I only had 3 days in Aix between arriving from Italy and taking the train up to Paris, and they were pretty “packed” (no pun intended...) I had to pack up my whole room, which proved quite difficult as I’d been planning on Josh taking a lot of my stuff home for me in his bags. Luckily I was able to leave some stuff behind for the two girls that are going to come from SFU next year so that was helpful. But I still had a ton of (very heavy) luggage. (Oh, Sarah and I also spent a day taking a trip out to one last ‘village provençal’ as well as some lavender fields, which were amazing!!!) But, early in the morning on June 28th, the time had come to leave Aix for good. Sarah, being the lovely friend that she is, woke up early to accompany me to the bus station (and even with 2 of us, the walk there with all my stuff was absolutely brutal, but we did it) where I caught the shuttle to the train station.
A 3 hour train ride later I was in Paris, where I had arranged to meet up with a girl from my program at SFU (who had been studying in Paris this year) whose name is also Alex. Together we struggled with all my stuff on the metro (which included going up and down stairs SEVERAL times – I seriously should have taken a video of me trying to lug my 26 kilo suitcase UP a flight of stairs of a parisien metro station) but eventually, we finally made it to my little one star hotel. After dropping off my massive amounts of luggage, Alex and I grabbed some Chinese food from a cool little restaurant she knew of. Then we went to Starbucks (sadly, this is one of the things I really like about Paris, the fact that they have Starbucks) and grabbed frappes, then spent the next couple hours sipping/chatting/dipping our feet in the fountains in front of the Louvre (us, and hundreds of other people.) Totally chill but also kind of epic at the same time. After that I had to help Alex move her bags from her apartment, which is just outside of Paris, to her friend’s place right in the city. So we took care of that and hung out at her friend’s place for a bit which was nice (was my last chance to have a conversation with a French person!) We grabbed a quick bite to eat then I wanted to head back to my hotel as I was planning to go to Versailles early the next morning.
So I headed out to Versailles the following day as planned. It’s super easy and inexpensive to get there (less than 6 euro round trip.) Now the process of getting tickets was a bit complicated – the lines weren’t clearly marked and there was basically no one to ask. Not to mention I should have gotten in for next to nothing since I am technically a resident of France (there is a special price for European residents) BUT, since I didn’t have my passport/residence permit, I had to pay the full amount AND wait longer in line. GRRRR. Anyways, I didn’t find the Chateau itself all that impressive (although the hall of mirrors was cool) but the gardens… wow. This was one of my favorite things I’ve seen all year. I was also lucky enough to be there at a time when all the fountains where on which made it even more beautiful. And the gardens are HUGE! I had no idea how big they’d be but it would probably take you days to see all of it. My favorite part of the gardens was Marie Antoinette’s “hamlet”, a special private little area area she had designed for herself. It was such a magical looking little place, like something out of a fairy tale: there were adorable little buildings, as well as bridges and ponds. She apparently used it to “escape” from the castle from time to time, and I can imagine this must have been the perfect spot. It was just so special and very serene. I also walked around the “grotto” area, which is apparently where she was when found out people were storming the castle (start of the French Revolution.) Marie Antoinette was the only queen to have had any influence on the design of Versailles, and what an influence she ended up having! Anyways the gardens were just incredible, you’d have to see it to understand just how spectacular they are. So after a long day at Versailles (in some incredibly hot weather I might add), I headed back to the hotel to do my last bit of packing up and to get some sleep before my early flight the next day. Sure enough, before I knew it, I found myself in a taxi on my way to the airport, boarding an Air Canada plane with a huge smile on my face and feeling ready to leave, knowing that in a matter of hours I’d be HOME, for real. Many movies and bad airplane meals later, I was greeted by my family at YVR. It felt surreal, but so good, to be seeing them for the first time in practically 6 months.
Now that I’m back at home it kinda feels as if I never left. We had family over on Canada Day. I’ve already gotten together with some old friends. I’ve even started working at the same coffee/ice cream place I worked at last summer. I guess when all this familiarity hits you all at once, it’s hard to believe you left it for almost a year. So far, when asked the ever-pertinent question “Are you happy to be home?” I respond with a definite “yes.” I know I made the most of my time abroad, I have no regrets about my year and I think the time had come to return home. I mean, all good things have to come to an end, don’t they? However, I think I’m still in the “honeymoon” phase of being home (by that I mean enjoying things like sleeping in a double bed, driving a car, having a house stocked with food, having a couch/TV) and I’m sure once that wears off, I’ll be wishing I was back in Europe... but for now I'm glad to be home.
On another note, I'm finding that after moving to France and traveling to other countries, the world honestly seems so much smaller now when I think about it (I apologize for how cheesy that sentence must sound – but it’s true!) Before I left, a 10 hour flight to get from Vancouver to Paris seemed like an eternity. Now, when you think of the fact you can get from one side of world to the other in half a day, give or take a few hours, it really doesn’t seem that far. I guess it’s also because the more traveling I did and the more of the world I saw, the less I felt like I’d seen. Maybe that sounds stupid, but what I mean is, the more I traveled, the more I realized there was to see. I have an account on the “hostelworld” website, which is where I normally go to book the hostels I stay in when I travel. They have an application that lets you highlight each country you’ve been to, so other users can see where you’ve been. When I look at my highlighted map, I’m shocked to see how much of the world is left un-highlighted (and I haven’t even seen each country I’ve visited in its entirety!) I suppose in that sense, the world actually seems larger rather than smaller – I guess it’s a mix of both.
OK so, in attempt to conclude this mish-mash of thoughts: this year was absolutely amazing and I’m incredibly glad I made the decision to go on exchange. It was of course challenging at times but anything that didn’t kill me (literally or figuratively) just made me stronger (and definitely much, MUCH more patient.) I got to know myself much better than I would have had I not gone on this exchange and I realized I’m capable of more than I give myself credit for. I went to some incredible places and met some fantastic people, several of whom I hope will be lifelong friends. I was also incredibly glad to have had the opportunity to improve my French by being completely immersed in it. Although I can be extremely hard on myself when it comes to French, I really feel like I improved my language skills over the year, especially when it comes to speaking. This year also made me realize how much more traveling I would like to do in my life (I have already started planning where I want to go after I graduate!)
That brings my blog to a close. Thanks to anyone/everyone who followed my blog and/or facebook photos, it was always nice to know people were interested in what I was up to. AU REVOIR, la fin.
Jul 5, 2010
Ciao bella
So I’m home (for REAL home, as in Canada!) and am finally getting around to writing about my last big trip of the year, two weeks in Italy! As I mentioned in my previous blog, I had originally planned to travel Italy (post-Greece) with Josh but he got a really great job offer (he’s already moved up there and did his first flight this weekend!) so I decided to go ahead and do it on my own.
My trip started in Seregno with my extended family whom we visited at Christmas. It was really great to see them again and get a chance to spend a little bit more time with them. I was happy to be a part of their everyday lives and get to see how they normally live – it really made me feel like a more “immediate” part of the family. And of course we had tons of delicious food (pasta, gnocchi, lasagna, risotto, etc.) I also picked up a little bit of Italian while I was there! It would definitely be a stretch to say I can speak it a little but I definitely picked up a couple phrases, which was helpful as many of my family members speak little to no English. While I was there, I did day trips to Milan (my cousin Robyn and I climbed up the Duomo and did a bit of shopping) and Como Lake (where I wandered around on my own, and took the funicular up to Brunate to get some amazing views.) That weekend, Robyn, her mom Rosanna, her boyfriend Davide and I took a trip to Verona and to an amusement Park called “Gardaland”, situated just outside of a lovely little town called Sirmione. Our first stop was Verona and it was really nice! We got to see Juliet’s house which, although very touristy/commercialized, was really special I thought. The entry way is covered with letters to Juliet, and you can even see her balcony. The town itself was also very charming. After Verona we went to Sirmione, a cute little town situated right on Garda lake. There we just walked around, went for a nice lunch/dinner/gelato and swam in the lake. The next day, we were off to Gardaland where we met up with my other cousin Samuele (Robyn’s brother) and his girlfriend Adelia. I find being at amusement parks oddly comforting (maybe because they’re kind of similar no matter what country you’re in? Or perhaps because Disneyland is practically my second home…) at any rate it was a very nice day spent with my family and we got to go on some good rides. We headed back to Seregno on Sunday night and the next day I was off to Cinque Terre.
Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 little villages situated on the northern-ish coast of Italy. I stayed in the biggest of the 5 villages, Riomaggiore, in a funky little hostel called the “MarMar.” I was really impressed – it was very spacious (with a huge kitchen, common space and a very nice terrace.) It was a small scale hostel (only 10 people staying there) but it was just like one big apartment kind of, which was nice because you got a chance to meet and speak to everyone. I met some really nice people there, including a couple from Abbotsford and some very friendly Australian girls as well. I didn’t do a ton on my first day as I arrived rather late, I just wandered around the town, had a nice pasta dinner and sat by the water for a bit. The next day I was up quite early to do the 9km hike between each of the 5 villages. The weather wasn’t super nice but this turned out to be a plus because if it had been any hotter I would have had a difficult time completing the hike. Anyways, the hike was amazing! I stopped in each village for at least a half hour to wander around a little bit. My favourite village was probably Vernazza, which was the fourth one. I just thought it had the most unique geography as it kind of protruded out of the coastline a little bit which looked really cool from high up. Once I reached the last village (Monterosso) I got some gelato/napped on the beach/swam. After spending a few hours there I headed back to Riomaggiore (via train) and since it was raining pretty heavily that night, I just stayed in and hung out with the other people in the hostel. I got up relatively early the next day to head to Florence.
My first day in Florence I just ended up walking around and finding the main things to see along the way. I saw the Basilica di Santa Maria and its famous painted dome which was very impressive. I climbed the bell tower next to the Basilica which had an amazing view of the city (and the Tuscan hills surrounding it!) I saw the Piazza di Vecchio, which is like the main square, as well as the Vecchio Bridge, which is the only bridge that was not destroyed during WWII and dates back to the 1300s. That night I grabbed some dinner with some American girls I met in my hostel (we found a place that had veggie burgers! I’d never seen this in Europe before!) and just walked some more around the city. The next day I debated going into the Academia Gallery to see ‘David’ but decided against it, as it cost 10 euro and there was a bit of a line (I settled for seeing the fake one in the Piazza di Vecchio for free! I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference anyway.) Instead, I went into an old palace that was the home of a wealthy Florentine family, which was very beautiful and apparently a perfect example of Renaissance architecture. After that, I wanted to go to the Santa Croce Cathedral but en route, I managed to get caught in a torrential downpour of rain and hail. I took cover under the awning of a church but that only covered like, half of me, but by the time I realized this it was too late to try and run somewhere else as being half covered was better than being not covered at all. It was ridiculous though. Once it stopped, I was soaked and thus had to go back to my hostel to change. I did however stop for lunch on the way and went into a very authentic looking little bakery and had a delicious foacaccia bun filled with tomato, mozzarella, olive paste and olive oil – it was sooo good and the people in the bakery were so nice. Anyways, after going back to my hostel to change, I finally made it to the Santa Croce which had the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo, which were cool to see. That night I was super tired and just ended up going for a swim (yes that’s right, the hostel had a pool – first time I’d ever seen that!) While in Florence I also took some day trips, to Siena and Pisa. Siena was only an hour and a half away from Florence by bus and it was really nice – similar to Florence but on a smaller scale. I visited the Piazza del Campo, which is the main square (it’s kind of in the shape of a racing track because they hold annual horse races there), the Duomo, as well as a really cool candle making store. Apart from that I just walked around and got getalo, and sat in the main square for a bit. But it was a really cute town. That evening, once I’d arrived back in Florence, I decided to try and find the Piazza de Michelangelo, which I had heard was a good place to watch the sunset. Well, I didn’t have my Florence map with me as I’d been in Siena all day (and I was too cheap to buy another) so I tried to find it by asking people… well, long story short, I took the LOOOONG way around and walked for probably close to 2 hours more than I would have had too. However it was a scenic route and I saw some nice things along the way which was good, and I did eventually find it and got to see a very lovely sunset (it was especially beautiful with the river/bridges in view.) I also did a day trip to Pisa, which was also a really nice town. Unfortunately it was a really rainy day when I went but it had a really pretty river running through it and the tower was of course very cool as well. Since I wasn’t with anyone I wasn’t able to take any of the “holding up the tower” pictures but there were so many people doing that already it would have felt too cheesy I think, so I didn’t really mind.
After Florence my next stop was Rome which, in order to get the cheapest ticket, I had to catch the train at 6:30 AM. I checked into my hostel and then set out to see the Colosseum. When I arrived, I saw several people standing outside with official badge-type things saying ‘Ask me for more information’, or something to that effect. Curious, I asked what they were selling/offering information about. She told me that if we were to buy tickets through her, we could not only skip the line up but also have a guided tour for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum, for 20 euro. This seemed to be a good deal as a normal ticket for these sites cost 12 euro already. So I opted for the 20 euro option, and as promised, got to skip the huuuge line up for the Colosseum and go pretty much right in. Our guide was really good as well, he told us all about the events/shows that took place at the Colosseum. After spending some time there, we headed over to Palatine Hill. This is where the brothers “Romulus and Remus” lived (the city of Rome was eventually founded by Romulus – that is where the name ‘Rome’ comes from) as well as many emperors of Rome in the years that followed (like Augustus, for example). Mussolini also had a summer home there, as he apparently thought that if it had been good enough for the emperors it was good enough for him. At the base of Palatine Hill is the Forum, which is basically all the most important structures of ancient Rome (most of them temples) all concentrated in one area. It was impressive but overwhelming, like there was just too much amazing-ness crammed into too small an area. After seeing all these ‘main’ sights, I continued on walking and saw:
- The Pantheon (where Rafeal is buried)
- Piazza di Navona, beautiful square with a lovely fountain in the center
- The Trevi fountain, which was simply the most stunning fountain I’ve ever seen
- The Spanish Steps, which I had especially wanted to see because I have a photo of me sitting on them from when I was 2 (when we came over for a wedding in my Italian family) – so 18 years later, I have the same photo!
- A really cool park that I don’t know the name of, but it was right next to the Spanish steps and had a huge terrace with a nice view of the square below.
The next day I went to the Vatican Museum (which is attached to the building that serves as the official residence of the Pope.) I decided to sign up for another one of the “tours” because, again, for a bit more money you got to skip the line and go with a guide. This turned out to be a good decision in the end because the Vatican is HUGE and I wouldn’t have known what to see or the significance of anything I was seeing. We saw many well known sculptures, none of which had any particular significance to me, but I thought the Belvedere torso statue was interesting because a) although it isn’t certain, it is rumored to be of Hercules, who is at least someone I’ve heard of (thanks to the Disney movie, but still) and b) apparently Michelangelo was asked to fix it up but refused as he didn’t want to tamper with such a well-done sculpture. Apart from that, we rooms upon rooms with walls and ceilings just FILLED with amazing paintings. Going with the guide was so helpful because she was able to point out actual specific people in certain paintings. For example, one painting had Plato, Aristotle, Rafeal, Pythagoras and Michelangelo – had the guide not pointed this out I would just have thought they were random people! She also explained the significance of the figures in the Sistine Chapel paintings. Michelangelo, who painted most of the Chapel at the request of the Pope, was apparently somewhat against the Pope’s desire for extravagance and displayed this in his paintings in the Chapel. The Chapel was of course extremely crowded (with tons of people blatantly ignoring the signs and requests of security to NOT take photos, which I found irritating and extremely disrespectful) which made it a bit difficult to just stand and appreciate the magnificence of it, but it was still amazing to see. I also got to go into St. Peter’s Basilica, which is the main cathedral of the Vatican City. It was impressive of course but I didn’t find it very beautiful necessarily. Also, fun fact: there is a 7 year waiting list to get married there! After leaving the Vatican, I had wanted to go into the actual Vatican “City” to have a look around because, as I had learned earlier that day, it counts as its own separate country (or, as a state, I still don’t really understand to be honest) – but at any rate they have their own license plates, passports and currency. However, when I asked someone how to get into the actual “city”, she looked at me a bit funny and said “what city?” to which I responded, “umm… the Vatican City?” She then nicely informed me that you need special permission to enter (apart from the main Square in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica, which is open to everyone.) I felt like a huge idiot because I had no idea, I thought it would have open borders like most other European countries! Anyway, I obviously didn’t have any kind of special permission to go into the Vatican City and did not get to go in. (I’m quite intrigued to see it though, apparently there are just 900 people living there – and it’s right in the middle of Italy! I find it quite random.) Anyways, after seeing the Vatican Museum I was just exhausted (and it was already late afternoon by this point) so I headed back to the hostel. The next morning I caught an early train to Milan, from where I headed back to Seregno to spend a last couple of days with my family before taking an overnight bus back to Aix on June 24.
Italy was fantastic. Although I would have loved to have seen it with Josh, it ended up being just fine by myself and I met some cool people along the way. My favorite spot would definitely have to be Cinque Terre because it was probably the least touristy out of all the places I saw, and just simply incredible/beautiful. The hike I did there was also super enjoyable: it had the perfect amount of difficulty (I was tired at the end but not exhausted) and it was perfect to be able to stop in each of the 5 villages and have a look around. I enjoyed Florence, but probably would have enjoyed it more if I was more of an art person – I think the main things to do there are to go to the Academia and Uffizi galleries, neither of which interested me very much (especially considering how expensive they were.) But I really enjoyed my little day trips to Siena and Pisa. As for Rome, the word that most comes to mind is magnificent; the age, style and sheer MASS of the ruins were just incredible. And I don’t know if Rome is just an easy city to navigate or if 10 months of traveling has (finally) taught me how to read maps but I found I was able to find my way around on foot very easily, even though it’s quite a big city. It was also fantastic to be able to spend some more time with my family after just meeting them briefly at Christmas. I really felt like I was able to be a part of the everyday happenings which felt nice. Lastly, I was happy to learn that pasta is its own Italian foodgroup - it's not just a stereotype!!!
