Unexpected

Ok, so, we go to Formentera, stay there for about 3 or 4 days and have a lovely time, we went on the mud baths and all

The water was just beautiful, like the scenario of some paradisiacal beach or something of that value

 

In the midst of all this, we manage to meet a Brazilian sailor, the first one in the past 2.5 years of Casulo. Great guy, a physicist that has helped in the discovery of one of the elements that help keep the parts of the neutrons together. Really great guy and incredibly smart. Any how, we had to leave to meet Solange’s cousins that were about to arrive and the weather was turning bad. We did so and 2 days later we returned to Formentera to show them where we were, only to find the Brazilian guy’s boat in the sand, completely damaged. We than quickly adopt him and have him as a temporary crew member, till we can get his boat fixed.

In the meanwhile, the weather keeps on turning from bad to worse, and among all these constant shifts of bad weather due to season changes, we manage to stop nothing less than this:

 

That’s right, a freaking water spout or whatever you may wish to call it… 

So, long story short, after the boat is finally removed from the water and we manage to say our goodbye’s to Helio, we move on to try and reach Portugal.

So, on our way however, the weather keeps on getting ugly as it is still part of a season changing. In it we manage to get really huge waves that went easily from 3 to 5m tall, and got winds that were not so strong, up to 25knots. If you are unaware of boat speeds, our boat works like this (and by the way, wind knots and speed knots are a bit different, but influence on it):

3.5 – 4 knots: Dead slow
4.5 – 5 knots: Slow
5.5 – 6 knots: Normal
6.5 – 7 knots: Good
7.5 knots and up: Great!!

So, with these 25 knots of wind we got, we managed to make 16.3 knots of speed! We were just flying! In this more powerful weather we managed to break our sail, where it just ripped out, and lost one of our propellers. Luckily, when  we realized this, we were just out of Gibraltar, where we managed to come for an unexpected stop over, which turned out to be a really nice one. Got to see some monkeys and all, great place!

 

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The first one you don’t forget

Returning to post after a long dry spell as this majestic  event that placed me in complete awe is just unpostponable. It looked delicate and completely beautiful, the beautiful cylindrical shaped object. It’s size was grand and completely divine, and it was quite delicate in it’s power. It was incredibly destructive, although it seemed the gentlest thing around. This was the first twister. One of the most spectacular scenes I have yet witnessed!

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Paris

As so many tales have been told about this city, with so much glamour and history, I believe that words cannot really describe the experience. So, here I will try to present an alternative:

  

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Amsterdam

After a huge party, and losing a watch already in the airport in Hamburg, me and Lennart arrived in Amsterdam. Took about 2ish tries to find out the location of the hostel (“towards the grasshopper and turn right on the second street” it said), eventually we found it, although realizing we were in the edge and clearly inside the famous red light district already. We knew then that the days to follow would not go by softly, nor smoothly.

We first, as if preparing for what was to come, took a very long and kind of deserved nap. When we woke was time to compensate for the lost time. We went for a few walks around, looking through all the different café’s around and the several “coffee shops”. We found the vending machines that sell hot food as well. That was quite a thrill, to go to a machine and buy hot burgers, hot dogs and all. very simple solution, but also incredibly effective. We did not do an awful much that night, just a few drinks and walked around the canals for quite a while. We tried to have a neon tour around the city.

The hostel street and the view from Anne Frank’s house.

The next day we did what was to be repeated often: we walked, walked and walked. We went to Anne Frank’s house, a few churches, got lost in propose around the canals, and tried to get as far from downtown as possible. It is amazing how many bicycles are around the city, just an incredible amount. When we finally concluded the walk, me and Lennart tried some of the famous fries from Amsterdam.

So many bicycles, and me and Lennart trying the chips.

That evening bohemian lifestyle was occurring again, and this time we went more experimental, with some coca based drinks. That was great in the sense I discovered being experimental is not my forte and I do not intend on repeating such features.

 
Bad weather, but great view 

The next and final morning we decided to go to some parks around, have a quiet day before leaving, so we just laid in the sun by a canal and enjoyed the view, which was pretty spectacular.

And that was it, as quickly as it came to a start, it came to an and, quite abruptly both ways, but with great memories, shockingly so, but great nonetheless. After this, when returning to the hostel to get our luggage I overheard this crazy guy wanting to get into a fight with me and Lennart because we were on ‘his’ red light district and we were saying no to the girls on display. Will also recollect the poor cyclist that was punched to the ground by four guys though quickly rescued by a car. Although these might sound as bitter memories, they were very peculiar and interesting and I shall hold on to them dearly. The city was great, but the people were just spectacular!

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Hamburger

So, at the arrival me and Hanna were greeted by Julian. We had a quick catch up with Lennart, tried out some Portuguese sandwiches on a roof, and decided to call it and early evening, just putting all the news up to date.

