Ironman Weekend

Last weekend was the Ironman and I went along on both days with friends as we knew two people taking part. On Saturday was the Triathlon, Markus Galli was participating and the distances were 500m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run. As you can see from one of the photos Markus did all this in 1.30.08, there was a small group of us gathered to cheer him on!

Sunday was the Ironman race and David Winterbottom was participating in this, again group of us gathered to cheer him on too and wait at the finishing line. The distances were 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and finally 42.2km run (yes a freaking marathon). I believe David did his race in 11 hours 35min. (don`t know the seconds)

Well done to both of them! What an amazing feat!

I also want to wish my sister Elena the best of luck on her first triathlon Wee Beastie Triathlon at Loch Lomond (such a great name). I do wish I could be there to cheer her on, but I know she will do well!

For me this weekend I am going to see the F1 race in Hockenheim, this is a first for me and really looking forward to it!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Red Bull Flying Day

During the summer months there is always lots of stuff to do and see in Zurich, and this was one of them. Red Bull Flying Day which involved 50 teams from all over Switzerland making their own flying machines. They then dress up. give themselves a strange name and before taking off have a dance performance which is all part of the points given on the day.

It was a lovely day not too hot, it was very busy and we got there around 3.30pm. We walked around to find a spot to watch but not so easy to find. We started off in an area just next to where the whole thing was happening. When we looked up we could see the teams taking off and then watch as more often than not the planes just smashed straight into the water.

After a while we went to get some food and then watched from a scream how they all fell into the lake or how some actually flew! One team got a Swiss record (I believe) for flying 55.5m before crashing into the lake.

All in all it was great fun, lots of families with children were there and you could also just sit and bring your own food and drink too if you wanted.

Designer Chairs

While I was in Cologne I visited the Museum of Applied Arts and was a few exhibitions on show. I liked seeing these very interesting chairs, although some did look quite uncomfortable. We saw all of the exhibitions, I liked them all, but not sure Alessio was interested at all!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Blackness Castle

Alessio and I were in Scotland in April and we did a day trip with my parents to Blackness Castle near to Edinburgh, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. It is part of Historic Scotland which my parents have a membership and not so far for a day trip from Dundee.

This very impressive castle was built in 15th century by the Crichton family, one of Scotland`s most powerful families. It has wonderful views of the Forth rail and road bridges and not to mention the shore lines in both directions.

The castle is often called " the ship that never sailed" due to the fact that it`s fortifications look like the shape of a ship. We climbed up the towers and walked along the wall and there is lots of information which lets you know what each room was and how it was used. Very near is the village of Blackness where you could get a bit to eat, as there is nothing at the castle itself.

June Reading List

Half of the year has gone by already, it is hard to believe! So time to put up the reading list for June, but first things first I only read 4 books in this photo. I took the photo early in June, as one of these books was a library book and needed to return it. I thought I would get through them all but the top one I just was not interested enough to carry on reading. The second one could not get into it at all!

The No.1 Ladies`Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith is the first in his series about Mma Precious Ramotswe and her agency set in Gaborone, Botswana. She solves lots of different problems for the citizens of Gaborone and further a field. This book is also for my reading challenge which is reading a crime novel set in different countries.

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, Ray Lovell is a PI hired to find a missing women called Rose Janko who has been missing for 7 years. Since she was the wife of travelling Gypsy, it can be hard to get information as they are a close knit community, but Ray is half Romany and is chosen more than likely for that reason to investigate. It was okay but I nothing special.

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo, another in the series about the Norwegian detective Harry Hole. He is brought back from Hong Kong to help in finding a killer. I really like Harry, he always have lots of problems to do with himself along with trying to solve the crime.

A Delicate Truth by John le Carré, is more spy stuff of the king of spy thrillers. It starts in Gibraltar where a counter-terror operation codename WILDLIFE goes wrong and only a few people in the Government know about it namely a foreign office minister and a private defense contractor. Toby Bell the private secretary of the minister has been kept out of this secret, but he somehow finds out what went wrong and along with some more people, they have to decide if they need let the world know about this operation. I enjoyed it a lot.

Züri Fest 2016

Every 3 years the Züri Fäscht is held which is basically a huge 3 day street party, lots of places to eat, drink, hear music and lots of fun fairs. I did not really see that much of it this year, I only went out on the Saturday and it was raining during the afternoon but it then brightened up in the early evening.

It was quite fascinated with the machine (sorry can`t think of another word to use) in the first 2 photos. Once a upon a time I would have loved to go on it, but now not so sure at all! The screams I heard just from it going up was enough to put me off! Then it drops without the people knowing very fast and stops suddenly at the bottom (thankfully). I watched it for a while andmoved on to watch a helicopter display which was quite cool to see.

The highlight of the evenings was firework displays and on Saturday there were 2 shows, I didn`t see them but from what I saw on facebook it looked really cool.

As I said earlier this event is held every 3 years, in 2013 I missed it completely as I was in Stockholm and in 2010 I only managed to go on a Friday evening as I was also away this time in Rome! So maybe in 2019 I will see more of the Züri fäscht!