Stanley Park - the Nine O'clock Gun

For a long time I was passing the little house just next to Seawall without even noticing it. One day I saw many people fooling around, sitting in on the grass, taking pictures of the house and waiting for something. I stopped and waited. 

The small house covering the cannon

There is cannon hidden in the house - 9 o'clock gun. It was brought 1894 to Stanley park. Everyday sharp at 9 p.m. the cannon announces with a shot the time. The cannon was used for the first time noon on 15th of October 1898. Later the shooting time moved to 9 p.m. 

Those two lights start flashing one minute before nine, to warn you - it is coming!
Stay away, the shot is VERY loud

Short after the shot - the smoke is still visible

Nine o'clock gun is a attraction worth to see while you are in Vancouver.

Old traditions give us feeling of stability in modern times. Keep it and come back for some news!

Lynn Peak Hike

This hike is dedicated to my friend DrA, big hiking, climbing lover.

Technical details:

Average Time: 4-4,5 hours

Distance: 9 km (same road return)
Elevation Gain: 720 meters

I started again a little later than originally planed. I have to practiceearly start for my next Grouse Grind. I used some of the learning from last hike to Grouse Mountain. I had very good breakfast and I took small snack (power bar) and two bottles of Gatorade. Well equipped I started from the parking lot next to Lynn Park. 
The path to Lynn Peak goes mostly through deep forest. It is very comformatble in hot days we are having right now and it is interesting for taking picture of the nature around. 
My very good mood was disturbed by leaflet asking 'What about bears?' Here are basic rules you shall follow to survive in canadian nature:
- travel as part of the group ... I was alone, but meeting people quite often. The path to Lynn peak is busy even on working day
- avoid wearing strong perfumes ... I will remember this next time, not that my perfume is strong, but I will drop wearing it at all. Just to be safe.
- keep children close to you and dogs on leash at all the times - that was easy, no children, no dogs
- be alert where bears cannot hear, see or smell you - like twisting rail, near running water, or when wind is in your face
this is connected with suggestion 
- make noise like singing or clapping, to let the bear know you are on the trail, but do not use headphones while walking/running - Me singing? I will be the first who will get scared by listening to my singing voice. 
I find my own way, using my iPhone as radio, plying my favorite music. For Lynn Peak I used 'Zafukane' from 'Fleret'. 
- watch for fresh bears signs - I did not see any. yupiiiii!!!
- never approach bear and maintain distance at least 100 meters - did not see any bear until now. Just the one from bus while driving down form Backcomb Mountain in Whistler. 
BUT!!! If you see a bear:
- stay calm, stand still and asses the situation. Remember bear attacks are uncommon! - I hope so 
- speak to a bear in calm firm voice. Your voice helps to identify you as a human. - I will keep listening to my music and hope the bear will not be interested in me.
- back away slowly, NEVER RUN , running may trigger a pursuit. - yes I will not run, it may awake the feeling, I want to play with the bear. This is definitely something I do not want at all. 
- get your bear spray ready and know how to use it - is there a bear spray  Why did nobody told me this? 
- if black bear attacks, use bear spray and fight back (how? I am blonde!!!) Do all it takes to let the bear know you are not easy prey! - interesting and what if grizzly attacks? I do not want to see a bear. and if, then only from distance.

Back to the trip to Lynn Peak. Here is the photo story of my hike.

Before you start you have to register - fill in form and drop it in the registration box. Keep a slip from your registration. After you return from your hike, you drop the slip into the registration box, to inform the park ranger you are back again. 

Whole trail is equipped with signage and maps. You cannot get lost.

The trail is very comfortable at the beginning.

Canadians like to scare tourists. This time, I am ready for anything.

Get's quite wild later.

Soon you begun to see surrounding mountains through the trees.

Peak is closer.

The peak, still in deep forest. Small rock offers view on Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby. 

Same way back to my car. Downhill does not always mean faster or easier. 

On the way back to the valley nothing special happened. I will come back to swim in Lynn creek. I enjoyed this trail a lot. Next hike goes to Mount Seymour. I will be ready. 

