Time for a swim!

It was a little cold on Sunday morning for a swim in the lake, but seeing as though I had signed up for the Lausanne Triathlon as part of a team, and I was the swimmer, it was time to don my luminous orange swimming cap (thanks to the organizers) and goggles and dive in!

The air temperature was about 14, and the lake was about 18, which was about 3 degrees colder than my training swims in the lake during the week before. By the end, I was beginning to get achey from the cold. I was really glad to get out and get warm!

Now, it was only 500m, which is not very much, but still enough! Open water swimming is completely different - poor visibility, no lanes marked, and many many people in the water at the same time. I got bumped into and kicked many times and I'm sure I did the same to other people too! But thankfully after the first few minutes the swimmers spread out and there is more space, until you reach the turning point where everyone comes together again to be on the inside edge of the turn to avoid swimming extra meters. I'm really glad I had had some good training swims with friends from bootcamp - the one day we swam the lake was very choppy with a lot of waves which simulated perfectly the race-day conditions. We also practiced swimming into each other and trying to push each other off course which was really good preparation. Because of the training I felt prepared and stayed calm in the water - I realized on the day how easy  it could be to panic!

I was done in 11m26, which placed me somewhere in the middle of the 40mixed teams - considering this was my first swim like this, and that I signed up 1.5 weeks before the race, and that I'm not normally a swimmer - I am happy! More than the time though, it is the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a new challenge and trying something new!

After I got out the water I had to run a couple hundred meters to the transition zone to meet the cyclist of our team and pass on the chip and off he went. That was my part for the team done, but I met up with my team supporters and we went to watch our cyclist (who we didn't spot in the crowd) and our runner (who we did see).  They both did really well, but unfortunately our cyclist did an extra lap! We placed 19th out of 40 teams, but if it hadn't been for the extra lap we would have finished in the top 10. But, in the end, the placement doesn't matter, it was for fun and we enjoyed ourselves! Maybe next year I will do the cycling :)

Ready to start

Not ideal conditions!

That is me coming out the water!

Magical Fireworks!

Every year at the end of Fêtes de Genève (a two week long festival in Geneva), there is an incredible hour long fireworks display, set to music with a theme. I went the last two years, and this year we decided to go again!

There is an option to buy tickets for a seated zone that offer the best views of the fireworks, and I am glad we decided to try this out for this year. It was amazing, completely spectacular. The fireworks are set off from the lake from 40 different firing stations over an area of 27 000 square meters. Apparently, according to the website, the fireworks are synchronized to within 1/10th of a second! It really was impressive - the whole show is set to music and I have never seen such huge fireworks or such unusual ones! I don't know what it is about fireworks, but there is something magical about them and a few times we caught ourselves laughing and smiling with delight!

It is always a crazy day, with more than 600 000 people in Geneva that night to watch the fireworks! If you don't have a ticket for a reserved seat, you definitely need to get to Geneva in the afternoon and stake out a spot by the lake. This year, as we had our seats, we enjoyed the festival in the afternoon (a few drinks, ice-cream, a peddle boat on the lake) and then made our way to the zone to wait in line to be let in. There is always such a festive atmosphere,  and after the show it is the great exodus as thousands of people make their way to the train station to cram into the trains!

View of Geneva from the peddle boat

The giant Evian water fridge

Geneva at dusk

Our spot for the fireworks

Celebrating Friends!

After my vacation in Croatia, I took an extra day of leave to make the most of a long weekend here - so I ended up having another 2 days off (4 if I count the weekend), which I have enjoyed!

On Thursday, some good friends from church hosted a farewell apéro, and it was really nice to see the church crowd again and meet some new people. After all the rain in Lausanne, it ended up being a gorgeous day, and so we enjoyed celebrating life and friendship together overlooking beautiful Lausanne and the lake. We finished the evening on the roof and popped a bottle of champagne!

