From Gstaad ro Klagenfurt

So we arrived in Austria this am. Took the overnight train from Bern to Klagenfurt. we play in 2 days in the Qualifier for this event. It is a Grand Slam event......Countdown 31 days til we are on US soil! These are some pics from Gstaad. They do not really do it any justice.

Day 2 and Day 3-Gstaad

So...we played Austria yesterday and lost in 2 sets to Montagnolli and Swoboda. Was a good match, just did not have all the shots. But, today we played Finland (Nystrom, Nystrom) and won in 2 sets. This should guarantee us 2nd seed in our pool and a bid to the 32 team sinlge elimination bracket....woohooo. Exciting.

First Day-Gstaad

Yeah...so we beat Australia today! Austria tomorrow. Hope it goes just as well. Out.

Gstaad-World Champs

So....we are Gstaad. Pronounced Gustawed....it is in the mountains. Very beautiful here, green, lush, and lots of chalets. We play tomorrow at 2pm against Australia. This will be our 3rd meeting with them. They say 3rd times a charm:) Wednesday we will play Austria and Thursday we play Finland. Beyond that we will have to come out of our pool 1st or 2nd....in order to enter the 32 team single elimination draw. This will be a great event for us, and we hope to make the 32 team tournament.

Ciao

Visit to Bern, Switzerland

Bern is the capitol of Switzerland. It is also where Dave and Nadine live. I met Dave a couple years back in Australia, then ran into him again in January in New Zealand. Small world. He invited the 3 of us to his house in Bern to train and sleep before the Gstaad event. Even better, we went to his parents house in the country in Ruschegg Heubach. They cooked us a huge meal and we visited for about 4 hours. It was awesome.

Miracles can Happen

Just to give an idea of where we are.....we qualified for the World Champs. This is the biggest event of the season. We had been on the reserve list for the Paris, Norway and Berlin Grand Slams....which means we do not get to play the qualifier. Very low points. So, we watched the Paris event, bypassed even going to Norway, and rested during the Berlin event. While in Alaska, as I nonchalantly checked the entry list for the World Champs, I saw our name on it. We have only played 5 events ever and qualified 2x, finishing 25th and 17th.....and that got us into the Gstaad, Switzerland event. Triple money, triple points......wow! we are pretty excited.
But, we also get to play the Klagenfurt, Austria event. Which is supposedly the best event ever. So, our plans of playing the Challengers during these two events changed and we now get to go see what it means to be "Big time"! Will let you know how we do.

Montreal to Bern

Okay.....my bad...no update since Montreal. Well, after that wonderful event, I headed on a little holiday to Alaska. That was awesome. Probably need to go back and see more of that state. It only took 28 hours from Montreal (I went the long way-around China).
Alaska to Paris. Paris to Marseille -for the next event. Met up with Heidi and Steve there.....another long day of travel, but all part of the experience. Train had no seats so I rode on the train, between the cars..make sense? where the luggage is stored. Good stuff. Got there and thats all that matters. Life could be worse:)
Marseille, France is beautiful to look at, but kinda gross to stay there for a week. Dog doo everywhere. Well, we lost in the qualifying round to Germany-#1 seed in 3rd set 16-14. BUMMER!
So, to cheer us up a little we had a panini on the walk home and realized the Tour de France was in town. That was pretty cool to see. Guess I can add that one to the list.
From France, we took the 420 train to Bern, Switzerland. Friends, Dave and Nadine live here and invited us to stay before the World Champs. Good to have friends!

Montreal.......

Good times in Canada. So there were a total of 24 teams in the qualifier for this event. Therefore, we had one match to win to qualify. And, of course we played Japan...Asao/Take.....this is our third meeting with a Japanese team. However, this time we beat them. so, we qualified. Our first match Thursday happened to be Australia Barnett/Cook again....and second match was vs. France....not sure what their names are. And, we beat them in 2 games. We had one of our best serving matches ever, in addition to just playing smart and having fun......it was great. And, next match up was Brazil. Lost in 2........

Happy 4th of July

In Montreal Canada.....qualifier is today!Great City. So we arrived Monday afternoon from Spain. After we took 2nd in the Satelite event in San Sebastian, we hopped a train to Paris, then hopped a plane to Montreal. 21 hours later, we arrived in North America..ahhhh!!!!! How nice. We found Starbucks not shortly after:) It is 7:49 am here and it's the 4th of July. But no fireworks here!. So that's where we are, and we play Japan this afternoon at 1 pm.