Jen and Nick's Adventures

Vienna, Austria

Cruising around Vienna

Vienna was the chosen reunion destination of Natasha, Jen and I. We caught the train from Thun via Zurich and Natasha caught three flights that took her half way round Europe. We caught up with her in and around horse-drawn carriages, beautiful middle age gothic churches and cafes on cobble stoned streets. One highlight must have been the St Stevens church with its stained glass windows and tall ceilings. We sat in a pew and had a good laugh about a few different things. And yes, as you can imagine, we tried to quieten Natasha’s laugh down as we were in solemn surroundings. Another was definitely the Vienna Schnitzel that we shared. The jumbo size was good for two but it was tender, juicy and well grilled. So much so that we didn’t need any condiments. Any and all schnitzel enthusiast will tell you it is the true sign of a well grilled schnitzel. For those going to Vienna, don’t get fooled by those men dressed in Mozart costumes. They’re only ticket sellers, not the actual performer. However if you ask us nicely, we can direct you to the wine garden that Mozart used to frequent. He was a white wine kind of guy apparently. The Manner wafer biscuits are awesome. You’ll look like a real local walking round with a camera around your neck chomping on those. Probably the funniest thing we did was to cram ourselves into an old black and white passport photo booth. The chair wasn’t made with three adults in mind.

Biggest and best Schnitzel ever

St. Stephen's Cathedral at night

at the Parliament building

Museum Quarter

Stresa, Italy

We’ve had a lot of rain in Switzerland since we arrived. Not exactly what we expected since last year when we visited we had nothing but sunshine and warm temps. Thankfully, we have Eurail pass and in just 2 shorts hours from Thun by train we were in sunny and warm Italy! We took our iSUPs with us for a paddle day trip to Stresa, Italy. We had seen Stresa from the train when we came back from Venice, located right on Lake Maggiore, it looked beautiful and a great place paddle. There are 3 islands off the coast that you can take a ferry to or for us, paddle to and so we spent the day exploring the islands, it was absolutely gorgeous! We were back in Thun by 8:00, definitely beat sitting inside waiting for the rain to stop! Check out the video on You Tube too here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF_VTIuv2Ec

Zurich, Switzerland with an old friend

We spent the night in Zurich with an old friend Carole and her boyfriend Flo. Carole was an exchange student when I was in 11^th grade who swam and played polo with us. Better late then never as it’s taken almost 12 years to meet up again. We had dinner at a traditional Swiss restaurant with schnitzel and rosti. Rosti is delicious heart attack food, but once isn’t going to kill you. Hasbrowns, onions, bacon, cheese and butter, what else could you ask for!

Rome, Italy

Rome, wow. It was overwhelming. We had 3 days and 2 nights and we definitely didn’t get to see everything, there’s just way too much history surrounding this city. The Colosseum was really cool and the Roman Forum, amazing! Although, heading to Rome in July makes for extremely long lines and an enormous amount of people everywhere! Thankfully, we had read about the Roma pass, which was a lifesaver. It let us choose 3 places to cut the line and go through the fast track. Considering the line to the Colosseum was almost 3 hours, the 25 euros we spent on these were priceless. I loved all the statues, the architecture (what a dream for architectures buffs and students alike) and walking the small cobblestone streets. We threw some coins and made a wish in the Trevi fountain and took a free walking tour of the Pantheon and Spanish steps, again…so much history!

Roman Forum

Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

Parthenon

We enjoyed more Italian food and sampled an apertivo one night which is quite popular with locals. It’s like a happy hour, but serves tapas for free from around 4-7pm and that was enough to call it dinner. Of course we had our fair share of pizza and pasta as well as gelato to make another real authentic Italian experience while in Roma. Oh and we did visit a cafe called Bar Pompi that had the best Tiramisu in town, just wish we had time to go there more than once!

apertivo time

absolute best tiramisu

The last day we visited the Vatican City which I never knew was actually its own country and protected by the Swiss Army. We did a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistene Chapel, the Vatican Museum, unreal. From Michelangelo’s et. al paintings to all of the sculptures and the overall architectures of each of these places was awesome.

Vatican City

Grad School is finished!

It's official!

