Seattle & West Canada

This is typical for us attempt to combine holiday and the race – not always easy to find balance between sightseeing and getting a rest needed to recover after a long flight.

Full of enthusiam we've arrived to Vancouver on Fri afternoon, picked up the car and headed to Seattle (even 3.5 hrs queue on the USA boarder didn't upset us). With no detailed plans, no maps covering USA we relayed on Mike memory to show us around as he was there before.

2 days passed quickly on driving around Microsoft in Redmond (city within the city, looks like a very pleasant place to work, surrounded by lots of greenery and sport fields), visiting Boeing factory in Everett (found out that a plane has 180miles of cables, 6mln parts and now know can recognize 777 from 747) and of course stopped at few bike shops but resisted temptation of buying a new cervelo bike (they're so much cheaper than in Europe).


The food servings in America are huge – Mike has an appetite but we never managed to finish 1 starter and 2 mains between us. Our favourite place was called Crab Pot in Seattle harbour –big pot of seafood that is thrown the middle of the table.

On Monday we headed back to Vancouver and left the sunny weather in the USA. Vancouver is known as a place where you can ski in the morning and sail in the afternoon – unfortunately it was cold, rainy and the clouds were sitting low so we couldn’t see the surrounding mountains but on the postcard it looked spectacular. We decided to take it easy and spend day in Stanley Park (equivalent of Hyde Park in London but more wild), walking through the centre and having lots of coffee breaks. Vancouver seems to be a nice place to live, peaceful with lots of great restaurants.


After day in Vancouver we drove 280 miles to Penticton in Okanagan Valley, where the race was taking place. Okanagan Valley is known for good weather (except the time we were there) lots of lakes, wineries and fruit farms. We stayed in the place recommended by Nick, who was racing here last year. It was called God’s Mountain, quite spectacular house on the top of the hill surrounded by winery, furnished with the antics, fireplaces, lots of books, no tv, 2 fully equipment kitchens and a view over the lake.
This was great a place to relax but we were there a 'bit' restless as we're not used to sitting and doing nothing. The days passed on visiting nearby wineries (me trying, Mike driving), stopping for coffees in Penticton and reading books. So when we run out of the things to do Mike always came up with an "great" idea - why not to visit bike shop, try new helmets, check what wheels they have ....

Sunday was the race day – 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles bike and 26 miles run - Mike finished in 9:41 – great time for windy conditions and a hilly course.


On Tue after long thinking we decided to head to Rockies (some would called us crazy - driving another 8hrs just to spend couple of days in the mountains knowing that weather forecast is dreadful but we had too check if the view is as breathtaking as written in all the travel guides). Rockies span 3,000 miles from Canada to New Mexico


The drive to Rockies was taking us much longer than expected 8hrs as we were stopping frequently and around 7pm we had enough and went for a walk around Emerald Lake and decided to camp in the tiny village Field, where all the houses were older than 100 years.

The next 2 days we spent in Banff – tiny town very popular with tourists in the National Park within the close proximity to the most picturesque spots in The Rockies. During the rain we were taking shelter in the coffee shops, when it stopped we tried to do as many walks as possible. One of the best known spots is Lake Louise – lake surrounded by mountains with a huge expensive hotel at the shore.


From there we went for 5 mile walk to Lake Agnes – beautiful place above Lake Louise, there is super coffee shop run by students in the summer with no electricity. All the cakes and bread is homemade and all the supplies are delivered by helicopter at the beginning of the summer. After spending so long in the car it was really good to be able to stretch the legs.


Weather remained unchanged – 40F at night, 50F at day and frequent showers. We continued camping - since we bough woolen hats and started going to hot springs in the evening we were actually quite warm. On Thu we had an unwanted ‘excitement’ – ZOOM airline went into liquidation and were forced to find alternative way home. As we were not sure whether we get the refund we decided to play safe and look for a cheaper way home, which ended up to be from Calgary and day later than planned (the only positive was that Calgary is closer to Rockies than Vancouver, it saved us driving 450 miles)

On Friday we drove 150 miles to Jasper – the road is called The Icefield Parkway and was voted one of the most spectacular drives in America. It feels like driving through the tunnel with high mountains on the left and right. The weather was particularly bad so we only managed to do 2 walks: Johnston Canyon and Bow Glacier/Pyeto Lake

We arrived at Jasper at 7pm – it was raining so heavily that the windscreen wipers where on the highest. Even we were not crazy enough to put the tent up and were determined to find some roof over our heads. It turned out to be a really hard task as it was a long weekend and everything was fully booked – after 2 hrs we found something.

