Escalade and Verbier Opening - Wkd. of Dec. 2

Escalade Run - Friday

Following the weekend of 2 Thanksgivings, I participated in the Escalade Course du Duc; this is a 20km race that is held every 5 years.  The Escalade is an annual event each year to commemorate the Genevoise defending the city from the French invaders and there’s typically several different runs in the city and a weekend long city festival.  Typically, I’ve missed this event every year as it is the first weekend of December and during ski season; however, the Duc race is Friday night so I was able to do both.

The race starts in Reignier, France at 9:30pm and all runners are bussed to the beginning on packed buses (standing room only) a few hours prior to the race....I spent a lot of time on my feet!  Running the race was nice as there were quite a few supporters, some live bands, many sections  of the route were lit with Christmas lights, and all of the runners also received headlamps to help light the way.  There were quite a few coworkers running along with client contacts that I knew.

The Route

Starting Line

Glad I did the run, but made for a long night as I finished near 11:30pm and then planned a ski trip the following morning that required me to get up at 5am.

Verbier Opening - Saturday

The following morning, I awoke at 5am to meet friends to drive to Verbier for their official opening ski weekend.  This was my second ski outing of the season as I went to Saas Fee for the 'Ski Test' the weekend before Thanksgiving (no broken skis similar to prior year).

For Verbier, they have a promotion for their opening Saturday where skiing is free for everyone dressed as Santa Claus so a small group of us dressed up for the event.  It was very funny to see 2,656 Santa Clauses on the Ski mountain, but it also made it quite difficult to find anyone.

All the santas preparing for the group shot mid-mountain

The event was a blast with free skiing, a voucher for 2-for-1 skiing later in the season, free vin chaud during the group photo, and we finished the night with raclette to kick-off the ski season!

Thanksgiving in Switzerland

Consistent with prior years, Thanksgiving in Switzerland is always a great time as its brings all of the expats together and creates the challenges of trying to make traditional American food with limited ingredients.  This year I had 3 Thanksgiving; it was a great fun, but I had my full of Turkey by the end of the month.

Thanksgiving 1 - Pulley - 11 Nov.

For the first Thanksgiving of the month, the Geneva and Lausanne crew celebrated at Bryan and Lauren’s in Pulley.  I made green bean casserole without French fried onions, cream of mushroom soup, or pre-grated cheese so I had to get a bit creative and make many of these ingredients from scratch.  We had about 25-30 people and dinner was great.

Thanksgiving 2 - Chalet Nitz - 22 Nov. (Thanksgiving Day)

I hosted Thanksgiving for the PwC expat group on Thanksgiving day and we had 26 people; note that my place is much smaller the location from the 11th.  Luckily, I was able to borrow extra chairs and tables from others that lived nearby.

For the dinner, I made Turkey (actually 3 given the size of the ovens and Turkeys in Switzerland).  The procurement of the turkeys involved having a friend drive me to the neighboring country to purchase the turkeys and bring back to Switzerland; I cooked one the day before, one the day of, and Vince made the 3rd.

Hosting dinner went well as everyone brought something to share and we had way too much food (there was an entire turkey extra)!

Thanksgiving 3 - Geneva - 25 Nov.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, another friend hosted a 3rd dinner for about 10 of us.  For this event, I made chocolate cake; only issues with this recipe is there are no chocolate chips or boxed devil’s food cake so both were made from scratch.

Great celebrating the holidays with these great groups of people!  Although, the rest of the world needs to learn that Americans do not work on the Friday following Thanksgiving.

Alba White Truffle Fest - Wkd. of Oct. 28

For the weekend, a group of friends went to Alba for the annual white truffle fest in Piemonte, Italy.  This was a festival that I had been to my first year in Geneva with the Baleskys and my 3rd time to the Piemonte region (last trip was August 2016 with the Bellgraphs).

The group of 9 of us rented a house one top of one of the hills on the vineyards outside of Alba and then there were two other groups of friends in the area staying in other locations.

Sunset on the drive in

On Friday, we drove from Geneva and the first thing that we noticed along the drive was it was quite foggy after entering Italy.  After further research, we discovered that 30km west of Turin that there were several wildfires and this led to the poor visibility.  Luckily, the smoke was noticeable for breathing, but it did it down on some of the views of the vineyards.  Once reaching Alba, we dropped off our gear and settled prior to going to dinner.  We had dinner at Vinoteca Centro Storico, which is near the castle in the nearby town of Serralunga; the place was great!

