Peter's Team Diabetes Triathlon (and formerly Marathon) Blog

After a LONG travel day we arrived home late on Friday night. What a great experience its been to spend a month travelling with my son! As soon as I can I'll have a few pics up here on the blog.

Had a very nice time in Brussels. We arrived on their National Day so the city had all sorts of things on - bands, parades, displays, flypasts and of course fireworks. the fireworks were fantastic - not as long as the Paris display but more intense for the duration of the show. Great music too. They were held right in front of the royal palace in the heart of the city. While in Brussels we also visited the famous Grand Place, some chocolate manufactures and on our last morning the Museum of Musical Instruments. It was neat because you wore infrared headphones throughout that demonstrated the sounds of the various instruments - some of them very ancient and others very modern.

In the afternoon we took the Eurostar high speed train and in less than 2 1/2 hours we were in the heart of London.

The past two days have been full of the typical London tourist things - the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe (where we are to see a show on Thrusday night), Tate Modern Gallery, British Museum, Buckingham Palace, Westmister Abbey, Big Ben, etc. Tomorrw we are on a bus tour to see Stonehenge. Thursday we hope to see the Changing of the Guard and then its time to come home.

Once back I will be downloading the 1700 pictures that I've taken on the digital camera and will be finding a few good ones to post on this blog.

Hello faithful readers. It has been difficult to get to an internet cafe that had both reasonable rates and reasonable connection speed so it´s been a while since I blogged.

We are now in Brussels after 3 days in Amsterdam and 2 in the Flanders region of Belgium. Amsterdam was lovely. We toured the Heineken brewery, took a canal cruise, went to the Van Gogh gallery, rented bikes for an afternoon and ate so,e great Surinamese and Indonesian food. Think spicy !!!

From there we travelled by train to Ypres (also spelled Ieper) which was to be our base for a trip to Vimy Ridge. Without doubt, this was the highlight for ,e of our entire trip. the Vimy monument is amongst the most beautiful I´ve seen and its meaning is so profound. While the scene of one of Canada´s most important military victories (April 1917) it was also the site where thousands of Cdn boys lost their lives. In addition to Vimy we visited the Lightfield Crater Cemetary, Notre Dame de Lorette - where 70,000 (!!) French are buried, Cabaret Rouge Cemetary where the body of Canada´s Unknown soldier was taken from and a German WW1 cemetary.

This morning I got up early and went for a run from the Varlet Farm B&B where we were staying to visit the Tyne Cot Cemetary. It is the largest Commonwealth war tary in the world. I was entirely alone and had the chance to plant a cross of remembrance in front a stone, one of many, that marks the burial of a Canadian soldier known only unto God.

Now in Brussles and tomorrow off to London for the final leg of the tour

Todqy is the French republic`s National Day highlighted by a military parade along the Champs d`Elysees starting at the Arc de Triomphe. Chris and I arrived early to try and get a good vantage point and we managed to get one about half way along the route.

The parade began with a mounted band that escorted the French President and that was folled by a nounted calvary unit. Then came the planes led by jets streaming the french national colours of red white and blue. After a large air displqy there was a march past of dismounted troops and then a roll past of vehicles fro, every branch. The parade ended with a fly past of helicopters.

Although we waited a LONG time, I think both Chris and I felt it was worth it.

Afterwards we went to the Louvre which is magnificent; We of course saw the Mona Lisa. The Louvre itself is an amazing building blending new and old elements. Best of all, because it was the national holiday the entrance was free for all !!!

Tonight we are going to end the day with a fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower. How cool is that!!

We have now co,pleted the second portion of our trip - the week in Italy. It was absolutely fantastic!!!

After " full days in Ro,e we spent two in Florence qnd then é in Venice. It is hqrd to pick a "favourite" from amongst the three. Chris is fond of Venice, probably because we got to hang out on the beach there for a while. I must agree though, it is a special plqce. Our hotel was on the Lido de Venizia, one of the outer Islands. It took qbout 20 minutes by vaporetto water bus to get to the main part of the city. Once there you walked qnd walked down alleys and over bridges. The gondolas, water taxis, water buses, private boats, working barges and so on were everywhere.

Venice is famous for Piazza San Marco which we visited of course. Venice is also fqnous for "Murano glass" which is truly beautiful in the form of jewellry or statues.

Our flight from Venice was great. It left on time and arrived early. It gave us a greqt view of Venice qs we left, the Alps en route and then the Eiffel Tower as we arrived. Best of all, the flight only cost 100 euro, about 150 dollars for the pair of us.

Our hotel in Paris is in the Rue de Clichy area so very handy to the metro and all the tourist spots. We are 2 blocks from the famous Moulin Rouge and after an hour we had already eaten our first crepe !!!

Time to sign off. Au revoir.

We are now in Florence and leave for Venice tomorrow. The last two days have been full of galleries - first to the Academia to see Michelangelo's "David" and then to the Uffizi to see treasures of the Italien Rennaisance. Both were great but for true awe-inspiring art there is nothing like the feeling one gets when entering the long hallway and seeing at the end the HUGE sculpture that is David.

Weather has been hot and humid and A/C is unheard of here so sleeping at night is a bit of a challenge. So far the key is to ensure that we are totally exhausted from the day's activity!!

Next on the magical mystery tour is Venice - two days in the sinking city.

We are in Rome now and it is amazing!!!

Trip from Switzerland back to Germany went smoothly. Weather was the pits but not an issue since most of the day was in the car. We drove to Offenburg and stayed again in the castle hostel. We went into the city and walked about the center of town. It is beautiful. Wonder why in the the 3 years that >I lived in Lahr I never once visited this great town except to go to the train station.

The next day we drove via the Baden High Road through the hills and into the town of Baden Baden. We went to the Caracella Baths, which are modern, having been built during the time that I lived in Lahr. Had a great time there then time for a stroll through the streets to find some lunch and a last peice of Black Forest cake.

We got to the airport very early. The old Canadian airforce base is now an aerospace park and secondary airport. We checked in on time but shortly thereafter it was announced that the flight would be late. It ended up being 3 hours late !! Oh well, we only paid $75 for the pair of us to fly Germany to Rome. That includes taxes !!

Arrived around 10 pm to Rome, bus to the Term,ini rail station in the city center then a 3 block walk to our B&B. It is very decent - better than I expected. We are on the top floor and have a small balcony.

First full day in Rome is dvoted to the ancient sites - the Collesium, the Forum, Capotilina, etc. We agree that the Collesium is a highlite. It literally brought tears to my eyes as I walked out of teh subway station and saw it in all its grandeur. Last night we crashed very early after having walked a million miles.

Today was devoted to the Vatican. Didn't do the museum or Sistine Chapel since the lines wer hours long but we went to St Peter's, the catacombs and to the cupola. That was something else.

From the Vatican it was a short walk to Casa St. Angelo for a brief look and then by bus back to our accommodations. Chris is hving a short siesta so I have been ought and looked at the church Santa Maria Majore. It is one of teh most beautiful churches I have ever seen, and both Jill and now Chris will tell you I LOVE to see churches !!!!!!

Tonight we will head for the Spanish Steps and tomorrow, our last full day in Rome will be a trip to Antia Ochia, the ancient port of Rome.

Our time at the Gimmelwald Mountain Hostel has come to an end as we leave this morning. It has been a great place to unwind for a couple of days. Yesterday the weather wasn't great but what the heck. Chris and I walked up the mountain from Gimmelwald to Murren, about 40 minutes, which I believe is the highest village in switzerland. In the winter it is a bigtime ski resort and in summer a mecca for hikers with lots of day tourists also paying a visit via the cable car. From Murren there is a cable car to the very top of europe - the Schilthorn - but we didn't go up that far because the trip costs about 150 dollars per person and the mountain was completely clouded in so nothing to see. After some time looking around Murren we walked back down to Gimmelwald. Later in the day I walked down the mountain for a ways and then followed a trail further up the valley. I was completely alone with nature - specatacular.

Last night the hostel was full and the evening was great fun. Chris had a great time playing pool and looked to be winning more than losing.

The evening ended with a dip in the wood-heated hot tub that sits outside the hostel. What a life ...

Sitting at a computer in a hostel in the Swiss Alps. We are in the town of Gimmelwald which can be reached only by cable car from the valley below. The scenery is absolutely incredible. Our flight over was fine and after picking up our little rental car we hit the autobahn going south from Frankfurt. We drove to baden Baden where we looked around this resort town and then went for a 2 hour treatment at the ancient Roman baths. It is a series of showers, warm pools, cold pools, steam rooms, dry heat rooms, massage and ends with a 30 minute sleep. It is fantastic.

From Baden we drove to Lahr to see where I used to live. The town is changed some but after a few minutes I was able to get reoriented. Dropped by our old apartment to say hello to landlord Herr (Mr.) Frey. From there it was a 20 minute drive to the first night's hostel - a castle on the top of a hill surrounded by vineyards.

Next day we drove into the heart of the Black Forest to visit Triberg, the home of clock making, especially cuckoo clocks. Its where Jill and I bought our grandfather clock 20+ years ago. We hiked up to see Germany's highest waterfall and then we drove about the country for a while getting as far as Tittisee, another resort town. Second night hostel was a nice modern place with Chris and I as the ONLY two occupants.

Day 3 was a drive along the "clockmaker's route" which is an incredible drive through the hills and valleys. We got to the midieval city of Freiburg where a 550 year old university is located plus a fabulous old cathedral. We listened to a bit of an organ concert at the cathedral then wandered around the town where there was all sorts of Saturday market activity taking place. That night we stayed in another hostel, right in the center of the city.

Yesterday we drove 2 hours from freiburg to arrive here via Basel, Bern and Interlaken. We stoppped along the way to watch a bit of a professional whitewater kayac competition. The paddlers went over a 50 foot waterfall on the course. Wild. Then we parked the car, loaded onto the Tram and rode 5 minutes straight up the mountain to get to this town and the famous "Mountain Hostel".

Today is a relaxed day with maybe some hiking if the weather clears. Otherwise, chillin on the deck reading, playing cards and the like.