Budapest - Hungary: The City of Thermal Spas

We wanted to run in Budapest but just couldn't find the strength or motivation to do it. The many days of sinful living eating nothing but meat and beer has sapped our will to crawl out of the bed early in the morning. The intensity of our "Death Marches" around the Castle Hills of Buda and museums have left our feet sore. We badly need a good massage or a hot soak in an Onsen.

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is also known as the City of Spas with more than 100 thermal springs dotted all around the city. The Unfit runners have been to many baths in the world, ranging from the Onsen in Japan, Wenquan in Taiwan and Moorish baths in Spain. I will say that the look and feel of the thermal bath in Budapest is definitely different. While the baths in Spain and Japan have a more exclusive and private feel to them, the baths in Budapest are bigger and are often visited by families.

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Vienna - Austria: Breathtaking Gardens and Architecture

It's 730am at Vienna, Austria....

PES E, "Hey guys, want to do a run?"

<Deadly silence and snores>

PES E, "Holy shit, there is a Charmander near our apartment!" 

Big Boned Guy, "Where where? I need one!I killed my low IV Charmander and need a new one to walk with me!"

PES E, "We have 10mins left! Let's change to our running attire within 5mins!"

Big Boned Guy, "Rigghhtt! GET UP ALCOHOLIC! Time to run!!"

Within 5 mins, we have changed to our running attire and off for a run.

Vienna in the early morning is a quiet city. Our hotel is located right next to the main shopping district of Mariahilfer Straße which is also known as one of the longest shopping street in Austria. The entire length of the shopping street is almost deserted, with only the cleaners hard at work. In fact, the shops at Vienna closes pretty early at 6-7pm and all the activities move to the pubs and cafes. The shopping street connects the bustling Vienna central railway station and the historical, cultural and political hub of Vienna. 

The first area that you will encounter is the Maria-Theresien-Platz , which is the site of two museums, the Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum. Beyond the Maria Platz, lies the historical district of Vienna where you can find famous buildings such as the Vienna State Opera, St Stephan Cathedral and the Austria Parliament. A myriad of beautifully curated gardens surrounds the historical down town area and I promise that you will be distracted by the beautiful bulbs of roses, blooms, fountains and statues along the way that you will inevitable stop to take some pictures.

Overall, Vienna is a beautiful city to run and explore. The traffic is light in the early morning and the pavements are wide and smooth to run. The good mixture of interesting architecture and beautiful parks keep the run interesting. I will strongly recommend anybody who visits Vienna to plan a run.

Now, if they will just improve their breakfast selection, than it will be perfect...

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Salzburg - Austria: Mozart and The Sound of Music

Salzburg is the birth place of famous music composer, Mozart and the location where the 1965 film: Sound of Music was being filmed. With the old and new city flanking the Salzach river, the city is a mix of gardens, castles, rustic town halls and modern town houses making the city a delight to run and explore. The Salzach river is lined with well paved running and bicycle track and the track is designed to run under the bridges which allows undisturbed running all along the river. To make the run even more interesting, you can either run into the old town area which houses famous landmarks such as the Hohensalzburg Castle, Salzburg Cathedral and the old district lined with beautiful town houses and the birthplace of Mozart.

 

The other bank boosted newer buildings and the famous Mirabell Palace where the scene in which the song "Do Re Mi" from the Sound of Music was featured. The streets are also lined with modern buildings, chic restaurants, fountains and water features. It is one of the perfect spot to chill with a cup of hot tea/coffee in the day and a class of Austrian wine during the evenings.

There is always something new and interesting around the corner at Salzburg, which makes the run always interesting. Combine that with the perfect autumn temperature of 10-15 degrees, the running environment is one of the best I have encountered. I will definitely anybody who visits Salzburg to plan a run and you will be amazed by new encounters and sights.

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SG Unfit Runners Eastern Europe Trip - Oktoberfest

It's the time of the year that the Sg Unfit Runners go on a month long trip to different parts of the world and discover the joy of running in strange new places and discovering new things. Running is probably one of the best way to explore the city, often along with a beautiful sunrise to accompany us on the run. This trip consist of PES E, Big Boned Guy and Alcoholic and while touring eastern Europe is the main objective, the hidden agenda is to actually attend the Oktoberfest at Munich and gorge ourselves silly with beer and pork knuckles before setting off to Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Nuremberg and back to Munich. Since we will be walking quite a bit every day, we probably won't be doing a run in every city as it will be absolutely exhausting to do that.