My trip started in Seregno with my extended family whom we visited at Christmas. It was really great to see them again and get a chance to spend a little bit more time with them. I was happy to be a part of their everyday lives and get to see how they normally live – it really made me feel like a more “immediate” part of the family. And of course we had tons of delicious food (pasta, gnocchi, lasagna, risotto, etc.) I also picked up a little bit of Italian while I was there! It would definitely be a stretch to say I can speak it a little but I definitely picked up a couple phrases, which was helpful as many of my family members speak little to no English. While I was there, I did day trips to Milan (my cousin Robyn and I climbed up the Duomo and did a bit of shopping) and Como Lake (where I wandered around on my own, and took the funicular up to Brunate to get some amazing views.) That weekend, Robyn, her mom Rosanna, her boyfriend Davide and I took a trip to Verona and to an amusement Park called “Gardaland”, situated just outside of a lovely little town called Sirmione. Our first stop was Verona and it was really nice! We got to see Juliet’s house which, although very touristy/commercialized, was really special I thought. The entry way is covered with letters to Juliet, and you can even see her balcony. The town itself was also very charming. After Verona we went to Sirmione, a cute little town situated right on Garda lake. There we just walked around, went for a nice lunch/dinner/gelato and swam in the lake. The next day, we were off to Gardaland where we met up with my other cousin Samuele (Robyn’s brother) and his girlfriend Adelia. I find being at amusement parks oddly comforting (maybe because they’re kind of similar no matter what country you’re in? Or perhaps because Disneyland is practically my second home…) at any rate it was a very nice day spent with my family and we got to go on some good rides. We headed back to Seregno on Sunday night and the next day I was off to Cinque Terre.
Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 little villages situated on the northern-ish coast of Italy. I stayed in the biggest of the 5 villages, Riomaggiore, in a funky little hostel called the “MarMar.” I was really impressed – it was very spacious (with a huge kitchen, common space and a very nice terrace.) It was a small scale hostel (only 10 people staying there) but it was just like one big apartment kind of, which was nice because you got a chance to meet and speak to everyone. I met some really nice people there, including a couple from Abbotsford and some very friendly Australian girls as well. I didn’t do a ton on my first day as I arrived rather late, I just wandered around the town, had a nice pasta dinner and sat by the water for a bit. The next day I was up quite early to do the 9km hike between each of the 5 villages. The weather wasn’t super nice but this turned out to be a plus because if it had been any hotter I would have had a difficult time completing the hike. Anyways, the hike was amazing! I stopped in each village for at least a half hour to wander around a little bit. My favourite village was probably Vernazza, which was the fourth one. I just thought it had the most unique geography as it kind of protruded out of the coastline a little bit which looked really cool from high up. Once I reached the last village (Monterosso) I got some gelato/napped on the beach/swam. After spending a few hours there I headed back to Riomaggiore (via train) and since it was raining pretty heavily that night, I just stayed in and hung out with the other people in the hostel. I got up relatively early the next day to head to Florence.
My first day in Florence I just ended up walking around and finding the main things to see along the way. I saw the Basilica di Santa Maria and its famous painted dome which was very impressive. I climbed the bell tower next to the Basilica which had an amazing view of the city (and the Tuscan hills surrounding it!) I saw the Piazza di Vecchio, which is like the main square, as well as the Vecchio Bridge, which is the only bridge that was not destroyed during WWII and dates back to the 1300s. That night I grabbed some dinner with some American girls I met in my hostel (we found a place that had veggie burgers! I’d never seen this in Europe before!) and just walked some more around the city. The next day I debated going into the Academia Gallery to see ‘David’ but decided against it, as it cost 10 euro and there was a bit of a line (I settled for seeing the fake one in the Piazza di Vecchio for free! I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference anyway.) Instead, I went into an old palace that was the home of a wealthy Florentine family, which was very beautiful and apparently a perfect example of Renaissance architecture. After that, I wanted to go to the Santa Croce Cathedral but en route, I managed to get caught in a torrential downpour of rain and hail. I took cover under the awning of a church but that only covered like, half of me, but by the time I realized this it was too late to try and run somewhere else as being half covered was better than being not covered at all. It was ridiculous though. Once it stopped, I was soaked and thus had to go back to my hostel to change. I did however stop for lunch on the way and went into a very authentic looking little bakery and had a delicious foacaccia bun filled with tomato, mozzarella, olive paste and olive oil – it was sooo good and the people in the bakery were so nice. Anyways, after going back to my hostel to change, I finally made it to the Santa Croce which had the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo, which were cool to see. That night I was super tired and just ended up going for a swim (yes that’s right, the hostel had a pool – first time I’d ever seen that!) While in Florence I also took some day trips, to Siena and Pisa. Siena was only an hour and a half away from Florence by bus and it was really nice – similar to Florence but on a smaller scale. I visited the Piazza del Campo, which is the main square (it’s kind of in the shape of a racing track because they hold annual horse races there), the Duomo, as well as a really cool candle making store. Apart from that I just walked around and got getalo, and sat in the main square for a bit. But it was a really cute town. That evening, once I’d arrived back in Florence, I decided to try and find the Piazza de Michelangelo, which I had heard was a good place to watch the sunset. Well, I didn’t have my Florence map with me as I’d been in Siena all day (and I was too cheap to buy another) so I tried to find it by asking people… well, long story short, I took the LOOOONG way around and walked for probably close to 2 hours more than I would have had too. However it was a scenic route and I saw some nice things along the way which was good, and I did eventually find it and got to see a very lovely sunset (it was especially beautiful with the river/bridges in view.) I also did a day trip to Pisa, which was also a really nice town. Unfortunately it was a really rainy day when I went but it had a really pretty river running through it and the tower was of course very cool as well. Since I wasn’t with anyone I wasn’t able to take any of the “holding up the tower” pictures but there were so many people doing that already it would have felt too cheesy I think, so I didn’t really mind.
After Florence my next stop was Rome which, in order to get the cheapest ticket, I had to catch the train at 6:30 AM. I checked into my hostel and then set out to see the Colosseum. When I arrived, I saw several people standing outside with official badge-type things saying ‘Ask me for more information’, or something to that effect. Curious, I asked what they were selling/offering information about. She told me that if we were to buy tickets through her, we could not only skip the line up but also have a guided tour for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum, for 20 euro. This seemed to be a good deal as a normal ticket for these sites cost 12 euro already. So I opted for the 20 euro option, and as promised, got to skip the huuuge line up for the Colosseum and go pretty much right in. Our guide was really good as well, he told us all about the events/shows that took place at the Colosseum. After spending some time there, we headed over to Palatine Hill. This is where the brothers “Romulus and Remus” lived (the city of Rome was eventually founded by Romulus – that is where the name ‘Rome’ comes from) as well as many emperors of Rome in the years that followed (like Augustus, for example). Mussolini also had a summer home there, as he apparently thought that if it had been good enough for the emperors it was good enough for him. At the base of Palatine Hill is the Forum, which is basically all the most important structures of ancient Rome (most of them temples) all concentrated in one area. It was impressive but overwhelming, like there was just too much amazing-ness crammed into too small an area. After seeing all these ‘main’ sights, I continued on walking and saw:
- The Pantheon (where Rafeal is buried)
- Piazza di Navona, beautiful square with a lovely fountain in the center
- The Trevi fountain, which was simply the most stunning fountain I’ve ever seen
- The Spanish Steps, which I had especially wanted to see because I have a photo of me sitting on them from when I was 2 (when we came over for a wedding in my Italian family) – so 18 years later, I have the same photo!
- A really cool park that I don’t know the name of, but it was right next to the Spanish steps and had a huge terrace with a nice view of the square below.
The next day I went to the Vatican Museum (which is attached to the building that serves as the official residence of the Pope.) I decided to sign up for another one of the “tours” because, again, for a bit more money you got to skip the line and go with a guide. This turned out to be a good decision in the end because the Vatican is HUGE and I wouldn’t have known what to see or the significance of anything I was seeing. We saw many well known sculptures, none of which had any particular significance to me, but I thought the Belvedere torso statue was interesting because a) although it isn’t certain, it is rumored to be of Hercules, who is at least someone I’ve heard of (thanks to the Disney movie, but still) and b) apparently Michelangelo was asked to fix it up but refused as he didn’t want to tamper with such a well-done sculpture. Apart from that, we rooms upon rooms with walls and ceilings just FILLED with amazing paintings. Going with the guide was so helpful because she was able to point out actual specific people in certain paintings. For example, one painting had Plato, Aristotle, Rafeal, Pythagoras and Michelangelo – had the guide not pointed this out I would just have thought they were random people! She also explained the significance of the figures in the Sistine Chapel paintings. Michelangelo, who painted most of the Chapel at the request of the Pope, was apparently somewhat against the Pope’s desire for extravagance and displayed this in his paintings in the Chapel. The Chapel was of course extremely crowded (with tons of people blatantly ignoring the signs and requests of security to NOT take photos, which I found irritating and extremely disrespectful) which made it a bit difficult to just stand and appreciate the magnificence of it, but it was still amazing to see. I also got to go into St. Peter’s Basilica, which is the main cathedral of the Vatican City. It was impressive of course but I didn’t find it very beautiful necessarily. Also, fun fact: there is a 7 year waiting list to get married there! After leaving the Vatican, I had wanted to go into the actual Vatican “City” to have a look around because, as I had learned earlier that day, it counts as its own separate country (or, as a state, I still don’t really understand to be honest) – but at any rate they have their own license plates, passports and currency. However, when I asked someone how to get into the actual “city”, she looked at me a bit funny and said “what city?” to which I responded, “umm… the Vatican City?” She then nicely informed me that you need special permission to enter (apart from the main Square in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica, which is open to everyone.) I felt like a huge idiot because I had no idea, I thought it would have open borders like most other European countries! Anyway, I obviously didn’t have any kind of special permission to go into the Vatican City and did not get to go in. (I’m quite intrigued to see it though, apparently there are just 900 people living there – and it’s right in the middle of Italy! I find it quite random.) Anyways, after seeing the Vatican Museum I was just exhausted (and it was already late afternoon by this point) so I headed back to the hostel. The next morning I caught an early train to Milan, from where I headed back to Seregno to spend a last couple of days with my family before taking an overnight bus back to Aix on June 24.
Italy was fantastic. Although I would have loved to have seen it with Josh, it ended up being just fine by myself and I met some cool people along the way. My favorite spot would definitely have to be Cinque Terre because it was probably the least touristy out of all the places I saw, and just simply incredible/beautiful. The hike I did there was also super enjoyable: it had the perfect amount of difficulty (I was tired at the end but not exhausted) and it was perfect to be able to stop in each of the 5 villages and have a look around. I enjoyed Florence, but probably would have enjoyed it more if I was more of an art person – I think the main things to do there are to go to the Academia and Uffizi galleries, neither of which interested me very much (especially considering how expensive they were.) But I really enjoyed my little day trips to Siena and Pisa. As for Rome, the word that most comes to mind is magnificent; the age, style and sheer MASS of the ruins were just incredible. And I don’t know if Rome is just an easy city to navigate or if 10 months of traveling has (finally) taught me how to read maps but I found I was able to find my way around on foot very easily, even though it’s quite a big city. It was also fantastic to be able to spend some more time with my family after just meeting them briefly at Christmas. I really felt like I was able to be a part of the everyday happenings which felt nice. Lastly, I was happy to learn that pasta is its own Italian foodgroup - it's not just a stereotype!!!
Jun 9, 2010
OPA!
So I’ve pretty much been wanting to visit Greece since I saw ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’, AKA since I was about 15. The rents were a bit iffy about me going alone (and given the unstable situation in Athens right now it’s probably good I didn’t go alone) so I ended up booking a ‘Contiki’ tour which, for those of you who don’t know, is a tour group specifically for 18-35 year olds. It’s also how my parents met over 30 years ago! Anyways, I took the train to Milan on May 27 (there weren’t any direct flights from Marseille-Athens), spent a night with my Italian family and got dropped off at the airport the next morning. Well, of course France managed to find a way to screw up my travel plans even when I was out of the country; due to a French Air Traffic Control strike, the plane that would have been used to go from Milan to Athens never arrived (it should have arrived from France) and since I had booked with a low-budget airline (EasyJet) they didn’t have another flight to put us on. So I had to take a bus over to the other terminal and buy a much more expensive ticket AND wait for approximately 10 extra hours. Luckily during this time I met 2 really nice Greek girls, one of whom helped me find my way once we arrived in Athens. This was super helpful as Athens was a pretty sketchy city even during the day! Anyway, I finally arrived at my hotel at 1AM-ish and went straight to bed. The next day we (when I say we, I mean my roommate who turned out not only to be from White Rock BUT is also the older sister of one of my friends from high school! Crazy coincidence) were up early to visit the old Olympic Stadium and the Acropolis, which is was an important religious site in ancient Greece. You can still see the ruins of old temples, as well as get an amazing view of the city. Apart from there being an overwhelming amount of people there, it was very impressive! After experiencing a bit of ‘ancient’ Athens, we headed back to our hotel for some more ‘modern’ Athens activities, ie. laying out by the pool on the roof of our hotel. Then that night we headed out for dinner at a taverna in the Plaka area. This is when I met everyone in my group (all 9 of us anyway – which is small for a Contiki group) a couple from California, 1 Australian guy, 5 other Canadian girls (from White Rock, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal) and then our tour manager, Gen, who was from South Africa. The food was delicious: tzasiki, olives, greek salad, deep-fried zucchini, beans, and plenty of wine. There was also traditional Greek dancing – it was very entertaining but I spend most of the meal hoping the guy wouldn’t kick me in the head (I was sitting at the end of the table and a lot of his moves required him to kick his legs way up into the air..) but it was really good. After that we headed back to the hotel as we had an early ferry to Mykonos in the morning.
So we caught the ferry to Mykonos at 7AM-ish. The ferry was huge and we kept saying how it felt like we were on an airplane. My roommate Stephanie and I spend most of the trip out on the deck chatting and enjoying the gorgeous blue water and the occasional island we passed by. We arrived at our resort (‘Aphrodite Beach’) which was SO nice, much nicer than I had been expecting! We spend most of the day lounging at the beach, which was located RIGHT in front of our hotel. That night we had a group dinner at the resort which was delicious, and afterwards we just hung out at the bar and had drinks. The next morning we ventured into town (our resort was located about a 15 minute bus ride outside of town) and had a look around. It was SO, so cute. There were tons of nice clothing stores, cute little restaurants and cafes. The ‘streets’ were really narrow and twisted around a lot, making it very hard to find your way! It was apparently made this way by pirates so people would get lost inside. There was also a charming little area right on the water called Little Venice (I actually commented that it looked like Venice before I even realized that was its name!) and it was just so beautiful. We also spotted Petros, a pelican who is the ‘mascot’ of Mykonos! Later that afternoon we all went to Paradise Beach, which is basically just a club/bar that is RIGHT on the water, where it’s considered to be perfectly acceptable to be drinking at 3 in the afternoon. We just hung out and relaxed there for a few hours then headed back to the hotel, where we had a really good dinner at the resort restaurant (we had several delicious meals there actually) which is also situated pretty much ON the beach – it was SO nice. Most of the next day was spent at the beach tanning, napping and swimming (I can’t really explain how amazing this beach was, but it’s probably the nicest one I’ve ever seen.) We wanted to take it kind of easy because that night we were going out with the OTHER Contiki group who had just arrived in Mykonos. So that night we all went out for dinner (another tasty meal that included salad with feta and some kind of peanut-thai dressing, which I thought was a strange but delicious combo, as well as fried cheese) and then to a cocktail bar in Little Venice for some pre-drinking (where we all ended up having shots that were on fire… I blew mine out before I drank it though) and finally off to the Down Under Bar where we spend the night dancing. The end of the night was a bit of a gongshow; my group wanted to go to another bar but I elected to stay behind with the other Contiki group, so they said they would come back and get me. Well, at some point (2 or 3 AM, I really have no idea) the other Contiki group decided to leave so I went with them as to not get left behind. So while I was safe and sound on the other Contiki bus, my tour manager (along with the rest of my group) was running around the streets of Mykonos looking for the ‘Underground’ bar (and not the Down Under, as it was actually called – this mix up of names may have been due to the amount of liquor consumed…) anyway the 2 tour managers finally got in touch with each other and it all worked out but this was a big joke for the rest of the trip. The last morning we had just enough time to go for another morning dip in the ocean (something I did each morning while in Mykonos) and have breakfast, then we were off to Santorini (which was a bit of a brutal ferry ride for some of us, due to the night before.)
