for Croatia/Greece!

Ponte Brolla

On Saturday a group of us went to Ponte Brolla (near Locarno, in the Italian region of Switzerland) to swim and cliff jump (guess which one of the two I was doing, haha). We all took the train down early in the morning and then spent the afternoon walking over rocks near the river and swimming. The water was freeeeezing... I didn't spend that much time in the water. Unfortunatly the weather wasn't great either, so only a few people ended up swimming.





Ponte Brolla














Vance, after a mud fiasco

















Me rocking out on the rocks (oh ya...)


















Our group clambers down the rocks



















Checking out the area a bit












Tiger face that has been painted into the rocks












The main highlight of the trip was watching some guys that we didn't know dive off the cliffs into the river. They were doing flips and twists of cliffs as high as 19m, it was nuts! We found out later that they were professional divers though. One guy showed Shane and Devon how to climb up to the 12m cliff, and they jumped off that. They were contenplating the 19m, but after some scary stories involving water in not-so-nice places decided against it.







Shane and Devon getting ready to huck the 10m (easy stuff)

















Other dudes diving off the 19m as we watch in awe below














It started to rain, so most of us went back to Locarno. Adrienn, Louise and I walked around and had gelato and I bought a swiss army knife (finally!) and some other souvineers. After a near train-meeting-time fiasco, we all took the train back home. The only casualty that day was Mike's camera, which got lost on a train. I feel your pain Mike, I feel your pain... I don't know if I have mentioned this already, but my camera (yup, the one I bought in Jan!) got lost during a night in Zurich a few weeks ago. I'm making-do with sharing pics with other people for now, since I seem to be having bad luck with them I probably won't buy another for the rest of the year.




Me and Louise having some gelato













Lake Locarno

Lausanne and Geneva weekend

Finally the time has come to visit Geneva! I was getting worried that I would run out of weekends before I made it to one of Switzerland's most famous cities. Since one really only needs one day in Geneva, we decided to spend saturday in Lausanne. I'd already been there, but I wanted to see the Olympics Museum, and we made plans to meet up with Charles (old praktikant from Luxembourg), who goes to uni there!

The group was me, Adrienn, Lindsey, Richard, Travis, Evan, and Evan's friend Travis (it was a double Travis trip!!!) Darren joined in at the last minute, which was cool. I only realized that he was coming when we all got off the train in Lausanne, haha.



Group pic in Lausanne
back: Darren, (Baden) Travis, Richard, Evan, (visiting) Travis
front: Lindsey, me, Adrienn









We arrived in Lausanne mid-afternoon. The trip had gotten off to a late start, since most of us were out late in Zurich the night before. Evan, Travis (non-Baden Travis) and I had attended the Thrice concert, it was awesome! The venue was pretty small but there was still a decent crowd getting pretty into the music. Afterwards a whole bunch more praktikants showed up at the club, and we had a bit of a mosh pit going to the rock-style music that was playing. It was lots of fun, and we caught the morning train back to Baden to catch a few zzz's before Lausanne.

After checking into our (awesome) hostel and buying food, we walked down to the lake and the Olympics Museum. There they had exhibits about all the various sports and cities involved in both the summer and winter games. We watched a couple films, and there was a weird artsy section devoted to the good and bad aspects associated with competition. It was a really cool museum, very much worth going to.




Sometimes you have to just stop and smell the flowers














Adrienn and Lake Geneva














Olympic record high jump....Linds, me and Adrienn can't even touch it!
















Weird brain synapsesque room with headphones and randomness.











Fencing stuff! This is for you Alex :)
















TV's on the roof, suuuure














After a nice cooked hostel dinner we went to a bar to meet Charles. He brought lots of his friends, and it was awesome partying with them and catching up with Charles. After the bar we went to a "nearby" club. It was a fun place and we stayed there dancing awhile before returning to the hostel.







Adrienn and I at the club









The only picture that Charles made it in to that night. Captures the party atmosphere I guess, haha.










