Not feelin it

Guys - I'm in a running slump.  Big time.  My last strong run of any significant distance was way back in the middle of August.  I have been planning to run the Lausanne half marathon (recap from last year!) next month, but given my lack of training, I'm not sure if that is a good idea at this point or not.  Any advice on getting out of this funk?

Return to the motherland

Bonjour all!  I traveled to Singapore for work this past week, and it was so great to be back in Asia!  During my time outside the office, I ate as much delicious food as I could stuff into my stomach, spent time reconnecting with friends, and tried to avoid the haze.

Weekend in Wengen

After spending much of the summer traipsing throughout Europe, it was at the top of Rochers de Naye with my mom that I realized that I hadn't spent any time exploring Switzerland this summer!  So I checked my calendar to see where I could squeeze in some hiking before summer left us for good (btw - it's officially done) and booked an overnight trip to explore Wengen!

Wengen is a favorite of my friend Cassie's parents, so I invited her and the rest of the Zurich crew to meet me there.  Honestly, as a single girl living abroad, this has often been the best way to organize amazing trips.  Decide somewhere to go, book it, and then tell other people to come!  In fact, my first time to my beloved Ho Chi Minh City was organized in this way!  I booked the trip, told Brian and Stephanie to join, and we had a blast.  The thing is - if you are always just waiting around for other people to plan trips and invite you along, you will probably be waiting for a long time.  Best to take matters into your own hands!

So last weekend, me, Cassie, Paul, Tristen, Mallory, and Keith all met up for a Swiss hiking adventure!  The last time that me, Cassie, and Mal were all together was a year ago in London, so it was so much fun to hang out again!!  The three of us worked together in Nashville, and now all of us live in Switzerland!  Small world, right?

We all took early trains to meet up in Lauterbrunnen to do a short hike (trail 49) before lunchtime.  Almost immediately, the trail became straight incline, and the uphill climbing never stopped.  Luckily, the weather was good in the morning. 

The scenery was absolutely beautiful in Lauterbrunnen.  The area is famous for it's waterfalls, which we saw from a distance, but I really enjoyed the super green grass and the bluebird skies.

As we were climbing, we heard a bunch of cowbells in the distance, and as we kept walking towards the noise, we realized that there was a désalpe parade coming!  In the summer, cows live up on the top parts of the mountains, but in the fall, they are all brought down before the winter.  Bringing down the cows is called the "désalpe" and all the cows and farmers are dressed in traditional costume.  Many cantons have an official désalpe that is quite the spectator event, but I didn't manage to catch one last year.  We were so lucky to stumble upon a real désalpe on our hike!!

Our original plan was to have lunch in Wengen and then do another hike in the afternoon, but the clouds looked like they were really coming in fast, so we decided to take the cable car up to Männlichen to explore a bit before the weather turned.

When we got to the top, there was no rain, but there were a lot of clouds!  Even still, we were able to enjoy some amazing views before having a nice leisurely lunch on the mountaintop.

 

There was even a makeshift bowling lane!

Studying the map of the mountains

We made our way back down to Wengen, checked into our hotel, and then just hung around and explored the town for the rest of the day.  We were actually pretty lucky to find out that we were visiting on the last weekend of the season, so the local pub was trying to get rid of a lot of their inventory and had some pretty good drink specials!

I love these little Swiss villages.  So cute!

On Sunday morning, we woke up to find that there had been some fresh snow on top of the mountains!  We headed back up to Männlichen to do a morning hike over to Kleine Scheidegg.  The walk was really flat, so we were all happy about that, and we got to take in some great views of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau!

 

When we got to Kleine Scheidegg, the rest of the gang headed up to the top of the Jungfrau, but unfortunately, I had to head back to Geneva to catch a plane (of course).  It was a super short weekend adventure, but it was so much fun!  I'm already looking forward to doing it again :)

Turkish Delights: Istanbul Edition

After spending two days in Cappadocia, Emily and I flew back to Istanbul to explore this city that was once the seat of the Ottoman Empire.  Istanbul straddles two continents and is a total mashup of cultures, which I found to be totally fascinating.  Here are the highlights!

Blue Mosque
This place was probably my favorite site that we saw.  It is absolutely stunning on the inside, rivaling La Sagrada Familia that I raved about previously. 

 

Hagia Sophia
Located just nex to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia has been both a church and a mosque.  I found the mix of styles here to be really interesting.

Out one of the windows, you can see the neighboring mosque!

Basilica Cistern
Emily and I decided to stop in here on the recommendation of some people on one of our tours in Cappadocia, and I am so glad we did!  The cistern was built over a number of years, and you can see various styles of architecture among the columns.

The food
We ate some incredible food while in Turkey.  I have always loved the Mediterranean style of food, so this was absolutely up my alley.

These guys sell fresh mussels all over the streets that they shuck for you on the spot

Skeptical.. but it was delicious!

Turkish coffee

Of course we had to get the dinner that involved fire!

Apple tea

One more dinner with fire!

The palaces
We visited both the Topkapi Palace and the Dolmabahçe Palace, which were very different but massively impresssive.  The Dolmabahçe wouldn't allow any photos inside, so you'll have to use your imagination!

Dolmahaçe also didn't let you get their carpets dirty either!

The markets
I love a good market, and Istanbul has two!  We strolled through the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar, looking at trinkets and treasures.  Two of the funniest things happened to us while we were shopping - once, we heard someone say to us "excuse me white people!"  And at another shop, a man told me that he could I am American because I look like Abraham Lincoln :)

The waterfront
Istanbul sits right along the Bosphorus, which provides a beautiful backdrop for this lovely city!