Italy

Okay, I'm not really in Italy. Jeremiah, Sue and I are still in Eberweir, Germany. But last night we had the best Italian dinner of all time! We received an invite from Waldeck, manager of the Luna Team, to join them and the Subaru/Fisher Team at one of his all-time favorite restaurants (and this guy is a serious world traveler) - I wish I could tell you the name of the place, but there were no signs - it's totally top secret only for those in-the-know. I'll surely find my way back

We ordered our meal family style and were presented with bowls filled with delicious salmon penne, sausage raviolli, and mushroom cabernet gnocchi. Each dish was handmade from scratch in the kitchen. The olive oil we dipped our bread in was fresh from the restaurant owner's Italian olive orchard. There was a glittering glass case of 100+ euro bottles of grappa - also a product of the owner's family - each with hand painted labels which matched some of the artwork on the walls.

Since we chose to be impressed by the kitchen's finest, we didn't really read the menu - but we enjoyed it being displayed on an easile beside our table. Since the meals are made fresh - there is no print menu, rather a painted wooden window framed display that opens to show a handwritten menu of the day's selections.

After passing around and enjoying the pasta dishes, we sat back and relaxed. I decided the food was so good and my running legs were making my stomach hungry, so I could keep eating. I was ready for a big dessert - well I was in luck because we weren't even on to the main course yet! We each received a plate of perfectly seared steak, sauteed veggies and potatoes grilled in what must have been bacon grease - they were heavenly!

Then came dessert. We opted for the assortment... a little bit of everything arragned ever so delicately on a platter for each of us - Sue and I got special plates "for the ladies" ours included every the guys' had, creme bruele, tiramisu, papaya drizzle with something sweet, chocolate brownie drenched in liquor, persimons - but our special ladies plates didn't have the gelatinous hazelnut mountain in the middle. I guess they though we were watching our girlish figures. ha!

It was a fun evening and a great way to wind up the weeks spent together as a team at the world cups!
More pictures in the gallery.

Having fun and eating well,
Erin

posted by E Bishop  # 4:53 AM 0 comments

Sunny Day in Germany

The sky is bright and sunny here in Offenburg. The team is staying in a guesthouse in a little village off-shoot of Durbach, named Aberswier. It's a nice place to retreat from the hectic race scene. Our guesthouse is one street back from the edge of the town (it's a four street-deep town) where the apple, pear and cherry orchards cover the hills over to the race course. Today I went for a nice outing into the orchards and explored some vineyards and made my way over to the venue. I got in some nice jogging and a little sun on my nose. I saw some riders inspecting the race course and took advantage of the opportunity to watch the dual speed spectator zone. Within about 30 seconds, Christoph Sauser dropped in and then some other riders followed. I made a mini-movie. Check it out...



Oh! I forgot to mention, I'm borrowing Fraur Meier's bicycle to spin around! It's completly decked out with a basket and a generator light, fenders and a chain guard. It's great. I'm in Offenburg, about 6 km from the the village we are staying. The whole way here I rode on a twisting little path through the vineyard and orchards. The whole thing was paved with interlocking bricks. Amazing.

Having fun and enjoying the relaxed pace. Check out the link the gallery on the lefthand side of the main page.

:) Erin

posted by E Bishop  # 10:25 AM 0 comments

Photos are up

If you want to see some of the photos from the weekend in Houffalize, go to the main page (www.jeremiahbishop.com) and click on the Gallery link. (The link from my blog isn't working). Open the Racing album and click on Houffalize World Cup 2008.

Today proved to be a tough race for Jeremiah. His fitness is through the roof, it looks like the timing was off. And after an event like the Cape Epic, it can be difficult to make the timing come together - especially because of the team nature of the Cape Epic and the less control over the racing JB really had.

We're looking forward to a few days of quiet time in Offenburg, Germany before the rest of the World Cup circus rolls into town. It should make for a pleasant setting for some recovering and preparation for the races ahead.

Hopefully the internet will be as easy to access.

Erin

Labels: Bike Racing, Where in the World

posted by E Bishop  # 11:43 AM 0 comments

Euro Travel

We made the drive from Frankfurt, Germany to Houffalize, Belgium Thursday afternoon. We've got a 9 passenger Mercedes
van, cobalt blue. Very stylish! The drive was comfortable and didn't take as long as I'd expected.
Most was on major highways. We saw many windfarms, the big modern 100-foot propeller kinds along the way, and
two nuclear power plants, and 3 or 4 castles or churches - they look similar from far away.

As planned, our hotel is in the center of the town of Houffalize, but the town itself is much smaller than I
imagined. The hotel is great though! The dinner last night was very good. They had a bar with
heavy appetizers, each with its own sauce, like holandaise for the greenbeans, oils for the shredded
carrots, thick creamy spreads for crackers... all were very good. On the main buffet were pastas, salads,
meats, fish and caseroles - salmon and cheese last night. Chocolate mouse for deseert. Beer and bottled
water are extra, but for breakfast they had champagne in an ice bucket on the buffet with the fruit juices.

One thing that is funny about our hotel is that it's where they filmed the "telephone scene" from Off Road
to Athens - Jeremiah showed me the infamous telephone!

The sun is coming out - it was raining yesterday and when we woke up this morning. I'm going to walk around
town and see some sights. Since we have a good internet connection (FREE) we'll be able to post some
pictures to Jeremiah's gallery.

Having fun,
Erin

Labels: Where in the World

posted by E Bishop  # 4:01 AM 0 comments

greetings from frankfurt

this keyboard is wild... the y's and z's are in some strange places!

i'LL UPDATE AGAIN LATER SINCE I KNOW THERE IS INTERNET AT OUR HOTEL: A MERCURE HOTEL: BUT THIS ONE DOESNÄT HAVE THE INDOOR DIVE CENTER LIKE THE ONE NEAR THE MUNICH AIRPORT DID:

MORE LATER

posted by E Bishop  # 6:32 AM 1 comments

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