Wednesday, Jun 26:
4 days after the Star Course, my first workout back was called "Circuit of Pain" from Team Spearhead. I was glad that it didn't involve plantarflexion, since my feet were still recovering. It felt good to move again, though.
7x [10 air squats, 10 OH presses, 10 ruck to toes leg levers]
5x [10 ruck rows, 15 ruck swings, 10 Russian twists with a 8# med ball]
3x [10 ruck OH lunges, 10 ruck OH situps, 10 ruck curls, 10 chest presses]
1x [20 skull crushers, 30 4-ct flutter kicks]
Despite the name, it wasn't too terrible. Rucked 0.5 mi to the gym, and 1.5 mi afterwards, going at 20 min/mi pace.
Friday, Jun 28:
A little core+mobility workout, focusing on glutes. 2 miles of rucking afterwards, at 19:00 pace.
That was a good workout before the plane ride to Zurich.
BERN
Day 1
Met my friend in Bern. Toured the old city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site because it's Switzerland, so its medieval buildings survived the world wars.
We went up the Berner Munster for great views. In some cities, going up its tallest building isn't super special, if its a city that ends up looking like many other cities. This was unique, though, because of the roofs, the shape of the streets on the peninsula, and the bluish grey Aare river looping around the peninsula. You could see the Alps in the distance, too. On this trip, I was most looking forward to hiking or running in the Alps.
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be on a bell tower when it chimes?
We floated down for about a kilometer. The river is long, and there are a couple of spots that you can't safely go past (dams and such). Locals know about it, but it's probably not super obvious to visitors. There are many spots along the water with railings and steps for people to jump in and out, though. We got off at a natural pool that was fed by the river. There's a little cafe there, where we had salad.
Walked 6.9 mi.
Day 2
Went on a morning run along the Aare, with the intention of doing another swim. We were good with any distance... I was feeling pretty fresh, and was good with anything up to 20K, so that became the plan. The route was on the dirt canal trail. 75% of it was shaded. It was pretty warm, so I remember that at the 5K mark, I was thinking that I would've been satisfied turning around then. I knew I wouldn't be able to go fast, because my body was recovering from Star Course, but I knew that I could at least go for a long time.
We continued on, and saw some cool things, like people swimming, goats, rented gardens, a covered bridge, and the train above us running parallel to the river.
The most amazing part was a long tunnel. The surrounding glacier water made it feel almost cold in there, even in the middle of the hot summer. It would've been awesome if the tunnel went on for miles. It felt so good.
We got back and recovered with cool drinks by the natural pool. 11.8 mi in 2:02:28, 10:22 average, even with the stops for pictures and stuff.
My friend prepared some Swiss specialties for me during my visit... local cheese, local honey, bread, sausages, and his pizza, salad, and lentil specialties. I also stocked up on some local beers to build up my cap collection.
11.8 mi run and another 5.4 miles walked.
VENICE
I planned to go to Venice the day before my flight out to Europe. I was originally considering Milan, but it didn't look very interesting, so I started thinking about Venice. I was looking into a place to stay, and train tickets, and I DMed my friend who had gone there for summer... it was mid-conversation that I realized that I had been looking up Florence the whole time because the name was stuck in my mind for some reason. No wonder the map didn't have the canals that I expected. That would've been a big surprise. I got some great tips on what to do, and I went out to B&N after work to pick up a travel guide.
Venice worked out well, because the weather in Bern looked rainy M-W, and my Swiss friend might've needed to work on those days. I've been to Rome, Pisa, Assisi, and Florence before, but I hadn't been to Venice, and I've always wanted to go.
Day 1
The train ride was about 6 hours, with 2 stops to change trains in Brig and Milan. I got a taste of the views of the mountains on the way there. It was so pleasant to just sit out at the train station and look at the mountain in Brig... I could've done that all day and been happy.
Once at Venice, I took a vaporetto down the Grand Canal, while listening to Rick Steeve's free audio tour. It took a while to get the ticket. I think I could've used a machine with a shorter line instead of waiting for the cashier in the longer line... next time. It was tricky following the audio tour, since the boat was packed, and I was on one side. You could stop and start it as needed, but there was so much to take in, like visual overload, so I wasn't always paying enough attention to keep up. It was a good rapid-fire intro to the city, though, for the bits that I caught, and it brought me down to San Marco Square and closer to where my rental room would be.
At San Marco Square, I looked around for a while, and then went to my rental room. It was too late to do St. Mark's Basilica or Doge's Palace, but I did go up the Campanile (bell tower) for some great views of the city. Venice is another city where it's worth going up to see the views.
Italian food is supposed to be really good. I heard that the food in Venice is geared towards tourists, though. I didn't eat anything fancy while I was there.
My US friend recommended walking around Venice at night, when the day-tripping crowds were gone. It was really nice. The city feels safe, so it was nice walking around the narrow alleys and seeing St. Mark's Square again at night. It was high tide, so the square was flooded in parts, which is normal for them.
I wasn't tired, so I kept walking after that, all the way to nearly one end of Venice. Maybe it's the jet lag. It was maybe 1am by the time I got back to my room.
9.4 mi walking.
Day 2
I wanted to try to hit as many sites as I could that day, so I got up early. I started with some geocaching, and then I meandered down to see the Punta della Dogana and the Basilica di Santa Maria dlla Salute. The morning is another great time to walk around the city, since the hoards of tourists haven't arrived yet.
Then, I doubled back over to the Gallerie dell'Accademia to see Da Vinci's Vetruvian Man, which was on display for only 10 more days (another tip from my US friend).
I went to St. Mark's Basilica, next. They don't allow pictures inside, but imagine a bunch of gold-colored mosaics. St. Mark's is a unique mish-mash of East and West, and it's colorful, with materials acquired from lands that they came across during trade and conquests.