We arrived in Santorini late evening so we set off to have dinner. The restaurant was adorable, we sat on the patio just as the sun was going down… amazing. Here we tried a couple new things, such as deep fried tomatoes (which look and sound a bit gross but were actually so good, especially with tsaziki sauce) and stuffed vine leaves (vine leaves stuffed with rice.) Our dinner went pretty late so after that we headed back to the hotel (situated about a 15 minute walk outside the center of Fira, so not on a beach – but it did have a pool!) The next day we did a trip out to see the volcano (Santorini is a volcanic island that used to be connected to the actual volcano) so we walked down about 500 steps to the port, where we got on a boat that took us over to the volcano. The island was cool, it kind of looked like something out of Lord of the Rings, but it looked less ‘volcano-y’ than I thought it would (as in, there wasn’t one BIG crater, there were several little ones all over.) Then the boat took us over to a red-sand hot spring, situated in the alcove of another little island. We got to jump off the side of the boat and go swimming which was so cool! Stephanie was a bit afraid but she did it anyway so I was very proud of her :) After swimming for a bit we climbed back onto the boat and headed back to Santorini, where we decided to ride donkeys back up the steps we had previously walked down. This was somewhat of a terrifying experience. There are donkeys EVERYWHERE, they’re not on leashes or anything, and they have a hard time walking in a straight line so there were several moments where they almost crashed into the walls. And while all of this is going on, tourists are trying to walk DOWN the stairs but since the donkeys don’t walk straight, and since it’s pretty impossible to steer them, you end up almost plowing over so many people. It was extremely hectic and very hilarious, but we survived. After grabbing a falafel pita (sooo much better in Greece than at home, I swear) we headed back to the hotel for a nap. That evening we played some drinking game Uno (which basically meant everytime you made someone pick up cards, or you changed the colour on somebody, they had to drink) and then headed out for dinner, which we ate on a rooftop overlooking the water/volcano… once again, amazing. After dinner we headed out to ‘Murphy’s’, a completely un-Greek but still super fun bar where we had a really fun time. The next we slept in, then Stephanie and I headed into town around lunchtime. She wanted to shop, so we split up for a bit. I had another pita from the same place, then went to a little museum that had old photos of Santorini, with traditional outfits from way back in the day to some more recent photos from the volcano/earthquake that both happened in the 50s, then some present day paintings of the island. After poking around there, I just wandered around Fira for probably a good two hours. I think it is safe to say that it is probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The higher I climbed, the views just got more and more amazing, with pristine blue water and row upon row of white-washed buildings. There were tons of little tavernas (all of which had amazing views – it would have been hard to find a place in Santorini that didn’t) and several lovely churches with the traditional blue-domed roofs. There were also several charming little art galleries, one specifically had a setting I just fell in love with: it had a terrace, with a black lab lying on the steps, flowers everywhere and a super friendly Australian woman painting away that I chatted with for a bit, and of course to top it off you could see the ocean from the backround. It just looked so peaceful, and her art work (t-shirts, jewelry, aprons, etc.) were so funky but really nice. And everything she used (materials, etc.) was Greek, which I thought was cool. Anyways I just spend the rest of the time walking around, not doing anything in particular but just taking it all in. This was my favourite moment during my time in Greece, just walking around in the most beautiful setting I’d ever seen, without a care in the world. OK, enough of being super cheesy… that night we went to Oia, another part of Santorini which is known for its famous sunsets. We had a little picnic set up (cheese, crackers, olives, wine, etc.) and ate as we watched the sun set. It was just breathtaking, definitely one of the most (if not THE most) beautiful sunset I’d ever seen. We also got the chance to walk around Oia a little bit, which is once again filled with the most quaint little cafes and shops. My friend from Montreal, Sarah, and I happened across this adorable little bookshop that we went in to – the employees looked like they were in the middle of a ‘staff meeting’ (very informal) but when we walked in they immediately asked us if we wanted any wine. I definitely had a ‘yep, we’re definitely in Europe’ moment, as this would never happen in a million years in Canada. Anyways, the bookshop was literally the cutest thing I’d ever seen, with tons of little wooden shelves and funky little things… ahhh we just loved it so much. After that we wandered around a bit more, then headed back to the hotel with the group.
The next day after breakfast we were off to our last destination, Ios. We stayed at another fabulous place called the Far Out resort, which was again right on the beach. Ios was the place where we did the least in terms of sightseeing (although Stephanie and I did head into town one of the days, but found there wasn’t a ton to see, although it did have one very impressive church.) Ios is apparently known as being a huge party island, so most of our time was spent at the beach or at the bar; I managed to find enough energy to go out each of the three nights we were there. There are hilarious moments from each night I’m sure, but a few highlights included getting shots poured into our mouths by the bartender (something they do for Contiki travelers), getting a free t-shirt for ordering a certain number of shots, going to a bar where you put on a helmet and they hit you on the head with a bat as you do shots (I didn’t do this but a girl in our group did – so funny) … etc. Needless to say it was pretty hectic, but we had a lot of fun and met lots of new people. So, after 3 nights in Ios, we spent one more lovely day on the beach and then by later afternoon it was time to head back to Athens, where we arrived pretty late and thus grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to bed. We all flew out at different times the next day and then before I knew it, the trip I’d been looking forward to for so long was over.
Greece has been my favourite destination thus far. I found the people to be extremely nice and friendly, the food was delicious, the beaches were amazing, the towns were stunning and the nightlife was awesome. Apart from seeing the Acropolis, I didn’t care too much for Athens (although that’s probably due more to the fact that Athens is in pretty rough shape at the moment) but for the islands, I liked each one for a different reason. I thought Mykonos had the best beaches, Santorini had the prettiest town/views and Ios had the best party scene. If I had to choose a favourite though I think I would have to say Santorini because I was literally in awe of it the whole time I was there. The only downside to Greece was that it was insanely touristy. I realize obviously that I too am a tourist, I just mean that you sometimes feel that you’re not getting a very authentic experience because of all the tourists (for example, seeing tons of snack shops offering crepes and burgers when you could be having a pita or souvlaki.) But apart from that I thought it was just fantastic. It is definitely somewhere I want to go back one day (and it’s definitely where I’m going for my honeymoon I’ve decided!) As for the Contiki group, I think it was perfect for this kind of trip as it would have been a bit complicated to plan on my own, considering the islands don’t have very reliable forms of public transportation, especially if you stay a bit outside the center. Plus, after finishing exams it was nice to go on a trip where I really felt like I was on ‘vacation.’ Plus our group was small so we never had to wait for a long time for our bags to be loaded onto the bus or whatever. And our tour guide was a riot, and everyone on the tour was super nice too! All in all, this was a great trip and I’m so glad I did it.
I’m currently at my family’s house in Milan, where I will be until Monday, where I will then be off to Cinque Terre, then Florence, and then Rome. I was supposed to do this part of the journey with Josh but I just spoke with him today and it turns out he got an amazing job offer in Yellowknife (where he’ll actually be flying planes!) and they want him to start immediately. I think this means he is supposed to take the job because he got the call the DAY before he was supposed to leave! Anyway I’m a bit bummed of course but I’m also super happy that he gets to have this experience. So I’m going to do this leg of the journey on my own. Still looking forward to it though! And only 20 days until I’m back in Canada!
So we caught the ferry to Mykonos at 7AM-ish. The ferry was huge and we kept saying how it felt like we were on an airplane. My roommate Stephanie and I spend most of the trip out on the deck chatting and enjoying the gorgeous blue water and the occasional island we passed by. We arrived at our resort (‘Aphrodite Beach’) which was SO nice, much nicer than I had been expecting! We spend most of the day lounging at the beach, which was located RIGHT in front of our hotel. That night we had a group dinner at the resort which was delicious, and afterwards we just hung out at the bar and had drinks. The next morning we ventured into town (our resort was located about a 15 minute bus ride outside of town) and had a look around. It was SO, so cute. There were tons of nice clothing stores, cute little restaurants and cafes. The ‘streets’ were really narrow and twisted around a lot, making it very hard to find your way! It was apparently made this way by pirates so people would get lost inside. There was also a charming little area right on the water called Little Venice (I actually commented that it looked like Venice before I even realized that was its name!) and it was just so beautiful. We also spotted Petros, a pelican who is the ‘mascot’ of Mykonos! Later that afternoon we all went to Paradise Beach, which is basically just a club/bar that is RIGHT on the water, where it’s considered to be perfectly acceptable to be drinking at 3 in the afternoon. We just hung out and relaxed there for a few hours then headed back to the hotel, where we had a really good dinner at the resort restaurant (we had several delicious meals there actually) which is also situated pretty much ON the beach – it was SO nice. Most of the next day was spent at the beach tanning, napping and swimming (I can’t really explain how amazing this beach was, but it’s probably the nicest one I’ve ever seen.) We wanted to take it kind of easy because that night we were going out with the OTHER Contiki group who had just arrived in Mykonos. So that night we all went out for dinner (another tasty meal that included salad with feta and some kind of peanut-thai dressing, which I thought was a strange but delicious combo, as well as fried cheese) and then to a cocktail bar in Little Venice for some pre-drinking (where we all ended up having shots that were on fire… I blew mine out before I drank it though) and finally off to the Down Under Bar where we spend the night dancing. The end of the night was a bit of a gongshow; my group wanted to go to another bar but I elected to stay behind with the other Contiki group, so they said they would come back and get me. Well, at some point (2 or 3 AM, I really have no idea) the other Contiki group decided to leave so I went with them as to not get left behind. So while I was safe and sound on the other Contiki bus, my tour manager (along with the rest of my group) was running around the streets of Mykonos looking for the ‘Underground’ bar (and not the Down Under, as it was actually called – this mix up of names may have been due to the amount of liquor consumed…) anyway the 2 tour managers finally got in touch with each other and it all worked out but this was a big joke for the rest of the trip. The last morning we had just enough time to go for another morning dip in the ocean (something I did each morning while in Mykonos) and have breakfast, then we were off to Santorini (which was a bit of a brutal ferry ride for some of us, due to the night before.)
We arrived in Santorini late evening so we set off to have dinner. The restaurant was adorable, we sat on the patio just as the sun was going down… amazing. Here we tried a couple new things, such as deep fried tomatoes (which look and sound a bit gross but were actually so good, especially with tsaziki sauce) and stuffed vine leaves (vine leaves stuffed with rice.) Our dinner went pretty late so after that we headed back to the hotel (situated about a 15 minute walk outside the center of Fira, so not on a beach – but it did have a pool!) The next day we did a trip out to see the volcano (Santorini is a volcanic island that used to be connected to the actual volcano) so we walked down about 500 steps to the port, where we got on a boat that took us over to the volcano. The island was cool, it kind of looked like something out of Lord of the Rings, but it looked less ‘volcano-y’ than I thought it would (as in, there wasn’t one BIG crater, there were several little ones all over.) Then the boat took us over to a red-sand hot spring, situated in the alcove of another little island. We got to jump off the side of the boat and go swimming which was so cool! Stephanie was a bit afraid but she did it anyway so I was very proud of her :) After swimming for a bit we climbed back onto the boat and headed back to Santorini, where we decided to ride donkeys back up the steps we had previously walked down. This was somewhat of a terrifying experience. There are donkeys EVERYWHERE, they’re not on leashes or anything, and they have a hard time walking in a straight line so there were several moments where they almost crashed into the walls. And while all of this is going on, tourists are trying to walk DOWN the stairs but since the donkeys don’t walk straight, and since it’s pretty impossible to steer them, you end up almost plowing over so many people. It was extremely hectic and very hilarious, but we survived. After grabbing a falafel pita (sooo much better in Greece than at home, I swear) we headed back to the hotel for a nap. That evening we played some drinking game Uno (which basically meant everytime you made someone pick up cards, or you changed the colour on somebody, they had to drink) and then headed out for dinner, which we ate on a rooftop overlooking the water/volcano… once again, amazing. After dinner we headed out to ‘Murphy’s’, a completely un-Greek but still super fun bar where we had a really fun time. The next we slept in, then Stephanie and I headed into town around lunchtime. She wanted to shop, so we split up for a bit. I had another pita from the same place, then went to a little museum that had old photos of Santorini, with traditional outfits from way back in the day to some more recent photos from the volcano/earthquake that both happened in the 50s, then some present day paintings of the island. After poking around there, I just wandered around Fira for probably a good two hours. I think it is safe to say that it is probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The higher I climbed, the views just got more and more amazing, with pristine blue water and row upon row of white-washed buildings. There were tons of little tavernas (all of which had amazing views – it would have been hard to find a place in Santorini that didn’t) and several lovely churches with the traditional blue-domed roofs. There were also several charming little art galleries, one specifically had a setting I just fell in love with: it had a terrace, with a black lab lying on the steps, flowers everywhere and a super friendly Australian woman painting away that I chatted with for a bit, and of course to top it off you could see the ocean from the backround. It just looked so peaceful, and her art work (t-shirts, jewelry, aprons, etc.) were so funky but really nice. And everything she used (materials, etc.) was Greek, which I thought was cool. Anyways I just spend the rest of the time walking around, not doing anything in particular but just taking it all in. This was my favourite moment during my time in Greece, just walking around in the most beautiful setting I’d ever seen, without a care in the world. OK, enough of being super cheesy… that night we went to Oia, another part of Santorini which is known for its famous sunsets. We had a little picnic set up (cheese, crackers, olives, wine, etc.) and ate as we watched the sun set. It was just breathtaking, definitely one of the most (if not THE most) beautiful sunset I’d ever seen. We also got the chance to walk around Oia a little bit, which is once again filled with the most quaint little cafes and shops. My friend from Montreal, Sarah, and I happened across this adorable little bookshop that we went in to – the employees looked like they were in the middle of a ‘staff meeting’ (very informal) but when we walked in they immediately asked us if we wanted any wine. I definitely had a ‘yep, we’re definitely in Europe’ moment, as this would never happen in a million years in Canada. Anyways, the bookshop was literally the cutest thing I’d ever seen, with tons of little wooden shelves and funky little things… ahhh we just loved it so much. After that we wandered around a bit more, then headed back to the hotel with the group.
The next day after breakfast we were off to our last destination, Ios. We stayed at another fabulous place called the Far Out resort, which was again right on the beach. Ios was the place where we did the least in terms of sightseeing (although Stephanie and I did head into town one of the days, but found there wasn’t a ton to see, although it did have one very impressive church.) Ios is apparently known as being a huge party island, so most of our time was spent at the beach or at the bar; I managed to find enough energy to go out each of the three nights we were there. There are hilarious moments from each night I’m sure, but a few highlights included getting shots poured into our mouths by the bartender (something they do for Contiki travelers), getting a free t-shirt for ordering a certain number of shots, going to a bar where you put on a helmet and they hit you on the head with a bat as you do shots (I didn’t do this but a girl in our group did – so funny) … etc. Needless to say it was pretty hectic, but we had a lot of fun and met lots of new people. So, after 3 nights in Ios, we spent one more lovely day on the beach and then by later afternoon it was time to head back to Athens, where we arrived pretty late and thus grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to bed. We all flew out at different times the next day and then before I knew it, the trip I’d been looking forward to for so long was over.
Greece has been my favourite destination thus far. I found the people to be extremely nice and friendly, the food was delicious, the beaches were amazing, the towns were stunning and the nightlife was awesome. Apart from seeing the Acropolis, I didn’t care too much for Athens (although that’s probably due more to the fact that Athens is in pretty rough shape at the moment) but for the islands, I liked each one for a different reason. I thought Mykonos had the best beaches, Santorini had the prettiest town/views and Ios had the best party scene. If I had to choose a favourite though I think I would have to say Santorini because I was literally in awe of it the whole time I was there. The only downside to Greece was that it was insanely touristy. I realize obviously that I too am a tourist, I just mean that you sometimes feel that you’re not getting a very authentic experience because of all the tourists (for example, seeing tons of snack shops offering crepes and burgers when you could be having a pita or souvlaki.) But apart from that I thought it was just fantastic. It is definitely somewhere I want to go back one day (and it’s definitely where I’m going for my honeymoon I’ve decided!) As for the Contiki group, I think it was perfect for this kind of trip as it would have been a bit complicated to plan on my own, considering the islands don’t have very reliable forms of public transportation, especially if you stay a bit outside the center. Plus, after finishing exams it was nice to go on a trip where I really felt like I was on ‘vacation.’ Plus our group was small so we never had to wait for a long time for our bags to be loaded onto the bus or whatever. And our tour guide was a riot, and everyone on the tour was super nice too! All in all, this was a great trip and I’m so glad I did it.
I’m currently at my family’s house in Milan, where I will be until Monday, where I will then be off to Cinque Terre, then Florence, and then Rome. I was supposed to do this part of the journey with Josh but I just spoke with him today and it turns out he got an amazing job offer in Yellowknife (where he’ll actually be flying planes!) and they want him to start immediately. I think this means he is supposed to take the job because he got the call the DAY before he was supposed to leave! Anyway I’m a bit bummed of course but I’m also super happy that he gets to have this experience. So I’m going to do this leg of the journey on my own. Still looking forward to it though! And only 20 days until I’m back in Canada!
May 21, 2010
"Auberge Espangole"
So after many refusals on my part, my lovely friends finally forced me to watch "Auberge Espagnole" (for some reason I had it in my head that I wouldn't like it, I honestly don't even know why.) For those of you who don't know it, it's basically about a French guy who goes to Barcelona for his ERASMUS (which, fun fact, stands for European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students - I never knew what it stood for until I just googled it.) I imagine I would have liked it even if I wasn't currently doing an exchange, but the fact that I was made it much soo much funnier and that much more relate-able. So many parts just had us nodding our heads going 'yep, that's what being on ERASMUS is like.' Anyways, although I loved the movie, when the guy's year finally comes to an end, it made me think of the fact that in 5 days, MY ERASMUS year will essentially be over (OK, I still have a month of travel, but still) and the past year as I have known it (the people, school, way of life) will come to a close. There was also one quote from it that I particularly like:
'Quand on arrive dans une ville, on voit des rues en perspective. Des suites de bâtiments vides de sens. Tout est inconnu, vierge. Voilà, plus tard on aura marché dans ces rues, on aura été au bout des perspectives, on aura connu ces bâtiments, on aura vécu des histoires avec des gens. Quand on aura vécu dans cette ville, cette rue on l’aura prise dix, vingt, mille fois. Au bout d’un temps cela vous appartient parce qu’on y a vécu.'
The rough English translation for this quote is:
'When you first arrive in a new city, nothing makes sense. Everythings unknown, virgin... After you've lived here, walked these streets, you'll know them inside out. You'll know these people. Once you've lived here, crossed this street 10, 20, 1000 times... it'll belong to you because you've lived there.'
To me that quote perfectly describes my time living in Aix. Anyways, it was just the perfect movie to watch with my friends at the end of such an amazing year and it already made me incredibly nostalgic!
'Quand on arrive dans une ville, on voit des rues en perspective. Des suites de bâtiments vides de sens. Tout est inconnu, vierge. Voilà, plus tard on aura marché dans ces rues, on aura été au bout des perspectives, on aura connu ces bâtiments, on aura vécu des histoires avec des gens. Quand on aura vécu dans cette ville, cette rue on l’aura prise dix, vingt, mille fois. Au bout d’un temps cela vous appartient parce qu’on y a vécu.'