So after 2 years, I finally finished my Masters. I am looking forward to having a lot of extra time now, especially in the evening and on the weekends to do much more fun stuff then just writing papers and studying!

Congratulation Flowers from Nick

Full Moon Paddle on Lake Thun

We had a perfect night for a full moon paddle in July, almost. A group of us had a picnic and then headed out on Lake Thun to paddle as the sun set and watched the moon rise over the mountains. Unfortunately, our night ended quickly as the moon peaked through, Nick got sick, rally sick. Didn't know the full moon would have that effect on him, but we’re thinking he gave himself food poisoning with some raw pork just a few hours before at the bbq.

1st SUP Swiss Championship

The 1^st SUP Swiss Championship sponsored by Nidecker was held on Lake Geneva at Prevanges beach. Both Nick and I took part in the race in the 10km, which ended up being around 12.8 km, definitely felt longer then 10 km as we raced. Thankfully we’ve been doing a bit of paddling so managed, but racing a real long distance race should have a bit more training before hand! Nonetheless we did well and I won the women’s race and also won the women’s 5 km race as well. Paddling just around 20 km in a day was a lot, but someone crazy enough had to do it! It was a beautiful day and knew quite a few people from the International Surfing Day as well as around the area in which we live who we’ve been paddling with were also there.

the beginning of the 10k

me rounding the buoy

Nick looking good

finishing the 10km race

1st place in the 5km

1st place in the 10k for the ladies (I was the only one)

Venice, Italy

6 hours from Thun and we were in Venice. Easy enough with our rail passes in hand and a few days free during the week. Stepping out of the train station, we were right in there in the real Venice! The only Venice we’ve ever known has been the Venetian hotel in both Las Vegas and Maccau! We booked a bed and breakfast and upon crossing the first bridge over one of the canals and taking a turn at the first small street , I knew this would be a town where a map is absolutely necessary! We zig zagged our way through the tiny streets and eventually found our B&B called ‘Happy Venice’. It was overlooking a canal just over a bridge.

that's me in the window of our room!

When we arrived the lady answered the door, a old Italian women with absolutely NO English, yet she’s been doing this with her daughter (I assume she speaks English) for years. In Italian, and only Italian she explained everything we needed to know and more or less understood as she showed us the house. The place had only 3 rooms, 2 of which over looked the canal and one of them was ours! The gondolas would come rowing by our window and people stopped to take pictures on the bridge. It was a great location and we definitely chose a winner!

We stayed in Venice for 2 nights and while we walked a ton and crossed a thousand bridges, we also ate and drank a ton as well. We visited the beautiful churches and a couple museums and in the evening enjoyed real Italian food including gelato with plenty of wine. While we didn’t get to Stand Up Paddle in the canals, the highlight of the trip was learning to row a gondola. Instead of taking a quick 20 minute gondola ride for way too much money, we saved the romance and opted to learn how drive one instead. Jane from Row in Venice, taught us how to for a 2 hour session on a canal. While we weren’t on the Grand Canal, a smaller less busy one was much better suited to us first timers. Before we headed out, as we watched the Gondoliers the day before, they make it look effortless. Motorboats and water taxis zip in and out of the gondolas and they have no problems not running into each other. While they make it look effortless, for us it definitely wasn’t a walk in the park.

Jane showed us the basic stroke on her 2 man gondola and then we set off for a couple hours of rowing. The front man was obviously easier then the back one who was in charge of steering. It’s amazing how they can actually steer this around the tight corners of the canals and boat traffic without hitting anyone else or tipping over. We can’t say we became experts after our 2 hour less, but did manage to get a little better at the technique and helping row this big boat back to the marina safely. It was great, but both Nick and I think we’ll stick to SUP.

St. Marks Square

Lausanne, Switzerland

Suzanne and I and the view!

We checked out the city of Lausanne and Lutry on Lake Geneva before heading to the Swiss SUP championship race. We met, fellow paddler, Susanne at the International Surfing Day a couple weeks before and she invited us to stay with her for the weekend! It’s always great to have locals to show you around town. There was a big gymnastic competition going on, so the small town Lutry where she lived was housing the Australian team and had all sorts of Australian flags up around town, a warm welcome for Nick! The area is absolutely beautiful with the vineyards lining the surrounding hills.