Harbour City Ramblings

Tonight I enjoyed a phenomenal meal at a fabulous Victoria establishment close to home. The service at Santiago’s was top-notch, and the Chipotle Mussels and Sangria were unparalleled. The only problem I had was with the guilt gnawing at my conscious throughout the delectable meal all evening long- “Alyssa, why didn’t you run today?”

I haven’t ran since Tuesday. But you know what vexatious voices inside my head? I’ve been “busy.”

Busy is a tricky excuse. One can presume another is “busy” with work, with family, with personal issues in general and simply accept it.

I, on the other hand, have no real excuse to back up my own “busy-ness” other than a brief stint with a head-cold that possessed my entire being as of Wednesday. From the time I awoke that morning straight through until yesterday, I had the sensation my entire brain was wrapped in a thick layer of tinfoil.

With every move I made, it felt as though the interior of my head crinkled and swelled, and begged me to stay still for not to endure such boisterous bedlam clambering inside my cranium.

Alas, as it is now Sunday, I am behind on my personal TC10k training plan.

Sad but true.

Since I commenced my training in February, I have ran no more than 6 kilometers at once. 4 entire kilometers short of the April 25th requirement of 10 kilometers.

My lack of self-discipline, even when caused by circumstances beyond my control and marred by illness, disappoints me. But this late in the game, there’s no way I’m throwing in the towel now.

Luckily my body has not completely been neglected over the last week. I have managed to partake in some cross-training. Mixing mild strength training and yoga, with a 20km cycling expedition along the Galloping Goose this past Friday.

Come tomorrow morning I intend to get back on course with my running.

I will have to endure a long run, and slowly over the next couple of weeks work up to 8km. But I am motivated by the fact that I have eaten well over the last few days, thus I have a built-up energy to get through a tough go on the track. My headaches and clogged sinuses have since passed. Plus I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to my galvanizing Running Playlist recently, so I am most looking forward to hearing a few songs I’ve neglected to listen to in almost a week. And lastly, I know my muscles, though not as firm in my own mind as they should be after almost a week off of my training plan, have their own memory. They know I can handle a 6km+ run, they’ve done it before… and come tomorrow morning- they’ll do it again.

Then in a mere month and a few days- I will be prepared to give it my all in my very first 10km race.

I’m experimenting with the title once again.  I realize that, while the last title may have been an homage to one of my favourite beers and the city in which I live combined, I had to drop the first half.  Linda, being a Belgian woman with blonde hair, had the moniker bestowed upon her recently at work, where we have all really taken a liking to Phillips beer- a local brewery here in town with a wide range of beers for any pairing.  By any, I mean around a dozen or so varying shades of pale to dark ales, on the malty side to more hopsy.

Along with the Surly Blonde- the office favourite- I personally am a big fan of Black Toque and Blue Buck (formerly, ‘Blue Truck’). Plus the seasonal Dirty Squirrel is a nice addition, when you can find it in stores for that very limited time.

Phillips Brewery Meets Pacific Shores Resort

This past November the co-workers and I went on an excursion up-island to Pacific Shores Resort & Spa, located near the Parksville area of east Vancouver Island.  That evening the resorts on-site restaurant, the Landing West Coast Grill, hosted a Brewmaster’s dinner.

A 7-course meal, each paired, as well as cooked with, a different Phillip’s beer.  From the hay clams steamed in IPA, to the Surly Blonde beer bread and finally the Chocolate Porter caramel sauce on the dessert, my senses were pretty elated from start to finish.

The success of the evening was due to the collective orchestration and efforts by the restaurant’s Dir. of Food and Beverages, Atilla Cimsit, and the Landing’s Ex. Chef, Andrew Howarth.  Also in attendance as guest of honour was the founder of Phillip’s Brewery, Matt Phillips, and a couple of his team to educate us on the history, and share tales of the beer naming processes.  (Apparently the Dirty Squirrel and Surly Blonde ales were originally reversed- Surly Squirrel and Dirty Blonde.)

Their award winning beers were matched faultlessly with the Landing’s unmarred creations utilizing fresh, local ingredients.  It was an educational and highly enjoyable evening, and I believe I can now safely call myself a Phillip’s beer advocate.

