BluemlisAlp: walking on the moon: a 2 days Hike to 2850m

From Reichenbach, an “Alpine bus” zigzagged 15 minutes to reach GriesAlp at 1400m high, the starting point of our Hike.
A Green path -with 360degree view on mountains around- took us to BundAlp at 1900, where we bought cheese and had lunch.
From there: a steep road up, first very rocky and then very snowy and icy, but we eventually reached BluemlisAlphutte at 2834 meters, where we had our night stop.
We then went on a short walk on the glacier for some unforgettable views and memories…
A great meal was served in the hut and we had fun with UNO until 22h -where we were all kicked out in bed – ( A SAC Swiss Rule that i don’t understand!)
Next day we went down on the other side of the mountain, towards Oeschinensee, a wonderful lake in the middle of the snow-capped mountains, we had lunch in this postcard like landscape. And we even had a bath (must have been at 10 degrees)!
We then continued down to Kanderstegg for return trains.
Most importantly: Click HERE to Check out the stunning pictures and big smiles!

 

 

Sardegna’s Big Summer Party

This year my Bday lasted a whole week, Such a Great Time we had, surrounded by friends and family….
Of course, it was very emotive and special to be back in the city of Cagliari – and to see how people still remembers me there!
i really felt like home! Thanks to all my local friends there – and – yeah – Great Thanks to the ones that traveled thousands of km to join me/us in there?
I hope that this week convinced you of the great beauty and diversity of Sardegna,
We managed to visit all these beaches/areas: La Pelosa, Mari Ermi, Chia, CostaVerde area, Villasimius.
We also walked around in Cagliari – ate loads – and shopped a bit…
Then we had a blast beach party on Friday ! Thanks to all those who contributed
I am already imagining to repeat this again – so see you guys, girls (and more) next year, same place , same time ?

HERE:  you will find gorgeous pictures of this week by clicking on this link

 

 

 

Good Bye Winter! Sweet, Warm and Extremely FUN ;)

Now we can say that we are well settled in Zurich, In the hearth of its Red light district.
The few cold days were warmed up  by the Fondue& Raclette & other Nice Cooking Events.
We already had loads of visitors and friends sleeping over.
Of Course we went skying/Snowboarding couples of times, either in the fantastic Davos area, or the glacier of Engelberg, or closer to Zurich, in Flumseberg
We had weekends out too, in Alsace or Basel or Geneve,
Music? Yes, Zurich has a quite rich cultural scene, and i should mention the MANY inspiring concerts we’ve seen…

Then the Fasnacht Carnaval came to kick out winter and welcome Spring. Which worked very well this year:  Quite suddenly,  the warm days were here.
Already in March, we had our first hikes in high mountains and our first BBqs

I left these couple of pictures to illustrate all this beautiful time / Here you go: click-follow this link!
I hope you have time to go through / enjoy/ and let me know of your comments
Kisses and Best wishes to All

First Steps into 2011!

New Steps into 2011
Hi there, How’s your start of the year?
For me, its really a Blasting Start for what i knew was going to be a Crazy Year:
just that:  New Job, New City , New flat , More or less a new life was waiting around the corner for me in 2011 !!
Now of course its a challenge to sum up in few lines these first 2 months, full of events , so here i give you an aperitif of it in: 6 words: its-really-all-going-super-fine!
I’m myself surprised how well things are arranging themselves in front of me,
Maybe its because i didnt move that far, and same friends-family are here to support? or maybe its just pure luck?
In any case, i’m gonna keep sailing 2011 while enjoying every minute of it 

I know some of you might still be curious after that so for them,  here’s a 6 line version:
@My new Job, Crucell is treating me very well, I like their office environment of clinical trial coordination. Now i see really what it takes to bring a drug to market, from marketing, to negotiations with health authorities, screening for clinics and volunteers, monitoring the trial, ensuring medical and safety follow-up…the least i can say is that all this follow up gets you sooo busy and this is the least boring job you can expect. In my case, i had never had such a feeling that Weeks are simply flying, and i never believe when its friday already, where I always shake and check several times my iphone calendar to be sure…

For more, don’t hesitate to ask me,

For now,  I leave you with a link to some selected pictures that should describe better than words what has been going on these days
–> Dinners/Parties out in Basel, Family time, Bunch of Bdays, Weekend in Paris, Marathon-moving-day to Zurich, Uetliberg Hikes, Ikea Fixing Workshop session at home…

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT

Enjoy & Take Care & Keep In Touch !

(Quick come)Back In Bergen!

I took the opportunity of a more relaxed december to accept the invitation to come back to Bergen. Officialy it was to present the work/science i’ve been doing since i graduated there in 2007. But the other great purpose was to get into the feeling of such a cute city, freeze a bit and …of course: to hang out with my good old friends…!! Mission Accomplished – thanks to All of you there! See you next/soon – hopefully

Pictures Of This Are On This Link

Xtreme Sport Weekend in Tirol

As we say in French: “Plus de peur que de mal” (would translate into something like: “more shaken than hurt”) – No really as we were supposed to make a combined 2 days Rafting-Canyoning, i took maybe too seriously the fact brought by Sonja that the helicopter was going every 3 weeks to pick up some injured people from this exact area…… Coz both “adventure”were not that hard, or should i say we did really well, the important is to stay focused In the end it was in fact a Great Weekend – and i look forward more of this! And next time we pick up the ADVANCED level!

