Americans take their weekends very seriously – far more so than us lazy Europeans, who have lengthy holidays allotted to us. One of the local get-aways is to Russian River, an hour or two north of the Bay and nestled in some of the finest hills (and vineyards) in the country. Lauryn and I opted,…
Taking advantage of the extended Memorial Day weekend, I tacked on an extra day and winged it away from the West Coast for a weekend in New York City. What a place; I had visited in my early twenties, but it makes a major difference when you have local friends to visit and, crucially, a credit…
I had the pleasure of Sam swinging by for a week of mountain biking and food. Some awesome days in the saddle, hitting up trails in Marin, the Peninsula, and then a fine finale riding out of Santa Cruise, and up to see the Amgen Tour of California cruise by. Good times! First up, Skeggs…
Language is funny. You spend the year throwing around superlatives, describing new features on Facebook or the texture of your new favourite Burrito, and are then totally disarmed when you go somewhere like Yosemite, and faced with things that really are ‘awesome’ (in the base sense of the word), ‘massive’ (as in, unimaginably heavy’?) and…
Final step on our super-quick European tour was Zurich, where our airplane was going to be leaving from, and where we had to return the rental car to. I had visited Switzerland a couple of times as a kid, but never as an adult, and never any of the cities. As a place to drop…
It’s been a while since I met Robbie, my flatmate and one of my best friends while at university in Glasgow. We actually managed to link up in Kyoto, while he was at a neuroscience conference (it’s not exactly brain surgery), but this was the first time I have managed to visit his grown-up home…
A lovely little excursion through the roundabout-strewn Switzerland, to Bregenz in Austria, up a cable car, down to Lindau in Germany, and back in time for dinner. Not bad!
Sadly, last month we received that Granny, Catherine John, had passed away. A central figure in our family, her influence permeates through her children, her grand children and now their own families. Her creativity, humour, voracious appetite for news and love for her family, will be greatly missed. In contrast to previous trips back home,…