Things I Ate in Singapore

Dim Sum breakfast - rather slimy rice noodle with a pork filling, not sure what it was called
Hainan Chicken Rice - boiled chicken on rice with a chicken broth and a garlic/ginger chili sauce
Chili Crab - see description in the previous post
Fish Noodle Soup - light broth with fish balls - rather bland
Chinese Roasted Duck - duck served with ginger and a dark sweet sauce
Roti Prata - a buttery Indian flat bread served with curry sauce to dip it in
Lassi - an Indian drink made with fermented milk - not bad, but a bit sour and gritty
Sushi and Sashimi - I actually got over my dislike of sushi and really enjoyed the dinner
Thai Green Curry - you all know this one, right?
Thai Green Mango Salad - refreshing crunchy, tart mango with a light spicy dressing
Chimichanga - only because I could, but not very good by American standards
Margarita - definitely better than what I got in France
Dragon Fruit - beautiful red fruit that tastes a bit like kiwi
Snake Fruit - rather bland fruit but the peel looks like snake skin -creepy!
Durian - really obnoxious stinky fruit, one bite only but I swallowed it. Smells like natural gas
Chicken Curry - Malaysian style curry, spicy yellow curry with coconut milk. Yum!
Singapore Sling - celebrating a successful customer visit

Singapore is a food-lover's heaven. The group has been taking us out for lunch every day and sharing their favorite dishes with us. They took us to the grocery store to pick up the unusual fruit to eat in between product tastings. Dinner has been a smorgasbord of tastes. We also visited a cafe that specializes in chocolate pastries. We tasted several versions and they were all good.

For work, we've been cooking fried chicken. So every morning and afternoon we have been tasting about 6 variations of chicken flavors. With all that chicken, our appetites have been spoiled so we couldn't try as many things as we wanted to.

I've also had to watch the amount of spicy food that I'm eating. Since Dutch food tends to be really, really bland, my stomach is not accustomed to the spicy things. That's how we ended up having sushi for dinner. Sushi was the blander option, believe it or not.

I have one more full day in Singapore before flying back to the Netherlands. I'm hoping to enjoy a few more specialties while I'm here as well as soak up a bit more of the warm weather.

Weekend FLight to Singapore

The glamour of business travel never ends. My boss decided for 2011 that all of us will fly economy class regardless of the company policy that should allow us to fly business class for flights loner than 5 hours. His reasoning is sound – he wants more of us to be able to travel and participate in conferences and trainings around the world. Generally the cost for a business class ticket is on the order of 5-10 times the cost of economy, so it’s really a huge savings.

On the other hand, 12 hours in economy class to Singapore is really not fun. In fact, it’s downright painful. I chose Singapore Airline knowing they have the biggest seats and the best food and service in economy class. But, I still ended up with an entertainment console that wasn’t working properly and a seat that felt like a board. I have to admit that maybe I was a bit resentful about sitting in the back of the plane. I was also irritated that this trip is messing up two weekends of my personal time. So, after 12 hours of watching movies with every 3^rd word cut out, I was fed up. I wasn’t able to sleep at all, which is unlike me. I was tired and cranky.

I left the Netherlands at 10:00 AM Saturday morning and arrived in Singapore at 5:00 AM Sunday local time. I was just relishing the thought of crashing in the hotel for a few hours before doing some sightseeing and shopping. Here’s where I got even more cranky. Of course, you can’t check into a hotel at 5:00 AM. Normally the travel agent books us in the night before for early arrivals, but this time they didn’t. The hotel was extremely good about it and did manage to get me in a room by 10:00, which is still hours earlier than normal check-in time. So I had to sit in the lobby trying to keep my bloodshot eyes open for another 4 hours.

When I finally got into my room, it was fabulous. I set the alarm clock and slept for a few hours. To sleep longer would just prolong the jet-lag issues. Then, I got up and went out to explore. I got some chicken rice for lunch (one of my favorites here) and some Diet Coke to shake off the grogginess.

For my one day of sightseeing, I decided to see the Sands Tower. It’s a new building in Singapore with 3 tall pillars and what looks like a cruise ship balancing between the towers. There’s an infinity swimming pool on the top garden deck, 56 stories above the city and harbor. I paid $20 to get to the top. The view and the cooler breeze were appreciated.