On Saturday the weather improved and we drove back to Calgary – we enjoyed the Rockies enormously and had to agree that Icefield Parkway is really very spectacular.

Columbia Glacier (below) with big tourist centre is the main attraction on the highway. It's possible to drive to middle of the glacier in the bus with giant tires but we found it a bit too touristy for our liking – we recently returned from South America where we did proper ice walking (ops - that come out a bit snobbish).

Calgary – we arrived in the evening and bad weather caught up with us – it was raining so we spent the evening in the hotel. Next day the weather didn’t improve so we ended up driving around centre and then having long lunch before heading to the airport. Calgary hosted 1988 Winter Olympic.

While in Rockies we saw one black bear

lots of stuffed bears
and moose
We managed to stay positive and didn’t let the weather to get to us. Rockies turned out to be one of the few places that as spectacular as on the pictures. Despite the short stay and inconvenient weather we managed to visit most known touristy places. Rockies would be high on the list of the places we would love to return to (if only we had more holiday and money). Hopefully next time we could do proper mountain trekking and have better weather.

Zach Kanada (Polski)

Po 3 dniach w Seatle USA wrocilismy do Kanady - dzien postoju w Vancouver po czym ruszamy do Pendicton (gdzie sa zawody) a potem w Rockies (ciagna sie przez 4,800 km od Kanady do Nowego Meksyku, najwyzszy szczyt 4,401 mnpm).

VANCOUVER - jedno z nielicznych miejsc gdzie mozna rano jezdzic na nartach a popoludniu zeglowac; Stanley Park jest najwiekszym parkiem - naturalny las polozony nad zatoka z mnostwem sciezek spacerowych i tras rowerowych (na zdjeciu widok ze Stanley Park na centrum) - nie ma w Vancouver zabytkow wiec dzien spedzilismy wloczac sie po parku i centrum; wiecej zwiedzania planowalismy w drodze powrotnej ale ze plany nam sie zmienily i wracalismy z Calgary nie udalo nam sie (moze jeszcze kiedyz tam wrocimy)


PENDICTON - 30tys, 400km od Vancouver - polozony w Okanagam Dolinie, slonecznym regionie pelnym winiarni i sadow owocowym (przepyszne brzoskwinie i wisnie); mieszkalismy w przepieknym miejscu - na wzgorzu z widokiem na jezioro pelnym antykow, bez tv z mnostwem ksiazek otoczonym polem winowym; dni minaly nam szybko mimo ze nie robilismy nic - pogoda byla taka sobie, do zawodow bylo 4 dni a w Pendictonie zbytnio nie bylo nic do zwiedzania; nie przywyklismy do takiego leniuchowania wiec czulismy sie troche nieswojo - przeczytalismy pare ksiazek, odwiedzilismy pobliskie winiarnie na probowanie wina;

IM (3.6km plywanie, 180km rower, 42km bieg) odbyl sie w niedziele rano, cieplo ale wietrznie, Michalowi poszlo dobrze 9:41 (biorac pod uwage gorzysta trase bardzo dobry wynik, zakwalifikowal sie na mistrzostwa swiata w Hawajach ale nie wzial - rozsadek nakazywal wzial gore, trzeba troche popracowac)



ROCKIES - 600km, 8 godz z Pedincton - dlugo sie zastanawialismy czy powinismy jechac taki kawal drogi na 3 dni, ale widoki na pocztowkach i przewodnikach byly tak zachecajace, ze postanowilismy zobaczyc czy rzeczywiscie jest tak ladnie; nie rozczarowalismy sie - bylo to jedno z niewielu miejsc jakie widzielismy, ktore wygladaja w rzeczywistosci tak uroczo jak na pocztowkach;

pierwszy dzien spedzilismy w samochodzie zatrzymujac sie czesto w malych miasteczkach na kawe oraz miejscach widokowych; bylo deszczowo i gory przysloniete byly chmurami



ale mimo to udalo nam sie zobaczyc czarnego misia (sa miejsze od grizli)

i moosa

Przez nastepne 3 dni pogoda nie poprawila sie, w dzien bylo kolo 14 a w nocy 4 stopnie i padalo; Pierwsza noc spedzilismy w Field na kampingu - malutka wioska, w ktorej kazdy dom ma powyzej 100 lat

