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August, 2009:

Switzerland

It’s only been three days and there is a lot to write about…

I am now on my computer sipping some coffee with this view right in front of me:

Menziken

Not bad, eh?

We are in a small town called Menziken in Switzerland, staying with Stefanie‘s dad.

But before we got here, this was our schedule:

When I was looking for ticket from Vancouver to Zurich, I found out that if you fly out of Seattle instead of Vancouver, you pay about half the price. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to go to Seattle and meet the Anusara community there as well and bought the tickets.

We left Vancouver on Monday about 12pm with Amy; she was already going to Seattle and she offered to give us a ride. It was a pretty smooth & fast drive except for the 1 hour wait at the border. Everyone was driving to Seattle for some reason! We were chatting around, listening to Johnny Cash and enjoying the summer breeze on our faces.

We had booked the Westin in Seattle, and let me tell you; not a good choice at all! The hotel was very old and the room wasn’t clean at all. There was even trash on the floor! It was terrible. We left the bags, started walking around looking for this organic restaurant that was supposed to be at a hotel. When we found the restaurant it was at Hyatt Olive (not to be confused with the other Hyatt in Seattle), Chris went and checked the rooms while I was on the phone with AT&T adding a bigger international data plan on my phone and he said the rooms were about 200 times nicer.

So we checked into that hotel, went back to pick up our stuff from the Westin (they did say they would refund our money, which was nice), and dropped them off at our new LEED certified hotel! They even had a yoga room! Exciting.

Hyatt Olive

We then went downstairs for some snacks.

Urbane

Chris at Urbane

Chris at Urbane

We then headed out to teach at Village Green Yoga in Issaquah.

village green

Anusara Inspired teacher Jean owns the place and she was our host. We had a really good time.

After the class we were really hungry and went back to Urbane for some dinner, then straight to bed.

Our flight on Tuesday morning left at 8 am. We got up at 5 and headed to the airport.

After a long day of flights from Seattle to Toronto, then Toronto to Zurich, we are in paradise! Look at the carts at the airport:

zurich airport

And I thought I ate a lot of chocolate! =)

We picked up Stefanie’s mom’s car from the airport, drove to Luzern, which was beautiful, then to another smaller town called Menzike.

We had a practice, long fast walk, then went for some Italian food near by. Here are some more photos:

Garfield 3

Garfield 3

yoga at the deck

Pizza

Workshops & last day of Immersion III

Today is the last day of Immersion III in Vancouver. The group is journaling right now, and I have a minute to write…
We’ve had an amazing session here these last four days. We were missing a few people from last time, and we have a few additions to the group; it’s all wonderful. Sjani is assisting as always and shining as brightly as she always does.

And here is Robyn in Sayunasana:

Robyn in Sayunasana

Maili has been wonderful enough to cook some macrobiotic food for us everyday, as she has been in the previous two immersions. They are soooooo good! I should have been taking photos! Bummer. Well, next time.

We did a workshop at Northshore Elements last night, and it was a crazy practice. Handstands, handstand-to-chatturanga, handstand-to-koundinyasana, etc., etc. Everyone had fun. Look at these peeps here:

Northshore Elements Workshop

Jordan and Sue came to practice after a whole day of Immersion. There is Jordan in the front row…

Heading out tomorrow for Seattle. Keep in touch…

VAnusara!

Wow, what a week!

We are still in Vancouver, going through the 3rd immersion. It is a blast! We have Leon from NY and Leanne from White Rock joining us today and it’s great to have them with us.

Workshop at YYoga Neoalpine in Whistler

Workshop at YYoga Neoalpine in Whistler

Here is what our schedule is/has been like in Vancouver so far:

August 13: Workshop at Neoalpine in Whistler

August 14: Workshop at Flow in Vancouver

August 14: Anusara week kick-off party at Robyn‘s house in West Vancouver

August 15 & 16: Workshop with John Friend in Vancouver

August 17-19: Therapy Training with John Friend in Vancouver

August 19: Workshop at Yaletown Yoga in Vancouver

August 20-23: Immersion III at Highgate YYoga

August 20: Workshop at Highgate YYoga

August 21: Workshop at Richmond YYoga

August 22: Workshop at Northshore Elements YYoga

Phew! It’s busy here.

We are having a lot of fun, connecting with new people everyday. We just love Vancouver.! =)

We head out to Seattle on Monday night, and then Zurich on Tuesday morning.

Workshop at YYoga Flow Wellness

Workshop at YYoga Flow Wellness

Now a little food

Yesterday Jennifer took us to Rangoli directly from the Airport. It’s an amazing Indian restaurant just off of South Granville. Very chic, good food and pretty fast too. We had portobello curry and chicken, and some great rice. The other thing that was good about this place was all the packaged food they have. You can buy  bags of lamb curry or sag paneer or samosas and keep them in the refrigerator for quick meals later. All you do is put them in boiling water to serve. Chris is making some now after a long day driving to Whistler.

Today we went to an Italian restaurant in Whistler called Il Caminetto di Umberto. We had a green salad, warm goat cheese and pasta.

I have some pictures to post, but it will have to wait till tomorrow. I am exhausted now.

Vancouver Day 1

3 hour flight from LA. Not bad…

OK, so here is why we like Air Canada:

– Planes are clean

– Seats have room for legs! Go figure!

– They have power plugs on each row. Amazing thing on long flights

– Lavatories are actually a little cleaner and bigger than most

– Each seat has its own monitor although it was only a 3-hour flight. Great feature on long flights!

– Only $600 from Seattle to Zurich in August. Unheard of!

– We were allowed 2 bags per person. One of our bags was 13 pounds over, so they charged $75. I flew to Istanbul a couple of weeks ago on Delta. They allowed only 1 bag, and charged $150 for one of my bags because it was 6 pounds over.

And thus we like Air Canada.

On the road to Whistler

By Chris
Perfect start to an awesome day!

After only sleeping two hours Tuesday night, last night we slept 10 hours and woke this morning to a rainy day – so relaxing!

I went downstairs (29 floors) to buy groceries and when I got outside I realized that, yes… when you see rain through the windows, it is in fact raining outside!

So up I go 29 floors for an umbrella.

With umbrella in hand, I headed out for our breakfast .. half way to the store I realize that i have nothing to actually pay with … so up 29 more floors I go!

With food and coffee well situated in our bellies, we are on the road to Whistler for a workshop… AMAZING scenery!

First stop, a massage at Solarice!!!

LAX

We went to bed about 1:30 am and woke up at 6. Can’t believe we managed to get everything we want in two bags.
On the way to the airport now. Thinking of ways to get even more compact. Maybe a MacAir?

Day -1

Tomorrow we are flying to Vancouver. It will be the first step in a series of cities we will be going to in the next few months, and we decided to started a blog to talk about all the yoga and food we experience in our travels. This should be fun!

We had our last class at the Hub today; it was great. A lot of the regulars, and then some new people. We are very happy about how the community at the Hub has grown in the last month.

Rest of the day was getting rid of more things in the house, trying to figure out what to take with us and what to leave behind. Very challenging… Finally we decided to give away our mandukas we had for years; they are sooooo heavy! We are determined to fit in two bags.

Chris is now finishing off the final session of his teacher training in LA. Then we are off to packing. Keep in touch… -Özlem