Geneva, Switzerland to Seyssel, France 42 Miles, Ascending 2600 ft, Descending 3000 ft I’ve been half-stung by a bee and fully-stung by a nettle, went full-rudder on a rocky single-track, pushed up a triple-chevron hill that turned out to be off-route, ate a 7-hours-old bread-meet-cheese sandwich on a bench in the middle of a corn …
The scale reads in kilograms which makes it initially seem like we both lost a ton of weight hiking around the Mont Blanc massif, but sadly a simple Google conversion tells us that Gina has gained 3 pounds on this epically strenuous trekking vacation. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the bottomless cappuccinos …
Day 8 Trekking Trient to Argentiere 10 Miles, 2000 ft Ascending, 1000 ft Descending “There will be a lovely quiche, a nice patio, and views.” These are the words Tour Leader Jen has just spoken and we are all ears. I’m not sure one needs anything more motivating than that short phrase to bear another …
Day 7 Trekking Champex-Lac to Trient 10 Miles, 2300 ft Ascending, 2500 ft Descending I’ve deduced on this trekking trip around Mont Blanc that “steep” has multiple definitions, most of which are completely disagreeable to the human body. There’s regular steep, which means I will huff and puff and perhaps mutter a bit under my …
Day 6 Trekking Arp Nouvea to Champex-Lac 9 Miles, 2500 ft Ascending, 3300 ft Descending If I had a Powerade and a Magnum bar right now, I could rule the world. Much to my dismay, only one is available and probably not the one that’s best for me in my current state of heat exhaustion …
05 Sep 2011 Basel, Switzerland to Staufen, Germany (60 Km) Switzerland to Germany. Germany to Switzerland. Switzerland to Germany. We are like a ping pong ball in a table tennis match, bouncing back and forth between countries. It’s a little sad that there’s no one at the borders, checking our credentials, stamping our passports. But …
04 Sep 2011 Waldshut, Germany to Basel, Switzerland (70 Km) If one can smoke in the lobby, then I see no problem with one lighting up their butane camp stove in the room. This is necessary because I need coffee and our accommodation does not include breakfast. In fact, our accommodation does not include much …
03 Sep 2011 Stafa, Switzerland to Waldshut, Germany (91 Km) Time to strike out, time to leave behind the pampering, the lovely accommodations and meals and conversations, the generosity of friends Monique and Matthias who took us in, took us out, and ensured that we had a truly wonderful time in Stafa and Davos, time …
02 Sep 2011 Davos to Stafa (By Train) Sheila is my favorite Swiss dog. She is brave, loyal, spunky, and maybe, just maybe, a little bit crazy. She welcomed us back to Stafa with frenzied, ferocious barking, as any good guard dog would. After 3 hours on trains, we likely smelled like a pair of …
01 Sep 2011 Davos (2 km by Foot) Computer. Internet. Lists. Notebooks. Maps. Just another day at the office. [And for anyone wondering why we’re not out hiking those Davos peaks, (a) it’s raining and (b) we can hardly walk after the last two days.]