tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58618600699927210722024-03-13T00:58:23.008+00:00Where is Your Bicycle?A bicycle touring blogmarks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.comBlogger216125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-87892354141195137192015-05-13T18:22:00.001+01:002015-05-13T18:24:23.954+01:00Bike Season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Spring is happening. I mean, it happened. Everything is blindingly green and the greens range from black-green all the way to white-green. So, we're riding our bikes. We got home from a trip to the US and found a number of bike-related ads and newspaper inserts in our mailbox. 'Ah,' we thought, 'they've got our number.' Actually, it's not about us. Bike season has begun. There was a big mountain bike race in the area at the beginning of May and the seasonal stuff in the supermarkets as well as window displays in department stores are all bike lights, locks, helmets, baskets, smartphone and beverage holders, and bike-friendly clothing - as well as bikes and beer. We moved to a country where there's a bike season! And it's in full effect on the streets, too. It's no Netherlands or Denmark here, but bikes go by the house all day long.</div>
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One of our bike rides was more ambitious than the others; we took the train out towards the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) and then rode home. It wasn't a very long ride, just unfamiliar and unpredictable. Of course there was nothing to worry about. Bike routes are bike friendly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bike route signs! Later on there was one with our town on it, but it was just before a big uphill so I did not attempt a photo.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the biggest road we were on all day</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pfaffenwinkel is a place and this is the Pfaffenwinkelweg (road to).</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oh, how nice, a picnic table</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9GEh0XdRAXQ/VVOGjeVvpTI/AAAAAAAADPg/zSqCVuGHLoQ/s1600/MowerConditioner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9GEh0XdRAXQ/VVOGjeVvpTI/AAAAAAAADPg/zSqCVuGHLoQ/s400/MowerConditioner.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joshua: "A mower-conditioner! It's not gonna rain for a couple of days."</td></tr>
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And the obligatory bike selfie. No. Big. Deal.<br />
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-10520377341289102052014-10-05T11:21:00.003+01:002014-10-05T11:21:46.946+01:00A Happy HomeYou guys! We're renting a home! I know, I can't believe it either. It hasn't sunk in yet. I keep telling myself that we're not leaving in order to force myself to get it. This post is just that - a quick update for anyone keeping track as well as confirmation to myself. But I know it's going to take time to get used to living somewhere again.<br />
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So far, so good. New friends, new routines, and whoa - new stuff.<br />
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Four years of bicycle touring and house sitting have taught us a lot about what we do and don't like in a home, so now we get to put that knowledge to the test. We know what's important to us for day to day comfort. We also know how little we truly need. As we gather (I hate to say amass) the stuff that's normal for a home, I hope we can keep that in mind. It's also a lot of fun to go buy the things we like. Balance, don't fail me now!<br />
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Fortunately, we're still only able to bring home what we can carry on our bikes.marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-70627858690069247652014-06-08T13:42:00.000+01:002014-06-08T13:42:32.622+01:00Fixing the BrakesHa! Lots of punishment due here. Not only did my bike get new brake pads, cable, and housing, but a bunch of other stuff is/was broken on my bike. So I had to fix all the breaks. Wah wah.<br />
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First! Don't worry, Roy made a full recovery. We later had a dog emergency when Pelops went tearing down a hillside after some deer - pulled tendon or ligament or something. He also had to wear a cast and he was not happy about it. Thankfully, he also made a fully recovery, just in time for the family to come home. We miss our small town Germany life, but we're also basking in some SW France sun right now and it's alright.<br />
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So the bikes are getting some love. Some desperately needed love. My front derailleur broke.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JJZIBoZq2eA/U5RTUWCSctI/AAAAAAAADNU/Ud0NgFv7juE/s1600/front-derailleur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JJZIBoZq2eA/U5RTUWCSctI/AAAAAAAADNU/Ud0NgFv7juE/s1600/front-derailleur.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Can you tell what's wrong? Initially, I thought the cable had broken, but it was just really loose in a new way. So I checked the ends of the cable, both in the brifters and at the derailleur. Everything looked fine. Weird, right?<br />
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A hint? The whole derailleur will have to be replaced. That remains unfixed since I haven't found the right one (9-speed, triple, Shimano 105 - hard to find here). But my new Racktime rear rack arrived so I got started on that. I had one of those bike working days when one thing leads to the next to the next. I ordered a new rear rack because:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vHQh0qMNUSk/U5RR3suHTHI/AAAAAAAADM0/ZKu5r6oIAZQ/s1600/broken-rack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vHQh0qMNUSk/U5RR3suHTHI/AAAAAAAADM0/ZKu5r6oIAZQ/s1600/broken-rack.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first arm broke during the first summer. Fixed with tape and a zip tie. Second arm? Nope.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QvskZr82h4w/U5RR3mPfZeI/AAAAAAAADM8/bKAzd1HWGZ8/s1600/crack-bend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QvskZr82h4w/U5RR3mPfZeI/AAAAAAAADM8/bKAzd1HWGZ8/s1600/crack-bend.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some cracking? Nope, no thank you.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g8--g0YZGyE/U5RR3thdVrI/AAAAAAAADMw/dn0MJ1S2ZSU/s1600/not-connected.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g8--g0YZGyE/U5RR3thdVrI/AAAAAAAADMw/dn0MJ1S2ZSU/s1600/not-connected.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh and that's supposed to be attached. Nope.</td></tr>
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And, you know, when you've got the rack off the bike, you might as well replace the brake pads which desperately need replacing. And since the brakes aren't attached, you should just put the new brake cable and housing in, since that cable's been sticking for months. Check, check. Now the new rack aaaand oh look, the real tire is flat. Fix it while the brakes aren't attached, also. Phew! Now the new rack.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-npya_S2ZBCI/U5RTU8w6QiI/AAAAAAAADNQ/txH0aYxHuPw/s1600/new-rear-racktime-rack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-npya_S2ZBCI/U5RTU8w6QiI/AAAAAAAADNQ/txH0aYxHuPw/s1600/new-rear-racktime-rack.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MUCH BETTER</td></tr>
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So solid. So lightweight. So pretty. Now my Ortliebs are actually attached the way they should be. It's a wonder the other rack made it as long as it did. I thank it for it's time and sacrifice.<br />
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I have a lot of memories of working on brakes and racks and things at the Kitchen, and all of my memories are of working on things and it not going well. This goes wrong, that goes wrong, we have to start again. I remember being a novice, learning to do it right but not actually doing it well. I guess all that practice paid off because this entire process, flat fixing included, was enjoyable and went smoothly. I like working on bikes.<br />
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Front brake pads and cable can wait, though, because they're looking alright for now.<br />
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We've done some fun biking with the family here. The house is baby-full with two kids under 2. All of us (2 kids, their parents, the two of us) went for a bike ride to the river and their row boat. It was dreamy. We floated down the river a bit then rode the bikes home. It's going to be a fun summer. Next time, we'll jump in the water for a swim. Oh yeah.<br />
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Our bikes are in France! So are we! Things are good! Happy summer you guys!<br />
<br />marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-72810835002786436692013-12-15T17:06:00.001+00:002013-12-15T17:11:33.220+00:00Our First Pet EmergencyIn three years of house sitting, we've never once had an honest-to-goodness pet emergency. Once a cat that was having skin problems and seemed very old disappeared and we thought perhaps that was the end. Turns out she had been scared under a neighbor's house by a dog and wouldn't come out when the neighbor tried to lure her. She recovered.<br />
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But last weekend Roy the cat spent all Sunday on the couch, which we didn't think much about until we noticed this.<br />
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Now, if you're wondering, no, those aren't my Crocs. I took this at the vet's office.<br />
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If you're wondering why that claw seems to be pointed straight at you, that's because his cat toe is very broken. It's not the toe that's supposed to be pointed outwards. It's twisted and wrapped up and over the top of his paw. That he wasn't yowling and freaking out was impressive. But he didn't seem bothered. Until I touched it. Which I did while Roy was on Joshua's lap. Roy's reaction was to use the rest of his claws on Joshua. Whoops!<br />
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No idea how it happened. He can go outside, so perhaps he had a run-in with the one-eyed, giant grey fluff ball of a cat named Salem (although we're told she's friendly). Or perhaps it was messing around in the house with the dog that did it.<br />
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Anyway, I called the vet first thing Monday morning and they said we could bring him right in. I strapped his carrier onto a baby stroller and wheeled him over.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQCCjcbAJ4w/Uq3dXtm0zTI/AAAAAAAADLc/GgKbsKqR20E/s1600/pissed-off-roy-in-crate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQCCjcbAJ4w/Uq3dXtm0zTI/AAAAAAAADLc/GgKbsKqR20E/s400/pissed-off-roy-in-crate.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I thought it was impressive. Roy? Not so impressed.</td></tr>
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The doctor was quite amazed at the angle of Roy's toe and she said they'd keep him all day. I had to call around 5pm to see if he'd come home that night or stay overnight there. The vet said the worst that would happen is they'd need to re-break it, but most likely they would just put it back in place, after an x-ray and some strong medication.<br />
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They didn't re-break it and we went to pick him up around 5pm. He was woozy and growly. The vet assistant said that he needed to stay in his crate for the night. She said he was still effected by the narcotics and that he could have a bit of water, but no food until morning. And that I should bring him back on Friday for a check-up.<br />
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He was noisy. And I tried letting him out, but he was all doped up and wobbly, and he just wanted food, so he'd try to run downstairs. Nope.<br />
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In the morning he got his food, finally, and we let him out. We moved all his stuff upstairs so he didn't have to go thumping his cast up and down three times a day. He tries to shake the cast off and sometimes tries to lick it off. But he can walk on it.<br />
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But for the most part he seems to be just fine. He can't go outside, which he doesn't really like. He gets noisy when we take the dog for walks and leave him behind. On Friday the vet changed his "cast", which is actually just cotton fluff wrapped in orange tape.<br />
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And he spends his days like this, for the most part.<br />
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Next new tape job is on Friday. Not sure how long he'll have to wear it, but I'll ask at this next visit. I can really <a href="http://whereisyourbicycle.blogspot.de/p/all-about-broken-foot.html" target="_blank">sympathize</a>, seeing as I had to wear an orange cast when I broke my foot. In the meantime, the couch next to the wood stove is all his.marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-38428577762723441952013-11-03T12:09:00.001+00:002013-11-03T12:09:24.629+00:00A Bit of Oslo, A Bit of AmsterdamBefore our flight to Amsterdam we had a few hours to play in Oslo. For the first time, we had trouble with the local transport system. The trams. Usually, we just roll into a city, look at the maps, figure out a route, and end up where we want to go. Not in Oslo. We tried to take the tram, but ended up looping back in the wrong direction. Okay. So we got off and consulted again... the map was unclear. But we figured we should go back the other way, so we did. Before it turned back to where we'd come from, we got off again and decided we'd better walk. Then we figured out why it was so confusing: an entire street was torn up and the tram simply wasn't going where it usually goes. Any mention of that on the maps and signs on the tram? Nope. Grrrr.<br />
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But we made it to our goal: <a href="http://www.vigeland.museum.no/en/vigeland-park" target="_blank">Vigelandsparken</a>. Fall colors were stunning and so were the people.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ezeXNpCEVDM/UnY0z7bcQII/AAAAAAAADI4/1DgsTci6JvI/s1600/old-lady-young-woman-vigeland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ezeXNpCEVDM/UnY0z7bcQII/AAAAAAAADI4/1DgsTci6JvI/s400/old-lady-young-woman-vigeland.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5amQaW4Xwpg/UnY0vmzKWEI/AAAAAAAADIY/haogHqKOVKw/s1600/beard-envy-vigeland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5amQaW4Xwpg/UnY0vmzKWEI/AAAAAAAADIY/haogHqKOVKw/s400/beard-envy-vigeland.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a bit of beard envy </td></tr>
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If you go to Oslo, go see Vigeland's statue park.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">smile!</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;">That evening we hopped on a plane and in just a couple of hours were in Amsterdam where we spent a little less than three weeks. </span><div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">During the stay we treated ourselves to a luxurious dinner at a Dutch fine dining place that looked ready to fall right on its face. <a href="http://www.desilverenspiegel.com/" target="_blank">De Silveren Spiegel</a> (The Silver Mirror, watch out the website has the longest intro imaginable). Pictures do not describe it well enough, and my pictures of it are crap. But it's an incredible restaurant and we spoiled ourselves for the first time in a long time.</span><div>
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For the most part, the weather was beautiful, except for the huge storm towards the end of our stay. The storm did tons of damage to the south of England, so that got a lot of attention in the news. A number of trees fell and on TV we saw footage of two people actually falling over because the wind was blowing them away. We stayed indoors and watched people struggling on the bike path below the windows.<br />
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No joke. </div>
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Tons of fun in the big city, great times with our Amsterdam <a href="http://whereisyourbicycle.blogspot.cz/2010/08/paul-mariekes-wedding.html" target="_blank">buddies</a>, a visit with Arie, who we met <a href="http://whereisyourbicycle.blogspot.cz/2011/07/105kms.html" target="_blank">cycling</a> in Scotland and England two years ago, a quick trip to Berlin for an <a href="http://nobodyscancer.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-nothing-update.html" target="_blank">MRI</a> for me (Ramona). And now we're out in the middle of nowhere, Czech Republic with two giant American bulldogs, two ponies, and a few cats. Quiet times for us, at least for two weeks.</div>
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-77436091290192708952013-09-30T14:43:00.000+01:002013-09-30T15:33:59.787+01:00This Crazy Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yeah, it's been crazy. We're in a state of financial recovery, but we're also bouncing around as if traveling was our job. Traveling is our rent, actually, and our jobs just keep traveling with us - thank goodness. We're getting back into the swing of things, you could say. Much of the summer was spent in Zurich, with a couple of interludes.<br />