Today I bring you the tale of a fair Canadian girl who spent 3 days at the Wies’n and barely walked out alive. Please take a few minutes out of your day to read her story and consider donating to the “Alyssa needs a new liver” fund. (Thank you in advance!)

Munich, Germany & the Wies’n Camp

We arrived in Munich on the night train from Venice around 7:00am on Wednesday, Sept. 24th. Coming from countries like Greece and Italy we found it to be extremely frigid, apparently the whole of Bavaria was in the middle of a cold-snap, the high being a mere 10 degrees! Lucky us.

Our accommodations for the 3 nights were located a short Metro trip away from downtown Munich. So we hopped on the S2-Line, showed up at the Wies’n Camp and were checked into our tent on the grounds of the Olympic Horse Stadium by 9:00am. With little else to do at that hour, our journey to Oktoberfest was finally about to begin. And considering it was the first item on our must-do’s list, and the pinnacle of the Eurotrip, why not take advantage of our time to shine in the least sober way possible.

The Theresienwiese grounds (or the Wies’n to the locals) are where the festivities have been held since 1810. With 6 local Bavarian breweries, 16 days of festivities, a dozen beer tents (each accommodating 100,000 people), plus a plethora of food, rides, fun-houses and games… Who wouldn’t feel like a kid in a candy store?

Day 1: Wednesday
Hours of Drinking: 8

The first day it started out as just Dylan and I, one table, and a bunch of 1-Litre beers. By noon the tents are packed and it’s rare to find room to sit, which is key as you won’t be served unless you’re seated. We went to only two tents that day. In the second tent we were seated by 2:00pm next to a fabulous German couple from up north. Soon enough another group of 4 older Munich gentlemen squished in… and the rest is a blur! But from the photos Dylan managed to take, I’m certain we all got along beautifully!

Day 2: Thursday
Hours of Drinking: 9.5

We were 30 mins. late for our planned 10:00am meeting with Brian and Elizabeth. But when we arrived at the church much to our surprise Walt and Natasha were standing there! That was awesome, and they even brought their very cool friend, a German from further east, Annette. Brian showed up shortly after, and Elizabeth was on her way. But the first thing they did was head out to find some hats, gloves and warmer clothing, since Brian was coming from Phoenix with weather at least 20 degrees warmer (on a bad day) he couldn’t handle the cold! Understandable, I’m a Manitoban and found it bad.

We hit our tent by 11:00am and consumed a lot of beer and bullshitted with our amazing new friends for a solid many hours. Unfortunately we had to give up our table around 5:00pm as it were- unbeknown to us- Reserved. With no hope of fitting us all in elsewhere, Dylan, Brian, Elizabeth and I parted ways with the other three and headed for Elizabeth’s find the day prior- Bollywood Restaurant.

We drank more beer and dined… but realized we didn’t do Oktoberfest to the fullest, so we would meet again tomorrow at noon.

Day 3: Friday
Hours of Drinking: 9.5

Waking up on day 3 was rough enough, but we managed to find Brian shortly before 1:00pm and headed onto the grounds. It being a Friday, we weren’t even able to find a table inside any of the tents. So, thirsty enough already we gave up quickly and settled for a table right outside a tent, still within earshot of the band. We managed to throw back a few Litres of beer before Elizabeth joined us to start playing catch-up.

Again, not all details stuck with me from around 4:00pm on, but we met a ton of cool locals. I met two lovely ladies, one of Munich and one of Nuremberg, and we exchanged details for my future visits.

Since we managed to stay until very late this last night, we witnessed quite a bit of craziness, including dancing on tables, loss of clothing, a few of our female table-mates sharing some intimate moments, plenty of singing the official Oktoberfest song and much more debauchery than one should endure in a lifetime.

Total Days at Oktoberfest: 3
Total Hours of Drinking: 27

All-in-all the lack of memories, the amazing partially-blurry-memories, the beer spilled, the pretzels and 1/2 rotisserie Hend’ls (chickens) consumed, and the new friends made were well worth the hangovers… And even worth the passing-out alone on the Metro after Day 3 only to be awoken by a pack of 16-year-olds (who think playing Franz Ferdinand covers in their band are cool) at 2:00am at the very last stop of the S2-Line, and having to wait 50 mins. in 0 Degree weather to catch the next Metro 6 stops back to the Wies’n Camp grounds whilst learning cool new German phrases… Yes, even that was worth it.