Feeling pretty good about things, I walked over to Boat Quay, a section of the Singapore River with lots of restaurants serving Singaporean specialties like Chili Crab. Chili Crab is my other favorite local dish. Of course, it’s rather expensive, but remember, I flew economy to save $4000, so I can afford to splurge on a nice dinner. Now you may be wondering how fun it is to splurge on a nice dinner by yourself. In the case of chili crab, it’s almost a necessity. It’s a very, very messy dish – a crab cooked in the shell covered with a tomatoey chili sauce. To eat the crab, you have to just dive in with both hands and start cracking shells. The sauce goes flying, drips down your hands, and quickly saturates silverware, napkins, and glass. The finger bowl is your best friend.

After my meal, it was back to hotel for a proper night’s sleep. I was expected in the office first thing in the morning.

The Tricks of the Food Industry

I really love my job – I love working with food and knowing the facts behind all the hype. But let me tell you, sometimes I’m embarrassed to be part of the food industry. The latest case of the Nutella advertisement is a good example. I remember seeing the Nutella commercial on TV here in the Netherlands and being a bit upset by it. The ad was encouraging Moms to give their kids Nutella as part of a healthy breakfast. The implication was very clear – Nutella is nutritious! Apparently the same ad was shown in the US and now the company faces a lawsuit for falsely portraying the product as healthy.

The fact is Nutella is really not healthy and serves as a good example of products that pretend to be healthier than they are. How do they do it? Very carefully. If you read the website, they accurately cite research about the advantages of eating breakfast. And Nutella can be eaten for breakfast ergo Nutella is healthy. They also suggest that you spread Nutella on whole wheat bread thus increasing the healthy halo.

If you click on the ingredient listing on the website, they flag several positives about the product in large type just above the list of ingredients. They highlight that the 13 oz. jar contains over 50 hazelnuts. (At 10 servings per jar, that’s 5 nuts per serving). They also say there are no artificial colors and no artificial preservatives. Maybe that’s to soften you up before they tell you that the first ingredient is sugar and the second is palm oil. While there are no artificial colors or preservatives, the product does indeed contain an artificial flavor. So, it’s a blend of sugar and fat with about the same calorie load as butter. But you probably didn’t read that far (Cliff’s Notes anyone?).

The website artfully highlights the positives and glosses over the negatives. Of course, this is simply marketing 101 for a company trying to sell a product. You can’t fault the company for wanting to make a buck. Why should we be surprised? Why should we be outraged?

A lot of industry people point to personal responsibility. You are the only person who controls what goes into your mouth. Only a moron would fail to read the nutritional information. We don’t need a lot of regulation telling companies how that can and can’t sell their products – it would be bad for business.

Here’s the reality check. Just because people should read the label doesn’t give food companies license to lie and deceive. Advertising works, otherwise companies would not spend millions of dollars to market their products. Advertisers know how to make those ads very seductive so we buy the product without fully understanding the negatives. Finally, we are bombarded with these seductive messages so often that it’s just a matter of time before one of them breaks through your defenses. Many people, especially children, are just not sophisticated enough to see through the marketing hype. Many people don’t want to see through the hype –they are happy to convince themselves that Nutella (or whatever product) is healthy.

Fortunately, the US does have laws prohibiting misleading advertising. Even while people have a responsibility to choose an appropriate diet, companies have a responsibility to market their products honestly. The laws and the enforcement, help to keep the marketing in check. They are necessary.

Here’s a tip if you are concerned about eating healthier: don’t focus on the marketing hype. The more it says it’s healthy, the less healthy it’s likely to be. It’s an over simplification of course. But truly, food companies make money on highly processed foods made with inexpensive ingredients (salt, sugar, vegetable oil). Heavy marketing should be a red flag for you to think twice before you buy. The real nutritious food is in the vegetable aisle. Without the big company backing, these foods don’t shout for your attention, but they just quietly wait to be discovered.

