J'ai chaud? Je suis chaude!

Hello all!

So things have begun in full force here on campus.  We are in full immersion mode now, so it's kind of nice to think and write in English for a little bit.  My brain is tired.  Heh!

My roommates are Deborah from Comox, Kirsten from Vancouver (I knew her already from teaching ESL at Tamwood years ago), and Paula from Fort St. John.  We are all in our later thirties or forties (in fact, I'm the youngest), which is good because we are all pretty fun and relaxed.  Kirsten is pretty bilingual, so she helps us out all the time - and doesn't even seem to mind.

Yesterday we had our placement interviews and it turns out that I am way worse at French than I thought.  Turns out my enthusiasm doesn't mean that I'm good (you have all been lying to me!).  I think the instructors knew right away though, especially when they asked me if I knew any other languages and I thought that they were asking if I could drive a car.  I said yes, they asked which languages, and... yeah.  I'm in the "debutante" class.  :)

Every day they provide us with lunch at the cafeteria, but we do our own breakfast and dinners.  After our tests yesterday, we headed out to the local grocery store and did a big shop.  They drove our groceries home for us while we walked in the humid sun.  We always talk about having several showers a day.  Having a cold shower at night helps me get to sleep since it cools my core temperature down to a comfortable state so I can relax.  

Our cultural activity yesterday was learning some Quebecois dances and we all learned how to play the spoons.  We also listen to and sing songs every day (some traditional, some modern).  After that we watched a French movie called The Intouchables.  And much to my chagrin, no English subtitles (of course).  But that's okay, I was able to get the synopsis off the web and follow along.  :)  Good movie!

Today our classes began and our beginner class practiced a lot of basics like introducing ourselves and saying where we are from.  We're also learning teaching strategies at the same time, and we recognize lots of what's going on.  It's interesting to be on the other side of the coin. Our group activity today was to do a scavenger hunt, and they placed us in groups with one person from each level.  So yah, I was the dummy running behind everyone listening to them chatter in French and not having a clue what was going on.  I have way more sympathy for my ESL kids now.

My (our) reward for going through that redonkulous exercise was to relax at a local establishment for 5a7, which is the saying for "happy hour" here in Quebec.  And it was definitely happy: our leaders had arranged for all of us to have a free drink and appetizers.  Plus we played a few games and more free drinks were up for the taking, if you were up for the talking.

And homework!  We get homework every day.  HA HA.  Today's homework was to pronounce some vowel sounds (blah), and write a poem with a particular framework.  I'll share mine with you:

A L'interieur de Moi

C'est une chambre,

dans mon coeur.

Il y a un poid

sur mes memoires.

Il y a un desir

sous mes pensees.

Il y a une intention

entre mes questions.

Tu me manques,

mais tu habites ici.

Dans mon coeur.

Can you guess what our framework was?  That's right, prepositions!  Good to see that my ability to write sappy predictable crap hasn't waned since highschool.  It's finally coming in handy.  Ha ha.

Hope you're all doing well!  I miss (speaking English with) every single one of you.

Cheers,

E! 

The Emerald Isle

Ahhhh, Ireland. So beautiful. Green and lush, and the people are SO welcoming and friendly. One person said that you never really get lost in Ireland (at least for long) because you just stop and ask someone. I guess whoever said that didn't mean in the bar district at 2am haha! No but really, people have been very helpful. 

We did a ton of walking around in Dublin when we were there. We saw the Famine Memorial, the Ha'penny Bridge, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and more. The pedestrian walkways are excellent. All cobblestones and shops and pubs. Many, many pubs. B&B's are my favourite type of accommodation (although I think S prefers hotels) because I like meeting the people and I like the home cookin'!  Dragging your bags up and down stairs is a bit of a chore, though. 

Our first driving destination was to visit Newgrange in the Boyne Valley. It's a huge stone-age tomb that is older than the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt! Pretty cool. Then we were off to Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. It's quite a sight! Hexagonal columns all around the bay. Not sure the science behind it, but the interpretive centre has a whole giant-fable to go with your exploration of the area. I posted photos of both Newgrange and Giant's Causeway on FB if you want a look.

The next day we drove from Bundoran (a cute little coastal town) to Galway (a cute large coastal town).  Our B&B was right on the water: Galway Bay/Atlantic Ocean! Just a short swim and we'd hit the Maritimes. ;)  Another great pedestrian area in Galway with wonderful buskers, shops, pubs, and ice cream parlours. S and I enjoyed people-watching and drinking from the outdoor patio and walking around the city square. Nice!

The landscape reminds me quite a bit of when I visited Scotland in 2008 with C. Rocky areas, fields, hills and small mountains are all over the place. We've been lucky to have fairly cooperative weather. The mildness has been a welcome change from the hot & sticky, and the occasional rain shower is, dare I say, pleasant!

After leaving Galway, the next stop would be at The Cliffs of Moher. Ireland certainly has impressive natural formations! I was dismayed to see that people could walk right along the edge of the cliffs with no railing or anything to keep them from plummeting.  We didn't try it. From where we were, the view was fantastic and we had the pleasure of listening to a harpist.  Excellent. 

After a quick stop in Shannon, we headed to Limerick for the night. It was a pleasant enough city, although for us it was pretty much a stopover. S walked around a little and saw the local cathedral and castle, and I opted for a massage at the spa! It was pretty decadent. In fact, the best food I'd had in Ireland so far was at the restaurant adjoining our hotel. SO GOOD. Of course that may be partially due to the fact that we have been eating a lot of the same food, over and over.  We are both looking forward to peanut butter when we get home!

From Limerick, we headed to Killarney.  What's the difference between a "twinned city" and a "sister city"? Whatever it is, Killarney has plenty of both.  It also has a National Park, and it is the starting point for the Ring of Kerry, which is an all-day drive around a southwest peninsula (kind of like the Road to Hana in Maui).  We didn't have time to do it all, but we did see Killarney, Ladies' View, Ross Castle, Torc Waterfall and the town of Kenmare. Next time we'll plan our time better and do more!

Our last night in Ireland would be spent in Cork.  We drove around and saw much of the city while locating our B&B, and we walked down the street to have dinner at the aptly named Serendipity Cafe. Electric guitar serenaded us while we had yet another fantastic meal; we listened to Clapton, Metallica, Cash, and others. It was pretty cool, gotta say. 

Before leaving the Cork area the next day, we had to go to Blarney Castle and kiss the stone. I was convinced it was an overpriced gimmick but when we got there, there was actually quite a lot to do there, which made it more worth it. We walked through the beautiful gardens, and even one called "poison garden" which had all poisonous plants, including the marijuana plant, which had a cage all around it as to discourage samplers. There was a waterfall, and lovely trails all over. Oh yeah, and the castle too. And the stone. 

Last bit of Ireland was spent driving back to Dublin for a short flight to London, and then we'd have two separate flights back to Vancouver (I had a direct flight and S was via Amsterdam).  

Random bits about driving in Ireland:
- we rented a Toyota Auris at first. It was a standard transmission and it actually indicated when you were supposed to shift up or down. I thought that was cute!
- driving with a stick shift was fine and all, but I soon realized that my fine manual dexterity isn't as good with my left hand.
- the rural roads in Ireland are crazy. They are super narrow, there's usually no shoulder whatsoever, and the speed limits are unbelievably high. For example, the posted limit of 100km/hr was two feet in front of another sign that said, "Be careful of walkers on the road."  There are regularly trucks and semis coming the other way, and let's just say it gets hairy. 

- the roundabouts here are excellent, but I'm not a fan of the double-lane. Makes it confusing for where you think someone beside you is exiting and I don't like guessing about where other cars are going. So, I pretty much stayed in the outside lane in the roundabouts.
- no passing while in the slow lane. I knew this and was respecting it, but somehow without my even realizing it, I messed up. Right in front of a cop. Just my luck, eh? He made sure I was clear about that particular rule. 

- we changed over to a Skoda Octavia with automatic transmission after three days, so that S could drive too. I needed a break.

- they have "traffic calming areas" here. At home this would mean speed bumps, but here it means no passing and narrower lanes (as if they aren't narrow enough!)

Random bits about travel/this trip:

- a suitcase with four wheels on the bottom is awesome!!

- I think I need to be a little less efficient with my packing. I had tons of space in my suitcase, and about a week before the end, I got thoroughly sick of wearing all the same clothes. 

- if we could do it over, I'd plan the Ireland portion of this trip differently. Definitely less driving and more time spent enjoying locations. As it was, we were pretty go-go-go, which was like our tour (except we didn't have someone else doing all the "work" for us!).

- maybe I'm getting old, but a month is a long time to be away from home.  I think I'll prefer to do shorter trips in the future. Maybe. 

Our big adventure has come to an end!  Thanks for reading along and travelling with us!

xo

E!

Berlin and Westward Bound

Berlin. What a city. So much character and history. We saw The Wall, the Wannsee villa where the senior officials of the Nazi regime met to determine the "Final Solution," the Cecilienhof Palace (where Truman, Churchill, & Stalin met to decide the future of Germany/Europe after the end of WWII), Alexanderplatz, Brandenberg Gate, the Holocaust memorial, and more.

It was ridiculously hot, and we were in a constant state of stickiness. I tried currywurst, which is basically a hot dog covered with ketchup and curry powder. We had Starbucks, and some of our group went to McDonalds. Despite that though, the food in Germany is pretty good.

The last night in Berlin was a farewell dinner for the end of our tour. We were taken to a local place for food and all the drinks we could drink. There was singing (again with the volunteers and volun-tolds) and dancing. It is amazing how close you can become to people who you share these kinds of experiences with! I do hope that I'll cross paths with many of them again. The next day people left Germany for various destinations. S and I had most of the day to sightsee, and then we had a late flight to Dublin!

Abridged list of things I will never do again:

- schedule a flight to a foreign country that arrives after dark, especially when I have to find my own way to the accommodation

- rent a car wherein I am the only driver

- forget to get a list of detailed directions and maps of the area

Well, we had the directions, but they were printed in German. And anyways, one missed turn and those directions are useless in a city of one-way streets. After our own (many) attempts failed, and after we had asked countless people for directions, we actually paid a taxi driver to take us to our B&B while we followed behind. Brilliant idea, no? Well turns out that he got our street mixed up with another street (one was a St. and one was a Rd.) and left us in the completely wrong part of town, stranded. This was at about 2am.

Good thing/bad thing was we saw a lot of downtown Dublin. Well, S did anyways. I was too busy being stressed about driving stick and staying on the correct side of the road (S saved us from a near significant-mistake at one point). The street signs, if they are even there, are so far up and difficult to read. Even though it was a Sunday night, the bars were hopping and there were drunks everywhere, stumbling across the road and into the path of our car (they had no idea how perilous this would be).  I think we were the only non-taxi on the road.

It was a disaster. There was much colourful language (not at each other, just at Dublin in general). There was talk of sleeping in the car, and doing "business" in the alleys. I almost cried and/or threw a tantrum, but (barely) managed to keep it together. By the time we made it to our place and woke up the owners, it was 3:30am. We were still on Berlin time so it felt like 4:30am. Our flight had landed at 11:15pm and the B&B was 20 minutes from the airport. Not a great start.

The next day would prove to be much, much better. It is amazing what a good sleep, a good meal, a shower, and fresh cool air can do for an individual. :D

Xo

E!

Minsk & Warsaw

Leaving Russia and heading into Belarus, we noticed an immediate change in landscape and housing.  Much less disrepair and abandonment.  As we got closer to the city, it was noticeably clean and beautiful.  I don't know what I expected from Minsk, but I didn't think I would be so impressed!

Goran said that Belarus does not have a good reputation, and he tried to explain why. Specifically, the government is a dictatorship, and the leader of it does not have completely positive relationships with other countries in Europe. The value of their money is so weak that one Canadian dollar equals about 8570 Belarusian rubles. It is apparently the only country (in Europe?) that uses no coins whatsoever.

However, despite all of that, Belarus is one of the nicest places we've seen thus far. It did not seem to me that people were destitute; there was nice housing and no beggars and people seemed happy (although that's a pretty big assumption I suppose). Indeed, Goran says that the reputation "doesn't add up" to what we see in the country. And Goran also knows people who live there as well. So... perhaps Belarus is one of Europe's best-kept secrets!

Our free time in Minsk had us walking along the river.  The evening was warm and perfect. There were ducks swimming and couples in rowboats. Garden sculptures (different themes - perhaps a competition?) lined the park. Statues, flowers, benches and ahhhhhh.  Very nice. I would go back to Minsk and spend more time if I could.

Warsaw was something different altogether. It was easier to communicate with people, but there was tons of graffiti everywhere, and it was dirtier. On our city tour, the buildings were beautiful and ornate, but we were reminded that they are mostly not originals as nearly the whole city was destroyed in WWII.  But like Goran said, it truly is a city that "rose from the ashes." The Old Town was excellent (and quite a tourist haven) and we enjoyed sitting outside, on the patio, having lunch and people-watching (and being regularly bothered by the best-dressed gypsy children I have ever seen).

One of the optional excursions we chose to do was to attend a private piano recital given by a professor at the music department at Warsaw University. Warsaw was home to Chopin, and so we listened to his music, closed our eyes, and were transported away to another time, place and feeling. It was transcendental, truly. What a privilege to be able to experience that!

Our dinner was at a Polish specialty place and it included traditional Polish singers and dancers (not to mention all the wine we could drink). It was great fun, and even more so when they took volunteers (and volun-tolds) to learn dance routines and fun competitions like cracking whips and laying eggs. I'll just let you imagine it. :)

Then, off to Berlin!

xo

Elaan

Novgorod and Moscow

Velikiy Novgorod was an enjoyable little town. Smaller than either St. Petersburg or Moscow, Novgorod still holds an important place in Russia's history: it was the cradle of Russia. It was where the country began. We did a tour of the Kremlin (fortress) and learned much from our local guide, Irina.  I could see myself living there. It was a quiet, attractive town with several things to see and do.

Worst sleep in Novgorod, though. We accidentally left the windows open and there were mosquitoes in our room. Did they bother S? Nope, just me. I was covered in bites when I woke up. No air conditioning in our room and the blanket was scratchy, but I had tried to stay covered up. Obviously to no avail. I had even woken up several times in the night because they were buzzing around my ears. Ahhhh! No sleep made for a very long day.

Although the drivers are crazy, driving in Russia is relatively peaceful because nobody uses their horns. Although many people do use their cell phones - Goran says that it is not allowed, but obviously they are still working on that. :)

The first night we arrived in Moscow, we had dinner at our hotel and then went out for our first excursion: to tour the metro. During Soviet rule, the metro was designed to be the "working man's paradise," and you can see how.  Elaborate chandeliers for lighting, sculptures, mosaics and paintings. It makes you feel as if you are in a museum (but like anywhere with crowds, when you are standing around staring up at things, you have to keep your bags secure to avoid pickpockets).

We ended our excursion by walking to Red Square. As we walked along, we saw the department stores lit up in lights (Gum {pronounced Goom} being the most dominant and extravagant), the new pedestrian walkway, the towers of the Kremlin, and the church with the golden "flames" on top. So beautiful!

But then we turned the corner.

St. Basil's Cathedral is simply amazing. I was totally dumbstruck by the sight of it down at the far end of Red Square, and I think I ceased to hear anything that the guide was saying at that point.  I just kept walking forward. The colours, the shapes, the design and patterns are so unique and distinctive. So many of our group said that THIS is what they came to see. It was so exciting, and our group celebrated with, yes, you guessed it, champagne and vodka. I took a lot of photos and I'm pretty sure that I had a grin on my face for the rest of the day (maybe that celebration helped a little, ha!).

Lenin's tomb is in Red Square too, but you cannot see it anymore. You used to be able to go in and look at him because he was embalmed, but supposedly he's being moved to the family plot soon.

The next day was a full day in Moscow with our local guide, Vera. She was born and raised in Moscow and had so much information about the city and the rest of Russia; I learned so much and came away with a different impression altogether (as I thought I would). All of the stories I'd heard about Russia were generally negative. Now, seeing it from another insider's point of view, I was impressed and enlightened again. 

Moscow is pretty awesome! Despite not being able to drink the water (as with anywhere in Russia), it is very clean.  There is only 1% of unemployment (compared to 15-20% in the rest of Russia) and there are 250 McDonalds! That's a true measure of success, no? ;) Some of the main streets had eight lanes on each side! Talk about busy. Traffic is a problem in Moscow, but not one that we experienced, luckily.

Before the trip, I didn't know much about Russia's history, politics, relations with other countries, government, or standard of living. We are given so much information and it's pretty fascinating! There are many perspectives that I was surprised to hear. For example, apparently the Russians did not like Gorbachev very much. We were told 3 reasons for this:

1) When changing from a communist system to a market economy, people suffered because they could not buy food. They would have to line up from 6am at a store just to get any food they could. People didn't care about democracy, they just wanted to eat. People were starving under this poorly effected changeover.

2) Gorbachev put an anti-alcohol law in place that limited the amount a family could buy in a month to a ridiculously small amount. So people went from buying and drinking freely (which apparently was quite common during Soviet rule), to having almost nothing, overnight. Again, the consequences of this poor transition were dire; people suffered and in the worst cases, died from ingesting toxic substitutes. Viktor in St. Petersburg told us that after Gorbachev closed bars and liquor stores, there were more casualties in lineups for alcohol than there were in the Russian troops sent to Afghanistan in 1979 (perhaps an exaggerated remark, but still, it was significant).

3) Gorbechev's wife, Raisa, appeared with him everywhere. This had never happened before in Russia. No former leaders' wives made any public appearances. The Russian people felt as if it was inappropriate and "showing off."

