If it seems that I have been quiet, it’s because I’ve been out picking flowers…… oh, wait, no, I mean I’ve been taking a lot of pictures. You can see them over on Flickr.

Today I saw something I never thought I would see: we watched salmon spawning in Vancouver. This has been all over the news and  we went down to Still creek expecting to brave the crowds at 11am on a Saturday and no one was there except us and one guy with his kid! We watched for 3/4 of an hour. At one point, a dozen salmon were in view. I took pictures and a video. It was really cool!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phall715/10771490015/

I’m a bit claustrophobic so you would think that I would want to flee underground trainstations as soon as I arrive  but, actually, I love the idea of huge underground tunnels and stations and compared to our puny stations in Vancouver, it all makes me jealous even if it is mostly likely that they have to spend all this effort because Manhattan is, essentially, already full.

More about bamboo trains from some Australian TV show:

This is a fascinating documentary. It features two caves we went to last summer. Of course, as they conclude in the documentary, it isn’t certain that the Lascaux cave paintings really are depictions of the constellations, but it’s very cool, nonetheless:

This is so incredibly cool. It’s been all over twitter but just in case anyone didn’t see it, look at this:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/06/map-iphone-users-any-city-and-you-know-where-rich-live/5961/

Just a little interlude: home-made train in Cambodia!!

Just like this one:

I finally rode a bike in France. Two bikes, actually. On two different rides during the same day.

Beater Mountain bike with a great name.

First was a delightful early morning ride to the hilltop medieval town called Domme overlooking the Dordogne river. I found a handful of beater bikes in the tool shed behind the garage of our holiday house in Grolejac. All of the bikes were dubious but this one was the best. Note the name on the top tube. Yup. That’s what gave me wings to climb the hill 😉 As I got to the top, the left crank arm started to make an awful sound. By half-way back, it was threatening to come off. Good thing I had the leatherman!

Leatherman to the rescue.

I don’t know if the track on Google maps shows the hillclimbing but it was a good pull up to the first ridge.

A second ride was a delightful tour out to a picture ground riding the paved railtrails that are all around this area. Even though I had to trade Jacques Anquetil for an old upright Peugeot with a slipping shifter, it was a fun ride to a riverside picnic ground.

Two bike rides in one day. Not a bad way to spend a holiday.