Spend more time in forest, especially in very hot summer! Evening come back for more canadian stories!

Grouse Mountain Hike - Grouse Grind

Hiking is one of the most popular sports in Canada. This is my photo-story. Grouse Mountain (Grind) Hike is well known sport. Many people from Vancouver do Grind everyday instead of going to fitness club. It is good to have such a nice natural gym in the backyard. For me it was the first meeting and even I have heard a lot, I was surprised many time during my hike.

Before we start few technical information:
Length: 2.9 kilometres (1.8 miles) 
Elevation Gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet) 
Base: 274 metres above sea level (900 feet)
Summit: 1,127 metres (3,700 feet) 
Total Stairs: 2,830 
Statistics: Annually, over 100,000 people hike the trail. 
Average Time: On average it takes up to an hour and a half to complete the hike. For novice hikers, two hours is recommended. 

Participants: Hikers range in age from 7 to 90, with an equal male/female split.

The official course record to date for men is 25:01 held by Sebastian Salas set at the 2010 BMO Grouse Grind Mountain Run®. For women, the record is 31:04 held by Leanne Johnston and set at the 2007 event. Half an hour, OK I can make it in one hour easily. 

Let's GO!

The hike begins here. Chip you can buy and measure your hiking time. 
The results are recorded in computer
and you can compare your results with others. 

Of course, you cannot go without laws and rules. 

It goes like this all the way.
I am not sure what is more difficult steep hill or stairs?

Keep going, it is only the half of the trip.

It is pity you cannot see the real ascension.
Photo looks always much flatter than the reality.  

The stair were sometimes very natural.
The path could be recognised only by the signs (red square on the tree)

I took picture of the 3/4 sign in hope of early end.
I am thinking for one, two seconds whether this sign is good or bad news. GOOD NEWS!

A rule I will definitely obey.

This is the END! Yes, Yes, Yes
1 hour 53 minutes ... hmmm 

After reaching the Grind Timer I made short feedback/learnings session with myself. Next time I will:
- have a breakfast
- take some drinks
- start earlier, not at noon
The plan is to make it under 1 hour 30 minutes. Now is time to enjoy the mountain. 

After small lunch and lots of drinks is time to discover the 'other peak' of the mountain.
There is another peak to be conquered. 

The top of Grouse Mountain offers various activities like Grizzly watching, trip with helicopter, chair-lift trip to the wind power plant or Lumberjack show (on the picture). In the background the hill I want to explore. 

The top of the top! The wind power plant is at the same time watchtower (15 CAD).
I stay on the ground.

Stanley Park (the smaller and closer) and Kitsilano peninsulas in the ocean, Grouse Mountain Peak in background. 

Beautiful view from everywhere

Vancouver from top, this time I knew what to wish for. 

Surrey and Burnaby - east parts of greater Vancouver

Private house on top of the Grouse Mountain.
Anybody knows the owner? I would like to meet him! ;-)

Does every mountain peak has its bear? 

On my way down on cabin-lift I learned how steep is the hill.
The forest hides the path I walked up.

Back in the valley. I will go up again. It is worth the Grind.

Every result is worth a celebration. Let's have a drink! I am waiting for you here :-)

Owl for DrA

This is short and very special post for my friend DrA. When we spend some time together in Vancouver. On that day she saw owls everywhere. Looking for the explanation why owl? I ran recently into few interesting owl items as well. Is it selective perception, destiny or special sign to be followed?


First of all the owl web site. I did not know there is special owl site explaining the meaning of owls in different cultures, its mystery and wisdom - http://www.owlpages.com/

I had the opportunity to see owls in shops during my city trips. 

Owls from Botanical garden in Vancouver. Looks like there is an owl season coming.

Owls in the Grouse Mountain Gift Shop.

The summary is - the owl is a good sign of deep wisdom, good magic coming from the dark and ability see thing which stay for some people invisible. It is your projection, so seeing the owl means whatever you want it to be.