On Friday, which was Swiss National Day and a public holiday, I spent the day with another good friend who is also, sadly, leaving Lausanne. We started out with blueberry pancakes and fruit on the balcony, before moving down to the lake in Lutry with some friends for some sun and swimming.  We then decided that we wanted to BBQ by the lake and watch the fireworks (a very typical thing to do here on Swiss National Day), so we headed back into town to get some supplies before choosing another spot on the lakeside. I really do love these summer BBQs - tasty food, relaxed chatter and laughter with good friends all in a gorgeous place - what more could you want? A couple in the group stopped off in Lausanne on their way to their holiday destination, so they had rented this van which has been converted for camping - it was so fun to be driven around in this listening to a few good tunes! (and from a practical point of view, it made things so much easier - BBQs by the lake without a car require carrying a few heavy bags!)

Although the two farewells are tough, and I feel sad at the thought of more people I love leaving Lausanne, I recognize that it is a good thing to be sad -  being sad means that I have invested in these friendships and built something beautiful over the last years. I can only miss someone that is precious to me.

Saturday was a quiet day, but in the afternoon I met up again with the same friend who is leaving Lausanne for french toast and coffee on the balcony, and then joined them and some others for some drinks in town - I love the easy going nature of the summer weekend's here! Not having everything planned out (which is my default) means there is room for fun spontaneous activities!

And now, after 10 much needed days off work, it is time to head back to work tomorrow! August will be a busy month, but I am determined to live in the present and enjoy the journey. 

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time" Abraham Lincoln

Summer Vacation!

This year I decided I needed to have a proper holiday - a week of sun and sea, of resting and doing nothing. I have always wanted to go to Croatia, and my friend Raluca was a willing companion, and so our holiday plans were set.

We decided to treat ourselves, and stayed at the Raddison Blu in Split, which was definitely a good choice. The resort was beautiful, and had all the comforts and luxuries of a top resort. We had a room with a balcony which had a sea-view (and we actually received a free room upgrade when we arrived - bonus!) and overlooked the deck and pool of the resort - I immediately felt relaxed when we arrived! The resort also had its own private beach were they have built a deck with day beds, loungers and umbrellas, and there is a bar and a restaurant. Most of the beaches in Croatia are pebble beaches, so it was nice to have the deck with the loungers with direct access to the sea!

Our days started with the most amazing breakfasts - fruit, cereal, yoghurt, waffles, bread, all different types of pastries, eggs, omlettes, bacon, mushrooms, sausages, tomato, potatoes, fresh juices and an endless supply of tea and coffee! Then we would choose a sunny spot either by the pool or at the beach, cooling down by taking a dip in the pool or sea, and finding some shade when the sun got too hot! We enjoyed lots of drinks and snacks by the pool or from the beach bar - it is funny how eating by the water is such a holiday treat! Some days we went to the gym, had naps on our bed or tried out the spa. Dinner each night was either at the buffet (where the food was really good!), the a la carte restaurant, or at the bar. One night we bought some snacks and wine and sat on our balcony enjoying the peace and the view, and another evening we had burgers on the beach!

We chose one day to visit the town of Split, and I am glad we ventured out of our resort. We started off with a bus tour which took us a bit out of the town, which was not somewhere we would have been by ourselves. Our tour guide pointed out these small churches built into the rock face which are only accessible by climbing up a steep flight of stairs for 30 minutes. Apparently it is a popular wedding destination - can you imagine! On foot we walked along the port, and the old town which is built around the Diocletian's Palace (which is actually more like a fortress). Split is an old city, more than 1700 years old, but Croatia only declared it's independence in 1991 and only joined the European Union last year.

It really was a relaxing vacation - it was so good for me to switch off completely, to enjoy the peace, to rest and get lost in a few good novels! I would love to go back one day and do some more exploring - there are amazing islands in Croatia and lots of other cities that I would like to visit.

The whole trip made me think of the wonderful beach holidays we had a family and all that my parents did to make those trips possible. I think that spending our holidays at the beach growing up, now means that the beach will always be the place that I associate with rest and happy times!