Today, once again was a bluebird day, 5C, blue skies, sunny no clouds and great snow for early season conditions. Last night we ate at a Japanese restaurant in ‘downtown Whistler’. We ate sushi of course, and Antoine and Julia chose the dishes. I am incapable of ordering food in a Japanese restaurant and am alway happy when I am with someone who knows what to order or if the waitress can suggest several dishes.
Yesterday, Julia and I skied on in bounds groomers. The gondola at Whistler took us up ⅔ of the way and the Emerald and Red chairs were open (for those of you that know what that means). Today we skied with Antoine and Joe, an architecture friend who skies 80 days a year. They took us off trail, on semi out of bounds trails which were clearly marked, ski at your own risk, unmarked obstacles, you are now leaving the patrolled area, ski boundary, hazardous terrain and back country avalanche warning. The conditions were absolutely fabulous.
Yesterday, I used my new Rossignal, elite, multi turn, 76cm underfoot skis and had a great time on the hard packed surfaces. Today, I used the same skies but had some trouble in the bumps. off trail with 6 inches of broken powder. Antoine and I switched skies and he found that my skies ‘were skiing faster than he was’. Tomorrow I am going to Lake Louise and will have 2 days to try out my Rossignal skis and compare them with my Salamon, QST 92 underfoot semi powder skis before taking my course.
We left the hill at 2:00 pm to beat the traffic and wound up in the middle of rush hour traffic. The road back from Whistler is beautiful as it follows a fiord. We stopped several times to take pictures.
Today was a bluebird day for skiing. For those of you who are not skiers, it means, blue skies, sunny, no clouds and great ski conditions. To make things even better, Alyson gave birth to a baby boy this morning. Mother, father, sister, baby and grandparents are all doing very well.
I skied alone for the morning as Julia and Antoine had to work. Julia joined me for lunch and we skied the afternoon together. There were only 3 chair lifts open as well as the gondola on Whistler. This gave meant 4-6 trails open. The snow conditions were unbelievable great for early season. You had to be a bit careful because there were a lot of people around given the lack of ski terrain. Nevertheless, a bad day skiing is better than a good day at the office. With the sun, light snow and warm temperatures, I would classify this as a great day. Skiing without sunscreen, I think I got a little tanned which is also very important.
Antoine will join us tomorrow for skiing and we will go out to eat this evening. In the mean time I will go shopping for my umpteenth black ski fleece.
I am sitting in an airport waiting for my plane to Vancouver. This was a semi last minute decision to both go skiing and see Antoine at the same time. As you all know if you have been following my blog, and listening to my verbal non sense, I am a member of Canadian Ski Patrol and a Level 2 ski instructor. The season has not yet started here, so I decided to go out west and take a Level 3 Ski Camp at Lake Louise. This is the beginning of a 10 day course which I have little chance of passing. I scraped through the Level 2 course last year and am taking the course to improve my skiing. Most of the Level 3 instructors are Level 4 wannabes and Level 4s are really pro skiers who do this for a living. I will see Antoine and Julia for a few days and we will do some skiing at Whistler. I will then fly to Calgary, drive to Lake Louise, ski for 2 days and then take the Level 3, 3 day course. As a member of CSIA, I get to stay at Chateau Lake Louise, a 5* hotel for less than half price.
2 days ago, I had a muffin and cappuccino at MacDonalds for $4. The same snack cost $9 at Starbucks the next day and $13 at the airport today. The inflation over a 3 day period is extraordinary!
Everyone my age, a few years older or a few years younger, can remember exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing at approximately 2:00 pm on Nov. 22, 1963, 60 years ago. It was the day President John F. Kennedy was shot and the world was changed forever. I was writing a 9th grade exam at Monkland’s High School when my teacher was called out of the room and there was a commotion in the hall way. At the end of the exam period, my teacher, Mr. Dewdney announced in a sober manner that the president had been shot and killed in Dallas while driving in a motorcade. Some of the pupils started crying as JFK was very well liked by my generation. 2 days later, we watched live on tv, when Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald. The mystery of the whole affair has never been completely solved. Yesterday I watched the original Zabruski film which is the only known film of the assassination. The film, terrifying as it was, was only released for public viewing 12 years later. Within a short period of time, Robert Kennedy and King were also killed. What would the world be like today if these 3 men had been left to complete their work in this unstable world.
‘Sitting in a railroad station, got a ticket for my destination. Homeward bound, that’s where I’ll be. Home to the….’
I visited an even older section of Bremen this morning. I find it amazing that everyone loves old sections of town, with cobblestone, narrow streets, no cars and low 2 story buildings. Instead, more so in America than in Europe, we build more and more cities that are car friendly, wide multilane streets that are jammed with traffic, tar and 30-40 story building that are way to close together. Go figure.
I left Bremen for Hamburg in the pouring rain and it continued to rain uninterupted until I reached Hamburg when the rain miraculously stopped just to greet me. I looked like I had just fallen into a lake with all my clothes on. My hands are black as the dye in my leather clothes ran and coloured my hands. I had to go to an ‘apothecary’ to buy acetone to remove the stain as it would not wash off with soap and water.
