Norton Summit Hills Ride

Yesterday did a ride up Norton Summit Road, the new one, turning left at Magill Road.

Was climbing quite slowly so took some shots along the way!

The Muse Mimco Shoes

Unexpected purchases are great! Yesterday, popped into the Mimco boutique, not looking for anything in particular. P spotted a fave pair of RED shoes , tried them on and was sold instantly. Its something a bit different, nice detail and in a dashing red. Love the pleated satin on them, in a classical last.

Interestingly, the sales assistant said that a customer bought them for her wedding shoe! Not the first shoe that comes to mind for getting married in isn't it?

soleful message

pleats please...

Also managed to do some other shopping:

A new coffee press because the other one cracked. This time a Bodum.

Rapha is expensive

Rapha is expensive, it really is. These "winter socks" equate to about $60 AUD.

I've actually got a pair of socks from Rapha, as well as a hat (bought from eBay), but I only paid half of what these winter socks retailed for. I won't even post about how expensive some of the bigger items are, such as the riding jackets. It is stupidly expensive, really.

God Rules

Does he really rule? not sure on that one.
But next time in Meb definitely will be going here for some coffee http://www.brotherbababudan.com.au/

The london Eye

Europe somehere, originally uploaded by tom likes clarks.

Recollections of a day in Rome

Recollections...

We started the morning at the Vatican joining the queue to enter St Peters. The lineup snaked all the way around the square, by far the biggest lineup we have seen so far. Witnessed a couple of queue jumpers but the line moved quite quickly.

outside and waiting

tired of waiting

Eventually we entered St Peter´s and as you expect this place is defintely fit for a Pope. No further explanation needed, the place is just huge and magnificant. We also ventured under St Peter´s to the catacombs to where past Pope´s are laid to rest.

We then entered the Vatican Museums, immediately noticing the very modern foyer and ticketing area. The volume of art to see here was astounding. The ceiling murals are really beautiful and they span the entire area as you walk through and eventually you stop looking upwards as there is just too many to see. On the way to the Sistine Chapel, there are several hallways that we traversed, again filled with more artwork. We stopped in a couple of these hallways to have a closer look, while some we just took an express to the next hall. The place is set up in such as way that you have to go through each hallway to get to the end, its not possible to just skip to a different room as you please.

ceiling art

inside hallway

After going through another narrow hallway we finally reached the Sistine Chapel. No photography here and its also a silent area, but the silence is usually disrupted by the guards shouting sternly ¨No photos please¨ and people seem to ignore and take photos anyway, so the guards shout even louder disturbing the silence even more.

People continue to drop out of the hallway and are stuffed into the giant space with the hundreds of others. The famous creation of Adam painting is easily missable among the frescos if you don´t look carefully . The experience of being in the Sistine Chapel was memorable especially for the atmosphere and for the sheer volume of art to see.

exit down

Copenhagen Bikes and Octopus bike in Berlin

Here's a couple of the many many interesting bikes I came across while in Copenhagen recently. The first was parked out front of a Japanese cafe, in Elmegade. Do you agree it looks like a very purposeful bike? A 'utility' bike perhaps?


The second bike was locked up near the Danish Library offices. Very, very interesting, and pleasing to my eyes, another bike worth of a snapshot.

Now this bike, or should I call it a vehicle, was spotted during our walk in Berlin, Germany. It's an Octopus bike, called this because it is ridden by 8 people. Notice they all look happy! Again, a bike I had never seen before.

Now for something completely different! Christmas is approaching very quickly now, the parties have already started. Here's what was worn to the first party of them all:

Her...
dress by Nicola Finetti

Him
jacket/trouser from tiger of sweden, shirt from reiss
shoes by Loake

Copenhagen Cycling Photo Makes the news

Looks like we made the news headlines, or at least the photo that was taken recently in Copenhagen.

I was more than happy to share the photo and the article was about improving bike lanes, so I was glad to assist!

A snapshot of the article with the photo

Heres the actual article

Fortune Duck Restaurant Gouger Street Adelaide

Address
65 Gouger St
Adelaide
SA, 5000
Australia

This is not a review of the food offered at Fortune Duck, rather its simply a post about our experience of dining there this week. There's a couple of reasons why this is not a review, firstly, we are not food critics. Secondly, we never actually got to taste the food we ordered, but read more to find out about that bit..

This place opened recently in Adelaide and we had noticed it being renovated a couple of weeks ago. In the front window you will notice Roast Ducks hanging up, rather fitting as its called Fortune Duck (the ducks hanging there are more like unfortunate ducks though)

The service was OK, but we did notice a few tables did not get menus when they were seated and they had to ask for them. Now to why we didn't get our food. We ordered a few dishes, stuffed tofu hotpot, salt and pepper squid and half a roast duck. We received the duck quite quickly on its own. However after that, things didn't go too well. To sum it up, the food never showed.. 15 minute wait became 30, 30 minutes became 45, still with no sign of the food.

