..you're only lost if you know where you're going..
Posts tagged shopping
Adapting to Whistler
0By now, Jess and I are pretty settled in our lives here in Whistler.
We arrived in Whistler almost five months ago. While we’d booked accommodation ahead of time with a little bit of advice that a person we’d never met had given us, we didn’t particularly know much about the place. Sure, we knew it was one of the best ski resorts in the world. We knew the bike park was going to be awesome too, but we didn’t know how to get to our accommodation from the bus terminal, or where the nearest shops were.
Having spent 3 months backpacking beforehand, I guess we just thought that we would “figure it out when we get there”, and in reality that is exactly what we have done.
While we are learning things about Whistler all the time, it is a really cool feeling to know things about a completely different place in the world. We saw a lot of things in Europe, but we didn’t spend a great deal of time in any one place.
We are at the point where we really have some normality now. We know what time the buses come, where to go shopping, and what to wear when the weather is indecisive. We can walk to places without having to think about which street to take so as not to become lost. Just like we had in Adelaide, we have here “our” places to relax, sit and talk to eachother. We no longer need to look for a nice spot, we know where it is. If we are buying lunch, we know exactly where to go for a good deal and some nice food.
What we have in Whistler is not a life that we will have forever, but while we are in this situation, it is enjoyable. It makes me proud that when our friends come over towards the end of the year, we will be able to show them around and give them some “local knowledge”.
For those that aren’t aware, I am no longer a mountain bike guide, but I am now working in IT, seeing more of the mountain than ever before. This means 4 long days (for me) – 8am until 6pm, but then a nice three day weekend, usually spending all three days riding as much as I can.
Jess’ riding is improving in leaps and bounds. Every time I go riding with her she does something else to impress me.
The bike park closes on October 11 (not including the staff day on October 12, at which point our lives will pretty much be working and socializing. The snow is already falling on the peaks as we speak, but it won’t be usable until November, so we will probably head down to Vancouver to catch up with a new friend, and to see the city that we were too tired to see when we first arrived in British Columbia.
We will upload some photos in the next few days, but for now, I have to do some work!
A rough night in Milan
1The cheapest destination to head out of Switzerland and back to Udine was via train to Milan. We had made the decision some time ago that we wanted to stay with my Italian family one last time before we left Europe so it was just a matter of finding a cheap and relatively hassel free means of transport back. Milan provided us with the opportunity to see another Italian city and break up our travel, whilst still taking us in the direction of Udine.
Our 5:45am train trip wasn’t the greatest of starts to the day but it was a cheap ride out of a country that has generally very expensive train travel so we were happy to deal with the lack of sleep. The early start also allowed us to spend nearly a full day sightseeing, sleep the night and then make another early (but not so early) start the next day to catch the train to Udine.
We had heard mixed things about Milan so we didn’t know what to expect. We were apprehensive upon our arrival but pleasantly surprised by the grand central station that greeted us. Since we aren’t keen shoppers there were not many items on our ‘things to do in Milan’ list. After catching the metro to our accommodation to drop off our bags we headed out to see the Duomo, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and the Castello Sforzesco. It was for the best that we didn’t want to see a lot as Jase’s heel became really sore. After a sit down in the park we headed back to our hostel and called it a day.
We headed out for dinner and awesome gelati but the real adventure of the night didn’t begin until our apparently successful business man of a roommate returned to the hostel drunk. Thankfully I slept through this first part but Jase informs me that the man came in at about 11pm and then proceeded to drink, take tablets, listen to the same song repeatedly and cry – yes, cry. You can imagine Jase’s concern that this guy was going to kill himself, or worse, kill us then himself, so he went to tell the owners. They weren’t too interested in the matter and assured Jase that the man was a happy and successful banker who practically runs the banks. Like any hotshot banker spends his business trips sharing a room with backpackers in a one star hostel! Jase returned to the room, got his earplugs and saw a brief glimpse of sleep long after the drunk did.
Then it was my turn. One in the morning rolled around and I was awoken by the sound of choking and moaning. I think with our time in hostels we’ve become fairly tolerant of snoring, but this guy took snoring to a whole other level. For around an hour I lay in bed with the pillow over my head, wishing to go and smother it over the man’s face. Thankfully the earplugs were working for Jase, and I eventually got back to sleep. And in case you were wondering, Jase contemplated waking me up to give me earplugs too but thought it better to let me sleep… he is always looking out for me.
When it eventually came the time for us to get up we were pretty tired, but the image of my beautiful cousin Serena waiting at the train station kept us going.
The Lonely Planet guide says that you either love or hate Milan but I disagree. Sure, we hated our night’s sleep however perhaps because we didn’t fully explore all that Milan has to offer I’ve left the city feeling fairly indifferent to it all.
Beautiful Porsches and Parks in Stuttgart
0For me, our trip to Stuttgart was about three things; killing some time between our stay in Amsterdam and arrival in Domat/Ems (Switzerland), breaking up the potentially long journey between the two cities, and the Porsche Museum. However, from the moment we walked out of the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof I had a feeling the short stay we had planned was going to turn into something more than I had intended.
Our trip to the Porsche Museum did not disappoint. While I was only going because Jase wanted to visit, I did enjoy the day. The museum was really well done. Aesthetically, the building itself and overall design and layout of the displays looked amazing. Of course the cars were also nice to look at, but I really appreciated the blend of technical information and history behind the company and the people. It was very inspiring to read the story of Ferdinand Porsche and his son Ferry, how both of them had dreams that they were going to see through to the end. Their determination and passion came through in all the work Porsche has done.
The two great surprises of Stuttgart for me were the shopping mall and the parks. For some reason I envisaged Stuttgart to be a small town, nothing really to do other than go visit one building with lots of Porsches inside or another with a lot of Mercedes. I was happily proven wrong when we spent the day walking around a huge shopping district and then sat in the adjacent park on luscious green grass, soaking up the rays of sunshine that filtered through the clouds. After our visit to the Porsche Museum we once again spent some time in the outdoors, exploring a fantastic park that included an amazing playground – one which would certainly have been pulled down or at least made ‘more safe’ if in Australia.
I guess it is always the way, but it has taken me these two months to really find myself as a traveller. In the beginning I struggled with what we were doing and the concept of what the typical Aussie backpacker is ‘meant’ to do while travelling. While this trip has always been about seeing the sites for me, it has also confirmed the type of people Jase and I are. So regardless of whether or not it is the ‘thing to do’, we have been most happy on this trip spending time in the great outdoors – even if that is just a small park to the side of the city.
As we leave Stuttgart and enter the final month of our European trip I am happy with what has been and what is to come. Visiting family and friends and spending a bit more time off the beaten track will truly be a special, and a more ‘us’, way of ending our trip.
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