The rough English translation for this quote is:
'When you first arrive in a new city, nothing makes sense. Everythings unknown, virgin... After you've lived here, walked these streets, you'll know them inside out. You'll know these people. Once you've lived here, crossed this street 10, 20, 1000 times... it'll belong to you because you've lived there.'
To me that quote perfectly describes my time living in Aix. Anyways, it was just the perfect movie to watch with my friends at the end of such an amazing year and it already made me incredibly nostalgic!
May 11, 2010
Aix-ellent.
Although life in Aix-en-Provence can be frustrating at times (although to be honest it’s probably got more to do with the fact that I basically live in a student ghett… residence, and that my university is probably the most unorganized institution EVER) it is really quite a beautiful town and there are many things I love about living here. Since I will soon be leaving (destination: reality) I thought it might be a good idea to jot down some things I’m going to miss about “la vie aixoise.”
I will miss: the numerous boulangeries (“bakeries”) filled with things like baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolats and crème brûlée tartelettes; hearing French being spoken on a daily basis; SPEAKING French on a daily basis; being able to get everywhere in town by foot and thus basically never having to bother with any form of public transportation; having unlimited café choices (all with lovely terraces); going to Orienthé, our FAVOURITE tea house; seeing fountains every 5 minutes; the old-but-OH-so-charming-architecture; the façade of my school, and the fact that is in front of a gorgeous cathedral; the fact that even though Aix is a relatively small town there are at least 4 big cathedrals; seeing the extremely adorable 70-something Frenchman who sits outside my school most days selling paintings; the fact that said Frenchman eats the Frenchest lunch you can imagine (wine, bread and cheese) while sitting at his little booth; being able to buy 2 euro crêpes basically anywhere; 3 euro bottles of wine (that you can buy at the grocery store); never getting ID’d when I go out to the bar; passing the outdoor market in Place Richelme on my way to school; running into at least 4 people I know each time I go into town; basically never having to pay cover to get into a bar/club; spending sunny afternoons in Parc Jourdan, the beautiful student-infested park right in front of my residence; getting a pizza at the student cafeteria for 2.90 euro; the Place d’Albertas (amazing little square with a beautiful fountain, one of my favorite spots in Aix) AND the Sunday flea market.
So, even though living in Aix CAN be frustrating and even though there are several things I will not miss at ALL (shops being closed on Sundays; shops being closed from 12-2 every day of the week; trying not to step in the messes caused by people not picking up after their dogs…) there are definitely more things I will miss than not about living in the amazing city that is Aix-en-Provence.
I will miss: the numerous boulangeries (“bakeries”) filled with things like baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolats and crème brûlée tartelettes; hearing French being spoken on a daily basis; SPEAKING French on a daily basis; being able to get everywhere in town by foot and thus basically never having to bother with any form of public transportation; having unlimited café choices (all with lovely terraces); going to Orienthé, our FAVOURITE tea house; seeing fountains every 5 minutes; the old-but-OH-so-charming-architecture; the façade of my school, and the fact that is in front of a gorgeous cathedral; the fact that even though Aix is a relatively small town there are at least 4 big cathedrals; seeing the extremely adorable 70-something Frenchman who sits outside my school most days selling paintings; the fact that said Frenchman eats the Frenchest lunch you can imagine (wine, bread and cheese) while sitting at his little booth; being able to buy 2 euro crêpes basically anywhere; 3 euro bottles of wine (that you can buy at the grocery store); never getting ID’d when I go out to the bar; passing the outdoor market in Place Richelme on my way to school; running into at least 4 people I know each time I go into town; basically never having to pay cover to get into a bar/club; spending sunny afternoons in Parc Jourdan, the beautiful student-infested park right in front of my residence; getting a pizza at the student cafeteria for 2.90 euro; the Place d’Albertas (amazing little square with a beautiful fountain, one of my favorite spots in Aix) AND the Sunday flea market.
So, even though living in Aix CAN be frustrating and even though there are several things I will not miss at ALL (shops being closed on Sundays; shops being closed from 12-2 every day of the week; trying not to step in the messes caused by people not picking up after their dogs…) there are definitely more things I will miss than not about living in the amazing city that is Aix-en-Provence.
Apr 30, 2010
Easter break (part II)
So, Morocco... wow.
It is first necessary to mention that the trip got off to a bit of a rough start. We’ve all spent enough time being upset over it but long story short, our friend Hana had a problem with her passport and was held up by the French border patrol and was not able to come with us. But, as there was nothing we could do to help Hana, the three of us (Christine, Sarah and I) went on without her (but we missed you Hana!)
We arrived in Fez mid afternoon on the 14th. Sarah had spent the previous few days looking for an apartment for us to rent for a night in Fez – she ended up finding us a BEAUTIFUL apartment not too far from the “Medina”, or the old part of town (the touristy part). Anyway, after settling into the apartment, we went to do a bit of exploring in the Medina. First we stopped to look in a beautiful “Riad”, which is basically (although there is nothing basic about it) a traditional, BEAUTIFUL, Moroccan “hotel” of sorts. Even though it must have been painfully obvious to them we couldn’t afford to stay there, they were super nice and let us look around and take pictures – they even showed us some of the rooms and took us up to the terrace! I have never seen anything like it – there was a gorgeous courtyard with a fountain in the middle, with little sofa areas for tea, and of course amazing tile designs everywhere. As nice as our apartment was, it didn’t feel QUITE so glamorous after seeing the Riad! After grabbing a quick bite of lunch (and having our first taste of Moroccan orange juice, AKA the best drink in the world, which we had tons of the whole week) we headed out to check out some of the copper workshops. Fez is known for producing lots of copper goods (ie. teapots, plates) so there are tons of little workshops everywhere. As cool as it was, I felt a bit bad taking pictures because the workers (while using machinery and blowtorches) didn’t have safe working equipment – proper shoes, eye protection, gloves, etc. Not that they were complaining; they seemed quite happy to let us look around. While we were stopped in one of the workshops, it started to POUR outside. Literally, the craziest torrential downpour I’ve ever seen. And of course, the streets are super narrow and don’t have the best draining systems, so the water would have at least been half way up our knees! We waited until it calmed down, which it finally did, but our feet still got really wet. Anyway, our last stop of the evening was one of the tanneries, which are big outdoor areas where they soften and dye leader, where it is then made into bags, shoes, jackets etc. The tannery was SUCH an amazing sight – there are tons of little above ground shallow “well” kind of things, some of which contain a whitish liquid (made from pigeon poo, which is what they use to soften the leather – it didn’t smell too good) and others that have different color dyes, which are all made from natural products (like indigo, for example). It was really something! After seeing the tannery, we just walked around for a little bit and then headed back to the apartment (where the girls agreed to let me sleep in the big bed, which was lovely).
The next morning we made breakfast and then headed out to the Medina. We didn’t have a destination in mind so we were kind of just wandering around at first – well, we ended up in the middle of a market street, but not just any market street (and when I say street, I mean tiny crowded alleyway). It was probably the most overwhelming walk of my life! They were selling all kinds of fish, which made for a very unpleasant odor. They had big coops of chickens that men were grabbing to… well, you know - so the chickens were all flapping in a panic (and I HATE when birds flap their wings really fast, it freaks me out). Everywhere you turned there were huge slabs of raw meat being sold (Moroccans are known for eating a lot of meat), not to mention donkeys passing by every now and again and trying to dodge a million people at once. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more overwhelmed, we saw a CAMEL HEAD hanging in one of the booths. This is when I thought I actually might get sick – there was just too much (sights and smells) going on! I probably sound like I’m being dramatic but it was just crazy. So after escaping the market alley, we found the main square where all the copper products were being made – it could not have been noisier! I don’t know how people working there don’t become deaf. We also got to go into another copper workshop, but this one was hidden, a bit smaller and (I’m guessing) less visited by tourists so that was cool. The man working there showed us exactly how he engraves the copper: with a tiny little metal chisel and a hammer! We were so surprised at how quickly he was working, and amazed it was all done by hand. I bought a gorgeous decorative tea set from him which I just love. After spending some time watching the man work, we headed over to a building that used to be a religious school. It was stunning. The walls were incredibly detailed, with intricate tile patterns and Koran passages going around the whole courtyard. After that, we just wandered around some more, stopping now and again to look in the many galleries they had, with the most impressive collections of all different kinds of antique Moroccan art pieces (ceramic bowls, jewelry, furniture, rugs, etc.) Seriously, the galleries were just endless. After a little more wandering around (the Medina of Fez is seriously like a labyrinth) we caught our train to Marrakech. It was a long and very hot train ride but, 8 hours later, we were greeted in the Marrakech train station by Sarah’s cousin. He took us out to his favorite casual restaurant, “Winoo” (which means “it’s mine” in Arabic). They had the most DELICIOUS juices I’ve ever had in my life, just amazing. By this point it was already quite late so after that we went back to Sarah’s cousin’s apartment, in central Marrakech, which is where we stayed while we were there.
Our first stop the next morning was the Majorelle Gardens, a beautiful tropical garden with a wide range of tropical plants. The colors were amazing! After that we went marketing which, in Marrakech, is not an activity to be taken lightly. For one, the market area is HUGE, and two, if you’re a tourist (especially if you’re a female tourist) you’re gonna get asked to come into every single booth (because hey, according to the sales people, you get things “for free”!) So, as amazing as the market was (tons of bags, jewelry, etc.) it did get a bit exhausting being hassled and being called a “gazelle” all the time (Sarah told us that it’s a compliment apparently?) After we could market-no-more, we went to the Badii palace, which is a ruin from the Saadian dynasty (the dynasty that came before the one currently in place). It wasn’t anything too special looking but I can imagine it looked just fantastic back in the day. After a traditional dinner (with Sarah’s dad and cousin) of “Tajine”, a traditional dish served in a special ceramic bowl (that we ate with our hands – the real Moroccan way!) we went back to the main square to see all the events going on: traditional singing, fortune tellers… and snail eating! That’s right – Christine and I were coerced into trying snails. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat them again but they actually weren’t that bad.
The next morning Sarah’s dad took us out for an amazing Moroccan breakfast (which, as it turns out, is very very sweet, very different from a savory Canadian breakfast) We had Harsha, a kind of corn like bread, with lots of honey! And of course, more fresh squeezed orange juice and sweet mint tea. Sweet breakfasts were really growing on me by the end of the trip! After breakfast we went to another Saadian palace – I think this one must have been restored because it was in pretty good shape, but it was SO gorgeous! And it was enormous, because it had been used for all the king’s wives and mistresses. I just love Moroccan architecture, with the open air courtyards, and the beautiful tile patterns. We also had a look at the tombs of members of the Saadian dynasty which was interesting. After a last lunch at Winoo, and more delicious juice, we hopped in the car with Sarah’s dad (who had been in Marrakech for work) to head down south to Agadir, Sarah’s hometown. We arrived that evening and were SHOCKED when we entered Sarah’s house (although house is hardly an appropriate word; it was more like a Moroccan palace).
Our first day in Agadir we went to the “souk” (market) because Sarah knew some of the vendors there. The markets in Morocco are really cool – they’re basically like a one-stop-shop, as they have vegetables, toiletries, appliances, clothes, electronics, etc. It’s basically like a small, just divided up into little booths, Kind of a cool idea. Anyway, after a long souk sesh, we headed down to the beach (Agadir has a gorgeous beach!) and just walked along the boardwalk and had some ice cream. We were supposed to be leaving the day after next but, it was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes be spread over Europe. Haha, okay maybe too soon for jokes… ANYWAY, because of the volcano issue, our flight home got cancelled. Since we didn’t know when we would be able to get back, we took advantage of the situation and organized a trip to Assrargh, a tiny village (in basically, no, LITERALLY, the middle of nowhere) where Sarah’s dad was born. So we set off that evening. After 3 hours on the highway, we met some of Sarah’s family (or friends? I can’t remember, she has so many family members she could be Italian) and hopped into a huge 4 wheel drive van. Why the need for 4 wheel drive? Well, to get to this village, you have to drive for 2 hours on a dirt road that is extremely bumpy. We realized the next day that this drive isn’t so bad in the daytime. Well, at night, it’s pretty brutal. We were all pretty squished and Christine and I, not used to such rugged driving conditions, were feeling pretty queasy near the end. At any rate, we made it there by about 11 that night and were again surprised to see the size of the home Sarah and her family have in the village – it was enormous!
The next morning we realized why we had come so far: the village was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. We had lunch at her aunt’s (who currently lives in the village) and then went on a bit of a hike with her uncle, who showed us all around. There was sand, mountains and palm trees everywhere, and barely a person in sight – I felt like we were in a prehistoric age, it just looked so untouched! And even the houses look authentic; apart from a few people born in the village who have returned to build vacation homes, most are quite modest. We had another meal at Sarah’s aunt’s house and after, she brought out some of her traditional clothing for special occasions and asked if we’d like to try some of it on. How could we say no? So Sarah’s aunt got us all done up in traditional Berber (because Sarah’s family is Berber, not Arab! They are very different, as we’ve found out) wedding outfits, and then we went outside and took pictures. We got a few funny stares from the local kids but it was really cool! Later that afternoon we all piled in the van for another bumpy ride back to Agadir (although, as I said, it was much better in the daytime).
On our last full day in Agadir, we went to the beach – it was great! SUCH clear water and perfect sized waves to swim in. Unfortunately Christine and Sarah both got pretty badly burnt – I somehow managed not to! However, being burnt proved to be a bit of a problem for the second part of the day: going to the “Hamam”, a Moroccan bathhouse (being burnt was a problem because the Hamam is like a sauna - not too comfortable if you're sunburnt). Some more traditional Muslim women ONLY bathe in the Hamam, but for others it’s just somewhere they go occasionally. I felt a bit awkward as Christine and I were the only white people in there but it was cool! (Although I must admit I found it a bit funny we weren’t allowed in the mosques, where people are fully clothed, but we were allowed in the Hamam where everyone was naked!) After the Hamam, Sarah had a lady come to her house to do henna for us. Well, Sarah’s mom being amazing as she is, of course it turned into more of a henna party, with cake, tea and amazing home made juice. To make it even more cool, Christine and I were each wearing a “kamis”, a Moroccan dress that they’d use to hang around the house in or to go out to the market. It was so fun! That evening we went to a little bar RIGHT on the beach (still wearing our kamis’s… trying so hard to be Moroccan) and had some tea. We were so sad to be leaving the next day! But we weren’t quite done yet… before catching our bus to Marrakech the next morning we did two things: stopped at the souk one more time, to pick up a couple awesomely priced items and took a little camel ride in a parking lot (it was a bit cheesy but it had to be done!) Then we caught our bus to Marrakech, where we were going to spend the night before catching our 7AM flight to Madrid (this was the cheapest re-routing option we could find after our flight was canceled). So we were lucky enough to get to stay with Sarah’s cousin (and have one more juice at Winoo!) and before we knew it we were in Madrid. We only had a few hours in Madrid, just enough time to get lunch and walk to the bus station (which we ALMOST ended up missing, underestimating the time it would take to find the station) BUT, after a bit of running, we made it safe and sound on the bus which, 16 brutal hours later, got us back to Aix.
MOROCCO WAS AMAZING. By far my favorite trip so far this year. It was definitely overwhelming at times (especially in the market places) but still so worth it. And I know the trip wouldn’t have been half as good if we hadn’t been with Sarah. It is most definitely possibly to get by with French in Morocco but I’m sure being with an Arab speaker helped us to not get ripped off! It was also great (as it was in Czech Republic and Vienna) to have the chance to stay with a local and get to see how they live. And, thanks to Sarah, I feel like we did so many authentic activities: trying traditional food (including snails!!!), eating with our hands, going to the Hamam, getting to see a tiny village in the middle of nowhere… all these incredible things we probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. We were also loving the prices in Morocco! You could easily get fresh squeezed orange juice for 50 cents. Compared to the prices we’re used to in France, we found this to be incredible! One other thing I loved: the architecture. It is so unique and detailed; honestly it’s just indescribable.
Concerning ways of life, I found the different extents of religious practices to be quite interesting. What I mean is, some people follow Islam much more seriously than others. For example, while many women choose to wear a headscarf, many do not. I think it’s safe to say that the majority do but it’s definitely not an overwhelming majority! So many times I would see a pair of girls walking together, one wearing the headscarf and one not - to me it was a bit odd to see! Even Sarah’s family demonstrates this balance: 2 of her sisters choose to wear it, whereas Sarah and her other sister do not. And I was shocked at how few women wore a burka (the one that covers the ENTIRE body and you can only see their eyes, if that.) I think we only saw a handful of women wearing burkas. Even the degrees to which people pray was different: some people pray (literally) 5 times a day, like the bus driver we had from Agadir to Marrakech. Right in the middle of the trip, he pulled over to the side of the road and, without any explanation, got out of the bus and prayed for a solid 10 minutes. I was just shocked! I had no idea anyone took praying that seriously. But then of course there are people, like my friend Sarah, who pray... well, let's just say not very often! Anyways, my points is that I found these religious contrasts to be quite fascinating. I guess I thought "everyone" would be a very strict follower of Islam, which turned out to be totally untrue!
Anyway, even though we got stuck a couple extra days and ended missing all our classes for the week, it was TOTALLY worth it, we had an amazing time – thank you again Sarah!!! Now we’re all back in Aix – kind of a low point after all that travel, to be honest – and waiting for exams to start. Upcoming travel plans: leaving for GREECE on May 26!
It is first necessary to mention that the trip got off to a bit of a rough start. We’ve all spent enough time being upset over it but long story short, our friend Hana had a problem with her passport and was held up by the French border patrol and was not able to come with us. But, as there was nothing we could do to help Hana, the three of us (Christine, Sarah and I) went on without her (but we missed you Hana!)