Talk to the owl next door. You may discover something special! ... and come back to tell us how it was!

Painting Class

One of the main topics of my visit to Vancouver is the painting class. After short research I found on the Internet Jeanne Krabbendam, Dutch artist and painting teacher. We met right after my arrival in Vancouver, as I was not sure what class would be the best for me. We agreed on the 'Large Canvas' - one day workshop. The class took place last Saturday. 

I was quite nervous as I did not paint for decades. My main worry was the topic - what am I going to paint? I was thinking a lot about it, and always told myself - don't worry, the idea comes right when you need it. 

Second problematic issue was size of the canvas. What does it mean large? I went to the OPUS art supplies shop on the Granville Island as Jeanne suggested. She said: ''they know everything'. Yes, they do and they helped me a lot. I left the shop with large canvas (36x48 inches = 91,5x122 cm). My feeling when I left the shop was - this is too small. The feeling changed as the class started to - ooops tooooo big, and culminated by the end of the day - it is just the right size. Everything went perfect.

Saturday was wonderful sunny day. Working with Jeanne and other six ladies was very inspiring. I rediscovered my passion for painting. Jeanne is great, creative and inspiring painting guru. Her advices helped me a lot.

Tadaaaa ... here is result of my whole day work in Salt Water Studio on Granville Island in Vancouver. 

After long time I give my painting the name - 'Whistler'

Everyday try something new, and stick with few good old habits - like reading this blog -it is FUN!

Cafe + Coffee = Vancouver (BLENZ)

Blenz Coffee - in Horseshoe Bay is a good example of the fact - shop is made by its services. Coffee, bagel and brownie were OK. Simply good quality, not worth an extra trip. Special thanks goes to the guy behind the counter, he was full of energy and you could feel he is having fun working in cafe. 

My ideal breakfast, I especially appreciate those two sockets

The name of the chain - BLENZ - does not sound delicious (especially for Czechs), but as I wrote above, what I tried was an example of good food and beverages. Another big plus is the Internet connection provided to all guests. In addition to other places, BLENZ also gives you the chance to easily charge your computer, phone or other device. GREAT!!!
The Horseshoe Bay shop gives you small bonus of wonderful view.

Mountains, on the right side ferry to Vancouver Island.
In the front the Horseshoe Bay marina

Go out for coffee and come back for next story!

Household Report for J.

Dear Friend J.

I would like to report everybody is still alive. Fishes swim like crazy (there must be something in the food). Babies are by this time BIG. I tried to make a picture, but as they are alive a lot, it is impossible. 

Flowers and plants are blossoming despite of two weeks pure sun sun and sun only. As I understood, such weather is something unbelievable in Vancouver, even in the summer. I know it stays like that till 15.8. as I ordered it this way. 

The W-cat looks happy and is eating a lot. Actually, most probably is he eating a lot just because somebody else eats the food as well. Today I discovered raccoons having dinner at our place. I must look scary. As I appeared in the piano room, they went out on the terrace. I had to make some terrible sounds to make them really leave. I hope both, there were two of them, left forever. I know, it's too optimistic. I will talk to W-cat to help me take care of the security of the house. Hope for no more uninvited visitors. And I keep the doors closed from now. Which is a difficult task in these hot days.  

BTW, the blueberries are turning blue, shall I expect bears for dinner? 

Live close to nature, it will change your relation to your surrounding! And come back for more stories.

Shannon Falls - Hiking or Climbing?

This is the promised second story - so called 'Après-ski story'. When I finished the skiing on the glacier in Whistler, I thought this was THE experience of the day. I did not know, this was just a beginning not the end. Skiing is not the only adventure I am going to experience on that day.

Back in the hotel, last goodbyes, change for the drive, have small snack. My friend DrA wants to join me to go to Vancouver. Great. We are leaving Whistler, having fun and intellectual discussion. everything goes well until ...

