A Canadian in Sweden

This is just one part of the Mens Elite category race which I competed in. I can't make the image any larger, so some detail is lost, but it should certainly give you an idea of what navigating though this labyrinth is like. The best sections took us through the popular tourist areas, which meant having to dodge though thick crowds in narrow alleys. I thought this was great fun, and did not hesitate to holler out a hearty Swiss "HOPP!" every now and then to get peoples attention and motivate them to get out of my way. If I ever do this race again, I am bringing an air horn. That would part the crowd like Moses parted the Red Sea. My only self-imposed limits were on baby strollers and old ladies. I would wait for both to pass me before resuming my race. Everyone else was fair game.

On some legs, figuring out the best route was easy and quite obvious. For others, like between points 18-19 shown in the map above, there were literally dozens of possible route choices, and no obvious best route. However, navigating was not as difficult as I expected. It required concentration, but the map was quite easy to read compared to forest maps with "scandinavian" terrain (which means lots of little hills and valleys, which I find difficult to read on maps)

Even though this was low season for tourists, the roads were totally filled by about noon. I cannot imagine what this place must be like in July. I doubt I would enjoy visiting in July. There were easily tens of thousands of tourists out in the streets while I was there, so July must be worse still. Imagine my surprise, then, when between points 24 and 25 I heard someone shout "GO JEFF!". I had run into (not literally, but close) some Canadian students I had met on the vaporetto (Venisian water busses) on Friday night. I don't know what the odds are against this, but they are certainly lower than the odds of running into the same group twice, which is exactly what happened. After I finished my race, I cooled down and changed then went walking and there they were - again. Look at that map a second time and imagine the roads filled with people, and you can see how unlikely this is. So I took them all out for coffee.

I doubt you could find a better way to really see a city than to run an orienteering race through its streets. I was only there for 2 days, but I feel I have really seen Venice. The touristy places as well as the back alleys and back canals where the garbage boats go:

The little white crane hoists garbage bins into the hold to empty them. I thought this was way cooler than the cheesy tourist boats in the photos in the previous posting.