My first Edelweiss

Last weekend I went hiking with Jessica in Adelboden and I found my first Edelweiss (at 2333m):

They say Edelweiss brings you luck so we wanted to extend our weekend with a bath in the Jungbrunnen, so now I have less wrinkles than before [ considering I was having none ;) ]

On our way back home we stopped in an Alpenhutte as it was raining and I wanted to buy a cheese. The problem I have now with this cheese is that it is killing my social life. I do not have a dog because I can not commit on taking care of it, and now I have to wash and flip a cheese every morning when I wake up ;(

Conclusion: Before buying a cheese, consider going directly for a dog.

Some photos from that weekend are here

Panoramaweg. Schwizerland

As always we will start with a photo of me ;)

Just a couple of thoughts on my way up to the Gr.Mythen summit:

• Guys are way hotter in the mountain than in the beach.

Basically this is due to the nature of the activity. People go to the beach to lay down like seals, whereas people go to the mountain to do some sport! No need to be very intelligent to get the conclusion, I just did not thought about this until yesterday while hiking ;)

• If you ask someone "How long do we still have to the summit" in the middle of the hike, you will end up going back to the basement

And indeed. There was this guy that was hiking up to Gr. Mythen and when he was at ~40% he ask me that question. I obviously gave the typical mountain answer (a lie): you are almost there. He made a puzzle face and quit the hike ;)

Just say that the excursion is really worth it and despite I am in still in pain, I have to say it was extremely nice.

Some data:

Distance: 19.24Km

Time: 5:11h

Images: Panoramio

If you want to see route in Google Earth, click the image below to download the kml file.

Klöntalersee from Glarus to Plätz

I just arrived from my first hike this season, this time with my friend Erik. As always some data:

Total distance: 19.14Km
Time: 3:41h (Including lunch break)

If you want to see the track in Google Earth, the .kml is here

The photos I took are here

We followed the track recommended by Tages Anzeiger.

The hike was not difficult at all but it is very nice. We took the train at Zürich HB to Glarus (return ticket with Halbtax was 24 CHF). From Glarus we took the track to the lake. It has an amazing forest and a river with crystal clear water. We have seen a couple of guys fly-fishing.

The official mountain greeting is Grützi. If you are greeting more than one person you should use: Grützi mit ein andern.

The view you find just after going out from the forest near the lake is the most amazing thing on the whole hike. After this view you find the lake and as it ias artificial... well, you find what some people call beach and Erik was referring as "the mold".

We surrendered the lake and we ended up at Plätz where a nice beer was waiting for me at the beer garden. It happens to be also the bus station, so in case you do not want to walk down again...

In general I have a great impression. It is something easy, nice and cheap. Fully recommended.

Birthday on fire!

Yesterday was the 27th anniversary of Carlos Gomez and he decided to celebrate it at a Peruvian restaurant called Mochica. I say "called" in past as the restaurant got burned while we were eating!

Let's go back a bit in time:
When Carlos told me we were going there I had a bad karma, so I told him that I was not feeling really comfortable about the selection. He convinced me with: "It is my birthday" and "We should go to places that are different from what we find in Europe", so I agreed and we met at 20:30h there.

We arrived and ordered some Sangria while we were checking the menu, and suddenly the oven started to burn. (This is one reason to avid open-air kitchens). Carlos was fully calmed and people in the restaurant was whispering about the situation. Just some seconds later, a responsible from the place extinguished the fired and people started to cheer up.

We ordered the second sangria and this time the over went on fire for real. The fire was expanding to the rest of the kitchen and there was nothing the personal could do. Smoke started to expand in the room. Carlos was telling us to stay calmed despite we already told him there was no way we would eat with that smoke. And then people started to run out from the place.

2 minutes later the fireman (4 tracks in total) covered the area and started to work in the extinction. Everyone in the area was taking pictures with their cameras, so despite of the situation there was kind of a gossiping atmosphere.

Suddenly a guy who promise to us that he was a former fireman, started organizing the fireman brigades. The guy was not having any devise with him and he was faking he was calling the units and giving them advice. Obviously he was just a bit crazy. Carlos interrogated him and as he told us everything was under control, we headed towards our next stop: a Mexican restaurant called Colibri.

This was the most exciting birthday dinner ever. I just hope that the restaurant is fine now as the food looked delicious, despite we could not taste it. Next time I'm in San Francisco I will have to go to give it a try.

New Panoramio Widget API

We just launched the Panoramio Widget API, an as I am now in San Francisco, I am showing you how the widget looks like in my blog with some fantastic San Francisco photos from the Panoramio community.

For more info, check in here.

LipdUPC. Full of Win!

I tried my whole life to engage people to do great things like the Barcelona Tech Univeristy folks just did.

This performance is full of win so congratulations:

New Profile Picture for your Panoramio Account

I remember clearly the moment when my friends Asier, Carlos and me were in front of the Matterhorn in Zermatt and we took avatar pictures to use it across the web. The three of us have the same photo background but I am obviously the top in handsomenes (well... maybe not). Up to now I have only used it in my Google Profile and in my Google Talk communications.

I am happy I can use it now with Panoramio! Thanks Gyuri and Jose for making this small feature a reality :)

More info: Go personal with the new Panoramio profile picture