Pre-Trip Planning
5. Juni 2016 in den USA ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F
Here's the plan:
June 19: Fly to Zurich
June 20: Arrive Zurich
June 23: Fly to Amsterdam
June 25: Start Competitours trip (going someplace, doing something, who knows what!)
July 6: Fly to Zurich
JulyWeiterlesen
Pre-trip videos
12. Juni 2016 in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
We had to make two videos for Competitours before we started: one introducing our team name and one introducing our team mascot. Here they are in all their cinematicWeiterlesen
landed in zurich.
20. Juni 2016 in der Schweiz ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F
We are on the train from the airport. Flight went fine.
Swiss horns
20. Juni 2016 in der Schweiz ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F
So, this was what happened right outside our hotel our first night. I didn't get a photo of the other part which is a large brass band playing oompah music. Guess we are really in Switzerland!
Lost (and found) Phone
20. Juni 2016 in der Schweiz ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F
In less than 24 hours, I have managed to lose my phone twice. First we were checking in at the airport and I realized it was missing. It had fallen out of my pocket in our friend's car. Fortunately heWeiterlesen
Exploring Zurich
21. Juni 2016 in der Schweiz ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F
Spent the day wandering around the old part of Zurich. Then took a short boat ride and wandered through a much less touristy area.
I finally figured out the reason I kept getting disoriented and lostWeiterlesen
I'm on a boat!
22. Juni 2016 in der Schweiz ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F
It was the first warm sunny day for Zurich so the entire town came out on the water it seemed.
And so we leave Zurich
23. Juni 2016 in der Schweiz ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
New word of the day: verspätet (delayed).
I spent the morning exploring more of Zurich by bike while Russell put in one more day at work. Then I had one last lovely lunch. Russell bought two bottlesWeiterlesen
Amsterdam
24. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F
I realized I never said anything about our day in Amsterdam.
We got in very late, and went and had dinner at Envy. It wasn't as good as we remembered, but it may have been our mood.
The nextWeiterlesen
Starting Competitours!
25. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F
We boarded the bus in Amsterdam and are now heading to IJmuiden where we will be doing our first three challenges: archery dodgeball (?), kite buggying(??) and kite fighting.
The two teens on theWeiterlesen
Day 1: Archery and Kite Flying
25. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F
We went to this very wide, flat, windy, beach for our first set of challenges. First we tried our hands at archery. Since the equipment was not that high tech, we were all in the same boat and evenWeiterlesen
Day 1: Escape Room
25. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
The kite flying was super fun. Unfortunately, the buggy and kite flying took more skill than we could learn in one afternoon, but it was still a blast.
It ended up taking much longer than originallyWeiterlesen
Day 2: Rotterdam Scavenger Hunt by Boat
26. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F
Our challenge this morning was to drive this little boat around the canals and rivers of Rotterdam following GPS instructions to look for sites that we had either text or photo clues to find. We wereWeiterlesen
It has been a long day
26. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F
Day 3: Maastricht tunnels
27. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
Maastricht is a town built on limestone (which is easy to carve out). When gunpowder was introduced and city walls were not that effective as before, they started constructing tunnels for advancedWeiterlesen
Maastricht lunch
27. Juni 2016 in den Niederlanden ⋅ 🌧 61 °F
When they say burger, they ain't messing around!
Day 3: Hedge maze in Vaals
27. Juni 2016 in Belgien ⋅ 🌧 61 °F
Three countries meet at a single point (near Vaals): Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Russell and I posed at the marker straddling the three countries.
There is also a really large hedge mazeWeiterlesen
On the way to Brussels
27. Juni 2016 in Belgien ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
It was a very full day: Maastricht to Vaals to Brussels. Early tomorrow we fly from Brussels to Florence and the day after that we head to Venice.
It was Steve's (the guy who is running the trip)Weiterlesen
Early morning flight to Florence
28. Juni 2016 in Belgien ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
Late night followed by an early morning makes for a groggy group.
Welcome to Florence!
28. Juni 2016 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F
Day 4: Florence and art
28. Juni 2016 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F
Our challenge today was to sketch a Florence scene and then to later paint a watercolor. Since Russell and I have previously shown zero artistic talent, we kind of surprised ourselves with how well weWeiterlesen
On the train to Venice
29. Juni 2016 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F
We slept in so late that we missed our opportunity for one last meal in Florence. So we are on the train to Venice. I hope to have time to grab some food before we start our mask-making challenge.
Day 5: Venice mask challenge
30. Juni 2016 in Italien ⋅ 🌙 72 °F
Today we went to a workshop where they showed us how to make traditional masks of Venice and the history of these masks (very interesting) and the we each had to replicate an existing mask (let's justWeiterlesen
Venice hotel
30. Juni 2016 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F
Here is the view from our room in the hotel. Not a bad place to be stuck for 2 days, eh?
It is a very old fashioned hotel with big clunky room keys that you leave at the desk when you go out. ThatWeiterlesen
On a boat to Burano
30. Juni 2016 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F
We are on a vaporetto (water bus) on the way to the island of Burano for a scavenger hunt. We are running late but we are with 2 other teams so it's all good.

















































