Roses and thorns: European winter

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beito

ruka

Lillehammer

beito...2.0

davos

Seefeld

Livigno

Les Rousses

Toblach

Lillehammer, sujosen, Kvitfjell and Oslo

Falun

Tallin

Okay, that was cool. Traveling around the world is easily one of the best parts of the job! There's a lot to keep track of while we travel this much, and to be honest, we don't "tourist" much to ensure energy on race day is there. But we do get to see some incredible places!

From November to March, I made the transatlantic journey six times, and I spent approximately 106 days in Europe. I know this because I overstayed my welcome. As an American, you're only allowed 90 days spent in the Schengen region, in which you need to spend 180 consecutive days out of the Schengen to reset it. A fun thing I learned, on day 79, while in Europe, from which I scrambled to get a visa. Besides the point, what the point is, I spent a lot of time in Europe this winter. And I might have said this "okay, but actually I could maybe move here" at nearly every European stop this year. Julia Kern can attest. Is it true? Potentially, here are my roses and thorns for each stop, racing aside because I'm a human too :)

Enjoy some of the highlights from each stop – with a blurb of some adjectives and maybe some sentences; feel free to read or not. 

Norway:
Beitostolen: "Beito" emphasis on the "i" in English

• First time seeing a reindeer in real life 
• The snow melted, and I ruined a few pairs of skis.. skiing was grim and courses are really hard
• There is a very small town, unfortunately I couldn't find a place that sold lattes or baked goods

Finland 
Ruka

• A real life snow globe! 
• The apartments are very nice and spacious!
• Courses are HARD (I think I've mentioned that in every single blog with Ruka but oh well)
• Not a lot of kms of skiing - very little natural snow, so maybe there's more skiing/ski trails. 
• Kind of an odd stadium layout
• Good fans!
• It's really dark haha
• No real town, just a ski resort

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Back to Norway
Lillehammer

• Omg so cute; there is the cutest downtown, and it feels like a real place
• I love it here 
• It snowed a bunch after they decided to spread the man-made on the biathlon trails. They are pretty flat.
• Every team stays in the same hotel.. Fun to see all the other teams, but it is a germ fest
• Literally almost zero fans.. I thought Norwegians cared about nordic skiing??

Back to Beitostolen 

• The apartments are sooooo nice. We all have our own bedrooms, which is a rare occurance for us on the road
• The snow is amazing
• The tourist trails are excellent, you can ski for literally ever
• It's REALLY cold, like too cold
• The sunrises and sunsets are incredible 
• I lost my AirPods in a snow bank 
  Switzerland 
  Davos
  • Mountains!! 
  • Altitude isn't my favorite 
  • There are the cutest Swiss cows at the race venue
  • The actual skiing is just okay 
  • There isn't enough snow to ski up the valleys, which I hear is amazing
  • Sledding!!!!!!
  Austria 
  Seefeld
  • I just love this place
  • Our apartments are incredible 
  • 360 views
  • The mountains are incredible and there's lots of sunshine 
  • Still not that much snow so the skiing is decent, but I hear that the tourist trails are incredible when there is more snow.
  Italy
  Livigno
  • Okay, stunning! 
  • Thin air, but I'm actually loving it here 
  • The best chocolate gelato of all time
  • My first World Cup heats and team sprint!
  France 
  Les Rousses
  • It's Vermont pretty/quaint! 
  • The gym is so nice - we are staying in the French National training center
  • The fans are some of the most insane and awesome I've ever seen!
  
  Back to Italy
  Toblach
  • Stunning
  • Such nice tourist trails
  • Recommendation for a ski or bike vacation!
  • Amazing views, amazing food, amazing trails!
  • No bad things to say ;)
  
  Back to Norway 
  Lillehammer and Sujosen 
  • It was so nice I had to come back.. if that doesn't capture everything?
  • If you're looking for a ski vacation - this is my first recommendation
  • You pay for parking instead of a trail pass, but I couldn't download the app in the American app store
  • Everyone in this town nordic skis 
  • The huge Swix store is here so you can stock up on some great goodies, including shot glasses shaped like kick wax. 
  Kvitfjell
  • Really beautiful! It kinda looks a little bit like a moonscape 
  • I went to watch my friend Tricia Mangan race in the downhill World Cup, but the nordic skiing is equally amazing (I didn't actually alpine ski, just watched)
  • Seems like a cool place if you like to both alpine and nordic ski!
  Oslo
  • Such an incredible city, with insanely great skiing for a real city (makes sense why Norwegians are so good at skiing)
  • Food with ethnic flavors for the first time in a long time. I got Thai food that was really good
  • The saunas on the ocean are a must 
  • The hype behind Holmenkollen is real, it's so wild. This is where all the Norwegian fans are
  Sweden
  Falun
  • This place also reminds me of Vermont
  • Great tourist trails, as long as there's good snow
  • The weather in mid-to-late-March, (two years of data) is blue sky and tons of sunshine
  • One of the most fun sprint course (in my opinion) 
  • Some of the best fans of all time
  • There is a bakery right on the side of the course that has some of the best gluten-free baked goods I've ever had in my entire life
  Estonia
  Tallin
• 1st city sprint!
• A really cool, verrryyyy old city! 
• First time with the non-fluors for World Cup, so that was a little stressful with ski picking and limited wax technicians.
• The fans and atmosphere was truly incredible. There were hot tiubs next to the course for fans​