Skiing in France with Crazy British People

This year for our annual ski trip, we once again joined the British ski group that we’ve been with for the last two years. We originally connected with this group through a colleague of mine at work whose father organizes the ski trip. This year had some potential for being truly awkward as my colleague had been let go during the summer and is still unemployed. Fortunately, most people do understand that work is work. This year the group was 19 people strong and there were only a few people that we hadn’t met in previous years.

This particular group tries to do a budget, no-frills trip. That means that we go through low-cost vacation companies out of England. They staff the hotels with young British kids who are paid next to nothing. The kids get to ski, but often they lack the maturity and experience to give good service.. Case in point: One afternoon we watched as the cleaning lady was doing the floor in the common area. She swept the floor and the door mat with a broom (not even lifting the mat or taking it outside for a good shake). Then she proceeded to mop around the mat. She also ran the mop in front of herself, thus walking over the freshly mopped floor. The sticky spots got enough attention that we knew she saw them, but not enough to get them clean. And, she managed to mop the entire floor without once rinsing her mop! I know that I have a problem with being a neat-freak, but come on, that’s just basic and where’s her manager? So, our budget hotel was less than clean. I can deal with that for a week.

Another peculiarity of these vacations is that you get truly authentic British food. Since we were skiing in France, let me tell you, that’s a disappointment. British breakfast is just plain weird. I’m OK with the continental breakfast of bread, cheese and meat, especially when the bread is nice and fresh. With this hotel, they warmed up frozen croissants that would have made a French person revolt. The hot breakfast is typically beans on toast. The next day they jazzed it up a bit and served beans on toast with a side of scrambled egg. I’m not OK with beans for breakfast. When we had bacon or sausage, I was also a bit challenged. British eat Canadian style bacon, not the regular strips of bacon like we’re used to. And don’t even get me started on the breakfast sausage…

At all these vacation chalets, the staff are given one day off per week and the guests have to go out for dinner. Unfortunately, all the hotels take the same night off. The restaurants are inundated with guests on that one night alone (both hotel guests and staff on break). We planned ahead and made reservations early for a lovely French restaurant. The food in France is really good and in the Alps, you have some regional specialties that are quite fabulous. Dennis and I shared a raclette. If you want to harden your arteries and run your blood pressure off the charts, this is your dish! It’s a block of cheese that is placed on the table with a heating unit. The heater melts the surface of the cheese which you then scrape off with a knife and eat with potatoes and sausage or ham. Start with a salad because there are no vegetables involved. MMM, it was good.

The other regional specialty is called tartiflette. This is a potato casserole with cheese and bits of ham or sausage. The cheese is a local variety (roblichon) that is rather strong, but really good. Dennis and I also managed to get out to one of the local bakeries for fresh chocolate croissants – one of our favorites. So, we managed to avoid the worst of the hotel food and we were happy to be in a cute town with lots of food choices.

The best thing about our hotel was the primo location. We were a 5 minute walk from one of the main gondolas and as I already mentioned in the center of a cute town. Being close to the lift was a huge advantage over the situation of last year where we had to be bussed to the ski hill. That was a problem because if you want to stop early, you still have to wait for the bus to take you back. Having a gondola also helps when the snow is poor (as it was this year) at the lower elevations. You can ride to the top, ski where there’s good snow, and then ride the gondola back to the bottom at the end of the day.

This year, we had pretty bad snow coverage. Despite the massive snow storms in December, the area had not seen any fresh snow in several weeks. A bit of warm weather melted everything at the lower levels. The very top of the mountain still had good snow, but it really limited the available runs. For me, and most of the group, the available runs were wonderful – lots of wide blue runs (for non-skiers: blue runs are the intermediate level hills, fun but not scary). Dennis and others who prefer more challenging terrain were out of luck so they got a bit bored.

