Jane and Lara come to Oberursel

Jane and I went to a fussball game with Trevor in Kaiserslautern. It was one of those days when everything went wrong, including loosing the directions out the window and almost having the car towed.





Lara Esser came to visit us as well - she also studied Biology at NMU - and is now living just north of Oberursel! We biked to Koenigstein on some fat cruisers and spent the day doing German things

Laura, me, and Jane checking out the Koenigstein castle


mystery solved - so THIS is spaggettii ice!

Jane and Lara

Unfasionable in Milano; gelato in Cinque Terre

Tracy, Jane, and I met up in Milano for the weekend. We spent May Day wandering around Milano and then took the train down to Cinque Terre, a famously beautiful group of 5 little villages nestled along the coast. We spent two days hiking in Cinque Terre, eating gluttenous amounts of gelato and facaccia.




Jane, Tracy and me in front of the Duomo, Milano




Tracy and I at a flee market near the train station in Milano

Of all the tourists in Milan over May Day, Tracy just happened to run into Erica, who is from Marquette, Michigan (where Jane, Tracy, and I ran in college), and ran cross country against Tracy in high school.

Tracy and Erica in Milano

We found ourselves, on May Day, in the middle of an endless street parade, djs in semis, thousands of people dancing. The European equivalent of Labor Day, Adolf Hitler supposedly founded May Day as celebration for the workers, and it is traditional to 'dance in May'.

Dance in May, Milano

Dance in May, Milano

Not dancing, Milano

Cinque Terre


Cinque Terre

"Darling, I'll be out in the orchard watering the lemon trees"

View from our room in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

Jane on the patio, Riomaggiore

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

A weekend in London with Tracy and Jane

About a month ago I went to London for the weekend to hang out with my good friends Tracy Wills and Jane Steiber. We all ran cross country together in university. Tracy is now working on her Masters Degree in London and Jane was taking a vacation from dental school at UofMichigan.

As soon as she stepped off the plane, we hauled Jane to Tracy's camogie game.


Tracy's camogie outfit - leave it to the Irish...skirt and helmet

Tracy (#18) preps for the game; Jane snoozes


Tracy (4th from the right) deftly swings her hurley at the sliothar...what?!


Jane, me, and Tracy in Camdon Town


What a weekend to be in London - we just happend to catch the Flora London Marathon

Tsegay Kebede (Ethiopian bronze medalist in Beijing Olympics), 2nd in the Flora London Marathon (time - 2:05:20)

Mara Yamauchi (6th in the Beijing Olympics), finished 2nd in 2:23:12.

Canadian Diane Roy finished 3rd in 1:50:41