Europe is much further north than the US. I suppose I knew this before moving here, but I didn’t realize how much further north it really is. In fact, Bristol is further north than Calgary. Understandably, we tried to find somewhere warm for a city break in February. We chose Alicante, Spain because the flights were cheap (under $70 round-trip) and we naively hoped that it would be warm. It wasn’t. That isn’t to say that the weather was bad; it was nicer than Bristol, where the day before leaving for Spain we woke up to 4 inches of snow. This was the only snow we got in Bristol all winter and it shut the entire city down. I’m not sure that Bristol owns any snowplows. While we had to wear jeans and jackets in Alicante to stay warm, it was a welcome change from dreary, drizzly England.
Our friends Luke and Gina, who also work for Epic in Europe (Luke in Bristol, Gina in the Netherlands), joined me and Linnea in Alicante. We’ve known Luke and Gina since our Madison days. It was nice to arrive in Bristol and immediately had a handful of friends, but having built-in friends presents its own challenges. It means that it’s very easy to not meet any locals. Without making a conscious effort to meet Bristolians, you probably won’t. My conscious effort, as it was in Melbourne, is playing basketball, which has worked so far. Anyway, the 24 hours that we were in Alicante was spent wandering through the city, eating and drinking, and removing cobwebs from Spanish-speaking part of my brain. I was hesitant to use my Spanish at first because I hadn’t used it in several years, but I slowly gained confidence throughout the day. When I studied abroad in college, one of my favorite things about visiting Spain was getting to speak Spanish. I’m pleased that I can still manage basic communication, especially considering that Linnea and I will soon be in South America for a couple of weeks for my sabbatical.
On our way to a work trip to Helsinki, Linnea and I spent a weekend in Amsterdam. Epic allows us to attach personal travel to work travel as long as we pay the difference in flight costs. Because you have to fly through Amsterdam to get to Helsinki from Bristol, we figured we would go to Amsterdam early. I had never been to Amsterdam, and I learned that I had been missing out. Something about the canals that run through the city is very enchanting. Everywhere you turn, there is a lovely view. And while Dutch food isn’t much to write home about, Dutch pancakes are a revelation. It’s somewhere between a pancake as I know it and a crepe, and can be served sweet or savory. We spent the first day in Amsterdam with Gina (yes, same Gina), who lives an easy train ride away in Den Bosch. After a guided walking tour of the city in the morning, Gina showed us around for few hours before we were sightseeing’ed out, which meant it was time to play cards at the local brewery. The next day, Linnea and I spent another day sightseeing, highlighted by a visit to the Anne Frank House. I’m not a big museum person, but I highly recommend a visit.
From Amsterdam we flew to Helsinki. I don’t have much to say about Helsinki because I spent most of my time there working, but I did find time for a night at the sauna with some coworkers. This particular sauna is on the shore of the Baltic Sea, so you can go from the sauna to the sea via a hole cut in the ice. The freezing water is both painful and invigorating, and after a couple of sauna-to-sea cycles I find that I’m pleasantly exhausted. This sauna is attached to a restaurant, so we didn’t have to brave the cold after showering and changing to find dinner and a glass of wine. If you ever find yourself in Helsinki, look up Löyly.
Not a week after getting back to Bristol from Helsinki was Linnea’s birthday. To celebrate, we flew to Switzerland. I have family friends in Zug (between Zurich and Lucerne) who offered us a place to stay. We were lucky to stay with them because they are wonderful hosts, fun people, and they have a hot tub overlooking the mountains. These friends, Anne and Rob, lived across the street from me when I was born. They soon moved to Chicago and then Switzerland, living there long enough now to be citizens. Their move to Switzerland was originally a “two year assignment”; I blame them for my parents worrying that I would never come back when I accepted my offer to move to Australia. Tongue in cheek blame aside, we had a wonderful 4 day weekend in Switzerland. Linnea and I skied at Flumserberg, a small, nearby ski resort, on our first day. I guess when I say small I should really say “small.” It’s small relative to what else is available in Switzerland, but it blows almost all other skiing I have done out of the water. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself - while it was beautiful scenery and wonderful skiing, the best was yet to come. The next day we had a relaxing, touristy day of lunch in Lucerne and dinner with Anne and Rob in Zurich. Days where I don’t do much other than sleep in, relax, and wander around a city used to stress me out. I used to feel like I needed to take advantage of every minute of traveling. I have now realized that it’s okay to take an occasional day off, especially when preparing for a massive ski day. Anne, Rob, Linnea, and I hit the road early to beat the crowds to the slopes at Laax, a spectacular ski resort about 90 minutes from Zug. Despite several YouTube instructional videos the night before and useful tips from everyone in the group, I started and ended the day as the worst skier of the bunch. I already knew Linnea was much better than me, and I confirmed what I remembered from skiing with Anne and Rob in 2011 that they are too. However, I am good enough that we were able to ski everything we wanted to ski. After warming up with a few easy runs, we worked our way to the highest peak on the mountain, which meant we got to ski down a glacier. After a wonderful day of skiing in the sunshine, we watched the sunset from the hot tub with a beer in hand. To make a very Swiss day even more Swiss, we had raclette for dinner. Look it up if you’re unfamiliar - it’s delightful. Our last day was spent exploring Zug with Anne and Rob as tour guides. When I say “last day” I mean “last day of the trip.” Assuming they’ll have us, I’m sure we’ll be back.