Lisbon, Portugal

Traveling to Lisbon, Portugal, was probably the best decision we made all season. Originally, we were going to travel up to Edinburgh, Scotland, but quickly changed our minds when we researched Lisbon. There was so much to see and do in Lisbon; we felt like we could have stayed there for a week. Our trip was in mid-March and the weather was beautiful. The day we arrived, we quickly regretted wearing pants. We did so much walking around the city and got a nice sunburn.

Em and I at Sao Jorge Castle

The Belem Tower

Us in front of the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, which celebrates the age of discovery

Having a drink before dinner

Unbelievable!

The first day, we explored a castle, walked through some really neat old neighborhoods, checked out some churches, walked along the water, visited the Belem Tower, indulged in some Portuguese cuisine, and enjoyed a drink (or a few). That night, we ate dinner at a little hole in the wall type of restaurant, which was a recommendation from a local. We all ordered steak that was served with a hot stone and you got to cook the meat yourself...it was one of the best meals I've ever had! We spent the entire second day in Cascais, which is a beach town a short train ride away from Lisbon. The weather was perfect and the beach was crowded. We walked around and even laid on the beach for a little. We also had a nice lunch at a beachfront restaurant where we sipped on sangria and soaked up the sun. Later that night, we went out to a more touristy restaurant in the city center.

Beach areas in Cascais

We walked all along the water, here is Estoril Beach

On our last day, we took the train to another nearby city named Sintra. In Sintra, we visited the Pena Palace, which is a very impressive palace that was once home to the royal family of Portugal. We explored a little in Sintra and then headed back to Lisbon for our flight to Switzerland. We were sad to leave Lisbon, we loved Portugal and wish we would have spent more time there. Well, I'm sorry this blog is so short and boring, but its late and I need to get some sleep because I'm leaving for Greece in the morning!

Pena Palace in Sintra

Volley Update and the Next Few Weeks

Well, my life as a pro volleyball player in Switzerland is slowly coming to an end. We have had a great season and have proven ourselves to be a very strong team. We finished the regular season in 3rd place out of 10 teams. In playoffs, we beat Sm'Aesch Pfeffingen in the quarter finals. After we won that round, our president surprised us by saying that we would all receive Swiss watches as a gift from the club. Next, we had to face our ultimate rival, Neuchatel. They finished 2nd in the regular season standings and going into the semi-finals, we had a 2-1 record against them. We knew the semi-finals would be a tough battle. The series was a best 3 of 5 matches. We surprised them by sweeping them in 3 on their home court to open the series. Then, they did the same to us to tie it at 1-1. The following 2 matches were intense 5 gamers, which brought the series to another tie at 2-2. The fifth and final tie-breaking match was at their home court, and unfortunately; we came up short. We put up a good fight, and lost in the 5th game, 9-15. Now, we will be playing our last and final playoff of the season for 3rd and 4th place against Koniz. The series is a best 2 of 3 matches. Koniz finished 4th behind us in the regular season standings, but they beat us both times we played them this season. However, we have been playing really well lately, and I think we have a good shot to finish in 3rd place. If there is no tie in the series, we will be finished on April 2nd. If a tie-breaker is needed, the third match will be on April 10th.

You know what that means...I will be home soon, in about a month to be exact! So in these next few weeks, I will be trying to make the absolute best of my time left here in Switzerland and Europe. This past weekend, we all went to the Swiss Alps and spent the night in Zermatt; which is home to the Matterhorn. Tomorrow, I am leaving to spend the weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. The following two weekends, we will be playing off for 3rd place. After the season is finished, I will be exploring Athens and island hopping in Greece. Rough life, I know! I am so fortunate to have been given this opportunity to live and play volleyball in Europe, but I am very much looking forward to my return to the good ol' USA.

A newspaper clipping from our series against Neuchatel

Zermatt is such a neat town

Em, Kristin, and I with the Matterhorn

Never thought I would travel to Portugal again! Here's a picture from 2004: Karleigh and I played on the island of Porto Santo for the FIVB beach volleyball world championships

