Just a few days in Madrid

Once again, I had to go to Madrid. This time, a meeting was set up to clarify things. Two travel days, one day meeting and presentation.

The hotel where I stayed is quite known in the Madrid scene - a place where different ways of interpreting architecture and design come together. It uses so many different colours, materials and shapes and therefore varies so much from the norm. Nineteen architect and design studios were brought together working on the hotels' style and charm. Each floor comes with a different room concept and modern architectural style.

There even was some time for touristy sight-seeing things. And I still discovered things I missed the last time: CaixaForum Madrid.

The CaixaForum is a museum and cultural centre which was constructed by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron from 2001 to 2007. It combines an old abandoned electrical station witch new construction of floors and the house next to it with its green wall at the outside, similar to a kind of hanging garden. Strange thing and nice to look at. Would be interesting to know how the watering of this little jungle works.

And right at that time, the World Pride Madrid was taking place. The centre was full of people from all over the world. Live music and party everywhere. 24/7 ... Like really crazy!

Alberta, Edmonton and Rocky Mountains

You wanna go to Canada, they asked? We'd have there something for you, they said. Easy job! Yeah sure, why not, has been my answer.

What I didn't know - the entire preparation and process takes forever. Web based trainings, certificates, inductions, work permits ... After getting the visa thing done in Toronto I flew into Edmonton the next day.

And there it continued: alcohol and drug test, Canadian registration office to get a social insurance number, buying safety boots with a special Canadian label which doesn't mean they are different to those 3 pairs I already have...

Work was hard, 12 hours per, weekend included. Kinda exhausting and nothing else to say. But successful at the end.

And finally there was some time for the fun part. Not much, but better than nothing. And if being that close, I took the chance to get around. Jasper National Park.

Quick stopover in Toronto

It was 6 pm already when I arrived at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. As I have never been here, I needed some minutes to check where the nearest exit is. I looked around, and found an express train going to the Toronto city centre. Too bad I got my hotel booked on the other side of the airport, quite close though, but as I have to go around the entire area, it would take forever. I took some kind of airport taxi, way too expensive for the 20 minutes ride, but as a tourist, you are trapped in those cases. And here I was, in the middle of nowhere. Too far away from everything. Well okay, there was a Subway “restaurant” just around the corner, but I was too lazy and tired, even for that.

Didn’t know that jetlag could be a good thing. It made me wake up early, not able to fall back asleep. Which is good, in a way. I got my stuff packed, went down to the lobby and found an airport shuttle bus running every 20 minutes or so. A few moments later, back at the airport, I checked in my luggage and took the tranfer train towards downtown. I got off at Union Station, walked along the CN Tower, the Air Canada Centre (sadly, I missed the playoff game of the Raptors by only one day), the Harbourfront, the Old and the Toronto City Hall in direct comparison. After that, time was up, and I had to get back to the airport, the same way I was coming from. Not much time to discover a city, and probably not the best time of a day to do so as well...

Far north in Finnish Lapland hunting the Northern Lights

Whenever there is a slight chance to see the Northern Lights, I am in. I joined my cousin for a few days to go to Kittilä / Levi, even more north than the Arctic Circle. We had a cosy little apartment, small sauna included. The couch I crashed on overnight was not the biggest one, but fairly big and comfortable enough. When done with some grocery shopping, the sauna needed to be heated up. Test run! And found to be good!

To cool down again, you always come up with stupid ideas if a couple of shots are involved, we decided to go downhill sledding, Of course we had no sledges at all, even nothing similar. We found some paper boxes, unfolded them and used those likewise. Lying down on the back was working surprisingly well. We speeded up that much we totally lost control over the self-made sledge and mostly crashed heavily.

A road trip was planned on the next day. We passed Husky and reindeer farms and stayed for quite some time at the snow village. Although I would not spend those prices to sleep in beds made of snow at temperatures far below 0°C it’s always impressive to look at those icy art sculptures and buildings.

The formerly village Sirkka is now known as Levi, named after the mountain which you can ski downhill in almost every direction. Since Finland has never been the cheapest country and skiing isn’t a low budget activity anywhere in the world, prices were as high as expected. But it’s still fun, we have rented stuff for 3 hours and rode maybe almost every slope. I could already feel my old bones after that, needing a little rest and warm up in the sauna.

After dinner, we finally would be able to hunt some Northern Lights. The weather forecast was predicting clear sky for the night in the north east of Finland. Although it was still snowing, we decided to go towards Inari. After a while, the snow stopped and the sky really got clear, with a heavy temperature drop to minimum -28°C!!! A few stops later the lights were revealing themselves, in different colours, moving around at the entire sky. A fantastic thing to see.

All the way from Fort Saskatchewan to Brooks

Everything needed to be real quick once again. Booking a flight, getting everything done, running through 6 different safety courses in form of webbased trainings. One of them took me several hours, and it happened to be finished on Saturday evening before taking the flight on Sunday morning. No access to the Converter Stations granted if I do not have them.

