In a few weeks...

... I'll be there again:

Italy!



I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm already making plans for each day of my vacation. Cannot wait. I feel like I never needed some days off more than now.

Up and down

There was not much to do at work today so I could leave early and was home at 3 pm. With the weather being kind of nice today (I don't think we'll get a "real" summer this year, hot summer days seem to be non-existent at the moment in my area), I got on my bike and went down to the river valley first.


It's always a good opportunity to warm up. I followed the river for about 20 kilometers, then I went up to the hills you see in the background of the picture below.


It goes up and down all the time. On paved streets, unpaved streets and small forest trails. After two hours I returned home. Just a few minutes before the next thunderstorm arrived.

I'm sooo tired of this weather.

Today is the day

Remember my last post? Especially the part about my favorite senior physician leaving the hospital?
Today was her last day. During lunch time all of the physicians and a lot of the nurses of our department met in one of the doctor offices for a farewell party. We ate huge amounts of cake and a delicious salad. Though we had a lot of fun at the party (like always, it is such a great team) it's so sad to see her go. I knew it would be hard but when we said goodbye after work today we couldn't keep ourselves from crying.
The good thing is that we decided to meet for dinner next month.

Happy and sad

I can't decide if I am happy or sad right now.

Happy because the whole remodeling thing of my appartment is nearly done. There are some things that still need to be finished, but when I compare it to some weeks ago it is awesome. Now it looks like an appartment, not like some old dirty place...

Sad because I'll have to find something else to spend my evenings with. Wait, no, that's not what I wanted to say.

Let's try it again:

Sad because one of the senior physicians at the hospital where I work is leaving on Friday. She moved to another city and found a new job there. Sure, for her it is much better as she won't have to spend so much time in the car each day. She's my favorite "teacher", you can ask her everything every time. Though I've spend only four months working with her, she's become a good friend and I'm really going to miss her.

Where's the sun?

While I am looking forward to the first weekend in four weeks without work, I miss something that would make for a much better weekend: the sun! It is the middle of July and it is cold. Not cool and comfortable, no, really COLD. I had to turn on the heating in my appartment last night. What has happened to global warming?

Nevertheless, I'm going to enjoy the next two days. Going shopping tomorrow morning, watching the Tour de France in the afternoon, spending some time with my family, making plans for my next vacation(s), and so on.

Summer sky

Surprise

When I switched on the TV this afternoon to watch the third stage of this year's Tour de France I was expecting to see one of those long flat boring sprint stages: an early escape that is caught some kilometers before the finisch line and a bunch sprint.
Well, there was an early escape, it ended with a sprint, but it wasn't boring at all: approximately 30 kilometers before the finish Team Columbia split the field into two halfs and suddenly there was some excitement. Most of the contenders for the general classification were in the second half. Armstrong and two of his team mates (Popovych and Zubeldia) were in the first group, the rest of his Astana team were in the second one. Interesting to see how they (in the first group) behaved. At first they didn't ride in the front but finally they took some turns and helped to keep the lead - and helped Armstrong to gain some time on other contenders, including his team mate and official team leader Contador. So at the end of the day he suddenly became the best Astana rider in the classification.
Some might say it was unfair to Contador but I think that Astana has improved their chances (more riders closer to the front of the general classification). There are still so many stages and mountains to come!

Looking forward to the Tour de France

Yep, the world’s biggest bike race begins in just a few days. I’ve followed it since the early 90’s. And despite all of the doping scandals of the last years I still love it. I’ll try to watch as many stages live on TV as possible.

There are so many open questions:

- who is going to win?
- which German will be the best? And on which place of the general classification will he finish the race?
- who’s going to be the leader of the Astana team?
- how will Armstrong do?
- who will be the first convicted doper?
- how long will it take before the first doping case is announced?

Looking forward to an interesting July!