The first two days of skiing, I was with my peeps (16 of us trying to ski together!) and I was really having a good time. I had been exercising a lot before the trip - even trying to run a little bit - to make sure I was fit for skiing, and it was paying off. I was strong and confident. The runs were groomed and fast. On the third day, I was punished for being over-confident. I was flying down the hill just enjoying the thrill of ride, when one leg suddenly slipped out from under me. In a spectacular, agony-of-defeat-style crash, I went down. As my head whacked against the hard packed snow, I was glad I had a helmet. I determined later that I actually gave myself whiplash, but at least I didn’t give myself brain damage. When everything came to stop and I tried to get sorted out, I realized that my skis had not come off. Again, for the non-skiers: your skis are supposed to come off during a crash to keep your knees from getting wrenched. So, ski s still on = knees wrenched. I managed to ski a little bit more that day, but then decided I better go in early and not risk further injury. I was still able to walk, but the knee pain got worse the next day. That was essentially the end of my skiing for this trip. By the time my knee felt OK, it was time to go home.

For the days I wasn’t able to ski, I hung out in the chalet with some of the other non-skiers. We typically spent the mornings reading books and sipping tea. Then, we’d take a short walk around lunch time to peek in the shops and find a good restaurant. An after-lunch siesta and some more reading was next. At about 3:00, we’d gather in the tea room to wait for the skiers to come back and regale us with their tales of more spectacular crashes and daring-dos’. Before dinner, we’d have cocktails (gin and tonic was the top choice – very British). Anyone still awake after dinner could hang out in the bar. With the right company, this kind of routine is really fun.

Another British tradition is fancy-dress. I know I’ve told you previously about fancy dress, so I’ll keep it short. Suffice to say that British men have a little thing for wearing dresses and all the better if it can be done in public. On the last night of our ski trip, we had our fancy dress night. We decided to skip the hotel dinner and go out on the town to get some of the more traditional French Alpine fare. The transvestites really grabbed a lot of attention even from the French people who were just trying to get a nice dinner in a quiet restaurant. Ha! No quiet dinners with our group nearby! We terrorized that restaurant the whole evening. Our French waiter was a hoot – he was practicing his English and kept asking for advice on pronunciation and phrasing. He was very patient and helpful which is not always the case when you are goofing off in a foreign country. I was actually surprised they didn’t kick us out.

And, so another year of skiing is done. We have met some fabulous people and are looking forward to skiing with them again next year.

42 things that remind me I’m getting older

1) I can’t see as well as I used to

2) I call the blemishes on my face rosacea instead of acne

3) Are those freckles or age-spots?

4) I really want one of those handy chains for my reading glasses

5) “Fun” restaurants to are too loud

6) “Romantic” restaurants are too dark

7) The music in most places is just too loud

8) Movies are too loud

9) I still have a check book

10) Have the newspapers made the print smaller?

11) I pay attention to my parents health complaints because someday I may need to know about it

12) I can’t remember how old I am most of the time

13) I actually try to eat more fiber

14) I remember when gas was $1 a gallon

15) The only songs I know on the radio are from the ‘80s

16) Eating dinner too late gives me indigestion

17) I’ve had the same sofa for more than 15 years

18) I have to wear sunscreen to prevent age spots

19) Texting? I only know how to call…

20) I have two pairs of reading glasses, one for home and one for my purse

21) I find most teenagers annoying and rude

22) My shoes are comfortable not fashionable

23) I prefer not to have to drive at night

24) I really prefer to only drive on Sunday when there’s no traffic

25) When shopping I look for clothes that are age-appropriate

26) When I get up in the night to use the bathroom, I reach for my glasses first

27) I don’t want anything for my birthday because I ran out of storage space years ago

28) I have to continually adjust the TV volume because they whisper on the shows and shout on the ads

29) I have a hard time staying awake for the end of the movie

30) Don’t call me after 10:00 pm, I’ll be asleep

31) I’d rather read a book than go to a bar

32) I’m starting to think bifocals might be a good idea

33) I don’t know what Twitter is all about

34) Legwarmers are back in style

35) I really can’t text because I can’t see the itty bitty letters on the cell phone buttons

36) I keep obsessing about my age

37) When an attractive man looks at me, I wonder why

38) I still have a VCR and still blinks 12:00

39) I can’t make a Power Point presentation with animation

40) I remember when you could go into the bank and talk to teller

41) When I glance in the mirror sometimes I see my Mom

Did I mention that I can’t see a thing?

