training for the olympics

The first stop on our tour of London was a walking tour around the Olympic venues.  To get there was easy.  Take the Picadilly line from Russel Square up to Kings Cross St. Pancras and transfer to the Hammersmith and City line which would take us East directly to Bromley …

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day 1 in torino

A few years ago, I finished a round of Golf at Oneota Country Club and came up to the patio area.  A  bunch of guys I knew were sitting around a table with some other men I did not know.  It turned out that the strangers were visiting Decorah on …

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siteseeing in torino

Today was a tourist day, we started with a tour of the Egypt Museum, and then split up to wander the city.  Craig and I visited the church where the shroud of Turin is kept, had lunch at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant, visited the Powerstation exhibit at the modern art …

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the ryanair experience

I'm writing this from 35,000 feet, in the exit row of a Ryanair 737-800.  Its almost noon and we are on our way to London!  We started this morning early with a bus ride to the airport.  We had been expecting a very easy, small airport experience.  We had …

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my name is brad, i'll be your sommelier this evening

Sometimes a Swiss Army Knife can make you the most popular guy in your hotel corridor!  Some of the students have discovered that when you are in italy, and close to France, wine is much cheaper than beer.  What do you do if you are not a wine drinker?  Choose …

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craig's death march to the invisible tower

Its that depressing, cloudy, cool kind of weather here in Lausanne.  Low clouds and mist that block any hope you have of seeing across the lake, much less Mont Blanc.  The result is that the city does not seem warm or friendly.  When we walked by the lake area on …

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how lindsey vonn spoiled my day in interlaken

The morning started out like any other morning, up at 7:00, a light breakfast, then hop on the bus to the ski slopes.  OK, maybe not like every other morning, but a pretty desirable thing to aspire to anyway.

To get to the ski slopes from Interlaken requires a …

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sardines on a train

We just boarded the train from Bern to Laussane, we are on the upper floor of our coach, and packed in like sardines.  There is not nearly enough room for luggage storage so our suitcases are on our laps, and in the aisles and generally anywhere we can find room …

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day 2, or is it 3?

I can't believe that I actually slept until 8:00AM.  After waking up at 3 AM I was afraid I was done for, but I dropped back to sleep and slept hard until 8.  After a quick breakfast at the Hostel it was time for some Munich touring on our …

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heads a bobbing

As I  write this, I've been up for approximately 36 hours.  My alarm went off yesterday at 3:30AM Minnesota time and it is now 9:45, the next day, in Munich Germany.  Its been a good day, and we've covered a lot of miles, but I am definitely ready …

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