Blogs from Europe - page 11719

Tuesday 5th June Broke my record, got home in 19min 55sec, average speed 26.9km/hr. Not bad for London's streets. Riding can be hairy to start with, but (Don't worry Mum!) a lot of people do it and you get used to it. It's good fun dragging off other cyclists till the next set of lights, I beat most off the line and by the time the serious riders have clipped in I've usually got a bit of a head start. The buses are the worst culprits on the road, they'll pull in front of you, then proceed to immediately pull over into a bus stop, leaving no gap on the left, forcing you to go around the right. Most other vehicles are good at leaving a bit of space though and the traffic never gets faster ... read more

We arrived in Paris at approximately 4:30pm on the 11/6/07. Due to the fact that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, we made a mad dash to see it on our arrival in to Paris. The Louvre is just beautiful & definitely a must see! You could spend days in it and still not have seen everything!! Steve seemed to grasp the French language immediately quite well… or so he thought! On entering the Louvre, he informed everyone not to worry about finding our way back to the bus, that we are at the ‘Sortie’ exit and to follow the signs. He would have had trouble with that one, if Kim hadn’t have informed him that Sortie actually means exit/way out in French and I’m sure that there would have been many of them in that ... read more

Oh, what a needed and very much appreciated break from the city!!! Well, it wasn't much for the city...I love London, but it was good to go to a seaside town, well, yeah, especially for it being a SEASIDE town!! I can't even remember the last time I had gone to the beach... Weekend was all good! Started with a night out on Friday with the bosses! It was most excellent... out for dinner at a really cool restaurant, lots of champagne and wine, then off to a Chelsea club with heaps more of Jäger and vodka with my bosses Jackie and David and David's hilarious friend Marc. Saturday night out locally with the German-Croatian neighbour exploring the great variety of bars and pubs of Fulham. Sunday early morning, Victoria Station to meet my friend Craig ... read more

Moscow right on time and Alexander was there waiting for us. Customs was a snap since everyone coming into the country has been pre-vetted by the visa process. Equally as nice was that Iberia lived up to its name and the luggage arrived WITH us. They are said to have the industry's best record on that. The interim Rector of the seminary was there with his car and drove us first to buy groceries for breakfast, etc. and then to the seminary. Alexander showed us some of the seminary and introduced us to the work we will do. By then I was brain dead without any sleep except a one hour nap from Madrid to Moscow. So we headed to the room, unpacked, showered and went to sleep. It got dark about 11:00 (I woke up ... read more

I am not sure how to explain how it is that I have only been in Tuscany for less than 24 hours and I feel like I could give up the rest of my trip and stay here. For a long amount of time. Tuscany is everything that I have been trying to squeeze out of Rome and Venice but couldnt quite get. It is everything you imagine Tuscany to be and I feel completely happy here. We are going into Pisa today and I am excited but I would be content with just exploring the hills around Casa Cares where we are staying with Paul Roundtree. Just the fact that he lives and works here drives me crazy with jealousy. Paul picked us up at the train station after some confusion on how the ... read more