We arrived in Fez mid afternoon on the 14th. Sarah had spent the previous few days looking for an apartment for us to rent for a night in Fez – she ended up finding us a BEAUTIFUL apartment not too far from the “Medina”, or the old part of town (the touristy part). Anyway, after settling into the apartment, we went to do a bit of exploring in the Medina. First we stopped to look in a beautiful “Riad”, which is basically (although there is nothing basic about it) a traditional, BEAUTIFUL, Moroccan “hotel” of sorts. Even though it must have been painfully obvious to them we couldn’t afford to stay there, they were super nice and let us look around and take pictures – they even showed us some of the rooms and took us up to the terrace! I have never seen anything like it – there was a gorgeous courtyard with a fountain in the middle, with little sofa areas for tea, and of course amazing tile designs everywhere. As nice as our apartment was, it didn’t feel QUITE so glamorous after seeing the Riad! After grabbing a quick bite of lunch (and having our first taste of Moroccan orange juice, AKA the best drink in the world, which we had tons of the whole week) we headed out to check out some of the copper workshops. Fez is known for producing lots of copper goods (ie. teapots, plates) so there are tons of little workshops everywhere. As cool as it was, I felt a bit bad taking pictures because the workers (while using machinery and blowtorches) didn’t have safe working equipment – proper shoes, eye protection, gloves, etc. Not that they were complaining; they seemed quite happy to let us look around. While we were stopped in one of the workshops, it started to POUR outside. Literally, the craziest torrential downpour I’ve ever seen. And of course, the streets are super narrow and don’t have the best draining systems, so the water would have at least been half way up our knees! We waited until it calmed down, which it finally did, but our feet still got really wet. Anyway, our last stop of the evening was one of the tanneries, which are big outdoor areas where they soften and dye leader, where it is then made into bags, shoes, jackets etc. The tannery was SUCH an amazing sight – there are tons of little above ground shallow “well” kind of things, some of which contain a whitish liquid (made from pigeon poo, which is what they use to soften the leather – it didn’t smell too good) and others that have different color dyes, which are all made from natural products (like indigo, for example). It was really something! After seeing the tannery, we just walked around for a little bit and then headed back to the apartment (where the girls agreed to let me sleep in the big bed, which was lovely).
The next morning we made breakfast and then headed out to the Medina. We didn’t have a destination in mind so we were kind of just wandering around at first – well, we ended up in the middle of a market street, but not just any market street (and when I say street, I mean tiny crowded alleyway). It was probably the most overwhelming walk of my life! They were selling all kinds of fish, which made for a very unpleasant odor. They had big coops of chickens that men were grabbing to… well, you know - so the chickens were all flapping in a panic (and I HATE when birds flap their wings really fast, it freaks me out). Everywhere you turned there were huge slabs of raw meat being sold (Moroccans are known for eating a lot of meat), not to mention donkeys passing by every now and again and trying to dodge a million people at once. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more overwhelmed, we saw a CAMEL HEAD hanging in one of the booths. This is when I thought I actually might get sick – there was just too much (sights and smells) going on! I probably sound like I’m being dramatic but it was just crazy. So after escaping the market alley, we found the main square where all the copper products were being made – it could not have been noisier! I don’t know how people working there don’t become deaf. We also got to go into another copper workshop, but this one was hidden, a bit smaller and (I’m guessing) less visited by tourists so that was cool. The man working there showed us exactly how he engraves the copper: with a tiny little metal chisel and a hammer! We were so surprised at how quickly he was working, and amazed it was all done by hand. I bought a gorgeous decorative tea set from him which I just love. After spending some time watching the man work, we headed over to a building that used to be a religious school. It was stunning. The walls were incredibly detailed, with intricate tile patterns and Koran passages going around the whole courtyard. After that, we just wandered around some more, stopping now and again to look in the many galleries they had, with the most impressive collections of all different kinds of antique Moroccan art pieces (ceramic bowls, jewelry, furniture, rugs, etc.) Seriously, the galleries were just endless. After a little more wandering around (the Medina of Fez is seriously like a labyrinth) we caught our train to Marrakech. It was a long and very hot train ride but, 8 hours later, we were greeted in the Marrakech train station by Sarah’s cousin. He took us out to his favorite casual restaurant, “Winoo” (which means “it’s mine” in Arabic). They had the most DELICIOUS juices I’ve ever had in my life, just amazing. By this point it was already quite late so after that we went back to Sarah’s cousin’s apartment, in central Marrakech, which is where we stayed while we were there.
Our first stop the next morning was the Majorelle Gardens, a beautiful tropical garden with a wide range of tropical plants. The colors were amazing! After that we went marketing which, in Marrakech, is not an activity to be taken lightly. For one, the market area is HUGE, and two, if you’re a tourist (especially if you’re a female tourist) you’re gonna get asked to come into every single booth (because hey, according to the sales people, you get things “for free”!) So, as amazing as the market was (tons of bags, jewelry, etc.) it did get a bit exhausting being hassled and being called a “gazelle” all the time (Sarah told us that it’s a compliment apparently?) After we could market-no-more, we went to the Badii palace, which is a ruin from the Saadian dynasty (the dynasty that came before the one currently in place). It wasn’t anything too special looking but I can imagine it looked just fantastic back in the day. After a traditional dinner (with Sarah’s dad and cousin) of “Tajine”, a traditional dish served in a special ceramic bowl (that we ate with our hands – the real Moroccan way!) we went back to the main square to see all the events going on: traditional singing, fortune tellers… and snail eating! That’s right – Christine and I were coerced into trying snails. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat them again but they actually weren’t that bad.
The next morning Sarah’s dad took us out for an amazing Moroccan breakfast (which, as it turns out, is very very sweet, very different from a savory Canadian breakfast) We had Harsha, a kind of corn like bread, with lots of honey! And of course, more fresh squeezed orange juice and sweet mint tea. Sweet breakfasts were really growing on me by the end of the trip! After breakfast we went to another Saadian palace – I think this one must have been restored because it was in pretty good shape, but it was SO gorgeous! And it was enormous, because it had been used for all the king’s wives and mistresses. I just love Moroccan architecture, with the open air courtyards, and the beautiful tile patterns. We also had a look at the tombs of members of the Saadian dynasty which was interesting. After a last lunch at Winoo, and more delicious juice, we hopped in the car with Sarah’s dad (who had been in Marrakech for work) to head down south to Agadir, Sarah’s hometown. We arrived that evening and were SHOCKED when we entered Sarah’s house (although house is hardly an appropriate word; it was more like a Moroccan palace).
Our first day in Agadir we went to the “souk” (market) because Sarah knew some of the vendors there. The markets in Morocco are really cool – they’re basically like a one-stop-shop, as they have vegetables, toiletries, appliances, clothes, electronics, etc. It’s basically like a small, just divided up into little booths, Kind of a cool idea. Anyway, after a long souk sesh, we headed down to the beach (Agadir has a gorgeous beach!) and just walked along the boardwalk and had some ice cream. We were supposed to be leaving the day after next but, it was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes be spread over Europe. Haha, okay maybe too soon for jokes… ANYWAY, because of the volcano issue, our flight home got cancelled. Since we didn’t know when we would be able to get back, we took advantage of the situation and organized a trip to Assrargh, a tiny village (in basically, no, LITERALLY, the middle of nowhere) where Sarah’s dad was born. So we set off that evening. After 3 hours on the highway, we met some of Sarah’s family (or friends? I can’t remember, she has so many family members she could be Italian) and hopped into a huge 4 wheel drive van. Why the need for 4 wheel drive? Well, to get to this village, you have to drive for 2 hours on a dirt road that is extremely bumpy. We realized the next day that this drive isn’t so bad in the daytime. Well, at night, it’s pretty brutal. We were all pretty squished and Christine and I, not used to such rugged driving conditions, were feeling pretty queasy near the end. At any rate, we made it there by about 11 that night and were again surprised to see the size of the home Sarah and her family have in the village – it was enormous!
The next morning we realized why we had come so far: the village was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. We had lunch at her aunt’s (who currently lives in the village) and then went on a bit of a hike with her uncle, who showed us all around. There was sand, mountains and palm trees everywhere, and barely a person in sight – I felt like we were in a prehistoric age, it just looked so untouched! And even the houses look authentic; apart from a few people born in the village who have returned to build vacation homes, most are quite modest. We had another meal at Sarah’s aunt’s house and after, she brought out some of her traditional clothing for special occasions and asked if we’d like to try some of it on. How could we say no? So Sarah’s aunt got us all done up in traditional Berber (because Sarah’s family is Berber, not Arab! They are very different, as we’ve found out) wedding outfits, and then we went outside and took pictures. We got a few funny stares from the local kids but it was really cool! Later that afternoon we all piled in the van for another bumpy ride back to Agadir (although, as I said, it was much better in the daytime).
On our last full day in Agadir, we went to the beach – it was great! SUCH clear water and perfect sized waves to swim in. Unfortunately Christine and Sarah both got pretty badly burnt – I somehow managed not to! However, being burnt proved to be a bit of a problem for the second part of the day: going to the “Hamam”, a Moroccan bathhouse (being burnt was a problem because the Hamam is like a sauna - not too comfortable if you're sunburnt). Some more traditional Muslim women ONLY bathe in the Hamam, but for others it’s just somewhere they go occasionally. I felt a bit awkward as Christine and I were the only white people in there but it was cool! (Although I must admit I found it a bit funny we weren’t allowed in the mosques, where people are fully clothed, but we were allowed in the Hamam where everyone was naked!) After the Hamam, Sarah had a lady come to her house to do henna for us. Well, Sarah’s mom being amazing as she is, of course it turned into more of a henna party, with cake, tea and amazing home made juice. To make it even more cool, Christine and I were each wearing a “kamis”, a Moroccan dress that they’d use to hang around the house in or to go out to the market. It was so fun! That evening we went to a little bar RIGHT on the beach (still wearing our kamis’s… trying so hard to be Moroccan) and had some tea. We were so sad to be leaving the next day! But we weren’t quite done yet… before catching our bus to Marrakech the next morning we did two things: stopped at the souk one more time, to pick up a couple awesomely priced items and took a little camel ride in a parking lot (it was a bit cheesy but it had to be done!) Then we caught our bus to Marrakech, where we were going to spend the night before catching our 7AM flight to Madrid (this was the cheapest re-routing option we could find after our flight was canceled). So we were lucky enough to get to stay with Sarah’s cousin (and have one more juice at Winoo!) and before we knew it we were in Madrid. We only had a few hours in Madrid, just enough time to get lunch and walk to the bus station (which we ALMOST ended up missing, underestimating the time it would take to find the station) BUT, after a bit of running, we made it safe and sound on the bus which, 16 brutal hours later, got us back to Aix.
MOROCCO WAS AMAZING. By far my favorite trip so far this year. It was definitely overwhelming at times (especially in the market places) but still so worth it. And I know the trip wouldn’t have been half as good if we hadn’t been with Sarah. It is most definitely possibly to get by with French in Morocco but I’m sure being with an Arab speaker helped us to not get ripped off! It was also great (as it was in Czech Republic and Vienna) to have the chance to stay with a local and get to see how they live. And, thanks to Sarah, I feel like we did so many authentic activities: trying traditional food (including snails!!!), eating with our hands, going to the Hamam, getting to see a tiny village in the middle of nowhere… all these incredible things we probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. We were also loving the prices in Morocco! You could easily get fresh squeezed orange juice for 50 cents. Compared to the prices we’re used to in France, we found this to be incredible! One other thing I loved: the architecture. It is so unique and detailed; honestly it’s just indescribable.
Concerning ways of life, I found the different extents of religious practices to be quite interesting. What I mean is, some people follow Islam much more seriously than others. For example, while many women choose to wear a headscarf, many do not. I think it’s safe to say that the majority do but it’s definitely not an overwhelming majority! So many times I would see a pair of girls walking together, one wearing the headscarf and one not - to me it was a bit odd to see! Even Sarah’s family demonstrates this balance: 2 of her sisters choose to wear it, whereas Sarah and her other sister do not. And I was shocked at how few women wore a burka (the one that covers the ENTIRE body and you can only see their eyes, if that.) I think we only saw a handful of women wearing burkas. Even the degrees to which people pray was different: some people pray (literally) 5 times a day, like the bus driver we had from Agadir to Marrakech. Right in the middle of the trip, he pulled over to the side of the road and, without any explanation, got out of the bus and prayed for a solid 10 minutes. I was just shocked! I had no idea anyone took praying that seriously. But then of course there are people, like my friend Sarah, who pray... well, let's just say not very often! Anyways, my points is that I found these religious contrasts to be quite fascinating. I guess I thought "everyone" would be a very strict follower of Islam, which turned out to be totally untrue!
Anyway, even though we got stuck a couple extra days and ended missing all our classes for the week, it was TOTALLY worth it, we had an amazing time – thank you again Sarah!!! Now we’re all back in Aix – kind of a low point after all that travel, to be honest – and waiting for exams to start. Upcoming travel plans: leaving for GREECE on May 26!
Apr 24, 2010
Easter break (part I)
**This was meant to be posted before I left for Morocco, but the internet wasn't working, so I posted it after we got back**
So, Easter Break! The trip started by Hana, Sarah and I catching a train to Paris, where we then got our overnight bus to Prague. I thought the bus ride would be kind of brutal but we each had two seats to ourselves, so it was really comfy, and they played movies and gave you as much tea and hot chocolate as you wanted! So it was actually quite an enjoyable trip. We got into Prague at about 5AM the next day, and immediately took the tram to Hana’s grandma’s apartment. Her grandma spoke no English but was so sweet! Once there we went right to bed, to get a few hours of sleep. We had a really nice breakfast of fresh bread, some kind of delicious homemade cake as well as homemade jams. Her grandma also had these amazing ½ liter mugs for tea (which turned out to be something that all of Hana’s relatives had – a Czech trend perhaps?). After breakfast we set out for day 1 of Prague sightseeing. We:
- Went to a park that gave us a great view of the city.
- Had lunch at a cool little vegetarian cafeteria slash restaurant
- Saw the main square, which has the very famous astronomical clock, and which also had an Easter market, where we petted baby goats and tasted a delicious Czech pastry called “Trdlo” (same idea as an American churro)
- Visited an old Jewish cemetery, where all the graves are stacked on top of each other and are super crowded together because there wasn’t much room – it was really cool!
- Saw a kind of monument made of keys that says “Revolution”, which was recently built in honor of the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism
- Saw some creepy modern art, ie. yellow lit-up penguins and giant babies with no faces…
- Had pizza at a really cool place Hana suggested, where I also tried some Czech beer
That night we took it easy because we were realllly tired so we headed back to Hana’s grandma’s apartment after dinner. The next day we had another delicious breakfast and set out for some more sightseeing:
- We saw a cool memorial for victims of communism – it was maybe 6 of the same statue of just a random man but every time more of the man’s face/body disappeared – hard to explain but it looked really cool
- We went to the Prague version of the Eiffel Tower, where we got an amazing view of the city
- Went to Prague castle
- Saw the St. Vitrus Cathedral
That night we went to a modern ballet of “Othello” which was in a gorgeous old theater. I don’t know much about ballet but it was a good show! I think I would prefer classical ballet though, but the modern one was still cool, and it was totally worth it to see the theater. That night we stayed at Hana’s OTHER grandma’s apartment; the apartment AND the grandmother were amazing, haha. Her grandma is 90 and speaks I think 5 (or more?) languages, so we spoke in French to her the whole time, and her and her husband have travelled all over the world and thus had tons of neat knick knacks (deer’s heads, oriental rugs, a little bit of everything…) it was so cool. And her grandpa was really sweet too!
So after two days in Prague, Hana’s brother and his girlfriend came to pick us up the next morning to take us to Hana’s aunt’s cabin for the Easter weekend. On the way, we stopped in a town about an hour outside of Prague called Terezin. It was just a normal town before the war that had less than 10,000 inhabitants. Once Czech Republic became occupied by Nazi Germany, everyone had to move out and the town was turned into a Jewish ghetto where just under 60,000 people were forced to live in awful conditions. People were crammed into tiny quarters, there were tons of diseases and people didn’t have enough to eat. However, the Jews in the town managed to keep their culture alive by putting on plays, painting, and writing poems – we went to a museum filled with the artistic work they produced while they were living in the Ghetto. Terezin also had a Small Fortress, an old military fort that was used a prison during the war for Jewish people and enemies of the Reich (political prisoners, etc.) It also served as a transit camp, as for many it was simply a a stop-over before being deported to concentration camps. The prison itself had conditions not unlike those of a concentration camp: disease and hunger were widespread, tons of people were crammed into tiny rooms, and many people were executed within the prison – 1/4 of the inmates died in the prison itself. There were walls where you could see bullet holes from where they’d executed people. We also saw a mass grave dedicated to all the people who died in Terezin. It was spooky to be there but SO interesting and very worth the visit.
After seeing Terezin we hopped back in the car and continued the journey to Hana’s aunt’s cabin in a small village (can’t remember the name). The village was really cute and the cabin was rustic (not to mention full to the brim – there were 14 of us!) but it was very cozy. The next day we went to this amazing park with a beautiful lake (that was still partly frozen!) and these amazing, HUGE rock formations. It was really stunning, especially since it was nice (although a bit cold!) outside. We also took a little boat ride down a little river in the park. It was so pretty! And the forest reminded me a bit of the park right behind my house back at home :) That night we decorated eggs (“we” being just the girls, as the boys have a different Easter task, which I will mention in a minute) and by decorated I don’t just mean dying them like we do at home; we colored them and then added little sticker tattoo things. The next morning (Easter!) we woke up and were hit by sticks (no, I’m not joking) why you ask? Well, a very important Czech Easter tradition is boys make these Easter sticks, by taking bendable twigs and braiding them together and then adding some ribbon (they’re actually very pretty, I took one home with me!) and then hitting the girls with them come Easter morning! It’s apparently supposed to make us younger and wiser. As a reward, they get the eggs the girls decorated the night before! It still seems like a bit of a sexist tradition to me but it was fun all the same. That day we also went on a nice walk in the village. We had such a nice time at Hana’s aunt’s cabin, they were very welcoming and all very friendly.