ROCKIES - BANFF - 7tys mieszkancow,najwyzej polozone miasto w Kanadzie (1,463 mnpm) polozone w parku narodowym i jedno z wiekszych w okolicy, z cieplymi zrodlami i blisko do najbardziej urokliwych jezior i gor - tu spedzilismy 2 dni

w pobliszu jest Jezioro Louise (na zdjeciu ponizej) - jedno z najbardzie uroczych jezior, nad nim jest potezny bardzo ekskluzywny hotel;

przestalo padac wiec wybralismy sie na 7km spacer do Jezioro Agnes polozone powyzej Jeziora Louise - jest tam super schronisko prowadzone przez studentow bez elektrycznosci, ciasta i chleb sa pieczone codziennie rano przez nich


JASPER (Rockies) - 230km na pln od Banff, male urocze otoczone gorami

jedzie sie tam Parkway autostrada - polozana wsrod gor, widoki cudowne - jadac tam mielismy tylko 1 postoj i krotki 3km spacer do Bow Lodowca i Peyto jeziora zanim zaczelo padac

jak sie rozpadalo to nie przestalo do konca dnia wiec przez reszte drogi nie za duzo widzielismy gdzyz padalo tak mocno, ze wycieraczki na najwyzszych obrotach nie nadazaly; dojechalismy do Jasper wieczorem i oboje zabralismy sie intensywnie do szukania jakiegos lokum (w takim deszczu nie usmiechala nam sie perspektywa rozbijania namiotu) ale znalezienie lokum okazalo sie trudnym zadaniem gdyz w Kanadzie byl dlugi weekend i wszystko bylo zarezerwowane, po poltora godz wreszcie udalo nam sie znalesc dach nad glowa

powrot Icefield autostrada nastepnego dnia okazal sie bardziej przyjemnym doswiadczeniem - slonce wyszlo, chmur nie bylo i droga minela przyjemnie z postojami - Athabasca wodospad i kolumbia lodowiec

CALGARY - odbywaly sie tu zimowa olimpiada w 1988 roku; dotarlismy w sobote wieczorem, dzien przed powrotem a ze pogoda byla nie za ciekawa wiec zostalismy w hotelu; samolot mielismy w niedziele wieczorem wiec planowalismy sie pokrecic po centrum ale padalo wiec spedzilismy dzien zwiedzajac przez okana samochodu i majac dlugi lunch zanim udalismy sie na lotnisko w droge powrotna do domu

Podczas pobytu, okazalo sie,ze linie lotnicze, ktorymi przyjechalismy zbankrutowaly i wstrzymaly wszystkie loty. Zmuszenie bylismy znalesc sobie nowe polaczenie do domu - udalo nam sie znalesc powrot z Calgary (tylko 130km from Banff), zaoszczedzilo nam 900km droge do Vancouver i dalo ekstra dzien wakacji.

Mimo zlej pogody wyjazd zalicza sie do udanych i jak bedzie mozliwosc to chetnie bysmy wrocili do Rockies pochodzic po gorach

Seattle, USA (Polski)

Po 10godz locie wyladowalismy w Vancouver, gdzie wynajelismy samochod i ruszylismy w 280km droge do Seattle. Niestety na granicy z USA utknelismy w 3.5 godz kolejce - wiec do Seattle dojechalismy o 9 wieczorem, zmeczeni.

Seattle jest polozone w pln-zach rogu USA 150km od granicy z Kanada - 600tys mieszkancow (4mln liczac obrzeza). Michal byl tu juz pare razy na wyjazdach sluzbowych wiec robil za przewodnika. W Seattle spedzilismy 2 dni.

1 dzien - rano (tutejszego czasu, wieczorem europejskiego) wstalismy dosc wypoczeci, Michal poszedl na mala przebiezke po czym ruszylismy na zwiedzanie. Zaczelismy od Microsoft City w Redmond (30km na wsch od Seattle) - tu znajduje sie biura Microsoftu, wlasciwie przypomina to miasto w miescie - mnostwo budynkow polozonych wsrod drzew, boiska, rabatki z kwiatami, sciezki rowerowe - ciezko na zdjeciu uwiecznic ale sprawia wrazenie bardzo przyjemnego miejsca do pracy. Potem pojechalismy do Seattle - glowna atrakcja jest to wieza

pokrecilismy sie po nabrzezu i na kolacje zjadlismy miske owocow morza - Michal byl juz w tej restauracji Crab Pot wczesnie, bardzo oryginalna, przynosza miske gotowanych owocow morza (krewetki, malze, klamsy, kraby), ktora wysypuja na stol, daja sliniaczek, tluczek, deske drewniana i zycza smacznego