One Week in America

I recently spent a week in the US. Sorry I couldn't visit everyone, but this was a business trip. Anyway, after being in the Netherlands for 2 1/2 years, I am really starting to notice the difference in my perspective. I think they call it reverse culture shock. Here are some of my thoughts:

Day 1: US government feels very intrusive (and this is not a Republican rant because I’m not a Republican). First there were all the extra security questions as I boarded the plane. Then the Customs forms to fill out. As I waited for my luggage I had time to read the USDA posters on the wall telling you how to identify hardwood firewood from soft. The poster did not say WHY you needed to find out if your firewood is hard or soft and I surely couldn’t understand why you needed to know that in an airport. Finally, when I had my bags and had cleared Customs, I was required to re-check my bags and go through security again. I argued that I was not making a connection, this was my destination. I was jet-lagged and very confused, but they assured me that everyone had to do this. The reason is that to get to the airport exit, you have to walk through a secured area. So, you can’t take your luggage and you can’t take any liquids. At least I hadn’t gotten liquor at the duty-free shop. Those poor people had to figure out a way to get their liquids in their checked bags. Of course they were informed of this after the baggage recheck… Note to self – no duty-free stuff on the way to Cincinnati.

Even outside the airport, the government was still obvious. As I drove to the hotel in my rental car, I noticed signs on the freeway indicating that the road construction was a special government program. At the office, there are huge information boards with all the legal notices and licenses. The MSDS stations are where they are legally supposed to be even though nobody uses them.

In Europe, you are likely to see security guards with machine guns in the airports. The Customs process is simpler with no paper work to fill out. The government doesn’t advertise that they funding the road construction. Isn’t it obvious that the government does the road construction? Why does the US need to spend money on signs to tell us that?

Day 2: Watching the news is like watching Jerry Springer and just as educational. The CNN you get in the US is NOT the same as what they broadcast to the rest of the world. It’s no wonder so many Americans are ignorant of world affairs. Since when have viewer opinion polls been the subject of the news? Do I really care that 20% of Americans believe the President is Muslim? Maybe if the news actually covered the news, people would be better informed. It’s really sad. I finally found an NPR station on the car radio and at least had a break from the Jerry Springer style news.

Day 3: MMMM – Dairy Queen! The food in the Netherlands can get monotonous – bread and cheese for breakfast AND lunch. It’s great to get all my favorites, especially Dairy Queen and Mexican food, not necessarily in that order. I also enjoyed American Diet Coke. They must use a different formula in Europe and it’s not very pleasant. The American version is more creamy and vanilla-like.

Day 4: I feel like I’m driving a lot and not walking much. Maybe I should cut back on the Dairy Queen and Mexican food? I’m also watching the roads and wondering how on earth anyone could ride a bike in Cincinnati. The roads are poorly paved (in spite of all the government funded road work) with no bikes lanes or shoulders. Cincinnati is a river city with some really steep hills especially as you get closer to the river. The Netherlands is super-flat and has bike lanes everywhere.

Day 5: Wow, this food is salty! I had several meals in restaurants that I found very salty, but I got one meal that I couldn’t even eat. Typically, I like salt and I haven’t made any special effort to cut down on salt, but I think the restaurants in Europe tend to use less salt. And I don’t eat a lot of processed food. That’s in part because the stores in the Netherlands don’t carry a lot of processed foods and nobody has the fridge or freezer space for such things. I guess I’ve gotten used to lower salt foods.

Day 6: OK, the air conditioning is really nice, especially when it’s 95 and humid outside. The Dutch hate air conditioning because they think it will make you sick to have the big temperature changes. I don’t think Americans get sick any more often than the Dutch. And when they do, they get much better cold medicine. So bring on the air conditioning!

Day 7: Petite size clothes! Yes, I did a lot of shopping for clothes while I was in the US. The Netherlands boasts the tallest population of any country in the world. That’s great for Dennis at 6’6” and not so great for me at 5’4”. Not only are the clothes more expensive in the Netherlands, but I have to pay another 10 euros to get the pants hemmed. Blouses are impossible because it’s not just the sleeve length, but the whole body length and how low the neckline is.

Day 8: I’m really ready to go home and see my husband and my cat. The US has some good things, but also some frustrations. In the end, home is where your loved ones are.