Something else I learned was that many Russians are quite liberal, but due to the size of the country and the population, they struggle to make change. For example, the populations of St. Petersburg and Moscow are apparently quite liberal, but the rest of the country are not. The people who live in the country and in remote villages are quite orthodox and conservative (in both their religion and politics).  And the country is so large that even though Moscow and St. Petersburg have a combined population of about 20 million, it is still outweighed by the rest (another 120 million).

When we went to the armoury section of the Kremlin, I was pretty blown away. There are so many authentic artifacts in there it is mind-boggling. Most amazing were the ten Faberge Eggs, and the actual carriages used hundreds of years ago to transport Catherine the Great and other leaders. There were also dishes, elaborate coronation outfits, crowns, costumes and thrones. All original, hundreds of years old, and in wonderful condition. In times of invasion, these items were moved to Siberia so that they escaped destruction and plundering.

We also did a tour of the famous Novodevichi convent and cemetery. The cemetery was run by the government who decided which people would be interred there. There were many famous Russians in there, like Boris Yeltsin, Raisa Gorbachev, government ministers, military leaders, scientists, artists, and the like. What is different about this cemetery is that it was basically a sculpture park. Each tombstone was a work of art, most of which were sculptures or images of the person's face or body. It was very different. I enjoyed it very much, though. 

Russia has so many beautiful buildings, museums, artifacts, parks and special attractions. I can't forget, however, that all of it came at a cost. Most of this beauty came off the backs of the people, by taxing or withholding or punishing. And sometimes it cost human lives too, as in the example Goran told us: There is a tower on St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg which is gilded with gold, and the method of infusing the gold was deadly (it used mercury) and killed over 60 workers before it was finished.  But, if the leader in the 1830's wanted a gold tower, so be it.

I don't pretend that this only happens in Russia (indeed it has happened every place in history, and still happens today!) but when you find yourself surrounded by so much extravagance and opulence, you can't help but think about it. I can see why communist theory was such an attractive one.

Dinner was rushed, and the clutz in me came out when I was going up stairs in my flip-flops and tripped on the top step.  I literally fell into the arms of the woman leaving the restaurant (to everyone's delight) but not before I had bashed my foot (to my dismay). I went to the washroom to clean off my foot but there were no paper towels and only a Dyson airblade hand dryer - you know, the kind where you put your hands in vertically, up and down, and it dries them in 10 seconds? Well let me tell you, it is rather difficult to get a foot in there!  Yup, that was me in the WC, with my foot in the dryer.  :) I think I surprised the next woman that came in.

Our last evening in Moscow took us to the circus, which was quite different than I was expecting. It was a show of acrobatics, clowns, and animals. At first I thought the animal shows would be like seeing Superdogs at the PNE (which is my favourite!) but alas it was not. The stunts they had the animals doing were certainly impressive from a training point of view, but some of them looked unsafe, and as the evening went on, the "wow" feeling quickly turned sad.

They had all these animals in the lobby and were charging $30 to have your picture taken with a tiger cub, an elephant, Dalmatian dogs, a young jaguar, a muzzled bear tied to a chair, a kangaroo/wallaby (don't know which), exotic birds, a monkey, and more. Just seemed wrong. Not my kinda entertainment. (Although, I do try to suspend judgement where I don't know all the facts and conditions. I remember visiting a zoo in Chicago where I spoke to an employee who gave me much more information than I knew about zoos and it totally changed my perspective.)

Next we are off to Belarus, and as far as I can tell, it's mainly a stop on our travels. We travel all day from Moscow to Minsk (Belarus), and the next day we travel all day from Minsk to Warsaw (Poland). Two long travel days!

Cheers, 

Xo

Elaan

From Russia With Love

So, we reached the Finnish-Russian border and everything proceeded fairly smoothly. Despite being told it could take up to 3 hours, we got through lickety-split!

As soon as we were driving on the Russian side, it was like being in a ride at Playland. Not only were the roads way bumpier, but the drivers were crazy. We were swaying and swerving and generally trying not to watch. Just the way it is in Russia, it seemed. Things mostly improved once we hit the city.

St. Petersburg is amazing.  SO much to see, SO much beauty and culture.  It looks like Amsterdam with its canals running throughout, connecting the many islands that make up the city. Huge buildings, sculptures, statues, history all over the place.  And a very different feel than Scandinavia.

In Russia, the average wage is $800 per month. 60% of men smoke, retire at age 60, and have a life expectancy of 62 years.  Pretty awful. We were given a little forewarning by Goran (our travel director) about what it would be like and what to expect.  He emphasized that we need to think that it is "different," and not "wrong."  True of travel anywhere, I suppose.

I think he said something like, "If people seem stern or somber or miserable, it's not because they don't like tourists. It's because they do not have much to be joyous about."  Isn't that telling?!  And I guess he would know, since Goran's wife is Russian.

We did a city tour along the main drag, and got to see Peter and Paul Fortress. Then we checked into our hotel. In the evening we took a riverboat canal cruise (with all the champagne and vodka we could drink!) which was just lovely. It was nice to be on the water and sail around the city. We didn't take the metro but were told that some of the underground stations go as deep as 80 meters into the ground!

The next day was very busy, and we were up very early. The Hermitage is totally amazing and is comparable to the Louvre in Paris. You could spend all day in there and not see everything. Our local guide, Viktor, took us around and showed us all the highlights. I have decided that I really like artwork by Vincent Van Goh and Claude Monet.  It is quite the experience to stand back when you look at a painting, and then look again close-up. I enjoy that change in perspective! However, not much time for that in the Hermitage. It was quite overwhelming in there.

During our free time, we walked the main drag of St. Petersburg and it's quite the scene. The thoroughfare is littered with sculptures, churches, statues and monuments amongst the stores and coffee shops. Keep in mind that nothing is in English. It is all Cyrillic writing everywhere and it's very rare to see something in the English alphabet. Almost nobody speaks English either (we are told that young people may have had a little of it in school) so we are mainly gesturing and pointing.  Sometimes it makes for rather funny conversations, heh.

We were lucky enough to have another museum later on (note my mild sarcasm) that was the former home of the Romanovs (Russian royal family in power from 18th c. to 1917) and also learned the story of Rasputin and saw where he was poisoned and then shot.

Before heading back to our hotel for dinner, we saw St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral which was located inside the fort that we had seen yesterday. Important Russian leaders are entombed there, such as Peter the Great, his daughter Elizabeth the first, his wife Catherine the first, Catherine (the second) the Great, Alexander the second and his wife, Nicholas the second and his relatives, and others of course. By this time of day I was feeling rather exhausted, physically but also mentally. This is a lot to process!  Each time we see a sight, we are led around by a guide that does not stop talking. I can handle it for one or two sights a day but more than that is rather draining.

We ended our day by seeing a Russian Folk Show, which had all traditional singing and dancing. It was very lively, and at intermission there was more vodka and champagne for our group. You had to pay a small sum to take photos, and I got a few nice shots of their colourful costumes and instruments.

Our last day in St. Petersburg started with the Gardens of Peterhof, comparable to and opulent like Versailles in France. All of the fountains run without pumps, and only operate on the principles of gravity. Not sure how that works, exactly. :)  Then off to the palace of Catherine the Great, which had been mostly burned down and destroyed by the Nazis as they were leaving the building.  It had been built in 9 years, but it has continued to be restored from 1945. 

Speaking of WWII, it has left its mark in this city, and we crossed over the front lines a few times, taking note of the monuments marking where the Germans were stopped by the Russian army. Hard to believe we are so physically close to this history.

Our local guide, Viktor, talked to us not just about the sights and historical leaders, but also the more recent history and Russian philosophy. He was open to all our questions and tried to explain Communism philosophy (and why it doesn't work). He shared with us the following:

The paradoxes of Communist Russia; found in The Russians by Hedrick Smith

1) everybody has a job, but nobody works

2) nobody works, but the economic plans are fulfilled

3) the economic plans are fulfilled, but people have nothing in their apartments

4) people have nothing in their apartments, but have many luxury items (black market)

5) people have luxury items, but most are unhappy

6) people are unhappy, but 99% vote for communist candidate

On to Novgorod for a night and then Moscow...

Xo

Elaan

Fabulous Finland

While sailing into port in Finland, you can't help but notice how beautiful the landscape is. It reminds me of Northern BC.  Helsinki is quite the busy and modern city, although it had a much different feel than any of the previous places we'd been.  It seemed more country and less cosmopolitan, if that makes any sense. Not that it didn't have amazing and intricate buildings and culture, but our brief visit gave us more exposure to less of that.

We started with a city tour, which took us around downtown. Being right on the water, Helsinki is beautiful in the summer, and even though our day was a little cloudy, it was warm and pleasant outside. We went to a park and relaxed a little while taking in the artistic feats of a local sculptor, and marvelled at the view at the water's edge. Apparently, one in five families own a yacht (at least a small one).

Summer doesn't last long here, and if they are lucky, they might get 5 months of water time before it starts freezing.  When the water freezes over, Finns switch over to skating and skiing on the surface.