That day we set off for Hana’s apartment. On the way we stopped in Poland! Well, we went to the first town across the border for about 20 minutes – it’s a spa town, and is known for having special mineral water. Hana’s dad bought Sarah and I some just so we could say we drank special mineral water in Poland (honestly it didn’t taste very good but it was cool all the same!) Once at Hana’s we just had dinner and watched a movie – are you ready for it – ON AN ACTUAL COUCH AND ON AN ACTUAL TELEVISION (movies in our residence normally consist of 4 of us squished on someone’s bed watching a laptop screen) so it was quite a treat. The next day we had a look around Hana’s town (which is pretty small) and went to another town close by to see this really pretty Renaissance castle that is also a UNESCO site! We were quite tired by this point in the trip as we had been moving around a lot, so we didn’t go into the castle, but the outside was really something. That night we headed over to Hana’s cabin, where they go at Christmas and in the summer, because her parents were doing some yardwork over there. We had a DELICIOUS dinner there, of these plum dumpling kind of things (kinda reminded me of perogies!) they were soooo good. That night we just watched a movie again (the prospect of having a couch was just too appealing) because we had to get up really early to take a train to Vienna the next day.
Czech Republic was great – Prague was a beautiful and very interesting city, much more so than I expected! A lot of the buildings have been re-done or re-painted in bright colors so it’s hard to tell it was under rule of such an oppressive regime for so long. The Charles bridge and Prague Castle, as well as the views of the city from the “Eiffel Tower”, were especially impressive. And it was cool to see Terezin and other cities outside of Prague that we might not have had the chance to see had we not been with Hana! What made Czech Republic really special though was the experience of staying with Hana’s family, AKA real Czech people, and taking part in their Easter traditions. And as I said before they were all so friendly and welcoming to Sarah and I! It was also really interesting to ask Hana’s parents some questions about what it was like to live in the country while it was communist.
So, after a lovely week in Czech Republic, Hana drove us to the train station (at 5.30 in the morning!) and bid us farewell, as Sarah and I were off to Vienna to visit our Austrian friend Christine. After a 3 hour train ride we were greeted at the station by Christine. We first went to her apartment (her family lives outside Vienna but she and her sister share a GORGEOUS apartment in the city) to drop off our stuff and have breakfast. Then Christine toured us around that day, and we:
- Saw the University of Vienna, which was beautiful.
- Saw the “Hofburg”, the Castle where the Royal family used to live (now it’s used as a library, a museum and other things)
- Went to the Nachmarkt, a market with all kinds of food, where we picked up some delicious Turkish/Greek food for lunch which we ate outside in front of a beautiful Cathedral because the weather was SO nice.
- Saw St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the most famous one in Vienna, as well as the main downtown area surrounding it, which was really nice!
- Got ice cream and then went to this cool outdoor bar, which is right on the river, and which they fill with sand and put out tons of beach chairs, so it feels like you’re at the beach. It was so warm outside we just laid there for like, 3 hours. Sarah and I even fell asleep, ha!
That night we were going to go meet Christine’s friends for drinks (one of whom we’d already met in Brussels) but Sarah and I were SO tired so we stayed in and watched a movie (on a laptop… but we did have a couch again!)
The next day Christine made us a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and then we went out and saw:
- Schonbrunn Palace, which was like a summer castle for the royal family. It was stunning, so beautiful! The gardens, the fountain… just wow. And the perfect weather made it even more lovely. From the hill you could also get a nice view of the city. This was definitely one of my favorite sights I’ve seen this year.
- the City Park of Vienna, which had beautiful trees and tulips! Just so spring-y and pretty!
- Belvedere Palace, which again had just amazing gardens and fountains.
We also went back to the market to buy more Turkish and Greek goodness for lunch, which we ate by an impressive memorial for the Russian victims of the war.
That night we went out to this cool lounge for a drink where we finally met Christine’s boyfriend who we’d heard so much about!
Vienna was amazing! Again, it was so great to be showed around by someone who actually lives there (and, as was the case in Czech Republic, it was great to have someone with us that spoke the language) and the city itself was just so beautiful. I loved the architecture – most of the buildings were white and just had a very classic, timeless style – and the palaces we saw were just stunning! I think I was also influenced a little bit by the fact that “Vienna” by Billy Joel has always been one of my favorite songs (it was even the song my figure skating program was set to) so it was so cool to finally get to see the city that is the title of my favorite song.
Our last stop was Nice (the easiest way to get back to Aix from Vienna was to go through Nice, so we thought why not spend two nights there). The first evening we grabbed some pizza and ate it on the beach, walked around “Vieux Nice”, which was BEAUTIFUL, it was a perfect mix of French and Italy, and filled with adorable little restaurants and shops. We grabbed a drink at a cool little bar with a bunch of art from the Dominican Republic and headed back to the hostel. The next day I woke up early and went for a run along the “Promenade des Anglais”, the main boardwalk. Since it was early, there weren’t that many people out, and it wasn’t too hot yet so it was just perfect! Such an enjoyable run. Later we met up with Sarah’s sister, who is studying in Nice, and with her we saw the Lascaris Palace which dates back to the 17th century – small but beautiful. After that we headed up to the park that overlooks all of Nice and got some AMAZING views of the “Côte d’Azur” – it was just gorgeous, and again the weather was perfect. We grabbed a quick bite of lunch and then headed down to the beach where Sarah and I tanned (and even swam… a little bit anyway) for a few hours. Later that night we went out for dinner and just walked around on the Promenade. The next day we were planning on heading back to Aix on the 8.30 train… well, it wouldn’t be France if SOMEONE wasn’t on strike, so thanks to the SNCF general strike our train was cancelled, and we had to wait an hour to take a different one that would take us into Marseille. Well, other people’s trains had been cancelled too, so this train was PACKED with people – Sarah didn’t even get a seat and had to sit on the floor by the bathroom! And the aisle was packed with people which is normally not the case at all. It was insane! But, all part of “la vie française”. Anyway, we finally got into Aix by around 1 that afternoon – so nice to be home after almost 2 weeks of travel!
Nice was nice (no pun intended), especially the center which was very charming, and the views with the pristine water were just amazing, but outside the center the city wasn’t so charming – a lot of homeless people and aggressive guys trying to talk to you, which kind of detracts from the city a bit. It was also RIDICULOUSLY expensive, more so than Aix, which I didn’t even know was possible. I’m glad we took a day to see it though!
So the last two days I’ve just been catching up on some things, doing laundry, unpacking and RE-packing as tomorrow we are off to… MOROCCO for 6 days! And we will have our trusty tour guide Sarah which we’re excited about. We’re very excited to meet her pet camel…
So, Easter Break! The trip started by Hana, Sarah and I catching a train to Paris, where we then got our overnight bus to Prague. I thought the bus ride would be kind of brutal but we each had two seats to ourselves, so it was really comfy, and they played movies and gave you as much tea and hot chocolate as you wanted! So it was actually quite an enjoyable trip. We got into Prague at about 5AM the next day, and immediately took the tram to Hana’s grandma’s apartment. Her grandma spoke no English but was so sweet! Once there we went right to bed, to get a few hours of sleep. We had a really nice breakfast of fresh bread, some kind of delicious homemade cake as well as homemade jams. Her grandma also had these amazing ½ liter mugs for tea (which turned out to be something that all of Hana’s relatives had – a Czech trend perhaps?). After breakfast we set out for day 1 of Prague sightseeing. We:
- Went to a park that gave us a great view of the city.
- Had lunch at a cool little vegetarian cafeteria slash restaurant
- Saw the main square, which has the very famous astronomical clock, and which also had an Easter market, where we petted baby goats and tasted a delicious Czech pastry called “Trdlo” (same idea as an American churro)
- Visited an old Jewish cemetery, where all the graves are stacked on top of each other and are super crowded together because there wasn’t much room – it was really cool!
- Saw a kind of monument made of keys that says “Revolution”, which was recently built in honor of the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism
- Saw some creepy modern art, ie. yellow lit-up penguins and giant babies with no faces…
- Had pizza at a really cool place Hana suggested, where I also tried some Czech beer
That night we took it easy because we were realllly tired so we headed back to Hana’s grandma’s apartment after dinner. The next day we had another delicious breakfast and set out for some more sightseeing:
- We saw a cool memorial for victims of communism – it was maybe 6 of the same statue of just a random man but every time more of the man’s face/body disappeared – hard to explain but it looked really cool
- We went to the Prague version of the Eiffel Tower, where we got an amazing view of the city
- Went to Prague castle
- Saw the St. Vitrus Cathedral
That night we went to a modern ballet of “Othello” which was in a gorgeous old theater. I don’t know much about ballet but it was a good show! I think I would prefer classical ballet though, but the modern one was still cool, and it was totally worth it to see the theater. That night we stayed at Hana’s OTHER grandma’s apartment; the apartment AND the grandmother were amazing, haha. Her grandma is 90 and speaks I think 5 (or more?) languages, so we spoke in French to her the whole time, and her and her husband have travelled all over the world and thus had tons of neat knick knacks (deer’s heads, oriental rugs, a little bit of everything…) it was so cool. And her grandpa was really sweet too!
So after two days in Prague, Hana’s brother and his girlfriend came to pick us up the next morning to take us to Hana’s aunt’s cabin for the Easter weekend. On the way, we stopped in a town about an hour outside of Prague called Terezin. It was just a normal town before the war that had less than 10,000 inhabitants. Once Czech Republic became occupied by Nazi Germany, everyone had to move out and the town was turned into a Jewish ghetto where just under 60,000 people were forced to live in awful conditions. People were crammed into tiny quarters, there were tons of diseases and people didn’t have enough to eat. However, the Jews in the town managed to keep their culture alive by putting on plays, painting, and writing poems – we went to a museum filled with the artistic work they produced while they were living in the Ghetto. Terezin also had a Small Fortress, an old military fort that was used a prison during the war for Jewish people and enemies of the Reich (political prisoners, etc.) It also served as a transit camp, as for many it was simply a a stop-over before being deported to concentration camps. The prison itself had conditions not unlike those of a concentration camp: disease and hunger were widespread, tons of people were crammed into tiny rooms, and many people were executed within the prison – 1/4 of the inmates died in the prison itself. There were walls where you could see bullet holes from where they’d executed people. We also saw a mass grave dedicated to all the people who died in Terezin. It was spooky to be there but SO interesting and very worth the visit.
After seeing Terezin we hopped back in the car and continued the journey to Hana’s aunt’s cabin in a small village (can’t remember the name). The village was really cute and the cabin was rustic (not to mention full to the brim – there were 14 of us!) but it was very cozy. The next day we went to this amazing park with a beautiful lake (that was still partly frozen!) and these amazing, HUGE rock formations. It was really stunning, especially since it was nice (although a bit cold!) outside. We also took a little boat ride down a little river in the park. It was so pretty! And the forest reminded me a bit of the park right behind my house back at home :) That night we decorated eggs (“we” being just the girls, as the boys have a different Easter task, which I will mention in a minute) and by decorated I don’t just mean dying them like we do at home; we colored them and then added little sticker tattoo things. The next morning (Easter!) we woke up and were hit by sticks (no, I’m not joking) why you ask? Well, a very important Czech Easter tradition is boys make these Easter sticks, by taking bendable twigs and braiding them together and then adding some ribbon (they’re actually very pretty, I took one home with me!) and then hitting the girls with them come Easter morning! It’s apparently supposed to make us younger and wiser. As a reward, they get the eggs the girls decorated the night before! It still seems like a bit of a sexist tradition to me but it was fun all the same. That day we also went on a nice walk in the village. We had such a nice time at Hana’s aunt’s cabin, they were very welcoming and all very friendly.
That day we set off for Hana’s apartment. On the way we stopped in Poland! Well, we went to the first town across the border for about 20 minutes – it’s a spa town, and is known for having special mineral water. Hana’s dad bought Sarah and I some just so we could say we drank special mineral water in Poland (honestly it didn’t taste very good but it was cool all the same!) Once at Hana’s we just had dinner and watched a movie – are you ready for it – ON AN ACTUAL COUCH AND ON AN ACTUAL TELEVISION (movies in our residence normally consist of 4 of us squished on someone’s bed watching a laptop screen) so it was quite a treat. The next day we had a look around Hana’s town (which is pretty small) and went to another town close by to see this really pretty Renaissance castle that is also a UNESCO site! We were quite tired by this point in the trip as we had been moving around a lot, so we didn’t go into the castle, but the outside was really something. That night we headed over to Hana’s cabin, where they go at Christmas and in the summer, because her parents were doing some yardwork over there. We had a DELICIOUS dinner there, of these plum dumpling kind of things (kinda reminded me of perogies!) they were soooo good. That night we just watched a movie again (the prospect of having a couch was just too appealing) because we had to get up really early to take a train to Vienna the next day.
Czech Republic was great – Prague was a beautiful and very interesting city, much more so than I expected! A lot of the buildings have been re-done or re-painted in bright colors so it’s hard to tell it was under rule of such an oppressive regime for so long. The Charles bridge and Prague Castle, as well as the views of the city from the “Eiffel Tower”, were especially impressive. And it was cool to see Terezin and other cities outside of Prague that we might not have had the chance to see had we not been with Hana! What made Czech Republic really special though was the experience of staying with Hana’s family, AKA real Czech people, and taking part in their Easter traditions. And as I said before they were all so friendly and welcoming to Sarah and I! It was also really interesting to ask Hana’s parents some questions about what it was like to live in the country while it was communist.
So, after a lovely week in Czech Republic, Hana drove us to the train station (at 5.30 in the morning!) and bid us farewell, as Sarah and I were off to Vienna to visit our Austrian friend Christine. After a 3 hour train ride we were greeted at the station by Christine. We first went to her apartment (her family lives outside Vienna but she and her sister share a GORGEOUS apartment in the city) to drop off our stuff and have breakfast. Then Christine toured us around that day, and we:
- Saw the University of Vienna, which was beautiful.
- Saw the “Hofburg”, the Castle where the Royal family used to live (now it’s used as a library, a museum and other things)
- Went to the Nachmarkt, a market with all kinds of food, where we picked up some delicious Turkish/Greek food for lunch which we ate outside in front of a beautiful Cathedral because the weather was SO nice.
- Saw St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the most famous one in Vienna, as well as the main downtown area surrounding it, which was really nice!
- Got ice cream and then went to this cool outdoor bar, which is right on the river, and which they fill with sand and put out tons of beach chairs, so it feels like you’re at the beach. It was so warm outside we just laid there for like, 3 hours. Sarah and I even fell asleep, ha!
That night we were going to go meet Christine’s friends for drinks (one of whom we’d already met in Brussels) but Sarah and I were SO tired so we stayed in and watched a movie (on a laptop… but we did have a couch again!)
The next day Christine made us a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and then we went out and saw:
- Schonbrunn Palace, which was like a summer castle for the royal family. It was stunning, so beautiful! The gardens, the fountain… just wow. And the perfect weather made it even more lovely. From the hill you could also get a nice view of the city. This was definitely one of my favorite sights I’ve seen this year.
- the City Park of Vienna, which had beautiful trees and tulips! Just so spring-y and pretty!
- Belvedere Palace, which again had just amazing gardens and fountains.
We also went back to the market to buy more Turkish and Greek goodness for lunch, which we ate by an impressive memorial for the Russian victims of the war.
That night we went out to this cool lounge for a drink where we finally met Christine’s boyfriend who we’d heard so much about!
Vienna was amazing! Again, it was so great to be showed around by someone who actually lives there (and, as was the case in Czech Republic, it was great to have someone with us that spoke the language) and the city itself was just so beautiful. I loved the architecture – most of the buildings were white and just had a very classic, timeless style – and the palaces we saw were just stunning! I think I was also influenced a little bit by the fact that “Vienna” by Billy Joel has always been one of my favorite songs (it was even the song my figure skating program was set to) so it was so cool to finally get to see the city that is the title of my favorite song.
Our last stop was Nice (the easiest way to get back to Aix from Vienna was to go through Nice, so we thought why not spend two nights there). The first evening we grabbed some pizza and ate it on the beach, walked around “Vieux Nice”, which was BEAUTIFUL, it was a perfect mix of French and Italy, and filled with adorable little restaurants and shops. We grabbed a drink at a cool little bar with a bunch of art from the Dominican Republic and headed back to the hostel. The next day I woke up early and went for a run along the “Promenade des Anglais”, the main boardwalk. Since it was early, there weren’t that many people out, and it wasn’t too hot yet so it was just perfect! Such an enjoyable run. Later we met up with Sarah’s sister, who is studying in Nice, and with her we saw the Lascaris Palace which dates back to the 17th century – small but beautiful. After that we headed up to the park that overlooks all of Nice and got some AMAZING views of the “Côte d’Azur” – it was just gorgeous, and again the weather was perfect. We grabbed a quick bite of lunch and then headed down to the beach where Sarah and I tanned (and even swam… a little bit anyway) for a few hours. Later that night we went out for dinner and just walked around on the Promenade. The next day we were planning on heading back to Aix on the 8.30 train… well, it wouldn’t be France if SOMEONE wasn’t on strike, so thanks to the SNCF general strike our train was cancelled, and we had to wait an hour to take a different one that would take us into Marseille. Well, other people’s trains had been cancelled too, so this train was PACKED with people – Sarah didn’t even get a seat and had to sit on the floor by the bathroom! And the aisle was packed with people which is normally not the case at all. It was insane! But, all part of “la vie française”. Anyway, we finally got into Aix by around 1 that afternoon – so nice to be home after almost 2 weeks of travel!
