Planes Trains and a Water Bus!

The theme of the day= photos taken out of windows on my way from Annecy to Venice!  Enjoy!

Cafe Sitting

Cafe sitting is so quintessentially French, I have been sitting in a cafe all day, and do not feel the least bit French.  I do not have a gaggle of friends, no cigarette dangling from my fingers, and I am the weird one on a laptop.  Caley and I have discussed this numerous times, how is it, that Europe has not caught on to the internet?  I can't decide if they have it right, and we Americans sitting in our own isolated worlds typing away, updating twitter and facebook are willingly destroying our own society. Or if they (the Europeans) are just living in an outdated backwater.  I do believe Americans have perfected the concept of a coffee shop, they just don't exist here (at least that I have found, and I'm very new to the whole continent...)

What they lack in internet and coffee, they more than make up for in picturesque scenes, fashion, and general joie de vivre.  I hope some of all of that rubs off on me!

Last night I went on 2hr ride, on the bike path!  I felt kind of silly at first, but this is no ordinary bike path, it goes forever!  I ended up in a whole other town!  Though I must admit, I still felt strange all kitted out for a bike path ride....I can't wait for Caley to be home next week so we can do more actual rides up in the hills.  I was feeling less than adventurous totally on my own for the first time.

Here are some photos from today and yesterday!


Tomorrow I head to Venice to meet up with Caley!  I can't wait, Venice is on my "bucket list" and always has been!!  Can't believe we are spending a few days there!

Videos! and Internet Woes :(

These first two are me interviewing Caitlin on our rainy tour of the CIA campus!

These next two were supposed to be pictures, which accidentally turned into videos...but I like them :)

I have been super productive today! (and there is so much day left!)  Took the trash down to the scary scary basement trash place...three doors that close behind you and branching hallways, and the fear that the elevator will not come back for you..... bought my train tickets for Sundays adventure to Venice, and went to talk to the SFR (french phone/tv/internet) people AGAIN.  Apparently our new French phone number was not written down on the correct page...so they failed to call us to set up an appointment for a technician to come to the house again!  So, this time, we should expect a call anytime  next week, and if they don't call by NEXT Friday, we should come back...OMG I AM FRUSTRATED!  Is it because we're American????  And then I remember how much fail Comcast can be...but still, really???????????????????  This cafe is getting a lot of money from us for the foreseeable future...

Riding, and Annecy is Awesome!

The past two days have seen some progress for us here!  We found a cafe that has internet, and got my bike put back together so we could get out for some rides before Caley leaves for Italy tomorrow!  Yesterday it rained on us a little at the end of the ride, but not to bad, and I wish I had stopped for more pictures!  The roads around here are incredible, after you get off the main roads, they are literally like bike paths that cars just happen to drive on.  The road surfaces are super nice too!!  It's so awesome I can hardly believe/describe it!

Our ride today had sooooo much climbing!  My leggies hurt....Caley and I keep joking that this summer is going to launch my professional cycling career.  We say it with a nudge and a wink, but regardless, I'm going to be in such great shape if I can keep it up!  Yay!

Here are some more pics to enjoy!

Ressurection!

French Internet is a fickle, almost mythical creature. You must sneak up on it in random bar/cafes and set up meetings with shady telecom technicians who never actually show up...but, I hope to update this blog more regularly over the summer so interested parties may keep track of our adventures! The past two months have been full of excitement and happenings in the Cassidy-Fretz household! Caley took off for the giro in early May leaving me with just a little bit of packing and moving left to do, that of course actually turned out to be waaaaayy more packing and moving than anticipated. I spent the last two nights before the first up until at least 1am which made for very interesting days at school... But in the end it all worked out and I think we'll get our security deposit back!

 The last week of my school year was spent in the spare room of. Caitlyn and Zack Vestal who were the most gracious hosts ever! We even got out for a ride around red rocks and a run on the apex trail. Sebby never quite adjusted to being in the same house as another cat, oh good, we'll never become crazy cat people :)

 My next adventure was visiting my favorite sister at her new home in Hyde Park New York! I had a 12hr layover specifically designed to drop off the Kitty and visit Caitlin before heading over the pond. It was an amazing day and hopefully I can figure out how to post pictures via the mobile platform because I have some really good ones from that afternoon!

 The next adventure entailed a weekend in aix le Bain for a magic wheel press launch with Caley. I spent a good portion of it asleep but did sit one person away from David Millar at dinner! Next was on to our new home in Annecy le vieux! We've basically been running around trying to figure out Internet and checking out the local markets getting dinner with journalist friends before they head back to their respective countries and devoutly wishing for the rain to be gone! We finally got out for an amazing ride this afternoon and it was sooooo awesome! Hoping to get out for a long one tomorrow!

Cyber Warfare explained...somewhat

So yeah, this is scary...didn't know that now stuxnets scripts are available on the interwebs. This will certainly be an interesting next 50-70 years or so (assuming that's about how long I'll be around to witness the madness)

This Inspires Me

I don't ever want to let this kid down.