The next morning was pretty uneventful (unless you count showering), and we slowly got ready and headed to Geneva. It was a beautiful sunny day (yay for weather predictions being wrong!) so we had a nice walk through the park to the Red Cross Museum. On the way we passed the United Nations buildings, but decided not to go inside. The museum calmed our silly moods with some intense stories about the history of the Red Cross.



Travis, Linds, Richard, me and Darren being excited about the park













Flags of all participating countries in front of the UN building... do you see Canada?












Red Cross and Crecent flags

















By then we were ready for some relaxing in the sun, so we picking a nice spot by the lake in a park and chilled out. I slept and did some drawing, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon. We had time to take a walk along the lake and see the fountain and cathedral before catching the train back to Baden.




Relaxing in the sun














Travis soaking up some rays by Lake Geneva













Other Travis checking out the Geneva fountain













Adrienn, me and Richard walking through the streets of Geneva

New Praktikants and Beer Gardens

New Calgarian praktikants are already starting to arrive!!! 3 new Kehl guys arrived on the weekend: Paul, Dieter and Brandon. They are already into the Baden lifestyle, and things at Kehl are working out well, though a bit crowded (Henry and Bernard are back in Calgary already...so at least it's not SUPER crowded....bye guys!!!).

In addition to the new praktikants, Olivier (old praktikant from Montreal) is visiting Baden for the week! It was great to see him again, and last night we got together for a jam session...Evan and Olivier played some awesome stuff as usual, while Pat and I tried to keep up.

Also visiting are 2 of Adrienn's friends from Calgary: Neil and Matt, so we had a huge crowd of people partying that night!

Last Wednesday after an awesome soccer game we all went out to the beer gardens for the first time this year! The weather was great, and everybody showed up. After last call we moved the party over to Pickwicks (which included some fountaining), and then to the Berg for the afterparty. I'd say it was a sucessful night of showing the new praktikants how to party in Baden :) Here's some pics, courtesy of me, Vance, Adrienn and Neil:



Party time!














Warren, Lindsey, Victor (and others) at the beer gardens













Richard and new praktikats: Pat, Darren, Brandon, and Paul












Travis welcomes Olivier back to Baden












Antonio and Adrienn













Andre, Torsten, Holgar, Alain and Jenny at the beer gardens














Adrienn's friends, Neil and Matt....aren't the darling?












Richard, Dieter (new Kehl praktikant), Dan, Nick, Kevin and Tommy having some beer.












Tommy, Rich, Naveen and Vance... not sure who took this one (wasn't me!), but I wonder if they ordered the 5-litre beer?











Neil pulls out the guns... Adrienn is amused












Evan and Travis jousting with some random poles on the way to Pickwicks, haha













Victor goes into the fountain!
Sometime around now Vance's glasses get mangled... he made his choice










Olivier get's his long-overdue fountain toss (we resisted the urge to throw him in when he left in December)

















Neil also went in, for somer reason, haha. Pulls a Devon/Kevin camera move though... I'm pretty sure it still works (freshwater Linds, get it right next time!)















Afterparty at the Berg












Nicholas, Travis and Dan, either excited or scared, lol













Matt, Adrienn, Dieter and Darren














Krispin, Richard, Paul, me, Vance and Pat packed into the tiny Berg hallway












Apples are fun!












Brandon with Matt, who has already learned how to be Swiss!!!

Belguim road trip

For the May 1 long weekend, Adrienn, Lindsey and I decided to do a girls road trip to Luxembourg and Belguim. Our goals were war memorials, museums and churches. Haha, ya right...or goals were Belgiun beer, waffles, chocolate, and mussels.

The trip started out semi-smoothly with getting lost leaving Zurich and a few other places on the way to Luxembourg. Luckily, we had a road atlas and two sets of printed directions, so we were able to get back on track every time. None of us was in a rush to get anywhere, so it worked out well and the driving wasn't very stressful.

