part II, dinner party and first day of climbing

dinner party at kel and olivier's place

xavier played DJ while we ate mexican food, & oysters that yannick brought from brittany

the next morning we left for a climbing weekend, passing villages along the way

we climbed just outside of this village, Orpierre ("goldrock", a 16th century village and more recently a mining town)

as was common here long ago, houses were built with underground tunnels for moving about in winter

i think this means it was bad news if you didn't pay your taxes...

cat on a hot tile roof (he's there.... really)

pre-climb picnic

these amourish-displays were quite common

kel and ol were fabulous guides

readying the ropes


monkey see, monkey do

belay master checking the routes


andi demonstrates knee-jamming

post-climb beers at the quartz bistro

we slept at a git... like a hostel, but so much sweeter

a fabulous dinner finished the day.... abbie's dessert of apples with hard cider

visit with kel & ol part I

view outside olivier's chalet in chamonix

olivier checks the weather at the maison de la montagne, in chamonix

ride to the top of the grandes montets

olivier guides us down the glacier d'argentiere

outside kel & ol's apartment in uriage

kel drives us into grenoble

pub stop before a traditional french dinner

abbie with her abbey beer

kelli talks to "cheese guy" in uriage

work trip to germany

arriving at frankfurt, ready to rumble, despite jet-lag

one of the thousands of booths at the world's largest IT tradeshow- 26 buildings of nerds and doo-dads

post-work pilsners: mark, leland, abbie, craig

craig likes the organ grinder, who shows up every year in the tradeshow bridges, he used to have a real monkey...

abbie checks out the hi-tech leiderhousen in the new products arena, with built-in mp3 controls & speakers

james castle & sushi

adventures with found papers, collages, string, booklets, parcels, SED, P!D (james' curious trademark meaning "purse ! discusses"), Mrs. Longbottom's experience with a colonic.... the j. crist gallary private tour was a truly wonderful experience about a truly wonderful artist.

sushi, wine and truffles followed

1 night in portland: josh ritter, squab, & donuts

The eve's chain of events: drinks at o'henrys, drinks at the doug fir lounge, dinner & drinks at le pigeon, concert (with drinks), donuts at voodoo, roach coach tacos, drinks at hotel lucia

fab french fare at 'le pigeon', and here, in fact, he is. sorry dude!

josh plays a fanastic solo show

dave, mike, playlist, autograph "may idaho wrap its arms around you"

voodoo donuts- everyone's favorite is the maple bacon bar, deeee-lish!

all that squab & donuts made us hungry!