Serralunga from above

Chef at the restaurant carving Serrano for appetizers

The following morning we had planned a guided truffle hunt with a truffle hunter and his two dogs where we learned about the truffle and the ‘hunting’ season and it was all quite interesting.  While searching for truffles, our group found 2 black truffles and 1 white truffle and it was fun to see the dogs search the forest floors and then begin to dig when catching an aroma.

Truffle hunter

Truffle Hunting

Post truffle hunt

The remainder of the day was spent in Alba at the trufflefest.  The festival is a large tent with farmer/vendors selling truffle and other truffle flavor foods.  We used the opportunity to purchase an assortment of food as the group (9 from our house and the 9 others in the area from Geneva) had a giant pasta family-style dinner where we were staying that night.

Truffles at the trufflefest

Dinner is served

The following morning, we did a wine tasting in the area to re-stock on Barolo and Barbarescos before driving back to Geneva.

Short movie that one of the people on the trip created:

Fall Soccer Matches (Milan - 10/15 and London - 10/22)

Continuing on a goal to see some of the major European soccer teams while living abroad as noted in the Paris post; I went to the Milan to see Inter vs AC at San Siro and then London to see Tottenham vs Liverpool at Wembley.

Milan - Wkd. Oct. 14

I traveled to Milan with Bryan on Sunday for the game that same day; Milan is quite easy to travel to as there is a 4 hour train from Geneva.  We stayed with a friend of his who was a PwC US employee he had known from the US and was now on secondment.

Up to the game, we did our own walking/eating tour of Milan:

- Pizzeria Spontini near the Duomo

- Rice Ball near Naviglio Pavese-

The game was at 9pm was the stereotypical experience that you would expect from a European soccer match between two rival teams (city rivals) with screaming fans.  The stadium was quite large compared to others in Europe (80k vs 40k capacity).  The game had plenty of excitement as the final was 3-2 with the tiebreaker being a controversial penalty kick at the 89’.

Following the game, we had pizza again and then took the train home the following morning to return to work.  Coincidentally, I received a note that morning for an audit in Italy and the individual we stayed with was joining a team I was working with so it was helpful to meet face-to-face.

London - Wkd. Oct. 21

The following weekend of the Milan trip, I had planned a trip to go to London to see some friends from when I lived in Royal Oak (Jamie, Yanai, Adam, and Milena) while they were traveling the UK for two weeks along with another friend that had moved to London when I moved to Geneva (Kate).  Coincidentally, I had to be in London already for work already.

While in London, we went to the the School of Rock musical on Friday and the British Museum/National Gallery on Saturday.  On Sunday, we then went to the game before the full group flew out at various times on Monday.  

The game atmosphere was quite different from the other game as there were very few away fans or at least they were quite secretive about it so.  The game was quite exciting as there were many goals (4-1 final score) and we were quite close to the field.

Food in London was a good change of pace from the French cuisine of Geneva and Italian food in Milan.  On Sunday, we had a large roast dinner at the neighboring pub from where we were staying.  I also was sure to visit Chipotle once in the trip to get some spicy food given there are not many Mexican food options near me.

Both trips were a blast with not much sleep, Milan was day trip where I returned the next morning via train and in London, I flew Friday morning to be at work on time and left Monday morning to do the same (two 4am mornings); wouldn't do it any other way!

Oktoberfest (Wkd. Sept. 23) and Trail Runs (Oct. 8)

So the two trips included in this post could not be further opposites...

Munich - Oktoberfest - Wkd. Sept. 23rd

As a break from work, I went to Oktoberfest this year for my 4th time (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017) and my 6th time in Munich.

I spent the trip with a few Hastings friends (Paul) and then also some old friends from Royal Oak and Switzerland (Brad, John, Pat) and we had a fun few days in the tents and on the carnival rides of Oktoberfest.  We stayed very close to Oktoberfest and went to the HB, Hacker-Pschorr, and Schottenhanmel tents.  We also had our fill of German food eating in the area; needless to say and consistent with my prior trip, I was excited to see vegetables/fruits when returning home!

Royal Oak Crew

Hastings Crew

Let me know if any of you plan a trip to Europe as I feel like I could be a tour guide after visiting this city more times as a tourist than any other location in Europe.