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For two weeks at the end of July we went to Vienna to cat and house sit for friends. The train was fast and they even showed us how fast. Might be our favorite long-distance train in Europe.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uJa-HG0B5cU/UklzSbdxOOI/AAAAAAAADH4/ohkztQzMk10/s1600/fast-vienna-train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uJa-HG0B5cU/UklzSbdxOOI/AAAAAAAADH4/ohkztQzMk10/s400/fast-vienna-train.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It was so hot in Vienna I can't describe anything else about the city. I can't wait to go back, though. Good friends, old and new, live there and it took us too long to get there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bETF8GtxU7M/UklsJThLINI/AAAAAAAADFg/EfBmDy3hdXc/s1600/stephansplatz-vienna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bETF8GtxU7M/UklsJThLINI/AAAAAAAADFg/EfBmDy3hdXc/s400/stephansplatz-vienna.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephansdom, Vienna</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PD_-ViGIi0A/UklsJFfPyBI/AAAAAAAADFc/Nxz8xzEyiJc/s1600/vienna-clockwork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PD_-ViGIi0A/UklsJFfPyBI/AAAAAAAADFc/Nxz8xzEyiJc/s400/vienna-clockwork.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anker clock, Vienna, with its moving people</td></tr>
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And then at the end of August we had a house sit for about 10 days in the French Alps, not far from Geneva, on a farm. The French Alps... well, mountains are stunning.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi049Rzyvrk/UkluugjlGdI/AAAAAAAADFw/pMLFcaPCrEA/s1600/green-peak-mont-saxonnex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi049Rzyvrk/UkluugjlGdI/AAAAAAAADFw/pMLFcaPCrEA/s400/green-peak-mont-saxonnex.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">French Alps farm sitting is good</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7I3Ja5mHME/UkluvuhSvnI/AAAAAAAADF8/dzvjYWF47Po/s1600/les-bargys-mont-saxonnex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7I3Ja5mHME/UkluvuhSvnI/AAAAAAAADF8/dzvjYWF47Po/s400/les-bargys-mont-saxonnex.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Le Bargy, Mont-Saxonnex</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_5i3vq7EWE/UkluvZwkZqI/AAAAAAAADF4/GMUYE6GsO5E/s1600/mont-blanc-from-train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_5i3vq7EWE/UkluvZwkZqI/AAAAAAAADF4/GMUYE6GsO5E/s400/mont-blanc-from-train.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mont Blanc from the train. Now we know how it got it's name - Sept and the only white thing around...</td></tr>
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Then we went back to Zurich for the first 10 days of September, staying with friends, and I went on a camping trip to another stunning mountain setting.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PMbnyG7b4y8/UklvOlETv9I/AAAAAAAADGM/EYYjOuwI-78/s1600/klontalersee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PMbnyG7b4y8/UklvOlETv9I/AAAAAAAADGM/EYYjOuwI-78/s400/klontalersee.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Klöntal - photos don't do this place justice</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KFhveEkoEgk/UklvOZzSooI/AAAAAAAADGI/wZixSsSQ1i8/s1600/mud-kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KFhveEkoEgk/UklvOZzSooI/AAAAAAAADGI/wZixSsSQ1i8/s400/mud-kids.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some very muddy kiddos. It was a good trip.</td></tr>
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We are currently in Norway back where we were after that first summer of bicycle touring. Talk about stunning. When we're here it feels like everything else is far away and only the here and now is relevant. Two weeks fjord-side eating way too healthily, playing with kids who still love us (even though they haven't seen us for two years), and catching up with old friends.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ug4g9Ot8cms/Uklvvlzx1mI/AAAAAAAADGY/YZb3yASG_6I/s1600/christmas-kings-birthday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ug4g9Ot8cms/Uklvvlzx1mI/AAAAAAAADGY/YZb3yASG_6I/s400/christmas-kings-birthday.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">it was Christmas / the king's birthday and they made a feast</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XHDEyPhQxIY/Uklv0xLFoKI/AAAAAAAADGs/TsI7yfnG8do/s1600/in-trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XHDEyPhQxIY/Uklv0xLFoKI/AAAAAAAADGs/TsI7yfnG8do/s400/in-trees.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">apple season</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CuROl7tX5C4/Uklvx0n96OI/AAAAAAAADGg/H8s7wSoHGh0/s1600/joshua-bike-mechanic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CuROl7tX5C4/Uklvx0n96OI/AAAAAAAADGg/H8s7wSoHGh0/s400/joshua-bike-mechanic.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joshua adjusts the brakes with a little help</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VpqDDfJvvCc/Uklv0nBvI4I/AAAAAAAADGo/BAgs1O6o1bw/s1600/rainbow-fjord.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VpqDDfJvvCc/Uklv0nBvI4I/AAAAAAAADGo/BAgs1O6o1bw/s400/rainbow-fjord.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fjord view</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6ve89yNokI/Uklv1YjAaSI/AAAAAAAADG0/1ET6Lo80bkU/s1600/ramona-joshua.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6ve89yNokI/Uklv1YjAaSI/AAAAAAAADG0/1ET6Lo80bkU/s400/ramona-joshua.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Give a kid a camera... and they'll get a hilarious photo of Ramona and Joshua together.</td></tr>
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And now a 10 day house sit outside of Lillehammer, on the side of a huge valley. The scale in Norway is just bigger. The weather, chillier. I've picked up the <a href="http://knitandride.etsy.com/" target="_blank">knitting</a> again. We light fires in the wood stove to keep warm.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i1B7LLEjyrg/UklxL0nDyQI/AAAAAAAADHM/wi1gtOoRETg/s1600/changing-trees-norway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i1B7LLEjyrg/UklxL0nDyQI/AAAAAAAADHM/wi1gtOoRETg/s400/changing-trees-norway.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fall</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-utwslhNRPcQ/UklxKuqgeGI/AAAAAAAADHE/DLy99-QAQig/s1600/early-fall-norway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-utwslhNRPcQ/UklxKuqgeGI/AAAAAAAADHE/DLy99-QAQig/s400/early-fall-norway.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well, early fall</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bj8uy8BxknM/UklxMBjPKZI/AAAAAAAADHU/MaeF3xCjB7I/s1600/fall-trees-norway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bj8uy8BxknM/UklxMBjPKZI/AAAAAAAADHU/MaeF3xCjB7I/s400/fall-trees-norway.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QarypdtRzZ0/UklxPv1WMvI/AAAAAAAADHg/B2db2Jqh_6Y/s1600/golden-fall-trees-norway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QarypdtRzZ0/UklxPv1WMvI/AAAAAAAADHg/B2db2Jqh_6Y/s400/golden-fall-trees-norway.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-62Y1BgVElco/UklxYTjd11I/AAAAAAAADHs/Cpp71m1BXBg/s1600/on-the-walk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-62Y1BgVElco/UklxYTjd11I/AAAAAAAADHs/Cpp71m1BXBg/s400/on-the-walk.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our charge, Bryan, who has to be tempted into a walk up the hill with treats every 10m or so.</td></tr>
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Next stop will be more fun with friends in Amsterdam (with a side-trip to Berlin for my first round of check-ups). Then a house sit in Czech Republic. Then back to Vienna and surrounds for about ten days. We're alternating visits with friends with the house sits we could gather during Sept-Nov.<br />
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But at the beginning of December things will calm down again - 4 months in one place! We're really looking forward to that. Yes traveling is good, visiting friends is fun and filled with love, seeing new places is refreshing. But it's also expensive to bounce around and we didn't exactly have the cheapest winter and spring this year.<br />
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This is the life. Like any other life it has its ups and downs. Like any other life, I am currently procrastinating because I have work to do, but plenty of time, and I don't feel like working. A normal case of the Mondays. Maybe Bryan needs a walk.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kkMcxI656iQ/UklxPZvTIFI/AAAAAAAADHc/swDJShpGKwg/s1600/office-view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kkMcxI656iQ/UklxPZvTIFI/AAAAAAAADHc/swDJShpGKwg/s400/office-view.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">View from this week's "office", top outdoor temps in the range of 10C.</td></tr>
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</div>
marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-46220327710170152482013-07-21T15:01:00.000+01:002013-07-26T21:04:57.338+01:00Tour-ismMy sister came to visit! My sister came to visit!<br />
<br />
We're back in Zürich, one of our favorite cities in one of our favorite countries, and I finally got to share it all with my sister. It was a whirlwind trip that included a lot of swimming in very cold rivers and lakes, hiking in the Alps, beautiful sunny days, hanging with good friends, eating cake, and of course bicycle touring.<br />
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With all the fun, we only had time for a four day tour, which we maximized by taking the train out and riding the bikes back. We did a route (in reverse) that Joshua and I did last year. We also gave ourselves plenty of time to explore in non-bike touring ways. Last year we did the same distance plus an additional 15kms in only two days. This year we did it in four, doing about 30kms per day and going downhill rather than up. So. Tour-ism, here we go.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zZR1kgKuafM/UergdRwlwmI/AAAAAAAADCA/T_ktqSK8r6E/s1600/riding-bicycles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zZR1kgKuafM/UergdRwlwmI/AAAAAAAADCA/T_ktqSK8r6E/s400/riding-bicycles.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ESeCKWCuIjU/UergaCWHaUI/AAAAAAAADB0/A0vsHnfiH2Y/s1600/fuck-the-police.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ESeCKWCuIjU/UergaCWHaUI/AAAAAAAADB0/A0vsHnfiH2Y/s400/fuck-the-police.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't think they mean it.</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We rode from Lungern to Sarnen on day 1 after our train ride, which included the first stage of the Brunigpass climb - going down was really spectacular. That evening at the campsite we made the mistake of setting up next to some kids who stayed up late smoking their hookah and giggling. Corina actually asked them to be quiet, and then said she felt really old. Welcome to the club. I was very grateful that they quieted down, and it was funny to watch them wake up the next morning looking grumpy and poorly slept. Corina swam in the afternoon when we arrived and the next morning. I wimped out. So coooold!<br />
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<br />
We followed route 9 east and north, and made some friends along the way.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CDFYbrb4PEs/UergX7Yv1RI/AAAAAAAADBo/VsHwP9LRTrA/s1600/baby-cows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CDFYbrb4PEs/UergX7Yv1RI/AAAAAAAADBo/VsHwP9LRTrA/s400/baby-cows.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">they made cute faces, but didn't want to eat the flowers Corina offered to them</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bt_2OoJtesM/UerghyOUQSI/AAAAAAAADCU/rKUN_Q0PmNw/s1600/swans-lake-corina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bt_2OoJtesM/UerghyOUQSI/AAAAAAAADCU/rKUN_Q0PmNw/s400/swans-lake-corina.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">swans tip their rear-ends straight into the air and eat off the bottom, apparently</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-afE6gKWx73g/UerihHGYeTI/AAAAAAAADCs/SzvLFGbtqRM/s1600/airport-runway-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-afE6gKWx73g/UerihHGYeTI/AAAAAAAADCs/SzvLFGbtqRM/s400/airport-runway-crossing.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this is an airport runway crossing - the bike path goes across an airport</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0cV0yRUN1_c/UergcAQsiRI/AAAAAAAADB8/OFr7HJcsOCk/s1600/middle-airport-runway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0cV0yRUN1_c/UergcAQsiRI/AAAAAAAADB8/OFr7HJcsOCk/s400/middle-airport-runway.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">what it looks like in the middle of an airport runway</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YVmUPl0MyHs/UergYPdPi6I/AAAAAAAADBs/VcZV8yHQD5U/s1600/along-the-lake-touring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YVmUPl0MyHs/UergYPdPi6I/AAAAAAAADBs/VcZV8yHQD5U/s400/along-the-lake-touring.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
On the second day we made it to Horw, just south of Luzern.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-inQgAnSCbdw/UerghN--jfI/AAAAAAAADCM/13PHG9S7BZ8/s1600/touring-lake-lucerne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-inQgAnSCbdw/UerghN--jfI/AAAAAAAADCM/13PHG9S7BZ8/s400/touring-lake-lucerne.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">along the lake there's the best bike path. okay, they're all the best. this is Switzerland.</td></tr>
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And here we decided that it was worth our while to go up to see Pilatus for ourselves. We went for a swim in the afternoon and sat around giggling about our camping neighbors, but decided that if we were up early enough the next morning, we'd go see Pilatus. This is one of the first dramatic mountains you see as you head south, and last year I became kind of obsessed, saying the name over and over again as we rode around and away from it - you can see the peak for a long time when you're touring through the valleys around Pilatus.<br />
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We got up relatively early, took our bikes to the Luzern train station, locked them up, put our bags in a locker, and bought ourselves a round-trip ticket - up on the Pilatus Bahn, which is the steepest train in the world at a 48% grade (so they say), and down on the other side by cable car and ski lift. Little did we know what the view would be like from up there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RImJk7Wb8Hc/UerkkX9zibI/AAAAAAAADEE/_Knm718DGJs/s1600/pilatus-bahn-rails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RImJk7Wb8Hc/UerkkX9zibI/AAAAAAAADEE/_Knm718DGJs/s400/pilatus-bahn-rails.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pretty steep tracks</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oFQxknG4yEY/UerkSw1OQOI/AAAAAAAADC8/ofqxLt5mISE/s1600/at-the-bottom-pilatus-bahn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oFQxknG4yEY/UerkSw1OQOI/AAAAAAAADC8/ofqxLt5mISE/s400/at-the-bottom-pilatus-bahn.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">at the bottom </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHHQFT1XiK4/Uerkhdss8sI/AAAAAAAADD8/Q-lusDuaexo/s1600/pilatus-bahn-is-steep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHHQFT1XiK4/Uerkhdss8sI/AAAAAAAADD8/Q-lusDuaexo/s400/pilatus-bahn-is-steep.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">uh</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oJjyXIhHWXw/Uerkxee6kzI/AAAAAAAADEs/Ydg1vFs_TK8/s1600/wildflowers-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oJjyXIhHWXw/Uerkxee6kzI/AAAAAAAADEs/Ydg1vFs_TK8/s400/wildflowers-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">getting more dramatic</td></tr>
