Winter break 2019

Willkommen!

Initial plan for those 10 days of holidays:
- flight to Munich
- a nice 4 hour drive to Davos
- the cross country skiing World Cup in Davos
- then 3 days of cross country skiing (for me) in Toblach
- then a very short drive to Obertilliach for the biathlon IBU Cup, with a nice boarding house, in order to relax
- back to Munich
(if you feel like playing a little bit, you can count the border crossings during the trip)

That was it, for the plan, now let's come back to reality.

No problem with the flight to Munich and the rental car, so far so good.

On the German highway, no weather issue, the sky is just very cloudy. As soon as I enter Austria, the snow begins to fall, but it is just a few snowflakes, nothing to worry about.
Real troubles start at the Swiss border, when the snow becomes a lot more intense, flakes are bigger, and don't melt on the road. But it is still ok, the reason why I always rent the car is Germany during winter is that they come with a proper winter equipment, I have the appropriate tyres, but I have to slow down significantly. I've already been driving for more than 5 hours, and start feeling exhausted, but the GPS indicates that Davos is only 30 minutes away, so it does not make any sense to stop now. Right turn, 20 more km, and I'll be there. Except that after the right turn, the road is closed, it is a mountain pass, with more than 20 cm of snow on the road.

OK, GPS, please look for another itinerary.
Ouch, now Davos is no longer 30 minutes away, but one hour and a half. Fortunately, the Davos hostel reception is opened until 10pm, I will be there before.
One hour after, right turn, 20 more km, and I'll be there. Except that after the right turn, the road is closed, it is a mountain pass, with more than 20 cm of snow on the road.
And it is not a copy and paste error while writing this article, it just happened again.

OK, GPS, please look for another itinerary.

Davos is now more than 2 hours away (yes, the more I drove in the direction of the West, the farther I got from Davos), I will have to go through St Moritz. By the time I get there (still driving on a road covered with snow, way past exhaustion as I could not find any place to stop for a break on the side of the road), it is almost 10pm, and the road that my GPS wants me to take also seems to be blocked. Enough for today, let's look for an accomodation in St Moritz, hoping that I can find something for less than 1000 euros a night. The reception of the first hotel is closed, which is not surprising at 10pm. Same thing for the second one. When I enter the center, I realize that this weekend the alpine skiing World Cup is taking place here, every single hotel must be full. If it goes on like that, I will have to spend the night in the car...

Oh, here is a road sign indicating a Youth Hostel, let's try it, may be they will be able to help me, even if there is no vacancy. 

First good news of the evening, when I get there, the reception is still opened. 

The face of the girl at the reception when I ask her  if they have a bed for tonight makes me worry even more, she does not seem to be comfortable with the question. And then the answer comes: "Yes, no problem for tonight, but we are sold out for tomorrow evening". God, I was so happy I could have kissed her!!!!! A parking spot for the car, a bed for me, and a breakfast for tomorrow morning, nothing could have made me happier tonight.

On the following day, the sun is back, and after a good night everything seems more manageable.

The road was cleaned, Davos is only 2 hours away, here I come!

Just in time for the start of the competition, go go go!!! (after 10 hours on the road, instead of the 4 ones which were planned)

It was worth it, congrats Lucas for this podium!

And also very happy to meet up with Marillac, Bernard, Béatrice and Christian, and share those moments with them, after months without seeing them.

Time to leave Switzerland, put the car on the train and cross the border to Italy.

Back in Toblach, always a pleasure to come back here.

Unfortunately, there is not enough snow to ski, they are saving the tracks for the upcoming World Cup in 10 days. No problem, walking around the lake and in the forest will also make my day.

 

 

Time to move on to Austria, and to Obertilliach.

Here, there is no shortage of snow, it will keep on falling and falling during 3 days, and one of the Austrian coaches tells me that they had a total of 3 meters during the previous week.

 

On Sunday morning, time to leave the boarding house and drive back to Munich.
But... in spite of the fact that the roads have been cleaned again and again, impossible to bring the car back to the street level, as the house and its car park are about 20 meters below the street level. It will take 5 people and more than one hour, before I am able to start.

No further problem on the road, I can at last enjoy the driving, with a first stop in Lienz, at the Christmas Market.

And then, back in Germany, in Rosenheim:

What an adventure!

So, how many borders did I cross during the trip?
The correct answer is 5.

Take care, and see you somewhere, I don't know when...

Copenhagen

Hej,

Don't worry, I haven't violated the lockdown, it is just the perfect opportunity to catch up with the delay, and to travel a little watching old pictures.

So let's move back in time, until September 2019, and travel to Denmark.

Copenhagen is a rather small town, but you can find royal castles at every corner of the street.
Let's start with Christianborg.

And then, barely one kilometer away, a totally different world, in Christiana, also called Freetown Christiana. The former military barracks now hosts a flower power haven, where the people have developed their own set of rules, independent of the Danish government. The rules forbid stealing, violence, guns, knives, bulletproof vests, hard drugs, but hash and skunk weed is sold openly from permanent stands.

Here is the famous Little Mermaid, the symbol of the capital city, based on the fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

This statue has been damaged and defaced many times since the mid-1960s for various reasons, but has been restored each time.

In 1964, the statue's head was sawn off and stolen by politically oriented artists. The head was never recovered and a new head was produced and placed on the statue.In 1984, the right arm was sawn off and returned two days later. In 1990, an attempt to sever the statue's head left an 18 centimeters deep cut in the neck.
In 1998, the statue was decapitated again; the culprits were never found, but the head was returned anonymously, and reattached. In 2003, the statue was knocked off its base with explosives and later found in the harbour's waters. Holes had been blasted in the mermaid's wrist and knee.

Paint has also been poured on the statue several times, but it is there to welcome the visitors.

Short break for the changing of the guard in Amalienborg, with a lot fewer tourists than in London.

The next royal castle is Rosenborg.

A few minutes away from the city, here is the Roskilde Cathedral, the official royal burial church of the Danish monarchs.

The neighourhood also hosts a open-air museum, where carpenters have decided to rebuild Viking ships with the same techiques as the ones which were used as 1000 years ago.

Back to Copengahen, it's time to head to Tivoli Gardens, a famous amusement park and pleasure garden, where you can travel all around the world in just a few minutes.

In case you have swans in your garden and are afraid of automatic lawnmowers, don't worry, they don't seem to be bothered...

 

On the following day, the plan is to visit a place I have dreamt of since I was a kid, Kronborg, the castle where Hamlet takes place.

I was lucky enough to be able to join a tour, guided by Horatio himself (well,his ghost, in fact).

Back to Copenhagen and to Christianborg, to visit the royal kitchen and mews.

From there, back to the round Tower, to climb to the top and have a look at the city from above.

Before leaving the country, I board a cruise, in order to have a different view on what has already been seen.

Mind your head, the bridges are not far from your head!

So many things to see in just a couple of days, don't hesitate, Copenhagen is definitely worth the trip!