Tales from the Tour: Greetings from Europe

Hello everyone,

Long time no Blog...I know, I know...!

I am in the middle of my yearly Europe-Mega-Tour and my original plan was to blog at least once a week, as I was in a different place almost every week since the end of April. But as things rarely go as planned, I didn't blog at all until today, 8 weeks after departure and 2 weeks before I fly back home.

The reason why I'm finally getting off my 'lazy *^#%' today is that this is my

first proper day off since the German Open at the beginning of May. And I'm all excited because I went shopping in London today. Not that I bought very much, but I finally had a whole day all to myself. I did whatever I felt like doing. It was great - and involved visits to several London Cafes - as you may already know, one of my passions is to sample coffee from all around the world.

For shopping I frist went to Oxfort Street and visited the department store 'Selfridge' and several smaller shops along the way (like FCUK, ZARA, etc...). It was fun, but everything is a bit expensive. I saw one really cool blouse in the Designer Section of Selfridge's, but when I looked at the price tag (230 GBP), I started running. In fact, I ran all the way to the Underground Station and jumped on to go to one of London's coolest markets instead. It is on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. And here is where I fell in love with London. Notting Hill is where I want to live (if I had around $100,000/year in rent money to spend).

Anyway, the market is really fun....if you are into wacky stuff, this is the place for you!! I may have to go back there again before I leave this city. I heard that Saturday is a better day to go than Friday (today). I came just before 6 pm and all the stalls were about to pack up. My Lonely Planet guide said "Fridays until 7 pm", but it aint true!!

Tomorrow is Saturday.... :) And I have another day off!

Will try to relax and get the needed energy for the next two weeks of Wimbledon tennis, before I get to finally fly back home on July 9.

Here in London I live in Southfields in a private apartment sharing the flat with two locals. I can walk to the tennis, it is not far at all. And occasionally I run into some tennis players in Southfields or Wimbledon Village. Already bumped into John Roddick (Andy's brother) at Starbucks, Marcos Baghdatis at the Tesco (groceries) and Bec Cartwright (Hewitt's wife) in the street.

Hope to make at least one more entry from London before I go back home :-)

Here is a quick visual tour of what I've been up to since my Europe-Tour began:

June 15 - Halle (Westfalen) Germany after a big storm that knocked out our internet service on the farm where I was staying!