W niedziele pojechalismy do fabryki samolotow Boing w Everett - wreszcie wiemy czym sie rozni boing 847 i 877 i dowiedzielismy sie pare ciekawostek np. w samolocie jest 270km kablow elektrycznych, 6mln czesci, pomalowany samolot wazy 400 to 600kg wiecej

Wieczorem pojechalismy do Bellevue - zatrzymalismy sie w hotelu gdzie Michal zazwyczaj mieszkal podczas podrozy sluzbowych (maja swietna silownie tam z basanem wiec Michal nie mogl oprzec sie pokusie i poszedl sobie poplywac). Wieczorem tradycyjnie obiad - porcje sa tu tak duze w restauracjach ze jeszcze nigdy nie udalo nam sie zjesc wszystko (a ci co znaja Michala wiedza ze apetyt ma dosc spory i nie czesto zdarza mu sie nie zjesc wszystkiego).

Dzis ruszamy w droge do Vancouver - tam mamy 1 dzien postoju po czym ruszamy w glab Kanady do Penticton gdzie odbywaja sie zawody. Jak do tej pory nie zrobilismy za duzo zdjec ale mam nadzieje, ze to sie zmieni wkrotce.

Austria

Karl pointed out yesterday that it was not acceptable to have a blog in Polish and don’t have one in English and apparently, as Mike’s spokesman, it is my turn again to do the English one – so here it comes….

Ironman Austria in Klagenfurt – 200 miles from Vienna – we knew that after 7 mths non-training break is was going to be tough so we both made an effort to make it as relaxed as possible (everything was booked in advance and bike was packed a week before instead of usual night before the departure).
We’ve arrived to our hotel Windenhof early afternoon on Friday and not wanting to miss on the great weather set of to the nearby beach to catch up on a bit of sun and a gentle swim. In the evening we tried to go for a drive around the bike course but got lost half way through and ended up just seeing only easy part of the course.
The Hotel has been recommended by our friend and we couldn’t have asked for a better one – 1 mile pleasant walk to the start along the canal and it had a good restaurant (very important - everyone who knows Mike will agree).

On Saturday morning we woke up in good moods, sun was shining so Mike quickly unpacked the bike while I packed his racing bags. Surprisingly by noon all the pre-race activities were done so we rented a second bike and cycled to the nearby village for carbohydrate loaded lunch (we never managed to agree whether this was a huge or a small portion). After race check-in early afternoon we spent the rest of the day on the beach.



Sunday – race day was a long day starting at 5am. Weather deteriorated and it was obvious that it was going to rain. Walk to the start, last minute checking to ensure that bike was ready and at 7am race started, Mike was off for his 9-10 hours adventure. Half way through the run heavy rain started and a thunder storm closed in – the weather didn’t improve for rest of the day and it really spoiled the closing ceremony. Mike didn’t keep me waiting long – only 9:36 (4min slower than his PB).

As 7 months seeing the world was not enough on Mon morning we decided to skip the awards ceremony and head to Vienna. Unable to admire nice landscapes due to rain and fog.

Our first stop was Schönbrunn Palace – summer residence of Franz Josef, who was reigning for 68 years till 1916. The please was nice and the audio was superb – we never before went to the palace where we could learn so much about day-to-day life
· Franz Josef's wife, empress Sisi spent 3hrs a day just making up her hair, washed it twice a month (it took entire day) in eggs and cognac, was obsessed with her weight 46kg with high of 172cm – those days she would qualify as anorexic
· Until World War I porcelain was only used to serve soups and deserts as it was thought not to be good enough for the king; when the war started most of the silver dishes have been melted into money so the king had to adjust to eating his main courses on the porcelain instead of silver
· Franz Josef I hold audience twice a week lasting around 2 min; every one who wished could come and talk to him but needed to be very brief

In the evening we had a lovely dinner with couple of pints in the traditional Austrian restaurant – Mike was working hard to replace all those calories he burned during the race and got so carried away that he eat half of my meal. After such a feast we went for a long walk around the old town (National Bibliothek,Parliament, Sisi Museum, Franz Josef Plaz)

Guess what we did on Tue morning – went for a quick run to the nearby park – probably the only time I’ve managed to keep up with Mike. After that we visited Sisi museum in Hofburg castle, had a coffees break and of course roasted sausages.





What is great about Austria are cycling paths. They are wide, safe and even I run out of the excuses why I don’t want to cycle. In Vienna they run schema – CityCycle. The bikes can be rented 24x7 from many street points: put credit card in, take a bike and drop it any time you want at any of the frequent points. It only costs 2euro per hour and with those great cycling paths why wouldn’t you take bike instead of bus or car?