Nice was nice (no pun intended), especially the center which was very charming, and the views with the pristine water were just amazing, but outside the center the city wasn’t so charming – a lot of homeless people and aggressive guys trying to talk to you, which kind of detracts from the city a bit. It was also RIDICULOUSLY expensive, more so than Aix, which I didn’t even know was possible. I’m glad we took a day to see it though!
So the last two days I’ve just been catching up on some things, doing laundry, unpacking and RE-packing as tomorrow we are off to… MOROCCO for 6 days! And we will have our trusty tour guide Sarah which we’re excited about. We’re very excited to meet her pet camel…
Mar 27, 2010
Berlin!
Well, first off, when doing research on the cheapest way to get to Berlin I knew it would be impossible for me to fly there direct with RyanAir (the low budget airline I have used for most of my trips thus far) and the only place that I could fly to from Marseille that would allow me to get a connecting flight to Berlin was London. A bit out of the way, yes, but the flights were cheap! So I flew into London Thursday night and spend the night in the airport – goodtimes. (Luckily there was a 24 hour café open so I got a comfy spot and managed to sleep for a few hours) Caught the flight to Berlin at 6 the next morning, and got into Berlin with no problems. There was a train going directly into town from the airport so I got that and met Jean (who had already been in Berlin one night) at the hostel at around 11. Now, our hostel was kind of epic (yes Jean, EPIC) it was called “Generator” (no “The”, just “Generator”) and the best way I can describe it is to compare it to a psychiatric hospital (from the outside anyway). It was HUGE and just really crazy looking; however the inside was really nice, spacious rooms and really big bathrooms. Anyway, met up with Jean and we headed off to do the free walking tour (again with New Europe Tours – this was my 4th free walking tour with this company) which was really good! Our guide was actually American but he was a good speaker and knew a lot. We saw:
- the Bradenburger Tor (the really famous gates)
- the Holocaust memorial (about 2000 different shaped 3D cement rectangles – kind of hard to picture if you haven’t seen it – this was kind of neat because the architect left its meaning open to interpretation, there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong meaning)
- the place where Hitler’s underground bunker used to be (it’s now a parking lot!)
- part of the Berlin wall
- Checkpoint Charlie (this used to be the only point where you could cross between East and West Berlin, when the city was divided between Soviet/USA controlled territory)
- Humboldt University (from where a bunch of teachers and students burned all the library books written by Jews)
- also we had lunch at a little café called “Aroma” that made the BEST sandwiches – SO good!
That night we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant near our hostel and then walked to Alexanderplatz, a main square/shopping area and just had a look around. The next day we got up early to go to the Reichstag (the German parliament building). On top of the building (which has very classic architecture) there is a very modern glass dome. This was added to symbolize the transparency of the German government – below the dome is where the parliament sessions are held, so if the politicians look up they can “see” the people, and if the people look down they can “see” the politicians – kind of a cool idea! And you get a cool view of the city from the top of the dome. We had to wait in kind of a long line but it was totally worth it! After seeing the Reichstag, we went back to Aroma for another delicious sandwich, and then back to the Holocaust memorial to visit the museum that’s built underneath. It was really interesting and had lots of real letters written by Jewish people being deported to concentration camps. After that we went to an outdoor exhibit, “Topography of Terror”, which had very moving photos and details about the Nazi regime. That night we had a really good Italian dinner at a restaurant Jean had gone to when she was there the night before I arrived – we had the same waiter as she’d had the other night she’d gone and he remembered her very clearly… there was a parsley-heart on her plate when her food came out! Very funny. also made an idiot of myself because, since we were planning out going out that night, I’d bought a bottle of wine, which I assumed needed an to be opened with a wine bottle opener, and I didn’t have one with me. So, I brought it to the restaurant, thinking we could ask them to open it for us as we were leaving. Well, they did – but turns out it had been a twist off the whole time! Bit embarrassing. Anyways, later on went out – or, we attempted to! The club we had planned on going to didn’t let me in because you had to be 21 (apparently being 20 ½ isn’t good enough?) so we went somewhere else, but they turned out to have live music which is sooo not what we had in mind – anyway we didn’t stay there too long and headed back to the hostel shortly after. We didn’t do much the next day (which may or may not have been due to the amount of alcohol consumed the night before) but we did have a delicious Italian lunch at a little restaurant ATTACHED to the metro station by our hostel – not somewhere you’d expect to have a good meal but it was so good! We also ventured out to see the Kaiser Wilhelm Church, which was very impressive, and unique because the top of it had been bombed but it was never fully reconstructed. We had meant to go to a Vietnamese restaurant that night but since we’d had such a late lunch we weren’t hungry and decided to go to bed early and start up early the next day since we kind of wasted most of that day. So on our last day, we got up and headed out to the East Side Gallery, a section of the Berlin wall where artists from all over the world painted murals. This was probably my favorite thing I saw in Berlin, it was so cool! After that we headed over to the Hackescher Market area (not actually a market) which was a really area with good shopping. We had a REALLY yummy lunch of bagels with cream cheese and smoothies… I hadn’t had a bagel since I left home! This provoked a discussion between Jean and I about our frustration at the lack of “café” type food options in France, like to have pre-made goods or cold food, etc. So it was nice to be in Germany and be able to enjoy the kind of café-eating we like so much! After lunch we did a bit of shopping at H+M it was time for Jean to go. I still had a few hours until my flight and, since it was such a nice day (literally, gorgeous outside) I just walked around the city a bit, then headed to the airport (had to go through London again, but at least I didn’t have to sleep in the airport again!) Berlin definitely wasn’t what I’d been expecting – except for a few areas, it’s a relatively ugly city (due to the fact that it was under a repressive Soviet regime for so long) especially in comparison to all the beautiful European cities I’ve seen, but it grew on me as the weekend went on. The city, albeit urban and industrial, ends up being quite charming in its own unique way. It’s definitely funky and has a cool vibe. And Germany is a really refreshing change from France, which at times I find to be a bit too “stuck up” – I find more aspects of life to be more relaxed, from everything from people’s clothing attire to food options – but it’s still super cultured at the same time. Doesn’t hurt that it’s a million times cheaper than France as well! Anyways it was a really good weekend and so good to see Jean.
As for upcoming travel plans, we’ve got some good trips coming up over Easter break:
- Czech Republic (March 31 – April 6)
- Austria (April 7 – 9)
- Nice (April 10 – 11)
- Back in Aix (April 12 – 13)
- Morocco (April 14 – 20)
…WOOO!
- the Bradenburger Tor (the really famous gates)
- the Holocaust memorial (about 2000 different shaped 3D cement rectangles – kind of hard to picture if you haven’t seen it – this was kind of neat because the architect left its meaning open to interpretation, there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong meaning)
- the place where Hitler’s underground bunker used to be (it’s now a parking lot!)
- part of the Berlin wall
- Checkpoint Charlie (this used to be the only point where you could cross between East and West Berlin, when the city was divided between Soviet/USA controlled territory)
- Humboldt University (from where a bunch of teachers and students burned all the library books written by Jews)
- also we had lunch at a little café called “Aroma” that made the BEST sandwiches – SO good!
That night we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant near our hostel and then walked to Alexanderplatz, a main square/shopping area and just had a look around. The next day we got up early to go to the Reichstag (the German parliament building). On top of the building (which has very classic architecture) there is a very modern glass dome. This was added to symbolize the transparency of the German government – below the dome is where the parliament sessions are held, so if the politicians look up they can “see” the people, and if the people look down they can “see” the politicians – kind of a cool idea! And you get a cool view of the city from the top of the dome. We had to wait in kind of a long line but it was totally worth it! After seeing the Reichstag, we went back to Aroma for another delicious sandwich, and then back to the Holocaust memorial to visit the museum that’s built underneath. It was really interesting and had lots of real letters written by Jewish people being deported to concentration camps. After that we went to an outdoor exhibit, “Topography of Terror”, which had very moving photos and details about the Nazi regime. That night we had a really good Italian dinner at a restaurant Jean had gone to when she was there the night before I arrived – we had the same waiter as she’d had the other night she’d gone and he remembered her very clearly… there was a parsley-heart on her plate when her food came out! Very funny. also made an idiot of myself because, since we were planning out going out that night, I’d bought a bottle of wine, which I assumed needed an to be opened with a wine bottle opener, and I didn’t have one with me. So, I brought it to the restaurant, thinking we could ask them to open it for us as we were leaving. Well, they did – but turns out it had been a twist off the whole time! Bit embarrassing. Anyways, later on went out – or, we attempted to! The club we had planned on going to didn’t let me in because you had to be 21 (apparently being 20 ½ isn’t good enough?) so we went somewhere else, but they turned out to have live music which is sooo not what we had in mind – anyway we didn’t stay there too long and headed back to the hostel shortly after. We didn’t do much the next day (which may or may not have been due to the amount of alcohol consumed the night before) but we did have a delicious Italian lunch at a little restaurant ATTACHED to the metro station by our hostel – not somewhere you’d expect to have a good meal but it was so good! We also ventured out to see the Kaiser Wilhelm Church, which was very impressive, and unique because the top of it had been bombed but it was never fully reconstructed. We had meant to go to a Vietnamese restaurant that night but since we’d had such a late lunch we weren’t hungry and decided to go to bed early and start up early the next day since we kind of wasted most of that day. So on our last day, we got up and headed out to the East Side Gallery, a section of the Berlin wall where artists from all over the world painted murals. This was probably my favorite thing I saw in Berlin, it was so cool! After that we headed over to the Hackescher Market area (not actually a market) which was a really area with good shopping. We had a REALLY yummy lunch of bagels with cream cheese and smoothies… I hadn’t had a bagel since I left home! This provoked a discussion between Jean and I about our frustration at the lack of “café” type food options in France, like to have pre-made goods or cold food, etc. So it was nice to be in Germany and be able to enjoy the kind of café-eating we like so much! After lunch we did a bit of shopping at H+M it was time for Jean to go. I still had a few hours until my flight and, since it was such a nice day (literally, gorgeous outside) I just walked around the city a bit, then headed to the airport (had to go through London again, but at least I didn’t have to sleep in the airport again!) Berlin definitely wasn’t what I’d been expecting – except for a few areas, it’s a relatively ugly city (due to the fact that it was under a repressive Soviet regime for so long) especially in comparison to all the beautiful European cities I’ve seen, but it grew on me as the weekend went on. The city, albeit urban and industrial, ends up being quite charming in its own unique way. It’s definitely funky and has a cool vibe. And Germany is a really refreshing change from France, which at times I find to be a bit too “stuck up” – I find more aspects of life to be more relaxed, from everything from people’s clothing attire to food options – but it’s still super cultured at the same time. Doesn’t hurt that it’s a million times cheaper than France as well! Anyways it was a really good weekend and so good to see Jean.
As for upcoming travel plans, we’ve got some good trips coming up over Easter break:
- Czech Republic (March 31 – April 6)
- Austria (April 7 – 9)
- Nice (April 10 – 11)
- Back in Aix (April 12 – 13)
- Morocco (April 14 – 20)
…WOOO!
Mar 10, 2010
Red doesn't mean stop
Back from my weekend in Amsterdam! I feel a bit odd writing this blog as I haven't yet concluded whether or not I actually LIKED Amsterdam as a whole - but maybe I'll have made up my mind after writing about it. At any rate, here goes.
It took longer/cost more than expected to get from the low-budget airline airport to CENTRAL Amsterdam, but I've spent enough energy being irritated at that so I won't go into detail; but after a plane, a bus, a train and another bus, we arrived at our hostel which unfortunately was situated about 20 minutes (by bus!) outside of the city center. However, I will say that although its location was unfortunate, the hostel itself was quite nice: comfy beds, private bathroom, a really good breakfast and very reasonably priced. So after settling into the hostel, my friend Sarah and I headed out into town. After traveling all day we were pretty tired and it was already pretty late by this point, so we just found a little cafe (Amsterdam is DEFINITELY not lacking cafes!) and just hung out and had a drink, pretty low-key.
The next day we headed back into downtown Amsterdam to look around. Now although I found some aspects of the city to be just plain bizarre, the city itself (the architecture, etc.) was lovely. It reminded me a lot of Bruges, a really pretty city we visited in Belgium, as there were tons of canals and many brick houses. There were also bikes EVERYWHERE which I thought was really cool! (We had actually thought about renting some ourselves but it was kind of expensive, and since our hostel was so far outside the city center it just didn't really make sense.) Some of the canals even had ducks and swans swimming around - it was quite charming! So we spent most of the day just wandering around. We also tried a dutch specialty called "poffertjes", which are basically bite-sized pancakes that came with tons of butter and icing sugar - they were delicious!
One "attraction" we did go see was Anne Frank's house. Although we had to wait in line to get in, there was no reduced price for students and there wasn't really anything to 'see' in the house per se, I still thought it was totally worth the visit. It was so cool to just be in a place where so much had gone on. We were actually able to go behind the bookcase and into the Annex which is where they were in hiding. All the windows were boarded up so you could kind of get a sense of what is must have been like to stay there in the dark 24/7. They had printed out quotes from Anne's diary all over the walls, and there was one entry from Christmas eve 1943 that I found particularly moving: "I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I'm free." We were also able to go into Anne's room, where you could see all the pictures she'd put up on the walls to make it more cheerful. I was a bit bummed that there were so many people - you weren't able to stay for very long in each room and I would have liked to spend a bit more time just being in an place with such a powerful story - but it was really, really cool and I'm so glad I took the time to see it.
Another part of the city we of course had to go see was the infamous Red Light district. For those of you who don't know, prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, and the Red Light district is where one would go to "take advantage" of this. Now I'd heard that there would be prostitutes just standing in the windows waiting to attract customers, but hearing about it and SEEING it are, as I discovered, two completely different things; I was beyond shocked when I saw these women in real life! It was just too bizarre. I guess it's good in a way, as this way is probably much safer for all parties involved, but it still makes you kind of sad to see. Plus (I can't emphasize this enough) it was just WEIRD to see LIVE, barely-clothed women standing in windows. As well as having windows upon windows filled with prostitutes, there were also an array of sex THEATERS where you can apparently (I say apparently because I did NOT check them out first hand, I read about them in a guide book) see live sex shows; yes, two people literally having sex on a stage. There were also sex shops on every corner where you could buy anything imaginable relating to sex. To sum up... it was a lot of sex for such a small city!
So even after typing up this blog, I still can't really determine whether or not I "liked" Amsterdam as a whole - it definitely wasn't what I was expecting, but I'm glad I saw it! Honestly it's worth it to go there for the shock value alone as it's a pretty 'unique' city in a lot of ways!
It took longer/cost more than expected to get from the low-budget airline airport to CENTRAL Amsterdam, but I've spent enough energy being irritated at that so I won't go into detail; but after a plane, a bus, a train and another bus, we arrived at our hostel which unfortunately was situated about 20 minutes (by bus!) outside of the city center. However, I will say that although its location was unfortunate, the hostel itself was quite nice: comfy beds, private bathroom, a really good breakfast and very reasonably priced. So after settling into the hostel, my friend Sarah and I headed out into town. After traveling all day we were pretty tired and it was already pretty late by this point, so we just found a little cafe (Amsterdam is DEFINITELY not lacking cafes!) and just hung out and had a drink, pretty low-key.
The next day we headed back into downtown Amsterdam to look around. Now although I found some aspects of the city to be just plain bizarre, the city itself (the architecture, etc.) was lovely. It reminded me a lot of Bruges, a really pretty city we visited in Belgium, as there were tons of canals and many brick houses. There were also bikes EVERYWHERE which I thought was really cool! (We had actually thought about renting some ourselves but it was kind of expensive, and since our hostel was so far outside the city center it just didn't really make sense.) Some of the canals even had ducks and swans swimming around - it was quite charming! So we spent most of the day just wandering around. We also tried a dutch specialty called "poffertjes", which are basically bite-sized pancakes that came with tons of butter and icing sugar - they were delicious!
One "attraction" we did go see was Anne Frank's house. Although we had to wait in line to get in, there was no reduced price for students and there wasn't really anything to 'see' in the house per se, I still thought it was totally worth the visit. It was so cool to just be in a place where so much had gone on. We were actually able to go behind the bookcase and into the Annex which is where they were in hiding. All the windows were boarded up so you could kind of get a sense of what is must have been like to stay there in the dark 24/7. They had printed out quotes from Anne's diary all over the walls, and there was one entry from Christmas eve 1943 that I found particularly moving: "I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I'm free." We were also able to go into Anne's room, where you could see all the pictures she'd put up on the walls to make it more cheerful. I was a bit bummed that there were so many people - you weren't able to stay for very long in each room and I would have liked to spend a bit more time just being in an place with such a powerful story - but it was really, really cool and I'm so glad I took the time to see it.
Another part of the city we of course had to go see was the infamous Red Light district. For those of you who don't know, prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, and the Red Light district is where one would go to "take advantage" of this. Now I'd heard that there would be prostitutes just standing in the windows waiting to attract customers, but hearing about it and SEEING it are, as I discovered, two completely different things; I was beyond shocked when I saw these women in real life! It was just too bizarre. I guess it's good in a way, as this way is probably much safer for all parties involved, but it still makes you kind of sad to see. Plus (I can't emphasize this enough) it was just WEIRD to see LIVE, barely-clothed women standing in windows. As well as having windows upon windows filled with prostitutes, there were also an array of sex THEATERS where you can apparently (I say apparently because I did NOT check them out first hand, I read about them in a guide book) see live sex shows; yes, two people literally having sex on a stage. There were also sex shops on every corner where you could buy anything imaginable relating to sex. To sum up... it was a lot of sex for such a small city!
So even after typing up this blog, I still can't really determine whether or not I "liked" Amsterdam as a whole - it definitely wasn't what I was expecting, but I'm glad I saw it! Honestly it's worth it to go there for the shock value alone as it's a pretty 'unique' city in a lot of ways!
Feb 27, 2010
Not all French people are mean
Before coming to France I must admit, I did not have the best image of French people in my head - I'd heard that they were, to be blunt, not very nice. I never really gave my take on this stereotype at any point in my blog, and something that happened the other day made me want to write a bit about it.