Meanwhile at Munich, we probably will not do any run as the weather consist of rain and drizzle. Attending Oktoberfest under such condition is actually quite miserable we are unable to participate in many of the outdoor activities.

Meanwhile, here are some of the pictures we took during the fair and if you are curious which beer tent and beer is the best and most happening, let us share with you a tip: Ausgustiner.

If you do visit Oktoberfest, that is the tent and beer you must definitely try out. We have talked to locals and visitors who have came from far and abroad and so far, the Ausgustiner tent has been consistently rated as one of the best place to chill out. However, do go there early, probably at 4pm, else you will probably be barred at the entrance by the security to prevent overcrowding.

If you have any questions on Oktoberfest, feel free to leave your comments below!

Meanwhile, many Mr Mime have been spotted at Silberhornstraße area.

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Bocca Del Fuoco Run - A Night Run in Venice, Historical Glass Workshops and Red Wine!

The Island of Murano, Venice, Italy

When we were first contacted by the event organizer of the Bocca Del Fuocco run on helping them spread the world of their run, we were intrigued by the request from Italy. Even though SG Unfit Runners do go for random self-initiated runs in various parts of Europe, we have not covered Italy and Venice yet, with the bulk of our readers coming from Singapore. However, we were assured by the event organizer that our blog is well regarded among the international running media community and our courage to share with the world about our daily slice of running life has made our blog a personal favorite of the organizer.

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Mulheim - Germany: Beautiful Parks and Breathtaking River Trails

Running date: 07/10/2015

It has been a crazy month for the month of October. I barely had any rest coming back from Japan and off I flew off again, for another 2 weeks intensive work trip to Germany at Spiel Essen, the world's largest toys and board game convention to show case Wongamania. Although we escaped from the choking haze, we were met with freezing 0 degrees mornings and a flu virus that attacked everybody during the trip. However, I managed to clock in one run during the earlier part of my trip before it has gotten too cold and us too sick to do any morning runs.

I will like to introduce to you Mulheim, a small city at the north-west of Germany, just north of the fashion capital Dusseldorf.

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Barcelona, Spain - An Architectural Delight

Early morning run at Barcelona

15 October 2014

Whenever I mentioned to fellow runners that I did a run in Barcelona, the first thing that they asked, "Ah! So you ran on the beach of Barcelona? Did you enjoy the beautiful bikini babes and the morning sun over the horizon?"

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Bordeaux, France - The Wine Capital of the World

11 October 2014

Between Paris and Bordeaux for the city to visit in France, I will pick Bordeaux anytime.

Paris is expensive, noisy and overcrowded, with half of it's population seemingly made up of tourists. I never got to appreciate what's the hype of Paris being one of the most romantic place in the world.

If you want to serenade a girl with good wine and food, romantic riverside walks with many kissable/huggable moments and country side drives with beautiful towns to explore, Bordeaux is definitely the place to be.

A Kiss The Girl moment at the reflecting pool at the Place de la Bourse

 It is also a great place to run with so many options.

I took the easiest option for me to run along the River Garrone which offers kilometers of undisturbed run with a spectacular view of the city.

I set off from one of the busiest road in Bordeaux along the Cours Victor Hugo and at 730am in the morning, traffic is very light with few other pedestrians along the way. One of the biggest issue I have encountered while running in cities, especially those is Asia, is poorly maintained pedestrians pavement with ankle breaking potholes. Here at Bordeaux, the pavement is so smooth and well-paved, that even well maintained Singapore foot paths have to take a second seat.

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Lisbon, Portugual - Atlantic Coastal Run at the Oldest City in Europe

Praça do Comércio (Commerce Sq). Surrounded by government custom and naval offices

Bull fights, Ronaldo, Booze, Red Meat and a total lack of motivation to run at Madrid made the unfit runners, totally not prepared to take on the hilly slopes of Lisbon. Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and is one of the oldest cities in the world. Another nick name for Lisbon is "City of 7 Hills".