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<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXXPekwosq4/UerkXrJkSFI/AAAAAAAADDU/AHsrs7mQkio/s1600/high-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXXPekwosq4/UerkXrJkSFI/AAAAAAAADDU/AHsrs7mQkio/s400/high-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ikHY1x7PJYI/UerkTy69OuI/AAAAAAAADDE/aeVz0nu5KDs/s1600/cows-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ikHY1x7PJYI/UerkTy69OuI/AAAAAAAADDE/aeVz0nu5KDs/s400/cows-pilatus.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cows!</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i7amaKp8Cuk/UerkWwwbcxI/AAAAAAAADDM/BnBzcDfFtpg/s1600/dramatic-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i7amaKp8Cuk/UerkWwwbcxI/AAAAAAAADDM/BnBzcDfFtpg/s400/dramatic-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8quYilVuWAk/Uerkstk9mtI/AAAAAAAADEk/NyuaDGdlmVY/s1600/view-from-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8quYilVuWAk/Uerkstk9mtI/AAAAAAAADEk/NyuaDGdlmVY/s400/view-from-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oh right, mountains.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g9X9OWIJt8o/Uerke632DSI/AAAAAAAADD0/Lx37iqNbNiQ/s1600/alpine-horn-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g9X9OWIJt8o/Uerke632DSI/AAAAAAAADD0/Lx37iqNbNiQ/s400/alpine-horn-pilatus.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and an alpine horn </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8BXD-_5d7ko/UerkeOFpszI/AAAAAAAADDs/dVfu-TAA-8Y/s1600/more-climbing-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8BXD-_5d7ko/UerkeOFpszI/AAAAAAAADDs/dVfu-TAA-8Y/s400/more-climbing-pilatus.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">you can climb a bit higher and see the full view</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K42FCRM7Txs/UerkcHwAlpI/AAAAAAAADDk/tddi7TrXmRE/s1600/hotels-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K42FCRM7Txs/UerkcHwAlpI/AAAAAAAADDk/tddi7TrXmRE/s400/hotels-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">of the hotel and restaurant near the top</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pvu8pdHhk7Q/UerkoV5k5oI/AAAAAAAADEM/HDn6QQTNtsQ/s1600/pilatus-view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pvu8pdHhk7Q/UerkoV5k5oI/AAAAAAAADEM/HDn6QQTNtsQ/s400/pilatus-view.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ul-zNidaIhw/UerkoSwUiMI/AAAAAAAADEQ/pru_GMm-SI0/s1600/pipe-and-beer-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ul-zNidaIhw/UerkoSwUiMI/AAAAAAAADEQ/pru_GMm-SI0/s400/pipe-and-beer-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this guy with his pipe and beer. pretty sure he hiked up.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxtyHCxoONw/Uerkyso_PNI/AAAAAAAADE0/tHPigr5lD5Y/s1600/starlings-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxtyHCxoONw/Uerkyso_PNI/AAAAAAAADE0/tHPigr5lD5Y/s400/starlings-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the flowers were incredible</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NcWnbP_pmac/UerkzDZ3G_I/AAAAAAAADE8/UnPUDY392cs/s1600/yellow-flowers-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NcWnbP_pmac/UerkzDZ3G_I/AAAAAAAADE8/UnPUDY392cs/s400/yellow-flowers-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-diLq0eBQUrE/Uerkqaf49eI/AAAAAAAADEc/lDHW3gHIZEQ/s1600/purple-flowers-pilatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-diLq0eBQUrE/Uerkqaf49eI/AAAAAAAADEc/lDHW3gHIZEQ/s400/purple-flowers-pilatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The pictures do not do the view justice. The mountains were fully visible when we got up there, which isn't always the case. Even before we left, small clouds started to form around Pilatus and on the cable car down we went through clouds. It's just so moist here and with the temperatures in the mid-20s C (high 70s F), all that water just floats up and turns into clouds.</div>
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The same day as we did the whole magical Pilatus journey, we rode our bikes almost to Zug. More swimming, thank you very much.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ynlMl0zukHE/UerpC0a8KLI/AAAAAAAADFM/0HrmjChqX9c/s1600/zugersee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ynlMl0zukHE/UerpC0a8KLI/AAAAAAAADFM/0HrmjChqX9c/s400/zugersee.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The following morning we spent a bit of time wandering around Zug, which is a lovely little city. We did some tourist shop shopping and one of the shop owners gave us a key to the clock tower, so we could hang out and see the view while she gift-wrapped the things Corina bought. Then we headed back towards Zürich and unfortunately disaster struck.</div>
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Corina's iPhone? Gone. She probably had all the good pictures, sadly, and although we did our best, the iPhone is still missing. It's official, I need a new camera - my pictures are not enough. If it was going to be returned anywhere, it'd be in Switzerland, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. </div>
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We rode back into Zürich, unpacked, and then packed back up so we could head into the Alps for some serious hiking with our good friends Thomas and Emily. With the views from Pilatus in mind, we were looking forward to getting a <a href="http://nobodyscancer.blogspot.co.at/2013/07/problems.html" target="_blank">closer look</a>.</div>
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-30628275584580211442013-06-23T15:01:00.001+01:002013-06-24T12:25:00.975+01:00Here are our bikes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K6wLCRuYeaY/Ucb-GJdMOBI/AAAAAAAADBM/VI40RBtbLvI/s1600/bikes-in-boxes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K6wLCRuYeaY/Ucb-GJdMOBI/AAAAAAAADBM/VI40RBtbLvI/s400/bikes-in-boxes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The bikes! They arrived! And they were professionally packed, which makes a huge difference. The pedals were in bubble wrap in their own small cardboard boxes. Sadly, the front racks and fenders had been removed, which is a whole different kind of fun bike project. Ah, well, not a big deal, considering that nothing was broken. Huge thank you to Sandy on Menorca for getting these packed and shipped for us. Yay!<br />
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Yesterday, we went on a family bike trip to the grocery store. A dad, his two year old in a trailer, 5 year old on his own bike, me and Joshua. It was glorious.marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-2423093835286095042013-06-14T16:31:00.000+01:002013-06-14T16:35:03.270+01:00Back on TrackOkay, maybe not entirely back on track. Once we have our bikes perhaps we'll be back on track. So where are our bicycles? We don't even know at the moment.<br />
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The saga started with leaving them on Menorca, where we expected to return after our trip to the US in Dec/Jan. Then there was the whole <a href="http://nobodyscancer.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">cancer</a> thing, which derailed us and sent us to Berlin for 5 months. Thankfully, our hostess on Menorca could ship everything we left to Berlin. But we decided to wait for the bikes because we weren't exactly going to be using them in -6 C weather. When it got a bit warmer, and we made other plans to leave Berlin, our house sitting luck turned us back toward Zurich. So we decided that to bring the bikes to Berlin and then schlep them on the train to Zurich was unnecessary. Just ship them to Zurich, right?<br />
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Trying to get quotes was not easy, since we were not there with the bikes. We tried <a href="http://www.bikeflights.com/" target="_blank">Bike Flights</a> and <a href="http://www.highcountryshipping.com/" target="_blank">High Country Shipping</a>, as well as FedEx. FedEx was very expensive, High Country was a bit less expensive, and Bike Flights gave us an initial quote of $150 per bike (very reasonable) but then I never heard back from them to finalize. Meanwhile, on Menorca, there are two shipping companies that were willing to ship the bikes. Our hostess went above and beyond the call of duty to get the bikes packaged at a bike shop and then tried to get quotes from the shipping companies. The first company gave a very high quote, but the second had more reasonable rates. They seemed a bit confused, however, and gave her a rate that is only for within Spain. In her words, "Don't think there's anywhere in Spain that you spell Zurich. oh well, we can't all be brains!"<br />
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After a few more exciting hiccups - like the requirement of a scanned version of my passport - they finally shipped the bikes last Monday. So they'll arrive just before we do, most likely. It's really going to be awesome if they arrive in good condition and the Swiss authorities understand that we're just bringing them in temporarily, not importing them. The law is that we don't have to pay taxes, but you just never know. We can't all be brains, even in Switzerland.<br />
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In the end, we had to pay roughly €350 for both bikes to be boxed and shipped. Not too bad, but a fortune by our current standards. Still way better than replacing those bikes. Unfortunately that doesn't include much insurance. Please let the shippers be cyclists.<br />
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Besides bicycle drama and medical drama, we've had a bit of lovely travel, too. Recovery took us to SW France to visit our friends, who we spent time with and house sat for a couple of <a href="http://whereisyourbicycle.blogspot.de/2012/01/2012-it-begins-again.html" target="_blank">winters</a> ago. There we did a lot of walking, Joshua started running again, and we both appreciated the advantages of a life in the country. City life is not for us. It's good to have good friends in the French countryside.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P-wPPEps86o/Ubsy_vJo5MI/AAAAAAAADAU/qX9UGfK8QEM/s1600/french-red-roses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P-wPPEps86o/Ubsy_vJo5MI/AAAAAAAADAU/qX9UGfK8QEM/s400/french-red-roses.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aK-BtwE2Xqk/UbszU8l2xeI/AAAAAAAADAs/-UMaTw1eiiA/s1600/big-old-tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aK-BtwE2Xqk/UbszU8l2xeI/AAAAAAAADAs/-UMaTw1eiiA/s400/big-old-tree.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqbC_azkuks/UbszIOrtfuI/AAAAAAAADAc/MlAdY8NYIrA/s1600/joshua-walk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqbC_azkuks/UbszIOrtfuI/AAAAAAAADAc/MlAdY8NYIrA/s400/joshua-walk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2ER1KxKuS3w/UbszT8J1ncI/AAAAAAAADAk/pj0Eyf6Fgqk/s1600/poppies-red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2ER1KxKuS3w/UbszT8J1ncI/AAAAAAAADAk/pj0Eyf6Fgqk/s400/poppies-red.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Px8BCeMhiYE/UbszaKe5lPI/AAAAAAAADA0/XCOy8CmN-3M/s1600/wary-french-cows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Px8BCeMhiYE/UbszaKe5lPI/AAAAAAAADA0/XCOy8CmN-3M/s400/wary-french-cows.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And now we're having a lovely visit with other friends who we house sat for last <a href="http://whereisyourbicycle.blogspot.de/2012/08/german-farm-life.html" target="_blank">summer</a>, out in Saxony. Despite the flooding, we made it out here. Had to take a different train route and as we were waiting for the second leg on the platform, Joshua realized he'd left one bag on the previous train. The bag with our keyboards in it. The bag with his power cable and many other valuable things. The bag with the mint plant gift. The bag with the iPad. He looked at me, handed me the phone and said, "can you help me while I freak out for a minute?'<br />
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We called our friends, and they said we'd probably have to wait until it made it to lost and found in Dresden. But while we got on the next train and then took a bus to our final stop, our friends talked to a co-worker whose other friend lives at the last stop of that particular train at the Polish border. That friend called another friend, who got to the station just as the train pulled in, jumped on board, and grabbed the bag for us. I tell you, it's good to have good friends.<br />
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We've just got a few days here, then we take the night train to Zurich as long as it doesn't rain again and wash away the rest of Bavaria. Two months in Zurich, split in the middle by a visit with my sister and a trip to the Alps with other very good friends. And hopefully we'll have some bikey things to write about in just a week or two.<br />
<br />marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-41670204166689294722013-03-24T22:53:00.002+00:002013-03-24T22:53:21.289+00:00Just Another Spring Day in Berlin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sunday Funday! We decided to finally explore the old Tempelhof airport, which is just south of where we're living. We knew it was a public park, of sorts, but didn't know what to expect. Good things, apparently. It. Is. Huge. The sun is shining but it's about negative nothing out, and windy, as you'll see (actual temp: -5C, -8C with windchill or upper teens in Fahrenheit).<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HY3owfqxq8k/UU98Ag0C44I/AAAAAAAAC-A/wwHYBmB2HWw/s1600/snow-tempelhof-flughafen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HY3owfqxq8k/UU98Ag0C44I/AAAAAAAAC-A/wwHYBmB2HWw/s400/snow-tempelhof-flughafen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z07eUka8dz8/UU98FH69IfI/AAAAAAAAC-I/cG8EM6gpAK4/s1600/us-army-aviation-tempelhof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z07eUka8dz8/UU98FH69IfI/AAAAAAAAC-I/cG8EM6gpAK4/s400/us-army-aviation-tempelhof.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It says 'US Army Aviation' on that building</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x8RAe2179Q0/UU98KdBMQiI/AAAAAAAAC-Q/NmnQkorHNR0/s1600/snow-soccer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x8RAe2179Q0/UU98KdBMQiI/AAAAAAAAC-Q/NmnQkorHNR0/s400/snow-soccer.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">perfect conditions for a football game, show up on your bike, please</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FnZcnjmOn2Q/UU977w-NegI/AAAAAAAAC94/xzuRM75uPMc/s1600/kiteboarding-tempelhof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FnZcnjmOn2Q/UU977w-NegI/AAAAAAAAC94/xzuRM75uPMc/s400/kiteboarding-tempelhof.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and. the. kite boarders.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R85KpopTTOQ/UU98QQSCeDI/AAAAAAAAC-Y/HE1Gfw9a4ZY/s1600/ramona-snow-tempelhof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R85KpopTTOQ/UU98QQSCeDI/AAAAAAAAC-Y/HE1Gfw9a4ZY/s400/ramona-snow-tempelhof.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">glad I wore my snow pants</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E_UxdfGtNQU/UU99C1mAIzI/AAAAAAAAC-g/SSiS8lgdqw8/s1600/joshua-snow-tempelhof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E_UxdfGtNQU/UU99C1mAIzI/AAAAAAAAC-g/SSiS8lgdqw8/s400/joshua-snow-tempelhof.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">lucky to have a beard during weather like this</td></tr>
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We also saw a lot of great signage on today's walk - Kreuzberg, full of surprises. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SROkfHbw8WQ/UU-CP3CWuDI/AAAAAAAAC_g/qBUvtElqR4M/s1600/dont-be-a-cosmosucka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SROkfHbw8WQ/UU-CP3CWuDI/AAAAAAAAC_g/qBUvtElqR4M/s400/dont-be-a-cosmosucka.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">don't be a... cosmosucka</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tIrX-thheKo/UU-B2YeQNBI/AAAAAAAAC-4/76EKGXJQReE/s1600/never-the-same-c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tIrX-thheKo/UU-B2YeQNBI/AAAAAAAAC-4/76EKGXJQReE/s400/never-the-same-c.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nope </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cSgnmoofRTw/UU-B6satFrI/AAAAAAAAC_A/EiId0SfOkVw/s1600/rent-from-chris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cSgnmoofRTw/UU-B6satFrI/AAAAAAAAC_A/EiId0SfOkVw/s400/rent-from-chris.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christ & Co Rentals</td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tomLer4ebiY/UU-CD4cNt1I/AAAAAAAAC_Q/PoDjecSQYmo/s1600/strength-health.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tomLer4ebiY/UU-CD4cNt1I/AAAAAAAAC_Q/PoDjecSQYmo/s400/strength-health.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4_UodEHjxE4/UU-B_J2JgAI/AAAAAAAAC_I/yvTUYL5lG40/s1600/robbers-in-the-box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4_UodEHjxE4/UU-B_J2JgAI/AAAAAAAAC_I/yvTUYL5lG40/s400/robbers-in-the-box.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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On our way home we stopped to get some fresh baked cakes - a Sunday requirement if you want to be a real German. One of the only places that is open on a Sunday is a tiny place just down the street from us. Thank goodness.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xyH5W5eH-_o/UU-BBJ4S8FI/AAAAAAAAC-w/yftMVKPXAqw/s1600/sunday-cake-cafe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xyH5W5eH-_o/UU-BBJ4S8FI/AAAAAAAAC-w/yftMVKPXAqw/s400/sunday-cake-cafe.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-qoTQu7kww/UU-AGFIGSLI/AAAAAAAAC-o/50lLRi4my9o/s1600/cake-and-coffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-qoTQu7kww/UU-AGFIGSLI/AAAAAAAAC-o/50lLRi4my9o/s400/cake-and-coffee.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">käsekuchen, flourless chocolate cake, and mohnkuchen (poppyseed!)</td></tr>
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Ready for <a href="http://nobodyscancer.blogspot.de/2013/03/countdown-to-treatment.html" target="_blank">anything</a>.<br /><br /></div>
marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-2511122810795200172013-03-04T16:08:00.001+00:002013-03-04T16:09:03.694+00:00Being Tourists in Berlin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T8vsIiU7W7Q/UTTC6rxmuvI/AAAAAAAAC8g/pY9JC8AMhxI/s1600/church-sunlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T8vsIiU7W7Q/UTTC6rxmuvI/AAAAAAAAC8g/pY9JC8AMhxI/s400/church-sunlight.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Sun! Today is the fourth day in a row that it's been completely sunny. Amazing. This winter has been, so far, the darkest (fewest sunlight hours) since they started keeping record here in Berlin. Oops. Not that it's been bad for me - I don't need reasons to wish I was running around outside. But over the weekend we did something we don't normally do: act like tourists.<br />
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We went to the <a href="http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/brandenburg-gate" target="_blank">Brandenburger Tor</a> (Brandenburg Gate) and the <a href="http://www.berlinerdom.de/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">Berliner Dom</a> (Berlin Cathedral). We did a bad job of taking photos of ourselves, but you get the idea. All the walking and sunshine was great for both of us. First Brandenburger Tor:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h7BKOpYjKjA/UTTD-44f2zI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/R7uq94v0uFA/s1600/brandenburger-tor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h7BKOpYjKjA/UTTD-44f2zI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/R7uq94v0uFA/s400/brandenburger-tor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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from the front</div>
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goobers</div>
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sunny side (from the back)</div>
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Then we walked all the way to the Berliner Dom and managed to go up all 270 stairs to the walkway on the outside of the dome. Pretty spectacular views.<br />
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Berliner Dom, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin" target="_blank">Berlin TV Tower</a>, and Mr. Moody</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_qM2z2JE07U/UTTD99GVgwI/AAAAAAAAC8w/JYI35Q28Y-4/s1600/berliner-dom-cuppola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_qM2z2JE07U/UTTD99GVgwI/AAAAAAAAC8w/JYI35Q28Y-4/s400/berliner-dom-cuppola.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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inside</div>
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from the walkway - Berlin TV Tower</div>
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Next door at the Altes Museum, we got sidetracked by this lady:<br />
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very intense lion attack</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tn7nO9HoFkk/UTTGB9Ag5FI/AAAAAAAAC9o/5M-XnTv6wjk/s1600/Altes-museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tn7nO9HoFkk/UTTGB9Ag5FI/AAAAAAAAC9o/5M-XnTv6wjk/s400/Altes-museum.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Altes Museum</div>
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I was absolutely exhausted after that. A couple weeks in bed will do that to me, I suppose. But it made me excited about traipsing about Berlin and walking as a form of exercise. Hopefully we'll do more of this in the coming weeks.marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-36570813867848290942013-02-17T20:47:00.000+00:002013-02-22T21:21:09.336+00:00The NewsBeen a while since there was an update. It's not as easy to share bad news, especially when the information comes in slowly and always feels uncertain. We took our planned month-long trip back to the US, where we had an incredible time visiting family and friends in Florida and California. Mid-December to mid-January. But just before we left Menorca, I (Ramona) went to the doctor for the annual lady visit. And before we came back all plans were changed again.<br />
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The doctor knew we were going to be in the US, so he said he would send test results to us by email rather than waiting for us to get back to Menorca - because further testing and treatment would happen elsewhere. And he sent that email between Christmas and New Years, while we were watching the rain on Redwoods, taking long, misty walks among the big trees, listening to crashing Pacific coast waves wearing down the coastline, working our way through jigsaw puzzles, and laughing to tears over family jokes and board games. I can still make myself laugh out loud when I think back on some of those moments. The test came back positive for carcinoma - the scary "C" word became part of life. Just a little bit of cancer.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CzGQkz8_Mik/USAJBwC4JPI/AAAAAAAAC2w/S5DkcL5UXWE/s1600/over-snowy-england.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CzGQkz8_Mik/USAJBwC4JPI/AAAAAAAAC2w/S5DkcL5UXWE/s400/over-snowy-england.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The doctor said that there was no reason to rush for treatment, so we kept our flight and basked in the joy of reuniting with good friends. Our trip back to Menorca was punctuated by a stopover in London, so we went directly from London to Berlin. With German residence last year came mandated health insurance and challenging monthly premiums, so we started down the path toward a treatment plan in the cheapest city in the country. Berlin rent is 33% cheaper than Frankfurt, 35% cheaper than Hamburg or Munich. We are paying rent for the first time in two and a half years, in a lovely, airy flat that is nearly empty. Everything has worked out as well as it could, considering.<br />
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The hope is that this is early, that those devilishly clever, mutated cells are just hanging out in one place. And actually, that place is now a lab, because last week I had surgery to remove the tissue (tumor). My incredible doctor (oncologist) happens to be one of the only people in Berlin who also moves ovaries laparoscopically, upward and out of the way in case radiation becomes part of the treatment plan. The radiation decision was to be based on the lymph nodes that he also removed during surgery. One little bugger tested positive, so we go back on Tuesday to discuss radiation. One out of about 30. Good news and bad news.<br />
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view from the hospital bed after a snow</div>
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Cancer is no longer the death sentence it used to be, thank goodness, but treatment is no picnic. Recovering from surgery takes patience and tolerance. They kept me well drugged in the hospital, a ten day stay, but now that I'm home I'm taking much less. I trust pain and I want to hear what it has to say. I'm taking things very slowly, but feeling better, stronger every day.<br />
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and when the sun was shining</div>
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I read <i>The Emperor of All Maladies</i> with a hunger for clear information, and it did not disappoint. Treatments are getting more precise, less invasive, more successful. I have been doing the right things. I don't mind the treatment, as long as I keep living. I think most people diagnosed with cancer feel the same way - do your worst, doc, but keep me alive, okay? There may be some trade-offs, some non-negotiable deals, but the goal is clear.<br />
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What a coin toss. Both being diagnosed and undergoing successful treatment feel random, especially with a form of cancer that is unusual and relatively un-studied. Mine is a case of vaginal carcinoma - usually metastasized from cervical carcinoma, but in my case the cervix is clear. Good news, very good news. It's fairly likely that I will recover from treatment and cancer will not have gotten the better of me. There's no guarantee, but it's worthwhile to be hopeful and to make plans. Prepare for the worst, expect the best.<br />
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I want to write a longer, more in depth ramble about the experience, but instead of doing it as a post I'll create a side page, kind of like the broken foot page. There has been a lot of uncertainty, an unprecedented amount of humor, and surprises of all kinds. In the meantime, know that there will be more information soon. And don't worry. And don't be shy about being in touch.<br />
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Your hopes and thoughts help. At every step, I've had to share this information with more and more people, in an ever widening circle - starting with Joshua with tears, my parents and sister, extended family and friend-family. At first it was just: I have some cancer, sorry that's all I know. We had way more questions than answers. Each step of the way it has felt like I am pushing a burden on the people that I love, and it has been hard. But each piece of the burden that I pass along makes it a little lighter for me to carry, so I hope you don't mind.<br />
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Thank you to those of you who have already offered support. We are doing okay.<br />
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<i>For future updates, visit the <b><a href="http://whereisyourbicycle.blogspot.de/p/and-cancer.html" target="_blank">And Cancer</a></b> page.</i>marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-53717034091845088632012-12-03T00:17:00.000+00:002012-12-08T00:17:38.416+00:00Wind Storms and Work DaysThings have quieted down for us. The weather changed to fall-like, at least for Menorca, and we haven't been snorkeling since Oct 23rd. Yeah, I know. This place is great. We've had a couple of really big storms, where it gets crazy windy and we close all the shudders to keep out the sideways rain. The tortoises are all mostly hibernating, although we had a hot sunny day about a week ago and the little guys were all out getting some sun and eating the fresh grass that's grown up quickly. The big tortoises are still wandering around on warm, sunny days.<br />
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We're both back in work mode, so not a lot of exploring. We had thought to go kayaking and horseback riding and even sailing, but when the weather got a bit cooler, we stopped trying. Plus, now is the time for saving, not spending. We go for walks with Trixie, the 15 year old Terrier type who lives here and presides over the doorways. She is fantastic, and almost completely deaf. At first we would talk to her and she'd just ignore us. ("Hey Trixie! Hey girl!" and she just walks by - us, feeling ignored.) So we've gotten used to that. Chocolate, the 15 year old cat, started off as suspicious and flighty as a cat can be, but now he comes meowing around, asking to be allowed to sit on my lap while I work at the computer. We make fires in the wood stove. It is quite cozy.<br />
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I'm also knitting again, so don't be shy about checking out the <a href="http://knitandride.etsy.com/" target="_blank">shop</a>. It's always nice to make a bit of extra spending money with a hobby. Joshua is jealous. His hobbies tend to cost more than they make, so he can't justify them like I can justify knitting. So thanks for that, team!<br />
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Right now the wind is absolutely howling. I'm expecting the power to go out at any moment, which it has done a number of times over the past few weeks. I've got a row of candles nearby, just in case.<br />
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Here are more sunset and pool images for you, but remember the pool is freezing now. We went in after a run not too long ago and it was stunningly cold. Stunned, I was. Last time for the season.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MiOPTtO_nfg/ULU3eCrT61I/AAAAAAAACzE/d3qvGKBTPCc/s1600/menorca-sunset-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MiOPTtO_nfg/ULU3eCrT61I/AAAAAAAACzE/d3qvGKBTPCc/s400/menorca-sunset-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-34408605122899894372012-10-23T21:38:00.000+01:002012-11-30T22:49:32.141+00:00Snorkeling Trip #2<br />
Okay, so we headed back to Alcalfar, the tight little cove, this time armed with snorkel gear and the camera. We were rewarded with a gorgeous day, great light, and even an octopus that changed color. A huge thunder cloud loomed and threatened, but we were spared until after we got home. Phew!<br />
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looked stormy, heard thunder</div>
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but the beach was looking ready for us</div>
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just wanna reach out and grab one - mmm, tasty</div>
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couple raindrops, but still no cloudiness</div>
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I swear the octopus in the next two pictures is the same guy, moments apart. He slowly crept toward the rocks and ducked underneath, eye-balling us the whole time.<br />
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Riding home through town... just a bit of a climb, nothing to fret over.<br />
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Menorca pretty much looks like this:<br />
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-25240961017518618552012-10-16T21:36:00.000+01:002012-11-29T12:47:50.982+00:00Snorkeling Trip #1There are two beaches which are within a few kilometers, as far as we know. The first is a tiny, narrow cove which will be snorkeling trip #2. The other is at Punta Prima - a beautiful, beautiful beach. The road down the hill to the coast looks like this:<br />
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<span id="goog_1912066713"></span><span id="goog_1912066714"></span>Ugh. Yeah, it sucks here. See the rock walls? Every rock wall is like that. I feel like they deserve a post of their own.<br />
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Anyway, the beach.<br />
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Not a lot to see in the water. It's kelp die-off time, so it looked like this close to shore:<br />
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Oh well.<br />
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A fish!</div>
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The first time we went out we kinda tested the waters and went back to the beach. Then we were like, yeah, let's go back in and try to go farther out. And we found some rocks and stuff. And a few fishes.<br />
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It was great. Punta Prima? Thumbs up all the way.<br />
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The ride home? A few kilometers. This was a triathlon day - and by that I mean we did some running in the morning, then rode our bikes to the beach and snorkeled around, then rode our bikes home. Pretty sure we didn't make the distances a triathlete makes, but whatever.<br />
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In the picture below you can just see the little white-washed town of Sant Lluis. Looks like the Mediterranean.<br />
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-81463434352334350722012-10-15T22:06:00.000+01:002012-11-28T00:47:37.730+00:00Tiny Menorcan Tortoise Eating Poop<br />
Yeah, I couldn't resist. He was going after it like it was his lunch - and it was! Ugh, gross.<br />
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To clear your mind, here's a baby tortoise trucking across the back yard.</div>
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And another one, doing the same. Of course, this one barely looks like a rock making it's way across the distance, but never mind.</div>
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-44912426242912091692012-10-14T21:13:00.000+01:002012-11-27T23:41:13.052+00:00Menorca Arrival<br />
This post is going to be about tortoises and sunsets, because that's all I took pictures of the first few weeks we were here. Okay, that's not entirely true. But to introduce you to this magical little island, these are my topics.<br />
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First, the capital, Mahon (or Mao in Menorcan - Catalan but with the Menorca accent/dialect, depending on who you talk to).</div>
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We woke up after our all-night ferry to a peaceful sea and an island coming into view. It took about an hour to get all the way into the port, a place that was thought to be of great value in the days of battle by ships. We learned that this island is actually fed with fresh water coming from the Pyrenees - the mountains that divide France and Spain. We've got a direct feed that goes way under the Mediterranean and they have no fresh water problems on Menorca. Mallorca cannot claim the same. </div>
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Anyway, Mahon is very pretty by sunrise from a ship arriving in port. We were stunned, a little bit. </div>
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We were met by our new friend and owner of the home we'd be house sitting, Sandy. She grew up in Spain, but her parents were from San Francisco, so she sounds like a Californian. But really, she's Spanish. She took all our bags so we were free to fly up the hill and towards Sant Lluis on our bikes. We told her that if we didn't show up in an hour she should consider looking to see if we got lost - but it only took us about 20 minutes. There's a bike path almost all the way from Mahon to Sant Lluis, and then past it to the house we're staying in now. Bike paths. All over this island. Many of them are really only comfortable or reasonable if you've got a mountain bike, but plenty are these wide sidewalks along the main roads.</div>
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Not that riding on the roads is a big deal. This is a small island with a small population. We hear that in summer it gets crowded with tourists, but it's been absolutely dreamy since we've arrived. Speaking of dreamy...</div>
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So that's the house and above it the view from the sunny days work desk. We are not suffering. Our experience as house sitters is paying off - Sandy explicitly selected us because we have experience. And we are really hoping to live up to her expectations. So far, so good.</div>
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The grounds are beautiful. The pool is not heated, which is a dream on hot hot days. We did some swimming in the pool and it was a bit cold. This is back in mid-October, and the top temps were probably in the very low 80s or high 70s. Not suffering.</div>
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The tortoises. So the Menorcan tortoise was almost extinct and has now been brought back to thriving. Sandy herself estimates that over the years she's been here (17) she has saved about 1000 young tortoises and helped them reach maturity. This big guy is probably one of them.</div>
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Two things about tortoises: 1.) They are not that slow, and 2.) They're not fast enough to get away either.</div>
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The little guys hatch in September. There were a ton out and about in early October. All we had to do was walk outside and stand still for few minutes and they'd start moving again. You look out over the back yard and it seems nothing is there. But a tortoise has two defense mechanisms: 1.) freeze, and 2.) get in shell.</div>
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So they freeze before you see them, because they saw you coming. And then if you stand still they go about their business. Then you can pick them up and pretend to cuddle them.</div>
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Yup. They are so cute. The vast landscape of my palm. Actually the guy in the upper picture is a big baby. Look what happens when I put them down next to a slice of apple.</div>
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Walnut sized I tell you! Oh man. I just wanted to stand out in the yard all afternoon and scare away birds of prey. They're pretty incognito when they hold still or dig under a clump of grass. But you know they don't all make it to adulthood. We talked about saving one and keeping it while we are here, but it seems like they might actually be better off hibernating in the fallen foliage. </div>
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So, I said something about sunsets.</div>
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Yeah, sunsets reflected in pools and stuff. Also, walnut sized tortoise babies.</div>
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and caterpillars! anyone recognize these?</div>
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how many tortoises do you see? at least 4...</div>
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the backyard, kinda</div>
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We are back to cooking in a kitchen, and the local supermarket has all kinds of exotic ingredients. Which means we're eating well.<br />
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salad, bread, pickles, padron peppers</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cK-s8g-Qi60/ULUsrrNXfRI/AAAAAAAACtw/S-PXVNvtPWY/s1600/spring-rolls-padron-peppers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cK-s8g-Qi60/ULUsrrNXfRI/AAAAAAAACtw/S-PXVNvtPWY/s400/spring-rolls-padron-peppers.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Vietnamese fresh spring rolls, and padron peppers</div>
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sushi and TV on the computer</div>
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There are also geckos, and so there are gecko babies. This little gecko was in the kitchen. It's a miracle I didn't step on it, blending right into the floor.<br />
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That's two different occasions - not sure if it's two different geckos or just the same one twice. </div>
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Of course it's not all tortoises, geckos, pools, and sunsets. We're back to running. Woo hoo!<br />
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There's a path a few minutes walk from the house that goes out to the ocean. We went for a walk out there and made it down to the coast, which is steeply down. Probably not more than 70 meters in altitude - I mean that's probably an over-estimate - but it really goes down quickly. Now we run out that path, where it's not paved. It's part of the bike route system, and when the hill goes down sharply, it is paved. That's where we turn and run back, usually. We've also run through some of the smaller roads between rock-wall lined properties. Menorcans have their own style of rock wall that is incredible. They also have their own style of gate. I'll take some pictures of those, promise. </div>
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But for now... </div>
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We can't really believe it either.<br />
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-36063850124536277352012-10-08T16:18:00.000+01:002012-11-25T19:59:28.159+00:00Riding a Bicycle in Barcelona<br />
So Barcelona is a bike friendly place. The local bike share program is extremely popular. It's called Bicing, and you can only use it if you live locally. It's free for 15 minutes, and you check them in and out using your account. If you keep a bike for longer than 15 mins, it gets more and more expensive. Basically they want you to use them for short trips. The bikes are hilarious, a smaller front wheel, monkey bars, all kinds of funny looking. But you see them everywhere, and everyone rides them. There are huge banks of them all over the place. It's a successful system, apparently.<br />
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For those people who don't live in Barcelona, there are about a million and one bike rental places. Most rent nice big cruiser style bikes that are bomb proof, in bright colors. We heard about a place called <a href="http://greenbikesbarcelona.com/" target="_blank">Green Bikes Barcelona</a> and decided to see if we couldn't stash our fully loaded bikes with them and take a pair of their city bikes out. We had hoped to go on a tour with <a href="http://www.steeldonkeybiketours.com/" target="_blank">Steel Donkey</a>, but they didn't have anything scheduled that day. <a href="http://www.rideordie.es/" target="_blank">These guys</a> seemed fun, too. But Green Bikes was open and ready for us.<br />
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oh Barcelona</div>
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<a href="http://greenbikesbarcelona.com/" target="_blank">Green Bikes</a> felt familiar. Very Bicycle Kitchen. And the guy at the counter was from Mar Vista, CA. Ha ha. They were kind enough to hang on to our bikes and we rented a couple of theirs - but they were fresh out of normal. So we had our first goofy folding bike experience. All I can say is wow.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k8UfRMx3He8/UK-d_hMvkqI/AAAAAAAACm4/48hDhKRXC0s/s1600/gryphons-park-barcelona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k8UfRMx3He8/UK-d_hMvkqI/AAAAAAAACm4/48hDhKRXC0s/s400/gryphons-park-barcelona.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cKmnvFvyOVU/UK-eH6Y0CzI/AAAAAAAACnY/kJ7i-40hYlk/s1600/bike-infrastructure-barcelona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cKmnvFvyOVU/UK-eH6Y0CzI/AAAAAAAACnY/kJ7i-40hYlk/s400/bike-infrastructure-barcelona.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Eventually we headed back towards the beach</div>
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look at those sexy steeds</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oyLkAQEhTag/UK-eWWY_XOI/AAAAAAAACoQ/VK14-B2ETnQ/s1600/barcelona-casino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oyLkAQEhTag/UK-eWWY_XOI/AAAAAAAACoQ/VK14-B2ETnQ/s400/barcelona-casino.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Hey, Barcelona has bike infrastructure. We had a great time cruising around. We first tried to go to the Picasso Museum, but it was Monday and closed. We didn't make it up to Guell Park, which is another place I wanted to go. There is so much more that needs to be seen of this city by me. So much more. And next time, we'll get a bike right away. It was quick and easy and the bikes had excellent, fully-integrated super locking systems. We didn't worry at all, which is what we would have done had we brought our own bikes all over the city. Barcelona by bike is the way to go.<br />
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At the end of the day, we went back to Placa Reial for one more Campari laranja, then we ate at a Sidreria (check) and stuffed ourselves on tapas one last time. The cider was good. We made it to our night ferry - last one for a while - and snuggled up in our sleeping bags, on the floor in the seating area. We are getting pretty good at this.</div>
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Our next chapter will be tiny island life and house sitting for a couple of months. Back to work, back to caring for someone else's home, end of this tour...</div>
marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0Barcelona, Province of Barcelona, Spain41.387917 2.169918741.292614 2.0119902 41.48322 2.3278472000000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-69646206541834562892012-10-07T15:56:00.000+01:002012-11-24T23:09:40.024+00:00Barcelona, BarcelonaWhat a city. We arrived in Barcelona a couple of nights before my mom and our friend Stephen, so we explored, ate a lot of delicious food, and were totally moved in to our AirBnB.com flat before they arrived. We met them at the airport and took them straight out to Placa Reial, which was around the corner from the flat.<br />
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our bicycles are here, and so is our place to stay in Barcelona. wow.</div>
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Stephen's friend Etienne, who Joshua had meet once before in Zurich was also in town, and we all sat and drank Campari with laranja, feeling a bit stunned but totally pleased with ourselves. Stephen and Etienne have been working together on creating a live version of Stephen's Music Animation Machine. Joshua has also done some work on the project, including some of the behind-the-scenes work for Stephen's work on Bjork's album/app Biophilia. To see some videos of Stephen's, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/smalin" target="_blank">check this out</a>. They were planning to do a live performance in Nürnberg and another in Zurich... fun and creative people to be with in this incredible city.<br />
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We had dinner at a delicious vegetarian restaurant called <a href="http://www.teresacarles.com/" target="_blank">Teresa Carles</a> that had some of the highest quality and most delicious food of the trip (we ate there twice, it was so good). The next morning we went straight into tourism mode. Sagrada Familia. The line was long, the wait wasn't as bad as it seemed like it would be, and our time slot to go up in the tower was for about 2 hours after our entry time. It was all completely worth it. And two hours is not too much time to spend in this place. Gaudi was inspired by nature and wanted to create a place where you would feel protected by the canopy of trees. I took a lot of pictures. They do not do this place or Gaudi justice. You will have to go there one day yourself. It feels like a miracle and Gaudi truly was a genius. You try to put that much stone in the air and see what happens.<br />
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mama</div>
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The stained glass is still in process. Where it is installed the light is rainbow-undersea-otherworldy.<br />
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out front</div>
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newer and older construction - and it's not done, at all.</div>
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the chameleon</div>
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We also went up into the tower, where we saw some more magic as well as Barcelona from high above.<br />
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looking down within the tower</div>
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in awe</div>
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fruits and scaffolding</div>
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a really tight stairwell with a hole in the middle</div>
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We went for food as soon as we left, because we were absolutely famished, having not eaten lunch - here we discuss whether or not we ordered enough sangria, the consensus was: no.</div>
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Sangria, tapas, more tapas - we ate and drank our way through this city, as you do. On one day my mom was determined to get into the Mediterranean, so to the beach we went. We were greeted by people selling minty, limey fresh mojitos (mostly melted ice, mint, and lime, but incredibly refreshing) and we splurged on massages. Joshua read out loud to us.<br />
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In the evening we went for another marathon dinner at another incredible vegetarian restaurant. Really, the two coolest restaurants we went to were both veg? How? I cannot find information about that second one. It doesn't exist in Google Maps street view... the only way we will ever know is if we go there again. And I really hope we do.<br />
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After a few whirlwind days, we put my mom on a bus to Jaca, where she attended the International Mushroom Dye Symposium and taught a class on making masks out of mushroom paper. That's right. Stephen stayed one more night and then we put him in a taxi to go to the airport. We then had a full day during which we needed a place to store our bikes and gear. But we also really wanted to ride around this crazy town.<br />
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<br />marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-54305653243322714522012-10-02T21:39:00.000+01:002012-11-05T21:40:01.996+00:00The Real Reason We Bought HammocksA 12 hour ferry from Porto Torres, Sardegna to Barcelona, Spain, starting at about 6am.<br />
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Gonna be awake for sunrise, better have a comfortable place to view it from.marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-88077911475768984572012-10-01T23:56:00.000+01:002012-11-03T22:05:43.574+00:00Last Days of Touring - Bye Bye ItalyOur final day on tour was hilariously anti-climactic. Just 10kms to Porto Torres. Of course, we also got a serious and incredible storm to dump amazing amounts of water on us, just for good measure. We pedaled through and turned around to look back.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J8fkkfOwkd0/UJBl_M6BK9I/AAAAAAAACfo/rSj-pbc2j2M/s1600/soaked-joshua.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J8fkkfOwkd0/UJBl_M6BK9I/AAAAAAAACfo/rSj-pbc2j2M/s400/soaked-joshua.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We weren't that wet. And the sun dried us pretty well. Just at the edge of town we encountered a bike path! Not really an easy entrance from the road, but we got on there just for the fun of trying it out.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiOxlnjz1CA/UJBmjG93OXI/AAAAAAAACgA/51FvOrxdPpY/s1600/crazy-bike-path-porto-torres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiOxlnjz1CA/UJBmjG93OXI/AAAAAAAACgA/51FvOrxdPpY/s400/crazy-bike-path-porto-torres.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
It turned out to be super crazy. Very steep hills, uncertain surfaces, and the uphills were as impossible as the downhills. Joshua: If I lived here I would never use this path.<br />
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Ah, well.</div>
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We followed the coast, assuming we'd run into the port, which we did. We saw the Hotel Elisa and stopped in to see about a room. A hilarious exchange ensued, with the woman at the desk calling someone in charge to ask if she could put us in a certain room, telling the person on the phone that she had the book right in front of her, going back and forth, and finally saying that we'd be fine to stay, but we'd have to wait a bit because someone was cleaning the room right then. I also got that they weren't thrilled we were only staying one night, but since we were taking the ferry in the morning it was fine. Pretty much everything was repeated three times with accompanying expressions of frustration, both on her face and in her hands. Lost on the guy on the phone. Or maybe not. He walked in shortly after they hung up and repeated everything again, in English.</div>
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They had space for the bikes, but said that since we were leaving so early we could put them in the ladies room in the lobby. We headed out and found a laundry mat and did some washing. While that was processing we attempted to get some lunch, only to find that most everything was closed. October 1st. The bar we finally settled on was mediocre, but we got to eat and it was cheap. I ordered pesce fritte with fried potatoes, imagining fish and chips. Oh no. Whole tiny fish battered and fried. They were delicious. </div>
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Back at the hotel we stuffed all out bags and us into the tiny elevator and moved in to our close but very tidy room with a view.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RTj3Q4FdDNo/UJBoUSg0rRI/AAAAAAAACgY/W_VERVdNpzA/s1600/view-window-porto-torres-hotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RTj3Q4FdDNo/UJBoUSg0rRI/AAAAAAAACgY/W_VERVdNpzA/s400/view-window-porto-torres-hotel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The place is very certainly a family affair. Later in the afternoon the grandma of the operation asked me if I spoke German (the passport again). She said there was an email which someone had sent to a guest who had left already, but she wanted to try to pass on the message. I gave it a try and from what I could grasp, it was from two people telling this person that she needed to come home right away and see doctor so-and-so and that they didn't want to be in touch anymore until that happened. I cross-checked with Google Translate just for good measure. I explained it to the best of my abilities in Italian, and again when the son came back in English. Then I showed them about Google Translate, explaining that it really isn't perfect, but great for individual words and phrases.<br />
