F- This Weather, I'm Out

In the name of all things that are holy (it is Easter after all), I need some sun. The temperature has not broken about 43 degrees since, oh last July. We have not had a proper sunny day since, oh last April.

For gods sake people, it snowed today.

I may cry while writing this because I am a giant, whining baby........And I am cold.

In other news, Dave going to Vegas next week for a "conference". He invited me actually. He has his own room for 5 nights at the Venetian, it will be 85 degrees and sunny, and a bunch of our friends will be there - cool right?

Not really. I can handle Vegas for a weekend, and generally by Sunday I am wondering whether we can get an earlier flight home to get the hell out of that place. Plus there is the whole expensive ticket from London, jet lag, lack of good running routes, etc.

After all, I am in EUROPE! I can go to Vegas anytime when I am back in the U.S. So I declined Dave's offer and booked a trip to Biarritz, France and San Sebastian, Spain for a week instead. I was hoping to lay low, run, surf, eat well, be a tourist - sounds nice right? Yeah well the weather in all of Europe has been really unseasonably cold this year. It will only be about 55 degrees and rainy next week during my trip to France and Spain. Noooooooooooooo.

Did you all break out your World's Smallest Violin for me? I certainly hope so.

Anyway, I am leaving tomorrow morning for Biarritz. I am taking the train the whole way because I don't think I can deal with a crowded airport on a holiday weekend. On Wednesday, I'll take the bus from Biarritz to San Sebastian and I plan to stay untill Saturday. I'll let you know how it goes. I still hope to surf (though I will be wearing an exceptionally think wetsuit).

Pray for sun!

Things I'll Miss About London

With just about 2 months to go until we move back home to Palo Alto, I am starting to feel a bit melancholy about it all. We have had one hell of trip these last 2 years, and it is sad to think it is almost over. Though, the weather lately here in London is making our upcoming departure a little easier to digest - mother effer can it please break 40 degrees at some point in the next month. PLEASE.

Here are a few things I realized I am going to miss, some big and some small:

British Eggs
Yes eggs. Unless you get pastured farm eggs, you have no idea what I am talking about. The eggs here are divine, with bright orange yolks (none of that yellow crap) and a rich, fatty flavor that I effing love. Two soft cooked eggs in Ramen noodles is the most divine dinner when your eggs are so good. And don't even get me started on all the omegas and vitamins in these things...... 

Cheese
Oh the horrors of pasteurization! They make some damn good cheeses here. And thanks to less corporate-favoring, and more small farm friendly food regulations; there are a ton of tiny producers here making heavenly cheese. And don't forget the imported fromage - France is only a few miles away, after all! Remember people - cheddar is not orange! 

Restaurants
Determining where to go for dinner each night involves consulting my extensive restaurant list, consisting of word-or-mouth and Time Out recommendations. You can get just about any type of food in the world within a 15-minute Tube ride of our flat (except Mexican, don't get me started on the state of Mexican food in London). And we eat out A LOT given our dorm-sized fridge and the fact that I work from home......gotta get out gotta get out gotta get out. 

The Tube
I could never have a car again and be perfectly happy. Taking the Tube is cheap convenient, good for your health (aside from the GERMS), and fun. Taking the Tube also means you and your friends can meet for cocktails after work, drink all you want, and no one has to drive home. I may be a serious alcoholic by the time I leave, but I won't have a DUI or will I have nailed pedestrians with a heavy vehicle while drunk. 

Friends
Goes without saying. It's sometimes the people you meet that make places so memorable. That is true here for sure, because it sure-as-fuck is not the weather that makes this place special.

Shopping
I love the non-High Street tiny designers, art galleries, and boutiques in London. The barrier to entry for a small business (be it a cafe or a clothing designer) seems much lower in London, compared to the US especially. Those tiny unique sops are what make London so fun to wander around. You never know what you are going to find.


So while I find myself HATING the cold and missing the Nor Cal sun, mountains, the smell of eucalyptus trees, sweating, good wine at bars, and Sammy; I know I will be there soon!

So you will catch me eating eggs and cheese with friends on the Tube on the way to go shopping. Or something......