I had stopovers in Frankfurt and Toronto from where another 4 1/2 hours flight took me Edmonton. Travelling in Business Class was making up for this. It helped a lot to kill some time, but you just can't spend all of it on watching movies. When leaving the aiport, it was much warmer than expected, temperatures over plus were making me checking if I have been travelling to the right destination.

But obviously I had been right as my colleague drove by to pick me up. Since it has been 9 pm already (6 am the next morning in Germany) we paid no attention to Edmonton and went straight to the hotel in Fort Saskatchewan.

Winter was back the next morning. The last days’ rain froze overnight, not visually at first glance (a thin snow cover made it not easy to detect), but noticeable when walking to the car and suddenly slipping. I had absolute no control over both feet, but somehow managed not to trip and fall.

After finishing the work at the first station, we had a little car ride ahead of us. We tried to start as early as possible to travel while it’s still bright. It didn’t go that well. On the way south I notice once again the remarkable street architecture. All streets are manufactured in perfect order – in a rectangular way (1 mile east to west orientation, 3 miles north to south orientation). That means when travelling towards, in my case, south direction, it’s just a few right and left turns before going straight for the other 4 ½ hours. Despite some bison the ride was quite monotonous and not much happened.

Brooks itself had not much to offer either. The only thing worth mentioning is the hotel. I have made a single room booking and got a single room. So far, so good. The first hotel in Fort Saskatchewan had two double bed in it, the one this time had three. Three king size double bed. I didn’t really get that but didn’t ask for details either.

On Thursday the job was done, too late to take a detour through Calgary. Damn it! I had to skip that also. Maybe next time. But at least one highlight was still awaiting me. The flight was following the route north and when looking out of the window, the northern lights could be discovered almost permanently during the night.

First class wellness action in South Tyrol

Way up Klausberg, near Kristallalm, snow guns already in service

As it has been Antje's present from her parents for graduating from university, I was the lucky one being invited as well. All five of us in one car (Multivan, so comfortable journey still) with North Italy as our destination. Arriving right on time (1 pm as earliest possible arrival time) opened all options for the first day - literally starving we started with having the welcome lunch before checking out the spa and wellness area (and having a little nap of course).

Family Milker photo shoot on the Klausee

Let me tell you something about that dinner. Because this one was just as delicious as stunning. At a point, I stopped counting the courses. The salad only should have been enough, then there was another starter as apetizer, a soup, the main course to pick out of three, a dessert and cheese after this.

View from the hiking track toward Breite Rast

Somehow I still must have looked hungry because I was asked if I wish to have another main course. I don't really why I have said yes, but I did. Which has been too much, by far! With the result of not being able to move anymore. And the worst part is, it has been the same the following evenings.

Leaving the Ahrntal, shortly before Prettau

When eathing that much, you have to do things in order to stay active. On Friday, we took the gondola to the Klausberg mountain station with a bunch of other people, walked around a bit until reaching the Klausee, before taking the icy hiking trail back to the station.

Friends on the way

Spa and wellness was offered to a great extent. Outside as well as inside pools, chillout areas, jacuzzis, fireplaces invited for a little rest. The best thing was the roof top sauna with a widespread view right over the valley. The farmer opposite might be lucky sometimes when using the binocular.

Crystal clear mountain water

When bikes are offered, they should be used. I did on Saturday. Fully wraped up in winter cloths I followed the Ahrtal until the regional street became a narrow hiking path. At 2000 m the temperature dropped below 5°C.

Almost at maximum height, Tauernalm

On my way back, I stayed at that altitude for quite some time. The view was amazing, the higher I looked, the more changed the colour from green to yellow-brown-ish and further to white. Since I didn't expect the tour to take 5 hours or so, I didn't take any food or drinks with me. Okay, almost no drinks. The only thing which kept me alife was my flask, filled with cranberry liquour.

On the mountain path near Waldner Alm

Bilbao in Biscay, worth a next visit

Bilbao sights in the city centre ...

No thank you, this time, no tourist guide is needed. Everything worth a glimpse is marked and highlighted on these maps. A special thanks goes to my Spanish co-worker and friend, who is originally from the Basque Country and Bilbao. So who else should know the must sees and does in the city?

... and in the surrounding

Together with a colleague, I arrived on Monday afternoon. Thus, plenty of time to discover the attractions along the route quickly. Everything's in walking distance and easy to reach.

Roof tops of Bilbao's old town

In the old town, narrow streets are criss-crossed, bars and pubs around small market places invite for drinks or little snacks. The Guggenheim Museum in the new town is an eyecatcher with its metallic copper surface. Unfortunately not enough time to check the inside, so we just strolled along, carefully, because massive spiders were blocking the footpath.

In front of the Guggenheim Museum

Getxo and Algorta, in north west direction, were on the list, too. So was the chapel San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, built on a rocky island close to the shore, only reachable via a stony staircase.

Hermitage on a lonely island, connected to the main land, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe