July
July marked three significant events:
First, my 60th birthday, which I spent in the Schaffhausen clinic preparing for my first back surgery on the 13th. After three months of pain and various methods to alleviate it, there seemed to be no alternative.
My birthday cake
Part of my recovery training programme
Recovery has been slower than I had anticipated, possibly caused by my decision to take a pre-scheduled trip to Amsterdam (for meetings with my client Virtuagym and visiting some boutique studios including Saints & Stars and People’s Place) and Munich (to see my two grown up children Julian and Felicia). I managed to walk over two kilometers in one day, but it seemed to be “too much, too soon”.
My daughter Felicia has landed her first job after graduating
August
In early August, my mother turned 92 I travelled to Toronto with Julian and Felicia. We visited the Rogers Cup Masters 1000 tennis tournament with her, both of us in wheelchairs being pushed around by me kids. We saw a number of great players, including Canada’s Dennis Shapavalov, Edwards, Dimitrov and Schwarzman.
Gregor Dimitrov of Bulgaria at the Rogers Cup
My Mother Paula with her signed photos of idol Roger Federer
Watching tennis with my mother
In September my regular travel pensum resumed, with three trips and 15 days on the road in five countries. My first trip featured:
- A visit to Riga, Latvia to have lunch with Vidmantas Suigzdinis, CEO of Impuls/Lemon Gyms and visit two of his clubs.
- A presentation on a boat that docked in Helsinki (at the invitation of Eleiko, the Swedish fitness manufacturer with a 60 year history) then
- I sailed to Stockholm where I spent two days taking in the city (and visited several health clubs as well as having a meeting at the headquarters of Friskis & Svettis, ranked 11 among European health chains.
Hans and Vidmantas in Riga
Hans and Marko of Eleiko in Helsinki
Boat to Stockholm
Ari Kalijisto of K&F Magazine and Hans in Helsinki
Stockholm old city
Bjorn Borg advertising
Balance Fitness Club, now part of SATS
Outside Statue outside of Stockholm shopping mall
September
Mid-September I travelled to Saarbrücken to lecture in the MBA programme of the German University for Health and Prevention.
One of my MBA students
MBA lecturing at the German University of Health and Prevention
From there I travelled to Munich to visit the new headquarters of the Body & Soul chain, have lunch with my daughter Felicia, and visit the newly opened Prime Time Fitness boutique studio across from Viktualienmarkt, the iconic fresh produce market, which of course has a beer garden.
Prime Time Fitness
Eleiko Setup at Prime Time Fitness
Beer garden close to Viktualienmarkt in Munich
My final trip was to Amsterdam, Netherlands for meetings with clients Virtuagym and Club Joy as well as visiting the FW Top show in Houten (20 minutes south of Utrecht).
Pedal power at Amsterdam airport, charging your phone by cycling
Hugo Braam, CEO of Virtuagym presenting at FW Top
Winston Squire and Hans at FW Top
Virtuagym booth at FW Top
From there I flew again to Munich to celebrate Oktoberfest with my kids and my older brother Guff who was taking a German course there.
My brother Guff with me, my daughter and Tilli and Julian with Lisa at the Hirschgarten beer garden
Oktoberfest in Munich
Living 20 minutes from Zurich and 30 minutes from the German border town of Konstanz, I frequently visit these towns for various reasons. Yes, I am one of the so-callled „Einkaufstouristen“ who live in Switzerland but go shopping across the border. We benefit from getting the VAT (MwSt) back on our purchases in addition to the (often significantly) lower prices in Germany. We visited a wine festival in Meersburg as well, a fifteen minute ferry from Konstanz.
Our favorite fish dish on Reichenau by Konstanz
Alphorn group at Wein festival in Meerburg
Weinfestival in Meersburg
Harbour of Konstanz
Meersburg vista overlooking Lake Constance
October has three trips and four events planned: the Aufstiegskongress in Mannheim, Germany, followed by the DIFG meeting and Bodylife Awards (both in Düsseldorf) and finally a week in Portugal for the IHRSA European Congress and a few days in Porto, which has now become of Europe’s top destinations. Happy traveller!