The Finnish language is totally different than Norwegian or Danish or Swedish. It actually belongs to a totally different family, which includes Hungarian and Estonian. 90 percent of people in Finland speak Finnish, and only 6 percent speak Swedish, although it is a very bilingual country in terms of signage.  Here are some street names in Finnish that I copied from a map:  Uudenmaankatu, Eteläesplanadi, Töölönlahdenkatu

Crazy, eh? (Our American friends have been teasing us about the "eh" a little bit.) With all those vowels it's no wonder that sometimes people think my name comes from a Nordic country!

Education here is totally free.  Even students from abroad are able to study in Finland free of charge!  However it is quite expensive to live in Finland, so we are told that there are not too many takers on that deal. 

At the end of the city tour, we headed to the market and did a little shopping. We also had lunch - it could have been moose meatballs and reindeer sausage, but S and I settled for crepes.  Delish!  Then we walked around the city: there was a jazz festival going on, there were street performers, live music, some of the buildings were named after animals... Oh, it just goes on. We could have spent much more time there than we had. 

In the evening, we went to Hvitträsk, which is a home that was designed by some famous Finnish architects (Saarinen, Gesellius & Lindgren) around 1900, now turned into a museum.  Very cool.  It would be so great to design your own home out in the woods somewhere. It was funky and colourful and fun. There was also a sauna, which apparently the Finns are big on. It was a whole other building built down at the beach of a lake. They would steam themselves for 10-15 min, jump in the lake (best in winter, after cutting a hole in the ice), come back out, re-acclimatize, and then start the whole process over again. 

Our local guide said that some new apartments in the city were all outfitted with saunas, but the non-Finns didn't know what to do with them and used them for storage!

Other random facts we learned:

- Finland was part of Sweden for 650 years until Sweden had to give Finland to Russia after losing to them in a war. Finland was then ruled by Russia for 110 years until their independence in 1917.

- For part of that 110 years at least, Finns enjoyed more freedom and independence under Russian rule than they had under Swedish rule (and the Finns loved Alexander the II better than the Russians, who assassinated him!)

- Health care is organized and affordable, but not free. 

- 32-35% income tax (up to 64% for highest bracket).

- Ice hockey is the most popular sport.  Yah!!

We definitely could have used an extra day (or more!) in Stockholm and Helsinki. Just getting little tastes of these places! On to Russia...

Cheers,  :)

Elaan

Sweet Sweden

After a long 8-hour drive, we arrived to Stockholm, Sweden.  Our hotel was actually located inside a shopping mall, which has its benefits I guess, although I am not one for shopping and usually buy very little when I travel.

Our evening began with a trip to Kaknästornet, the highest point in Stockholm.  The tower is 155 meters tall and offers panoramic views of the city. Nice. Then we headed to a local place for a dinner with Swedish delicacies. It was yummy! However, it was the dinner conversation that I'll probably remember more.

  

The next day we did a city tour of Stockholm. It's quite a beautiful and sophisticated city. It includes so many islands that there are 50 bridges. 80% of Stockholmers live in apartments and according to our local (Swedish) guide, Swedish people are "very good at complaining," haha.  There are pedestrian walkways and cobblestone streets, and many fascinating and colourful buildings.

We went to the building where the Nobel prizes are awarded and where the celebration banquet is held (all Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo).  The "Gold Room" was amazing and filled with golden mosaics from floor to ceiling. Lots of photos there!

Then we went to the Vasa Museum, which is where the great Vasa galleon was rescued from the depths of the waters where it sank, and restored. It had been under water for 333 years and was amazingly intact.  It. Was. Awesome!! I wasn't expecting much but was totally blown away when we got in there.  I took photos but that is something that'll never do it justice. A must-see for anyone visiting Stockholm (oh, but a tip: go with a group guide in order to avoid a VERY long line).

Free time downtown had us walking around the pedestrian area, looking in shops, stopping for an expensive cup of tea (tea + apple strudel = $15), taking photos, taking in the views, and people-watching. There are gypsies here, or at least they look like gypsies. There were also people in costume that looked like street performers, but they didn't perform; they just went around begging from people.

After that, we were headed to our cruise ship for our overnight sailing to Helsinki! I've never been on a cruise, but this is apparently a mini version of the real deal. There were shops, a casino, a sauna/pool, restaurants, buffet, live music, cabaret shows, etc.  Certainly enough to keep us busy until we crashed into our cabin for the night. When we woke up, we'd almost be in Finland!

More to come...

Elaan :D

My new (summer) home in Denmark

Words to describe Denmark: geometric, bicycles, thatched roofs, beautiful!

S and I had a nice flight from Oslo to Copenhagen sitting next to a very sweet gentleman who reminded me of T's Dad.  :)  He was a geologist, and seemed almost apologetic that he made a ton of money in his field (we didn't ask, he just kind of kept telling us everything about it).  He said, "It's not like I'm a doctor, or even doing anything all that important."  However as he explained it, his work was connected to the oil industry so that's probably reason enough for his high wages.

When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hotel ($20+ for a 5 minute ride), and crashed into bed. The next day we checked out the local shopping mall. As we were walking around, we noticed a word plastered on a few store windows that stopped us in our tracks: "Slutspurt!"  Um... what?? Once we got to the Starbucks and tapped into the free wi-fi, we found out that it means "Final Sale" or "End of Sale" or something like that. Not the best choice of words, methinks.

We walked from our original hotel to our new hotel, called the Bella Sky Comwell, which was about 2 blocks away. This is where our tour would begin from! And ohboy, is this hotel really quite nice. Verrrry fancy compared to the budget places we'd been staying at so far. Yay! We enjoyed the best meal we had had so far on the trip, but not without me almost starting a fire in the restaurant. Dumb candles (can't take me anywhere)!

After meeting with our Tour Director (who would be running our lives for the next 16 days), we went for a walk, checked out the local golf course, and the rooftop sky bar. We even briefly considered going to the spa, but the cost was unsurprisingly prohibitive. The next day would be a full one, with a city tour, a North Zealand Riviera and castle tour (Fredensborg Palace and the Frederiksborg Castle), a visit to Dragor village with local dinner, and the famous Tivoli Gardens.

Tivoli Gardens was amazing.  It felt like a cross between Playland, a Circus, Butchart Gardens, and a world Expo.  It wasn't that huge, of course, but it was colourful and noisy, amazing, stimulating and wondrous. I think I just walked around in shock the whole time I was there.

Copenhagen is a gorgeous city, and Denmark is a lovely country. The people are taxed very significantly, but there is a very high standard of living. Medical and dental is free, and education is free up to and including the completion of university. Wages are high, and there is little or no poverty. In the summer at least, the weather is fabulous.  Not sure about the winter, but I could certainly live here for half the year. ;)

Some other interesting things we learned: in Copenhagen, at least, heating for homes is not done through a furnace in your house, but through a district heating system. Also, they are very forward-thinking with their use of solar energy and wind-powered turbines (which you see all over the place).  Thatched roofs everywhere (and there's an 8-year apprenticeship to become a thatcher).  All beaches and forests are open to the public (none are private, even on the Royal lands).

Most Danes are apparently not very religious. They are said to attend church only for baptisms, weddings and funerals.  More specifically, to be "hatched, matched, and dispatched."  :D

Bicycles abound! There are wide bike paths between the road and the sidewalk. We were warned and people subsequently narrowly avoided being schmucked by a cyclist as we were exiting the tour bus. We saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of bikes locked up around central station.  Many people ride from home to the station, lock up their bike, take the train, and there is another bike waiting on the other side that they ride to work.  And in such a way, they don't need a car. Apparently cars, tobacco and alcohol are subject to high taxes.

We have been travelling quite comfortably on a Coach bus with A/C.  There are 46 of us, coming from Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Philippines.  Everyone seems quite nice (they always do at first, ha ha!).  S and I are among the youngest people on board; I'd say there are about 10 people our age or younger. Despite that, we've been socializing quite well with everyone.

As well as the many activities included with our tour, there are a lot of optional activities to consider as well. For example, once we get to St. Petersburg, we can decide if we want to go to the ballet and see Swan Lake, or go to a Russian folk show, or neither. They all cost money, but they all look so fantastic I have a feeling that I'll be coming home quite a bit poorer than when I left.

Now we are in Sweden. Stay tuned for the next instalment!

Xo

Elaan

Oh, Oslo!

The taxi driver that had brought me to the guest house by London Gatwick airport was pleasantly surprised to hear that S and I were going to Norway the next day. Turns out his family emigrated from India and moved to Norway where they lived for 20 years. All he really had to tell us, though, was that Oslo was not the best part of Norway. (He also, upon hearing that I was Canadian, said, "I know a guy in Toronto..." which I thought was going to be the beginning of a story but was more just a statement of fact.  Yay, Toronto.)

Our flight to Oslo was at 6am and so we had to be at the airport at 3am.  We were very careful to be quiet and not wake anyone as we were leaving, but in true E-style, I managed to smack my head as we were heading out the front door. Smacked it right on the door-knocker! Didn't wait around for the fallout...

We had been warned that Oslo was expensive, and that's certainly true.  Our early lunch (slice of pizza, drink and mediocre side salad) cost $20, and that was a deal. Any single drink like pop or juice costs at least $6. We were told (by a local) that traditional Norwegian food is "boring," but we haven't even really figured out what kind of food that is yet.

The weather here has been great, warm and lovely. We spent some time relaxing and reading in one of the outdoor cafés.  Food here has been pretty good overall - Norwegians sure love their Italian food, and that serves us just fine. :D  Everyone speaks English here too, so it's been really easy getting around, and people are generally helpful and friendly. 

People are also really affectionate - I am noticing lots of hand-holding, hugs, kisses and the like.  It's kind of nice, actually.  Are we so detached in Vancouver? Also, a wide, wide variety of people.  Even more than home, if that is possible. I also find myself noticing the blonde people more, although that could just be my mind focusing on what I expected to see, because certainly there are a ton of non-blondes (way more than four).

In trying to find a breakfast place, we discovered that there are many McDonald's, 7-11's and Burger Kings around the downtown core. No luck for an actual breakfast place though; we walked for an hour and asked several people, one of which responded, "I don't know what you mean by breakfast."  So we gave up and got an Egg McMuffin.  But we really tried. We really did.

We did the Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour of the city, and focused on a few amazing places. First, the Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park, which was odd and ethereal. I liked it, though. I always seem to find myself drawn to parks and serene spaces when I travel. Next, the Viking Ship Museum, which was pretty cool in its own right.

The main tourist pedestrian area is called Karl Johans Gate.  In the evening it hosts bicycle rickshaws, local artists, and a number of buskers. The talent is strong, especially with the musicians.  We've heard guitarists, singers, violinists, and one amazing accordion player who blew my socks off.  First time I've ever donated money to a busker!

I'm so glad to be travelling with S because she is naturally friendly and gracious with everyone, striking up conversations and jumping in to be helpful.  I, on the other hand, have to muster up the gumption to speak with strangers, although it's easier with her by my side. I have taken to saying "takk" (pronounced like "talk"), which is "thank you" in Norwegian, but unfortunately it seems to mislead people into thinking I am somewhat conversationally fluent. Between my blank stare and S's giggling explanation, they figure it out pretty quick.

This evening we are off to Copenhagen, Denmark!

Cheers & love,

E!

Arrived safe & sound in London. :)

So, the first of my 6 flights is done and over with! Not without a few stories, though. :) The woman seated next to me looked to be in her mid-50's, very prim and proper. We exchanged a few niceties but she was more interested in complaining about how airline service has deteriorated over the years, and doing her makeup, which she did, three times.

I think she would have been even more horrified than I to realize that a woman behind us was slowly inching her bare feet up the backs of our arm rests and into our personal space. I don't have any issues with feet except when they belong to strangers and encroach upon my personal space. Lucky for Ms. Prim & Proper, she was in the washroom when it happened, although she may have been wondering why I kept looking behind both sides of me (obviously trying to head off a foot ambush).

Flight went quickly, I might have slept a little although I don't know how much. Managed to find the right train station that took me to the subway that took me to the bus that took me to my hotel. However, I almost fell backwards down an escalator (made an incredulous save), got my luggage stuck in the subway doors as they were closing and required 3 gentlemen and 1 lady to help me get out of that mess (thank goodness), and missed my hotel by several stops. And to top it off, even though I was able to check in early, the gentleman who showed me my room beat a very hasty retreat when he realized that there were some loud extra-curricular activities going on in the room next door. Ha!

Oh, but the best thing? I forgot to mention that when Ms. P&P and I were getting acquainted, she asked me if I was on my "gap year."  Isn't a gap year students take to travel in between finishing school and starting work?? Awesome!!... I fooled HER. :) Naw, I fessed up to being a teacher. I just didn't let on that my gap year would have been 13 years ago.  I'll just cherish that accidental compliment for a while. :D

Meeting with the wonderful S tomorrow after I change hotels. Not sure yet what to do today or tomorrow. I was trying to arrange a tour to Stonehenge but it didn't happen. Honestly, I might just take this time to relax! :)

Cheers

E!

Tropicality at its Finest

Hi all,

It's so great being lazy on vacation. Sleeping in, lounging around, doing whatever we want... ahhhhh. We did leave the condo a few times, though:

On Wednesday we went to the Kauai museum in Lihue. T's a history buff, so it was right up his alley. They allowed photos, so I played around with my new camera a lot, which was right up MY alley. :)

We also drove ourselves around the East side of the island and explored some more. More waterfalls, more scenic views of the valley and the Waimea River. We kept talking about Jurassic Park, because of course it was filmed here. Once we got back to the condo, we popped it in the DVD player and watched it! Every rental condo must come with its own "claim-to-fame" copy.

Yesterday we went on a cultural culinary tour in the Waipa Valley. We learned a lot about Taro, and got to see the fields close up and learn about everything from planting, to tending, to harvesting, to preparing & cooking, to eating! We tried Taro in several different ways. My favourite was the dessert type that they mixed with coconut milk, brown sugar, and butter. It was yum. :)

The woman who led our tour was SO informative. She knew so much, and was passionate about bringing Hawaiian culture back to the people (locals, and visitors). It was a great experience (and of course I went camera crazy!). My only complaint is that it was too long. If they want to keep my attention for five hours, they have to feed me more regularly! Haha. We did have an amazing lunch at the end: organic chicken, vegetables, poi (taro paste), kim chee cucumbers (too spicy for me), kale salad, and iced tea. It was pretty good. Then came dessert: lilikoi cheesecake (passion fruit). It was the best thing we'd eaten so far on the trip!

In keeping with the Hawaiian culture theme of the day, we then went Hanalei for a guitar concert. But not any old guitar concert. This type is called "slack key" guitar which is named so because when the Hawaiians were first given guitars, they did not know anything about key, or notes, or chords, or anything. So they just made up their own tunings and went from there. Also, because of the scarcity of instruments, they learned how to play rhythm with their thumb, while their fingers of the same hand played the melody/harmony. That's crazy! Anyways, it was beautiful guitar music and we are coming home with a couple CD's.

However, it was on Thursday that we've had our best experience so far. We headed to Princeville on the North Side of the island to a ranch. We went horseback riding through amazing landscape with killer views. My horse's name was Poi, and T rode Makai. T easily had the biggest horse of the bunch, and it was a stubborn one! Poi was stubborn too, but I eventually showed him who was boss (the teacher in me!). I'm just glad he didn't show ME "natural consequences." Haha.

It was amazing. We rode down to the edge of (I can only describe it as) a jungle, where we hiked down to our own private waterfall. Swimming in there was delectable. It was truly paradise. Plus, it had been stinkin' hot, and it was perfect. Perrrrrrfect! Then we had a picnic, and relaxed some more. Ahhhh. Then we hiked out of there, including a mini rock-climb which T scoffed at because it was so short and easy. Then, a horseback ride to the start. It was a super highlight, and so far, one of the best things I've done on this trip, maybe ever!

Gosh I feel spoiled.

Today we are going on a sunset cruise, and we are thinking about doing a river cruise as well. Tomorrow we leave Kauai and meet up with friends on Maui!

Cheers and love,
E & T

Aloha From Kauai!

Hello everyone,

T and I have arrived in Hawaii! We made it unscathed, despite the plane being filled with 20 school-aged girl guides (there was lots of giggling), and a couple of small kids in the row behind us who were coughing and sneezing into the backs of our heads. :P

Our first stop was to pick up our rental car. This was actually our second stop, too, since we never actually left the airport with it - we had to exchange it for a model that didn't make a thunk-thunk-thunk noise as we drove around. For our inconvenience, they upgraded us to a "full-size" vehicle. Turns out "full-size" is exactly the same as "mid-size." T insists we did get an upgrade though; we went from a Chevy Malibu to a Nissan Altima. Whatever...

Arriving to a strange place and trying to find your accommodation in the dark has its challenges, but we figured it out. By the time we got to our condo, we were starving. Since when don't they give you a meal on a flight over 6 hours?! Also of note, no more TV sets in the backs of seats - now, you pay $$ to rent tablets for the flight.

Anyways, we found a grocery store that was closing in 5 minutes (11pm here, 2am at home!) and we raced around getting groceries. I got sandwich stuff, fruit, & yogurt, and T got milk, OJ, AJ, & beer. Of course. :P

We woke up this morning to two roosters trying to prove to each other whose voice was louder. We named them Isaiah and Thomas. Isaiah won. We soon discovered that chickens and roosters are running all over the island. They especially like tourist parking lots, presumably because they get fed there. Many cute baby chicks following mom around! We really wish they wouldn't congregate underneath the car though. Nobody wants a smushed chick.

T and I started our day by going for a walk around Poipu Beach. Turns out we booked our place in a really great spot. The weather is gorgeous and it's warm, but not too warm. Lovely. We had lunch at a beach house on the deck overlooking the ocean. We were enjoying our drinks and meals while watching whales breach in the distance. Pretty awesome.

Then we went for a drive around the South and West part of Kauai. It's no wonder they chose this place to film Jurassic Park. So green and lush, and mists/fogs roll in from the sea and transform an area in a matter of minutes. I got pics to prove it! (I also got lots of pics of birds. Chickens and roosters mainly.)

We visited Waimea Canyon, which apparently is the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" or something like that. Having been to the GC, I can say this one isn't as big but it is just gorgeous and also very impressive. We also visited a Russian fort, a Captain Cook monument, an ice cream shop, more scenic lookouts, and the Spouting Horn park, known for its blowholes which make eerie growling noises.

Homemade dinner tonight. Tomorrow we will explore again!
Cheers and love,
E & T

The last leg and the trip home

Hello from England!


Friday March 23rd

All-you-can-eat breakfast at our hotel, which was great because it came with entertainment too: a rugby team. They were older teenagers of formidable size & appetite, in various states of black-eyes and bruises.

Close to our hotel live the parents (Peter and Mary) of one of Ted's good friends (Ben), so we wanted to say hello. To our delight, not only did they insist on coming to pick us up, but they had us over for tea. They live in a cute brick home that backs onto a large field and countryside. They also keep a lovely garden and a couple of chickens, named Boss and Heather. They brought them out of the coop and showed us how tame they were. I got to pet them and even hold Heather! Loved it, haha. They very generously offered to drive us to the airport tomorrow and feed us some fish n' chips before we go!

After our visit with them, we headed to the train to meet up with another couple of Ted's friends, Russ & Rachel. Russ drove us to Old Trafford, so that I could see where Manchester United plays. This was quite the sacrifice for him as he is a rather devout Leeds fan. He and Ted were trading gibes the whole time we were in the car. :)

Russ and Rachel drove us into downtown Manchester and took us around the city. So gracious they were, in fact, that they arranged for us to see the Queen! It's true, the Queen was in Manchester and was drawing quite the crowd. By the time we figured out what was going on, there she was, driving past us with her royal wave on display. Tee hee! I saw the Queen!

Manchester has a lot of character and the buildings seem to be a mix of modern/contemporary, and traditional/historical. Really, who can ask for more than that? We walked about town, took in some street markets, buskers, performances, and of course stopped into a few coffee shops and pubs. A little later we met up with some more friends of Russ & Rachel's and headed to dinner.

The place they chose was East is East and it was an excellent Indian restaurant. Upstairs it was quite posh, more like a lounge or a bar. Downstairs was a full-sized restaurant. The menu was huge, I think there was a hundred items on it. We started with some large flat crisps and a variety of dips, naan, samosas... And then I ordered some tiger prawns in some kind of tomato cream sauce (mild of course). It was delicious and a welcome change from what we had been eating on this two-week excursion.

Russ and Rachel graciously took us back to our hotel and we settled in for the night. Tomorrow, a real English football (soccer) game!


Saturday March 24th

Breakfast at the hotel and then some extensive packing since we'd be checking our luggage that evening. Once we were done, Peter and Mary picked us up and surprised us by giving us a little tour of Horwich, Chorley, and more of the countryside. It was a beautiful day, and according to them, most unusual for this time of year.

We came back to the Reebok Stadium in Bolton to watch an English Premier League football match between the Bolton Wanderers and the Blackburn Rovers. It's quite the experience! Ted is a fan of ManU, but there were not ManU games scheduled this weekend. However, Ted enjoys a great game of football and a great game it was. It started with both teams paying homage to a player on the Bolton team who had had a heart attack a few days earlier. It was pretty exciting, although I asked Ted a zillion questions and we had to be careful what we said since we were sitting in the Bolton fan zone. Cheering, chanting, singing... It was a fun time.

After the game, we walked back to Peter and Mary's, and I visited the chickens straightaway. They were proud to present me with the 2 eggs they had laid. :) We had one more good visit over the fish & chips, and off we went to the airport. Our flight was a short one, only to London, where we would crash for the night before our long flight home in the morning.

We had booked this one night at easyHotel, which is kind of like inserting yourself into a bento box. It's very cheap, and I think it's a great option for people who only need a bed to crash in for a few hours. Ted wanted to stay in the airport all night, but I was not a fan of the idea. So, easyHotel it was. Tiny, tiny room. No windows. Tiny, tiny bathroom. No free TV. No extra towels. If you stay more than one night (and why would you?) they don't clean your room until you leave. I thought it was a great idea, for a few hours. Ted, not so much. Maybe our awesome hotels in France spoiled him. Orrrrrr maybe it was the two ants he saw on the floor. Anyways, we inspected it (especially the bed), and it was clean. Coupla ants didn't phase ME. Still, it was good to get outta there.


Sunday March 25th

Early rise this morning. Private car hire to Heathrow. Breakfast at the airport. Air Canada seemingly not on strike. Long flight. We flew over Stanley Park and Downtown Vancouver, and over SFU and I could see our place from the little airplane window. A grin stretched ear-to-ear for the whole way down. Home, sweet home!

Cheers,
E!

The Trying Train Travel Tour

Hello from Britain!


Thursday March 22nd

Today is our big travel day. We have to wake up at 7:30am (the earliest we've done so far on this trip!) and make our way to the train station. Our train leaves Biarritz just before 10:00am and we will arrive at our hotel in Northern England (Horwich, to be specific) at around 11:00pm. It will be a long day.

A few random observations as we get ready to leave France...
- I've seen several people wearing berets. Very cute!
- We almost ate at the "Steack" house near to our hotel but Ted said he couldn't do it on grounds of poor spelling.
- Automated stores: kind of like a huuuuge vending machine that looks like a store window on one side and an ATM on the other.
- Every French city we've been to has a carousel somewhere in it. Not a whole carnival, just the carousel.
- Each elevator has its own call button. There might be 4 elevators, but you call them individually.
- At restaurants, nobody comes by mid-meal to check on you. And they don't bring the bill unless you ask for it. I'm guessing the French might find our system at home kind of rude?
- Pelote Basque! Also known as Jai Alai. Why didn't I know about this sport? There are courts everywhere. Alain explained it to us. Emily's dad played professionally. Ted says it was featured in the opening credits of Miami Vice. Where have I been, under a rock?

Saw my first purse dog at the Biarritz train station. Wretched little thing yapped at every passerby, and according to Ted, bit her owner in a frenzy of madness. I have oohed and ahhed over lots of dogs on this trip, but not that one.

In Bordeaux, a bunch of police got on the train, looking for... we don't know what. But it did lead me to a bunch of bad jokes about the BoDoPoPo. The train ride from Biarritz to Paris was about 6 hours, and then we needed to change train stations from Paris Monparnasse to Paris Nord - not far across the city, but far enough. We had 2 hours to do it, or so we thought.

Our train was rather long and crowded, as everybody and their dog (quite literally) seemed to be going to Paris. When we got off the train (which had arrived in Paris 20 minutes late), we needed to walk the length of it back to the main part of the station, amidst all of the trembling smokers who immediately lit up after exiting the coach. Sheesh. While waiting at the taxi stand, I noticed a huge pile of cigarette butts on the ground too. Ok Paris, you seem to have combatted dog poop, now can you start dealing with people throwing their disgusting-habit-trash on the ground?

Our driver took us through the stop-and-go rush hour traffic as quickly as one could go, but when we arrived at the station it was only 30 minutes before our next train left. We still had to fill out our landing cards, go through France customs, go through English customs, and go through security. Oh wait... What's this? Our train is leaving 15 minutes EARLY?? What the...! What a nightmare. We were running through the station and didn't have time to stop and tell the attendant who said "we cannot guarantee that you will make the train" that it certainly isn't fair to sell a non-refundable ticket and then move the train time up without any reasonable notice. Not that more notice would have helped us anyways, we got from A to B as fast as we could have.

Anyways, we did make it on the train, with 2 minutes to spare. Unfortunately some girls had taken our seats and we had to wait for them to vacate before we could sit down. All was sorted out though. At some point Ted reminded me that because England and France are different time zones, the train ride was actually 2 hours instead of the 1 that our ticket seemed to indicate. So all in all, it will be a 14 hour travel day. And so far, no dinner...

When we arrived in London, we needed to walk a couple of blocks from the London St. Pancras station to the London Euston station. Once we got there, we needed to retrieve our tickets at a kiosk, but we only had a 10 digit code and they were asking for a 8 digit code (of course). Worse, the main office's computer was down, so they directed us to the general ticket area, which of course had a long line.

Anyways, we got our tickets with time to spare, I managed to grab some snacks from the Marks & Spencer at the station, and we headed down to the platform in anticipation of this 2 hour leg of our journey. We got on the train. People were in our seats. Of course. Then an announcement came on that said all of the reserved seating was messed up. So Ted and I spent our 2+ hour train ride standing in the alcove beside the toilet!! Ted did his best to calm me but I was choked. And tired. And hungry, but I didn't feel much like eating with people going to and from the restroom mere inches away. Sigh.

It was fine, though. We got to Manchester, took another train to Bolton and then another train to Horwich Parkway. By then it was 11pm. The hotel was directly outside the train station and was a welcome sight!

Tomorrow, we explore Manchester! Almost time to come home!
E!

La Belle France

Bonjour from La Belle France!


Tuesday March 20th

This morning we had breakfast at our hotel before heading out into town. I wanted to check out the Tourism Centre in case they had any information about something we might miss. We then proceeded to walk around town, discovering the Chapelle Imperiale, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Hôtel du Palais, which Napoleon had built for his wife, and then we sat a while at La Grande Plage (the Grand Beach).

Surfing is very popular here. I believe, in fact, that Biarritz is the surfing capital of France. So it wasn't too surprising to see people running down the street in wetsuits, with surfboards. We watched them warm up and then dive in to take on the waves. I imagine in summer, La Grande Plage is packed with people. It was a little cold for sunbathing, and so there were only the surfers, spectators and the odd person sleeping on the beach. Still beautiful, though.

We walked along the promenade that follows the water's edge, stopping at every viewpoint. Sure is lovely here! I know that we were supposed to watch out for dog poop on the streets, but there wasn't much at all, even in Paris. People have dogs all over the place, and although I never saw anyone picking up their dog's business, I also did not see much on the ground.

Towards the end of our promenade, we stopped at the Virgin on the Rocks which is a statue built by some fisherman some time ago. Apparently they prayed to Mary when caught in a terrible storm and promised to build something to honour her if she helped them to survive. Right behind was the Museé de la Mer, which was partly a museum and partly an aquarium.

The highlight of the Museé de la Mer was watching the seals outside. There were 4 adult seals and 1 baby. They are so funny to watch! They are like really fat dogs. While we were watching them, a school group came in and a zillion small children rushed at the fences, screaming and laughing and fighting over each other to see. Thus, our time at the Museé was at an end. :)

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at a Chocolatier that was right next door. Oh, happy day! So many treats there, our mouths were salivating. Ted chose an "écureuil" which means squirrel, but we can assure you it was allll chocolate. I chose a petit caramel avec sel, and a pastry with apricots and pistachios. YUM!

Tonight we are having dinner at Los Dos Hermanos (The Two Brothers), which was recommended to us by Alain & Sylvie. I think Alain was mortified that I had declared the Niçoise Salade to be my best meal so far, and wanted to introduce us to some true Basque cuisine. He made us the reservation, arranged a tour of the kitchen, and said that we would be treated "as true friends" and "like king and queen." We could hardly say no to that!

This week, many restaurants in Biarritz are doing a "menu" which is exactly like dine-out Vancouver. For €29, you get a choice of appetizer, main dish, and dessert. LDH was participating, so Ted and I ordered the "menu" and made sure to choose all different things so that we could share everything.

We started with squid, roasted red peppers, garlic sardines, potato pie, chorizo, sausage and Serrano ham. We ate it all, it was so delicious! Then we shared the main dishes: Spanish-style Hake (fish), T-Bone steak, scalloped potatoes, roasted peppers and a kind of zucchini quiche. So. Good. And don't forget the wine and sangria! For dessert we had small tastings of chocolate mousse, creme brûlée, some kind of muffin, ewe cheese with cherry jam & walnuts, tea and coffee. OMG. I was in heaven! The only thing we still needed was a wheelbarrow.

At the end of our meal, the owner took us into the kitchen for a tour and a look at the "plancha," which we gathered to mean the flat grill. We saw the storeroom and talked about where all the food comes from and the Basque-style of cooking.

Turns out the owner (one of the 2 brothers), before getting into the restaurant business, was a French National ice hockey player! He is friends with Christobal Huet, who used to be in the NHL. Cool, eh? He knew all about the Canucks and the Sedins, and used some colourful language when talking about Ovechkin. It was pretty funny. He then brought us to the bar and despite our protestations, had us doing some shots. He told us that Alain was an extremely intelligent man, and used to be quite the big-wig in the journalism world before he decided to freelance. Then he gave Ted a little football, kissed us both on both cheeks (me a little more vigorously), and said goodbye. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and a highlight of the trip!


Wednesday March 21st

Today we are checking out of our hotel. Due to a couple of mistakes back home, we had one extra night in Biarritz and had decided to treat ourselves to a fancier hotel for our last night in France.

Before heading to our new hotel though, we had booked a Market Tour with a company called Biarritz By Locals. They offered a number of tours, all done in English, and they had been rated pretty highly so we were looking forward to it. We met with Emily, our guide, in front of a church that was right beside the Halles Market. It was much like Granville Island market in Vancouver, albeit smaller.

Emily grew up in France but with an American mother, so she spoke near-perfect English. That was nice for me, since even though I often get the gist of Ted's conversations, I usually ask him to translate them for me. Since we left Paris, less people speak English and so Ted's been earning his keep. ;)

We started in the fish market with some fresh shrimp, sea snail and langoustine. I tried it all. I even tried an oyster, which I knew I wouldn't like. But, I wanted to try everything. Garlic aioli and white wine helped. This was a gourmet market tour! Then we went to a stand that specialized in duck, where we had some pâté - fois gras. Tried it, didn't like it. Ted liked it quite a bit, although he found that it upset his stomach later because it was so rich. Then we had Bayonne ham (similar but different from Serrano ham), saucisson (pig stomach), chorizo and sausage. All accompanied by more ewe cheese. Emily says France is not big on crackers.

While we snacked on this last petite feast, we discussed wines with a local wine shop owner. The first wine we tried was a Bordeaux, 90% merlot, unoaked and kept in metal vats before bottling. We liked it. It was an "easy" everyday wine. The second wine was from Spain, also a red wine. Ted liked both of them equally. We can't remember the names of either of them. Maybe we had had too much wine by that point. :P I must have, because I remember asking if the shop owner had any wines with dogs on the labels...

Our last stop on the tour was to the coffee shop that was run by Emily and her Mom. We relaxed with our hot drinks, and digested all the crazy food we'd just tried! We agree that the Market Tour was a definite highlight. Not just because of eating food, either. Emily was a wealth of information and we learned a lot about the local culture. We asked a ton of questions, and was never disappointed. Highly recommended.

Then we were off to our new hotel. It was located at the edge of town by the beach and the lighthouse. I remember booking a room with an ocean view, but apparently we actually booked the Superior Suite with an Ocean View, which is their best room. The suite was huge. Pretty much the size of our apartment back home. And the sunset and the sunrise from our patio was excellent. Given that we kind of booked this by accident, we made the most of it, but our previous Biarritz hotel was very very good and we could have easily stayed there an extra night. Ah well. I'm not a ritz & glitz type of person really... All the excess in the world sometimes gets to me. I prefer a little more modesty, manners and humility. Anyways, we enjoyed our one night living the high life!

Ted went shopping and I didn't really feel like venturing out in the rain, which had just started. So I booked myself a pedicure. What was that about humility and modesty? Hehe. It was a treat. When I arrived at the spa, they brought me into a room for my pedicure. They didn't speak much English at all, so I was on my own. Turns out I had booked a "medical pedicure." Umm... not really sure what that is, but the lady seemed to think that I didn't need it. She said I had "beautiful feet" and arranged for me to have a specialist come in to paint my toes. Talk about excess! Anyways, I had it done and off I went, trying not to think about €.

For our last dinner in France, we wanted some more Basque food given that we loved everything we'd eaten last night. We were told to try Tantina de Burgos, a short taxi ride away. They were also doing the special "menu" so we did the same thing and shared all the food. It was similar stuff to what we'd had at Los Dos Hermanos, some of which Ted thought was even better. I myself preferred LDH. We had grilled squid, stronger sangria and chocolate cake. Steak, potatoes, fish, roasted peppers... it was great. Another hit!

Back to our crazy hotel. Early-to-bed for a long day ahead tomorrow!

Bon soirée,
E!

J'adore le France!

Allô mes amies!


Sunday March 18th

We are sad to leave Bordeaux but it had to happen sometime. We checked out of our hotel and walked over to the tram stop. A few minutes later, we were back at the train station. While we waited for our platform to be determined, we had a snack at the coffee shop, where I helped a struggling customer translate their request to the barista. So proud of myself! I can do it without Ted! Okay, now, back to speaking English and relying on Ted. :)

One cool thing about the train platform is that there's a little digital display showing you where to stand for which coach car you are in. Trés helpful! It may have been there in Paris but I didn't notice it - I was probably too stressed to notice anything. Another thing we noticed on this train ride is that people are allowed to bring their dogs and cats onboard. Cats in a carrier, of course.

When we arrived at our hotel in Biarritz, we were pleased to be offered a free upgrade with a garden & ocean view. Our room is also very pink. ;) We spent a little time arranging tomorrow's plans with my friends Alain & Sylvie, who live in the adjoining town, Anglet. They are generously driving us to La Rhune, which is a place where you catch a train to the top of a mountain for some fabulous views.

