Langlaufen im Schweiz

Well, I've managed to get out on my new skis a number of times already here in Switzerland (Langlaufen is german for cross-country skiing). Before Christmas I bought a pass that is good for every single km of ski trail in the entire country for 100 CHF (equal to about $100 CDN) and I resolved to mkae good on it by getting out as much as possible. One of my goals has been to try out a number of different places since I also have a general abondenment (GA) to get everywhere in the country.

Myself and a couple of people from work usually go skiing at Einsiedeln every Wednesday evening (as they have a lit 4 km loop) and on the weekends, I try and do a bit of exploring. I have also made it to Rothenthurm (photos below) and Langis, both of which were quite nice. The one thing I have noticed is that because most forested areas are limited to the steep slopes, there are not many XC trails that cut though the woods (similar to Gatineau Park) which is just a different vibe, although it does produce nice sightlines.

I will post more photos as the season progresses and visit more trails.

Watching the fog drian into the valley at Rothenthurm

All geared up after skiing at Rothenthurm

Motivation to Blog Diminishing...

I haven't posted anything since the end of November and posts definitely trailed off in the fall. I guess either I don't have as much to say or I'm getting exceptionally lazy about making posts. I'll draw out the percentages as 17% of the former and 76% the latter with the rest being made up by other ridiculous reasons.

Then again, over the past 4 weeks I have had a decent excuse in that I was no where near Switzerland. I was back in Canada for 4 weeks it was great as I managed to spend time in Montréal with Emily, Ottawa with Pat and Greg and some frisbee boys, Halifax with the family and friends from high school and Toronto with the Constantines. It was hectic at times, hugely relaxing at others and overall a superb vacation (with maybe a bit too much travel overall). I apologize if I didn't get to see you, it really hits home how many great friends I have when I can't see them all on these trips home.

In the spirit of the so-called awards season, here are some prizes from my vacation:

Best concert attended: Constantines 10th anniversary show at Lee's Palace in Toronto. Epic.

Best restaurant meal: Fish and chips at Lucille's Oyster Dive in Montréal. Coincidentally, best restaurant name as well.

Most exciting sporting event (live): Sens-Flyers game in Ottawa. Back and forth affair that featured all 4 dressed goaltenders. It was like a video game, except I know it was real beause I received free pizza because of it.

Least exciting sporting event (live): Seeing the Mooseheads get shallacked 10-1 or something equally ridiculous by the Wildcats. The reason I don't know the final score is because we left after the 2nd period. Yep, that bad.

Most exciting but equally disappointing sporting event: (tie) World Juniors gold medal game and Packers-Cardinals wild card matchup. Amazing comebacks only to be shattered by quick OT losses in both cases. Personally, I blame the Ye Olde Orchard (and it's archaic spelling which obviously incites some sort of black magic curse).

Best gambling related event: Finally winning a fantasy football title in the CFFL in the 9th year. No money, just straight up pride. Also finishing in the money for a third straight year in the CHFL was a pretty good moment as well. I wish my hockey team were on that track, but alas they were doomed from the day I picked them.

Best movie watched: Open Range, although the sheer wow factor of Avatar is a really close second.

Best purchase: Definitely my new nordic skis. I'll have pictures of my nordic skiing adventures in Switzerland soon.

That's all I can think of right now (but feel free to post categories you think I should add!) and just being home and eating holiday baking (although in hindsight I should have eaten so much more) was great.

I hope all of your holidays were spectactular and that you are starting off the new year in style.

Movember

So for those of you not in the know, over the past month I grew a moustache for Movember in order to raise funds for prostate cancer research. Thanks to the very generous pledges and donations from friends and family across the globe, I was able to raise a total of $767 CDN. It was a tough mental battle at times, but I made it through (mostly unscathed, other my inability to shave at the start of the month without losing about a litre of blood from cuts. Shaving fail). That amount of money meant that out of the 53 people who had signed up in the Zurich area, I raised a little less than 1/5 of the total money. Not too bad.

Of course, I also like to think that my moustache was also one of the very best (although there was no Movember bash here in Zürich for me to compare against others). Here's the final product:

Moustache combined with pearl snap...look out!

Over the course of the month as I posted my progress on Facebook and people noted the furry upper lip in person, a number of folks said I looked like so and so, a partial list of these is below:

Hockey Card from 1972
Straight out of 70s Porn
Out of work 70s Porn Star
Pedophile
Canadian Frank Zappa
Trucker
Dennis Eckersley (but only for a split second)

I'm sure there were more, but I can't recall them...

Last Night's Gig: Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms at Rote Fabrik

The second great Canadian band to come through town in a little more than a week. I must say that although I know of them, I had not heard much of Patrick Watson (other than the fact the he and his band won the Polaris Prize in 2007) so I didn't really go in expecting anything, but was excited just to hear another Canadian act. Unfortunately as I got on the tram I realized that I had forgotten my Canadian flag so I didn't end up with it being signed, but to me, the music is the most important part and I was worried that the Swiss puncuality would make me late.

The opener (Anna Aaron) was pretty good (I do have a soft spot for piano-playing singer/song-writers, so this might not be a surprise) and she had a very solid voice.

Before Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms hit the stage, we were checking out the stage set-up and it was pretty complicated with lots of different instruments and a riser set-up with four chairs (which turned out to be correctly adjudicated for a string section) and a very nice percussion setup. There was also an olde movie projector pointed at the side wall and just running blank film. Along with the music playing between sets it gave me a very cinematic vibe and the set didn't discredit that assumption. The songs were sparse, yet intricate in all of their parts, and most had a nice full theatrical feel with strings, Patrick playing the piano and excellent guitar parts. Adding to that was the exceptional showmanship and amazing lights. It was like the U2 of indie-rock bands. At first it seemed a bit of a gimmick, but after 3 songs you realize that that is the style and you really get into it.

The clincher to a great concert was the amazing encore, where Patrick, his guitarist came out into the middle of the crowd to do an acoustic song while the crowd clapped along and the percussionist played a saw and stamped out the beat on the stage. Amazing. Then they closed out with a song that they wrote the day before! Very cool. A great show and I'll definitely see them again if I get a chance.

The cover of the new Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms album

Last Night's Gig: John K. Samson at Hafenkneipe

This almost didn't happen. I am so glad it did though, because it was easily one of the top 3 concerts I've ever attended. It was simply stupendous.

I had convinced a couple of co-workers to come and see the best Canadian lyricist in the business today with me and we decided that we would meet at the venue at 7:30 when the doors open to get tickets. The venue website said there were 50 left on Monday, but I guess they updated it prior to the show and when we arrived they told us that it was sold-out. Luckily I waited around out front and was able to buy a ticket from someone (awkwardly paying more than they wanted for it...whoops) and then Valerie managed to talk Guillermo and herself into the show as well. So it all worked out for the best.

Die Hafenkneipe was a very cool spot. Tiny, very initmate venue with a stage at the front and probably no more than 80 people that could fit inside. The decor was maritime themed including seasgulls hanging from the ceiling and portholes on the walls which added to the ambiance. The opening act was alright (although the kazoo playing left a little to be desired). John hit the stage at around 8:30, and it was just him and his guitar. I could tell it was going to be a sweet show as he opened with One Great City and then hit a bunch of amazing acoustic version of Weakerthans and I think, Propoghandi songs including A Plea from a Cat Named Virtute, Construction Site, Utilities (my personal favourite), Night Windows as well as playing his own solo stuff from his new record City Route 85. I love how his songs evoke such great Canadian imagery and feelings. I was just soaking it all up.

I also managed to start a new tradition of sorts for myself. As I am very supportive of the Canadian independent music scene, I definitely plan on attending as many shows as possible of those artists when they hit Switzerland. I also happen to have a Canadian flag on my wall and I took it to the concert and then chatted with John (who didn't mind the Movember moustache) and had him sign the flag after his set. So my scheme will be to have all of the Canadian bands that play Switzerland sign the flag after their shows. We'll see how many I can accumulate while I am here.

If you get the chance to see John play live (either with the Weakerthans or acoustically) jump at it. You'll have a great time.