The next morning me and Hanna jumped at the chance of using the internet, so we were up to a very late start. We went with Lennart and Laura for a quick coffee in the city and me and Hanna did some city exploring on our own (even though we did not know where was what).

Then we just went for Julian’s ultimate Frisbee practice, and went to town again to meet Julian’s brother Oliver. We had a quick catch up, but as Hanna decided to cut her trip short, Lennart being a nice tour guide that he is, decided to make it to the red light districts that very evening. It was quite an odd and uncomfortable experience to watch girls on windows being displayed as some sex toy, or something of that sort. I didn’t really share my discomfort but it was at the very least awkward to watch.

The following day, as there were not many plans, me and Hanna went on a lake mission, trying to find this one called Alster. Well, little did we know that it is the main one and virtually every path you take leads you there… We took about 30min by train, plus about 15min walk to get to this lake that if we just walked from where we started, would take us at very most 20min. Living and learning I suppose.

From there me and Julian went for a barbeque now on the short distance, and later we just had a nice night out as Laura was celebrating the end of her exams.

The next day we went to the “beach”. It is a little entrance that seems like a river, where a few people go swimming. Of course I was one of those people. Was great just laying there and talking for a while. The days quite warm, specially for what I expected to find in northern Germany.

From there were just quiet times, as we knew that Julian’s birthday party would be intense. Louis came from Berlin for the weekend and was great catch up.

One really great thing that I unfortunately have no photographic evidence for was the climbing. Me, Oliver and Julian went to this place where you can go on the artificial climbing in extreme environments. Although some of the paths seemed simple, I assure they were anything but. Hanging on a 180 degrees angle, if not more, while trying to grab the next rock and keeping your balance like some sort of ant is not too easy. On and all it was a very good experience, with all its attributes. The friendship however was once again the highlight.

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Berliner

After the long trip from Schlat all the way to Berlin, which started at 10am and finished at 10:45pm, I finally arrived. Was picked up by Louis, Hanna and Zoe.. We went to a bar for a quick burger (the best in town, or not quite).. Then we just went on to a small concert from a band named The Cowboy Killers, pretty good in deed, and called it quits for an early night.

The next morning me and Hanna went out for a quick breakfast and went on to meet Louis. It was a fairly quick catch up as he was overdue for a haircut. So, while he got trimmed up, me and Hanna went to visit the classic blown up church. I had been there before, but as it is pretty iconic, we had a second look around.

Then we just went on for a little walk, and when we found a little playground I had to go on for a little ride on the slide.. Then we went to Louis’s cafe, a really great place, had a proper meal, lots of laughter’s and jokes, and went on to another part of the city, through lots of back alleys to visit some stores and the different Berlin scene.

From there we went on to this birthday party that was happening on the back of the cafe, for Zoe’s sister Paula. Was really great, everyone so friendly, we just had heaps of talk and got face paint and banana and mango beers.. (don’t recommend the beers)

The following day we went on to the part of the East side gallery, to see the wall, and with it some of the paintings in the buildings done by this great stop motion paint artist. Then we went obviously to the wall, and to the river, just for a quick walk.

From there we went to visit the tribute to the Jews, a great work piece by the way. That evening we went to another party, with great people again, just talking heaps, and when the time came, we tried once again the famous Curry Wurst. So great! (half of our programs were food based)

The following day we had to go on a solo tour as Louis and Zoe had work, so in a feeble attempt to go touristy, we ended up just walking. By accident we hit a few very nice spots, such as this great church and a park and museum and all… Then, as the gourmet exploration went on, it was time for me to try the famous Spaghetti ice, which is a pasta looking ice cream.. I must admit, it was pretty fantastic though.

Then we went on to have a quiet early night with Louis, as it was our last night… Well, I guess you can say it was early to the point that it was almost sunrise when we left.. We just kept on talking and completely lost track of time.. I guess those are some of the best ways for things to happen though.

Now we are in Hamburg, Its been a year since I last been here and its great seeing how things change in this brief time gap.

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Southern trip

After about 4 trains (one of which completely unexpected), I finally arrived in Goppingen, to meet with my good friend Vicky. There we had a quiet cup of coffee, had a small chance of a quick catch up, and went on to meet her family (great people by the way) in a small village named Schlat. Had a nice German traditional meal and afterwards we went on for a walk with the dog. We decided it was best to have a quiet night, specially taking into account I was pretty tired still from the long trip.

Next day we went on to Ulm, a very old yet well preserved city, by the Danube river. We had a nice walk, went up to this insanely high church (just to go from the highest base to the very tip took me around 30min). From there we tried to find this very old pancake house, buy being in doubt between no pancake and a pancake with a side of a parking ticket we decided to eat somewhere else.

