Here's some text from a group email I sent in April 1999:
Grüezi miteinander!
Sorry I haven't been around for a while but I've been too busy having too much fun! The first few months of '99 have been absolutely crazy, I'm loving Europe, and I haven't really had time to take a breath. I've also really been getting into my work (and they even require me to THINK! Wow!).
Highlights so far include:
- Snowboarding myself absolutely STUPID this winter (I think I've accomplished it pretty damn well!!!), and I can now plummet down a black run with some control and little thought of personal injury. Some good resorts are soooo close to Baden too (1 1/2 hrs away!). Picked the right winter too - the 2nd most severe this century! It was a bit freaky seeing the legacy of all the avalanches up there - roads and railways swept away, huge trees snapped at their bases, destroyed buildings etc. Places like Flumserberg, Hoch Ybrig, Laax-Flims and Engelberg rate a mention. We'd usually head off the beaten track and find some fresh untouched powder that we'd carve up for a few hours without seeing another person. It's an absolutely amazing feeling being in these deadly quiet mountains with the views in every direction. The best trip would have to be the long weekend at Grindelwald (below the Eiger and Jungfrau mountains with blue skies, sun, and incredible views down into the valleys below) and also Zermatt. It was amazing to see the Matterhorn in the flesh (or rock) - a truly awesome mountain. However I've never been colder than above 3800m at Zermatt in near white-out conditions and below minus 30 degrees (not including the wind chill and it was blowing a f***ing gale!!!). I even had icicles on my face (apparently, but I couldn't tell you because it was just about frozen solid!) And they call that fun.....!!!
- A fab few days in Venice. This place really blew my mind and I immediately fell in love with it. You could just wander the streets and canals for hours and not get bored, find a tiny restaurant to eat in and just relax. I was there with my friend Katie B, and we'd incidentally timed our visit with Carnavale, so the whole place was packed with people in costumes and Venetian masks, with music and dancing verywhere. It was great to be there for it and a great way to see it.
- Rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous along the French Riviera over Easter. We did it tough in Nice and Monaco for a few days, basically just taking it easy on the beach (if you can call that stony Mediterranean crap a beach...!). Monaco was great: a beautiful city, every second car a Ferrari (and you think I'm kidding?!?!?), rich wankers on expensive yachts, money, money, money, money, money (uh, not me, them!). Even had a bit of a dabble in the Monte Carlo Casino just to say I have!
- Seeing just about everything in Switzerland (it's NOT that big...!). On the weekends I'll usually go somewhere new, and places I've been to so far include Luzern/Mt Pilatus with the great views over Lake Luzern and the Alps, numerous mountain-tops and resorts (Mt Titlis, Vorab, Kleine Matterhorn etc), everywhere in the Swiss Alps, Bern, Geneva, Basel etc (and of course Zürich which is right near by). In spring/summer I'm planning on doing heaps of hiking through the mountains, which should be great.
- Going to Basel at 3am on a Monday morning for Morgenstreich. This is a parade that happens every Feb: as the town clock strikes three, all the lights go out, and the processions of piccolos & drums meander the streets of the old town. Decorative candle lanterns on the musicians heads light the streets, and they all wear the most intricate masks. It might sound a tad shite and weird but it was actually a fantastic experience. I was well knackered at work that day though.....
- Playing rugger for the Zürich Rugby Club. That's right, I couldn't have a year without rugby - the standard of the game is pretty poor, the competition disorganised (aaaah, just like home...), but still a hell of a lot of fun. It cracks me up travelling the whole length of a country for a rugby game, and being able to do it in less than 4 hours! The minibus ride back is of course made much more pleasurable with copious quantities of alcohol, gratuitous male nudity and filty and offensive rugby songs.
So that's what I've been doing with myself. In a few days I'm off to Turkey for 2 1/2 weeks backpacking. I'm going to be in Gallipoli for ANZAC Day which should be a really incredible experience. After that it's down the Aegean coast for the beaches and some ye olde ruins, then I'm heading inland to have a squiz at the underground cities, gorges and some more ruins, then it's back to Istanbul (no ruins there, just mosques, carpet salesmen, palaces and bazaars). Should be a great trip.
