Zürich Marathon

So this sunday I ran my second marathon. Unfortunately my training was much much lighter this year, and the weather was a bit warm for me, so my time wasn't very good, but nonetheless I enjoyed it. The first 8km (5mi) of the course was through a tunnel (roundtrip), which while initially interesting, and undeniably swiss was certainly a far cry from the hills of Hopkinton. Additionally tunnels have very much their own climate and thus whilst it was still cold outside, the tunnel was very very warm, causing everyone to sweat profusely. I particularly noticed my heart rate being unusually high for the pace. After the tunnel the course went along Lake Zürich down to a small town called Meilen and then back to the city center. There were a number of bands and sources of entertainment along the way, and the support was excellent. Quite a bit sparser than boston, but probably a good thing so you weren't encouraged to overdrink or eat. Sadly no popsicles, wellselley girls, or beer, and a much smaller expo with no particulaly good deals besides finnish toe-socks.





And as always the free video of my finish (I get in the frame around second 24)

Prague

After erin had seen the gorgeous fiscal blackhole that is switzerland we traveled to Prague, to enjoy the legendary cheapness. We thus begun in an appropriate manner taking an overnight bus (cheaper than a train or plane). We soon learned that perhaps less toxic on the wallet, taking an overnight bus is not good for sleeping, being in a good mode, or even seeing much. After no less than 4 or 5 stops we arrived in a cold damp Prague at 5am. As I had told the hostel we would not arrive until around 8 we had 3 hours to kill. Using all of our muscles but the one that counts we ended up sitting/sleeping/dying on a bench in the main train station, after getting ripped by by over $6 on an already overpriced $3 pastry (czech crowns take some time to get used to). It was the least talkative I had seen erin in my life. Likely due to the fact that the intense negativity trapped inside her, could not be expressed with a classy vocabulary.

We arrived at the Lida Guest House met Jan and Jirka and immediately proceeded to go to our beds and pass out until past 11am. We then met with rebecca grabbed lunch at Josefina cafe and explored the area near our hostel and the lesser known castle in Prague. The weather was still a bit dismal, but pleasant enough. We also managed to see the Communism museum, which was interesting as my czech historical knowledge is non-existent, but could have done much better.

On saturday I woke up a bit early to do a morning run before beginning with the day. I ran south along the river, apparently pretty close to the actual marathon course. The views were nice, and I saw many of the lower price prague hostels (if being 8km from the city is still considered prague). Then rebecca and I headed out to see one of the several defenstrations sites where a wedding (?) was taking place, then to the park north of the city, where previously a stalin statue was placed, but it was rather quickly taken down after the velvet revolution. We then went through prague castle and the Charles bridge both fantastic sites that live up to the hype, but do not really bear repeating. Then, we stumbled upon the cheapest starbucks in europe. A fantastic suprise with a bagel and cream cheese for around $3.

We then ate at U Bubevincze (sp), a fantastic restaurant with wonderfully tasty dark beer, that reminded me a little bit of rootbeer (not in flavor as much as feel, aparently made with caramel). Our trip was topped off with a silent black light theater productions of alice from alice in wonderland growing up. None of us really could say that we understood the show with some of us having much stronger opinions on that topic than others. I would venture a guess that most audiences would probably be better off going to see an opera or a show at another theater. That being said, it was certainly very very different from anything I have seen before, so were that the only criterion, then it would be worth the visit. After asking my czech coworker about it, he said in his 6 years of living in prague he never once went, and was pretty sure czechs don't go, it is just something for tourists.

The last day we lounged around a bit in the morning and then went to the English bookstore (really nice, and had a great selection of cheap books) and to the easter markets and jewish quarter.

The train back was a bit of a mess since there was construction in Austria, so the normally direct night train was now a train, bus, and then another train. I walked into one of the first class compartments to find 3 quebeckers studying in lausanne and geneva speaking in french, and we all chatted for several hours until we arrived in Linz. Where despite incredible disorganization and confusion everyone seemed to manage to get on the correct train with a place to sleep. I was quite excited when I got on the train and into Austria since I could once again utilize my german and feel at least a little bit comfortable in the country. I found the Czech republic to be a little bit uncomfortable from my lack of language skills. When I can't read or even begin to communicate in the native tongue, I just don't feel quite right. I don't like being an ugly american tourist.

Prague Weekend

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Rome

This weekend, I went to rome utilizing the first actual night train of my life (high school doesn't count), I got a sleeper car and the top bunk. I was a bit terrified at the prospect of getting robbed or not sleeping or sleeping and falling out of my bunk and falling 7 feet or so. After two tylenol pm's my fears were settled and I slept soundly until Florence, where the first batch of riders got out. From that point on I was able to just enjoy the italian countryside until rome. To my suprise the trip came with a nice little breakfast of coffee and a muffin which made the trip a bit more pleasant.

After arriving in rome, I made my way over to the Santa Maria della Vittoria (sean's parish in Rome), a wonderfully beautiful church very close to the train station. I started heading towards my hotel looking for somewhere to eat by listening in to see how many foreigners were eating there until I heard none. There I was able to get a cappucino and delicious sandwich for 3.50eu, a steal for anyone who has ever resided in swiss.

Upon finding the hotel and meeting up with rebecca we were informed that the reservation I had made had been cancelled. The website Venere.com had cancelled it, but decided it was not worthwhile to inform me. According to my booking website, I am still staying there. Apparently it is not an entirely uncommon practice for hotels to get better offers and then give up your room, not cool. We were able to easily find another hotel, that was a bit more expensive but turned out to be quite nice

We then decided it would be best to try and get the Sunday mass tickets from the vatican which required waiting in numerous poorly labeled lines. We eventually got to the front and met the swiss guardmen (from St. Gallen) and were able to pick up the tickets. The group behind us had DRIVEN (with a car) from poland (~24 hours of driving), but had not reserved tickets so after waiting in the line for about an hour they were told tough luck.

The vatican day mass was beautiful with thousands or tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square enjoying it. Much of the ceremony was in italian, a language that despite my attempts over the last several days, I have been unable to master enough to comprehend what was going on. Apparently we even mad it onto swiss TV, twice; but til now I have been unable to find the clip.

We went out to several bars in rome, where I proceeded to do as I always do and horribly emasculate myself with Spritzes (white wine, aperol, spritzy stuff, delicious) and a number of milkshakish/pina colada combos, polished off with chasing rum with pear juice. I also managed to lose/misplace/have stolen 40eu, but my sugar high was too strong to truly miss it.

We ate at quite a few delicious restaurants, and saw many of the sights by wandering around on foot. The most notable to me at least was the little island in the river just south of the main city. Laying on it shores with an ice/cream/coffee beverage and just enjoying the sun without being hassled was delightful.

All in all a wonderful trip, I can't wait to get back, but there are many many places I need to see first.

Easter in Rome

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