Prague, Czech Republic

On the Charles Bridge with the Prague Castle behind me

In mid February, all of the Americans on our team took a trip to Prague. It was somewhere that we all really wanted to go during last season too, so we were really looking forward to this trip. When you think Czech Republic, you don't really think...wow I'm dying to go there, but we heard such great things about Prague. It is a really neat old city with lots of great architecture. Along with my teammates from VFM, there were 2 more American girls that joined us. Emily's friend, Allyssa, who plays soccer in Serbia; and Liz, who plays for another volleyball team in Switzerland; both met up with us once we got to Prague. So, all NINE of us rented an apartment in downtown. Staying in an apartment with 9 girls got a little crazy, but it made for a fun weekend. The sightseeing in Prague was pretty cool. We walked around most of the city, checking out the neat buildings, the sights along the river, churches, and the Prague Castle . Jill, one of my teammates, had just severely hurt her ankle and unfortunately, she was in a huge boot with crutches. We felt badly for her, so we tried to take the metro when we could. Usually when we travel anywhere, its always nice to escape the cold weather of Switzerland. This was not the case in Prague, it was absolutely freezing. But, the cold weather didn't stop us from exploring the old city. The first day, we went and checked out an old fortress and church, walked along the Vltava River, and walked around the old town square before having an early dinner at an authentic Czech restaurant. The next day, we checked out the Orloj, which is an astronomical clock tower in the old town square that dates back to 1410. We watched as the clock struck noon and put on a little show for the big crowd in the main square. There was even a man at the very top of the clock tower playing a horn, it was actually pretty cool. Later, we walked across the Vlatva River on the Charles Bridge, which is lined with many old statues. Even though the walk across the Charles Bridge was so cold, it was really neat and I stopped to take several pictures along the way. We made our way up to the Prague Castle and checked out tons of neat stuff there. Of course, we made sure to mess around with the guards at the entrance. We also hiked up to the top of the St. Vitus Cathedral to get some great views of Prague. Later that evening, we all reserved a dinner cruise on the Vltava River. We had originally thought of this idea so Jill (gimpy), could see some of Prague without having to be on her feet. It wasn't exactly the best "sightseeing" cruise, but we still managed to have a great time. We were by far the youngest, loudest, and most fun group on the boat. And, I'm pretty sure we ate 3/4 of the buffet too, haha. After the river cruise, we all went out for some drinks to put a great ending to our Prague trip. The bar we went to had writing all over the walls, so we decided to leave our mark in Prague and gave it a nice VFM shout out :)

Along the Vltava River, with the Charles Bridge in the background

Tara and I with traditional Czech pastries called trdelniks...delicious

The crowd gathered to watch the astronomical clock in the old town square

Prague Orloj (astronomical clock)

Vltava River and Prague Castle

All 9 of us at the castle entrance

Roommates with the guard

Kristin, Tara, and I with the St. Vitus Cathedral

View of Prague from the top of the cathedral

The group on our river cruise

The old town square at night

:)

Dad visits and Madrid!

Well, for those of you that don't know...My Dad was originally scheduled to visit me in December, but there were some complications and he wasn't able to make it. I was very much looking forward to seeing him, so I was a little down when he wasn't able to come and I know he was too. Anyway, it turns out that he was able to plan another trip out to see me. He came to Switzerland in late January and spent about a week here. Unfortunately, the airline lost his luggage, and he had only the clothes he was wearing. Thankfully, they were able to locate the suitcase and ship it to our hotel in Geneva, so he was without his suitcase for just one day. He was only able to see one of my matches against a lower ranked team in our league. BUT, my coach gave us 2 days off that weekend and we were able to book a flight to Madrid, Spain! I was very excited because I had been to Barcelona and loved it, so I thought Madrid would be a neat place to visit as well. We stayed in Geneva the night before we flew to Madrid, so I was able to show him around a little. Everything was smooth sailing on the way to Madrid until we had a make an emergency landing for a passenger that had a medical problem. We had to land in Toulouse, France, for about 45 minutes before we were en route to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid around siesta time, so almost everything was closed. We found a Hard Rock Cafe and had a good meal and some drinks. After, we walked around all of the big plazas and stopped periodically for drinks or a snack. We found this neat tapas market that had everything you could imagine...olives, fruit, potatoes, bread, seafood, meat, desserts, and bars that served a sorts of different drinks. It was a food lover's paradise where you could sample little bits of delicious food. The next day, we woke up early and walked all over Madrid. Unfortunately, it was Monday, and all of the big museums were closed. But, we were still able to see and do lots of things like taking a stroll in Retiro Park, visit the Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, and walk around the streets of Madrid. We made a stop in Plaza Mayor where there was a headless street performer, needless to say...I had to take a picture with him haha. I've seen all sorts of street acts here in Europe, but this was the first headless one, so it was a must! We also sat down outside at a restaurant called Las Cuevas and enjoyed a nice late lunch, where we shared a pitcher of sangria and some good food. Later that night, we asked our hotel for dinner recommendations and we figured we'd have to walk pretty far, which was perfectly ok with us. Luckily, he said that the best seafood restaurant in all of Madrid was just 2 doors down. We went and checked it out...and it was the real deal. It had all of the fresh seafood displayed in the entrance and had waiters everywhere. We sat down and must of had 3 different people helping us throughout dinner. There was even a designated wine server that would refill your glass after a few sips. We had some soup, salad, and sauteed shrimp to start. When our fish was ready, the waiter presented it to us and then proceeded to de-bone the entire thing before setting the plate in front of us. The fish was probably the best fish we've ever had! We had such a nice dinner, indulging in good cuisine and conversation. After dinner, we took the metro into downtown and walked to San Gines Chocolateria. This place is famous for serving chocolate con churros. We sat down and split 1 order, we dipped the churros in the chocolate, which was like hot pudding. It was so tasty! It was a great way to spend our last night in Madrid :) My Dad and I enjoyed Madrid so much, but had to head back to Geneva the next morning. He spent a few days in Switzerland, mainly just hanging out and watching some of my practices, before he headed back home. It was so nice to see my Dad...as I haven't had anyone close to me come visit this season.