We were just passing the Shannon Falls. I wrote about this place in the post 'Road to Whistler'. My plan was to discover the falls on my way back to Vancouver. I remember I saw the sign - 2,5 km hike to see the falls from top, thinking it may not take more than two hours. I suggested DrA to take this short pleasant hike and see the falls from top. At this point I have to mention the rule - be aware of all your wishes as they will come true. Many of our wishes came true that day. DrA agreed and the unbelievable story started. 

This was the first wish which came true - DrA wanted to spend the day on a hike, but it did not happened in Whistler. Here we go - hike to Shannon falls. 

The equipment - for a short moment I thought I will keep my flip-flops. It is just short walk. In a last second I decided to take my running shoes (good decision, thanks for the idea). Next time I will wear my hiking shoes, I promise. I had it in the car trunk, did not consider it as an important outfit. My equipment was small bag with one napkin, money and credit card, sun glasses and running shoes. DrA equipment - camera, iPhone and hiking shoes. We kept same dress code - shorts, t-short and sweater. This may seem like enough for short walk. No food, no drinks. 

We started our journey. Nice walk up the hill. We reached the sign with basic rules for hikers. At that time we find most of them funny. Later we remember one after the other. People we meet are all going down, back to the parking lot. Short chat with three guys ends with the question - and how fare it is from here. One of them said - you have something like 10% behind you. I could not believe it. Let's go further I want to see my fall from top. DrA is excited to do it. 

First crossroads, first map. It is difficult to understand it. We decide to go to the Third peak - in my opinion the best point to watch Shannon falls from top. DrA is happy, she likes hiking. The truth is, we have about 90% of the trip in front of us. No problem. It is not far away.

The hike up there was not easy, sometimes very steep, sometimes almost climbing. I started to think about 'how do we get back', but immediately chasing away such thoughts. We shall not worry about the future, we shall enjoy the moment of NOW. This is what we have learned all week. Let's use it. 

After unknown amount of time we reached the Third Peak. It is just two of us enjoying the view, location, terrific atmosphere. We are alone on astonishing peak point, discovering more and more unexpected views and amazing corners. Beautiful sunset, quite lake down in the valley, in front of us snowy peaks, quite pond on the top of the hill. Is this the pond I was looking for all week? Fulfilled wish? Yes!

Time to go back before sunset. Knowing the way up was quite steep, I suggest to take 'the other' (via Second Peak) for the way down. Great. At the beginning looks the pathway bit better than the way up. We reached the Second Peak and enjoyed it as we did enjoyed the Third Peak. The only disturbing fact is the darkness approaching slowly. 

The way down looks more and more like climbing. We are walking on rocks, parts of the pathway are equipped with chains. When we reached the point where the pathway disappears in a hole between two rocks, I think whether we would need some climbing equipment as well. Fortunately we found ladder leading to the 'hole to hell'. The question remains - do we need any climbing equipment later? 

DrA started to manifesting safe way down. As we are declining, the light disappears and the darkness surrounds us. Exactly in the right moment DrA takes out her iPhone and uses it as a flashlight. The pathway is hardly visible during the day, the worst it is in the night. We are searching for the path signage, hoping we are on the right track. Every time we see a map, we celebrate the fact - we are right. We see first light in the valley. It still seems quite far away, but it makes us happier. Suddenly we see moving light approaching us. It can't be a bear. Do bears carry headlights? We hope not! I remember the famous Czech song from Ivan Mladek 'Bears don't not know tourists do not carry guns ...' (Medvedi nevedi ...). Funny!?! I hope bears will not wake up today to see whether we have guns or not. Moving light turned out to be group of crazy people going on night hike to Third Peak. OK, they are less crazy than us. At least they have water, food, sleeping bags, FLASHLIGHTS and other handy hiking equipment. 

We feel we must be almost on our parking lot. Another map. Oooops, we are a little out of the shortest way. Fortunately we meet a guy who explained that we are very close to the See-to-sky-Highway, which can lead us to the parking lot. Or in case we want to take the originally planed path, we need to go back. Decision - we go further, getting lost on the Highway is almost impossible and we can hitchhike somebody. We reached the Highway safely. 

