bike

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Greg was here to hike for a week. It’s Game On!

My friend Greg came for a visit, and he came with just one objective. To better the record of my other friend Pat M. who was here a couple months back and hiked about 50 miles with me on his 6 day visit. Greg told me that he had been training for this week by hiking up and down stairs near his house along the nearby Mississippi River, which is the closest thing they’ve got to the Swiss alps.

So, here we go. Two physically fit, adventure seeking, hiking enthusiasts going mano a mano (albeit a month or so apart) for the undisputed title of “Top Visiting Swiss Sojourner Hiking Partner”. Continue reading →

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I finished the Lausanne Triathlon! (…and came in 310th place…)

About three months ago, as incentive to keep working out, I registered for the Lausanne Triathlon. And not for one of those wimpy “sprint” triathlons, either. This one is classified as the “Olympic Distance”: 1.5 kilometer swim (in Lake Geneva); 40K bike ride; and a 10K run. It’s the same distance that Great Britain’s Browlee brothers went gold/silver in Rio.

It was a beautiful day for a race, temperatures in the high 70s, light breeze, partly cloudy. Continue reading →

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Watch me cross the Swiss / French Border 3 times in multi-modal fashion!

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it sort of fun to cross a national border? To me, its as close as most of us will ever get to the whole “that’s one small step for man…” thing that has the added benefit of not requiring one to leave the planet. Living here in Geneva, I get plenty of opportunities to cross many national borders, most frequently, from Switzerland into France, since Geneva is essentially bordered on all sides by France. (It’s weird I know, but get out a map and look at it, you’ll see what I mean.)

So I decided it’d be fun to share with you my experiences of crossing the Swiss/French border via three common transportation modes. Continue reading →

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Amster… dam, this city rocks!

I’m sometimes asked, ‘what’s your favorite European city?’. It’s a question I always have a little trouble answering. I’ve written in this blog about our adventures in places like Paris, London, Rome, Budapest, and many others. Which was my favorite? It’s a tie.

But I think I can answer this question: Where did you have the most fun? Used to be Dublin. But after visiting for five days last month, there’s a new leader in the clubhouse: Amsterdam. Here’s a look at a little of what we did. Continue reading →

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A glorious bike ride and hike, and a reunion with my 2nd grade BFF Leo!

When I found out we were relocating to Geneva, my mom said to me, “Did you know that Leo lives in Geneva?”. Leo was my best friend when our families both lived in Washington D.C. when I was 8 years old, and while we had seen each other a handful of times since (he also has a strong Minnesota connection) we hadn’t seen each other for a good 15 years or so. We recently connected and made plans for me to come out to his home and then, weather permitting, do something fun outdoors. Continue reading →