Canyoning, Italy, and walking across a country

So I did really well in the first few months of regularly updating my blog, but I've been falling behind a little bit. Thus this is going to be a double update, covering the last two weekends.

Last weekend I took my first trip down to the Italian part of Switzerland (canton of Ticino)! That's one thing which is great about Switzerland. It is so tiny (could probably fit into Alberta about 8 times), yet it is still so diverse all across it.

On the first day, we rented bikes in Lugano and went for a BEAUTIFUL bike ride around the Lake Lugano. We went for a nice swim, and then continued along. We had some extra time so we decided to take a bike ride across the Italian border! My first time to ITALY! So of course, we had to stop to get some Gelato... so much better than the stuff I had once in Calgary!! Overall, we biked just about 60 km that day, so we were all exhausted. But we couldn't be in Italian Switzerland without having some pizza so we enjoyed a declicious dinner before heading back to our hostel and crashing for the evening.

(View from along our bike ride. :) Just makes me smile)

(My first Italian Gelato!)

(They even have palm trees in Southern Switzerland!)

We had to wake up bright and early Sunday morning to head over to where we would be canyoning. For those who don't know what canyoning is, just keep on reading. There were 6 of us in the group, but the canyoning group was 15. Of course the other 9 people were all German speakers, but it ended up being nice because they split us into 2 groups and thus we ended up with a nice small group, just the 6 of us. :)

So, after getting fitted into wet suits, and we slung our gear over our back to hike up the mountain before we could begin canyoning. It was a really hot day so we worked up a nice sweat by the time we got to the top. Of course, then we had to get our wet suits on which proved to be all that much more difficult with a sweaty body. But after the struggle, we jumped right into a beautiful pool of cold, fresh moutain water!

(Happy in a pool of water!)

And then the canyoning began!! It's exactly as it sounds - going through a canyon. Repelling, jumping, sliding and climbing. SO much fun! Though my fear of heights was a little more prominant than I hoped it would be. Especially when the 10m jump came. I volunteered to go first so I could take pictures of people after me jumping. But after jupming, my hands were shaking too much to be able to hold the camera steady and take pictures. This jump was followed by a well formed slide down into the final pool. And then we were greeted by an even greater surprise at the bottom, a group of old, naked men tanning on the rocks. How lovely.

(Me jumping through a waterfall!)

(So much fun!!)

(A sweet slide we went down in the canyon!)

(At the bottom of our adventure! We just came down that!)

To sum it up, Italian Switzerland proved to be a great and adventurous weekend!!

And then back to work for a week, and ready for more adventures the next weekend! This time, I would be walking across an entire country!! Liechtenstein, a small little country (about the size of Calgary, probably a bit smaller actually), to the East of Switzerland.

(Entering Liechtenstein!!)

A lot of people walk across the country, the 8 km across it. But we decided to be more intense and walk top to bottom, from Feldkirch, Austria to Sargans, Switzerland. 30 km, in one day... doesn't sound too bad, does it? Apparently 30 km was a lot more than we had expected. About 15 km in, our bodies were ACHING from top to bottom. I have done long hikes before, but the thing with hiking is you are going up and down all the time. Whereas with walking, you just walk and walk and walk. Always the same muscles, and they start to hurt, A LOT.

(Walking along the path, Liechtenstein on the left of the river, Switzerland on the right)

Beyond the pain, Liechtenstein was quite a nice country. Basically exactly the same as Switzerland though I must say. They even use the Swiss franc!! The main reason we really did this walk was just for the novelty of being able to say we walked across a country. It was a beautiful sunny day to walk across the coutry, with the alps towering all around us. Though the sun also caused much pain (and still is painful) due to the forgotten sunscreen.

(Two places at once! At the end of our journey....finally, back in Switzerland)

So that is my life over the past couple weeks. And this weekend I have another exciting trip coming up, down to Sardinia (Island off of Southern Italy). Work is getting more difficult, with my boss expecting a little bit more from me, but me feeling just as clueless as ever.

Missing you all in Canada!!