After we tried to find this water-park named Atlantis, only to find out in our arrival that it was closed for the entire month. We then spend most of the rest of the evening figuring out how would i reach my next destination (that took quite a while), and we just watched a movie to relax from all the tension the plans summed up.

The following day we did quite a walk, to the top of a hill that actually reminded me i was not exercising for quite a while, but the view was completely worth the effort.

From there we went to visit Vicky’s grandmother, a very lovely lady, with a very warm smile. I got to witness something i don’t get to do very often, see a grandparent-grandchild relationship. We went for a quick swim, dinner with the parents, and after gathering with the friends. Really friendly people.

The following morning we said goodbye to Schlat as we made our way to Leipzig, and after a loooooooooong drive we had a small stop in Nuremberg, and we all got to see the town, me, Vicky and Mathias. Was a good shared first time.

Nuremberg

When arriving in Leipzig i only had around 40min before catching a train to Berlin, but in that short period i had the chance to meet another of Vicky’s idol, her sister. Very friendly people in deed, and my trip was without a doubt very pleasant and warm

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Swiss style

 
The Mont-Blanc

Arriving in Switzerland was a big contrast. I was picked up at the airport by my dear friend Nadege and from there we went to visit Nyon. It was a quick tour to see the lake, get some pizza, visit a small Chateau, the rest of the place and for me to figure out how to take out money without all the numbers for my PIN, it worked anyway.

 

After it, as I was still a bit tired from not sleeping much before the trip, we decided to have a quiet night and reminisce New Zealand by watching Flight of the Conchords at Nadege’s place, in a cute little village named Etoy.

The next day we went to visit the park of Signal de Bougy, where we meet up with two of her cousins, Vincent and Sandrine. They are both really friendly and great people. At the park we decided to do something not so usual, so we went climbing.

Actually we did the Accro Branche.

It is not just the usual climbing, its all on trees, but you go through ropes and swings and flying foxes, among other things. For someone who is not very comfortable with heights and narrow places, specially not being so stable and relying mostly on ropes, I was actually quite pleased and proud of myself.

Time there whizzed by, and although we only done three paths, it was enough for three whole hours to go bye. After it, as i was already saying that I really wanted to go swimming on a Swiss lake, we decided we would all do it then. The idea for me was kind of some of the stereotypical things you have to do in Switzerland: swim in a lake, have fondue (although its summer) and have a baguette. I had the baguette on the first morning.

So, after coming back to the house to get all the swimming gear and stopping over at a gas station to get the supplies for a barbeque near the lake, we went of for the experience. When we arrived, it was just a beautiful scenery, not many people around, the sun was already lowering from the sky, but the breeze was still warmish. We all got the guts out of nowhere and went towards the lake.

 
Nadege, Vincent and me                        Nadege, Vincent and Sandrine

The first impression was that the water was not so cold, well, mere illusion, as there are warm and cold patches and we were just in one of those patches. But the sensation was really great anyhow, swimming on fresh water, as I had not done for several months, was quite reinvigorating, and made the blood rush through my veins. The Mont Blanc in the background just completed the view.

The improvised glasses

We had a barbeque with baked potatoes, melted cheese, baguette (of course), among other things. It was truly delightful. On the way back, after watching the moon rising by the lake, we went to Rolle, one of the cities where two of my cousins went to study for a while.

Rolle

It is quite a lovely village, but most of it was closed after dark, so we just went to visit the Castle. What a view! It was really well lit, and with a quick walk by the edge of the lake, we slowly made our way back to the car. This was quite a busy day, so we decided to have an early night.

 
Morges

The following day we had a bit of a slow start, but to be quickly recovered as we went to visit the village of Morges. There we had a kebab in order to reminisce the Turkish times, where what had to be ordered was a sis kebab. I got to say teşekkür ederim once again, but when approached with güle güle, the reply still evaded me, as it never got stuck in the first place.

The Chateau

From there the plan was to try hopelessly to find me a new pair of glasses, but being a bit picky as I can be. Afterwards we just went for a walk around the edge of the lake, visiting the Chateau of Morges, but it was about to close, so we went to the park, with trees from all around the world, and from there we continued to the car, as we wanted a second swim on the lake (well, mostly me). So we swam again, it was much nicer with the sun now a bit warmer, it did make a lot of difference being like this.

 
Second swim

The water was so nice, it was a very pleasent day. We called an early night as the following day it was to be the opposite.

The UN 

Next morning we woke up early and went towards Juvigny, in France, where Nadege’s family lives.On the way there was another classic photo that had to be taken in Switzerland (the UN). It was a bit of a ride, but we stopped on the way so I could appreciate these beautiful sunflower fields that are just everywhere! Most of them are not as alive as they have once being, but still looks beautiful to me.

