Klosters And Caumasee

Carly and Michael invited me to come visit them in Klosters this weekend. Michael and I wanted to go for a dive on Saturday. The rest of the time we could enjoy a hike or some board games. Since it is a five hour train journey I decided to take Friday afternoon off for the trip. I left Geneva at 13:45 heading to Zurich with the train. Michael and Carly met me in Sargans, because I missed my connection in Zurich. Together we headed to Restaurant Balans in Malans for dinner. I had a great plate of Cordon-blue with some Rösti and a solid local lager. We picked up some needed groceries on the way to Klosters. Here I learned about a Nußbrot that Coop sells which is delicious. Turns out the Coop across the street from my apartment sells the same bread. We spent the evening chatting about Mouseguard, a role-playing based in a fantasy settings where mice hide cities and civilization from the other stronger animals of the forest. We are planning a session with some friends in Lausanne in two weeks. Then we played few games of Dominion, Michael and Carly pwned me, clearly I don't game enough these days. I really enjoyed the nights sleep away from the city noise of Geneva.

Caumasee

Saturday morning Michael and I headed to Chur to drop by the dive shop there to pick up some rental gear and see about getting a permit to drive to the lake. Unfortunately the shop had forgotten about the gear Michael requested, but after an hours of sorting through things I ended up with two 7L steel cylinders and 8kg of lead for my side-mount rig. The tall thin 7L cylinders felt very nice for the dive, much better than the 10 and 12L cylinders I've tried thus far. Though I am a bit of an air hog, so if I do buy some cylinders I'll probably settle for the 8L cylinders.

The dive water in the lake w
as beautiful glacial blue. We saw a few juvenile fish during our dive. Every rock and the entire ground was covered in an algae layer which supported a dusting of sand. There were some neat rock piles along the shore of the lake with lots of nooks and crannies to scout for signs of resident life.

After the dive we enjoyed a pick-nick by the lake taking in some warm sunshine. There were plenty of friendly hikers and bikers about that were curious about our dives, so we got to chit chat a bit as well. While the dive was not hugely exciting, it was a neat experience to see an environment similar in topology, yet completely alien to the diving in BC. Afterwards we dropped off the rentals at the dive shop (SCUBALINO). A very nice shop if you find yourself in the area looking to go diving.

Once we returned to Klosters we rinsed our gear. After we had a cold drink and some ice cream on the terrace at Michael and Carly's place. It was a gorgeous day outside so we enjoyed the view down the valley, warm sunshine, and good conversation. Later it started raining a little, so we moved inside and spend the evening creating mice characters for mouseguard: Carly made a naive country mouse, Michael a paranoid guard veteran, and my mouse a boisterous mouse-supremacist. Events the following week make me feel my cynical character parody was in bad taste [link].

Cavadürli

After a lazy morning breakfast we decided to use the beautiful weather to hike up to a place called Cavadürli from Carly and Micheal's place. From their house we took a neat path across some hay-fields to the river on the other side of the valley. The river was still brimming with water melting off the mountains. After crossing the river the trail started climbing up the side of the mountain. The wild fields were full of beautiful mountain flowers and we met some goats grazing by the path. After crossing underneath some train tacks - yes Swiss trains really go everywhere - we lost the path. An evil-eyed stare from a couple of local farmers had us turn about and search for the path elsewhere. Turns out we missed a turn just after the train tacks. Here the path leveled off taking us through some beautiful forest and past some nice mountain huts. A few mountain bikers were enjoying the downhill trails crossing our path as we started our descent back into the valley. We sat down for lunch before reaching the town and heading back to the house. I learned that in general berries growing close to the ground should not be eaten here: foxes tend to pee on them and their urine carries a very unpleasant bacteria (Leptospyrosis?). They do look nice though.

After the hike we played through an encounter of Mouseguard and I got whipped one more time at Dominion. Afterwards Michael dropped me off at the Klosters Dorf train station and I headed back to Geneva. I shared a few friendly beers with a couple of punkers returning from a concert and two friends of theirs returning from military service on the weekend. They recommended a concert in Davos in September. I made it back to Geneva before midnight and collapsed exhausted but happy into bed.

Dentelles de Montmirail

Trip to Provence

For the third long weekend in May (Pentecost) I joined Pawel, Dorotka, Katarzyna, and Gainluca in a climbing trip into the area of Avignon, Provence. We went to climb the Deltelles de Montmirail, specifically the Chaine de Gigondas.

We left Friday after work we took a break half way through the 4-hour drive to have some dinner. We shared the food we brought at a rest stop along the French highways. Some delicous salad was provided by Katarzyna, and Dorotka brought some delicious concoction where some zucchini pretended to be pasta.

