Off again, EU capitals this time.

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So my last 2 challenges were Disney based, first Dublin to Orlando on foot, second Orlando to Dublin the long way round, stopping off at all the other Disney parks along the way. I've found without something to focus me and keep me on the straight and narrow, I lapse easily. So 6 months today we're off to California for San Francisco, Los Angeles, Disneyland and San Diego. Trying to stick to my average of around 45 minutes walking per day, means about would be about 8,370 minutes of walking between now and then. I tried the US state capitals but that was way too much for the timescale, but the EU capitals fits in nicely, 8,721 miles or 8,721 minutes for me. Means an average of 47min per day. That's very easily achievable during the summer, but come September college starts back and between that, the weather and work, it'll be hard to keep it up. So I intend to try and give myself a buffer between now and then.

 

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So, first order of business is the route and the cities I'll be 'visiting'. Starting from home, Lucan which is practically part of Dublin, this is it:

Where             Country            %Total     Mins   Total Min
Lucan
London            United Kingdom      3.39%      296         296
Paris             France              2.43%      212         508
Luxembourg        Luxembourg          2.03%      177         685
Brussels          Belgium             1.34%      117         802
Amsterdam         The Netherlands     1.19%      104         906
Berlin            Germany             4.08%      356       1,262
Copenhagen        Denmark             2.56%      223       1,485
Stockholm         Sweden              3.69%      322       1,807
Helsinki          Finland             2.83%      247       2,054
Tallinn           Estonia             0.58%       51       2,105
Riga              Latvia              1.98%      173       2,278
Vilnius           Lithuania           1.89%      165       2,443
Warsaw            Poland              2.77%      242       2,685
Prague            Czech Republic      3.68%      321       3,006
Vienna            Austria             1.75%      153       3,159
Bratislavia       Slovakia            0.39%       34       3,193
Budapest          Hungary             1.15%      100       3,293
Ljubljana         Slovenia            2.67%      233       3,526
Zagreb            Crotia              0.84%       73       3,599
Bucharest         Romania             5.73%      500       4,099
Sofia             Bulgaria            2.10%      183       4,282
Nicosia           Cyprus              8.57%      747       5,029
Athens            Greece              6.48%      565       5,594
Valletta          Malta               6.12%      534       6,128
Rome              Itlay               4.88%      426       6,554
Madrid            Spain               9.69%      845       7,399
Lisbon            Portugal            3.52%      307       7,706
Lucan                                11.64%    1,015       8,721

As per my last trip I'll also attempt to find out 3 new things about the places I 'visit' along the way. So wish me luck

 

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Started yesterday 20/06 and both days got 2 walks in, one during lunch and one when I got home from work, so a good start

179m down 8,542m to go

 

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Oh, a map, I like maps of my progress

 

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Have been really busy and weather has been poor, even for an Irish summer . Managed to keep ahead of schedule, but only barely.

22/06/2016 35
22/06/2016 52
23/06/2016 25
27/06/2016 50
27/06/2016 52
29/06/2016 54
30/06/2016 23
04/07/2016 49
05/07/2016 34
05/07/2016 52
06/07/2016 48
05/07/2016 52
06/07/2016 40
07/07/2016 25
09/07/2016 90
10/07/2016 52
10/07/2016 37
11/07/2016 49
11/07/2016 36

So, in total, 1,036m down, 7,685 to go

 

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So new things about the places I've been to so far

London

• There are more than 300 languages spoken in the greater London area
• It's status as the capital of the UK (or even England) has never been officially confirmed in statute or written form
• London has two cities in it, The City of London and the City of Westminster

Paris

• Was founded in the 3rd century by a Celtic people called the Parisii, hence the name
• Held the first movie showing for a paying audience in the world in 1895
• Though it has pacts of co-operation and friendship with many cities, it is only twinned with one, Rome.

Luxembourg

• Has the 2nd highest per capita GDP in the world
• Is consistently ranked as the safest city in the world
• Was the first city to be named European Capital of Culture twice

Brussels

• Is home to more beer varieties than any other city in the world
• Is also know as the Comic City
• Has the most congested traffic in North American and Europe

Amsterdam

• The Amsterdam stock exchange is the oldest in the world
• Has 5 grammar schools where Latin and classical Greek are taught
• Has more than 100km of canals

 

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Fortunately have been getting a walk in most lunchtimes during works and it's really helping.

