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Mystery Tour
  • Sarah McCabe
  • Sarah McCabe

Mystery Tour

A 34-day adventure by Sarah Read more
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  • Trip start
    June 5, 2016
    Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Pre-Trip Planning

    June 5, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 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
    July 7: Fly homeRead more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Swiss horns

    June 20, 2016 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 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!

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Lost (and found) Phone

    June 20, 2016 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 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 he was close enough that when we called it, he could bring it right back. 15 minutes of panic is a great way to start a trip.

    Then we were eating dinner in an outdoor cafe our first night and someone must have just grabbed my purse off my chair without my noticing. My phone, my wallet and some other stuff all gone. We tried to report it to the police, but they were closed. So we used the Android locate feature and tracked it to a building then we rang the phone and found the entire purse. All that was missing was the cash. The considerate thieves had left everything else in a public spot where it was easily found.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Exploring Zurich

    June 21, 2016 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 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 lost - aside from my normal geographical issues - the rivers here are flowing out of the lake from South to North. It's just adding an extra layer of confusion for me. Good thing my phone has a little blue dot with an arrow to tell me where I am and where I am going.Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    And so we leave Zurich

    June 23, 2016 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 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 bottles of Swiss Pinot Noir which are safely (I hope) stowed in our luggage.

    Or flight to Amsterdam is delayed about 30 minutes. I hope it starts boarding soon.

    We have been getting more information about our Mystery Tour. We will board a bus in Amsterdam promptly at 9:45 am Saturday morning. We then will go to IJmuiden (note funky capitalization) and then we do something in two groups of 5 teams.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Amsterdam

    June 24, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 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 next morning we were up early for breakfast and then off to drop off the laundry and then rent bikes. We had originally planned to eat dinner at Le Garage but that didn't seem to work so we decided to head there for lunch instead.

    It was fantastic, but I think we drank close to 2 bottles of wine. After a slightly tipsy bike ride back and picking up the laundry and stopping at the grocery store for snacks for tomorrow, it was time to go hang out at a cafe a meet some of the teams we will be competing against.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Starting Competitours!

    June 25, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 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 the trip are trying to teach the adults how to snapchat. I'm not sure it's taking.Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Day 1: Archery and Kite Flying

    June 25, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 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 even people that might have had some experience found it a bit challenging to hit the target accurately.

    Then we used these things that were basically nerf arrows and tried to shoot eachother. That was also nigh on impossible, although the 74 year old lady on the trip did manage to hit one guy right in the nuts. All the more impressive when you realize she was aiming at the guy next to him.

    Then we all got to try our hand at flying these really big kites you needed two (or even four) strings to control. There were a bunch of people on the beach driving up and down in these little dune buggies that were propelled by these kites, but the learning curve for actually doing that was too steep for us. A couple people actually got the hang of it enough to ride for 20 feet or so, but more people just lost the kite or got pulled over in the buggy, so I figured it was a bad idea to even try that. Just fun to watch and fly the kite while standing on firm ground.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Day 1: Escape Room

    June 25, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 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 originally planned, so we barely had time to get to the Escape Room challenge before it started at 10. We managed to escape not only in less than an hour, but we did it in about 45 seconds less than the other group that was at our same location.

    It was close to midnight before we finally got back to the hotel. A long fun exhausting day.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Day 2: Rotterdam Scavenger Hunt by Boat

    June 26, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 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 were teamed with another pair for this challenge (the grandmother - granddaughter team) and we had a great time. We actually finished in the middle (ok, almost at the end) of the pack. Some teams had equipment and/or weather problems, but not us!

    Now we are having a relaxing dinner in Rotterdam. Next a train to Maastricht and tomorrow morning we explore WWII caves in Maastricht. After that, Vaals.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Day 3: Maastricht tunnels

    June 27, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 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 advanced fortifications.

    They were used from the Napoleonic era through the cold war. We got to do this event where we had to find our way through these dark tunnels and solve puzzles and interact with actors portraying soldiers from different eras.

    It was super fun and kind of scary at times.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Day 3: Hedge maze in Vaals

    June 27, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 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 maze there, which was really frustrating since neither Russell nor I could make it out in the time allotted.

    We also got to play with a crossbow and a blowdart. Let's just say I am very dangerous with a crossbow - not because of my accuracy, but rather because of the lack of it.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    On the way to Brussels

    June 27, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 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) birthday today and Sophie turned 15 two days ago, so there was a surprise cake on the bus for them.Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Day 4: Florence and art

    June 28, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 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 we did and how much we enjoyed that. Especially when the art student judges picked ours as one of the three winning teams.

    Then it was a lazy evening relaxing with some of the other teams and an early night to bed with NO alarm set!!! Well, except for that 6:30 am one that R forgot he had, but we both went right back to sleep after that.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    On the train to Venice

    June 29, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 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.

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Day 5: Venice mask challenge

    June 30, 2016 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 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 just say our efforts weren't worth recording) and then we each got to decorate a mask of our choosing.

    It seemed too much work to try to bring them home, so we just photographed them.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    Venice hotel

    June 30, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 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. That is a first for hotels on this trip. There is also a cord hanging in the shower that you can pull to ring an alarm if you fall. It is so tempting to use as a clothesline that I suspect it has been disconnected, but I am not going to test it out.

    Speaking of accommodations here are some interesting things I have noticed about European bathrooms so far (some I knew and some were news to me):
    - every single bathroom, every single public toilet stall has its own toilet cleaning brush. Heaven forbid there would be cross contamination.
    - (almost) every single full bathroom or women's toilet stall I have been in has a dispenser for little plastic bags hanging on the wall
    - we didn't see bidets until we got to Italy and have seen them in both hotels so far
    - washcloths are rarely found in hotels. Evidently many Europeans would sooner use someone else's underwear before using a public washcloth.
    - Italian hotels provide bath towels and towels I would liken to linen dish cloths. No other small hand towels. I think it goes along with the bidet thing.    Read more

  • Sarah McCabeMystery TourSarah McCabe

    On a boat to Burano

    June 30, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 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.

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