Adventure 31.0: Hiking Santis

September 24, 2011

Santis is the biggest mountain close to me at 2500 meters (8200 feet). I've have been waiting all year to hike it. Some people from my softball team were going, so I thought it was a good idea to go as a group. Turns out it was an excellent idea; I would have never made it by myself. Why? Because apparently I have developed a little fear of heights.

The beginning wasn't so bad. I did realize however, that I am so out of shape for hiking. I really haven't done much hiking since May. Therefore, I was pulling up the rear. About 1/3 of the way up I started to get nervous. This only increased my breathing and made my legs shake. This is not good when you are standing on a 1 foot wide trail with a rock wall at your right and a straight drop for 100's of feet to your left. I was clinging to anything I could grab. I was also glad to be in the back where my friends couldn't see me freaking out. I took my time and thankfulyl my pitcher was nice enough to hang back with me while I creeped my

way up the mountain.

I got to the first summit; a little house and restaurant. We stopped and had a drink. I had some hot chocolate. This point is about 2/3 up to the top. The next part was easy going. And then came another steep narrow ledge part. This time my coach was behind me. As we zig zagged up the mountain, we hear "Achtung!" aka "Watch out". Rocks were tumbling down at my head. I slammed myself tight against the side of the mountain as rocks, some bigger than softballs, tumble past my head. One hit the backpack of my coach. A rock falling from 50 ft could probably do some damage. So after this I was really nervous.

Then comes the worst part of all. A rock face at a very very slight slope. For this there were metal plates stuck in the rocks and a cable on each side. The steps were on average 2 feet apart. Now for anyone who knows me, 2 feet is about the length of my ENTIRE LEG. So these steps were a bit of a challange. I looked at my feet the entire time and did not look up or down. The final scare came when I guy, in a hurry to get down, slipped in from of me. Thankfully he caught himself before hitting me. I screamed some nasty words at him. He apologized and I'm sure realized that I was a basket case.

So I did make it to the top, obviously. And this was my reaction:

Yes this is me hugging the ground. I thought people were being funny when they did this in the movies. No this was real. I could not have been happier to be on solid WIDE ground with no chance of falling rocks.

Adventure 30.0: Velo Fahren in Deutschland - Konstanz nach Meerburg

September 24, 2011

We started our bike tour in Konstanz on the Bodensee and ended in Meersburg with a nice big juicy steak. I would never buy a steak in Switzerland; it costs to much. But in Germany, the price is not too bad. We saw massive apple farms and its picking season.

Total distance: 56kilometers

Total time: 8 hours with eating

The way home: By Ferry

  

Bird houses on the side of the moutain

  

Adventure 29.0: The 178th Oktoberfest

September 19 & 20, 2011

You have all heard of Oktoberfest, but did you know it starts in September? It has been going on for 178 years! That is increadible. I just had to go check this out. It was much large than I imagined and it has more than just beer drinking. They have rides, games, and some delicious foods. Most of the women wear a dindl and many men where lederhosen. In Munich they serve 6 types of beer and they are all brewed in Munich. No other types of beer can be served and there is only 1 tent that serves something besides beer...the wine tent.

Lets look at some statistics for Oktoberfest:
 - Every year some 6.6 million people attended in 2010 (these are not all beer drinkers, many families attend)
 - There are 14 gigantic tents that hold a total of 100,000 people
 - 505,000 pieces of chicken are ate (2010)
 - 84 cows are ate
 - It employs 8,000 people
 - 56,000 pig hauxn (knuckles)
And last but not least....How much beer is drunk? Surprisingly not that much 7.1(2010_ million liters. That is only a little more than 1 per person.
So lets look at some photos:

 Shooting for stuffed animals. The crew I was with hit 1 out of 10. I was 5 for 5.

 Roasting fish and  you can take measure your alcohol content.

 These heart are everywhere

Swine Hauxn

 This was cool. Each type of beer had a horse and buggy.

Adventure 28.0: Bringing the Cows Down

Septmeber 17, 2011

In Switzerland, they take the cows up to the Alps for the summer. In the fall, they bring them back down. In many places they have a festival for this. I went to one in Urnash. It is very traditional. The men bringing the cows down are in traditional dress. The townsfolk give them drinks of wine or Apenzeller on the way down.

Some even bring goats down. The goats are brought down by the children. The best cows have the biggest bells. These bells can be worth thousands of dollars and are many times handed down through generations.

I walked a few kilometers with the cows and the Alplers laughed at me for this. It takes 4 or 5 hours to bring the cows down. The first cows reached town at 9:30 AM. This is an early morning. It also isn't easy to bring the cows down. They fight, they try to run (which could cause a stampeed), they go in other farmers fields, and sometimes they even go into random barns (see photo below). Every time they get out of line, the farmers beat them with sticks or grab them by the horns to stop them. This is so funny!

Adventure 27.0: Softball in Switzerland

September 2011,

I've been playing softball in Switzerland all summer. Softball is not very popular here. In fact, they have 8 adult teams in all of Switzerland. I had more teams in my league when I played in Colorado Springs. Many teams import a pitcher from the US or Canada to pitch for them all summer. Yes, we had an American pitch too, from Ohio. Unfortunately she's a Buckeye fan. Yes, that is a strike against her, but she still cool.

The good news: we made the play-offs! The bad news: we lost in the first round. So we took 3rd place for the year. Not too bad.

It is quite interesting playing here. The rules are in English. And the practices are in Swenglish. I say this because there are so many English words used in the German sentences, that most Americans and Canadians would understand what was going on even if they didn't know any German.

So here are a few pics from the first 2 weekends in September.

Right - The field in Luzern.
Left - A single right over the second baseman ~
It has always been my specialty.

 

Right - Our field - we have the nicest one in the league.
Left - Me on third base.

Run faster me, run faster!

Adventure 26.0: Canal Du Midi

August 14-22, 2011
I spent this week cruising down the canal in a house boat with 5 friends. It was awesome. Here's the highlights:
   - My German improved...I think.
   - I got a great tan.
   - We tasted great wines of which I brought a case home.
   - I urinated more times in the woods than I can count - more on urinating later...
   - It was interesting to cruise through the locks.
   - We spent a day in the Mediteranean.
   - We did lots of bike riding.

Now for some pictures and commentation:

The boat - which was wreck on two occassions and not by me.

 This was wine country as most of France is. The evenings on the canal were spectacular.

 The locks - on the right a series of 6 locks. On the left the boat with the crazy Italiens. They kept yelling at each other and we must have seen them 10 time in the course of the trip. 

Chillin' on the boat roof

So this picture on the right is a toilet. Seriously! They have many of these in France; they also have the ones we are used to in America. As most of Europe knows and I have learned first hand, the French are dirty people. This toilet is further proof. You have to put you feet on the feet prints, squat, and let 'er rip. So I figured I should at least try this before judging the French once again as dirty. This was the first and last time I will ever use a toilet like this. I will opt for the weeds. This is what happens: As you pee, it splashed off of the basin and all over you feet. I was wearing flip flops and had to was my feet and shoes when I was finished. As least it doesn't splat in the weeds; the pee has a softer landing. And one more thing to add: Always carry your own toilet paper with you. I don't think they know what it is in France.

Wine Tasting at Chateau de Paraza. As you can tell, we bought a lot of wine there.