So we arrived in Juvigny, and after an amazing meal, with Evian water from the tap (that is the region where Juvigny is), we played a match of Petanque. It was me and Nadege vs Eveline (her mother) and Nathanael (the younger brother). It was quite fun, but most of my shots were still lucky shots as had really no practice what so ever.

 
Fun game tho, no doubt about it. The Petanque

From Juvigny we went to Geneve, to meet up with a friend of mine and a really great friend of Nadege, Sarah. We went to her place and was great re-visiting a familiar face. From there we went for a walk around the lake where a celebration of Geneve’s anniversary was taking place. The celebration took around 1 month, There was a theme park all around the lake.

After thinking about it for 30 seconds we decided to go on one of the rides, just the one that looked the most intense. Was fun, but i freaked out mostly out of anticipation than anything else.

 
Intense!

From there we got to have some of the famous Swiss chocolates (and they don’t let down their fame), had a bit of a walk in another park, tasted a bit of Caipirinha, where for my surprise, was very much like the ones in Brazil, and got to practice a bit of Portuguese. Then we tried a bit of the La Racquelette, another of the cheese traditions of Switzerland. It  was quite nice.

 
                                                     Getting some rest

As the sun started to set we tried to find a location to view the sunset and the fireworks that were to follow.

The fireworks were mind-blowing, just very grand and gorgeous, and lasted for about 45min.

The water geyser                                      The city at night   

Then we went on to meet one of Sarah’s friend, Nathan. We hung out and went back to the lake, now to have a few more Caipirinhas and dance a bit, as the music was going full blast for quite a while. Me being rusty from the late night life decided to retreat around 2:30.. Guess I don’t really remember what it is like to be 22 too well.

The next morning, as it was a Sunday, we decided to make it as a Sunday, so we took it as slow as we could, woke up late, made our way back to Etoy where we watched some tv series, showed some of my music and waited for two of Nadege’s friends to arrive and introduce me to a real Swiss fondue. They are Laurance and Fabrice.

They are both really great people and talking to Fabrice, a very Swiss guy, with somewhat 2 and a bit metres tall, taught me how to make a proper fondue. We used Gruyere, Vacherin Fribourgois, white wine, and at the end to top it up, Kirch. I am not dicing the other fondue types, but WOW! Seriously, what a contrast, what a delicious thing ti was to have a fondue with people that have generation traditions in this. It was just beautiful.

This was it for my brief Swiss experience, which was amazing from day one, and i have it all to thank to Nadege, which made it all happen. And i guess the best thing was the fact i did not get to do all the great things that there are to be done in Switzerland, as it just makes me want to return here at some point and complete the visit. This was an experience that will most certainly stick with my for quite a while.

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An eventful evening, one and only

After an 8 hour ferry ride from Mahon, in Menorca, to Barcelona, we finally made it! Missed lunch time due to extra work being done for the girls animation project, so we had to live off from chips and all, but that’s ok. Part of the price of not leaving in a healthy bubble the boat revealed to be.

So we start of having quite a delightful evening, catching up, chatting on, lots of laughter’s over each others miseries, we had quite a delightful evening, until me and my sister, trying to live our youth to its limits, decided that 1 night in Barcelona meant 1 night out in Barcelona.

Off we went to the only bar we knew that was within a few blocks from our place: Tequila! Away we walk, cheap and cheerful, walking the streets we first saw in a winter ago. When approaching the bar, a skinny, scrawny fellow approaches me, shakes my hand and asks where I’m from. Loving human kind and trusting everyone blindly, I shake the hand back and lead on the conversation. When I mention my origins he goes on about soccer and tries to pretend to play soccer with my leg. The first split second I find it just really odd, then I felt his hand reaching for my wallet. After a little yell that scared even it’s source, the guy went away and we went to the bar.

The night didn’t last long after that, we had 1 beer and my sister complaining about some pains, we returned home. I had been warned 6 months ago about pickpockets, but being from Rio, never being caught off guard I overrated myself, but know it became visible to me that there is in deed a first time for everything, luckily i still have all my possessions and on my way to Geneva I went. Off I go, with my warning signs cranked up a bit.

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And off we go

After arriving in Menorca, and giving Casulo it’s well earned rest, I now leave the captain and go on my trip now solo.

Now writing from a ferry towards Barcelona, the time leading up to it has been quite interesting. In Carloforte, in Sardinia, one of the nights we were around, after a while searching for a tratoria named Cantina, not quite understanding the language, as it was not Italian, but rather Genovese. After a wee bit of struggle I managed to find out what pork and beef were and we all had a great dinner. When walking back we heard a really interesting local music, only to find out it was some kind of dance event where the entire village seemed to join in the dance. Lots of local songs and most of the steps were carefully rehearsed and all ages seemed to be a part of it. After a little while even my sister and my parents got the guts to give it a try.

The girls were just stoked. Everyone, really.

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