We had a sense of forbidding when we had to challenge the steep stairwells of Lisbon, along with our 10KG luggage (pretty light by any standards!) to our apartment in the old district of Alfama . Our arms were dead tired by the time we collapsed at our apartment and we decided to take a few hours nap in order to recover from our hill-climbing-with-luggage ordeal.

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Madrid Spain - Sorry, We rather Eat than Run in Madrid!

Puerta del Sol - The Heart of Madrid @ 1am

Rather than go for an evening run at Madrid, we decided to go for a leisurely evening walk instead.

Why?

Madrid is simply crazy when it comes to weekends. The streets are literally full of people and everybody are partying till 5am in the morning. On top of that, our hotel is right in the commercial heart of Madrid at Puerta del Sol . So rather than trying to jog through the thick evening pedestrian traffic, we swapped our running shoes for walking shoes instead.

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Granada, Spain - A Vibrant Historical Southern City Which We feel like Immigrating to

Spain, Granada: The Tomb of Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II

The ancient Moorish city of Granada, home to 3 UNSECO world heritage sites: The Alhambra, The General Life and the historical district of Albayzín. When I planned our itinerary to Granada, I imagined it to be a small city, with narrow winding  roads and charming buildings. There are no direct connecting train or plane routes to Madrid, making it a not so accessible city. The best way in and out of the city is by bus or by car.  I was impressed by the broad straight roads, the bustling shopping & diners and lots of young energetic university students. We were surprised by the amount of young people at Granada as most of historic tourist cities are made up of mostly elderly tourists and bored folks running the souveniers and eating establishments.

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Cordoba Spain - The Cultural City with the Largest UNSECO Urban Area in the World

Cordoba, Spain

At Barcelona, Big Boned Guy (BBG) came down with a bout of stomach viral attack. He was quite miserable for 3 days.

A few days later, I was infected with the same virus, resulting in non stop diarrhea and stomach cramps. As BBG and Alcoholic set off for their early morning run at Cordoba, I had to roll around on the bed moaning in pain, wishing for the cramps to go away.

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Seville, Spain - Running Along River Guadalquivir

End of the run. Take a while to enjoy the morning

This is the time of the year for Unfit Runners annual getaway trip. This year, we are going off to Spain, along with Alcoholic and Big Bone Guy (BBG)

We touch down at Barcelona and spent 4 days tapas hopping, visiting Gudi's buildings and bumming around in general. Big Bone Guy came down with a bout of food poisoning and we had to cancel our run at Barcelona. But not to worry, we will end our trip at the beach-side city of Barcelona and should be able to clock in a run or two before leaving for Singapore.

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Berlin, Germany - Guest Appearance by Big Boned Guy (BBG)

The early morning view from our apartment

Everyday, I cursed my stupid decision to push my injured so hard during my run in Dusseldorf. The pain doesn't seem to go away and I spent my days hobbling along with the old people in Germany, thinking whether to buy a German made walking stick to go along with the appearances.

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Dusseldorf, Germany - Across the River Rhine and Back Again

The River Promenade at Dusseldorf

After being rained on for the last 4 days at Amsterdam, we were hoping that the weather at Dusseldorf will be better, but no! The rain clouds seem to be following us a everywhere. Before I carry on with my rant with on the weather, most Singaporeans will be scratching their heads and wondering where and what is this place called Dusseldorf. Personally, I was one of those ignorant Singaporeans who haven't heard of this place before I set foot on it

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Canals of Amsterdam, Netherlands - Of Canals & Gay Kinos

The canals of Amsterdam

It has been raining non-stop since Day 1 when we arrived at Europe 4 days ago. Sometimes it pours, sometimes it drizzles and sometimes, it is a mix of everything. Throw in a below 10 degrees temperature and cold bitter winds, it made walking along the beautiful streets and canals of Amsterdam a dreary affair. 

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Amsterdam - Raining non stop....

Woke up at 6am every morning, wanting to run around the canals of Amsterdam. It just rains and rains and rains....

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