Re-living the Trip - Part 2: Cinque Terre

After Germany, we went hiking in Cinque Terre, on the west coast of northern Italy. It's a seriously amazing place on earth. If you get the chance to go, don't hesitate to take it.

Right now I'm feeling overly tired, so I'm not going to tell stories from those days (yet?). But check out the a few of the pics!

Last Peak Power

I'll have another trip-post shortly, but tonight I only have time for a little blog. Monday night was my last group training session of the off season. If you are looking for a place to train your group, I would definitely recommend Peak Power out of SAIT. Try and get Chad as your trainer. I enjoyed the whole program, but especially the weightlifting and technique.

The last session was fun but really hard. I ate something just before and regretted it. I also forgot shorts, and I REALLY regretted that. I started in compression shorts and Terri's sweats (yes, they were way too small), and eventually had to go to just compression shorts. Sorry team.

My favorite weightlifting exercise of the night were thrusters...and not just because the name is funny. At least I think this exercise was the thrusters. Hmm, I know I did thrusters....oh dear. Anyway, this exercise involved doing a squat on a bar with weight on either side, then bringing it up over your head. It brought together all of the weightlifting technique that we have been working on during the program. It was freakin' hard, but very rewarding. I was joking how I wanted a picture of me with the weight above my head for Facebook. I thought it would look pretty cool. Then someone (Jill, I think) pointed out that I really did NOT want a picture of me weightlifting in just my compression shorts. YIKES.

my eyes and heather's pipes

I will collaborate (as my roommate so ignorantly says) what Heather says about Italy being awesome, having nothing to say about the paga finals, and the concept of a beer named after cycling being pretty hilarious / stereotypically German.

I also want to thank her for posting that picture of us in Munich - and just let you all know that she was wearing sunglasses for a REASON, it was to prevent her tired eyes from making her look as psychotic / developmentally challenged as mine made ME look. That jetlag was a killer.

Finally, I want to ask you, Heather: why didn't you flex your bicep in that picture of your tattoo? Oh wait, you ARE flexing it? Oh. Sorry. My mistake... ;-)

Re-living the Trip - Part 1: Germany

We started the trip in Germany, visiting my friend Jayanti in Munich. I am still mildly obsessed with Germany, after going in 2007, so it was sweet to get to go back. (Photo credit: Jayanti. the one she's not it. Obvious credit: Hez).


When we first arrived, we were pretty jet lagged, and spent most of the time walking around the Englischer Garten about 100 feet at a time. After 100 feet, we'd sit for a while, before deciding to walk on....about 100 feet. zzzzz.

Jayanti made us dinner that night, and this time, we managed to make it to Pasing on the S-Bahn. (Instead of mistakenly taking a tram like I did in 2007. If it sounds stupid, Jeff did it too ;) ). Anyway, we had a beer and Jayanti's lovely food, and eventually collapsed in a heap.

Jayanti managed to get the day off the next day, so we could play in Munich. We walked around a lot (one of my favorite things to do while visiting cities), went for a traditional Germany breakfast and even hit up a beer garten. The weather was lovely, which rather helped. (Photo credit: Rookie. Naked statue credit: Germans).

The traditional German breakfast was hilarious and delicious. It was beer (an unfiltered kind with lots of nutrients), white sausage (check it out, floating in it's little pot, in the pic...surprisingly delicious) and pretzls. Beers for breakfast on vacation is a great idea. I got drunk. Actually, I think we all got a little drunk.

In the beergarten, Kristin and I split a radler, which was delicious. It's half beer and half lemonade. It was "the small one", but it seemed pretty giant to me. Jayanti explained the meaning of radler. It means "rider". Since it's half lemonade, it's the beer one could go for when they need their wits about them (i.e. playing sports or riding a bike). NOT drinking beer if you have something important to do is not an option. ;) (Beer genius credit: Germans).


We watched people surfing in the park in Munich. It's a little man-made wave, but it looked pretty cool. I liked the sign that says "surfing forbidden". (photo credit: Rookie).

Germany is supposed to be super gay-friendly, but this pic taken at the Viktualienmarkt suggests otherwise! ps. I had been the market once before, but couldn't remember it's name. I thought it was something like "virtual alien market". How embarrassing. Really it's Victorian Market in German...I think. (Photo credit: Rookie).

My Tattoo

Here is a picture of my new tattoo. I got it on my 30th birthday, and I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty stoked about it. The picture was more difficult than I envisioned, so it looks a little weird (my bicep looks enormous ;) ). Turns out your own left arm is a slightly awkward place to take a picture of (although I can think of much more awkward places.)