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A whole slew of touring cyclists came in in the evening. Some Norwegians who I think were in their 60s, at least, were also heading in the opposite direction, having flow into the northern city on the peninsula that morning. They'd done their 70kms. We aspire to their greatness.<br />
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We went out to a cafe while it got cold and dark, then back to the hotel where we had a very lovely dinner. Again we enjoyed excellent seafood, delicious pasta, and a lovely bottle of wine suggested by grandma. Before we headed up to bed grandma gave me a copy of the front door key, so we could lock the door behind us and drop it in the mailbox when we left in the morning. And then early to bed for our 4am wake-up. </div>
marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-69819373686170046752012-09-30T23:40:00.000+01:002012-11-02T21:33:01.765+00:00In Which We Become the Bike Tourists Who Carry HammocksThe weather forecast wasn't great, more wind and rain planned for the day that should take us almost to Castelsardo. Not cold, but cool. Not really raining, but really humid. And not sunny. Surveying the multiple maps, which each had some useful features but lacked other necessary information, I determined that this day might include our biggest climb. It looked like the road would go up and down a bit, then up over something kind of big (the road zig-zagged on the map. maybe we need better maps) and then down again on the other side. We are pretty cocky at this point. I mean... the Alps? What is a 1000m climb anyway?<br />
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Italy continues to give great cloud</div>
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The road did indeed do what I thought it would. We did some minor climbs, had some incredible descents, and then settled in for a spin up a fairly significant mountain. The past few weeks did us proud and we reached the top fully thrilled at how not difficult it felt. The view was gorgeous. The little town at the top multi-colored and silent. My camera, a solid underperformer in mixed light situations.</div>
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This climb gave us an incredible reward. Again we just kept going down and it felt like we were well below sea level before the road flattened out. Not having a tight schedule, knowing this is the last bit of bike vacation, I think my brain went right into a state of pure appreciation of everything that happened. The climbing was good. The descending was excellent. And the campsite we arrived at was our favorite.<br />
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Not long after we pulled in, a really nice couple from New Zealand showed up on touring bikes loaded up. I looked over and exclaimed, "Oh look! It's us!" We stopped by and found out that they had started from Paris and been touring Spain, and they'd just arrived that morning from Barcelona. We asked them the burning question: how long is that ferry? Only about 12 hours. Relief. We shared our campsite map since they were heading in the opposite direction and were going to find a lot of campsites closed. September 30th. Season is over.<br />
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And this is when I tell you that we are now the proud owners of two parachute silk hammocks. Worth every ounce of weight they added to our overly heavy bags. We spent most of the afternoon reading in our hammocks. Seriously.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GpkaWqgMFLU/UJBekq1iC6I/AAAAAAAACd0/07G__EumPFY/s1600/hammock-touring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GpkaWqgMFLU/UJBekq1iC6I/AAAAAAAACd0/07G__EumPFY/s400/hammock-touring.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We did also go to the beach, where it was windy and too cold to swim.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3HzuL4HHdbI/UJBf4VV3TDI/AAAAAAAACd8/wKvJwTpzpOs/s1600/blanket-beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3HzuL4HHdbI/UJBf4VV3TDI/AAAAAAAACd8/wKvJwTpzpOs/s400/blanket-beach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
But looking east, to where we're headed, everything looked just fine.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJp6PvPkGU0/UJBf5qie5CI/AAAAAAAACeE/LtVhfkYFRW4/s1600/castelsardo-beach-view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJp6PvPkGU0/UJBf5qie5CI/AAAAAAAACeE/LtVhfkYFRW4/s400/castelsardo-beach-view.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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that small lump is Castelsardo</div>
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In the morning we reluctantly packed up. If we could have, we'd have stayed again at this campsite. It was really lovely with it's short little pine trees and terraced tent areas. But they were closing that day so we headed east and slightly south again in the direction of the last open campsite before Porto Torres. </div>
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We decided to not take the main road across and instead take the slightly longer route around the coast and through Castelsardo. Which meant a climb right off the bat. Our decision seemed like a bad one, until we started rolling toward the coast again and came around a corner and BAM! breath taken away.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oai7oTZNLvQ/UJBgNPI4z7I/AAAAAAAACeM/Jd7Ef2Vif7w/s1600/around-corner-castelsardo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oai7oTZNLvQ/UJBgNPI4z7I/AAAAAAAACeM/Jd7Ef2Vif7w/s400/around-corner-castelsardo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I don't think photos will do it justice, but we were gobsmacked. The sunlight was patchy and made the many-colored buildings glow a bit where the light hit them right. We took a bunch of pictures.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hv4PG77UH4I/UJBgOeZTP9I/AAAAAAAACeU/UYFxF0NxLT0/s1600/r-j-castelsardo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hv4PG77UH4I/UJBgOeZTP9I/AAAAAAAACeU/UYFxF0NxLT0/s400/r-j-castelsardo.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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it's too bright to look into the sun</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rtn_ONUY3YQ/UJBgSWVFesI/AAAAAAAACec/aRhIQW9jQIM/s1600/check-map-castelsardo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rtn_ONUY3YQ/UJBgSWVFesI/AAAAAAAACec/aRhIQW9jQIM/s400/check-map-castelsardo.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tFgO-ijdj9Y/UJBgUDpj3gI/AAAAAAAACek/ip6fbvtgTQY/s1600/joshua-castelsardo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tFgO-ijdj9Y/UJBgUDpj3gI/AAAAAAAACek/ip6fbvtgTQY/s400/joshua-castelsardo.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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We rounded the bend and saw some roadies stopped right on the road in town, considering a broken chain. Joshua has all the parts, and he quickly helped them out. We heard what sounded like dramatic thunder. But how is that even possible, the day is so nice?</div>
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Thunder is exactly what we got. We also got splattered with big, fresh-off-the-water raindrops from a storm that seemingly came out of nowhere. Okay, it came off the water. We watched it come as we pedaled south-east, hoping that we'd stay on the edge and not get soaked. By some miracle, that's exactly what we did. However, later on we did get soaked. We reached the campsite for the evening while still quite wet and with rain still coming down. My thought as we were riding alongside the giant wall and tattered flags of the campsite was: Stoked that's not our site for the night. Then I saw the sign, recognized the name, and told Joshua that this was it. </div>
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We checked in and then just waited out the rain under the awning of the office. The rain just kept coming. We were mostly dry thanks to our big ol' ponchos. No hurry. Less than 10k to get to Porto Torres in the morning. We'd be staying in a hotel, too, because we had a 6am ferry and didn't want to do that 10k during a pitch black morning.</div>
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When the rain was almost done, we headed back up the road to a restaurant we'd seen. Lunch time was upon us and we were hungry. We proceeded to have aperitifs, a four course meal of very fresh sea food, a bottle of Sardinian wine, dessert, coffee, and grappa. This is what we've been saving for, right? We spent a good two or three hours in that restaurant, no doubt contradicting the expectations of the wait staff who probably looked at our sloppy outfits and weird sandals and thought we'd be ordering a cheap meal. No siree, bring it all out. </div>
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When we emerged, the weather had transformed completely. Actually we watched it happen and left when we felt it was hot enough to call a beach day. We set up camp quickly, including the hammocks, and headed across the highway to the waiting sand and sea.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BYWncPABJ-Q/UJBiKi04U5I/AAAAAAAACes/rt1F8Zyahuw/s1600/another-beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BYWncPABJ-Q/UJBiKi04U5I/AAAAAAAACes/rt1F8Zyahuw/s400/another-beach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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looking back towards Castelsardo</div>
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-9515902276763414052012-09-27T23:58:00.000+01:002012-11-01T09:55:07.319+00:00Hello Sardegna Sardinia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kh2kHEO_hes/UJBVLudm6mI/AAAAAAAACa0/wKKSpiXbqkg/s1600/first-sardegna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kh2kHEO_hes/UJBVLudm6mI/AAAAAAAACa0/wKKSpiXbqkg/s400/first-sardegna.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Whole new world. We got off the boat in the early morning and immediately found the tourist info office. It was closed. We had some cappuccinos at the cafe nearby. Joshua went over to look at the open hours and came back to say it was closed all day today. Alright then. He asked if I wanted to double check. So I did. The door was open and a woman gave me an armful of potentially helpful bicycle maps and pamphlets, including a cycle touring booklet and a mountain biking booklet with maps of planned routes. Whoa. I did not take everything. I did take the campsite map that had the closing dates of most campsites. Many close on the last day of September... our ferry to Barcelona from the other side of the island is on October 2nd. Hmm.<br />
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Joshua noticed that on one map the ferry to Barcelona was marked as a 36 hour ferry. Now, that is not what the website said. I had a document stating we'd be on the ferry for just under 12 hours, starting at 6am. I had not booked a cabin or chairs or anything - just deck space. But for a 36 hour ferry we might have chosen differently. Nothing to do about it now, though, and we felt like focusing on the vacation we were having.<br />
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To get out of Olbia we did some loop-de-loops on the freeway and off-ramps. Eventually we figured out the right direction and the road got smaller as we got farther from town.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rheRQ06HpfA/UJBVM6JwjNI/AAAAAAAACa8/0lxizV4YnRQ/s1600/joshua-behind-me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rheRQ06HpfA/UJBVM6JwjNI/AAAAAAAACa8/0lxizV4YnRQ/s400/joshua-behind-me.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The scenery was surprisingly familiar. Like central California, or that one stretch of the train trip between LA and Santa Barbara just before you go through the tunnel. Green brush in a different set of shades and tints and big rock outcroppings. Quite stunning. It was very hot and humid. The new haircut does not trap dripping sweat in the same way.<br />
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Mostly we followed the coast that first day, but we did some pretty good climbing, too. Surprise climbing. We got a couple of good suggestions from the bicycle touring Sardegna booklet guide, but for the most part we were just on the only roads from here to there.<br />
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This is the last leg of our tour. We have five days to go around the northern coast of Sardegna. The "fast" route is across the center of the island, a mere 110kms. So five days should be plenty. But it turns out that this is a big island with big mountains. Do I minimize planning just so it'll be surprisingly challenging? In any case, we only have to average about 40kms per day to go around the whole north coast, which is much less than normal. But it's so hot.</div>
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fortunately, beaches are a thing here.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a9qrJh-Ye7I/UJBXRUL9xQI/AAAAAAAACbc/eoOSh4rDz0I/s1600/along-the-water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a9qrJh-Ye7I/UJBXRUL9xQI/AAAAAAAACbc/eoOSh4rDz0I/s400/along-the-water.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkciqetbUOg/UJBXT92xSII/AAAAAAAACbk/a7bP213EigE/s1600/our-campsite-sardinia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkciqetbUOg/UJBXT92xSII/AAAAAAAACbk/a7bP213EigE/s400/our-campsite-sardinia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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at our first campsite at Capo D'Orso the first thing we did was go swimming.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u8rXJCe9Tog/UJBXVQqDWOI/AAAAAAAACbs/Xv_YPzf21jo/s1600/swimming-sardinia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u8rXJCe9Tog/UJBXVQqDWOI/AAAAAAAACbs/Xv_YPzf21jo/s400/swimming-sardinia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V1QYmQB5l0U/UJBXXCrkqjI/AAAAAAAACb0/UvqY6TkogRM/s1600/joshua-wet-swim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V1QYmQB5l0U/UJBXXCrkqjI/AAAAAAAACb0/UvqY6TkogRM/s400/joshua-wet-swim.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Okay, maybe not the very first thing. When we showed up the woman at the front desk saw my passport and immediately said, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch!? Nein, ich spreche kein Deutsch." She was mimicking what she thought would be my first question: do you speak German. And her answer was no. I responded in Italian, saying I speak Italian and only a little bit of German. She might have thought I was joking. When Joshua and I spoke to each other in English, she was like, "Wait! What language do you speak?" Then she explained her initial reaction and laughed at herself heartily. She was very funny and kind and gave us some free Internet time. We told her about house sitting and that we'd come from Olbia that morning and she just looked at us with a pleased and dumbfounded look on her face. I gave her the links for the house sitting sites.<br />
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Our story is getting more compact. We live in other peoples' houses when they are not at home and want someone there, either to care for pets or just to watch the property. We work online most of the year. In summer we ride our bicycles long distances, going from one house sit to the next in some roundabout way.<br />
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But we've never seen a tandem like this before.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E4xrj_OX-NI/UJBXZXR1ayI/AAAAAAAACb8/tjKcMXPfPkA/s1600/amazing-tandem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E4xrj_OX-NI/UJBXZXR1ayI/AAAAAAAACb8/tjKcMXPfPkA/s400/amazing-tandem.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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holy compact tandem!</div>
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The next morning we did some more unexpected (and probably unnecessary) climbing and got a fantastic view. Corsica is barely visible in the distance. The town below is Palau. The islands are part of the National Park - Isole Maddalena.</div>
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Instead of going all the way around the top of Sardegna, we cut across on a smaller road, skipping Santa Teresa Gallura. While it had been steamy in the morning, near lunchtime we had a bit of cooler wind and the threat of rain. It wasn't cold, really, but cooler. We stopped and had lunch on an ancient stone wall with very little idea of what to expect from this little road.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jO0bJaq9PKM/UJBY9OBS8jI/AAAAAAAACcM/At3x3-Vdn90/s1600/tiny-road-sardinia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jO0bJaq9PKM/UJBY9OBS8jI/AAAAAAAACcM/At3x3-Vdn90/s400/tiny-road-sardinia.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVVijmBT4mw/UJBY-tZu86I/AAAAAAAACcU/u_fD0NmpayU/s1600/small-road-sardinia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVVijmBT4mw/UJBY-tZu86I/AAAAAAAACcU/u_fD0NmpayU/s400/small-road-sardinia.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9weJI8OnxuI/UJBZAkgxluI/AAAAAAAACcc/Jj6DfUhmy80/s1600/pine-trees-sardinia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9weJI8OnxuI/UJBZAkgxluI/AAAAAAAACcc/Jj6DfUhmy80/s400/pine-trees-sardinia.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Not too shabby. The weather stayed overcast and the wind built up momentum. In our favor.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F_C4g9qMpz8/UJBZDJJYnsI/AAAAAAAACck/j5Q-uAdmynQ/s1600/sardegna-view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F_C4g9qMpz8/UJBZDJJYnsI/AAAAAAAACck/j5Q-uAdmynQ/s400/sardegna-view.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We reached the coast on the other side, at Rena Majore, a super weird and deserted "community". Nobody was home. An old man fed some stray cats and then drove out of town again. We stopped and took in the view. It was pretty stunning. Then we looked down.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HnrC3nq0MM8/UJBb_b1aMMI/AAAAAAAACdU/uPMbsyXZDKo/s1600/trash-dump-sardegna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HnrC3nq0MM8/UJBb_b1aMMI/AAAAAAAACdU/uPMbsyXZDKo/s400/trash-dump-sardegna.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This is such a beautiful island. The big money maker is tourism. And yet people are dumping full trash bags, tires, and mattresses at a pull out along the coastal road. How very depressing. Don't people recognize that as ugly? I mean... facilities exist and you can put your trash in dumpsters in plenty of places. What is the deal?<br />