After the 45 minute wait without the food (it was more like an hour), we decided that was enough and left to pay for what we had already had eaten. So there goes, a rather unfortunate meal at Fortune Duck and of what we had eaten, the duck wasn't that good and other dishes didn't look that enticing either. We think it was quite unfortunate we had this experience, being a new restaurant and all, we can only wonder what the future of this place will be. The fact that there are other really great Chinese places in this area does not help them either.

Fortune Duck really is living the ethos of "SLOW FOOD" but for all the wrong reasons...

New Bag!

New Bag LV Epi Leather 30 ,.

New weekend bag, an Epi Leather 30, also affectionately known as the "Doctors bag" ;-0.
I've always thought Epi's are a classic bag and I am sure this bag will serve me well.

Typical Copenhagen street

Typical Copenhagen street, .

Boy we were greeted with the most fantastic skies when we landed in Copenhagen. Perfect for taking snaps! Actually I think I took the most photos in the shortest amount of time, truly a fabulous place to visit. I heart CPN!

Specialized Tricross Singlespeed 2008

Specialized Tricross Singlespeed 2008, .

The Specialized Tricross was delivered on Monday, great delivery time from the ebay seller. Paid on Friday, here from Sydney next business day very impressed!

I actually was looking at the Masi Speciale Fixed from the same seller, but I forgot to bid. Even more disappointing was the fact that the Masi sold for the starting price of something like $699, I could have had myself a bargain.

I'm not too sure why I decided to bid on the Specialized, but for some reason I felt compelled to do so. The things that intrigued me about this bike were the possibilities of adding proper mudguards, fenders and racks to this bike. The frame was quite interesting too, looks tough but still has the road bike feel to it. I also liked the fact that it came with slightly fatter tires as stock, 700X32C to be precise. I don't have any bike in my stable (road bike that is), that has tires like these. Therefore this bike would be a great commute bike. Finally, the fact that it was a singlespeed was another reason I liked it. In fact, if it were not singlespeed I probably would not have looked at it.

I read that it comes with a flip-flop hub, so later on I will look at getting a fixed cog for it.

The bike was packed really well, I mean professionally, the seller knew what he was doing. There were several stickers on the box and frame noting that the bike should be put together by a pro. I am no pro, but it was relatively straightforward. I did have to have a second look at the headset/fork area but all is well now and I am keen to go for a ride.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

When we were in Copenhagen

Found this photo of when we were in Copenhagen in October. We decided to hire a couple of bikes and discover the city. It was a fantastic trip, so easy to ride around in this city. The bike lanes were nice and wide, terrain was relatively flat and you don't have to wear a helmet, therefore no helmet hair.

Photo of a meat pie

Yes it is a meat pie, a pie from Hahndorf. I am posting this because I am testing how to post photos really large.

I remember eating this pie. We travelled up the highway in search of a really good pie. We had heard that the main street in Hahndorf has a bakery with really good pies. We even took a day off work to dedicate to this search. When we arrived, as soon as we parked the car it started to rain. That was ok, the pies were getting closer. We walked down the main street, trying to sniff out a lovely bakery. Finally we found a place with a sign saying POT PIES. It was closed.

So, we went to the next bakery and settled on their pies. How were their pies? rather bland really...

Paris croissant

Here is a pic of a croissant in Paris, very tasty and probably the best in the world.

We have fond memories of Paris, catching the metro and discovering the city. We would like to come back one day.

CCP Champions Polo

Today my CCP cycling top arrived from http://www.tokyofixedgear.com/proddetails.asp?idprod=74&multi=False


It's the perfect cycling top for me, the combination of a great classic style with function in that its made of breathable fabric. The details are great, with arm pocket and two back pockets. There is multi coloured ribbing on the arms, another great detail.



Made in Japan and I love the detail on the internal tag, racing stripes. Even the disposable tag with the shirt details was a special touch.
Total cost delivered downunder was about 110 Clams.

details....

The back as I mentioned features two pockets, as with any other 'technical' cycling top. Except this one looks good to wear with jeans around town, which is a definite requirement for me.

back pockets...

I would definitely order more CCP gear.

SE DRAFT Single Speed Bike.

SE Draft 2008 Model
Originally uploaded by tom likes clarks

Another photo of the SE Draft

SE DRAFT : SE Bikes Draft 700C 2008 Model

SE DRAFT : SE Bikes Draft 700C 2008 Model
Originally uploaded by tom likes clarks

SE Draft cheap and cheerful single speed bike. It's cheap, nasty steel, crap brakes, single speed and singe piece crank. Why would you even consider buying it? well I did because it was cheap and its a blast to ride. Its the perfect rainy day bike too.

Windypoint

We had dinner at http://www.windypointrestaurant.com.au/ Friday evening. We tried the grilled Kingfish and 250g streak. The food was nice, service sub-standard and if it wasnt for the view (which wasn't really that good) it would be just another bistro. The menu is severely lacking in variety, with less than 8 main dishes to choose from. If it wasn't for the celebrity chef promotion, we would not have tried this place. I am glad we did though, as I think most Adelaideians would at some point dine at this place.