It's a little hard to explain my motivation in getting it (after all, I did it for me), but I will try.

• I wanted to get one when I was in my very early 20's but I thought it seemed drastic, and that I might change my mind. At 30, I still really wanted one. Plus, I'm not at all worried about permanently altering my body. This is something that (I think) used to concern me, pre-scars (I have large scars on my knee, shin, and neck). When I got those, are had far less of a choice.
• People have asked me if I will still want it when I'm 80. When I'm 80, I want to remember what it is like to be 30. I feel GREAT.
• I chose "ultimate" for a few reasons. First, the obvious: the sport has been crucial in shaping who I am, at 30. On top of that, it also has double meaning for me. It also will remind me to live life to it's fullest, to embrace a challenge, and most importantly, it will remind me of the type of person that I want to be.

Cutsie Dolly = Giant Bug

Unless your name is Heather Adams or Jenn Maund. In this case, cutsie dolly = cutsie dolly. I so don't want to know otherwise.

Cutsie Dolly = Spider

Unless your name is Jen Ross. In this case, cutsie dolly = cutsie dolly.

Cutsie Dolly = Snake

Unless your name is Lindsay Sill. In this case, cutsie dolly = cutsie dolly.

Thanks and Calgary

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Yes, it's true: I'm drastically older. 30. Egads. ;)


I'm back in Calgary, as of 4 pm today. Or is it 6 pm? (Toronto time: that's what it feels like). Or midnight? (Italy time: that's also a bit like what it feels like!).

F! I just wrote another few paragraphs and blogger ate it. Autosave my ass.

The same but shorter:

-more to come on the trip, especially pics.
-more to come on my birthday, plus pic of my new tattoo.
-On the plane today, I ordered tea, was told I couldn't have it until the turbulence ended. Smooth flying, they forgot, I asked again, got it, dumped it all on my lap (read: crotch). Ah, irony.

Venice

We are in Venice right now and having a blast. I am back to trying to do another blog on 2 minutes of internet time. Maybe I will have longer from Waterloo. If you have noticed that I skipped right over talking about the Paga final, you are not mistaken. That's all I have to say about that.

In the Paga Finals

We made the final of Paganello. It starts in a couple of hours. :)

Siena by Bike

Yesterday we day-tripped to Siena (from Florence) on bikes. It was super fun, scenic, a nice warm day, and just over 85 km. The second half was HILLY. I do mean HILLY. There was a lot of sweat involved. Also, the bikes that we rented were hybrid euro-cruisers (read: fuckin' heavy). It took us about 6 hrs of riding (Kristin is a mountain goat up the hills), giving us time to hang out for a few hours in Siena before taking the train back to Florence.

We have one more day in Florence (well, okay, half day, really) before moving on to Rimini. Our train leaves at 2. We're going to go drink coffee and wander around now. (Okay, just me for the coffee, but still ;) ).

Italy is awesome

and no, we havent been killed in an earthquake. inquires appreciated. 60 seconds of interweb left. going to be the smallest blogpost ever. in florence. :)

Munich

The trip has started, and we just spend some time hanging out in Munich with my friend Jayanti. Today was clearly a lot of fun, because it absolutely flew by. We went for traditional German breakfast, which consists of Weissbeir (spelling? big ass beers for breakfast), pretzls (I don't know what they are called in German) and I had weisswurst also. Weisswurst is a white sausage that comes floating, rather unappitizingly, in a big bowl of water. I'm pretty sure this because it's boiled, but I could be wrong. It was actually really yummy. There was also two types of mustard, a yellow mustard, and some sort of sweet local Bavarian mustard. I had some of each (I did have a pretzl and a half and 2 links of sausage to try it with). I liked both, but the sweet mustard was delicous.

After breakfast, we set off into Munich to wander around, slightly intoxicated. We went to an outdoor Market (Virtualienmarkt? That's not quite right, but close), watched the surfers (yes, there are surfers in Munich), and ended up going for more beer in the park in the afternoon. Actually, the second time we had Radler, or half beer half lemonade. It doesn't sound good, but it really is. I think I probably had Radler when I was in Germany in 2007, but I don't really remember. Jayanti was telling Kristin and I that Radler means rider (as in bike-rider). So Radler is the beer that you have if you need to ride a bike or play sports after. Not having a beer? Not an option. ;) I might have screwed up the translation, but that's the gyst.

I would include some pictures in the post, but I didn't bring the cable and the card-reader is not the right kind. No pictures for you. ;)

Tomorrow, it's on to Italy (we have another half day in Munich, or so). Auf Weidersehen.