Due to a last minute professional incident, I had to cancel my trip to Nepal. I am very disappointed, for these were the only real holidays of a really tough year.
I’m planning it again for March-April next year for two-three weeks.
This comes from my previous post. I’m posting the tracking of my K21 race from Klosters to Davos, Switzerland.
And a video I made in the middle of the race of a lake called Schwarzsee (on the map) (yes, I know I should have aimed for a better time, but the view and the weather were astonishing!)
Since Thursday morning I am in Zurich. Originally I planned this trip to run the Swiss Alpine K21, a half-marathon race through the Alps from Klosters to Davos. Though I’ve stayed a bit longer, with a good friend of mine that lives in Zurich and who I haven’t seen for a long time. We went to Klosters on Friday and, in the afternoon, went all the way up to the Sertig Pass (2,762 m) in the Albula Range. Fantastic excursion, we were the only ones over there. A luxury. The next day I ran 21 kms in 2 hours and 1 minute (it was my first time running more than an hour!). When I’m back home I will post the GPS tracking of my race, with a couple of videos of astonishing Alpine views in a bright sunny day.
My trip to Nepal is nearly prepared. I’m leaving London on August 5 and coming back on September 6 (though I am again flying to Barcelona the next day, September 7 :S). Originally, I planned to go to Delhi and get a bus to Kathmandu from there, but because of the Indian visa I had to change these plans for a flight to Kathmandu the same day I’m landing in India. Shame. Next time. It’s entirely my fault. I didn’t think of the Indian visa on time! For it takes at least 15 days to get it in London if you are not a UK national.
I am going to stay a few days in Kathmandu Then I’ll be in an organic farm project of the RUWON organization, where I’ll do some farming and teaching for women living in rural societies. I hope I can also do some trekking in the middle. I expect to update my blog regularly with pictures while I’m there.
Right, tomorrow I am off to Poland again. It seems a country that won’t be leaving my life for a while. As I wrote in a previous post, I’ll be training Polish officials on negotiation in the European Union for a while (until January 2010).
My life has been a strange ride in the last 3 months. Full of serendipity and “coincidences” of all kinds, many related to Poland. The last one is related with my next trip. A bit than less 3 months ago, I had a great dinner in a restaurant in Warsaw called U Kucharzy. Then a friend of mine who has visited me in London this week, mentioned it by chance the same day that another friend in Warsaw sent me an email saying that he had reserved in that restaurant for Saturday! The first and the second friend don’t know each other at all. It’s either the only restaurant in Warsaw worth going or another “coincidence” of the many and many happening around me? The funny thing is that I knew I was going to end up going back to this restaurant way before my friend’s booking. I just can say one thing: curious.
My apologies for being so egocentric in this post, but this is the actual title of latest Lady Gaga’s hit song. How many songs with the title Alejandro in the history of music? None. And this one came to me in a very curious way.
In late May, I went with a friend to Saint Petersburg. That trip was probably one of the best trips I’ve ever had. The company, the weather, the city, the country and the people around brought us into a state of mind and heart that was very special. We had a few experiences that have marked our lives. I’ve already told you about two of them – an orthodox religious ceremony and life and stones. Now I want to tell you about the third and last of these life experiences. It is about a museum, paintings, beauty and overwhelming feelings. It is about the Hermitage and its impressive collection. It is about what makes us human: creativity.
In a previous post, I talked about my trip to Saint Petersburg nearly two weeks ago. In it, I said that we had three experiences I wanted to dedicate a post to. The first one was about the emotions that an orthodox religious ceremony provoked in me, and what I learned from it. This second one is of a different kind.
At the Saint Isaac’s Cathedral (Isaakevsky Sobor), we first went to the museum part, which is actually inside of the cathedral. While getting out, we saw people at the top, in what is called the Colonnade outside of the dome (see picture above). So we turned around and got tickets to get up there (100 rubles). It was a fantastic day, warm and sunny, no clouds in the sky. Perfect for sightseeing.
What a great night I had yesterday. After having dinner with a friend and his girldfriend in a fantastic vegetarian restaurant in Paris called Le Potagere du Marais, I was walking back to my friend’s flat alone, for he had left to walk her girlfriend home. Since it was too early for me to go home (11.45 pm), I decided to wander around my favourite Parisian neighbourhood, Le Marais.