The weather went downhill. Windy and heavily raining. We hadn't had dinner yet though, and there was no restaurant in our hotel. We had to wait a bit since the dinner hour in France starts around 7pm. So, we ventured out and found a place down the street. It was like running around in a monsoon. My nicely-kept hairdo was... hmm. You can imagine.

Restaurants here are pretty much closed on Sundays so we had to take what we could get. Anyways, it was an Italian-type place. We've noticed that at restaurants, they always bring a bottle of tap water to the table. The salad is basically just leaves of some kinda type, and it always has the same dressing, no choices. I ordered a Schweppes, thinking it was ginger ale, but it was "Indian Tonic." Heh.

We reflected on the best parts of the trip so far (the Louvre, the Museé d'Orsay, and sitting outside in the square in Bordeaux), and talked about the likelihood of an Air Canada strike delaying our flight home on the 24th (any news on that?).


Monday March 19th

This morning we had breakfast at our hotel - the one meal that they do. When asking for "un peu du lait" (a little milk), the woman corrected me and said I should ask for "nuage du lait" (a cloud of milk). Cute! Then we prepared for our trip to La Rhune.

Alain & Sylvie picked us up in their little white car and we headed off towards the Pyrenees. Alain wanted to practice his English so we spent much time chatting and talking about France and politics, and we asked lots of questions about living here. Sylvie deftly navigated the narrow roads and one-way streets as we headed out of town. We drove through the beautiful Basque countryside. The green fields and red & white houses were beautiful. The Basque country is so different than everything else we've seen so far.

After about 30 minutes, we arrived at La Rhune, and we bought tickets for the next Petit Train, which was leaving in about 25 minutes. The train was a "geared Pullman car," whatever that means. Entirely mechanical and very cute. Open air, with cloth drapes you could tie together, although everyone left them open to enjoy the spectacular views. However, open air and high altitude and moving train = coooooooold. We knew it would be, but by the end of the trek, I had wrapped my scarf around my head, pulled Ted's toque on over top, and also my hat. Then the hood on my jacket, too.

The best views ended up being on the train ride up, because at the top it was all fog. Too bad, because Alain insisted that it would have been gorgeous. We only had a few minutes at the summit because it turns out our train would be the last one due to how cold it was!! The ride down wasn't nearly as cold and was exceptionally lovely.

After we left La Rhune, Alain & Sylvie drove us down the coast and we visited St. Jean de Luz, a splendid little town. We went out to the old fort by the water and took photos of the hillside and the harbour. Alain encouraged us to come back here if we have time since there is a direct bus from Biarritz.


Before parting from our new friends, they brought us to one of the viewpoints in Biarritz. On the way there, we got pulled over by traffic police for a minor infraction but to everyone's relief they let Sylvie go with a warning. Our excursion at an end, we were brought back to the hotel and said goodbye with the very French double-kiss on the cheeks. :)

Tonight we had dinner at Le Royale and I enjoyed a very good Niçoise salad-yay! No raining on us today. The forecast here seems to change by the minute and Alain says it is frequently characterized by "giboulées" but I hope the rain holds off. I didn't really bring enough clothes for cold weather though, sunny or otherwise, so I may have to do some shopping!

Cheers,
E!

Beautiful Bordeaux

Bonjour!


Thurs Mar 15th

Today, we leave Paris. We packed up our things and took a taxi to the train station. At first I scoffed at Ted's insistence that we go almost an hour ahead of our train, but it turns out he was right. It was a zoo in there, and we had no idea where to go. When we bought our tickets online at home, it said we needed to find a kiosk to get our train tickets printed. This was in addition to the rail pass that they had UPS-d me already.

Every kiosk that we tried didn't work. There were people everywhere and time was ticking by. We had left the hotel without eating, and for me, that equals an irritable, anxious, stressed individual who kinda wanted to kick people. Don't worry, Ted had me under control. He found where we were supposed to go, got me some food and we got on the train with no problems. It wasn't the first time I was extremely grateful that he could speak French.

The train ride was pleasant, actually. I'm glad we did trains instead of renting a car. Especially when we saw the plethora of extra-narrow one-way streets in Bordeaux. Anyways, when we got off the train, a blast of summer hit us and I almost got sunburned waiting at the taxi stand. We relaxed at the hotel for a bit, and then headed out to find some eats. Found an Italian place in the middle of a square, and happily ate outside. Rich, rich pasta and cheesy bruschetta. We couldn't even finish it.

Back to our hotel for an early night's sleep, or so I thought. Turns out our hotel (which we really, really like) was located right in the middle of all the action. At the time of booking that seemed to be ideal, but all the drunkards outside our window kept me up until easily 3am. Seriously, who is drumming and screaming at 3am??


Friday March 16th

Lazy start today, which I relished. We just wanted to walk around town and see beautiful Bordeaux. And beautiful it is! I am so pleasantly surprised by this city. It's definitely got a "downtown" kind of feel, but you are surrounded by old buildings and cobblestone streets and history. It's not as impersonal as Paris. I think I even like it better. It was cooler today, which was nice.

Something that we've noticed that is common in France is bicycles for rent. They have little stations, and you just go pay to unlock a bike, and then ride it around and return it to any bike station. Very cool.

Also, café life is HUGE in France. Almost all restaurants have outdoor seating and everybody sits facing the street. My Top 10 Paris book described it as a sport, called "posing," that is mostly popular with young people. :P

After opting for a picnic lunch, Ted and I happened upon an art gallery as we wandered around town. All local, independent artists. It was really cool stuff, and I even got the name and email address for one of the artists in case he was selling anything online.

We also found our way to the Tourist Info office, and booked ourselves a morning city tour and a half-day afternoon wine tour to the Medoc region, for tomorrow. :)

We then headed to the Jean Moulin Centre where there was a free showing. It was particularly heavy: an account of the Holocaust and the French Resistance during WWII. There was hundreds of real photographs, depicting all sortsa horrors. Tried not to dwell on it too long, and focused on feeling very lucky for all I have in my life!

The main strip here is Rue Saint Catherine, which is right beside our hotel. It runs for about 2km, and stores line each side all the way. Super trendy shops everywhere. Reminds me of Robson Street, except it's all pedestrian access only (which I love), and it's got the old feel to it (which I also love). Towards one end of the street, the clientele gets a little rougher. And there are beggars, most with cats or dogs. Lots of gypsies around too.

Ted and I have noticed that we do not see overweight people very much at all. Wonder why?

Quiet night in, ordered pizza from room service and relaxed. Did I mention that we had our room changed? It doesn't face the busy street anymore and is wayyy quieter. Trés bien!


Saturday March 17th

Breakfast at the hotel. Then our city bus tour! Unfortunately although there were about 50 people on our tour, only a few of us spoke English so I felt that we got the short end of the stick. The guide would say like 200 words in French, and then "translate" it into about 50 words of English. I think we missed out on some details. Ted says that she translated everything perfectly, but I'm skeptical.

We got to see a lot of Bordeaux's architecture, which dates back several hundred years, including areas of the city that were only for foreigners. We also saw a Nazi submarine base that was made out of concrete and apparently a few different countries tried to unsuccessfully bomb it, so they kept it and turned it into a modern art gallery. Go figure.

Once the city tour was done, we got a couple of baguette sandwiches and sat on the steps to the Grand Theatre to eat. We also tried something that is called a Canelé, which looks like a small muffin but is basically a Creme Brûlée in muffin form. Good, if you like that sort of thing. It is a specialty in Bordeaux!

Then we were off again on our half-day wine tour. Our guide spoke much more English this time because it was about 50/50 now. Ted didn't like her from the start and I think it's safe to say that many people didn't like her by the end. She was a little kooky. After her 3 glasses of wine, she took us all captive on the way back to town, ranting about the decline of French wine culture. Blaming young people (because they don't drink wine, they prefer rum & coke, which is "just dangerous"), blaming the English, blaming Northern Europeans... Oh and she's never been drunk (yeah right, how about right now, lady?), and you don't become an alcoholic from drinking wine, etc. etc. The Americans in the back were heckling her loudly and rudely (they were drunk too). Ted and I were Switzerland.

Despite the return-trip entertainment, we quite enjoyed the wine tour. One place in particular was fantastic and we learned quite a lot as well as had some great tastings. Wouldn't it be great to live here!

Back at the hotel we had a bit of a break before dinner. Ted picked us a nice place called L'Ombriere and I managed to order my first real salad on the whole trip. I've really been missing vegetables over here. It seems that every restaurant has the same menu items, and none of them are veggie-based. Lots of ham, cheese, snails, gizzards, pâté, duck, seafood... I wonder if there are any French vegetarians? Ted ordered a rib-eye steak that was so large it was as big as his head and attracted attention from the other customers. He gave it a good go, too, but we also had dessert coming to us. Bona fide French mousse au chocolat for me, and gateau de chocolat for Ted. Yum.

Back to the hotel. It's starting to rain. Uh oh.

Cheers! Hope all is well at home.
E!