Saturday, January 28, 2017

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark
June 20-22, 2016
(filler until biking season begins)
We arrived at Copenhagen a couple of days before our Highland cruise began. Our first exploration was the canal area with the picturesque houses and working ships. 
 Both sides of the canal were colorful, so we walked both sides.
 "Walked both sides". Although our hotel wasn't but about a mile from the canal, we took a taxi to the canal.
Cost was about $12 so wasn't too bad.
We ended our fabulous walk on the far end of the canal, so hailed another cab to return to the hotel. Added about a mile, but this time our cab was $28. We concluded that it must be about $12 a mile. Anyone with a different experience?
 Palace Hotel where we stayed was in the central part of the city which made getting around easy.
 City Hall was about 1 1/2 blocks from the hotel.
 Tivoli is a amusement park that rivals Disneyland. Walt Disney visited Tivoli several times before building Disneyland and modeled "his" signature castle after the castle in Tivoli.
One of many statues near our hotel.
 Next day we visited the National Museum which was "right around the corner" from our hotel. Any museum is one of Christine's must-see places.
 Hotel from corner leading to the museum.
 Last shot of Palace hotel. A historic and great place to stay if you are headed to Copenhagen. And, as a bonus, just to the right of the hotel was a little Lebanese eating place with some of the best shawarma and hummus we've ever had.

Next day, with full bellies, we boarded our cruise ship for the rest of our adventure.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Farmersville Trick It Up

Trick It Up
Farmersville, Texas
October 22, 2016
Picturesque church at the staging area parking lot. Farmersville is a nice old town above Dallas and becoming a bedroom community of McKinney.
 Nice day. Good crowd. And if everyone wasn't filled with coffee and doughnuts, it was his own fault. Volunteers were out early and greeted riders with a big assortment of doughnuts.
Other than we had never been to the Farmersville ride before, the name intrigued me. "Farmers' ville" implied flat farm land. Not. We quickly found that it was like the rest of the rides in Texas--hilly. The only exception was the Andrews bike ride--flat,flat,flat--but they have discontinued the ride so we are back to hilly,hilly,hilly.
 Not to contridict myself, it seems that when I am on a flat surface, I remember to take a picture. But it gives one a taste of the vegatation and road surface.
 Most of the Farmerville roads are very good. Not much of the huge chip seal variety.
Seeing a hill in the distance, I remebered to take a shot.
 Next hill(s) I remembered again.

 
 
Rest stops were well supplied and were "stocked" with friendly volunteers.
Well rested, Christine surges ahead of me.
Rest stops did not come that closely together. I had just sat back and enjoyed the ride forgetting to take pictures.
The hills were not that steep on the average, just long.    

 Last shot I took of the ride. I didn't take a shot of the finish which ended in the historic section of town on its historic bumpy, brick street.
 At the staging area, the hosts had bratwursts or hotdogs with sauerkraut and rootbeer or beer if desired. There isn't much that beats brats and beer. The food was good, ride was great, and volunteers who made you feel welcome and wanting to return year after year.