Nice is Nice, but Monaco is Super-Cool!

Over the years, Dennis and I have managed to stay in contact with our friends Daryl and Annette. Dennis and Daryl worked together at West Publishing in Minnesota before we moved to Chicago in 1997. We went on vacation together to Hawaii and then to Europe in 2001. Since then, we’ve visited then in San Francisco a couple times and we even met up once in Arizona. As Dual-Income-No-Kids couples, we still have a lot in common that time and distance can’t change.

Of course, when we moved to the Netherlands, we invited Daryl and Annette to visit anytime. We were only a little surprised when Annette said she signed up for Ironman France in Nice to celebrate her 40th birthday. Dennis and I decided that it was worth a trip to Nice to see Annette race and do a little sight-seeing on the side. After the race, they would travel to the Netherlands to watch the first stage of the Tour de France. Plans were made, airline tickets were purchased, and soon we were basking in the warm Mediterranean sunshine.

We flew into Nice on a Friday night after work. On Saturday morning, we met up with Daryl and Annette. Annette was racing with two of her friends, Misha and Akiko. The three couples had rented a vacation house. Misha’s parents were also in town for the race, so it was a nice size group. The girls were very nervous on the day before their race. They had to check in and drop off their bikes and special needs bags, but otherwise were trying to stay off their feet. The rest of us went on a walking tour of Nice. We saw the Ironman Expo (not as good as you might think) and the farmer’s market (just as good as you would expect in the south of France).

Dennis and I continued walking and window shopping. One window had really shiny looking orange balls stacked in a beautiful display. We couldn’t figure out what they were, so we had to go in and see. It turned out that they were conserved mandarin oranges. The shop had a little tour where they told us that the oranges soak in sugar syrup for 40 days – skin and all. They also use the same treatment on other fruits and flowers! The shop was beautiful and we naturally had to buy some of the oranges. They are just as sugary/syrupy as you might imagine. The skin is like candied orange peel with very little bitterness. They are very good chopped and served over vanilla ice cream (with a bit of chocolate sauce for good measure).

We had dinner with the group who were not racing in the morning. The racing girls wanted to stay in and eat rather plain food that would not cause tummy trouble the next day. The rest of us worked on our race viewing strategy.

The first step of the strategy was to meet at 6:00 am for the swim start. It was very crowded already and hard to find a good spot to watch. Dennis and I stood right on the beach. At this point, it’s fair to mention that the beaches in Nice suck. There is no sand, just small rocks. The rocks are smooth, but still very painful to walk on. I’m not sure how the racers did it! From where we stood, I couldn’t see much until the swimmers were in the water. At an Ironman event, all the racers start at once which makes it very chaotic. All of a sudden, the water started to churn like a giant feeding frenzy. We would see the swarm of swimmers moving out, but it was hard to see which buoy they were aiming for. Finally, we saw the lead swimmers turn the corner and come back toward the beach. The swimmers had to get out of the water and run over the timing pad before getting back in the water for their second lap. It was complete pandemonium and we were unable to see anyone faces or numbers.

When we figured they were about done, we went up to the bike area. We couldn’t see the transition area – where they remove their wetsuits and get ready for the biking – so we just watched the bikers leaving for their 112 mile ride through the mountains. We managed to see Akiko and Misha, but we missed Annette. With so many riders going by at the same time, it was a miracle to recognize anyone! At this point, we had plenty of time to do some sightseeing and take a nap. We figured they wouldn’t be back for another 6 hours or more.

Dennis and I took the opportunity to see the Chagall Museum. Chagall did a lot modern-style religious art that was interesting, but not really to our taste. The museum was rather small though, so we were able to enjoy his work without feeling tortured. A leisurely lunch, long nap, and then we headed back out to the race course for the marathon section.

