Dusseldorf 19 - 21 June 2009 Patriza has moved to Dusseldorf so a short weekend visit was on the cards, we randomly chose the summer Soltice weekend and there was a great atmosphere in and around town. There were market stalls all along the Rhein river and Claudia and I ended up buying some unique pieces of jewelry. We were also treated to a Hot air ballon sound and light show on the banks of the Rhein. on the Saturday we picked up Patrizia's cousin Isabelle and...

1 - 5 May After checking into our hotel we went in search of a nice restaurant but then detoured and got sucked into viewing carpets instead. I did want to have a look at some carpets at some point on this trip but was not expecting to end up buying one just a few hours after landing in istanbul. I put my bargaining skills to the test and bargained hard, surprised myself even as I paid one third of the cost, I stood my ground and got a good deal in the end......

Dublin 14 - 17 NOV 2008 We went on a weekend break to Dublin with Patrizia and Antea, mainly to go to the Dublin Decompression party. We hired an apartment in the city which was very central and close to the party venue. On the Saturday we went on a day trip to Malahide castle and took in the Dublin City sights. There were some artistic and colorful souls at the party and we had a great crack. The only thing we managed to do on Sunday was have an obligatory p...

17 - 20 Oct 2008 Birthday getaway to Brussels, what a cool and funky city. After checking into our stunning boutique hotel (The Dominican), we did some sight seeing and went to the comic strip museum. Belgium is the birth place of Tin Tin as well as the Smurfs. A spot of lunch to sample the famous mussels and chips was the next order of business, delicious... The following day we did a comic strip tour of the city, which took us to all the nooks and cranies of...

25 Aug - 1 Sep 2008 We picked up the winnebago in San Francisco and made our way to Reno to stock up on supplies and pick up our bikes from Kiwanis Bike program for our week long stint in the desert. The burning man project requires you to take everything with you to survive for one week in the desert. There is no commerce on the playa so money is worthless in Black Rock City, but gifting is quite common and you may bump into generous souls who are likely ...