It is dangerous to walk on Highway, on the other hand, it is not safer to walk in the dark through forest full of bears and other cute animals. We are back on the parking lot. YEAAAA! YES! YES! Hungry, thirsty but alive. Lets get in the car and go to Vancouver. 

Our car ride stops after 200 meters at the parking lot gate. Locked! No way out. I am trying to fit in-between two huge stones next to the gate. No, this will not work. Almost midnight, we both want to get out. I keep trying to fit with the car in the space, DrA is working on opening the gate without the key. We must look like very funny couple. Do I see piece of paper under my wipers? Yes, this is the message from the Park ranger, who left his number. We can call him at anytime, he will come and rescue us. Unbelievable  He is still awake! We can leave. First we go back to Squamish to eat and drink. Despite the plan eat healthy and tasty meal, we land at McDonalds. No wonder, it is after midnight. Done, we can finally go home. 

Time for visualization. This is the map. Red circle shows Shannon Falls, red lines show Third and Second Peaks. Green circle shows the parking lot. Blue circle shows the camp we reached when coming down from the hike.

SUMMARY - VERY SPECIAL THANKS goes to the park ranger Pavel (he is Czech, you find Czechs everywhere), who rescued us and released our car from the parking lot next to the falls (green circle). It was at 23.45. Total journey was more than 10 km, 550 meters (from parking to Third Peak, the way down not counted) in 5 hours, at least 1/3 of the hike happened in the dark (real mountain night = no light at all, not even stars in deep deep forest).
Special thanks goes as well to bears, who found another entertainment that night, than to hunt for two crazy girls. Sometimes you have to break ALL rules to experience real life. This trip was such experience. 

As soon as I get pictures from DrA, I will update this post. The beauty we discovered was worth any effort. 

Medvedi nevedi, ze turisti nemaj zbrane! 
Bears do not know, turist do not have guns!
I hope they will never find out! Go on hike and come back safe! See you soon ...

Stanley Park - Introduction

Stanley Park located in Vancouver - is one of the biggest city parks in the world, even bigger than Central Park in New York. Named by Lord Stanley 16th Earl of Derby (btw he give his name to the ice hockey cup - the Stanley Cup). Lord Stanley was at the end of 19th century sixth Governor General of Canada. He visited British Columbia in 1889 - year after opening the park - and dedicated the park: '...to the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time.' Despite the attempts to turn the park in very attractive residential and business area, the park survived until today. It has become centre of the relaxation and sports right in the city centre.  

Map of Stanley Park (google.com)

The park is cut in two halves by Stanley Park Causeway leading from Georgia Street - leading to the city centre - to Lions Gate Bridge - one of two bridges connection Vancouver with North/West Vancouver.

You can do a lot in Stanley park - bike, walk, spend time on the beach, rent a boat, play various sports, watch huge transoceanic ships coming to the harbor. 

Cargo Ship Leaving the Harbour of Vancouver

Go to park and have fun! See you later with more stories from Stanley park!

Cafe + Coffee = Vancouver (Tim Hortons)

Tim Hortons looks like McDonalds, smells like McDonalds, but it is Tim Hortons. I do not want to hurt Canadians, but I would rather skip the coffee than to go again to Tim Hortons. Maybe it was the location, service staff, the guests, or just the coffee and panini (did you know panini can look exactly like a hamburger from McD, just the grill strips make the difference). 

Tim Hortons - Kind of McDonalds

Despite all I experienced, I must admit that during my stay (one and half hour) there was always cue of 5-10 people waiting for coffee or snack. Maybe is just the price, maybe it has special Canadian taste we Europeans do not understand. And, average age of the visitor is between 62-65 years. Are they used to it?

Not to skip the positive about my visit -there is wi-fi available. So my trip to Tim was not all bad only. 

Always look at the bright side of life! ... and come back soon! ... I mean to read another post, not to Tim :-)

Cafe + Coffee = Vancouver (Artigiano)

Artigiano has excellent coffee and good snacks. Personal is nice like in all shops here in Vancouver. My first was the artigiano opposite to Vancouver art Gallery. In that rainy day very busy place.

Artigiano in Edgemont

In case you just want to have coffee and read your book or newspaper, this is the right place to go. I have spend few minutes thinking about the fork and knife served with the cake. It is a question I have since I was in Moscow. What do you do with cake, fork and knife? Does anybody knows? Help!?!

Artigiano on Hornby Street (opposite to Vancouver Art Gallery)
- great coffee, the tasty cake (lime coconut)

What I missed in Artigiano shops is the Internet. Until now I always found some free wi-fi, but never the one provided by Artigiano. 

Sometimes is good to be offline! Just sometimes. Get connected for another story!

Banyen Books

At the time I arrived to Vancouver I started long planned 'list to do in Vancouver'. Internet helped me with the search and consulting the results with my local friend J. was great fun. 

One of the places that one should not skip is Banyen Books. When it appeared in my search I said to myself: OK, there is an interesting book shop in Vancouver. So what? What did not know, this place is much more part of my trip than I thought. First my friend J. was quite surprised I found the store among favourite tourists locations you google-out for Vancouver. Last but not surprising was the information J.'s husband worked for Banyen Books. The store is very spiritual. Now I wanted to visit the place.

Today's location Banyen Books store 2013

Time for a little more about the store. Banyen books is today one of the biggest, well known book stores specialized on spiritual literature, offering a broad spectrum of resources from humanity's spiritual, healing, and earth wisdom traditions (taken from Banyen Books web site). The store is not only known in Vancouver, it has its fans around the world as well. The story began in 1970.

First location of Banyen Books store (1971)

Are you interested in spirituality? Than plan at least half a day for visiting the store. Endless shelfs full of soul, mind and body information will inspire you. Enjoy this moment. 

Take time to discover your spirituality! ... and share what you found!

Cafe + Coffee = Vancouver - Introduction with Starbucks

You may call Vancouver 'the city of coffee'. Nice cafes are to be found everywhere. Small or big, international or local chains, whatever you like. Only cafe I did not found until now is the classics Vienna/Prague kind of cafe. Let's see. I am still working on it. The atmosphere is different than in Europe, nevertheless all of the cafes I visited until now have nice atmosphere, most of them even good food (bakery, sandwiches and cakes). Now to my first cafe experience.

Although I did not want Starbucks to be the first cafe I visit in Canada, it happend. It was not bad, just like Starbucks anywhere else. It is difficult to miss Starbucks in any bigger city. The same applies to Vancouver. If I counted well, there are fifty Starbucks only in Vancouver itself. The interior is familiar. Moscow, London, Prague or Vancouver (just to name cities I recently visited a Starbucks shop) the shops are the very similar, with slight touch of 'I am different'. You do not have Starbucks around the corner? Lucky you! To be fair, their coffee is something you can rely on in unknown environment. No adventure, it is something you know from home. 

Starbucks Standard

Good news is, there are more cafes to be discovered in Vancouver. This is the first post of long (let's see how much is long) series about cafes in Vancouver and surroundings. 

Get a coffee and come back for another coffee story!

Whistler ... Skiing in Canada ... Skiing in Summer ... Skiing?!?

Skiing day. I have planned this since I decided to spend summer in Canada. I love skiing. I cannot skip the opportunity to try in Whistler - las Olympic location. Especially I did ski in Sochi as well. 

Yes, you can ski in Whistler (click on the link and find all details) in summer - this year from June 22, till July 28. First impression - the skiing itself is much more expensive than in Europe. More about the glacier resort a little later.

I have the equipment (52 CAD for pair of ski, boots and poles ... as well bit more than Europe), skipass so let's GO! 

Ski and Poles, Boots Salomon

First difference compare to Europe is the timing. As a privat person, you only can get on the Horstman Glacier at 11 am. Official camps and national teams can get up from 8 am. As I was aware of this, I had time to digest this information. I am waiting in beautiful hot summer weather. Eleven o'clock - Start!

