Welcome (back)

Well it's been at least two months since we've put a post on here but our friends at British Telecom have finally cooperated in providing internet so we are now mobile again. It's been a good end to a drizzly summer with some nice wee adventures to keep us happy. Autumn days are here (photo from my morning commute in Green Park):

There are a couple of great new websites that may be of interest:

Che and Erin are now well entrenched in South America and have started a fantastic website with some incredible photos, Juliet and Logan are on the road again and Jake and Lou have been travelling well ... for ever. Check out their sites in the links in the sidebar or below:

www.traveleor.com/logzjulz

www.erinandche.blogspot.com/

www.louandjake.blogspot.com/

Toblerone for breakfast

A few photos from our long weekend in Lausanne, Switzerland. This was disguised as a weekend of running, but once our races were over, it quickly degenerated into an excuse for demolishing Lindt chocolate by the cake load (new favourite is the Fig & caramel!).

We took a beautiful drive around the vineyards alongside Lake Geneva on Saturday. It was a spectacular day but the sunshine in the photos hides the fact that a freezing wind roared up the lake all day and was a bit restrictive. I was pretty relieved to survive my first attempt at driving a right hand drive car on the right hand side of the road and equally as relieved to ward off some stern directions from my co-driver.

After gladly booming the freebies at the pre-race "pasta party", we watched with relief to see the Springboks lift the Rugby World Cup and then an early night before our race.

Gaybs started first at 10am in the 1/4 marathon and carved up in her international debut running for New Zealand. I had to wait until 1:30pm for the half marathon to start. It was a fantastic run along the shore of the lake and through some local villages with bands and good local support along the way so there wasn't much opportunity to dwell on being broken.

After the run we drove out to Gruyeres to have dinner with the Cruickshank gang and promptly put back on all the calories we had just lost by stuffing ourselves full of cheese fondue. I, of course purchased the obligatory kick ass army knife with all the trimmings that I will never use but for a man who has grown up with Macgyver, that is not a problem.

Drive around the vines:

Hanging out on the lake front with my beloved motorway visible in the background:

Gabrielle is easy to spot, one of the only people not in lycra!

To some these are just photos of animals in a paddock with bells on. To me this is a complete mystery.

Views of Gruyeres at sunset, with the cheese fondue at Le Chalet:

Dining with Jason, H, Lucy, Lana, Dan and G.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was the perfect city for a weekend break with beautiful architecture, canals, galleries as well as the notorious red light district. It is a very compact city, so we managed to walk everywhere.

Our first morning found us eating pancakes at a brilliant little place recommended by Hamish's mum, and then on to Anne Frankhuis where, while standing in a queue with about 100 other people, Hamish loudly asked "did Anne Frank write a book?"

The weather was drizzly the whole time, so instead of hiring a bike and taking a trip out to the countryside to look at windmills and clogs, we decided to go to the movies one afternoon! Not a very dutch thing to do, but we ended up seeing the Bourne Ultimatum which we both highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

We also took in the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. Other than that we just drank the local brew (Heineken), ate waffles and generally took it easy.

Oh, couldn't forget the Red Light District..... I found it all very odd.....near naked prostitutes propositioning passers-by from their little neon lit cubicles. We didn't last there long, especially as we had to dodge all the English stag parties also frequenting the area :)