Vallee de Joux - 8 Oct.

Trail Valle de Joux is a 22km trail race in the Jura mountains, which are about 1 hour by car from Geneva.  A group of friends decided to try a trail race and trained together during the weeks up to the race and then we had a potluck dinner the night with the group the evening before the race.

Before

The style of race is very typical in Switzerland, but something that I had never experienced.  I would compare it to more of a speed hike than a true run given the inclines are at a degree where almost all participants are walking.  The declines were then steep, rocky descents where runners would try to remain on the paths while dodging rocks to avoid a sprained ankle.  Our race was one peak ascent in the middle followed by one descent; however, typically these races are 50-160km and have multiple peaks.

Climb to the top!

Crossing the Top of the Mountain

The day after I was extremely sore consistent with what I would feel following a Marathon.  When training for the race, I did road runs of almost twice the distance of the trail run; it was different set of muscles from what I was accustomed.  The race was very pretty and I would do another.  

After

Of course the Swiss/French give out wheels of cheese and wine to every finisher!

Paris - Wkd. 16 Sept.

I decided to take a free weekend to spend time in Paris as I wanted to come for the Paris vs. Lyon soccer game; this was on my list of notable games/teams to see while living in Europe before moving.  I have not done much traveling since returning from the US mid-August; however, Geneva in the summer has been quite nice with the lake and sunny weather.  I swam for my first time in the water after living in the area for two years and this was long overdue!

I flew to Paris in Friday night and immediately had a bit of a surprise when sitting on the runway in Geneva and went to check my hotel reservation and realized I had the incorrect dates on my hotel reservation......Luckily, Paris is huge and I would cancel and re-book another location still in central Paris and was not homeless for the evening.

For Saturday in Paris, I took a bike tour of Versailles.  This was an area that had not seen in the past in my previous visits to Paris (2012, 2016, and now).  The Versailles gardens were massive and it was quite interesting to see one set of traditional decor in straight lines and highly structured and then the Queen's garden was meant to feel like an escape to a peasant village; learning the history was fun.

The day was mostly rainy and cold so any chance that we had to go indoors for the palace or other buildings in the garden was great. Following the group, I went for a run and grabbed dinner to then prepare for the following days' 17 mile long run and the PSG game.

The long run in Paris was nice as I was able to run by Parc des Princes (PSG stadium) and Roland Garros (French Open); it's always fun running in large cities as you can often find many landmarks that are are both very known and/or off the beaten bath that you would not otherwise find:

Following the run, I went to the Louvre for the first time and then to the soccer game before taking a train back to the Geneva to start work for the week:

Cinque Terre/Munich - Road Trip with the Bellgraph - Wk of 23 July

On Kyle and Sam arrived Sunday at 1pm to start their Eurotrip for the next two weeks and I picked them up at the airport.  This was my 2nd time at the airport that day as I arrived from a work trip in Istanbul earlier that morning (11am) after spending an extra day to sightsee.  Quite a whirlwind Sunday!

Cinque Terre

Upon arrival, we quickly stopped by my apartment and then started our road trip to Cinque Terre (about 4.5 to 5 hours); specifically, we were staying in Monterosso al Mare.  We arrived near 9 and grabbed pizza near our AirBnB, which was right on the beach near the train station.  Finding parking was a bit of a challenge at first as the cities of Cinque Terre are connected by hiking trails and trains, but none offer the best automobile access; we found a local lot a few minute walk away, but all-in-all a great location.

View from our apt.

For our first day, we grabbed croissants at the Wonderland bakery and then coffee at a nearby wine bar before taking the train to the furthest city (Riomaggiore) where we had planned to hike back to our apartment.  We quickly learned that trains were not the most timely as we boarded the train at the correct platform and time; however, the train that we boarded was actually a previous train that was arriving late.  When the conductor asked for tickets after departure, we quickly learned we were on a regional train and in the words of the conductor "No stop Cinque Terre."  Luckily, it travelled only 10 minutes past our planned destination and we were not pressed on time so could then grab the next train to our intended destination.  Once in Riomaggiore, I grabbed a quick lemon crepe before starting the day's hikes.