Wizard Express to Blackcomb Mountain

First you use two chair-lifts. Actually there are only chair-lifts on the way to Horstman glacier. The climate is changing slowly. By the end of the second chair-lift is time to use all garments I took with me. I arrived to the point called Rendezvous Lodge (very important place, I did not know at the time I reached it) where we change for bus, which brought us to lower station of the Seventh Heaven Express. Very strange experience to drive bus instead of using the chair-lift. 

Bus Ride to the Seventh Heaven Chair-Lift

Peak, we are on the Horstman Glacier. For a moment I thought I will start in the bar with a beer. I did not and I am glad I went skiing straight away.

Upper Station of Seventh Heaven Express

Bit cloudy, but lots of snow. First impression lots of people for such a teeny, made for dwarfs place. 

I am not grumpy, I am happy to experience Whistler, remembering Sochi and recalling the beautiful Alps memories. Winter in Whistler must be amazing. For those who love summer skiing like me, I advice - go to Alps! 

Most of the space is occupied by training camps of different categories. They are working on acrobatics, moguls, and jumping. For us common people is just one-and-half slope available. 

First ride - I am not counting it - it is just the way from peak to botom of the small valley - Horstman glacier. While going down, I am thinking where a I going to ski. Only narrow slope on the opposite hillside is free. Remainig space is filled with training camps.

My Slope - the Only Slope for Public
Remaining Space Occupied by Training Camps

Truly first ride - finally I reached the slope. Show is heavy, but not watery. I have heard chemicals are used to keep the snow in usable condition. Surface well prepared. 

Does it Look Like a Storm?

Second ride - my t-bar partner gets the information 'immediately leave the glacier'. He does not understand it. Me either. I just go for next ride. The ranger at the end of the T-bar does not want me to make one more ride. A storm is approaching the mountains. There is danger of lightning. Telling him I came extra from Czech republic, he allows me to get up once more. I am almost alone on the slope. All people are in the cue for the T-bar who gets us to the upper station of the Seventh Heaven express. 

Third ride - the last one, ended in the cue. I am meeting a man who - as will be disclosed later - is from Austria, and moved to Canada thirty years ago. We speak German. His Allgäu dialect is nice to hear. We are both a little disappointed by what happend. My skiing took twenty minutes. Just twenty. 

This is the End. We Are Forced to Leave Immediately. 

I am beck on top of the hill, thinking of next step. I see most of people disappear on their skies behind little lodge. There is way to go on skies to the lower station of the Seventh Heaven Express. Despite the fact, the path is very narrow, all the way is enough snow to enjoy it. 

Road to Valey

Seventh Heaven - it is not Heaven at all. Weather gets worst and worst. Cue waiting for transport into the valley is long. Rain! I realize the guys in front of me speak Czech. Chair-lift stops. Conversation starts. Heavy rain! We decide to go to restaurant and wait there. 

Beautiful View from the Restaurant in the Valey

The chair-lift starts again, but we stay in side and wait until the cue gets shorter. Not necessarily good decision. They stop it again. Just empty chairs are going down. Rest of us will be transported by bus. We are not allowed to leave the restaurant as outside is danger of danger of lightning. We stay inside in the cue for the bus. 

Guard in Red Anorak: 'You Are Not Allowed to Leave the Building' People in Background Are Guided to Their Bus.

Fortunately is the cue quite short and we are on the bus in fifteen minutes. All the way down are my thoughts dancing around the feeling - I should have gone by the chair-lift. It is somehow better to be offended by lightning, than in the very old school bus. 

Approaching the Valey

Thanks for meeting the Czech guys, it would be very boring afternoon without them. On the way down I saw my first bear and doe. Too fast, I did not have a chance to make a picture. 

Finally back in the valley. I return the equipment and receive the money paid for skipass. End good, all good. It is four o'clock and it is not end of the day. Second story follows soon.

Enjoy the weather whatever you do! At the end everything is FUN ... and come back for the second story!