After much debate on where to go next and when, I headed back to Craftsbury for a relaxing week before heading to Europe. It was very much midwinter in Craftsbury, cold and snowy, but I can't complain as the skiing was terrific. I have found flying from the East to Europe isn't nearly as taxing as from Utah or AK unless...
The door of the plane breaks and you spend 3 extra hours on the tarmac in Newark and subsequently miss your connection in Zurich and then learn the next flight to Ljubljana isn't for another 10 hours.
But when in Zurich:
We took a fancy Swiss train into the city to pass the time. Unfortunately, it was raining so our exploration consisted of trudging from one old building to the next. We still managed to see some cool stuff and learn a thing or two.
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| Old City Zurich |
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| Looking out over the lake |
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| Grossmunster- an evangelical Protestant church dating back to 1100! |
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| St. Peter's Church-The largest clock face in Europe! |
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| Looking across the river from above |
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| The Grossmuster is a great landmark |
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| Elizabeth, excited to check things out |
Needless to say, it was a long day and we were very happy to make it to Rogla. Rogla is a weird place. It is a resort on top of a mountain that very much caters to families. It has some alpine and nordic skiing along with an alpine coaster, kids song hour, pool, gym, and other all-inclusive resort like activities. Everyone stays in little bungalows or cabins so the top of the mountain is littered with funny looking buildings. Bummer for me, ours was at the bottom so we had a serious hike to our meals. Speaking of food, while the scenery is more reminiscent of Central Europe, the food has more of an Eastern European taste. In other words, we ate a lot of mystery meats in gravy and our plates only contained shades of brown. Food aside, I think Rogla has some really nice skiing and good trails. The sun came out just in time for the races! It was freezing hard at night making our races fast and furious. It was a good reminder of how aggressive racing in Europe is compared to our dinky SuperTour circuit. That said, I was taken aback by the aggression and didn't have the races I had hoped for. There were some good moments so I'm hoping to build on my weaknesses and get better results next weekend. I am also ecstatic to be back in the warm sunny mountains after a long period of cold Midwestern racing!
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| Boys racing |
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| Taking a ride on the Alpine Coaster! |
After 2 days of racing in Rogla, we packed up and headed west. It was a long journey, but we made some neat stops on the way. We stopped at the Bled Castle, which I went to 2 years ago, but not wanting to entertain myself outside the castle walls, I went in again to check it out. It's still amazes me to think how they could have possibly built a castle on top of a cliff so many years ago. I'm sure there were a few casualties in the process.
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| Approaching the castle |
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| Looking up at the castle wall, it's really on a cliff |
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| Looking down on the lake from the safety of the castle |
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| Some fabulous views from up there |
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| Presumably how they got water |
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| Green Teamers Patrick and Elizabeth |
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| Patrick judging me for taking a selfie |
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| The non-selfie |
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| Panorama from the castle |
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| Patrick pretending he knows what to do in a church |
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| The ceiling of the mini-church in the castle had some intricate paintings |
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| Patrick demonstrating what the hole in the bench was for. |
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| Such good views |
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| Looking into the courtyard of the castle from the spy deck |
Our drive took literally all day, but it was quite scenic as we worked our way through the Alps crossing the border of Austria and Switzerland before finally arriving in Italy. It feels like a little slice of heaven here. I have to say Italy has never disappointed me so I am very much looking forward to some great days ahead!
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| Italy is the best! |