The run course was set up really well for spectators. The racers had to run out and back along the Promenade Anglais four times. That gave us lots of chances to see our people and give them the encouragement they needed along the way. We found a nice spot in the shade where we could stay cool. A nearby convenience store sold us cold water and Cokes throughout the long afternoon. Every time we started to complain about the heat or how tired we were from standing so long, we laughed because it seemed so minor compared to the people racing. All three ladies looked good on the run. Akiko was about 30 minutes ahead of Annette and an hour ahead of Misha at the beginning of the run. She was able to keep her pace throughout the marathon and finished in 14 hours. Annette was doing a very sensible run-walk, but each lap took a bit longer than the one before. Misha was concerned about the cutoff time, but we assured her that she had plenty of time and could relax a bit. She gladly took the opportunity to walk a bit. By the last lap, Misha was only 10 minutes behind Annette. Of course, they could see each other, too and knew they were close to each other.

For the last lap, we moved to the finish area so we would be able to see them crossing the line. We were amazed how many people were turning around to do yet another lap. Those poor souls would be out there running for another hour at least. You could not tell by looking at people how fast they would be. Some of the guys with guts and stocky women were finishing while some who looked far more athletic were still running. So much of the Ironman is in your head and in the many months of training. The last lap took Annette and Misha a bit longer than we expected, but when we saw them we understood why. They decided to finish together and came running down the finish chute hand in hand in 15 hours and 2 minutes. Both of them looked tired but none the worse for wear. We actually went back to our hotel before they got out of the finish are with all their gear. It was sure tiring to watch!

The next day, Dennis and I went to Monaco because we wanted to cross another country off our list. Monaco is a 15 minute train ride from Nice. It’s as close to Disneyland as you get in Europe. The train station had polished tile floors and was air conditioned. That’s nice for all the high-rollers heading for the Casino – oh never mind, they all get dropped off in their Masserattis. As we left the train station it became clear that Monaco is a mountainous country. All of the exits involved stairs. We went up to enjoy the view, but soon realized how hot it was that day! We went back and headed towards the palace where Grace Kelly used to live. We took the walking tour through the cathedral, botanical garden, and finally Jacque Cousteau’s aquarium. The aquarium was definitely the highlight. For those of you who are too young to know Jacque Cousteau, too bad for you. For the rest of you, the aquarium was much like the TV show and really showed his passion for conservation without being too preachy. Monaco is very small and we had no interest in the casino, so we headed back to Nice to have dinner with the rest of the gang. The racers were walking a bit more slowly than usual, but if it were me, I would not have been able to walk at all! At any rate, we had a really nice dinner with the whole gang and it was really fun.

For Tuesday morning, Annette and Misha wanted to go swimming to help loosen up the muscles. Since it’s silly to go to a beach resort and not go swimming, we decided to join in the fun. There are quite a few public beach areas in addition to the private, rent-a-chair and umbrella places. We went to a public beach since we wanted to swim not lounge around. The rocks on the beach proved very painful, but most of us managed to get into the water. I swam a bit with Annette and Misha while the boys splashed around closer to shore. The water was cool and comfortable, but getting out of the water was difficult. Most of us chose to exit the water by scooting out backwards like a crab. Next time you are on a sandy beach, be sure to appreciate it!

Annette and Misha were stuck at their place for the rest of the day waiting for the bike shop to pick up their bikes for shipping back to the US. They were told the pick-up would be sometime after 12:00, not unlike waiting for the cable guy. So, we took Daryl and went to Ville Franche sur du Mar, a small town between Nice and Monaco. By train, it was only 5 minutes, but a world away in feel. Nice feels like a city – lots of high rise apartment buildings, shops, and restaurants. Villefranche feels like small town that time forgot. The old town has “roads” that are so narrow only three people can walk side by side. I’m not sure you can really call it a road if there are stairs, but they did. We found a little street café to have lunch and the food was so fine, we stayed for 2 hours. We finally had to leave when all the chairs ended up in the sun and we were cooked! We strolled around the citadel and along the waterfront and finally to the beach. Villefranche has a lovely sandy beach only a few minutes walk from the train station. If we had known that a few days ago, we would have hung out here rather than Nice. When I grow up, I want to be rich and have a place in Villefranche.

Wednesday was the day we all left Nice. Dennis and I headed back to Amsterdam – work tomorrow and all that. Daryl, Annette, Misha and Scott headed into Provence for a few days before making the journey to the Netherlands. Our adventures in the Netherlands will be a tale for another day, however.