We hadn't booked anything for friday night, so we looked for a place to renegade camp near Luxembourg. After a sketchy graveyard encounter, we finally found a forested area off a side road that was pretty out of the way. It was an alright sleep, though we had all forgotten how far north Luxembourg was from Switzerland and were all cold. Also, the tent was on a slant, so we kept sliding to the bottom of the tent, haha. Oh well, at least it was free :)





Our renegade camp spot










We drove into Luxembourg City and walked around looking at sights. It is a very beautiful place, with a big wall surrounding a nice little valley. We walked along the top of the valley and in the passages within the walls.





Luxembourg City













Adrienn and Lindsey in the passages


















Lindsey and I walking along the top of the valley













Me, Adrienn and Lindsey in Luxembourg















Dramatic sky over the city of Luxembourg










Next Adrienn took the wheel and we drove to Bruges, a pretty little city in Belguim, without much incident. We found our hostel with ease (no renegade camping this night, haha), which was nice despite the sketchy balcony and/or fire escape and penitentiary-like showers.

It was a very lonely planetesque night: first we ate at a nice resturant reccomended by the book, and then went to t Brugs Beertje, a beer house with a wide selection of Belguin beer. It had a similar vibe to Bottlescrew Bill's, including an extensive menu showing which region each beer was from. We each tried a few kinds, and then moved on to another bar reccomended by the Lonely Planet. It was alright, though, too loud for talking so we just had one drink and headed home.





Road trippin!
















Adreinn balanced precariously on our balcony
















Nice snset in Bruges













Me and Linds by the canal












Me and Linds trying out some yummy Belguin beer at dinner













Adreinn, shortly before she accidentally inhaled cajan pepper from her dinner








On sunday we walked around Bruges, which is a nice little town. We saw all the standard sights and churches, and spent a good amout of time looking for the ideal place to get Belguin waffles! It was totally worth the search, they were amazing....mmmm.......

We saw windmills on our map, and wanted to check them out so we did a drive-by sighting on the way out of town (yay for cars!). Hooray, i have seen a real windmill now! They were cool.





Lindsey and Adrienn in Bruges













The city of Bruges













Adreinn checking out the city












Me and Adreinn getting our D&D on













Watching a woman make lace













Adreinn, me and Linds in Bruges












Really cool pic from Bruges













Eating Belgiun Waffles!













Belguin waffles.... mmm.....














Drive-by sighting of a windmill











We decided to stop by the town of Gent on our way to Brussles. It was a good idea, we were able to drive right into town (yay again for cars!), check out a few things and head out within a couple hours. Gent is a nice little town (I guess like most smaller cities in Belgium, lol)...not much else to say about it :)




The city of Gent

















Me and Linds posing in front of the mobil-waffle truck. Oh, and a church or something














Linds and Adrienn doing a silly pose














Belguin beer!












We drove to Brussles next, and decided to find a hostel to stay at since we didn't want to camp in the cold. The first place we tried was full, but they directed us to another hostel that was really nice.

Sunday night we went out in Brussels to have mussels and other seafood. I ordered a seafood casserole, which ended up being a plate full of sea creatures in sauce. It took all my bravery, and Adreinn's coaching (and wine) to get through my meal, it was really yummy though. We got to know our waiter pretty well, and he ended up inviting us out with his cowokers to party that night. Oh the joy of an all girls trip, haha. We went out to a cool little bar where I tried a cherry beer and we all danced, it was really fun.

The next day we saw a couple sights in Brussels (that we had seen the night before we realized) and then started the journey home. On the way out of the city we did another drive-by sighting of the Atomium that was much cooler than I expected.




The Atomium in Brussels














"Pose for a picture Jacqui"
"But I'm driving!"









The drive home went well, though at one point we were taking a construction detour and ended up going through all sorts of small towns and back roads... not really ideal. It was a good road trip overall, nice and relazed. Belguim is a beautiful country and it was nice to see some of the scenery, and enjoy the quality eating and drinking!





The drive home