London to Basel

Here are a few of the hotspots we hit in London:

Trafalgar Square


London phoneboxes

London Tower

Tower Bridge

Big Ben (Parliament building)

The London Eye

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace


Anna and I had some fun in the London Natural History Museum gift shop...



We then went for cappucinos at 1882, a chic coffee shop in Covent garden


The view from the large London apartment of our awesome hosts Michaela and Patrick


We then caught a short flight from London to Geneva...we almost didn't make it as we walked for nearly half an hour in the wrong direction, and had to turn back!
On our way to our hostel in Geneva we came upon a carpet store, called Carpet-land...that also sold wine...for a mere $5.50, so we bought a couple bottles.
We checked into our hostel, then walked around Geneva. We got to see La Jet D'Eau, which is really cool, and apparently one of Geneva's main tourist attractions. I assumed it was probably a natural geiser that they funneled somehow to keep it under control....well it's not. It's a big farce...Anna and I discovered this when we were going for a run early in the morning...it was turned off! Anyway it's still nice I guess:

After walking around the city for a while, we were both kind of tired, so had a nap in this park


The next day we went for a run past the Place de Nations, which is the European headquarters of the UN. It was unfortunately closed, but we did run around the building. In the evening we walked down to the park and checked out a Yann Arthus-Bertrand photo exhibit

And of course we make a great night of it by taking random photos while drinking white wine out of a nalgene....we learned later that it's actually legal to drink in the streets of Switzerland

More fun with the camera and cow statues...

impersonating human statues...


and even impersonating cows statues...


After a great time in Geneva we woke up the morning of my birthday and set out for Chamonix, France.

Here's me on my 23rd birthday at a sketchy Swiss train station!


After a few hours on the train we made it to our destination...beautiful Chamonix. We went straight to the info centre to find out where to stay. We headed to La Vagabond hostel, but since it was 3 o'clock and they didn't open until 4:30, we hid our packs in the bush and headed into town. After checking out the town and figuring out what we were going to be doing the next couple days, we headed back to the hostel, had a shower and went out for my birthday dinner of pizza, wine and ice cream!
The next morning, at 7am, we headed over to Le Club des Sports where we helped hand out race packages for the Mont Blanc Marathon It was a great opportunity to practice my French for a couple of hours. At 9 we walked through town and the start of the race

we took the gondola up to the top of the mountain, where the race would be ending, and since they didn't need our help, we just hung out and watched the race

it was amazing to see these elite runners finish this amazingly difficult race, with more than 1000 meters change in elevation...there wasn't a single marathoner that didn't walk for part of the way at the end!
We also got to watch a bunch of people run off the mountain and paraglide

We enjoyed a typically French lunch (it looks like an ad hey?!)


After watching the race for a few hours, we headed up to the next cable car to go to the top of the mountain

From the top we could see an amazing panoramic view of the surrounding mountains...including The Mont Blanc
We even had to hike through a bit of snow


The next day we went on a small hike. We took the train to Argentiere, a neighboring small town, and hiked back to Chamonix

It was a blistering day, so we walked straight back to the pool, where we quickly became fully aware that we were, indeed, in France


The next morning I woke up early early to start hiking from Chamonix (1036m) up to La Flagere (1894m). Anna spent the morning checking out of our hostel and buying food for lunch as I hiked up the mountain. She then took the cable car up and met me at La Flagere to start the second leg of the trip...up to Lac Blanc (2350m)

It was a tough hike (I think mostly because Anna and I just go), but it was well worth it



The way down, as could be expected, was much quicker. We hiked back down to La Flagere, and because of my crap knees, I took the cable car back while Anna ran. We met back at the hostel, grabbed our packs and headed, completely sweaty, to the train station.

Our next destination...Basel, Switzerland. The train is probably the least effective way to get there from Chamonix due to numerous train changes, but it was by far the cheapest! We spent a lot of time in various train stations, and even more than expected due to delays etc.
We had Delifrance for dinner in the Zurich train station


We finally got to Basel about 1-2 hours later than expected and took the Tram to Josh's house.

Since we've been here we've done lots of biking. Anna and I went on a ride through Germany to get to this old monastery. Along the way we passed a few borders


dropped our bikes to play in this playground


and again had fun with pictures and this communication tower



Friday was Canada day, and since Sonia is also Canadian (and Josh wishes he was), we went out for a few beers. There's this bridge that is lined with flags, so of course we had to get a picture next to the Canadian flag

We also went to this cool bar that brews their own beer


The next day Josh had a rugby game in Luzern, so Anna and I went along for the ride. We quickly checked out Luzern, then headed back to the field and watched the Basel boys beat the Luzern boys. At the end of the night we ended up at Pickwick's, the rugby clubs bar of choice, and one of Josh's teammates found out I was Canadian, and was able to get me a Molson...that was pretty cool!

Yesterday Sonia and I went for another bike ride. We went into Germany to see this castle


and rode out through the black forest. It is so cool the way biking is such a part of the culture here. There are bike lanes everywhere, and tons of trails. There's no end to the places you can go. Today Anna and I biked into France just cause!

Tomorrow we're off to Paris to meet Emily. It's been a great week hanging out with Sonia and Josh, and we are hoping to meet up somewhere to watch some of the Tour de France together...it's going to be fun!