Ok, that does it. This is getting ridiculous. Cinque Terre in Italy is simply the most beautiful place on earth. Yes, there are tourists here, but not as many as you would think would be in the most beautiful place on earth.  Just a short train ride south from Genoa, and we’re in this Mediterranean […]

Read More Cinque Terre, or fifty calories from paradise

(This is a catchup post for events that happened on Tuesday.) We’ve been hinting about this for a few days, so here it comes. Our second day with the rental road bikes in Bourg d’Oisan had us out on the most famous climb in all of cycling. The traditional climb involves “21 classic hairpin turns” […]

Read More Alpe d’Huez

The haggard (and a little smelly…) bikers experienced a nice change of pace in Genoa Italy last night. 1,000 thanks to Dr. David Branson (Madison West shout out!) for a fabulous “home” experience last night. David opened his lovely apartment up to us and we took full advantage! Wine, cheese, laundry, home-cooked meal, great conversation […]

Read More The Kindness of Old Friends (while traveling)

So, not only do the French speak what can only be descibed as an entirely different language (who knew?), but they have also inconsiderately parked one of their national holidays (and long holiday weekends) smack dab in the middle of our trip. Having been without internet access for a few days, we were unable to […]

Read More On the Inconvenience of Bastille Day

Sorry, no pictures and little content. We’ve been internet deprived but very busy and tired in the village of Bourg d’Oisan, which sits at the base of Alpe d’Huez, the most famous mountain climb in all of cycling. Lots to write about, but it will have to wait until our train trip tomorrow because pizza […]

Read More Late update

By 9:45 am we had already gone from Strasbourg to the Mona Lisa. No lines to speak of at the Louvre, which is a big difference from the 2 he wait a few days ago. Our gamble paid off. It really doesn’t need to be said but the Louvre is pretty much the best deal […]

Read More Epic day at an end

Strasbourg turned out to be a nice little city that is very tourist-friendly without making you feel like you’re at EuroDisney. First thing we did upon arrival was go to the tourism bureau, a small office hidden in the train station (there was a more conspicuous one right downtown near the cathedral, but we didn’t […]

Read More Strasblog

Amongst other things, we do have to do laundry pretty much every other day.  We each have about three changes of clothes, so we wash two sets while wearing another. It’s not a very efficient process and the drying line can detract from the ambiance a bit, but them’s the breaks. You can see our […]

Read More Laundry Day

(very minor TdF spoilers at the end) Quick update, this morning we were up bright and early (5:30) and said our goodbyes to Reims and said hello to the TGV and then Strasbourg. Very interesting history to this French city. It has been in a perpetual tug-o-war between France and Germany because of its powerful […]

Read More Strasbourg