Thanks again kids.

The vague memories will be with me forever. The liver damage as well sadly. I cannot wait to one day return to the Wies’n for another awesome and authentic Oktoberfest experience. Maybe I’ll find that dignity I think I left under a table in one of those tents? Hmmm…

Pictures from Oktoberfest 2008

Along with the bizarre second meeting of Brian and Elizabeth in Rome on Monday, Sept. 22nd- also the Anniversary of Lost and the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 just 4 years back- a couple other strange occurrences happened.

In Search of Caesar

After seeing the Vatican Museum and other sights in Rome that morning, we had yet to do one of the top things on my Rome list: Finding the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15th, 44 BC.  Even with all the bad omens, and warnings of negative dreams from his wife Calpurnia, Caesar’s good friend Brutus- one of the 60 conspirators in the assassination- encouraged him to go forth to Senate that day. Shortly after addressing the senate, he fell dead at the foot of Pompey’s statue succumbing to multiple stab wounds.

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On Monday night we took an overnight train from Rome to Venice. We arrived around 7am and had a full day to check out the city before departing via another night train to Munich, Germany at 10:50pm.

Our Venetian experience began when we stepped aboard a little passenger boat in order to get from one side of the city to another through the Grand Canal. Boat is truly the only way to get around, considering the whole of Venice is comprised of 118 islands.

We managed to sit directly at the front of our boat, and it was a clear day with just a few clouds on the horizon as the sun was rising and we motored on in. Our first stop was the infamous Piazza San Marco with it’s towering bell-tower, flocks of pigeons, tons of tourists and beautiful basilica.

The Doge’s Palace

We hadn’t planned out the day or even really knew what all there was to see, so we decided to take a tour inside the Doge’s Palace. The palace was previously the past Mayor’s dwelling and contained court, state and administration rooms, but is now a museum. There’s a spectacular fireplace in each of the many rooms, and some beautiful artwork including the largest oil painting in the world, Tintoretto’s “Paradise.” Having come from the Vatican Museum the day before, the artwork paled in comparison. But the armory, and a few floors of prison cells were very cool.

The trek to the prison was by far the best part though, as we walked the Bridge of Sighs. And unfortunately for those viewing it from the outside, it’s currently mostly covered in advertisements to hide the restoration work. So I’m plenty content we went in the Doge’s Palace and walked first-hand the path prisoners would have walked, peering out the tiny windows and sighing, knowing it were their last glimpse of freedom.

The Island of Murano

The rest of the day we wandered the labyrinth of back-streets and hopped over to the glass-blowing island of Murano, which is exactly as it sounds- glass factories and hundreds of shops to sell their products. We wandered down an alleyway and got to watch the process at the Formia Furnace.

All-in-all our day in Venice was a relaxing one, and we basically just took in the stunning city separated by it’s hundreds of tiny canals and one main one- the Grand Canal- which is 50 meters wide as it’s best, with only 3 bridges to cross it… That’s why all the gondolas.

That night, awaiting our train, we met a cool couple, Walt and Natasha, originally of South Africa. When they sat down we got to talking and sure enough they were headed to Oktoberfest. We informed them that we planned to meet Brian and Elizabeth Thursday morning and if they were up for it to stop by and hit some tents with us. Hey, the more the merrier.

Enough relaxation though, it’s time to endure some hard-earned drinking. Oktoberfest here I come…

Too many bizarre occurrences in the last couple of weeks, I’m starting to realize you sometimes have to just sit back and let the super-unknowns do their dirty work while you go along for the ride.

Meeting Brian & Elizabeth

Our second to last day in Amsterdam, a new couple arrived late one afternoon to the bunk across from Dylan and I. As it turned put there were incredibly friendly Americans: Brian of Phoenix and Elizabeth of Boston. We got to talking and they were also traveling Western Europe for an entire month, including some of the very same cities on our itinerary.

It was odd enough to encounter a couple from our very own continent, as the majority of people there were from Australia, the UK, other parts of Europe, or unidentifiable non-English speakers. The perfect part was their Oktoberfest dates landed on Sept. 24th, 25th, and 26th… The very same three days we were going. So of course we exchanged details and planned to meet up for a night of debauchery and 1-Liter German beer consuming.

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