In case you had forgotten, this trip was a tandem tour of Europe, so I really should have started with some bicycling pictures. Here are a couple, there are several hundred others that I have not yet sorted through.
Bill and Jan, of Santana Tandems. (If you were wondering what a $14,000 tandem looks like...)


Our new friends Tate and Sarah:


And a rare photo of us holding Tate and Sarah's bike (we match it pretty well):


If you are bored, here are all the photos we shot on the trip...with the exception of a couple of Nicole's bruised...how do you say? ah yes, deriere. No editing, or deleting has yet been attempted..and some of them are undoubtably sideways. Like I said, if you're bored.

Oh the jet lag...

Newport Beach

How can Nico possibly be asleep? Oh well, plenty of time for blogging...time for feature #2: Pharmacies I visited in Europe. Some of you may remember, I did a similar segment in Mexico several months back. I was not looking for anything in particular this time.

In Switzerland and Germany, apothekes (hope I spelled that right) are everywhere. Photo #1 is an 18th century pharmacy, now residing in Zurich's Landesmuseum.


Next up, Lucerne claims one of the oldest continuously operating pharmacies in Europe.


Breisach also claims one of the oldest continuously operating pharmacies in Europe.

This pharmacy offers a few value added services.
3 Euros for cholesterol screening? What a deal! The young girl inside spoke no English. She ran away when I took out my camera, but reappeared with the older woman, who forced her to be in the picture.


This pharmacie is somewhere in France.


In Obernai, I met a young pharmacist (6 months out of school), who not only spoke English, but was interested in talking to me. Was that a sentence? Hey, it's 5 in the morning. Pharmacists in France go to school for 6 years, and to our right is a shelf of "Pharmacist only over the counters"...patients can look at them, but cannot touch.


Here's one more pharmacie in Obernai.


Basically, that's all the pharmacies there is.

Back from Europe, and quite jet lagged. I was going to start off with a scathing commentary on American Airlines, aa.com, buying tickets over the internet, and air travel in general...but I am not sure how coherent that would come out at this juncture.

So instead I will start off with a new segment: Views from hotel rooms in Europe...I think I may have missed one.

Europe by Tandem.

Zurich

I still think America's great...

Last week, on the 4th of July, I was a marshal in the American Legion's Old Glory Boat Parade.

I had wanted to wear full Apollo Creed gear, but all I had was this hat:

Thank you to my very good friend and co-worker for bringing me the hat. Here is a picture of the regulary un-American Jessica engaged in a brief moment of flag waving:


Unexpected duties of a parade marshall:
1) Moving spectating kayaks off the parade route (You would not think this would be required)
2) Listening to protests from Harbor 20s

So this Harbor 20 sails by us towards the end of the parade and complains that the Black Pearl (a sailboat under power) cut him off. Keep in mind, this was a parade. Not a race, or a parade/race...just a parade. But seriously, you cannot enter a sailboat in a parade and not expect boats to get in your way. Anyway, that flag sail is an old Harbor 20 sail painted red, white, and blue. Looks pretty good.

Happiest day of my life: http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/back_to_the_futurama_entertainment_don_kaplan.htm



Somebody at Fox: please put the Simpsons out of their misery...not funny for >10 years should earn cancellation.

Wineries we hit during the trip up the coast (free tasting unless otherwise indicated):

Windsor Vineyards The wine is just okay, but the personalized labels make great gifts...and what else are you going to do in Tiburon?

Ravenswood: Great zins as always. Still charging $5 to taste, no longer refunding said $5 with purchase. They were only pouring one single vineyard. It was also great...but like most of their single vineyards, you can do better for $32.

Benzinger...not to be confused with Beringer. Climbed the hill on the tandem. Bought a bottle of chardonnay.

Valley of the Moon: Think we bought a bottle of sangiovese. Good, cheap wine.

Bartholomew Park: Drink wine that was grown right out front. Sort of neat. $5 to taste, refunded with purchase.

Sausal: Good, old zins. Bought a bottle of Cellar Cat Red.

Murphy-Goode: Didn't taste anything we felt like carrying, and did not have time to return with the car.

Ridge: We did go back with the car...bought 4 bottles of superb zin.

Rosenblum: They do not stop pouring. We bought a bottle of zinfandel port. The 3 "Rs" of zinfandel are said to be Ravenswood, Rosenblum, and Ridge (Renwood sometimes replaces Ridge...maybe there are really 4 "Rs"). Ridge is by far the best, followed by Ravenswood, and then Rosenblum....I have not had much Renwood, so I cannot properly rank them.

Frank: A can't miss winery in Napa. Bought a few bottles of chardonnay, and a reserve cab.

Mumm: Took the tour. Bought a couple of bottles of sparkling wine...including a magnum. Here's me in the tasting room (I am really not drunk...I had just removed my sunglasses and my eyes had not yet adjusted...really, look at how full the glasses are...):


Bonny Doon: Always something fun at Bonny Doon. Picked up a bottle of Cardinal Zin, a bottle of Syrah, and a couple bottles of some obscure grape that I had never heard of.

Castoro: On the way home. Very busy tasting room; decent, cheap wine. Bought a couple of bottles of chardonnay, and a red meritage type blend that I can't remember the name of.

Nicole took some pictures of the poppies out front:


Looks like we bought a lot of white wine. It was quite hot in both Napa and Sonoma...

Back at work...don't feel much like blogging. Here are some pictures taken with the new camera.



Weird things people might say to you, if you are wearing a California Flag bicycle jersey:

1) Do you guys like bears or California?
2) Are you two from California?
3) I didn't know you were a Republican.





Hope I don't get into trouble for that last one...

Absolutely Brilliant: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48923

I know I'm not this pasty. Nico on the other hand...




This is at the end of our 65 mile bike ride on Saturday...actually, it was 70 miles due to some ongoing contruction on Pacific Coast Highway.