Many photo's to come people! I have limited access, to digital forms of communication these days so stay tuned!

Eastern Edge Gallery

Just a not to all the lovely people out there following my blog. All donations go directly to Eastern Edge Gallery! Every little bit helps these wonderful people continue to bring inspiring programmes to the public. For Free!!!

Normadie has Cows!!!!

These are the Normandie type of cow. They are so cute! I met an Artist in one of the small beach towns of Normandie who also only paints cows!

http://www.vanluc.com/00_home/accueil.html

I think you will find him if you cut and paste this line. Or just google vanluc, it's the first hit.

He is fantastic and shares my passion for the vache!

From him I learned that in France the cow can be used as an adjective for something very wonderful.

You would say, 'Vache mon bien!' If you're food was very good at a restaurant or vache mon bien! If you're girlfriend was very lovely that day. The people of france love their cows!

Rouen!(Dragonville)

How Glamorous! Happy people are in France!

Fondue?

Oh my god, look it's Amy and Jeff! And they're eating yummy fondue in Rouen France! Yippy Hurray!

Bling bling?

The best part about the Eiffel Tower is the mini eiffle towers for sale at the base. We got one for 5 euro's! Yeah! There are litterally hundreds of dudes selling little light up towers for varying prices. Our favorite sales pitch was " Bling Bling?" 

oh la la!

The shopping in Lyon is incroyable!!!!!!!! ohh La La!

We've been going to some really awebum museums! Musee' des Beaux Art's in Lyon, Louvre, but..my favorite one is the Impressionist Museum. Musee' d'Orsey in Paris!

Nice is nice

These are my new friends, Johns old friends Erlend and Brigitte at there favorite restaurant in Nice. It's a little spot on the coast, the food is great the service..well lets just say it's Norwegian. 

Brigitte just opened a travel book store in Cagnes a pretty town just to the west of Nice. So if you are in the south of France you must stop at Le Pause Voyage, for all the most interesting travel books and yummy tea's.

Good Luck and have fun Brigitte and Erlend!

star date 31052009

Captains Log:

    Science Officer John has returned in an altered state. He claims to be experiencing symptoms of joy, sillyness and laughter. He has assured me the concotion is safe so I will engage in some experiments of my own...

Captain out.

star date 31052009

Captains Log:

John still not returned.....

star date 31052009

Captains Log:

We have entered yet again an undiscovered region of France. Strange being inhabit this place. The native tongue sounds somehow familiar, almost as if I heard it before....

The customs of these people are worth further observation. The culture, though primitive is none the less generous to new comers. We have been given a gift by the leader of the 'Camping site Tribe' after paying our 16 euros we were handed a bottle of dark red liquid. John has agreed to analyze the contents, in his mini lab he has constructed out of twigs and grass. When he returns I will update further.

Sarah-Luc Picard   

A beach in the south of france

OK you can get jealous now! 

Another random quickie! When packing gear do not leave out your icebreaker underwear! (Little plug for the outfitters) But seriously it is my top gear pick for this trip. 

When you think cycling across Europe you think romance. But there is a stinky underbelly and it lies beneth your bicycle shorts. The only cure for the heat and the filth is merino wool undies!

Word.

Just a random note: Every town we have gone through has a Pirate Resturant. In some of these places the wait staff is required to dress as pirates. 

(I may not come home)

So we leave this crazy little town of Marta were the inhabitants wake at all hours of the night and have parades and fireworks and games. And we arrive in Sienna wear the people are going balistic over this parade of old racing cars.  Each driver had a costume to match his car in the old style of dress. It was madness we had to walk our bike through the city for all the people.

Renatta poses with her wonderful desserts!

Later in the day in Marta after a rip roaring 4am start we decided to stay an extra night. One because we actually got little to no sleep the night before and two the place was really charming. Renatta invited us to lunch at her house that afternoon. We thought how nice she would want to spend her afternoon with people she could hardly communicate with. When we arrived we thought we were in the wrong place. There was 12 to 15 guests all Renatta's closest friends. 

We were treated to wine and cheese and then a four hour, five course meal that included 4 different variety's of alcohal. True Italian hospitality!

So this is the lovely picturesque town of Marta. We rode into this town around 6pm and decided to find a place to stay, because it was to late to find camping. It seemed so beautiful this town all the houses were decorated in yellow flowers. And all the street lights and sign posts, come to think of it everything was decorated in yellow flowers. Ok so there's clearly something going on. Little did we know that this was the festivis extrodinare. The one big event Marta does every year. Everyone thought we were there for the festival. They were very welcoming, but they had no accomidation. The festival gets less exciting. But we soldier on and find a beautiful organic farm that doubles as a b and b. Perfect. The woman who runs the place speaks no english at all, but speaks German and is able to communicate with John. I knew there was some reason I brought him on this trip. We are exhausted from a long ride and go to bed early. 

