3x3 - From Sofia to Lausanne - September | Life

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Starting this Fall, we are launching a new blog section. Its purpose is very personal and practical - we want to motivate ourselves to do more new things in the cities where we live and get to know them better. With winter coming and Covid19 situation, we would like to avoid being locked down at home and just working, so our aim is to attend more events, to discover new places and new people in our cities and around. And here we will share the most interesting 3 for the month. Let's start with our 3x3 from September:

Lausanne

1. A Day in Neuchâtel

One of the best things in Switzerland is its railway network! Trains run in different directions constantly and without much planning you can choose a direction for a day trip. This month I chose Neuchatel, which is less than an hour from Lausanne. Although it is in the French part of Switzerland, the city has a French name (Neuchatel) and a German name - Neunburg
The most remarkable part of Neuchatel is its Old town with its buildings of yellow limestone, which give it a particularly sunny and warm mood. Among the streets I find one with a painted pavement and outdoor hanging laundery that resemble a Neapolitan atmosphere :) At the top of the Old town you will find the two symbols of Neuchâtel - a Renaissance castle and a Gothic cathedral.

Usually in September, Neuchâtel celebrates the grape harvest with a spectacular wine festival that gathers 40,000 people and blocks the city for 3 days. Unfortunately, this is one of the big events I had planned for this fall, but it was canceled due to Covid19 .

2. Brunch Club with Victoria Sardain

Something I look forward to every month is the events organized by Victoria. Each of them starts with yoga flow, followed by a panel-discussion with interesting people and ends with a great healthy brunch. This September the topic was "The Positive Face of Fear" with Wim Hof ​​Coach (WHC) Helena Hefti Wenger.

If you haven't heard of it, Wim Hoff is one of the phenomenon of our time - the Dutchman known by the nickname "The Iceman", who has the ability, thanks to a trained mind and breathing techniques, to withstand extremely low temperatures. Wim Hoff's method includes exercises for deep breathing, meditation and gradual exposure to cold and ice showers. The goal is to control body systems, including the immune system, so that it is able to resist disease.
I'm far from considering an ice shower, but something in our conversation resonated with me and provoked my curiosity: "The colder the water, the more important it is to stay focused. This is true in life." If you are curious, there is more information about the method on the Helena page. 

3. Images Vevey 

One of the few major events that was not canceled this fall was Images Vevey. Great photographic event with exhibitions of Swiss photographers throughout the city - in exhibitions, galleries, various indoor and outdoor spaces - in parks, by the lake, on the facades of buildings. During three weeks, Vevey is a huge photo exhibition and a city of images. The event is held throughout the year and has a different theme - this year the theme is "Unexpected. Le hasard des choses" 

Sofia

1. Balkans Wine Festival

In September, after the summer calmness Sofia is coming back to life with events. Most of them happen outdoors, there aren't too many people and it's really nice to visit them. We were thirsty for wine events and although we regularly ensure them at Vino Orenda / tastings, courses, wine competitions /, we were looking forward to the 9th Balkans Wine Festival postponed in June. The event took place in front of the National Palace of Culture, the days of the exhibition were 3, and discoveries among the wines, as always, were not missing. Unfortunately, the Balkan presence was modest due to travel restrictions, but we never complain about trying more Bulgarian wines. We also met 2 new for us Bulgarian wineries - Vitus Marinovi and Vida, and we fall in love with the wine from Vranets and Kratošija Barovo of the Macedonian Tikvec. It was a great start to Autumn and a new wine season. 

2. Hiking to Vitosha mountain and Hotel Moreni

I admit that I am probably one of the few people in Sofia for whom Vitosha remains rather unknown area and every time I visit it I rediscover the mountain. One of our September walks took us to the renovated Hotel Moreni, where starts a very nice and beautiful trail, suitable for less prepared hikers like me. We were lucky with very warm and sunny day, but I'm sure it will be beautiful also during the late Autumn. The renovated hotel has become such a romantic place to relax after a mountain walk or after climbing Cherni Vrah (Black Peak). A lot of effort has been put into the renovation and it looks like an Alpine chalet. The view from the lobby was so green and we were nicely surprised to find brunch on the weekend, so the day was full. 

3. Vintage buses in Sofia

Our friend Stefcho has been involved in the restoration of vintage city buses for several years now, together with the Association of Public Transport and Infrastructure, and is more than committed to the cause. It is to restore old buses to be exhibited at various exhibitions, to participate in events, and why not one day to be part of a museum of public transport in Sofia, which in our capital does not yet exist. We have already had the chance to join a wine event with a restored retro tram, and now we have managed to get on several retro buses. The most exciting was, of course, is the well-known from the past Chavdar 130 - one of the last models produced at the Chavdar plant in Botevgrad, but also interesting was the Mercedes O305G - the last of its kind in motion in Bulgaria and one of the few remaining in Europe.

You can see more information about the association here and soon you may see the buses themselves on the streets of Sofia, although only as an attraction

Author: Elitsa & Valentina I Published on Life Tasting Blog

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