Pre-hike Crepe

To travel from Riomaggiore to Manarola, we took a "more difficult" hike as the coastal route was closed.  The hike was up-and-down the hills of wine vineyards, so very pretty, but tiring (1.5 hours).  We grabbed a seafood in Manarola and then took a train to the 3rd city (Corniglia) to get gelato.  From Corniglia, we took an easier hike to Vernazza (2 hours) where we had planned a wine tasting that was on the edge of the mountainside and recommended by the Bellgraph parents.  We then took the train home and did a wine tasting at the same wine bar we had coffee at that morning and had dinner.

View from the hike

The following morning, we did an identical breakfast to the prior day and hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza (1.5 hours); this was the prettiest of our hikes as there were many views of the ocean, cliff sides, and vineyards.  Both of the hikes were filled with the noises of an insect similar to a cicada.  The weather was also much nicer as it was sunny and hot; good for views, but definitely made the hiked more difficult.  When reaching to Vernazza we quickly changed as we brought our swimming suits and went for a swim in the bay to cool off.  Following the swim, we did a mini bar crawl of Monterosso and tried the local specialty (lemon, salted anchovies) and grabbed dinner at the same pizza place where we had eaten the first night (Lapos).  Highly recommend that restaurant for anyone going to the area.

Piemonte

The following morning was early as we needed to get to Geneva and had planned 3 wine tastings in Piemonte to break up the drive; l had travelled here in the past, but lost the wine when my basement was broken into so it was good to get back.  Once in Geneva, we returned the car and I took everyone for a Swiss fondue for dinner.

Munich

Next morning, we had an easy morning and went to the airport to head to Munich for the next leg of our trip; we started the trip on the Cinque Terry sunny coast hiking and the next leg would be quite different in Bavaria with strong WWII history and a beer culture.

Upon reaching Munich, we took the train directly to Marienplatz to see the old town and grabbed beers and pretzels at Hofbrauhaus while waiting for the keys to our AirBnB.  Our Airbnb was basically an art gallery with very interesting decor.  We then grabbed dinner at one of my favorite restaurants since my first trip to Munich in 2011, Zum Alten Kreuz.  The trip this time was more difficult as the menu was in German and our waitress spoke no English where as on previous trips we had had someone help translate.  All of us ordered versions of weinerschnitzel for dinner (grilled vs. normal vs. Munchner style).  Following dinner, we grabbed a few drinks from bars on the way home as it was down pouring!  We ended up taking the bus home even though it would have been very walkable if dry.

On our first full day in Munich, we grabbed breakfast pastries at a nearby bakery and did a walking tour; this was my 4th time taking this same tour, but always a fun way to see the city.  For lunch, we had sausages and Munich schnitzel at the Weisses Brauhaus; this was one of the oldest wheat beer breweries in Munich and somewhere that I went when in Munich following the Berlin marathon the previous year.  We then found Sam and Kyle some Bavarian clothes (Liederhosen and Dirndl) before going for a walk through the English Garden.  We had a light dinner of first grabbing beers, a cheese platter, and apple strudel at Hackerhaus followed by sausages and drinks at the Viktualienmarkt before calling it a night.

Our next day was early as we had an early morning tour of Neuschwenstein castle where we had to pick up a rental car and then drive to the castle.  We grabbed pastries quickly at the Viktualienmarkt and then grabbed our Ford Fiesta for the drive.  The castle was very pretty with very diverse decorations throughout; following the tour, we grabbed sausages in the small town and drove to the Andechs brewery.  At Andechs, we walked around the abbey, into a wedding service, and then grabbed one beer before continuing our drive back to Munich.  In Munich, I went for a quick run to see the Eisbachwelle in the English Garden; this is a permanent wave on the river where people are able to surf.  We then grabbed drinks at Der Pschorr biergarten before dinner where we all had Pork Knuckle at the Haxenbauer and then had drinks at the HB.

With our 3rd day, we grabbed a large American sized breakfast at Kochspielhaus.  I then caught up on work and went for a run while the Bellgraphs went to Dachau.  When they returned, we grabbed dinner at the Paulaner Im Tal (Sauage Platter, Spatzle, and Pork Belly) before going to a walk to show the crew the Eisbachwelle.

For the final day in Munich, we had breakfast as the same location of the previous day and then went and did a BMW factory tour.  I've tried to do this in the past and it is quite interesting as it's a combined engine and assembly plant; if interested in going then book early as it fills 2-3 months in advance!  We then headed back to Geneva as I was returning to the US the following day while the Bellgraphs were to fly onwards to Amsterdam and continue their journey.