Ski trip in Switzerland

I was in Switzerland for work and my workmate Anne-Sophie and I thought it would be fun to extend our stay through the weekend for a pre-Christmas ski trip. Sloane and her fiance Paul flew out from London on Friday night, and we left Zurich on Saturday morning ready to hit the slopes.

We took the train to Klosters. The views from the train were amazing and the trains were right on time and (even in the snow)...American's could learn a thing or two from the Swiss about public transportation!


When we got to Klosters, we dropped our bags at the hotel, rented our skis and made our way up the mountain just in time to get almost a full day of skiing in.



The snow was incredible and the mountain beautiful. We took the last gondola of the day down and couldn't wait to get back on the slopes the next morning.

Our hotel, the Hotel Cresta, was the perfect little ski hotel...we even had a balcony with a view of the mountain.


That night we went to dinner at the Hotel Chesa Grischuna. Maybe it was the clean air or the gluvine (mulled wine), but it was one of the best meals I've ever had!


The next day we were back on the mountain for more skiing.


We finished skiing in just enough time for a round of hot chocolate at the Hotel Cresta before we took the train to the airport and flew back to London.

Lyon to visit BT

Sloane and I had planned to head down to Bourg-en-Bresse France to see BT and watch one of his team's home basketball games. Unfortunately Sloane had to send in his passport to get his visa updated so I made the trip solo.

BT was a great host and I have to say I was a little jealous of his 3 bedroom apartment and team sponsored car. I had a little time to explore when he was at practice and found the people to be very friendly...it was nice to be in a small city for a change.


I had courtside seats at the game, and BT's team J-Bourg easily beat their opponents, paving the way for a fun afterparty celebration.


It was great to catch up with a fellow European domiciled Bucknellian, even if just for a weekend.

Boys Trip to Istanbul

So I had a few weeks off in between jobs as I left Thomson Reuters for Bloomberg and got the oh-so-sweet 1 month mandatory paid leave. During my first week of pure laziness it occured to me that I should probably use my time to travel somewhere I may never get to again. I called my buddy Jorge, who was also between jobs as he is moving to Malaysia in a month, and proposed a trip to Istanbul. Totally random, yes, but a good idea nonetheless. We booked cheap flights and 2 star lodging and were on our way with visions of baaklava dancing in our heads.

We were there for a week and planned our time wisely, focusing on a few priority attractions: the bazaar, Turkish bath/massage, mosques/churches and of course the nightlife. Our first few nights we blindly made our way through town, meeting locals both friendly and shady. We tried the national liquor called Raki, which amazingly turns from clear to milky white when you add water. Unfortunately it tastes like black licorice mixed with 87 octane so I only had one. One highlight was finding a hookah bar and pretending we were locals while puffing some watermelon flavored baccy.

The mosques in Istanbul dominate the scenery and are really feats of architecture. As you can see, they are even more impressive at night.
Midweek we decided to take to the seas and take a ride on a ferry down the Bosphorus, which connects the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It was super windy and rough, but still cool to check out the coastline and get a different perspective of the area. Also cool was seeing the Queen Victoria cruiseship (behind me below) for the second time (see our Venice post). Seems I can't get away from her majesty, pretty cool to see again.
Our last night was definitely the highlight of the trip, as we ventured to the top of famed and ancient Galata tower for dinner and a show. It turned out to be an awesome time, with great local cuisine, great entertainment (belly dancers!) and some amazing views of Istanbul at night from high above the city.

All in all it was a great escape to an exotic locale that I had always wanted to check out. Istanbul is an amazing place, a true mix of the cosmopolitan Europe and the exotic and fervently religious Arab cultures. I recommend visiting if you ever have the chance.

Cognac France- Half Marathon

Over the summer when work was a little slow I had the fantastic idea that I'd keep myself busy and train to run a half marathon. I ran diligently for about two weeks and then work picked up and that was that. While my training may have fallen off a cliff, the half marathon idea was gaining momentum. I'd decided if I was going to torture my body for over 13 miles, what better place to numb the pain than in Cognac France (a better idea when I thought I might actually like Cognac). I wasn't the only one who liked the idea and our friends Julie, Jorge, Shaun and Stef decided to join the insanity. I even convinced Sloane to run the 10k.

The think the amount of training the six of us did was about equal to what one sane person attempting a half marathon should have done, but nonetheless we flew in to Bordeaux the day before the race in high spirits (much more excited about the wine and the food then the race).


As none of us spoke French, making our way around a city where very few people spoke English was challenging, but we managed to find a nice place to have lunch. We then set off to find the tourism office to do what any dedicated runner would do the day before a race, book a wine tasting tour...we were in Bordeaux after all.

We arrived at the Chateau Monconseil Gazin just as it was getting dark, and while we didn't get to see much of the vinyard itself, the our tour guide (the wife of the winemaker) was wonderful. After the tour she helped us make a reservation at a local restaurant (athough from the smell of what she was cooking we would have rather stayed right there). We left, several bottles of wine in tow, to get dinner before we headed north to Cognac for the night.


The Bordeaux region of France is known for it's fois gras, and we didn't have any trouble sitting down to an incredibly rich pre-race dinner of fois gras, steaks and of course more wine (carb loading is for amateurs). When we finally arrived at the hotel in Cognac it was nearly midnight and none of us were looking forward to the run the next day.

The run ended up being a lot of fun, and all parties finished in good moods (the cognac spritzers, cheeses, oysters, and wines waiting for us at the finish line may have had something to do with it). After we left the race we took a quick nap and then set out for our celebratory dinner.

The next day we took the long way back to Bordeaux and drove through a small town (I don't remember the name). We weren't the best tourists as we were so sore we could hardly walk!


We made it back to Bordeaux just in time to have one last meal in the square before we headed back to London.


I think it was about a week before any of us were walking normally again, but the weekend was worth it and I'd recommend the run to anyone (serious or casual) who wants to run a marathon/half marathon/10k.

Griswold road trip- Scotland

After months of careful planning John, Chich and I managed a birthday surprise for Sloane. They flew into London and met Sloane (who was so surprised he shut the door on them) at our flat, and then we all flew up to Inverness Scotland. We spent the night at a beautiful B&B in Inverness called the Bluebell before setting out the next day to St. Andrews.




On our way to St. Andrews we stopped at Loch Ness to try our luck at spotting the monster. You'd never know by the views that it was freezing cold and raining for most of the ride, but in the brief glimpses of sunlight the views of the countryside and of Urquhart castle were amazing.















On the highland road from Inverness to St. Andrews we saw some of the most amazing views. I really wanted to see a few of the fuzzy highland cattle but all we saw was sheep. Sloane and I both tried the haggis when we stopped for lunch (or I tried it and Sloane consented to have a bite), while I can't say I'd go out of my way to order it again I didn't find it all that bad.
















We stopped at the Blair Athol Distillery to sample the local sample the spirits. While the tasting rooms were closed the store was open and John and Sloane made sure not to leave empty handed.


We arrived in St. Andrews in time for dinner. We ate dinner at our hotel (The Inn on North Street) and John, Sloane and I went for drinks at the Rusacks Hotel (where John's father used to stay when he visted St. Andews). The next day we tried to get into the R&A Golf Club as John had a guest membership. I went to prostest the fact that I heard they still don't let women in, but as it turns out it didn't really matter because they wouldn't even let Sloane in with John. The three of us left cursing the exclusitivy of the golf world.














In addition to the golfing, St. Andrews also has beautiful coastal views and a historic abbey.









From St. Andrew's we headed south toward Edinburgh, stopping in Dunfermline where Sloane's Scotish ancestors lived. The abbey in Dunfermline is one of the most important abbey's in Scotland and is the burial site of Robert the Bruce as well as many other Scotish royalty.


We arrived in Edinburgh just in time to have the best dinner of the trip. We ate at a restaurant called the North Bridge Brasserie which is in the old Scotsman building. Both the ambiance and food were fantastic.

We finished ended the trip with a tour of Edinburgh castle and a whiskey tasting where Chich and my gags were met with a mixture of laughs (from the women) and scornful looks (from the men).



Scotland was beautiful and the people so friendly! On our Griswold family vacation (which I forgot to mention came complete with the rental station wagon) we managed to avoid any majorly catastrophic situations and arrived back in London just in time for Sloane's birthday (steak dinner obviously).