And here's another group email from June 1999:
Since I've been back from Turkey (did I mention how good THAT trip was???) I've been going non-stop. Not work mind you, because due to this crazy country I haven't worked a full five day working week since I got back! It's been full of three- and four-day long weekends (not that I'm complaining...).
After returning to work for a whole two days I trained across to Salzburg for three days. The weather was crap, but I still had a great time. It's a beautiful town with a few things to see, but first stop for me were the ice caves, the Largest In The World (oooh errr). Catching the train down south into the mountains, I arrived at the beautiful little village of Werfen. After a bus trip up the mountain, then a cable car up some more and finally a 15 min walk I arrived at the cave entrance. The tour was conducted using lanterns and magnesium strips and meandered through these huge chambers filled with frozen ice formations and shapes - absolutely breathtaking (and not just because of the freezing temperatures)!
Back at Salzburg it was time for the ubiquitous "Sound Of Music" tour. Doing it with four crazy Canadian girls made it a good laugh, but the rest of the tour group (Americans and Indians (?) mostly) were pretty sober. That was probably because they weren't still drunk from the local beer hall - actually still a functioning monastery - the night before. We had more fun after the tour than on it when we went around Salzburg and the Mirabellgarten recreating some of the scenes. Sure we looked like idiots but who cares!
The next weekend I did a lovely day hike above Walensee, SE of Zürich.. The walk was along the Churfirsten range - beginning from the Walenstadt train station I walked continuously up 1500m to a top altitude of over 2000m. The walk then continued along a "terrace" below the mountain summits, with still a fair bit of snow around that I had to trudge through. It was a warm perfectly clear day and the views across the lake to the alps on the other side were tremendous. Deciding to shortcut it down to the village, I found myself careening down the side of a bloody cliff on the steepest path I have EVER experienced. Things soon got worse when I got into a steep valley - a winter avalanche had totally obliterated the path, so I had to find my own way down scrambling down the loose rock and ice. Bit of adventure never hurt anyone!
Speaking of adventure, I think I had the ultimate of Swiss adventures last weekend (it'll be hard to beat anyway!). I decided to go for a spot of snow touring/mountaineering with a mate from work. Catching the train from Lauterbrunnen to Jungfraujoch (3500m), we then dropped off the back of the mountain onto the glacier. Original plan was to climb Jungfrau (4150m), but the initial climb to a saddle took far too long as I was on snowshoes and it was slushy spring snow. The summit ridge looked a bit dodgy as well in the conditions. After a two hour slog up a climb of over 700m (altitude taking its toll!), using both snowshoes and crampons, we lunched at over 3750m with clear blue skies, a hot sun (hello blisters) and incredible views of the alps in every direction.
Dropping down the glacier on the other side, we eventually connected with the Aletsch Glacier (Europe's largest), and powered all the way uphill, with mountains towering over 1000m above you on both sides of the 2-3km wide glacier, for about six hours to the top of the glacier near the Hollandiahütte (about 3300m). For the hell of it we built a small snow cave as the weather started to close in. Pretty uncomfortable, but warm and worth the experience! However, I wasn't feeling the best due to a combination of dehydration and a mild case of altitude sickness (no preparation - the last time I was at this altitude was at Zermatt in February!).
Weather and snow conditions wrote off out idea to climb Mittagshorn Sunday morning, instead we had an easy day descending 10km down the other side of the valley, along the glacier, scrambling down the face and then along the valley floor to Fafleralp, a pretty little village in the Wallis region. From there we caught a bus to the train, where a thoroughly exhausted and blistered (face, not feet!) me could finally rest. Urgh! Tough work, but it was absolutely worth it!!!!
For the last in the series of long weekends I popped down to Barcelona for 4 days. After a hellish night train saga - sleeping on the floor instead of a cosy warm couchette!) - I joined the same four Canadians from Salzburg (big HI! to Sloane, Steph, Andrea and Aili). Barcelona didn't impress me that much: a bit pretty but nothing spesh. Made up for it in nightlife though and I quickly learnt that these Spaniards know how to party: start eating and drinking at 10 or 11pm and take it from there, sleep in, midday siesta, and then it all starts again! Four days of drinking sangrias, eating and sleeping (oh, and some sightseeing along the way too...). Straight to work Monday morning off the night train feeling slightly hungover.