There are 3 parts to every trip: the planning, the trip itself and the memories. The best part of a trip is of course the memories. They go on forever. The second best part is the planning which often takes weeks and builds the excitement as the days go by. The worst part is the trip itself. You must get through it as quickly and as safely as humanly possible.
My trip is no different. I spent weeks planning the trip. I also spent 3 months training for the triathlon in the end up to 2.5 hours a day. Several times a week I did a triathlon broken up during the day. For example, I would run for 5 k in the morning, swim 30 laps (750 m) in the afternoon and ride my bicycle for 50min (20k) in the evening. On the days that I did not train, I either played hockey or raced my sailboat. I also did a practice triathlon in Gatineau 1 week before leaving for Germany just to test things out. I won a silver medal which might be good enough to get me into the worlds next year in Malaga. I planned out my route completely on my Tom-Tom Rider 550 GPS made especially for motorcycles. It can be set to follow windy, hilly roads in the country or secondary roads. I also reserved all my hotels in advance.
The trip itself can also be divided into 3 parts.
The Triathlon: I stayed in Hamburg for 1 week in an Ibis hotel reserved for the 150 Canadians although some stayed in nearby hotels. It was great fun to meet and share the triathlon with my fellow compatriots. We were probably the biggest team among the 36 countries represented and there were about 4000 athletes in about 10 different categories. Canada won 1 silver medal in the age group category. It went to our 80 year old competitor. In spite of this showing, we all had a great time. Anyway, what do you want? Hockey is our game!
The Itinerary: I visited several villages, towns and cities as well as the countryside which I have described in detail in past posts.
The Motorcycle: My GPS lady was perfect. The GPS seems to perform much better in Germany than at home. The BMW 700 is a great road bike. It is very stable on the highway. It is however, heavy for the city. My 1973 Triumph 750 Tiger is a much lighter and more nimble bike for city use. That is probably why you see scooters in the city which are more adapted to narrow, twisted streets.
I am staying at a downtown 4* hotel not far from my 2* Ibis where I stayed for the triathlon. The price is also much cheaper as they really jacked up the hotel prices for the World Championship. I drop off the bike tomorrow morning and fly home tomorrow.
‘On the road again, Going to places I’ve never been, seeing things that I may never see again, And I can’t wait to get on the road again’
I spent the night in Bremen, a city of 500,000 where the most important place to visit is the old town. Here we have a St. Peter’s Cathedral which was built in the 11th century and then changed to a Protestant church with the reformation in the 16th century. I walked around yesterday in the drizzle. I brought an umbrella with me but not my raincoat as I sort of thought that it was going to rain but was not sure. I then did what most Germans tend to do at 5:00, find a tavern and sip a glass of wine for an hour or so until supper. As it was raining outside, I caught up on my reading as I had previously downloaded several books on my i-pad.
‘Country roads, take me home, to the place, I belong, West Germania’ (thanks John Denver). I left Hanover and took the secondary roads to Bremen. It was only 125 km and the GPS allowed me 2.5 hours. The small villages are very protected in Germany. The secondary and tertiary roads do not cross through the villages. As I had time, you should never be in a hurray when travelling as you will probably never return to the same place, I elected to take several turn offs and drive the extra km to get into the centre of the villages. I was not disappointed.
The houses are made of brick and are 2 stories high with peaked roofs. The dwellings appear to be at least 100-200 years old. They have all had the brick work repointed to maintain the original architecture. The style is always the same but each house is individually different. There are no 2 houses that look the same. The roofs are made of clay tile and seem to be 30-50 years old. They are all well kept. People take pride in making the property look presentable. Some of the houses are very big and look quite comfortable. The streets are by and large made up of cobblestone.
The only problem here is occasionally they block off a street for repairs but there is no detour route. You are left on your own to find another route. The GPS lady keeps saying to ‘make a u-turn’ until she finally figures out that you are headed to the same place via a different route. What is also interesting about German cities is that when the city ends the countryside begins. 3 km from the city, I was still in the country. There is no such thing as ‘bungalow land forever’ as we have developed in America with 6 lane highways filled with traffic that does not move. My 2 lane highway lead me straight to the centre of town. While driving a motorcycle, when meeting a motorcycle in the opposite direction, there is the international sign of recognition of dropping the left hand and waving.
I had a quick breakfast and hit the road for Hamburg. I spent 2 hours last evening trying to bluetooth my i-pad to my Tom-Tom Rider GPS with no success. I then read a forum that stated that you can not bluetooth the 2 devices yet as the soft ware has not been written and you must past through an i-phone. Eventually, I just re-adjusted my Tom-Tom for secondary roads. My GPS lady had already forgiven me for the trouble that I caused her yesterday and gave me excellent instructions today.
I stayed on secondary roads today which were still 2 lane roads passing through the country side but each lane was much wider and safer. I still didn’t find a single cafe to stop in to have a coffee in 3 hours. I was later explained that there are grocery stores in the villages if I had looked for them. However, most of the retail stores have closed due to internet purchasing by consumers. People will also go to the big city to shop for clothes. I was sunny for while but then rained for 1 hour. I don’t like riding in the rain but I had no choice as I had no idea how long it would last. I used the ‘rain’ mode which probably changes the gear ratio to prevent the tires from spinning out.
