Back to Reality

In 2 days and a few hours of Wednesday morning I think I've survived a "longer than the French" workweek already.  I've slept less in two days than a Montreal to Paris flight.  Talk about back to reality.  The finish line push is always intense.  Here's the output of something that we've put effort to over the last while.

Paths and changes

A few days back we were in a forest near Fontainebleau looking at a choice of paths; interesting of course to be doing so.  The last year has been a bit of a different set of paths, and Tori and I have landed on different paths for post INSEAD than we were on prior.  French phrase of the week: c'est la vie.

New paths have a way of working out too, hopefully for both of us.

Swiss and French bike pics

Trials obstacle in Tori's courtyard.

The girls biking on a peninsula near Gian's flat.

Delicious salted butter for baguettes needs to come from somewhere.

The best way to go check on your sunflower fields is by parking the old Citroen right nearby.

I sure hope farming sunflowers is as happy a task as it seems.

Chateau Relaxation

We visited a 1648 French chateau, decorated in stark white minimalism with simple wooden furniture, drinking Israeli cherry dessert wine until 2am.  Ahhh...

It's neat to see the effort of restoring old buildings; the labour, time and overall resource needed is large.  Also the French have historic consultants/building inspector types to make sure you do it consistent with the time it was built in history.

Filling a big lawn with a lifetime of art is cool too.  The day consisted of walk in forest, walk to look at art, sitting in sun, avoiding rain, eating an apple strudel cake thing while drinking coffee and talking about life in a tea room while listening to Katie Melua, and making dinner together.

Art and flowers.

Life is important.

Takin' care of biznaz.

Relax to the max.

Who likes colored slippers on cool stone floors?

Some decors melt away stress.

Cafe and cake.

Chillin' with coffee is always good.

Rice and curry.

Erik, Gian, Julia, and Tori aiming the camera.  Good times at dinner.

Swiss roads

Swiss roads aren't only good for biking.  In the "we're the same people but born on the other side of the world" vein, Gian and I just went driving on the roads in his 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution little tuner car special. No ABS, no traction control, no power windows, no power anything. Tight aftermarket suspension, all wheel drive, 300hp turbo charged 4 cylinder car with all the extra weight stripped out of it. Yeah!

Lunch in Biel

We're having fun riding with Julia today, and lunch stops need big salami and swiss cheese sandwiches.  I drank some Rivella, which tastes like ginger ale without the ginger, except its milk derivative based.

Vinelz with Gian

After our night in Geneva in an un-air conditioned pension, Tori and I dragged ourself to Vinelz to see Gian.  We did a 5 hour mountain bike loop that approximated a BC Bike Race stage, all kinds of good stuff.  The best way to see a place is with your friendly local guide, especially when you know the kind of riding your guide likes after meeting at a few races (La Ruta, then BCBR) and finding out you're the same bike rider, just born on other side of the planet.  From the doorstep in Vinelz to the edge of Neuchatel and back... that's a gift to have in your "back yard".

We toured the beautiful little Swiss towns, climbed a thousand meters of vertical in scalding heat, did some flowing downhill after traversing open pastures, and checked out a lookout tower.  Up on the bluffs at one point with Lac de Neuchatel in the back.

Lookout ramp with downhill mountain biking trails starting underneath.

Lookout time!

Tonight it rained as we did some fine dining on Gian's patio overlooking the valley from his ultra-modern flat while rain clouds blew in pink lightening lit up the sky.  We talked about the world from a Swiss perspective, what it's like being Swiss on this planet, and the amount of mountain biking at the doorstep tomorrow.