This year, it started in early December, in Sweden.
I land in Ostersund in the middle of a snow storm, it is a nice introduction to winter, which has not started yet in France.
Back home, the whole traffic would be blocked but here the driver of the city center shuttle bus does not even seem to notice that there are 5 cm of snow on the road.
In fact, the most challenging part is going to be to cross the sidewalk between the bus stop and the hotel, because it is covered with a couple of cm of solid ice.
I have the correct equipment to face this in the luggage, but don't feel like opening and emptying the suitcase in the middle of the street and the snow storm in order to find it, so it will take me about 5 minutes to cross those damned 2 meters which separate me from my target of the evening. Phew, no broken leg...
On the first day, no races, which gives the opportunity to visit the city, walk along the lake, spend a few hours in the Christmas market, and discover the strange feeling of seeing the sunset at 14:30. I had already tried such a latitude in June or July, getting about 24 hours of daylight a day, but it is my first time in December. Definitely not easy to resist the temptation of having dinner at 15:30 and getting to bed at 16:00!
Nice weekend, cheering with Bertrand, Guillaume and the twins in the middle of the forest, and glad to have met Stefan.
When you can convince a German supporter to cheer for the French biathlete, then it was worth the trip.
(OK, he also got 5 French supporters cheering for the German team, so at the end he sounds like the winner of the deal ;-)
Next stop is in Slovenia, as every year in December. It starts feeling like home, here. No need to check the map in order to get to the hostel or to the supermarket, I could get there with my eyes closed.
Except that I decided to change a little bit my routine, and try the local buses to get to Bled, without having to go back to Ljubljana. Nice and easy, with a good connection in Kranj. Except that in Kranj, there is a big bus station, with about a dozen lines which cross in the middle of the town, and no indication about where to go to get the bus you need for your next destination. And, because you got away from the touristic areas of Slovenia, people don't speak English. I ended up with an explanation from a very friendly lady, talking with our hands and writing times on a piece of paper.
Again, one day off before the start of the competition, this year I decided to go to Bohinj Lake, and spend part of the day hiking in the middle of the mist and frost, almost without meeting anybody. What a great way to spend the day!
So glad to see Jo and Christian again this year, and hang around with them during the last 3 days.
For the third weekend, direction Czech Republic, and Nove Mesto.
Here the challenge is going to be to handle the accommodation: I found it only a few days ago, and cancelled the hotel I had booked 50km away from the biathlon site (closest accommodation I had found 6 months before) and the car I had rented.
The guy at whose place I am going to stay for next days comes to pick up at the train station and on our way to his house I discover that the 2.5km which separates it from the town center are not 2.5km of urban zone, with sidewalks, street lights and shops, but 2.5km of countryside, with fields on each side of the road, and no light at night. It is going to be interesting to go to the stadium every day and come back at night :-))
On the first day, I take a few hours to go to Zdar, 15 minutes away from Nove Mesto, in order to visit the World Heritage church.
Then it is time to head to the stadium, and try to find Bertrand and Guillaume, which is going to be challenging in the middle of the 35 000 spectators crowd.
For the first day, I decided to stay in the stadium, in order to get a try at the atmosphere I've heard of for so long.
As often, being the only French supporter in my tribune, my shouts made the local supporters laugh a lot, and I got plenty of friendly help "Let me help you tying up your flag" "Would you like some coffee?" "Come here, you will have a better view for the pictures"...
That's part of what I love with those weekends, you often have the opportunity to meet great people, which makes it nice whatever the result is.
After 3 days of amazing Christmas cookies and rum tea prepared by my landlord, and celebrations with new French friends for the great results of the team, time to fly back to France and work a couple of weeks before next trip.
Then it is a 5-day weekend, at the end of January, with a first stop in Morbier, to join Jo and Christian, and head with them and their gang to Italy.
It is a long night on the road, to get to Tyrol, but it is worth it: as usual, the weather is perfect, and the scenery is incredible when you enter the Dolomites. I will have to come back here for longer holidays, either during winter or summer.
Another weekend scrambling in the snow to get to the forest where we are not supposed to be, shouting like crazy, getting a few nice words of thanks from the team, meeting nice people that I hope I will see again in the future.
One week later, back to Sweden, to join Stefan in Falun, for a cross country World Cup this time. I am going to spend the weekend at Gunilla's, chatting about ski, and betting on the results of the weekend, a few meters away from the lake where you can go running or skating. She managed to make me feel at home during 3 days, I don't want to go back to work :-)
At the end of February, time to fly to Finland, for the Nordic World Championships, with one full day of visits in Helsinki: the Orthodox and Catholic cathedrals, the Suomenlinna Fortress, the old Market Hall...
It is the opportunity to see athletes competing in the different disciplines on one single site (cross country skiing classic & skating - long distance & sprint, ski jumping, nordic combined), which does not happen usually.
A few hours of sun every morning, a few hours of snow storm every afternoon, that's what I would call a perfect weather for winter (apart from the fact that the snow storm drives my camera crazy, as the focus is made on the snowflakes rather than on the athletes, argh...).
There will be a last weekend in the Alps, for the national championships, and then finished for biathlon or cross country competitions until next winter.
But there will be other adventures in the meantime ;-)
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire