Today we did this!

Just like the title of this lazy Sunday blog -  Today we did this...

 It did involve some bikes...

And more of this...

And some random sewing...

And more pretty bikes.

 Many musical instruments...

And some actual riding....

So what were we doing?  We were practising ukulele-playing and having a half-hearted jam session in the sunshine, on a glorious day.  Hope your Sunday was fun and lazyish too!

Come Ride with Us!

Come with us for a ride in our hood.  This is the Glebe Foreshore Bike Path, with new and improved paths and lighting thanks to the City Of Sydney using taxpayer's dollars wisely.  Enjoy!

Happy Velo Day!

So, chances are if you are looking at our blog for the first time today it's because we harassed you on a street corner this morning.  Happy Valentine/Velo Day!  And congratulations on using Google so successfully!  We love bikes so as has become our tradition, Valentine's Day is when we share the love.

Friends, you were given a choice this morning... The bookmark or the chocolate?  If you chose bookmark read on below.  If you chose chocolate scroll down a bit further for your part.

Bookmark friends!  We need your help!

On the back of your bookmark you will see a pretty cool quote we found online regarding books and bicycles, but we could not find any additional information on Peter Golkin.  Why is this guy famous?  Why is his quote so popular yet no background information on who the BELL is Peter?  This is really bad, I mean what if we have quoted some awful historical figure or some bigoted politician?  We need your help... The first person to leave a comment that unveils the true identity of Peter Golkin wins a box of...

Yup, roses chocolates.  Because we will want to "Thank you very much for answering our question, thank you very much, very very very much" (sing it, you know the song).


Chocolate Friends!

As for our chocolate-choosing friends, some Valentine's eye candy to keep your sugar high going!
This is not a pic pinched off the web but literally the first bike-related picture I took in Paris, the city of love...


                         


May you always have a lasting romance with the bicycle too!

Istanbul... and bikes.

Our last stop in Europe was Istanbul.  Turkey is the ancestral home of S-boy and it was fantastic to finally go there.  We thought we would not be doing any bike riding in Turkey and especially not anywhere close to Istanbul which is very much a city of cars and buses.  There is no right of way for pedestrians here and you really have to be careful on the streets here.  The bus rides are thrilling or scary depending how you look at them. It is such a mix of a city where East meets West and is quite conflicted in how it presents itself.  The food is amazing, the people are so friendly (especially if you try to talk Turkish) and it is very energetic and exhausting.  We visited all the sights of Sultanahmet, which you can see below and managed to capture a brave solitary cyclist amid all the bustle...

The Ferry system of Istanbul is fantastic and a cool escape from the frenzy of the streets.

We did a ferry trip to Buyuk Ada (Big Island) which is only a half-hour from Istanbul. There are no cars allowed on the island, which preserves the old village that still exists there.  Horse and carriage are the main transport on the island or bicycles.   So of course we rented some.  I struggled on my bike as it was too short for me, but we still had fun riding to different 'beaches'.  Coming from our big island, Australia. we enjoyed the novelty of paying to go to the beach and had fun riding to several before we made our choice.

It was fun to ride alongside horses and carriages carrying tourists about.

Horses and bicycles are used by locals too.

View from my bike..

Shortest bike ever - even with the seat up!

Our beach!

Cargo bike!

S-boy on his ride...

We had a beautiful lunch of fresh fish and bread and wine.  Then a bit tired from our morning of bike riding and beach-going we did a carriage ride of the entire island... Just beautiful!

I liked taking bike pics from the carriage!

Especially up hills...

The only serious cyclist we saw.  Who feels out of place now?

Tandem awesomeness.

We had such a great day and were sad to leave..

The ferry

A view of the island from the ferry.

Back in Istanbul the only other place you could ride a bike safely was along stretches of cycleways which were only found along some waterfront areas of the Bosphorus.  These were mostly used for recreation, not for commuting anywhere.