July '07

Off to land of Waffles and Chocolate!

It's summer holidays -- and Muffin and I were due for a break -- a forced break because the company employing us couldn't afford us any more :B

Having left almost everything to the last minute, I didn't have time to look at the best way of changing money cheaply, so had to rock up to the currency exchange shop at Waterloo. Got really lousy rates, in addition to the 2% commission that they'd slapped on! If I had been more organised I would've ordered one after checking out the best rates on MoneySavingExpert.com ...

After contemplating whether we should be buying some food before boarding the Eurostar, we boarded the 6:11pm for Brussels empty handed ...

We changed trains in Brussels and made it to Brugge very late that night ...

DJ Shadow - IndigO2

Went all the way to The O2 at Greenwich to see DJ Shadow's last gig (as himself) ... This was probably the most expensive gig I've seen. Although, it's one of the few rare venues that I could actually SEE anything. It's more like a bar than a concert venue tho. The night was almost ruined by some big dude with really bad BO ...

DJ Shadow hard at work (i.e. not hiding behind a laptop)

Frank Black - Shepherds Bush Empire

We saw Frank Black at the Shepherds Bush Empire -- I had NO CHANCE of seeing anything here ... it was packed (and I am short)! Must remember to buy upstairs seated tickets next time at this venue ...

Luckily I recorded one of his songs, so managed to get the following clear shots ...

Frank Black solo

Frank Black with the band

Le Tour - Stage 1

Didn't go to it, unfortunately. Spent the day chilling (reading paper at Nero, followed by dumplings for late lunch).

Only managed to find one live coverage of the Tour de France online.

Robbie McEwen won the first stage of the tour -- unexpectedly, after a nasty spill as well! Go Aussies!

Later that night, saw Frontline Assembly at Electric Ballroom in Camden.

Le Tour - Prologue

Once again, millions of people (from all over the world) showed up to watch the Prologue stage of the Tour De France. Even with so many people, the crowds were well behaved, and the city felt like it was big enough to cater for an even bigger crowd. It will definitely be very exciting here during the 2012 Olympics. It had been raining quite a lot all week, but even the weather was on its best behaviour. I managed to get my face tanned :B

We tried to take pictures, but only managed to get ONE non-blurry photo of a cyclist -- whilst he was stationary.

The only non-blurry photo I have

Media booths after the finish line

A cyclist whizzes past

Le Tour is here!

Le Tour de France starts off from London this year -- so we feel extremely lucky to be here!

The opening ceremony was held at Trafalgar Square so we and millions of other people decided to show up ...

It was funny when a million people groaned in unison at the skit they showed (of two kids with bad French). We were also introduced to all 189 riders (21 teams of 9 riders).