Mount Pilatus

We're just getting back from a 3 day trip to Lucerne. This is a beautiful city with a lot of it's midieval charm right in the heart of Switzerland. It's surrounded by the alps and sits on a beautiful lake.

We found a sweet hotel just south of town in Alpnachstad at the foot of Mt. Pilatus. One of the few hotels we've seen in Europe where they have rooms with more than 3 beds. We got a nice 4 bed unit and breakfast was includes. What a deal. Should any of you be heading out this way it's the Rösti hotel. It's at the foot of Moutn Pilatus.


On Friday we took a Cog Rail to the top and cable cars down the other side. At a midpoint on the way down, the girls took part in some frightening tree swinging activities...It was great to see them master new climbing skills but was hard on my nerves! Saturday, Brenna and I hiked halfway up the mountain with Tigger and Telly in tow. Unfortunately they turned out to be tick magnets and we've spent the last several hours plucking them clean.



Tick Collection time...




View from hike down

Missing Bike

Met the girls for Dinner in Lausanne yesterday and on the way back stopped by work to pick up my bike and zip home. To my surprise (horror) my bike was gone. It had been chained to a bike stand but all that was left was my helmet. What a way to end the 'honeymoon'. As many of you know, this bike has been a project of mine since 1998...it slowly transformed as I broke frames, parts, shocks etc. and replaced with upgrades...the last major upgrade being XTR gear & brakes I bought from hop-sing Luke. What really hurts is I spent the weekend cleaning and lubing the bike, replacing worn bushings etc...and got it into tiptop condition...but I guess that's history...at least that's what I was told when I filed my police report...interestingly, the guy in front of me at the station, was also reporting a stolen bike...his was taken from the same campus as mine...

...So long story short, now I'm back to walking and taking buses which after just 1 day is super depressing. I'll be replacing my bike with the ugliest, least likely to be stolen used commuter bike I can find and use that for the daily commutes. I'm keeping my eye posted on e-bay, hoping to find my Stumpjumper for sale..wouldn't that be something?!

tty'all l8er..
Flat -foot dave...

Paris Again!

Brenna and I took a weekend trip to Paris to catch up with good friends Gary and Sandy. They had rented a nice apartment and graciously hosted the two of us! It was nice catching up with each other...it had been 8 years since we last connected...even though they're from Dallas, both speak English and French quite well...so much for stereotypes! We had fun wandering the streets, eating, and admiring collections of cows planted throughout the city..Even ran into a guy playing the piano in the rain and on a bridge!

...A highlight was going to see an Irish movie called... Pavee Lackeen.. a bit depressing but well worth seeing if it reaches your town! Here's a link...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4427514.stm

Rain has been coming on a pretty regular basis and all is nice and green...Morning and dawn all I hear are birds singing...beautiful...I'm going to have read up and learn a bit more about these friendly neighbors...

Here's a few pictures from this weekend...



;-) Dave

Gary, Sandy and Brenna

Piano in the rain

Nice cow...clever plant