Trafalgar Square

A Traditional Phonebooth

For the last few days of our European vacation, we went to London to visit some good friends, Johan and Christine.  Johan and Arne grew up together in Calgary and he was a groomsman and the MC at our wedding last year.  We Landed at London Heathrow and started our mission to get to their house with the minimal, yet indespensible, directions we had.  Number 1: we needed a map.  We find some at a store at the airport, but they all have the name of their street in the index, but none of them have it on the actual map.  Hmm…. I guess we are taking the tube to C3 (the square on the map where the street should be, sketchy!).  Then we have to find out how we can pay for the tube for the next 4 days and how we can get it the cheapest.  Turns out, they have a self-loading card called an Oyster card.  That’s what we chose and we descended the long escalator down to the tube. 

We surprisingly found our way all the way to the stop we need to get off on.  Having a big rolling bag of luggage didn’t help us get off the crammed train, but we muscled our way off.  We were now in Kentish town and we had to find their house.  What did we do?  We just started walking down the street!  When these situations arise, I sometimes used to get angry, like any normal person, but since I have been with Arne, all I really have to do is just follow him.  Why, you ask?  Because lo-and-behold, within 2 blocks we found their house!  Things like that just happen to him, I am so lucky! Hahaha! 

Once we found Johan and Christine we had a wonderful weekend of staying up late playing games, site seeing in the center of the city, trying out fish and chips at a pub and celebrating Johan’s brithday at a bowling alley.  Finally our trip has come to an end.  Let me tell you, I am so happy to be home!  SInce leaving for Tucson on May 3rd I have almost spend the entire month of May in other coutries.  The wirlwind is over for now, but is soon to begin when my team takes our first summer trip to Vancouver (Richmond) for a training camp next week.

Gate into central Delft

After a few days in Haarlem, Netherlands, we hopped on a train to spend a couple nights in Delft, Netherlands.  The train system in the Netherlands is so great!  You can get to basically any city in the country and it also goes to many other countries.  The reason we went to Delft is because of the Technical University there.  Arne is currently finishing up his Masters in electrical engineering here at the University of Calgary.  He has been corresponding with one of the professors at TU Delft and was invited to do a presentation of his Master’s work.  Arne has dual citizenship and is fluent in Dutch, so it was a really cool opportunity and he was excited to meet so many professors who were interested in his specific theoretical field. 

The first day there we walked into the center of the city.  It is a very old, typical-Dutch, small city.  Delft is known for it’s blue and white porcelain and for a famous artist named Johan Vermeer (girl with a pearl earing - painting) and because of the technical university there it is filled with 20 year old boys whizzing by on bikes!  We walked for hours and saw the big open square flanked by 2 enormous churches.  One of the churches is the burial spot for many of the Dutch Royal family.  We sat for coffee on a patio and had apple tart.  We even ran into a old skating friend that lives there and attends the university!

On the second day, Arne had his presentation and several meetings with professors, so I went for my run.  I followed the large canal all the way to another city!  That sounds very impressive, but in Europe almost all the towns are attatched and you barely know when you cross the boarder into a new city.    I got to see a lot more of Delft and it has a lot of cool sites.  The picture I posted is of an old gate into the city center.  In the afternoon I met with our friend and he took me to the best spot for coffee and broodjes (sandwiches) and we had a good visit.  

Overall, the trip went really well and we experienced another part of Holland.  Next, we leave for London…

24 hours after getting home from Tucson, I got on another plane to Amsterdam.  This time, it is a trip for FUN and Arne and I are going together!  While we are here, we will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary.  It is really nice that we could celebrate it here in the Netherlands because Arn’e grandma wasn’t able to fly over for the wedding, so we will be with her on the day one year later.  The first few days we spent in Haarlem, kind of a suburb of Amsterdam, with Arne’s Aunt Marienne, his Uncle Johan and cousin Martijn.  We had a fun time checking out the city and riding bikes down to the North Sea.  We were on a mission to find a pofertjes (mini Dutch pancakes) pan.  We found the perfect one made of cast iron!  It added quite a bit of weight to the luggage, but totally worth it. Now on to Delft….

When I say sleepy town I definitely am not referring to our training!  My team is out here in Arizona for a cycling camp.  Usually in the spring we leave the “Calgary spring” (rain, wind, snow?!) for somewhere warmer to ride our bikes.  Well, warmer is not the word for Tucson.  I would have to say skin scorching HOT!  We have been here for 8 days and I have not seen a cloud in the sky and it has not failed to reach over 100F everyday!  It was quite a shock, but after a few days of chugging water, wearing 60 SPF suncreen and waking up at 5:30 to ride before it gets too hot, I have adjusted.  It’s funny how your body can adapt to anything.  I was wondering how any one could live down here and then I thought they probably wonder how we can stand -30C in the winter!  I think this is a sleepy town because nobody can go out during the middle of the day because it is so hot.  I call for a return of the siesta!