I am staying in the centre of Hanover in a 4* old fashioned hotel. I walked for 4 hours around Hanover. The city has 500,000 residents which is considered big in Germany. Most of the city was destroyed by allied bombing during WW2. The old section was rebuilt exactly how it was before the war but the streets were turned into pedestrian walkways. The newer section of the downtown was built up with 1950-1960s architecture and has little character. However, there are pedestrian walkways everywhere. Bars, cafes and restaurants line the walkways. There in no traffic at all. The subway leads right to the centre of town. The cafes are all full. People seem to take the time to live properly.
There are clothing stores everywhere, some original and some chains similar to the ones we have in Canada. The prices are the same. When I packed my motorcycle stuff, I somehow forgot to include a change of underwear. I purchased 4 pairs of high quality German underwear, blue, grey and black with very good ‘support’. I had to break Rule 3 (I think that I mentioned 2 other ones) never buy clothes in a foreign country. You will never wear them when you come home as the styles and the colours just don’t fit in with our tastes in Quebec. Of course you can always return them the next time you are in Europe in a town that you can’t remember from a store you’ve long forgotten. Any ways, they were on sale. I learned that lesson when I bought 3 Jerusalem shirts, ‘hand-made and hand-embroidered’ for a very ‘cheap’ price in the Arab market. I kept them for 4 years, never wore them in Reims, and eventually embarrassingly enough, threw them away.
I am still fascinated with the fact of how fast soaking wet Gore-tex can take to dry as well as how soaking wet Gore-tex still keeps you warm and dry inside. At the same time, heavy leather motorcycle boots seem to stay wet forever. I have gone through 3 pairs of dry socks today in my boots and my feet are still damp. Remember, I lost 1 sandal and threw the other 1 away.
Last evening I had dinner at the Factory Hotel. I know that I said that I would not discuss alcohol or restaurants but the following is a must. The Germans know how to plan cities for the general population. However, they are a little short with restaurants. The venue of the restaurant was superb. I was seated at a table outside overlooking a pond with a fountain. I ordered a main course of tuna and asked for a margarita, a ¼ litre of French wine and bread to go with the meal. I like to have a piece of bread before imbibing in alcoholic beverages as it lines the stomach. I learned that from a nurse at a hospital in France when were drinking ‘un peau’ after Friday noon rounds with the patron. The wine arrived first. 10 minutes later the bread arrived with butter but no cutlery. The tuna arrived with the margarita. The tuna was ok… but the price was 4*. Afterwards the waitress asked me if I liked the margarita. I told her that it was ok but lacked the salt on the edge of the glass. She told me that it was the first time that they had prepared one. I think that the delay was because they were looking for the instructions of how to mix one on Google.
Last evening after dinner I walked around ‘old Munster’. The waitress advised me to go to a street where the students gather for drinks. I went into a bar and listened to some New Age music and had a beer. I was obviously the grandfather patron at the place. It was quite fun.
Today I rented a bicycle to tour Munster. I rented a ‘girl’s bike that resembled my mothers bike that she purchased in 1935 with her sister. The bike was heavy, black, and had 3 gears of which only 2 worked. You peddle backwards to stop the back wheel but there is a front brake. 35% of the population in Munster use bicycles to get around. There are over 400k of bicycle paths in a city of 350,000. There were bikes everywhere all of which resembled mine. I didn’t see any $4000 triathlon bikes.
There is no traffic to speak of and no construction on the city streets. Everyone walks, uses public transport on bicycles around. There were no motorcycles to be seen. The drivers are extremely polite but you must obey the rules. Shtopp means shtopp. When there is a red light for bikes or pedestrians, every shtopps and waits even if there is no traffic for a few minutes. I did not see any J walking at all.
I rode around the old section of town first. There are parks everywhere which are bike friendly. There is a ring park that goes around the inner city that follows a small stream. There is also a small lake with a sailing school for kids that sail optimists. I passed by the Shloss University where Dominique studied as she lived and worked in Munster for a few years. The city is a university town as the university is considered highly in Germany. The city was badly damaged during the war, but like elsewhere in Germany, it was rebuilt exactly as it had been using the same stones and keeping the streets exactly the same. No building is more than 3-4 stories high. The homes where the wealthy people live either border on park land or on the river. There are apartments and town houses of very high quality.
Eventually, I parked my bike near a church so that I could remember where I parked it. The streets all go around in circles; no street is straight for more than a few blocks. The streets also change names abruptly to confuse the tourist. Forget about finding numbers on buildings; that is a myth in itself. I visited St Paul’s Cathedral. There are several St Paul’s Cathedrals in Europe. This one was built originally in the 9th century and then rebuilt in the 13th century. It was damaged during the war but restored magnificently. The building is huge and the acoustics are incredible. I coughed and I think that it echoed through the church.
For lunch I had a desert. In Germany the pies are huge but the cappuccinos are tiny. I needed to have 2 in order to have my did day dose of caffeine.
gobriantravel 