Let’s look back at the 2012 Tour de France! After La Planche des Belles Filles, we drove a little way off the course to our hotel in Mulhouse, which is not far from the Swiss border. Also in our hotel: the promotion team for Nesquik. We enjoyed watching their nightly routine — mostly refilling the hoppers for the young women who tossed goodies to the crowds each day.
This first photo is where we watched Stage 8 the next morning: halfway up a small mountain above Saint-Hippolyte in Doubs. It would be a magnificent race for some of our favorite cyclists. (more…)
19 November 2012
Tour de France: One for the good guys
20 August 2012
Tour de France: La Planche des Belles Filles
In late May, we poured over maps of the stages of the Tour de France. This year, we said, we would travel to see the cyclists climb the real mountains that we’ve seen so many times on TV.
The Alps didn’t fit our schedules and the Pyrenees — well, they are very far away. But there are also real mountains in one of our favorite regions, Alsace-Lorraine (and parts of Franche-Comté), and those stages fell on a convenient weekend. So we found a budget hotel and booked one night, planning to watch two stages.
We were excited about the finish of Stage 7 on the top of La Planche des Belles Filles, which has an incline of 22% for the last 500 meters! Anita’s only concern was whether she could keep from yelling at all the fans that always crowd around the leaders on the top of the big climbs.
It was lovely weather when we arrived in Lorraine.
We stayed overnight just outside of Mulhouse, not more than an hour away. We were exhausted and spent what little energy we had strategizing for Stage 8.
Some related webpages:
1 May 2012
4 August 2011
Going native — for the moment
When we moved to Dublin, just over four years ago, I had many coats. Unfortunately, all of them were far more appropriate to the temperatures and seasons of Chicagoland. I found myself in Ireland either dry, but cold, or wet, but warm. I could never hit the sweet spot of warm and dry.
Not long after we moved, we spend a weekend with close friends in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. For those that may have forgotten, Galway is even more wet that Dublin. During our visit, our hosts extolled the virtues of their jackets – the L.L. Bean Weather Channel 3-1 coat. This coat was created for the Weather Channel folks when they were out in the field. It seemed ideal for travel in Ireland (and in Europe). My mom was visiting Dublin not long after that, so I had her order one for me.
Some of you may remember the green jacket that makes me easy to find in a crowd. (As opposed to Will’s silly black outerwear, which he uses to slip away, unnoticed, into crowds of style-conscious European tourists.) Often, I would wear just the fleece layer, taking advantage of the versatile three-in-one nature of the jacket. On the right, you can see me sporting the green on a pleasant late-spring day in the Netherlands. (more…)
9 May 2011
We <3 Zwolle
Anita’s work frequently takes her to Zwolle, a city of about 120,000 in the western half of the Netherlands. Will tags along, as often as he can.
We like Zwolle, a lot.
The Bugle accepted no promotional considerations from the tourist board or anything. Will just thinks that a public declaration of our fondness for Zwolle is appropriate at this time. (more…)
18 February 2011
I speak French with a German accent, apparently
I had to travel to Morocco to get a straight answer. French adults don’t acknowledge my accent, bless their hearts. French children just say that I talk funny.
Morocco’s unofficial second language is French. (Arabic is the first language, and the Berber family of languages are second, officially.)
Anita says that it is like Florida for France, with all the French retirees in campervans for long vacations, and in the resorts for slightly shorter trips. That certainly appeared to be true in Agadir, a city rebuilt for the purpose of foreign tourism.
My first diagnosis was from a supervisor at one of the resort’s restaurants; she simply assumed I was German. (more…)
19 October 2010
Cruise Photos: Corfu / Kerkyra
We were promised sun in Luxembourg yesterday, but we got something more like early winter. So my thoughts turned to our cruise to the Greek Islands this spring.
Corfu was the first actual Greek island on the itinerary. It was also one of the largest, and one of the least Greek! It lies very close to the coasts of Albania and Greece, but its history lies closer to Venice and Dubrovnik.
You’ll learn that, and more, from the photoset on Flickr devoted to our day in Corfu. If you’d rather just look at the pretty pictures, we recommend the slideshow. And, of course, there’s always the set of leftover photos.
What? You want a preview before you commit? (more…)
4 October 2010
Cruise Day 3: Dubrovnik
Day Three of our cruise (in May and June of this year) took us to Venice’s medieval rival: Ragusa. It is now known as Dubrovnik, Croatia — and it’s an UNESCO Heritage Site! So we could tick another box on the list, at the very least.
Regardless of what the UN thinks, Dubrovnik was an ideal stop for us. It’s a gorgeous walled city with lots of historical significance, from the first millennium to the present day. We walked around the high city walls and then descended into the Old Town for more.
We have lots of photos to share — as usual, in two photosets on Flickr:
- The main photoset, with plenty of descriptions and commentary
- The leftover photos, which fill in some of the details
Here’s a preview of what you’ll see: (more…)
24 August 2010
Cruise photos, at last!
You 
may remember that, this May, we celebrated our long-term success with a cruise. Now, our short-term delay in posting our photos from that cruise has come to an end!
As usual, we’ll release photosets on Flickr with extensive captions — one or two days at a time. We wouldn’t want to overwhelm you! To begin, you can enjoy our pictures of the first two days, as we travel to Venice, board the ship, and thrill to the sailaway down the Guidecca Canal. You’ll see parts of our Crown Princess cruise ship, the city of Venice from dozens of high angles, and a few other treats.
If that description isn’t enough to tempt you, (more…)
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7 July 2010
German adventures, Day 3: Baden-Baden and tantrums
Technically, we arrived in Baden-Baden at the end of a long day two. We checked into our hotel, found a lovely place to dine al fresco (with blankets to help keep us warm in the chilly May air) and enjoyed a relaxing night after a busy and interesting day. We retired early, intending to spend the day exploring the town and possibly a bit of the Black Forest south of town.
The BBB&B favorite guide Rick had a walk through Baden-Baden that hit all the major (and some of the minor) sights. The photoset will take you through the details, but I thought I would give you a preview of some of the lovely things. (more…)