What's Dr Dopey doing now?

Baby went to Amsterdam

My first visit to Amsterdam and my list was ready....

#1 Canals (actually canals was not on my original list as I didn't know there were canals in Amsterdam, but there are, heaps, which was great. The buildings lining the waterway are all slightly crooked as they slowing sink.

#2 Visit the red light district at night: No photos of this one but it definitely didn't disappoint. Narrow windy cobbled streets lined with window prostitutes of every variety. The tiny rooms behind the window where the lady was on display had just enough room for a bed and probably not much ventilation as we saw many of them trying to air out the room by fanning the door or spraying cans of air freshener....noice

#3 Dykes: For this we ventured north of the city and decided the best way was on bike. This sounded like a great idea until we realised Dutch bikes are a little different to the ones at home. I'm sure there great for your posture but they can be difficult to balance on and manouever due to the wide turning circle. Fortunately Holland is extremely flat so no major issues

The dykes are great though, with bike paths running along the top so you get a fantastic view of the large expanses of water on either side

Amsterdam 9 kms to the left, Marken 3 kms to the right (and below)

#4 Giant Clogs: They were there, it had to be done, say no more

#5 Windmills: After searching high and low for windmills we finally found one on our ride back to Amsterdam. The guy even let us inside and gave us a run down on how it all worked. Its the only working windmill in Amsterdam and its used to break up and grind rock and chalk into fine dust

Windmill from the outside (above) and inside (below). The large wheels are made of stone and their rotation driven by the windmill is what crushes the rock

Overall, Amsterdam gets 2 thumbs up, its a great walking city and very bike friendly with the coutryside only a short bike ride. Plus there's lots to see and do during the day and into the night, what more could you want?

Enough fun, back to work tomorrow and more travel. Next stops....Turin, Italy and Dusseldorf, Germany before heading over to the US

Around the World in 18 Days (Part 1)

Another work trip but there's always time to sample the local cuisine and do a bit of sightseeing. First stop, sunny Scotland....not. Wokka (work colleague and travelling companion) and I had preplanned to spend our afternoon off driving around the Scotish countryside in search of the Falkirk Wheel, the worlds only rotating canal boat lift. It functions to connect 2 different canals that are at different elevations by lifting boats from one to another. Also it only requires the same amount of power to run as boiling 7 electric kettles.

The Falkirk Wheel in its stationary position with a canal boat (blue) moving into the bottom gondola. When its ready to lift, the gates close keeping water in the gondola and it starts to rotate around (images below)

Pretty impressive but is it worth the £17.5M spent to develop it?


We also drove to Loch Lomand and stumbled across some highland cows and discovered a new taste sensation at one the country pubs

Aberdeen Angus beef burger with onion rings - yes they are eaten in the burger and it tasted great!

Next stop, Amsterdam

Don't give up your day job Dr Dopey

Last week of winter, finally! So its time to harvest the remaining winter vegies and start looking ahead to spring and warmer weather

Bumper crop of carrots (just slightly under done) and a lone head of minature broccoli (supermarket garlic added to help with scale). Still takes good though, right Warwick? Hopefully we'll have better luck with the potato and strawberry plants Samantha's husband Andrew gave me.

Farmville makes it look so easy!

Catch up with Mummy, John, Sam and Eddy

Sam and Eddy the spoodles

Mum with Sam....or is it Eddy? So hard to tell

Bonnie attempting to explain the benefits of graduated compression garments (2XU) to Sam and Eddy.

Mum's off to India later this week to go touring on the back of a motorbike from Delhi, through the Himalayas and along the world's highest motorable road (5600 metres above sea level) before finishing off back in Delhi. The Dopey sisters wish her and John a safe and enjoyable trip!

http://www.asianexperience.com.au/himhighmb/himhighmb_intro.htm

Training.....Fun.....Training?

Its very difficult to ignore the fact that "40" is just around the corner when you start getting invites to 40th birthday bashes. This weekend was the second in as many weeks with an ex work collegue Jeanie celebrating the big four-O. Hers was to be held in Sorrento, a seaside town located on the Mornington Peninsula about 100 km from Melbourne. Sorrento just happens to be on the Around the Bay in a Day bike ride which I've signed up for later this year. So what a great idea, why not ride the 100 km down to Sorrento to train for the ride and then party?

The ride from Melbourne to Sorrento in purple above and the profile below showing those great hills between Frankston and Dromana

Quick stop off along the way at Mum's place in Chelsea (36 km mark). This agave plant had a massive sead head growing out from it

I had intended to take photo's along the way but I was stuffed after tackling the 20 kms of hills between Frankston and Dramana. It took every last bit of physical and mental effort to make it to Sorrento. I have no idea how I'm going to complete the whole ride in October which is twice the distance. But enough whinging, it was time to party....

The birthday girl after a few (above) too many (below) drinks

We also managed to get in a bit of sightseeing at the beach

All that was left was the ride back home......

Achievements

Achievement #1: Warwick publishes work in prestigious Nature Medicine jounal

Achievement #2: Wally (Warwick's dad) celebrates another birthday with a magical 2 course meal prepared by moi (see achievements 3 & 4 below)

Achievement #3: Dr Dopey successfuly recreates Warwick's signature beef and guiness pie and excels in pastry decoration, depicting 2 lonely moose wandering through grassy fields at night in search of their soul mates)

Achievement #4: Dr Dopey makes chocolate fondant that is solid on the outside and gooey on the inside

(It may need some further refinement but practice makes perfect. Yes I do realise my acheivements revolve around food)