95/356: FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA

Onward to the reason why I visited Italy for two days. I went there to attend the Formula 1 race in Monza.

I really enjoy watching the races on a lazy Sunday afternoon and have thought about visiting a race for a while now but never had something that pushed me to do it. With this ongoing project of mine I finally got around to do it.

There is one simple reason why I picked Monza as the place where I would attend a race. It was the last race to be held in Europe this season. So it was either Monza or wait for next year. Monza has a great and long tradition so we decided to attend this one. 'We' because I went with a long time friend of mine.

We got to the circuit early on Sunday morning and then watched the GP3, GP2 and Porsche Supercup races, or parts of them. But of course the highlight of the day was the F1 race that started at two pm.

Two of the things that really stuck out to me were the sound of the cars and how international the crowd was. I could identify at least four or five languages and there were many more which I wasn't able to place. And the sound the F1 cars make, oh my, it gave me goosebumps. Seeing it on TV is nowhere close as intense as it is live. I am not a giant petrol head but I really enjoyed that roaring.

The race itself was interesting because the Sauber team (Swiss owned) had a car start in third place which was then able to finish in fifth place. This is by far the best result they had this year. Nico Hülkenberg, the driver, had a Mercedes just behind him during the whole race so it stayed interesting. Ferrari getting a car on the podium and one in fourth place really helped as well. That, as you can imagine, made the Italians really happy.

F1 is a sport which is best when watched on TV because they can instantly switch to the place on the track where the action is. When you are actually there, you only see a little part of the track and the big screens are usually not that close to you. I enjoyed the whole experience but it was probably a one time thing. The tickets were also pretty pricey so that doesn't help.

sorry for the sub par pictures. As you can imagine, my phone is not really equipped to take photos of speeding race cars. 

 The train station we got off at already had a very famous name.

 The GP2 race. The cars a little weaker than F1 but still plenty fast.

 Warm up rounds of the F1 race

 The owner of this little blog.

 The cars approaching the 'Variante del Rettifilo'

 The tribune where we were sitting

A Ferrari Fan cheering on his team.


Race on!

94/356: Milano

A short visit to Italy was just what I needed to round of my holidays.

I know that I have been to Milan before but from what I can remember I have only seen the train station so far and even then I didn't have time to look around. I was used to Swiss punctuality when it comes to trains and got caught off guard when my trains were late and I had to catch the next one.

This past weekend marked the first time on which I actually got to see a little of the city itself. It wasn't much though. A friend and I arrived around 6pm on Saturday evening and would be leaving again early next morning. The reason for this short visit will be in Post 95/356.

We walked from our hotel to the Duomo, had dinner and walked back again. That's about the extend of my visit to Milan. Still, there were plenty of firsts in those few hours. It was especially interesting to compare the Duomo to the Dom in Cologne. They are similar in size and took about the same amount time to build but the similarities end there. Where the Dom in Cologne is dark, brooding and rather depressing, the one in Milan is playful, bright and generally more cheerful.

Sadly I didn't get to experience the best part about Milan, the shopping. Next time I go I have to bring the time and money to shop till I drop. It is one of the fashion capitals of the world after all.

 The Duomo on the walk back from the restaurant.

 Frontal view of the Duomo.

 No idea but it looked cool.
 

 The plaza in front of the Duomo.

 

 

In Milan they tend to build very big buildings.

A little teaser for post 95/356.

93/356: Doggie Style (Beer Tasting)

Huzzah, more beer tasting. My decision today was based solely on the label. Well I also thought the name of beer would make for an interesting header for the post. 

The beer was good but I couldn't really enjoy it because the football (soccer) match I was watching while drinking it went from bad to horrific. Switzerland just (only) played 4:4 against Iceland after leading 4:1 shortly after the break... 

.. at least I have a great weekend ahead. Much more exciting stuff to come than beer tasting. I promise! Stay tuned...

92/356: First Day Of School

You read that right.. had my first day of school today.

First day of my master of studies that is. Yeah I know it is a bit silly to go back to school at the age of 30 (not really) but it has been at least three years since I have been to school and I started missing it again.. actually I am lying. I just felt like I needed to get some more education under my belt to compete with all these young folks. Oh I will still be working but I reduced to 90%.. huzzah!

It was also my first day of school in Basel. It's one of the larger cities in Switzerland and to be honest I have only been there about two or three times in my life. I am looking forward to see more of it, now that I will be there more often.

