Summer Fun

Summer has been great! As you know, it started off with a visit from my family (see previous entry), and has since been filled with bike rides, travels and adventures. There are many stories to be told, but they're secret :)

Here's a run down of what I've been up to these past couple of months.

June 5-11: Family visit

My family (minus dad) in Montreux

June 12-13: Went up to northern Switzerland to watch the last two days of the Tour of Suisse. Levi Leipheimer won..it was great!

Levi about to start the Time Trial, which gave him the overall victory!

June 14-21: A lot of bike riding with a couple of friends here.

Climbing up the Col du Pillon

June 21: The Summer Solstice. On this day I went on my longest bike ride ever. Two friends and I set off at dawn in hopes of riding over 200 miles. We finished our ride nearly 16 hours later and covered 202 miles. 12.5 hours were spent pedaling...the other time was spent eating on the side of the road. No pictures from this ride because none of us wanted to carry a camera for the day.

June 22-28: Three nights in Amsterdam. Three nights in Brussels. Lots of sight-seeing, museums, art galleries, etc.

Hanging out in Amsterdam

Drinking a beer at the Grand Palace in Brussels

June 30: My birthday. A bike ride, plus dinner and drinks with friends in Leysin.

July 1-10: Reserved a bed in an apartment in Livorno, Italy (western most part of Tuscany). I ended up getting a 3 bedroom apartment all to myself. I went there with the intention of riding my bike. Tuscany in July is HOT and HUMID. I'm not used to heat and humidity anymore, so my time there turned into a sight-seeing trip with just a little bit of riding. So I spent time in Livorno, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, and Sienna. I would love to return to the Tuscany region, but in the fall or spring when it's not so hot and crowded. My buddy Hayes joined me on July 5.

Hayes, and two new friends from Philly

Vernazza, Italy

Pisa. I took the silly pics too, but this one looked nice.

A replica of "The David." I followed the rules and didn't take any pics of the real "The David."

Sienna

Piazza del Campo, Sienna

July 12-16: I ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain for two days. Went to Bilbao, Spain for a day to check out the Guggenheim Museum, and The Arcade Fire happened to be playing there that night, so I watched them in concert as well. I didn't get a feel for Pamplona, but the running with the bulls was hands down, AMAZING! And I lived :) Northern Spain is beautiful, and Bilbao was a clean, friendly city...there is one international school there...hmmm. Spain was followed by catching the first two mountain stages of the Tour de France. These stages were in SW France in the Pyrenees mountains. I want to go back there. Sammy Sanchez won the first stage watched, and Thor Hushovd won the second.

The Guggenheim in Bilbao.

Hanging out before the bulls.

The bulls in the background. I didn't get any pictures while running because the police told me to put away my camera or I would be removed.

Thor Hushovd winning Stage 13

Sammy Sanchez up the final climb of Stage 12.

July 18-22: Paris, France. I keep going back to Paris because I love that city. I've visited four times and there is always plenty of new places for me to visit each time. This trip was planned in order to meet up with a family that I worked with in South Korea. They are back living in Canada, but were taking a 3 week family vacation through Europe. We were able to time it to meet in Paris.

Hanging out with the Leigh family in Paris.

A storm rolling into Paris.

July 22-29: Long-time friend Matt McClanahan visits. Time was spent in Grenoble and Chamonix, France, Interlaken, Switzerland, and near my place here in Leysin. We watched the Time Trial of the TDF, went rock climbing, climbed the Via Ferrata on the Tour d'Ai, went canyoning in Interlaken, cycling around here, ate some food and drank some beer. A great visit.

After climbing the Via Ferrata on the Tour D'Ai.

Matt and I before we enter the canyon.

Cadel Evans at the start of the Time Trial. He was in the Yellow Jersey after this ride!!

So here I am on August 5 relaxing in my "apartment" watching "The Social Network." The last few days have been spent watching way too many movies and riding my bike since I didn't get to do that much over the last few weeks. Work starts in 2 weeks. Work gets in the way of my life, but it also enables me to do all this fun stuff...a catch 22.