Youth Training in Letzigrund

Alessio got a chance to meet and train with some of the athletics stars who were going to be at the Diamond League in Zurich on 1st September.

It was quite by chance that he got chosen, I registered him and he was randomly chosen to participate. He was quite excited to go and a little nervous too!

We got there on Tuesday 30th August around 5pm and waited for the gates to open, once through we waited for the stars to arrive. All the children were put into groups and were able to train with two of the athletics.

The first training session was with Jenny Spanovic Serbian the triple jumper and the second one was with Ajla del Ponte Swiss relay runner. He enjoyed both sessions.

Afterwards all the kids got chances to get the autographs from the athletics, Alessio was on a mission to get them all. He got 10 autographs and was a bit miffed he could not get them all.

This was a fantastic chance to meet some of the Olympic champions from Rio 2016.


This weekend I was in Geneva with my parents just for the weekend and it was a lovely time, but sadly nearing the end of the weekend I tripped going down a ramp and hurt my foot. Now I have to wear an ankle support when I walk around and have two weeks off work for it to heal!

Goodness the things that happen to you! Wishing you all a great week!

An Afternoon in Lucerne

Lucerne is always a lovely city to visit and this time I decided to visit the Richard Wagner Museum. It is roughly around 30mins walk from the main station and a rather nice one by the lake. The museum will not take long to visit, the lower floor has furniture, ornaments and music scores and information about the rooms. Upper floors had an exhibition, which was okay and since it was all in German it did not hold my attention. A nice cafe outside if you feel the need for refreshments.

Afterwards I walked back into the centre and walked around the old part, it has such lovely buildings and was very busy. I looked for a cafe for a short break and cool beer, afterwards returned to Zurich. All in all a nice afternoon and good to get away from Zurich even for a short time.

This weekend I am off to Geneva with my parents, we will go with the train so will get plenty of reading done. What is everyone else up too this weekend?

Enjoy the weekend!

Postcards of Porto Part 1

Dom Luis 1

Riberia area

Riberia

Church of Saint lldefonso

Bookshop Lello

Casa Do Musica

Castle do Quejio

Tram

Clerigos Tower

Alessio and I spent 4 days in Porto as part of our summer holiday, and I have to say that it is an amazing city. It is a very hilly city so we spent a lot of time wondering up and down the streets, but at least we were getting some exercise in the process!

I will name of the things we saw in Porto:

1) Riberia Square, this is part of the historical centre of the city and designated World Heritage by UNESCO. It is really a lovely area to walk around, full of colour and fantastic buildings!

2)Dom Luis 1 Bridge, this is quite the focal point of all the bridges, Alessio and I walked along with both top and lower desks.

3) Boat trip on the river Douro, the cruise passes under 6 bridges and gives information about them all!

4) Churches, there are so many in this city and they are all beautiful with fantastic tiles!

5) Casa da Musica, this is a major concert hall

6)Livraria Lello, this bookstore is famous as rumor has it that J K Rowling took inspiration from here for the Harry Potter books! It is a fantastic store though, although you pay 3 euros to enter and if you buy a book then the entrance fee is taken off! Of course we bought two books, it was so busy but worth it if you like books!

7) Beaches, there are many up the coast and possible to get there by bus. We went to the Sea Life centre but was not impressed. I have been to a few and none seem worth the money.

Next post will continue with more sights in Porto!

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Back in March I visited Slovenia with my friend Arlene and one of our day trips was to Lake Bled. We took the bus there and once we arrived we wondered down to the lake, it really is such a wonderful place! We decided to walk up to the castle, which was really exhausting, it is not a long walk but uphill seemed to take ages. Once up the view is stunning of the church on the island on the lake and of the mountains and surrounding area.

We had coffee and cake, not just any cake but the Bled cream cake which tasted really delicious. Then we walked back down and started to walk around the lake with a little help of the tourist train. It is 6km walk around the lake but we did not do the whole lake just a bit of it.

There is the possibility to visit the church on the island on the traditional boat called the Peltna which is only made in Bled, it takes 20 people and you are rowed there by the Pletna oarsman. We did not do this but it would have been nice to see the interesting on the island.

A visit to Lake Bled is one of the big tourist places to visit and if we had had more time, I would have like to visit Lake Bohinj.