Click here to see the crazy pics (i had the water proof protection for my camera and it worked – yeah- quite well! )

I chose Switzerland: for the Science, the Family, the Chocolate and the Lady…

First of all sorry for the lack of news, lately i’ve been very absent…
But hei, i have a good excuse: as i’ve been busy changing flat, country, job and life…
All happened so fast (not even 1 day off between my old and new job), which might explain why time flew so fast and i only now start to realize where/what i’m doing!

So here i am, working as a scientist in the prestigious Biozentrum of Basel. And i must say i’m very satisfied so far/ fantastic place to do science & great welcome i’m getting here!
Next, lets talk about the city, which i knew for having been here maaaaany times when younger (i have uncles, aunts, family here). Of course, i now experience it differently, and here too, i’m surprised to see the “alternative and underground” sides of Basel.
The people? Well, for its small size, this city has an astonishing international flavor…so much that i wonder if i’m gonna be able to catch/learn a bit of German here?!
Another thing i really like is that both France and Germany are a 5 minutes bike away. With Billy (my cousin) we’ve been a few times now on a “shopping mission”: where we take our bikes and an empty backpack and we go refill in the Geant (french) or Markhauf (german) supermarkets!

So this all sounds very positive, and sure that it must be connected to the nice summer we’re having
-as my sardinian friends were saying:  i am crazy to have left them and this beautiful island right in its great summer season…but what was not planned is that Basel/Switzerland is actually quite fun in summer too!
Activities range from: swimming in the Rhein ( a must!) Equipped with these special colorful waterproof bags, you just float with the current across the city, or Biking everywhere (got my new “Corratec Hybrid bike” that i’m quite happy with / proud of) its amazing how the whole society is biking-based and you can really reach anywhere in any time…Or playing beach//footballs in Parks, OR Going Fishing (like we organized this last weekend we went for 3 days of 7 men fishing/camping trip in a gorgeous lake/mountain area)…
of course all these activities are complemented by many many many BarBecues/ funny enough here they have much more the barbecue culture! and we had fantastic meals by roasting sausages, veggies and meats, while preparing houmus tzatziki and other salads sides…

Well, I could go on for long, as everyday there’s a different activity here, but i thought (i) i’ll stop annoying you with this…and (ii) the pictures speak (sometimes) for themselves:

Here take a Click at These/…

Selvaggio Blu- 5days of Trekking in Heaven

A sort of Dream&Goal since i came to Sardegna,

We finally settled for doing the  Selvaggio Blu Trekking,  that runs across the most beautiful part of the island:  a wild melting pot of forests, mountains and sea.

Amazing Trek that is also known to be “Italy’s most difficult trek”. But I believe that this fame is also due to the fact that the area is wild and there are no “refuge”, places to eat, drink, shelter, in-between the hiking days,  unlike its Corsican counterpart “GR-20″. Instead, we had the luxury to be accompanied by Giampietro a shepherd of the area, that became areal friend. Thanks to him/his fiends we didnt have to carry the heavy equipment (waterpripe, tents, etc..), and we had great warm dinner / BBQ every night!

Altogether it was such a complete trip: Eating well, Swimming, Climbing, Walking, and getting to know each others and the nature around us…

Also, to be lost in this beautiful nature for 6 consecutive day was an amazing experience… No words can really describe this

/ But we have 500 photos and gigabytes of videos to help doing so….

/ here is a sort of best-of , at least for the photos part

Click Here To see them !

/ Enjoy….and let me know if you want to join next time ! I’m already thinking to make this a yearly event

Tra le dune di Piscinas, il mare, e le mine di Montevechio…

Went 2 days Camping  in the area CostaVerde/ Piscinas: tra le dune, il mare, e le mine di Montevechio…

Amazingly Beautiful Sardegna island…

Check the few dream pictures taken from there -Clicking Here-

CALIFORNIA LOVE !

The big (scientific) event of the year: The Biophysical Society: was set to happen in San Francisco in late February… / “Lucky me” I know you’d say, so I thought i’d better at least deserve all your hate&jealousy and extend the trip a bit so i can actually see/enjoy California…

Indeed the first days in San Francisco were really busy due to this conference- where we had both talks & posters contributions, and the presentations went well, and we had good/interesting feedback! In any case, being able to have such great&diverse food was a proof enough of the richness and multi-ethnicity of the city. nice exotic dinner and a few beers…Our favorite bar was actually called: Edinburgh Castle – great place, people , music and beers !

The first and last days we escaped to the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz respectively.

When the conference ended, we rented a car and drove all the way down (~1000km) to San Diego- great 2 days road trip through California’s fantastic CoastLine== Road 1! We passed/Stopped by San José, Monterey , San Louis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica..

Finally spend 3/4 days in San Diego: where we could appreciate real Californian Love with my Brother&Claire as super hosts! Altogether a Fantastic time, and for sure i’ll repeat this trip more often…

–>DO NOT MISS the selection of Photos from this trip can be found : RIGHT HERE

/ enjoy & Take Care