Best Facebook Post Ever

This is what a friend posted on Facebook in response to a discussion about a foot injury as a result of running (specifically metatarsalgia, DON'T ever get it). I found her words to be loaded with truth, but then - I find just about everything this woman writes to be loaded with truth: 

• Me: Oh man that sounds like what I had FOREVER - metatarsalgia. Ice, massage, cocktail, repeat.

• Finny: I'm going to go look that up. Meanwhile, I've been RICEing like a muther. Where the C stands for Cocktail. Fuck compression - that's for sissies.

The Secret to Happiness found in Sweden (Country #17)

Hej Hej 
This is the standard Stockholm greeting  pronounced, "Hey Hey". It is weird to walk into a bar or restaurant and have people calling, "HEY" out to you at you all the time. I kept wanting to answer, "WHAT"?

Why go to Stockholm, you ask? Well, why not. I found some cheap tickets and a *somewhat* cheap hotel (nothing is really cheap in Sweden). And Sweden is part of transit-friendly Scandinavia, so you know you won't need a rental car. With that, we were off for a long weekend to the land of socialism, Swedish meatballs, and blonde hair.

Oh and Arctic coldness, like January in Chicago-cold. If I had ta-tas, I would have frozen my ta-tas off there. At least it was blissfully sunny, which I learned makes a huge difference to a faux-Londoner like me who really hasn't seen the sun for months. The cold isn't quite so bad under a bright blue sky.

What to Do - Or Not Do
Stockholm doesn't have a ton of traditional "tourist attractions", which was nice. There wasn't pressure to SEE and DO everything. We mostly just walked around the city; through the old town, past the Nobel Museum, along the icy canals, through the shopping area, around the university.......everywhere.

Douche.

OK this was part was effing cool. We went to the Vasa Museum, sort of accidentally - as in, hey there's a museum over there. Let's go. The Vasa Museum contains a giant historic ship (that sank on it's maiden voyage but was recovered), the bones of the people that sank with it, and some interesting exhibits about what it was like to work and live on a ship at that time. Let me summarize, life was not pretty backthen.

Anyway, the ship sank in 1628 and was salvaged from the bottom of Stockholm harbor in 1961. As in, it was pulled up practically in one gigantic piece. It lives in the Vasa Museum now. The ship is like 98% original thanks to its preservation in the cold, brackish water in the harbor over all those years. We were in here for a while, it was pretty damn cool and we are geeky over shit like this.

I look so happy, geez.

Better.

Oh man, this was my bad. We went to some sort of museum of Swedish life or something. It was like a sad V&A museum, and the V&A isn't all THAT great. After 5 minutes, Dave gave me 10 more minutes to see the rest of the place, including the audio tour. He was not impressed. Well at least it was......well......warm in the museum.

King So-and-So, the caption below him says "Be Swedish".

Actually Stockholm itself is friendly, easy to get around, and everyone speaks English. I think just walking around was my favorite thing that we did there.

More cruising the city.

And Finally......The Secret to Happiness
Perhaps it is the fish. After all, fish oil is good for your brain and health and such. Dave looks really happy there, or maybe it's just the wine.

3 kinds of herring, my Grandpa Glaser would be so proud.

Or Maybe......
Perhaps happiness lies in the redic social benefits that Sweden has. Man, if I was ever to have a baby - I would move here (that is a lie, I'd die of cold). These dads are so involved it is REMARKABLE to see. Perhaps it is because of this:

• Parents receive 480 days leave for each child. Of this, 60 days is reserved for each parent, while the remaining 360 can be shared between the two parents as they choose. For most parents, 390 days of the shared leave is paid at "sick-pay" level, which is set at around 80% of their salary up to a maximum of £2,553 a month. The remaining 90 days is paid at a "minimum" level of £16.70. If the second partner takes more than the minimum 60 days, each parent receives an additional "gender equality bonus" of £4.64 a day.

Armies of dad's pushing strollers, WOW.

And the Real Secret to Happiness in Sweden
LONG UNDERWEAR under everything. Seriously, my purple, German long undies rocked that country. I walked around in the 20 degree-weather and I was "comfortable" (not crying). I may start wearing these babies around London under my clothes - all the time. Dave is a lucky, lucky man.

Looking good, I was so not meant for cold temperatures. Nice socks Dave.

