Finally put the bike back together, and did a run to Dana Point and back (40 miles round trip). It's still hot out there, and if we had not had all the heat training in Europe, I am certain we would have stayed home.

Been trying to decide what I miss most about Europe. Here's what I have so far:

1) Raclette...there's a wiki for everything.
2) Fondue..absolutely everything.
3) Cars that don't honk everytime they pass a bicyle.

Can't do anything about #3...aside from arming Nico, so I just bought a raclette grill. I was going to buy a fondue set also, but I cannot decide between electric and some weird gel fuel. Electric seems much easier, but also seems somehow wrong. Anybody have a fondue opinion? First 6 people to respond will be invited over for fondue.

Complaint from a new reader: "I don't think starting off with concentration camps and pharmacies is a good idea if you want to raise that sweet sweet ad revenue from your site. Gonna need something happier than concentration camps and more mass appeal than pharmacies if you want to drive the necessary traffic to your site."

While I can no longer remember why I originally started takealotofdrugs.com, I do not believe it was for the ad revenue. However, I was a starving student at the time...and I see that I still have the "Donate to the boat fund" button over there, so maybe I am mistaken; maybe I am doing this for the ad revenue. Regardless, a bit more traffic would make the countless hours I spend typing this drivel a little more worthwhile.

But how to generate more traffic? I saw on the news that myspace is the most visited site on the web. Unfortunately, I am not a 14 year old girl, and therefore no nothing about myspace. Also, I do much of my blogging at work (yes, I'm stuck at work today), and the company feels the need to block the site.

I believe google is the second most popular site on the web. But google has not cached my site in over a year. So I am boycotting google. Also, I have no idea how I would translate google's success to my own page.

There is only one other thing I can think of that sells, so I will be borrowing a page from bikeforums.net: Tandem Porn!!!!

I was also thinking of adding some stoker porn, but I have a feeling that might be vetoed.

P.S. If anybody else has any constructive criticism, you may want to consider placing it in the comments section (rather than emailing me)...that way it looks like your insightfulness is shaping public policy, or something.

P.P.S. If you have any tandem (or stoker) porn you would like me to post, feel free to send that via email.

We were told that 10,000 Jews died building the road that led to Le Struthof, a concentration camp in the Alsace region of France. Nico and I climbed close to 10 miles of hill up this road, and I tried not to complain, as my suffering was minimal by comparison.





Sorry for my lack of commentary...hopefully, the pictures speak for themselves.

My mother was not surprised that there was a concentration camp in France, and asked me if we visited any of the camps in Switzerland. Naturally, I thought my mother crazy, as Switzerland was supposed to be neutral.

January 26, 1998, Newsweek,
By ANDREW MURR AND TOM MASLAND; With SARAH ELLISON in Paris
The Swiss Halo Slips Again

THE MEN FARMED, BUILT ROADS or cut trees. Women cleaned and cooked for families. At night, they were confined to unheated barracks, where they slept on plank bunks padded only with loose straw. Armed guards beat workers, enforced rules against singing and threatened malcontents with deportation to Nazi Germany - and certain death. Occupied France? Try neutral Switzerland. "It was strictly a Jewish camp," said Michael Roth, 76, confirming this bleak picture of wartime.

Sweden, you would never let me down like this, would you?

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...