Welcome to Europe!

My big European adventure has begun!!

J Rad and I left Auckland on Sunday and after 30 hours of planes and airports and stinky people we arrived in Munich, Germany.  We spent the night in Munich and saw a few sights and then caught the train(s) to Sigmaringen which is to be our home for the next 6 weeks.  Along the way we learnt that German’s don’t really do breakfast the way we do with items such as salami and cheese being the order of the morning and we also learnt that finding something to eat while knowing zero German is really quite tricky.  Most people here speak some English so we haven’t had any problems yet but at the first opportunity I downloaded a translator app onto my phone mostly to avoid any bad dining experiences.

Glockenspiel

So we have joined the ALZ-Sigmaringen Triathlon club so we will stay in their accommodation for the next 6 weeks and train fulltime and race in the local races in the weekend.  There is only one girls division and 4 girls per team so how many races I get to do depends on how good the other girls are and if they are available to race.  There is about 3 men’s divisions so Jared is home and hosed.  It seems there are also a few non-club races around which we can also do.

At the moment there are 3 South African’s, one Aussie and one German staying here with a few more to come and go over the next couple of weeks.

Summer hasn’t quite arrived at Sigmaringen yet but the days are supposedly getting warmer.  Swimming in an outdoor pool with an air temperature of 8 degrees and water temperature of 24 degrees was not super fun but today it is supposed to get into the 20’s which will be nice.

Nice on a sunny day

 There is a nice forest just 4mins run from our accommodation with lots of trails to run on, just don’t mind the army setting up tents or running over the empty gun shells along the way.  We haven’t ventured out on our bikes just yet but will do so this morning and there is talk of doing a ride to the Swiss border in the weekend which will be fun.

"Running though the forest there's a wolf at my heels..."

Hoping this sign didn't mean we would get shot if we entered

Big brother is always watching

 We are basically living the dream of being fulltime athletes and seeing the sights of Europe at the same time.  There is not a whole lot to do with our downtime other than lie around, eat, nap, read, etc.  The internet situation is a bit limited with a cable in the hallway to plug my laptop into but I have also got a German simcard so can get internet on my phone for when I am lying in bed unable to move.

The Serottica is calling so I must be off.

Auf wiedersehen!