This photo is of the parade that happened at sunrise. After the fireworks at 4 in the morning. Yeah festivis...

We meet a very sweet couple from texas, traveling with there friend Laura in Rome. They are fabulous and very friendly. They share tiramisu and coffee with us at the end of our meal. It is devine. We're spoiled. hehehe. 

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

There they are! The Cheeanina(ok thats spelled wrong) Anyway these cows are so awesome! They are super curious, and come right up to us at the fence. I'm in heaven. 

CAUTION!!!!!

OH my God I'm excited!

The name written on my break leaver is Sante', the Italian word for cheers! 

We've used this word a lot in Italy.

A bottle of excellent wine is any wear from 2, 50 to 6 euro's, around 4 canadian dollars.

Sante'! 

For all those who love bikes this is the country for you. Cyclists are truly sports hero's around here. When you want to get some exercise in north america the first thing that comes to mind is " hey I've got to go for a run", not here. The main way to get out is on your bike. 

It was so cool heading along the coast from Fiumacio to Civitiveccio. There were some real pros out riding that stretch. I saw lots of men with silky smooth legs and Italia Jersey's. Meow!

The Cycle shop in the photo is Cicli Petta Sport, in Ostia Roma. They really know there stuff, John's bike was fixed and ready in minutes. No Charge!

Viva Italia! 

The Italians apparrently like there breakfast to be prepackaged. Little croissants with chocolate chips or jam in the middle are popular. I still haven't found a bad coffee, heaven!!!!

When we arrived at the airport in Rome we waited for 40 minutes and our bikes had still not come down. We thought for sure they were lost in the atlantic. Either that or the guy's at the airport just scored big. 

ROMA

Ciao!
Safe Arrival!!!! We have checked into a hotel in Fiumicino which is about thirty clicks from Rome. We have travelled into Rome and back twice and it is very flat here!!! There are lots of cyclists, and the drivers are very aware. The people are very friendly and tolerant of non italian speakers.

Our bikes are not in tip top condition and we have spent the last two days attempting to find a bike shop. Yesterday we went into Rome on this mission and the best we could do was go to mass at the Vatican and pray that god would fix the bikes. So far no go.

Today we made the trek to a nearby village to find a negazio bicicletta on the advice of the very friendly woman who runs our b and b. However she neglected to mention that almost everything is closed on mondays. Ha ha.

We shall return with high hopes tommorow!
I can't upload any photo's yet because all the commputers are in Italian, hopfully tommorow we will find a wireless link!
Arrivederci!

Last supper in St.John's! Made by Amy Evans, yummmmm! Perrogies ( the dictionary doesn't tell me how to spell perogies) Sooooo delicious!!!! The best way to eat perogies is with friends, and a little soar cream and caramelized onion's on top.

My obsessive packing!!! Watershed waterproof bag, mountain hardwear tent, thermarest trailpro, birkenstocks, prana quickdry pants, smartwool socks, northface blue kazoo sleeping bag, salomon xa pro sneakers, bicycle pump, icebreaker merino wool undies, MSR blacklight cookset, and dragonfly stove, toothbrush, northface quark jacket, arc'teryx alpha sl jacket, mec gore tex pants, B.O.B. trailor, pink handle bar tape, passport. phhheww ok.

Get ready to see me off on May 5th at Eastern Edge!!

Getting ready for the trip

Sarah Hillock will be braving the elements to fund raise for the non profit organization Eastern Edge Gallery. She will ride her bike 2700km across the continent of Europe. In tow with her will be her bike, her trailer ‘B.O.B.’, an antique wooden travel easel and a good attitude. Sarahs main interest as a painter is the Cow. By alternating between painting cows and traveling between farms she is attempting to make the plausibility of a bike-able world more realistic. Being seen inserting herself into the landscape as both a cyclist and a painter is her main ambition. This will bring visibility to the issues of transportation in tourism and putting faces to food in art. Like her contemporary Mike Flaherty said of his tour ‘Bicycle Rehabilitation Project’ “, hopefully, everybody who sees me on the road has thought a bit more about cycling.” Sarah’s hope is to be a part of the same revolution in transportation and attitude, one that respects the limits of our planets resources, as well as our own physical limits. Similar to how Cheryl Rondeau explores the physical limitations of the body in her “Art Ride 2007” by riding from Biennale to Biennale. Hillock plan’s to integrate art and cycling in a more pastoral setting, borrowing from Rondeau’s “Art Ride 2007” Hillock will keep the tradition alive on “Cow Ride 2009”.