The Puerta De Alcala

Dad in Retiro Park

Plaza Mayor

The headless man in Plaza Mayor

Puerta Del Sol at night

Lunch at Las Cuevas

Palacio de Telecommunicaciones

Chocolate con churros at San Gines

Innsbruck, Austria and Annecy, France

Ok everyone, so I have been slacking a bit on keeping up with my blog...I'm sorry! I have just kept pushing it aside for quite awhile, and now I have so much catching up to do. Well, I've done a lot since Christmas time (my last blog entry), that I don't even know where to begin. I will start with celebrating New Years in Innsbruck, Austria. I have a friend that I played club volleyball with in high school who now plays in Innsbruck, and she also happens to be close friends with our setter, Taylor. So, after all of the Americans returned from our Christmas vacations, we practiced for a few days and then packed up the cars to drive about 5-6 hours to Innsbruck, Austria. The drive was absolutely beautiful and when we arrived in Innsbruck, we saw that the town was nestled in between some enormous mountains. We all stayed in my friend Emilie's apartment and had a blast all weekend. Another friend, Becca, who I also played club volleyball with in high school, came down to Innsbruck from Finland (where she currently plays volleyball). We spent time walking around the old town area and saw some really neat buildings and scenery, while enjoying some gluvine (hot spiced wine). When it came to time celebrate the New Year, we all went out and joined the huge party in the streets of old town. It was freezing, but there were so many people, so it wasn't too bad. After midnight, we then headed to a big club where we hung out the rest of the night and had a great time. The next day we had to make the long drive home again, but spending that short time in Innsbruck was well worth the drive.

Em and I walking around Innsbruck

The streets of Innsbruck still had some holiday decorations

Some cool buildings in the old town

The 7 Americans from my team, VFM

Emilie, Becca, and I (we played together in high school)

After Innsbruck, we had to 'get back into the daily grind' of playing volleyball again. It was a nice two weeks away from volleyball that we all definitely needed. In mid January, we had a Saturday match, so some of us decided to make a short trip to Annecy, France. We drove about 2.5 hours away to Annecy, which is about 30 minutes past Geneva. We stayed there for just one night, but did plenty of walking around the neat little town. Unfortunately, we didn't have the best of weather, so the sightseeing wasn't as picturesque as it could have been. It was very rainy and cloudy, so we couldn't see much of the lake or the surrounding mountains. But, we knew how beautiful it really was because we had all researched it before deciding to travel there. Annecy is also known for having several canals that run throughout the old town. There is a really neat old prison called the Palais de l'Isle, which is built on an island in one of the canals. We walked up and down all the old streets, stopped at patisseries along the way for cafe au laits and baked treats, had a nice dinner, and went out for a few drinks after. The next morning, we had breakfast at a creperie where we had galettes (breakfast crepes), and then walked up to the Chateau d'Annecy and walked along the lake. Despite the weather, Annecy was a nice and quick getaway for us and I'm happy we had to opportunity to explore the old French town.

A big canal, the Chateau d'Annecy, and Palais de l'Isle

Lac d'Annecy

In front of the Palais de l'Isle (old prison)

One of several canals in Annecy

Jill and I at the creperie

Annecy and the Palais de l'Isle at night