Vienna is definitely a highly recommended city break destination – relaxing, lovely architecture, great atmospheric restaurants.

Austria (Polski)

Ironman Austria odbywal sie w Klugenfurt – 350km na pld-zach od Wiednia. Wyladowalismy w piatek 11/07/2008 rano, pogoda byla piekna, od razu ruszylismy w droge wynajetym samochodem. Hotel Windelhof polecony przez kolege okazal sie dobrym wyborem – spokojny, polozony 1.5km od startu (fajny spacer wzdluz kanalu), krotki spacer do plazy nad jeziorem. Sobota przed zawodami minela nam wyjatkowo relaksujaco – Michal rano szybko zlozyl rower, spakowal torby i w poludnie wynajelismy drugi rower i popedalowalismy do nastepnej miejscowosci (10km) na lunch – bardzo przyjemna wycieczka gdyz slonce swiecilo i nie trzeba bylo sie stresowac wymijajacymi nas samochodami (w UK to tylko pomarzyc mozna o takich szerokich sciezkach rowerowych). Po poludniu Michal pojechal sie zarejstrowac a potem troche posiedzielismy na plazy.


W niedziele zawody – pobutka przed 5, sniadanie, na dworzu dosc cieplo ale zapowiada sie pochmurny dzien. Start byl o 7 rano. Michal jakos sobie radzi mimo, ze nie jest az tak dobrze przygotowany jak zazwyczaj – pogoda dziwna, w gorach na rowerze pada a w polowie biegu zaczyna sie burza i ulewa.


W poniedzialek rano odpuszczamy uroczystosci zakonczenia i ruszamy do Wiednia – pada i jest pochmurnie.


Drogi byly dosc puste wiec szybko udalo nam sie dojechac – mamy czas wiec zatrzymujemy sie w Schönbrunn Palace (letnia rezydencja krolewska). Tu urodzil sie Franz Josef I – panujacy przez 68 lat az do smierci w 1916. Zamek oglada sie samemu z audio (maja tez w jezyku polskim). Bylo to jedno z najciekawszych audio jakie slyszlismy – zawieralo mnostwo detali z codziennego zycia dworu np.
· Cesarzowa SISI dziennie spedzala 3 godz czeszac wlosy, myla je 2 razy w miesiacy w zoltku i koniaku i miala obsesje na punkcie swojej figury – w dzisiejszych czasach byla by uznana za anoreksyczke gdzyz przy 172cm wzrostu wazyla 46kg i miala 50 cm w pasie
· cesarz France Josef I wstawal regularnie o 3:30 rano by zaczac prace o 5 rano, mial 2 razy w tygoniu audiencie na ktore kazdy mogl przyjsc trwajace okolo 2 min
· porcelane uzywano tylko do zup i deserow, jedzienie serwowane bylo na srebrnych talerzach az do wybuchu I wojny swiatowej, gdzie srebne zastawy zostaly stopione na pieniadze


Wieczorem wloczymy sie po starowce, slychac muzyke – dobiega spod ratusza, maja tam wielki ekran i puszczaja koncerty muzyki powaznej (zdjecia: parlament, biblioteka narodowa, Franz Josef I plac)





We wtorek rano – nasz ostatni dzien we Wiedniu, wloczymy sie na starowke i zachodzimy do Sisi museum w Hofburg zamku. Byla to zimowa rezydencja Franza Josefa I i cesarzowej Sisi (Schönbrunn Palace byl letnia). Zwiedzamy z audio, ktore wydaje nam sie bardzo ciekawe gdyz zawiera mnostwo informacji o codziennym zyciu. Pogoda sie poprawia, wloczymy sie po czym na zakonczenie zjadamy po kielbasce i ruszamy na lotnisko.



Sciezki rowerowe zrobily dosc duze wrazenie ale system wynajmu rowerow we Wiedniu jeszcze wieksze. City Bike to inicjatywa prowadzona przez misto i polega na bardzo latwym wynajmnie rowerow – rowery stoja na chodnikach, wsadza sie karte kredytowa, wklepuje numer roweru i sie odjezdza. Pierwsza godz jest za darmo, kazda nastepna kosztuje 1 euro. Rower nie trzeba zwracac w tym samym miejscu skad sie go wzielo – mozna go przypiac do byle jakiego punktu City Bike, wklepac numer i to wszystko – w zaleznosci od czasu wynajmu karta kredytowa bedzie skasowana albo i nie (jesli sie mialo rower mniej niz godz). Ku naszemu zdziwieniu rowery byly w dobrym stanie i nie byly zdemolowane.