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We arrived at a campsite that was planning to close the following day. Things were shutting down. Most of the trailers were closed up tight. It was very windy and a bit cool. No swimming at this spot. But they did have hot showers, a bar with Internet, and a very interesting shop in which we spent more time than necessary. Postcards, mostly, for us. We looked at the camping pillow sized packages containing parachute silk hammocks. They'd make great pillows, right? And they're so light. Wouldn't it be amazing to hang up a hammock on our next ferry? Or even our next campsite? Are we nuts? We decided to think about it and go back in the morning if we were not, in fact, nuts.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-joElmNBT2TE/UJBcB5OuyUI/AAAAAAAACdc/YKed4wmUmyY/s1600/another-campsite-sardinia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-joElmNBT2TE/UJBcB5OuyUI/AAAAAAAACdc/YKed4wmUmyY/s400/another-campsite-sardinia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-54041650538633242522012-09-27T17:45:00.000+01:002012-10-28T11:45:19.718+00:00The Morning AfterWe woke up on top of one of the highest points around, with a cloudy but not wet day ahead of us. Once again the sunshine came toward us as we packed up quickly and prepared for a very long descent.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jIfMj1TMxCg/UIv44YTiUcI/AAAAAAAACWg/PgY3-n1bJO4/s1600/downhill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jIfMj1TMxCg/UIv44YTiUcI/AAAAAAAACWg/PgY3-n1bJO4/s400/downhill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We were riding around to a very small and likely low traffic road that heads through the remaining mountains to the coast just north of Genova. That night, the 25th, we were scheduled to stay at an <a href="http://airbnb.com/" target="_blank">Airbnb.com</a> listed apartment about a 10 minute ride up from the coast, and the following night we were taking the ferry to Olbia, Sardegna from Genova. Rather than take the busy route through the valley, we'd gone up and over Passo della Bocchetta and we were not done climbing.<br />
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But after the day we'd had, we expected to have a relatively calm ride to our apartment for the night. Or, we hoped to have a calm day. It was also supposed to be short, because we were meeting our host at 2pm. By 9am we had our rain gear on against the cool wind we were expecting as we plummeted down the mountain<br />
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The downhill was intense. Very fast, long, and steep, and our hands were again aching long before we reached the bottom. The light through the clouds traveled quickly across the mountainous landscape and we quickly lost sight of the Mediterranean. There were leaves falling and it felt like the season was changing. Then the air became warm around us, and in town where we made our first decisions of the day we were in a completely different climate.<br />
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We made our turn, took off our rain gear, and started heading up again.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XHdJui9TxwI/UIv6GljDJvI/AAAAAAAACWw/Gvpu4alEKx0/s1600/going-up-again.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XHdJui9TxwI/UIv6GljDJvI/AAAAAAAACWw/Gvpu4alEKx0/s400/going-up-again.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uFfH7QKqY4E/UIv6E04hpJI/AAAAAAAACWo/IS8KO7SHwfM/s1600/fuzzy-joshua.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uFfH7QKqY4E/UIv6E04hpJI/AAAAAAAACWo/IS8KO7SHwfM/s400/fuzzy-joshua.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Not only had Passo della Bocchetta been more of a climb than we were prepared for, but we'd endured an earth - and eardrum - shattering storm for much of it. I think we were both hoping to not have to climb much. I wanted the road to kind of turn and wind around the side of the mountain, but instead it started the unmistakable hairpin back and forth of a steady climb to the top of a mountain. A sign indicated that we were going towards that really, really high point we had seen from our campsite. Damn.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SeEqOGZlwWI/UIv-UO-zXZI/AAAAAAAACYA/P-20Gvt-jUw/s1600/green-mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SeEqOGZlwWI/UIv-UO-zXZI/AAAAAAAACYA/P-20Gvt-jUw/s400/green-mountain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We both felt pretty good, though. Considering. In our spinniest gears we traveled upward again. It got colder. A man in a little red truck passed us with what looked like cement bags in the back. Then we saw his truck pulled over in a driveway. And then he passed us again and stopped. This little red truck is the kind you see often in rural Italy - the cab is a two-seater, and there's really only room for two people. It's very narrow and the bed looks like a mini-version of full-sized trucks. Maybe only a foot deep. The bags were full of stale bread.<br />
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He asked if we were going all the way to the top to see the monument up there. I tried to explain that we were going over to a town on the other side. He had no idea what I was talking about. I got worried that we were on the wrong road, doing some climbing we didn't need to do. But I described it a bit better, and said the name of the town at the top. It finally clicked for him and he told us to load up our bikes.<br />
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We hesitated. I think we were both grateful and enjoyed the idea of getting a ride. But didn't we put ourselves out here to ride our bikes? I would never have asked for a ride. But we're not stupid, either, and we unloaded the bags, threw them in back, and then lifted the bikes in on top of it all. Just as we were loaded up another man appeared on the road, someone who knew our new friend, and offered to take one of us up. But since we were ready to go, our driver declined and off we went. Joshua rode in back with the bikes and I sat in the cab.<br />
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The man was a baker and was heading home after a day that started at 3am. I explained that we were riding up and over just because it was fun to ride bikes - we were not in a hurry but we like to travel by bike, long distances, during our vacation. "Vacanza..." he said while shaking his hand in that decidedly Italian hand gesture that evokes both sarcasm and sympathy and means something between "that's rough" and "daaaaaayyyuum" and "hey, whatever works".<br />
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He was very kind and it was fun to talk to him. The first flexing of my Italian language skills for any significant amount of time. It only took us 15-20 minutes to get to the town at the top. He pointed out his home when we passed it along the way. He said he also had sheep, chickens, and a garden. He was going to get some lunch and then go home for a nap. He described winter, when he had to get himself out of 2 meters of snow at 3am and down the mountain to the bakery before anyone else was awake. Light fires in the ovens, warm up the kitchen, bake beautiful and delicious breads. It was hard to imagine the humid and hot almost jungle-like scenery covered in snow.<br />
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Every once in a while he yelled in a friendly voice out the window to Joshua "Joshua! Tutti a posto?" <br />
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At the top we thanked him profusely as we pulled all our bags and then our bikes from the back of his truck. He probably saved us two hours of climbing, or maybe he just reminded us how nice it feels to have someone do you a favor.<br />
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And then? We bought some mountain top pastries and headed down the other side.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCj2ux7EEF4/UIv-E3WmLVI/AAAAAAAACXk/yLpMxAkypLk/s1600/out-of-town.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCj2ux7EEF4/UIv-E3WmLVI/AAAAAAAACXk/yLpMxAkypLk/s400/out-of-town.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I failed to take photos of the bikes and Joshua in the back of the truck. I'm sorry. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tWTyNc3Au9o/UIv-HKj_b5I/AAAAAAAACXs/Wc36_z8Dyoo/s1600/snack-stop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tWTyNc3Au9o/UIv-HKj_b5I/AAAAAAAACXs/Wc36_z8Dyoo/s400/snack-stop.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-poWPsiYhBr4/UIv-DeCnjyI/AAAAAAAACXc/4AtMRUYtM3M/s1600/old-bridge-new-bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-poWPsiYhBr4/UIv-DeCnjyI/AAAAAAAACXc/4AtMRUYtM3M/s400/old-bridge-new-bridge.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The road was very low traffic and very tiny. It was beautiful and the entire ride down was again kind like floating in a dream that hurts your hands. The air changed again to a warmer, softer, wetter texture. A wind blew from below and the influence of the Mediterranean was even more apparent as the flora changed from wet, hot jungle-like deep greens to dry-looking, small-leafed, chaparral-like bushes. The road we were on was the new road, but the old road was still there. In the photo above you can see the new bridge on the right and the old bridge on the left. People used to walk up this way to their tiny farms on steep slopes.<br />
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We were a bit early for our meet-up, but we didn't mind. There were no cafes or restaurants where we could hang out, so we poked around trying to find the exact location of the apartment. And once we found it, which took a bit of time, we found an Internet signal floating around, which we used to pass time and collect emails. We ate those pastries, which turned out to be the best cookies ever made.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dagjNUdGzXg/UIwA2bRibdI/AAAAAAAACYM/Umronp2figA/s1600/train-bridge-treats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dagjNUdGzXg/UIwA2bRibdI/AAAAAAAACYM/Umronp2figA/s400/train-bridge-treats.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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crumbly, buttery, flavorful, perfectly sweet</div>
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Oh, and there was this dramatic train bridge.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWVPe1zDWcI/UIwBGgrUkFI/AAAAAAAACY0/nLGK5JanQlI/s1600/train-bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWVPe1zDWcI/UIwBGgrUkFI/AAAAAAAACY0/nLGK5JanQlI/s400/train-bridge.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Our hostess met up with us as arranged and she is a friendly, smart, and interesting woman who showed us around before heading back to work. It rained on and off throughout the rest of the afternoon, our tent and wet things all out on the line the whole time. There were some very handy info pamphlets about Genova left by our hostess and we figured out that we might be able to take a boat-bus, the NaviBus, to Genova in the morning. Sounded better than riding along the large road beside the freeway. We ended up watching a Harry Potter movie with Italian subtitles and going to be early.<br />
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And in the morning, in no hurry, we packed up and shipped out. We rolled down into town and straight toward where we hoped to find the NaviBus, and just as we stopped to try to figure out where it would dock, one came in to a nearby jetty. We rode over and got on just in time. Luckily they took bikes. Just a few Euros each.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QbKHmUZZ9DQ/UIwBu6cLshI/AAAAAAAACY8/16C3N39H6dU/s1600/boat-to-genova.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QbKHmUZZ9DQ/UIwBu6cLshI/AAAAAAAACY8/16C3N39H6dU/s400/boat-to-genova.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hv2EpTGM-c8/UIwCWNqjg2I/AAAAAAAACZE/f4Q9Zzwt0lk/s1600/bikes-on-navibus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hv2EpTGM-c8/UIwCWNqjg2I/AAAAAAAACZE/f4Q9Zzwt0lk/s400/bikes-on-navibus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iaEgchcJ-1w/UIwCYrUgGGI/AAAAAAAACZU/XfJb-Mk1mjU/s1600/jolly-verde-navibus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iaEgchcJ-1w/UIwCYrUgGGI/AAAAAAAACZU/XfJb-Mk1mjU/s400/jolly-verde-navibus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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the "Jolly Verde"</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C7RSSS8cS2g/UIwCXdFnCgI/AAAAAAAACZM/_WkjcVY3QYY/s1600/genova-navibus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C7RSSS8cS2g/UIwCXdFnCgI/AAAAAAAACZM/_WkjcVY3QYY/s400/genova-navibus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Genova from the water</div>
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Once again, our city day was taken up mostly by errands and practicalities. We bought a map of Sardegna and a couple of books in English. Joshua fixed my broken front derailleur cable. Oh yeah, that's right, I couldn't use my front derailleur - the cable housing had finally given way that morning and so my speed was limited to my smallest chainring or whatever downhill momentum I could gain. Oh well. While I asked at the tourist info office about a bike shop, Joshua fixed the situation, making a new ferrule from a presta valve cap. Those things do have a use! And good work Joshua.<br />
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Then we found an outdoor cafe at the end of a piazza where we ate lunch. The owner or manager admired our bikes. He had a fancy road bike leaning against the building by the door to the cafe. The piazza, having a dead-end, was a great place to leave the bikes. The owner/manager said he'd keep an eye on them, so we locked them to themselves and took off to see some of the city. And to finally get a haircut and drink prosecco.<br />
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Finding the ferry terminal entrance for a cyclist isn't the easiest thing to do. We put our Los Angeles traffic riding experience to work to get to the passenger terminal, but ended up uncertain since we were technically "vehicles". We did board through the passenger terminal, but we had to take a tiny elevator. My bike barely fit and Joshua had to put the bags in the elevator and carry his bike down the stairs. We got all the way to the reception on the boat - bikes stowed, bags lugged up two or three escalators and one flight of stairs - and found out we were on the wrong boat. Grimaldi sends out two boats within an hour of each other from docks just next to each other going to two different cities on Sardegna. Travelers beware - we showed our boarding passes to three people and none of them noticed we were getting on the wrong boat. Only when the reception guys had no key set up for our cabin number did they look closely.<br />
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It was tight, but we made it to our actual cabin on the right boat before it left the dock. Dinner was a delicious picnic in the cabin, we strolled the very windy deck looking at Genova's lights, and slept deeply until the boat started to pull around to the port at Olbia.marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861860069992721072.post-91955923646047892032012-09-24T00:37:00.000+01:002012-10-24T11:00:12.630+01:00Flat PiemonteAfter a very restful night at <a href="http://www.cascinanuova.com/" target="_blank">Cascina Nuova</a>, we headed out in the morning with the recommendation of another agriturismo outside of Novi Ligure. With not much else in the way of camping options, we figured we'd try that out. We cycled into Valenza on the lookout for groceries and managed to find a gigantic grocery store agli Stati Uniti. I bought way too many groceries because Joshua had been worried we wouldn't have enough food. And then he got really mad that I'd intentionally bought all this extra food for him to carry. Good one, team.<br />
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We rode out of town on Strada Provinciale 78, a fairly large road. We took a right onto a smaller alternative that went toward Riverone and then Montecastello, where our map indicated that there was a bridge across the Fiume Tánaro, a not insignificant river that flows south-north into the Po. The ride up was beautiful, a kind of peaceful and not overly challenging climb through very quiet countryside that just kept getting more lovely. Little farms in little valleys and a cherry tree farm on the top of a ridge. The morning was overcast and we had bouts of insignificant rain. A mere 8kms and a decent descent later, we were in Montecastello, keeping our eyes open for that bridge. We were hoping to avoid Alessandria - big city. But, no bridge appeared.<br />