Skiing in Switzerland is the Shiznit (Country#16)

That's right mo-fos. We went skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland. Home of the Matterhorn, for those of you that don't know. And it was awesome! Shall we list the reasons for awesomness, yes we shall:

• You get to ski in two countries. Our ski-passes were good in Switzerland at Zermatt and in Italy at Cervino and Valtournenche.
• It is a cool crowd, skiing is religion here. OK there were a lot of Bogner-wearing, fur-collared douchebags; but overall people of ALL ages were considerate, skilled skiers. You wouldn't believe the people I skied behind thinking they are in their 20s, and when they turn around - they are like 70. Dave was checking out old ladies all day.
• These Swiss are uber-linguists. Everyone spoke Italian, German, English, and French. I fit right in (that is a lie) thanks to my recent German and French lessons. I made reservations and ordered food without significant levels of grunting and pointing.
• No driving. This is why you don't get many Europeans in Tahoe. You cannot properly apres-ski if you have to drive home. And the Europeans love their apres-ski more than the ski, as demonstrated by all manner of lovely bars to choose from on your ski home at the end of the day. OMG there was even a Champagne-only bar. I love Zermatt.
• The Matterhorn. Seeing it in-person (and not just at Disneyland) was really super cool. Check it out in the photos that follow.

I lost my favorite hat (there) that I got from J.B. like 20 years ago. Boooooo.

And don't think it was sunny everyday, because it wasn't.

Shall we just ski to Italy then, maybe it is warmer there.

 
And how could I forget to mention the food: all forms of meat, raclette, fondue, local Valais wines, weissbier...... Also, don't forget that you can SKI TO ITALY, so the Italian food on the mountain and in the towns will bring tears of happiness to your eyes.

It is possible to get fat while skiing 6 hours per day?

Yes it is, but oh so worth it. See how ecstatic I am.

Dave is effing lucky I love to ski, because it really could have gone another way. I HATE to be cold - as in, I despise anything less than about 55 degrees. Hence, I will be quite happy to leave London and move back to balmy Northern California. Anyway, to ensure I will enjoy I my ski experience and won't complain *too* much, here is what I wear to ski on a somewhat windy day in the 20s.

Ski jacket, hat, scarf, jog bra, 4 shirts, ski pants, 3 pants, 2 socks.

Yup, all of that - plus boot warmers. I belong in Hawaii, that is what it comes down to. But, as I mentioned, this ensemble ensures my (and Dave's) ski-happiness and warmth.

In case you are wondering, we stayed at the Matterhorn Blick Hotel. It was a simple hotel in a perfect location in the center of Zermatt, but like everything else in Switzerland - it was EXPENSIVE. Holy crap, hold on to your credit card. And it wasn't just the hotel, we had to not look at the prices on menus for fear of going into shock. Did we just pay 27 Francs for a pizza? Yes, we did. Mother-effer that part of the trip sucked.

View from our balcony, enjoy it Dave. We'll get the bill next week, gulp.

Here is the old part of Zermatt, I heart historic villages.

I suppose we'll see you all skiing next year in Tahoe. Man that is bittersweet with memories of Zermatt still so fresh. Ski on friends!

Goin Skiing Goin Skiing Goin Skiing!

The Flying Monkeys are off to Zermatt, Switzerland tomorrow for a week of skiing. Yes an entire week of skiing, beer, German practice (Zermatt is in the area of Switzerland that speaks primarily German, rather than French), nude spa-ing, and good food.

Zermatt is NOT easy to get to from London, a short trip is not really feasible. We are flying to Geneva, then hoping a train for the 4-hour ride to Zermatt (you could fly into Zurich but it is more expensive and about the same distance from Zermatt).

Also, you cannot even book most hotels and rentals at ski resorts in Europe for less than a week, which says a lot about the humane and family-supportive vacation policy and culture. I learned in German class that the word Urlaub (holiday or vacation) doesn't even get an article, like "the holiday". This is because the Germans take several per year......it isn't "the vacation" - it is just one of many. Jerks.

As far as weather, we are expecting sun and warm temperatures the first few days with some chances for snow later in the week! We have been warned that the resort is not super snowboard friendly - so probably lots of flat spots that I will have to pull Dave over using a pole - what a weenie.

Anywho, I'll let you know how it was when we get back. xo