Friday 28th October 2011
It’s been a long day today of driving, flying, catching 3 trains, walking, getting on a bus and then to top it all off our last bus didn’t turn up so it was another 20 minute walk back to the hotel!
After a few months of being woken up in the middle of the night by a new born baby you would have thought that waking up at 4.15am would have been easy but after 2 and a half weeks in Vietnam, a week in Spain and then straight down to Bath for the LTA U14 National Tour I think October might be catching up with me – either that or I’m going soft!! I met Mia at 5.15am just off the M25 and then we headed straight to Gatwick for our 7.20am flight to Zurich.
After a brief nap on the plane we arrived in Zurich and then it was straight onto the train to the City Centre to wait for our connection towards Davos. By this time it was around 11am and as we’d been awake for almost 7 hours I sent Mia off to get some lunch while I watched the bags – that was a BIG mistake! She came back with a couple of “Chilli Bratwurst” and seeing the look on my face she responded with “That’s all they had!” So believing her I tucked into the most expensive sausage and bread roll I’d ever had; it seemed ok at the time but I’m not sure my body agrees with that now! On the way to our next train we past the place Mia got the sausages to find they had a great selection of sandwiches including some lovely Chicken Schnitzels – I was pleased!!
The scenery on our next two train journeys was amazing as we wound our way through the Swiss Alps to the ski resort of Davos:
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Next up was my turn to make an error! I’d been telling Mia all week that it was going to be really cold so pack everything to keep her warm. With that advice on board we both left the train wrapped up for the Artic and after 2 minutes of walking to our hotel in 20° heat we realised it might not have been entirely necessary!!
Switzerland is notoriously expensive but I managed to find a great deal on a hotel and when we arrived we they gave us free passes for the busses and cable cars in the town which is sure to save us quite a bit of money and allow us to explore a little. We headed out at 3pm and in typical Swiss fashion the bus was bang on time for the short 4 minute journey to the Tennis Centre. Mia then signed in and after a late lunch (the sausage really didn’t do the job!) we warmed up and had a great session on court with a couple of different players. It took Mia a little while to get used to the altitude and the bouncy courts but in the second 30 minute session she was superb.
After the draw was completed we headed out to get the bus back but the timetable we had didn’t match up with the one at the bus stop so rather than waiting 40 minutes for the next bus I made the (very popular!) call of walking back. It actually only took 20 minutes and we managed to stock up on some supplies at the supermarket as well as grab some dinner.
Mia doesn’t play tomorrow as she is seeded 16 and has a bye so the only practise court she’s able to get is at 7am for 30 minutes. It’s therefore going to be another early start and due to the busses not starting until 6.48am we’ll be walking to the centre! All good fun though and we’ve got to make use of the hats and gloves 🙂
Qualifying Draw:
Michelle Leuthi (SUI) (UNR) vs (16) Mia Smith (GBR) (624) – scheduled for Sunday 29th October