I made it. On Saturday, after missing my early morning London-Paris Eurostar train, I got to Gare du Nord, Paris, at 18.02 after a fantastic eight hour trip from London to Paris passing by Dover and Calais. At the end, it was easier than I thought, and much cheaper than any of the other options, i.e. Eurostar or bus. I spent £27.50 + €41.50, that is a total of €75, when the bus was €124 and the Eurostar €196!
It was as interesting and entertaining as I foresaw when I wrote my previous post on the train from Charing Cross (London) to Dover. This first leg of the journey started with my first encounter of the day while I was waiting for the 10 am train to Dover before the gates to the platforms. To kill time, I asked to a member of the staff (a Revenue Protection Inspector) in which platform he thought it was going be. This question gave place to a nice little chat in which this guy, who had the job of checking the tickets and fine people if necessary, confessed that he doesn’t like to fine but to help people while on duty. He just had helped a couple who bought a 1st class ticket to get £20 each back, for on the train there is no first class, so they needed to downgrade their tickets. Then I told him about my trip to Paris, and he told me that he was leaving for Las Vegas with his family in the afternoon. His dream had always been to visit the Grand Canyon and fly over it on helicopter. Now he was going to realise this dream he had had since he saw the Grand Canyon in a movie (unfortunately I don’t remember the title).
Being Saturday in the morning, the train was nearly empty. I had a 4-seat place for myself, so I turned on my recently-purchased iPad, and while surfing the Internet, listening to music and eating a cheese sandwich with a mango smoothie, I wrote the post on how far Paris was.
I lost the train. This morning, for unfortunate circumstances I lost the 6.22 am Eurostar from London to Paris. A friend of mine was waiting for me on the train with a full breakfast (croissants, pain chocolate, fruit, juices…). And I missed it!
This trip has been planned for more than 10 years. All comes back to a night in Paris in 1999. Walking back home with a friend near La Bastille, we started to talk about the girl he was going out with. In the conversation I told him that my intuition told me that he was not going to be with her in six months time.
keep reading »
Before I left Moscow on Monday afternoon, I went to Saint Petersburg for a short weekend trip with a friend of mine. We left Moscow for Saint Petersburg at 6.40 am on Saturday 22 May. We arrived back to Moscow at 10.50 am on Monday 24 May. We slept a total of 6 hours during the whole trip. It was a total success (except for the tiny detail that I lost my iphone on Saturday night 
).
On my previous post I wrote that it was always a pleasure to travel with David Luff, my companion in this trip to the imperial city, for
We both love to walk in cities to explore those corners out of the tourist trail that hide its real essence.
How truthful this is. We’ve enjoyed like “des fous”. The weather couldn’t have been better, the city is beautiful and the people are very open and smiley (the sun might have helped). Among many experiences we had in just two days (it looked like a week), I’d like to mention three, divided in three different posts. The first concerns two very special religious ceremonies.
Faithful to my words, I am travelling this weekend to Saint Petersburg with a very good friend of mine who also teaches at the MGIMO, David Luff. We understand each other very well. It is always a pleasure to talk to him about all types of topics – our lives, history, philosophy, work, travels, food, new ideas, female nature. He is a great company for travelling. We both love to walk in cities to explore those corners out of the tourist trail that hide its real essence.
We are right now on the speed train from Moscow. It takes a bit less than 4 hours for an 800 km journey. It is hyper-comfortable. Far better than the Eurostar. Now we travel fast, let’s see how far we get.
Since quite young, I’ve travelled alone to different parts in Europe, and then to the Middle East, Russia, United States, Mexico. There are advantages in travelling alone. Most and foremost, liberty. Liberty to decide where and how to go at any moment. Also when travelling alone you meet new people more easily, for you are more keen to talk with strangers, and strangers are more keen to talk to you. Yet, I’ve got the most pleasure in travelling, and I’ve got the furthest when travelling with someone that understands me and I understand. Travelling together brings new opportunities to the trip I wouldn’t even consider alone. It brings new views, perspectives and interpretations to my experiences that can push me to places and adventures I would have never thought by myself. This is the same for the trip of life. keep reading »
“One cannot stay at home with a day like this”, this is what I said to myself today at noon. I had tons of work, but outside the sun was calling my name. So I took my camera and headed towards Victory Park in Poklonnaya Hill, around 40 minutes walk from my flat (map below). I know my work should have been a priority, but one is not every day in Moscow. I don’t regret it even a bit! I took a few good pictures (click on them for bigger version). keep reading »