After a bit more driving we made it to the Domain des Favards, a campground located in the middle of a vineyard. Since we had called ahead they left the gates open for us to enter even though it was midnight by the time we arrived. We set up our tents: Pawel and Dorotka braught their luxury accommodations and a beautiful light weight tent for Katarzyna. Gainluca and I shared his iglu.

Col du Cayron

We headed into the nearby town of Violes to find some food for breakfast and lunch. We found baguette and crossaints at a bakery, some good meats at a deli, and some nice cheese at a small store owned by an Italian from the same town as Gainluka.

Stocked up on foodstuffs we headed to the Roche de Ecole (?)
to get into the climbing mood. After a few climbs on that rockface we moved on to the Col du Cayron. The rocks here are a limestone, and sharp enough that it hurts. I tried one 6a here which started with some absolutely terrible footholds. I managed it in the end, with some patient belaying by Gainluka: and there you have it, I lead my first 6a outdoors (that translates to a 5.10 by North American standards [wiki]). The pride afterwards made the pain worth it!

After we finished our day of climbing we ventured off on a quest for food to throw on a barbecue. After asking some locals and driving about small French villages for about 30 minutes we found a store that was still open. There we purchased food for an evening feast as well as provisions for the next day. We finished the day with a fantastic BBQ at the campsite, enjoying gilled meats and veggies along with some delicious French wines.

Dentelles

These foothills to Mont Ventoux were formed in the Jurrasic period as a folded piece of limestone. Since then erosion has turned them into a sharp peak rising out of the lush countryside. There are climbing routes all around these rock formations, we visited the South face on Sunday and the North face on Monday.

The climbing on the Dentelles was much more pleasent than on the Col de Cayron, the rock not biting quite so hard. As a pleasant surprise the occasional handhold some thyme or lavender growing out of it producing a pleasant burst of fragrance to brighten up your climb. On our way back to Geneva we stopped to shop for some wine, and I bought my first box of wine. Ever. I don't regret the decision, I only hope that I can stop myself from consuming all of it before bringing a bottle or two with me to Canada as gifts.

Climbing At Finale Liguare

Thursday May 14 was a holiday at CERN starting the second long weekend in May. On Monday I took a late lunch and bumped into a colleague who I had met climbing a while before. Another friend of his was planning to go to Finale Liguare in Italy for a weekend of climbing. He was so kind to invite me along, and not knowing anything about it,  I decided that this sounded awesome and I wanted to join. We set off on our trip Thursday afternoon.

The Journey There

Kacper and Katarzyna picked me up at the CERN main entrance. From there we drove on past Chamonix. We stopped there at an outdoors shop called Au Vieux Camoeur, fantastic place I want to go back and leave more money with them. With some advice from Kacper and Katarzyna I picked up some equipment: two different length slings, three more locking beaners, a helmet, some chalk, and a thin jacket. Now fully equipped for some climbing we moved on towards Genova. At CERN there is almost a communal pool of Mount Blanc tunnel passes, and we used a pass we picked up after the lunch where I met Kacper to head into Italy. It takes about 15 minutes to traverse the 11.6km long tunnel that leads you though under 2km or more of rock.

Cross section of the Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) showing the profile of the tunnel. Credit to TMB.

After the long dark of Mont Blanc we continued though the beautiful Italian countryside. It quickly flattened out making the driving easier but the view less interesting. A few hours later we arrived in bohemian Genoa. Here we promptly went to the Genoa Brignole train station to meet Tomek, a friend who was waiting at Genoa Principe. After clearing up the confusion we met at an excellent little back by the main exit of the Principe train station where they serve beer out of nicely chilled glasses. We waited for another hour for the last climber, Wojciech, to join us.

With everyone assembled we headed to Finale Liguare and the San Martino camping ground, where we would stay for the next two nights. We arrived well after midnight, but while there was nobody working the gate was still open. We found a nice site and registered the next morning.

Great Climbing and Great Food

With dozens of crags and thousands of sport climbing routes there the area of Finale is an absolute dream for climbing. While there are many guidebooks for the area, the one I saw the most was the Finale 8.0 Sport Climbing Guidebook. Even with the guide and extra topos it could get confusing finding the climbs we were looking for since new routes are added constantly. Overall I found that the climbs ended up being hard for their ratings, especially those set in the 70's.

The first day we explored a crag over the Mediterranean. To access most of the routes there was a traverse, the start of which you can see in the picture to the left. A gorgeous climb with the waves crashing onto the rocks below. Since it was a windy day the traverse on the way back ended up being washed over by large breakers. We ended up climbing up a fair ways to make it over the wet slippery rock. We chose some nice easy going routes to get into the spirit. Most of the pitches were only ~20m long a good practice for me doing my first multi-pitch climbs.

In the mid afternoon we stopped at a bar in Finale where we were served some delicious pasta and enjoyed a beer in the hot Italian sun. After we moved on to explore some climbs in a Grotto. Unfortunately we were running out of daylight on the way to the grotto and decided to get a few climbs in at a crag on the way. I'm still not entirely comfortable with the European rating system, but it seems I can lead a class 5b and follow a low 6.

After the sun set we hiked out with headlamps and made for a pizzeria by the beach to pick up some food. Wojciech had the forethought to pick up some wine to drink when we came through town earlier so had a amazing dinner sitting on the promenade along the beach.

The second day we headed to a series of crags on the same mountain as the Grotto. There were plenty of both multi-pitches (up to about 150m) and tons of sport climbs. While I don't recall the name of the place, I was able to locate it on google maps:

We spent the day climbing and enjoying the sunshine. The view from the crags down the valley with the nearby highway winding down to the Mediterranean was beautiful. That evening we made our way back to Geneva. We dropped of Wojcieck in nearby Savona where he found a ride home via blablacar. We grabbed some pizzas, a bottle of wine, and ate by the beach. On the way back we stopped for gelato and then settled into the car for the long ride back to Geneva. Arrived home happy if tired around 1am. Spent my Sunday relaxing, working on photos, and starting to write blog entries.

A Visit To Amsterdam

May comes with not one, not two, but three long weekends at CERN. This strikes me as a great opportunity to explore. The first long weekend happened to be May 1-3, which I used to visit Amsterdam.

Friday

EasyJet took me there with only an hour delay on Friday afternoon. From the Amsterdam airport (Shipol) it was an easy 20 minute train ride to the Centraal, the main train station in Amsterdam.

At Centraal I met up with Lena, a Russian girl I met in Geneva a few months back. We  grabbed some two day travel tickets of the trams and headed towards the expo centre RAI. I had managed to find an apartment via AirB&B for the weekend out that way. We dropped off our bags and were pleasently surprised at the beautiful place we got to stay for the weekend:

Typical 30s apartment, close to RAI in Amsterdam

Welcome to Amsterdam! We are looking forward to rent out our apartment to you. It is build in the 'Amsterdamse school' style, architecture that is typical for the 30s and seen everywhere in the 'rivierenbuurt' (river district). View all listings in Amsterdam

Since it was a pleasant day out we walked over to the museum district and checked out the van Gogh museum. Lean had already bought a city guide with discounts and tickets for many of the attractions around Amsterdam, which meant we got to skip the line. Gogh thing too, since we only have about 1.5 hours to enjoy the place, not nearly enough to see it all. Lots of beautiful art by van Gogh, his friends and inspirations. Along exhibition you are told the sad story of this clearly tortured soul. Well worth the visit, if I return to Amsterdam I shall want to return to see the parts of the museum I missed as we ran out of time. The guards did not seem too entertained by our attempts to wander past all stealthy like to sneak a peek at the Potato Eaters after the closing call. After being sternly asked to leave we found a nice pub for dinner and enjoyed some of the local Heineken. As you may expect it tastes different from a tap in Amsterdam than out of a can in Canada.

Saturday

On Saturday I woke somewhat early and took a wonder around the apartments neighbourhood. A quite affair with some nice coffee bars, bakeries, and so on. Removed from the tourist overrun down-town this was a pleasant way to see what it must feel like to live in Amsterdam. Picked up some bread, cheese and meats for breakfast. The grocer I stopped by even made fresh OJ right in front of you to take along. During breakfast we made plans for the day: visit the science museum, the Anne Frank house, and the red light district in the evening. The Anne Frank house was closest so we headed there first, the massive line discouraged us from queuing right away. Rewarded us with a nice tour of the Joordan neighbourhood. I really enjoyed the place and made a note of returning here on Sunday evening. We also found ourselves some bicycles. With our new means of locomotion we headed for the Nemo science centre.

Science Center NEMO

I am generally a big fan of science and natural history museums: I loved the Canadian Science Museum in Ottawa and the Science Museum in London. Though in both I noted that while the exhibits were nice it would be great to have some interactive displays to allow for experimentation. The Science Center NEMO had lots of that, in fact where it wasn't gift of coffee shop it was interactive learning displayed: a great place for families and kids with lots, but the lack of some more exhibitions on local scientific accomplishments was disappointing for me. I did really enjoy the science of love corner though (third floor on the left). It was dedicated in equal parts to explaining animal reproduction and human sexuality with some education about relationships and dealing with emotions to boot. Ten minutes in that exhibit were more informative than my entire sex ed course in high school.