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We looped back through town and stopped under a tree in a little pull-out to have a snack. It rained. A man pulled in and got out to open his gate for his car. I went over and asked him about a ponte, and he said that there once was one, but it had been washed out a long time ago. The closest was back where we'd come from. Or to go through Alessandria. Dangit. We retraced that lovely little ride, going back up the hill we'd come down and then enjoying the long, slow downhill to Riverone and the 78. Okay, cross the bridge here, take the slightly bigger road.<br />
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Strada Provinciale 82 took us over the freeway and under the train tracks. In a small town we headed for the church tower where we assumed (correctly) that there'd be a bench to sit on. Lunch time. Lunch with the Madonna and her... snake. And some giant hibiscus flowers.<br />
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This day showed us some of the Piemonte that I expected. Kind of a lot of this:<br />
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Lots of pedaling over flat landscapes and not much to gape at. We reached the edges of Novi Ligure and were relieved. We were both ready to be off our saddles. But coming in from the north-north-west was awful. We kept seeing signs that said good stuff was coming up - Novi Ligure, city of wine! City of cheese! City of bread! City of history! But all we saw was industrial outskirts under a grey sky. It was probably the longest 4kms we will ever ride. Once in town we stopped at the first gelateria and bought cappuccinos and gelati. We did ride through the old center and it was pretty nice, but we cruised right through and headed for Cascina degl'Ulivi. On the way out of town we were already on a tiny road that twisted and climbed, a nice change, and under trees and passing old stone walls and (probably) old villas inside them. We wound our way up and found ourselves in another little paradise, where many people were having celebratory lunches (it was about 3pm). There was an outdoor eating area full of people from children to grandparents. They had a magnum of Veuve Clicquot.<br />
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We asked about a room, got settled in, and then wandered the farm. They make wine. There were grapes. And a couple of goats. And some exotic looking ducks. A handful of cows and a horse. And marama puppies - the white guard dogs preferred by shepherds (like Joshua). We cooked our own dinner but bought the couldn't-be-more local wine. It was good.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-joFmJ5f7-EU/UIcVfYfUs-I/AAAAAAAACSA/V2FW9rBMaQU/s1600/boil-black-rice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-joFmJ5f7-EU/UIcVfYfUs-I/AAAAAAAACSA/V2FW9rBMaQU/s400/boil-black-rice.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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waiting for black rice to finish boiling</div>
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We'd hoped to meet the people running the place, but they were kind of running around and it was Sunday night, so once that was over they disappeared. Ooooh well. Overcast weather, drips and drops of rain here and there, and two days of climbing over the mountain range that runs all along Italy, the Appenini, to get to Genova, in our future. Early to bed.<br />
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And pretty early to rise. Our room included breakfast, which we had at 8:30am. Then we were out the door and back on the road. We continued on the curvy, climby roads in the neighborhood, heading up and through and back down the other side of little towns perched on top of steep hills. It was overcast again and downright foggy on the ridge tops, but quite warm. Right in the clouds.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Ccii1gXqoU/UIccHy5oIYI/AAAAAAAACSo/W55Gc8mydDg/s1600/warm-but-foggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Ccii1gXqoU/UIccHy5oIYI/AAAAAAAACSo/W55Gc8mydDg/s400/warm-but-foggy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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But the scenery was varied and beautiful, with lots of steep vineyards in tight valleys. Unfortunately, not the kind of weather my camera can handle.<br />
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It did then pour for a minute or two. And one layer of clouds parted.<br />
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We made it to Gavi in good time and we did some gaping.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yP3bW46RIjA/UIcc629F2UI/AAAAAAAACTA/zdGYEDQ_Naw/s1600/another-perfect-italian-town.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yP3bW46RIjA/UIcc629F2UI/AAAAAAAACTA/zdGYEDQ_Naw/s400/another-perfect-italian-town.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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And stopped for a cappuccino and a snack.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YR4N7HGh4wM/UIcc8ZpBZfI/AAAAAAAACTI/V9fnAKgIMCI/s1600/cappuccino-break.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YR4N7HGh4wM/UIcc8ZpBZfI/AAAAAAAACTI/V9fnAKgIMCI/s400/cappuccino-break.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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From Gavi, it's most definitely uphill for a while. Our friends at the <a href="http://whereisyourbicycle.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/piemonte-and-incredible-confluence-of.html" target="_blank">bike/river</a> center two days before had told us about Passo della Bocchetta, a beautiful climb up and over to get to Genova. They said something about bicyclists doing it often or a race or something. It seemed like our best bet for a quiet route towards the Mediterranean. We turned onto the 160 in Gavi and started to do some relatively chill climbing. The sun kind of came out and it was still a warm day, humid but not uncomfortable. Again, two layers of clouds.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-31gZ6xJz_po/UIcegP7OZYI/AAAAAAAACTQ/pkBsppUmmkU/s1600/again-clouds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-31gZ6xJz_po/UIcegP7OZYI/AAAAAAAACTQ/pkBsppUmmkU/s400/again-clouds.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NoY2zsxHaV8/UIceh0FvLSI/AAAAAAAACTY/5T7lZZJq6us/s1600/italian-villa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NoY2zsxHaV8/UIceh0FvLSI/AAAAAAAACTY/5T7lZZJq6us/s400/italian-villa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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a villa</div>
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We did not have a plan for the evening. We hoped to wild camp somewhere, or make it over the pass, or stay at an inn along the way. Just winging it. But we needed water.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jezZGNBm12Q/UIcg4kp1ZbI/AAAAAAAACTo/JAmIodt2x18/s1600/beautiful-italy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jezZGNBm12Q/UIcg4kp1ZbI/AAAAAAAACTo/JAmIodt2x18/s400/beautiful-italy.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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At Voltaggio we turned into town to see about a water fountain and perhaps another cappuccino. As we were stopped in the square, it started to rain for real. It poured. I stood under a tree and Joshua looked for some water - yes, very funny. And at one point we put our water bottles out in the rain to let them fill that way. It was raining that hard.<br />
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In Hamburg we bought these bicycle ponchos which we've been using a bit. They're huge and cover the whole cyclist from hands on handlebars to butt on seat. Mine is orange and Joshua's is day-glo green. Don't worry, there'll be photos shortly. We stood in the rain, staying mostly dry, hoping that it would pass. We were there for at least 10 minutes. When it started to lighten a bit, we rode off thinking we'd knock on a door and ask for water. Then we saw the water fountain.<br />
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The road narrowed the farther we went. We were following a small river that turned into a small stream at the bottom of a narrow gorge. The wind started to blow in our faces. This narrow valley is lush and green and meanders up, up, up.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mVaXCBbI3qo/UIcgtjFts9I/AAAAAAAACTg/lbFrWfYVeiY/s1600/up-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mVaXCBbI3qo/UIcgtjFts9I/AAAAAAAACTg/lbFrWfYVeiY/s400/up-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Narrower, steeper. Windier, rainier. There's this magical combination that most bike tourists know about, and it's when some things are against you, but the other things are not, so you just don't mind. Like when it's raining and you're enjoying the scenery, but it's not windy. Or when it's windy but sunny and the hills are rolling up and down. This is not what we got. We got the complete package of "you-shall-not-pass!!!"<br />
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What could I mean by that? The heavens opened up. The rain started in ernest again as we climbed up a steep narrow road and wind whipped down from ahead and told us to turn back. It got darker. We hadn't had lunch yet.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GorZxi6L9W0/UIch1TWMyoI/AAAAAAAACTw/APS-bqJSy0o/s1600/rain-gear-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GorZxi6L9W0/UIch1TWMyoI/AAAAAAAACTw/APS-bqJSy0o/s400/rain-gear-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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tried to take a picture</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6xgDOmfQE5Y/UIch3D-lOtI/AAAAAAAACT4/IvlJvEcdl5I/s1600/wet-but-determinted-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6xgDOmfQE5Y/UIch3D-lOtI/AAAAAAAACT4/IvlJvEcdl5I/s400/wet-but-determinted-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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wet, but determined</div>
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We got a couple of rain breaks, kind of. But mostly it just rained, got windier, and got darker. And then the thunder started. Just a little rumble that got closer really fast and then cracks of lightning were shattering just above our heads and we could feel the thunder in our bones. Water streamed down our faces, a puddle formed at the front of my poncho. Just keep pedaling up the hill. Stay warm, right? It was the kind of thunderstorm that creates an instant river flowing down the road and makes you think you should not take shelter under trees - we were drenched, the temperature dropped, no lunch, we were in the wilderness riding our bikes up a long hill toward an 800 meter high pass. Keep pedaling.<br />
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It felt kind of like this for a very long 30-45 minutes.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vf3yJecoJgQ/UIcjayMI-wI/AAAAAAAACUA/YUs4-0hX3bc/s1600/how-it-felt-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vf3yJecoJgQ/UIcjayMI-wI/AAAAAAAACUA/YUs4-0hX3bc/s400/how-it-felt-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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What can you do? Keep pedaling.<br />
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We took a break in a pullout when it seemed to be letting up a very little bit. Looked each other over, looked at the rain, "we should keep moving and stay warm", "okay, let's go". Maybe we exchanged the sentiment that a hotel tonight might be nice.<br />
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The road did that thing where it felt like each turn could be the last and then we'd be at the top, but it was not the top many times. The storm did pass over us, with lingering thunder and lightning and a slightly less blinding rain. As it got lighter again and less wet, the wind also died down. We kept climbing.<br />
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When we did finally reach the top, it felt sudden. There it was, Passo della Bocchetta. It was still a bit rainy and it was cold, we were soaked so we quickly changed into dry clothing under our ponchos and added a plastic layer of rain gear to try to stay dry and warm. Thank goodness for wool.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EElnaNFwTu0/UIck61jdvjI/AAAAAAAACUQ/TxJtfsxtpS8/s1600/wet-cold-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EElnaNFwTu0/UIck61jdvjI/AAAAAAAACUQ/TxJtfsxtpS8/s400/wet-cold-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Joshua went around the corner and said the wind was howling on the other side, so we'd be better off where we were. Going down the other side while we were wet and it was cold out didn't sound good. And we hadn't had lunch.<br />
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And then this happened:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_QjZzsh6xho/UIck5X4Cf_I/AAAAAAAACUI/SColKY7Oo_o/s1600/glimpse-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_QjZzsh6xho/UIck5X4Cf_I/AAAAAAAACUI/SColKY7Oo_o/s400/glimpse-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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What the heck is that? Could it be? Is it coming this way? We just stood there watching as it did this:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--TG1tokQQ8I/UIcllWKe5bI/AAAAAAAACUs/ExDDRD5_tPU/s1600/more-light-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--TG1tokQQ8I/UIcllWKe5bI/AAAAAAAACUs/ExDDRD5_tPU/s400/more-light-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WJy5E0YVPfE/UIclkZ8kyII/AAAAAAAACUo/PTCqC_z4ULc/s1600/even-better-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WJy5E0YVPfE/UIclkZ8kyII/AAAAAAAACUo/PTCqC_z4ULc/s400/even-better-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iubV8J1lTXM/UIcljQz3ThI/AAAAAAAACUg/yn89HDA1XoQ/s1600/cant-believe-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iubV8J1lTXM/UIcljQz3ThI/AAAAAAAACUg/yn89HDA1XoQ/s400/cant-believe-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oW1H-5kUYAA/UIcliEVUL-I/AAAAAAAACUY/auIvsMTizeg/s1600/and-clear-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oW1H-5kUYAA/UIcliEVUL-I/AAAAAAAACUY/auIvsMTizeg/s400/and-clear-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Seriously. Oh right, it's only 3 in the afternoon. That's the Mediterranean.<br />
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It went from this:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RF5-g5YH2XU/UIcl6auNncI/AAAAAAAACU4/yVtHF3sShmA/s1600/top-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RF5-g5YH2XU/UIcl6auNncI/AAAAAAAACU4/yVtHF3sShmA/s400/top-passo-della-bocchetta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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the grey thing in the middle is the place where they put the names of the winners of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giro_dell'Appennino" target="_blank">this</a> race.</div>
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To this:<br />
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Maybe it took 45 minutes. Maybe an hour. We just stood there watching because we didn't know what else to do and it was stunning. The clouds were clinging to the ridges below us and wisps of mist would billow up and dissipate at a visible rate. The view was constantly changing.<br />
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At sometime when it was still cloudy but we could see that the line of blue sky was headed our way for certain, a dude on a bike came from above us on the rocky path, on a mountain bike, rolled down the the road, turned back, and rode back up. What? There's a video about it here:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy62dtZH_jQwrceOFXwygQOd448KcFLbRtmkxeXf3z1yuux4FXnTRVEQhHIJWH_nB2dDw4KiIAHNvgc5DA1mg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Heh. We were thrilled. There was a picnic area just above on the path and we set up our clothesline and dried out all of our stuff. We had lunch at a picnic table and realized that the city we were looking down on was Genova. We walked up one path to see what was there, but headed back to the campsite because it wasn't sunny and we wanted to be in the sun. A sign said that we were in the park - the Parco Naturale delle Capanne di Marcarolo - a park we'd been in for quite some time. Rules of the park are that you can't camp, unless you're above 900 meters, then you can stay for one night. Yeah, okay, whatever.<br />
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Some clouds did roll over again in the early evening, but we had sunshine until it set behind the highest ridge to the west. We watched the clouds coming in from over the Mediterranean with an eye for another storm. A few people stopped by the picnic area. One man had lost one of his bocce balls a few nights before and Joshua had found it while scoping out a good spot for the tent. Another man had come up because he had been stuck at work and needed to go for a drive and clear his head - we asked him if he thought it would rain again and he said, "No, fanno un giro." The clouds were going around (literally: making a turn) and we wouldn't have more rain overnight.<br />
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This is the border of Liguria.<br />
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<br />marks moodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403328875634145657noreply@blogger.com0