I will be back to school for the next two years. The master consists of three modules each lasting about three months. Oh I forget the thesis I have two write after those three modules. I started with the module CAS (certificate of advanced studies) business requirements engineering. It was just a general introduction today but it was a really interesting start.

Getting educated is fun!

scuse me for trying to be funny, I didn't sleep much last night and therefore I am really tired..

91/356: Clube-Mate Ice Tea

After I tasted the Club-Mate Coke a few weeks ago, I decided to go for the ice tea this time around.

Not my cup off tea I have to admit. I just didn't really enjoy the taste that much.

90/356: Trans Swiss Trail Stage 16: Sörenberg - Giswil

Today's hike took my from Sörenberg to Giswil. I started the hike with a bus full of old people and ended it with a sprint to the train station. 

Yesterday I overheard the bus driver say that there would be some kind of senior citizen day in the valley where I would start walking today. I didn't give it a second thought. I got reminded this morning when I arrived at the train station where I was going to change to the bus. Normally there is one bus, when I arrived there, there was the normal bus plus three extra. All of them looked like the picture below... and just to stop you right there, I did offer my seat but nobody would take it.

The hike today was great. Awesome weather, again, and some really really nice scenery. The ascend was just 500+ meters so no problem there but the descend was 1200+ meters. I can tell you, it is now past 8pm, I arrived home over two hours ago and my knees still hurt. Walking up might be more exhausting but it sure is comfortable than walking down. 

When I got close to Giswil I decided I didn't want to sit around an hour waiting for the next train, as the train ride home was two hours. So yeah, after walking for 5 hours, I had to run the last bit to make the train. Made it! 

I had planned to go hiking again tomorrow but since it is the last day of my holiday that I have nothing planned, I might just sit it out and enjoy the nice weather here in Bern. Let's see....

I always see lots of old people when hiking, might it be because up in the mountains Switzerland is still the country they know? Might it be an escape from a fast moving world that they don't fully understand? Btw. just in case you ever go hiking in Switzerland, hikers ALWAYS great each other. 

Loved the scenery today.

 Switzerland in one picture. Cows and mountains.. that's about right.

 I present to you the wanderer.

Once the way markers that mark the routes go from yellow to white-red-white you know shit is about to get real. Yellow is for a normal hiking path, red-white-red for a more challenging mountain hike path.

 Just a small chapel for the mountain farmers.

My view when I had lunch. I love it when you come around a corner and suddenly you have this view. 

See the snow capped mountains all the way in the back? I have been waiting to see them ever since I started hiking. Today I finally got a glimpse. Hope to see more of them soon. 

have a great day. 

89/356: Trans Swiss Trail Stage 15: Schangnau - Sörenberg

It was another stunning late summer day so I had no choice but to continue my hike across Switzerland. 

I have now finally reached the next Canton (State) after hiking across Bern for all the previous stages. To be fair though, Bern is one of the biggest Cantons of Switzerland. Not only did I leave Bern behind but I also felt like I crossed into a whole new landscape. The scenery up to this point was dominated by soft rolling hills and valleys. Now I seem to have reached a rougher area. The mountains are not overgrown anymore but the rock is exposed. 

The guide said that the hike would take about six hours. I did it in five, and that includes a 30 minute lunch break. I don't know why but I always get a big satisfaction about being faster than the guidebook expects. It was another 800 meter ascend but spread over a much wider area so it wasn't bad at all. 

The hike started off a little rocky, I thought that I had missed a connecting bus to Schangnau because my train was a few minutes late. After being annoyed for a little (there is only one bus an hour), I realized that I had looked at the schedule of Saturday.... yeah I got on the bus 10 minutes later. 

Right now I am really tired but my feet and legs feel surprisingly well, might it be that I am adjusting to all this walking? Let's hope so, I want to go again tomorrow! I want to make the best of my stay at home holidays. 

 The view close to Sörenberg, today's destination. I will probably cross one of those ridges tomorrow.

 The start of the hike.. keep that mountain in the distance in mind.

 beautiful scenery today.

 ...oh got a little closer to that mountain from two pics above.

 Sometimes you have to turn around and see where you came from to appreciate what you have achieved and where you are going... this is true in hiking as in life in general... ohhhh so deep!

 Yeah, that mountain from the second picture? I was now on the other side of it...

After nearly 19km in 5h I think this beer was well deserved!

keep walking.