After having our fill of the science centre we took our leave to tour the town. On the way out I spotted a holographic postcard that reminded me of Bruiser, Karen's get betta fish. So I left with something to do in Joordan on Sunday afternoon and a postcard richer.

Central Amsterdam

The beautiful city centre is overrun with tourists. there are many inviting looking bars and cafes, ton's of shops, and plenty of beautiful architecture.  It was beautiful first cycling about a bit, and once the crowds got to thick moving through the city on foot. Eventually we found a nice cafe that serves us pancakes and beers. Here we relaxed a while until we felt ready to once again brave the line at the Anne Frank house. Our hopes that it would be shorter with it being dinner time and the closing time of the museum coming up shortly were dashed as we arrived to see a line snaking it's way through the adjacent city square. So we formulated a plan: one of us hold the spot in line while the other goes exploring. This exploration netted a comic book shop, the tulip and the cheese museum.

After two hours of standing in line we were finally at the doors of the museum and one of the last groups to be allowed in. It was a harrowing experience seeing first hand the house in which the moving story of Anne Frank unfolded. Since it had been many years since I read her diary I on;t had a vague memory of her story. Seeing the museum brought back a lot of the unpleasant side of German history I recall too well from being a teenager. It bring close to heart one of the many personal tragedies that unfold in the horror that is war. Hopefully we are able to learn from our mistakes.

The Red Light District

Lena had been to here the night before but I felt my trip to Amsterdam would not be complete without seeing this part of town. This warren of a party town has everything you would expect of a neighbourhood dedicated to the baser pleasures of our existence: bars that will happily seel you drugs and alcohol, working girls vying for your attention from behind their red (and sometimes purple) light windows, and of course vast crowds of people here to enjoy a good time. About as many bachelor parties seem to come here as you may expect. We wondered the party palace making our way to the museum of prostitution. If you find yourself in Amsterdam visit this museum. For me it was an extremely interesting and educational experience, learning about the prostitutes that work in the city. Their life experience being so vastly different from mine, it was really a great way to expand the mind. I think my favourite exhibit there was a booth where you could sit down in the same place a prostitute would sit to attract customers. The entire "window" was a looping movie of an average night of passer-bys. A great way to make you think about how strong these women and men have to be. We finished off the evening with a visit to one of the many bars in the district and had a drink and a smoke.

Sunday

Since Lena was leaving early in the afternoon so we chose to visit the Rembrandt House for Sunday morning after grabbing a comfortable breakfast.

Rembrandt House

As the name implies the museum is situated in Rembrandt's former home. While some of his art is on display here, most of it is the story of his life as well as in introspective into life in the 17th century. After traversing up the house through the various rooms you arrive at the top floor where you can work on some fine art yourself. There is only one group session and they start at specific times three times a day it seems. Would have been interesting to join but unfortunately the timing didn't work out.

Rijksmuseum

After the Lean and I said our goodbyes I made my way to the Rijksmuseum. Because I had picked up a cold on the flight over she had lent me a scarf that we promptly forgot about. An excuse to meet for another European excursion!

The Rijksmuseum is organized into three floors, each dedicated to a set of centuries starting with the 17th going to modern times. It houses many of the masterpieces produced by Dutch artists, including van Gogh and Rembrandt. It also illustrates the history of Willam of Orange and the birth of the Netherlands as a nation. There are rich displays about the mercantile culture so prominent throughout the history of Amsterdam and the Netherlands, particularly during the imperial age. Many fantastic artefacts are on display either acquired from around the world, or made in celebration of the opulent wealth gathered by Dutch merchants of the time. There was also a special exhibition on Rembrandt hosted at the museum while I was visiting.

The Way Home

I still had a few hours in Amsterdam before my flight, so I ambled on over to Joordan and found myself a nice bar. As a walked in a woman was looking at me tapping the seat next to her, and entertaining coincidence as she was inviting a friend to sit down next to her, but my appearance had caught her attention. So I met a group of friendly Dutch folks. After a short exchange of jokes and stories over beers they departed and I found myself a place to sit by the shelf of board games, next to the comfy chair occupied by the bar's cat. There I sampled a few beers, had a fantastic burger, and wrote the postcard to Karen. After chatting with a few more folks that came and left around me I paid my bill and made for the airport. A very happy and content traveller.

Airports Are Fine, Waiting There Isn't

More airports should have free wireless that works as well as the on in the Vancouver airport. Both Halifax and Tronoto were disappointing. On other news I wish I didn't have to sit around the airport waiting for my flight but could rather be on my way home.