12/07/2016 33
12/07/2016 52
13/07/2016 51
14/07/2016 25
16/07/2016 42
17/07/2016 62
18/07/2016 37
18/07/2016 64
19/07/2016 49
19/07/2016 65
20/07/2016 50
20/07/2016 64
21/07/2016 25
22/07/2016 70
23/07/2016 61
24/07/2016 62
24/07/2016 49
25/07/2016 33
26/07/2016 48
27/07/2016 34
27/07/2016 63
28/07/2016 49
28/07/2016 23
29/07/2016 62
30/07/2016 79

Total now 2,288m down, 6,433m to go

 

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And 6 more cities 'visited'

Berlin

• 60% of it's residents have no religious affiliation
• There are 979 bridges in Berlin !
• About 500,000 commuters travel by bicycle per day

Copenhagen

• It has the two oldest amusement parks in the world, established in 1583 and 1843
• There are more bicycles than residents
• Nordisk Film, est 1906, is the oldest continuously operating film production company in the world

Stockholm

• The city is spread across 14 islands
• It has the longest fiber optic network in the world, 1.2m km
• There is a hotel just outside the airport which is a converted Jumbo Jet

Helsinki

• The creator of Linux is from there
• It has the worlds northernmost subway
• In 2011 was ranked as the'most liveable city in the world'

Tallinn

• Skype was invented here
• Between 1549 and 1625 it was believed to be the home of the worlds tallest building
• It has been part of Russia/Soviet 7 times, Denmark twice, Sweden twice, Germany twice and been independent on 4 separate occassions

Riga

• Is twinned with Florence Italy (one of my favourite cities)
• Was the first, and still only, city to hold both men's and women's European basketball champions at the same time
• Historically was the second largest city in Sweden and third largest in Russia

 

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Only getting back on here now. Walks have been going well, but weather for the last 2 days (and next 2) is horrible, storms, thunder, rain, yuck. So progress since last time

31/07/2016 62
01/08/2016 61
02/08/2016 62
03/08/2016 40
04/08/2016 23
05/08/2016 62
06/08/2016 65
07/08/2016 36
08/08/2016 35
08/08/2016 61
09/08/2016 50
09/08/2016 62
10/08/2016 62
11/08/2016 48
11/08/2016 32
13/08/2016 64
14/08/2016 79
15/08/2016 62
16/08/2016 63
18/08/2016 37
18/08/2016 23

Still ahead of target, but college is looming (only 4 weeks now till I'm back). So 3,377min done, 5,344 left

 

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And 6 more cities

Vilnius

• Is the 2nd largest of the cities in the Baltic States
• Has some of the cleanest tap water in Europe
• One of the highest % usage of public transport in Europe

Warsaw

• It only became the capital in 1596, Krakow was the capital before that
• Maria Curie was born here
• From 1939 to 1945 the population dwindled from 1.3m to 400k

Prague

• The street Na příkopě in New Town is the most expensive in whole Central Europe
• Was the capital of Bohemia
• 5th most popular tourist destination in Europe

Vienna

• Is regularly at the top of the most livable cities list
• Between 2005 and 2013, Vienna was the world's number one destination for international congresses and conventions
  
• Viennese cafés claim to have invented the process of filtering coffee

Bratislavia

• Twinned with Perugia in Italy, a favorite of mine
• It has a restaurant on top of a bridge, the UFO restaurant
• Was at the center of the anti-communist Velvet revolution

Budapest

• Is home to the largest synagogue in Europe
• Has the 2nd oldest underground in the world
• At it's narrowest point the Danube is still 230m wide

 

[pad406]

Just hit the 50% mark today,

4,390m done, 4,331m left.

So far
469km
293mls
46,095kCal
617,989 steps

Average per day, 56m, so 677m ahead of schedule, about 14days

20/08/2016 37
21/08/2016 56
22/08/2016 48
22/08/2016 58
23/08/2016 52
24/08/2016 32
24/08/2016 58
25/08/2016 37
28/08/2016 90
29/08/2016 33
29/08/2016 52
30/08/2016 61
31/08/2016 61
01/09/2016 37
02/09/2016 67
03/09/2016 50
04/09/2016 60
05/09/2016 62
06/09/2016 62

 

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And 5 more cities off the list

Ljubljana

• It's one of the wettest European Capitals
• Each year over 10,000 cultural events take place in the city
• It is the site of the oldest discovered wooden wheel in the world, 5,150 year old

Zagreb

• Home to one of the largest apartment buildings in Europe with 1,263 apartments
• The ball point pen was based on a development by a Zagreb inventor
• Since 1877 cannon is fired each day to mark midday

Bucharest

• Home to the largest parliament building in the world, 3.93m sq ft. 3rd biggest in the world by volume, and heaviest building in the world.
• Was the residence of Vlad the Impaler
• 96.6% of the popluation are Romanian

Sofia

• Has been inhabited since 7,000BC
• Unofficial estimates that there are between 35,000 and 70,000 stray dogs roaming the streets
• Is the most polluted of all EU cities

Nicosia

• In 2012 was the 5th richest city in the world in relative purchasing power
• There is no railway in the city
• Was ruled by Britan for almost 90 years

 

[pad406]

Been so busy in work (new job) and being back to college that never got to do any updates. Fortunately did keep walking though and finished last Thursday, 6 days ahead of schedule. Yay !!!

So in total:
8,728 mins (145.47 hrs or 6.06 days) of walking
929km (581 miles)
91,644 calories
1,223,993 steps

Holiday starts in 3 days

Till the next time