Bakker Bugle Blog

September and October were packed with many events. Some of those events deserve their own blog post. I will highlight them here, but I plan more detailed blog posts in the future.

My future blog post list additions:
• Will’s trip to Toulouse, France
• Anita’s trip to Delhi, India
• Our trip to Prague, Czech Republic
• Random Prime Minister spotting

The first week of September I was in Basel, Switzerland for a quick work trip. While most of my time was spent with my boss in meetings, we did manage to get out and walk around the city a bit. Basel is lovely but has a far more “working” vibe than many of the other spots in Switzerland.

Looking ahead at the calendar, we realized that the rest of September would likely have travel for both of us. We decided to make the first weekend a big Lux weekend. We started immediately on Friday by going to dinner at the fair. Schueberfouer was wrapping up and we still hadn’t had our big fish! Will and enjoyed our annual eating tradition and then walked around the grounds one last time for the season.

While I go to the farmer’s market nearly every Saturday, it is a rare treat when Will joins me. He offered to take a photo of me, so I decided to share it with you.

Our next adventure on Saturday was a bike ride around the west of the country. We didn’t quite make it to Belgium this time, but we came close. I also got “show my stripes” with my awesome Trek kit.

Our Saturday finished with the best event of the whole day. A close friend celebrated a special birthday and we were invited to the family party. We had a great time at the most Luxembourgish of gatherings I’ve ever been to.

There was only one way to end the weekend and that was another bike ride. This time, we drove up into the north of the country to explore areas that we had not cycled through before. There was a wicked downhill at the end of the ride that nearly took us both out. We managed to not only survive but we can’t wait to do it again! This time, Will showed his stripes!

After a huge Lux weekend, life got back to normal. The second weekend in September Will was off to Toulouse, France for meetings and events. He’ll tell you more about that at some point. I spent the weekend cycling with friends, meeting friends for drinks, and relaxing around the house. I don’t have any pictures of the relaxing, but I did get one of my new favorite drink!

On September 18, we celebrated Jens Voigt breaking the “hour record” in cycling. Will and I have had the pleasure of meeting Jens, which is another story entirely. We were excited to invite Rachel and her household over to watch the event, since her husband was one of the technical team and he played a big role in the success of the night. While Jens didn’t hold the record long (it has already been broken by another) it was great to watch him succeed one last time on the bike.

Then, it was time for me to depart to Delhi, India. In August I learned I might need to travel to Delhi, but the trip hadn’t been scheduled yet. When the trip was finally scheduled, we needed to be there nearly immediately so it meant leaving on Saturday morning. I’ll cover Delhi more separately, but for now here are a few photos.

Back from Delhi, it was time for Will and me to enjoy more of Luxembourg. First up was Oktoberfest with our friends. While Luxembourg’s Oktoberfest is small compared to those in Germany, it is a tremendous amount of fun. We were there with four other great people and we had a blast.

The Fiesta Integrale, which we had participated in before in 2010, occurred on Sunday. Rachel did a bang-up job of documenting the day, so I’ll just link to her. Thanks Rachel!

And then September was over. Thankfully, October looked like it would be a quieter month, as September exhausted us. During the first weekend, I enjoyed a Marche Gourmand. Again, Rachel’s blog post will cover for my laziness. It was a fun day all around and I want to try another one soon.

Will and I managed to pull ourselves away from work for a few days for a quick trip to Prague. As I mentioned, this deserves a post or two of its own. For now, enjoy some photos.

Apple season (and apple juice) is quite important in Lux. On the third Sunday of October we met Vikki and two other friends for a relaxing Sunday cycling adventure. Our friend selected the route and we headed out towards Gonderange. After we got started, I remembered that Sunday was Gonderange’s Viz Fest (or Apple Juice Fest). Everybody in the group loved apple juice and everyone was excited to stop for a glass (or two!). Because this is Luxembourg, there were also sausages. However, I am sad to report that this was a crémant-free event. I couldn’t believe it, but the apple juice was so tasty I didn’t mind a bit.
[Editor’s note: the camera that took the group photo is currently on holiday. As soon as it returns, the photo will be added to the post.]

We also said “see you soon” to some of our friends we cycled with to the Viz fest. They are off to their next adventure halfway around the world and are very excited about the opportunity. We’re sure we’ll be cycling with them again someday but we’ll miss them terribly in Luxembourg.

Finally, someone awfully special turned one year old. We had a great time at his lovely party.

Life continues to be busy around here, but we are happy to fill it with friends, fun, and lots of cycling!