My friend recommended going to the museum at the top, which offered some nice views of the square and of the pillaged horses.
For lunch, I got 4 scoops of Gelato at a place in Rialto called Suco that my Swiss friend recommended.
Next, onto Doge's Palace. There are many meeting rooms there, for different governmental bodies. The palace is also connected to a prison, via the Bridge of Sighs.
After that, I went to the Correr Museum, which is included in the ticket for Doge's Palace. It was "eh"... if you have nothing else to do, walk through it. But don't go out of your way for it.
8.2 miles walked.
Day 3
Walked through Rialto again, this time for more than just Gelato. There's a produce market and a fish market there. I also tried pizza, and went to a grocery store.
I didn't do an 80 Euro gondola ride, but I did do a 2 Euro traghetto ride to simply cross the river. That was another tip from my friend. Gondoliers are licensed, and each month, they are required to work a few days at the traghetto stops. There are only 4 bridges that cross the main canal, so the traghettos help people get across at other spots.
To finish off the visit, a couple geocaches on my way back to the train station.
8.3 miles of walking.
MORE SWITZERLAND
Day 3 (of Switzerland) - Jungfrau
My Swiss friend recommended hiking in a valley below the famous mountains of Jungfrau, Eiger, and Monch, since that would allow you to actually see the mountains, as opposed to being on them and not being able to enjoy the view of them.
We started in Lauterbrunnen, and instead of using the gondola to go up to the flat trail near the ridge, we hiked up.
There are a few different ways you can go... there were more trails that I expected, so we went up even higher, where the views were even better, based on a recommendation from a website.
We ran into a friendly cat who walked with us for a while.
We jogged back downhill on the switchbacks. Even with backpacks on, it was nice to get the feeling of running in the mountains.
We were doing a loop back to Lauterbrunnen, and our return journey was in the valley, so it was nice getting a different kind of view on the way back.
We had been keeping up a decent pace, because thunderstorms were forecasted for the afternoon. It all worked perfectly, because it just started sprinkling as we got to the train station.
13.2 miles, 256 floors of elevation gain.
Day 4 - Matterhorn
My friend had to work, so I took the train to Zermatt by myself, to hike near Matterhorn. There are a number of trail networks extending from Zermatt. I decided to try the 5 Lakes Trail, which took you by 5 lakes, each with a view of Matterhorn. It starts at the top of a gondola ride, but who needs gondolas, when you can hike up?
I went left to right, which was good, because the first two lakes were below expectations. The third was ok. The fourth and fifth were the best, albeit the most crowded.
Unlike the Jungfrau hike, which had different views to see at each turn and at each angle, the hike here just had one focal point - the Matterhorn. So most of my pictures are of the Matterhorn. There aren't many other mountains around it. Jungfrau is the highest peak in Switzerland, but the Matterhorn is the most iconic, because of its shape and its form in the Toberlone chocolates.
While I had taken my time going out, taking pictures, stopping to eat, and enjoying the views, I was ready to hustle home on the way back. I wasn't pressed for time, but it was a ways back. It was a steep uphill in the firs tquarter, and mostly flat but a little uphill the second quarter, so the way back involved a lot of downhill.
Back at Zermatt, I saw that the town was getting ready for a marathon the next day! No way could I run it. My feet were tired. But I did some souvenir shopping before I went back to Bern. The town is interesting. It's a wildly popular ski town, so it feels like almost all of the buildings are chalets. The main street feels like a ski village, with shops and places to eat. Really cute.
16.9 miles, 290 floors of elevation gain.
Day 5 - Creux du Van
The weather was sunny all day yesterday, but the weekend would be iffy. We looked at the forecasts for different parts of Switzerland, and picked the French side, because it seemed to be the safest from thunderstorms. We chose Creux du Van, which was a giant curved cliff.
We got about a third of the way through, with thunder and lightening unexpectedly coming through. The forecast hadn't expected this. On our way up the final climb to the top of the cliff, we decided to play it safe and go back.
We ran back, and when we got all the way down, we came across a big group of hikers setting back out. The thunder and lightning had stopped. So we turned around and went back.
While on the cliff, we kept hearing music, which was kind of unexpected. Towards the other end of the cliff, we found two people playing alpine horns. So Swiss!!!
We headed down the cliff. When we were at the bottom, another band of storms started coming in, so we ran back to the train station. I'm glad we weren't still at the top when it hit.
14.8 miles, also 256 floors of elevation gain, same as 2 days ago, by chance!
Back in Bern, my friend made a must-try dish: Raclette. You toast cheese, and then put it on potatoes and eat it with pickled sides. It's rich, but good on cold days.
Day 6 - Zurich
This day was supposed to have the worst weather, so I took advantage of the morning to do some geocaching in Bern. My friend was good at it!
To take advantage of my last day there, I decided to spend the rest of day in Zurich. I went to Lucerne 19 years ago, but this was my first time in Zurich. Even the "old city" there is much more modern-looking than Bern.
I went to the Swiss National Museum first. It had a nice section walking through centuries of Swiss history. It was a nice way to ground myself in the history of the place that I had been visiting all week. Cantons, mercenaries, Protestants vs. Catholics, tourism in the Alps, Red Cross... that's what I remember the most.
Zurich was especially hoppin' this weekend, because the Zurich festival was in town. It happens only once every three years. However, it's mostly a street fair with stands of ethnic foods from other countries, and alcohol, and some carnival games and rides. That part was like what you would find at any generic festival in any city around the world.
Back in Bern, one last loop around the city to say goodbye...
It was time to say goodbye the next morning...
Until next time...