The other day I was grocery shopping in Monoprix, which is one of the main supermarkets in France. This semester I have branched out a bit in the cooking department (by that I mean I cook more than just pasta now) and have started making stirfry quite a bit. So, I was picking out some vegetables, and when it came time to choose carrots I picked the biggest one I could find, as I normally do - you want to get as much as you can out of your carrot, right? Wrong, apparently. Some lovely French woman, maybe in her 60s, stopped me and very nicely told me I should be choosing skinnier carrots, as they were not going to be as hard and would cook all the way through. She said the same went for zucchinis and other similar shaped vegetables. After speaking with me a bit she asked where I was from (I don't think my accent will ever sound perfectly French) so I explained that I was from Canada, and was trying to learn how to grocery shop and cook pretty much on my own. I think this made her even more glad she had stopped to give me these tips! Anyway, I thanked her, wished her a "bonne journée" and carried on with my shopping.
The point of this little anecdote is that while many French people can be kind of cold, and sometimes downright rude, there are also plenty of nice ones that are more than willing to go out of their way to help out an international student such as myself. As far as the younger generation goes, there are some French students who seem like they cannot be bothered to befriend an international student (especially at my school, which has a bit of a reputation for breeding snobby political types) but I have met a LOVELY group of French students, mainly thanks to one guy on my floor who introduced me to his group of friends. They are always more than willing to include me in their group, even though that means explaining a joke or slang word from time to time, which I really appreciate.
So, even though I can get frustrated with being given a French cold shoulder now and again, the nice experiences I've had have been much more profound than the bad ones, and would therefore like to state (even though this may be stating the obvious) that not all French people are mean.
The other day I was grocery shopping in Monoprix, which is one of the main supermarkets in France. This semester I have branched out a bit in the cooking department (by that I mean I cook more than just pasta now) and have started making stirfry quite a bit. So, I was picking out some vegetables, and when it came time to choose carrots I picked the biggest one I could find, as I normally do - you want to get as much as you can out of your carrot, right? Wrong, apparently. Some lovely French woman, maybe in her 60s, stopped me and very nicely told me I should be choosing skinnier carrots, as they were not going to be as hard and would cook all the way through. She said the same went for zucchinis and other similar shaped vegetables. After speaking with me a bit she asked where I was from (I don't think my accent will ever sound perfectly French) so I explained that I was from Canada, and was trying to learn how to grocery shop and cook pretty much on my own. I think this made her even more glad she had stopped to give me these tips! Anyway, I thanked her, wished her a "bonne journée" and carried on with my shopping.
The point of this little anecdote is that while many French people can be kind of cold, and sometimes downright rude, there are also plenty of nice ones that are more than willing to go out of their way to help out an international student such as myself. As far as the younger generation goes, there are some French students who seem like they cannot be bothered to befriend an international student (especially at my school, which has a bit of a reputation for breeding snobby political types) but I have met a LOVELY group of French students, mainly thanks to one guy on my floor who introduced me to his group of friends. They are always more than willing to include me in their group, even though that means explaining a joke or slang word from time to time, which I really appreciate.
So, even though I can get frustrated with being given a French cold shoulder now and again, the nice experiences I've had have been much more profound than the bad ones, and would therefore like to state (even though this may be stating the obvious) that not all French people are mean.
Feb 25, 2010
Accents galore!
This past week we had a week off of school, so I spent 10 days traveling the UK and Ireland - this is trip I did alone by the way!
The trip got off to a bit of a rough start. My first stop was supposed to be Coventry, to see Meagan (best friend from high school who is doing her exchange in England - I also visited for the last few days of my winter break in January). I arrived in London (Stansted Airport) on night of Thursday the 11. I THOUGHT I had booked a coach to get from the airport to Coventry, but as it turns out I actually booked it from CENTRAL London to Coventry. Now, the airport is a good hour away from Central London - but my coach wasn't until midnight, so the lady at the desk told me I could pay 10 pounds to get to London and catch my coach there with plenty of time to spare. OK, so I'd pay an extra 10 pounds I thought, not the end of the world. So I get on the coach. We arrive in Central London and I notice that there seem to be police cars everywhere. Our driver makes an announcement that there is some kind of problem and tells us that one of the main roads (the road where he was supposed to drop us off) is blocked, and that he can't stop to let us off. So he does laps until he can find a place to stop - well by this point it's already quarter past midnight; I've clearly missed my bus to Coventry. So finally he finds a spot to let us off and as he was trying to explain to me how to get to the coach station, to sort out my problem, he was shooed away by a police officer as he wasn't supposed to be stopped there - poor guy, it really wasn't his fault and I could tell he felt really bad leaving me there. So it's now after midnight, I'm in central London with no idea WHERE I really am, I have missed my bus and have only a vague idea where the bus station is (family, please don't freak out - I lived to tell about it). So I start off in the direction of the bus station, which thanks to a nice old man I met along the way, I eventually found, about 45 minutes later. So it's about 1 AM at this point, and I got to the counter and explain my situation. The lady there tells me the next bus to Coventry isn't until 6 AM - great. So I go to the tiny, cold little waiting room of the bus station and set up camp on the floor. I finally manage to get to sleep when, at about 3 AM or so, we're woken up and told to move to ANOTHER waiting room. At this point I start talking to another girl about my age, who turned out to be from Lithuania. She even shared her laptop with me and we watched Grey's Anatomy... goodtimes. 6 AM FINALLY rolls around and I get into Coventry no problem. That day was pretty much a write off: Meagan and I just slept and hung around her flat. That night we went with some of Meagan's flatmates to see "2012", which was showing in a lecture hall in Meagan's uni for a cheaper price - to sum it up, it was awful, so bad in fact that we left early and got a drink at a pub on campus.
The next day Meagan and I took a trip to Warwick, which is a town I'd visited the last time I was in Coventry, but by the time I'd gotten there it was already dark, so it was nice to see it again in daylight (and this time with Meagan)! It is a really cute little down with a VERY impressive cathedral which we got to poke around in. Then we had lunch at a charming little restaurant called "The Rose and Crown" and got milkshakes after at a little sweet shoppe. After some more walking around we headed back to Coventry to get ready to go out with some of Meagan's flatmates. We went to one of the clubs we'd been to the last time and it was pretty fun. The next morning Meagan and I were able to share a cab to the bus station (Meagan was leaving to go back to Vancouver for her week off) where I then caught the bus (with no problems) and headed to the airport to fly to Dublin.
I arrived in Dublin mid afternoon and found my hostel without too much difficulty. When I checked in, the guy asked where I was from, I said Canada. He asked what I was doing in Europe, I said studying in France for the year. So then he says, so you're with the other girls in your room then? And I said no, I came to Dublin alone... and he goes, well that's weird because there are 4 girls in your room who are from Canada who're also studying in France. Interesting. So I go up to my room and sure enough, there were 4 very nice girls from Ontario who are all doing their exchange in Lyon! Anyway, I took a brief nap and then set out to O'Connell street, the main street in Dublin. I did a bit of shopping, grabbed some fish and chips in a really cute little pub and then decided to see 'Valentine's Day' the movie (keep in mind it actually IS Valentine's Day and I was alone - I can't decide if seeing this movie under these circumstances makes me a bit pathetic, or shows I'm mature... haha) After the movie my friend Ruth (who was home for our week off, and therefore just an hour or so outside of Dublin) came to meet me for a drink and the Temple Bar, which is the really famous bar in Dublin. So that was fun to see her for a bit!
The next day I had breakfast at the hostel and then went to do the free walking tour the other Canadian girls had told me they'd done. My guide was REALLY knowledgeable, she knew a ton about Ireland's history; I had no idea they'd been under British control and fighting for Independence for so long! If memory serves me, Ireland only became its own republic in 1922, and was apparently in quite a bad state for much of the 20th century - slums and poverty were widespread! It was really interesting to hear about. We saw the main sights of Dublin, which included Dublin Castle (not really a castle, it's been used as a political building throughout the years), Trinity College (an old and prestigious university in Ireland), the Temple Bar district (a touristy area with tons of pubs and restaurants), THE Temple Bar itself, as well as several other sights. After the walking tour, I met up with the other Canadian girls and we went to the Guinness Storehouse where we learned how Guinness beer is made (barley, yeast, water and and hops) and at the end, we were allowed to pour our own pints and enjoy them at the top of the building with a lovely view of Dublin. After the storehouse I headed back to the hostel as my flight to Edinburgh was at 6 the next morning! While cooking dinner I met two OTHER Canadian girls and had a game of crazy eights with them before going to bed.
The next morning I was up before dawn to get to the airport where I got the plane to Edinburgh, where I arrived relatively early. I dumped my stuff at my hostel, which was located right on the "Royal Mile", the main street in the old part of town, and then went to do the free walking tour (offered by the same company as the one I did in Dublin) which was, AGAIN, really good! Our guide had long hair and kind of resembled a pirate but he was amusing. On the tour we saw the St. Giles Cathedral (where the Queen worships when she comes to Scotland), the Elephant House (the "birthplace" of Harry Potter, since JK Rowling spent most of her time writing there - possibly the highlight of my trip) and Greyfriar's Cemetery (where hundreds of Scotsmen were imprisoned for their religious beliefs - it is apparently a very haunted cemetery where there have been tons of poltergeist encounters!) Our guide knew tons of interesting stories too. While on the tour I met some more (you guessed it) Canadians, whom I broke the ice with by mentioning that I too owned the same pair of Olympic mittens one of them was wearing (thanks Pat!) So after the tour, they invited me to go along with them to Rosslyn, which is just outside of Edinburgh, to see the Rosslyn Cathedral, which is apparently where the Da Vinci Code was filmed! Unfortunately the Cathedral was under a lot of construction and it was therefore kind of hard to fully appreciate it but it was still cool and we got some nice views of the countryside. That night I did a "City of the Dead" tour, where a guide takes you down to an underground "city" kind of thing where the poorest of the poor used to live. Many apparently died down there due to fires that would happen above, and since the "city" (which is pretty much a bunch of caves) was completely black, people wouldn't be able to find their way out and it would get so hot that they would suffocate. Pretty creepy stuff!
The next day I slept in a bit and had a leisurely breakfast, then headed to Edinburgh Castle, where I ran into the group of Canadians from the day before. So together we explored the Castle (which is HUGE, it was impossible to see it all) but it was really interesting: my favorite parts were the prison (which was used as recently as WWII for German POWs), seeing the Scottish Crown Jewels (which went back and forth A LOT from Scotland to England, but they're finally back in Scotland) and seeing the firing of the one o'clock gun (which used to let everyone know what time it was back in the day but they carry on the tradition). The rest of the day was pretty low-key: I had a delicious lunch at the Elephant House (the birthplace of Harry Potter), checked out a cool vintage store (filled with kilts!), tried a deep fried MarsBar (which was delicious and disgusting at the same time) and walked down to the Holyrood Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. That night I ended up playing some cards in my hostel with 2 MORE Canadians, 2 Germans and a Norwegian, and afterwords we ended up going to a bar which was really fun!
My last day in Edinburgh I met up with one of the Canadians whom I had met while on the walking tour, and together we hiked Arthur's Seat, a mini-hike that gave us a lovely view of Edinburgh - you could even see the coast! It was really pretty. After the hike I just did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the airport to catch my flight back to Dublin, where I had to connect to go to London. Since I got into London pretty late I had planned to stay in a hotel near the airport which turned out to be a really good idea - it was SO nice to have a HOTEL room all to myself for a night (even if it was just a Travelodge, ha!) Plus, my room had a TV, so I got to watch a bit of Olympics. I even got to have a bath, the only one I've had since leaving Canada, apart from a few I got to take at Christmas... point being, it was a big deal for me! I got to sleep in the next morning and have a leisurely breakfast, then it was back to the airport to catch my bus to central London.
Once there I had a BIT of difficulty finding my hostel, as it wasn't really on a main road, but eventually I found it. I checked in (I was the bottom of 3 bunk beds - it was like being in a coffin) and then set out to walk around a bit. I walked around Hyde Park, saw a lovely sunset and also wandered over to Buckingham Palace. The next day (we're now at Saturday, by the way) I did yet ANOTHER one of the free walking tours with ANOTHER awesome guide. We saw all the major sites: Constitution Hill (the street leading to Buckingham Palace that is painted red, permanently, for the Queen!), Buckingham Palace (where the guide told us several funny stories about Palace break ins), Trafalgar Square, Number 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives, and also the name of my hair salon back at home!), Westminster Abby, the Parliament Buildings, Big Ben, etc. After the tour, I went to the Camden Market which, along with having lots of clothes, is also an area that seems to specialize in tattoo and piercing places (again, don't worry family, I didn't get anything done!) But the market was really cool, it was right next to a pretty river - I just really liked the setting! I also got some yummy Indian food there. That night I met up with some French friends from Aix who were also in London that weekend and were staying at the same hostel as me. We ended up drinking, playing cards and pool in the bar that was the bottom floor of our hostel and which they close to the public at about 1:30-2, and then leave open to everyone staying in the hostel - so we ended up having the place to ourselves which was pretty sweet! It was weird to go back to speaking French as I had been in English mode all week long. But it was really fun!
On my last full day in London I went to Speaker's Corner in the morning, located in Hyde Park, which is a little cafe that people use to express themselves through speech. Apparently Sunday morning is a good time to hear people talking but unfortunately I didn't catch anyone doing it. It sounds like it would be really cool to see someone do though! After that I walked for about an hour to get to Notting Hill (I haven't seen the movie but I was intrigued all the same). I wandered into a random thrift shop and asked the girl if I was technically "in" Notting Hill yet - with this comment she knew I was a tourist and suggested I go to the Portobello Market, which I did - it was so cool! It was mainly vintage jewelery, a lot of which was REALLY beautiful (I may have bought a few things) but they had other items too. Amongst this really cool vintage market were also some GORGEOUS little clothing boutiques - man, I wanted to buy everything! These stores were just SO nice. One was decorated with antique sewing machines covering the walls - there were at least 100 sewing machines, it was so neat! And most of the stores were painted really bright colours! And the homes - man, they were gorgeous. Not quite the quaint little cottage-in-the-city type homes I'd been picturing (AKA, they were massive and luxurious) but SO beautiful. It was just a LOVELY area, and it was probably my favourite part of London! (I think I need to see the movie now...) After Notting Hill I went to St. Paul's Cathedral which was AMAZING (and enormous), probably my favourite Cathedral I've seen so far in Europe (and I've seen quite a few already!) It was actually where Princess Diana was married, so that was cool. After that I walked down to see the Tower Bride (Tower being its proper name, and not "London" Bridge as I thought before) and then later I did a night walking tour of London, where they told us about the darker side of the city: executions, deaths in the Tower of London, and of course the famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, WHOM I found out was never caught BUT the man they suspected was a Canadian... awesome.
The next day I was flying out but not until the evening - unfortunately I had come down with something the night before and was still feeling quite sick the next day, so rather than walking around all day in the rain I decided to take it easy at my hostel and just get to the airport early. So I missed out on half a day of sightseeing, and the trip ended on a BIT of a low note, which was kind of the way it started, I guess! But I got to the airport early/stress free which was nice and got back to Aix with no problems.
ALL IN ALL, MY TRIP WAS AWESOME. I liked Dublin, then I really liked Edinburgh, then I really REALLY liked London - it kind of went in a perfect order because I ended up liking each city more than the last (but as I said, I really liked each one!) I found people were very friendly in every city (most of all Edinburgh!) so that was a nice change from the cool attitudes you often encounter in France. It was also refreshing to be in an English speaking environment, and not have to think at all about what I was saying (although I'll admit, I sometimes had a bit of difficulty with the accents over there, especially the Scottish ones!) I had initially been a bit nervous traveling alone but it turned out really good - sure, there were a few moments when I thought, it might be nice to be with someone right now - but I ended up meeting up with or meeting people in each city so it worked out really well! And I played more cards in that week than I've probably played in my life (not counting Uno of course.) But, and this may or may not sound silly, I'm kind of proud that I planned and executed the trip by myself and even though there were a couple of bumps along the way (ie. running around London at midnight trying to find the coach station) I dealt with it and kept a relatively cool head! One last thing: to anyone doing any traveling any time soon, these free walking tours are TOTALLY worthwhile. The website is as follows: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/ and there you can find what cities these tours are offered in. But they're really an awesome way to get to see a city!!!
All that being said, it's nice to be back in my room and with my friends here in Aix. But doing such a long trip does get me excited for what's coming up: next weekend, AMSTERDAM! Man, traveling gets addicting...
The trip got off to a bit of a rough start. My first stop was supposed to be Coventry, to see Meagan (best friend from high school who is doing her exchange in England - I also visited for the last few days of my winter break in January). I arrived in London (Stansted Airport) on night of Thursday the 11. I THOUGHT I had booked a coach to get from the airport to Coventry, but as it turns out I actually booked it from CENTRAL London to Coventry. Now, the airport is a good hour away from Central London - but my coach wasn't until midnight, so the lady at the desk told me I could pay 10 pounds to get to London and catch my coach there with plenty of time to spare. OK, so I'd pay an extra 10 pounds I thought, not the end of the world. So I get on the coach. We arrive in Central London and I notice that there seem to be police cars everywhere. Our driver makes an announcement that there is some kind of problem and tells us that one of the main roads (the road where he was supposed to drop us off) is blocked, and that he can't stop to let us off. So he does laps until he can find a place to stop - well by this point it's already quarter past midnight; I've clearly missed my bus to Coventry. So finally he finds a spot to let us off and as he was trying to explain to me how to get to the coach station, to sort out my problem, he was shooed away by a police officer as he wasn't supposed to be stopped there - poor guy, it really wasn't his fault and I could tell he felt really bad leaving me there. So it's now after midnight, I'm in central London with no idea WHERE I really am, I have missed my bus and have only a vague idea where the bus station is (family, please don't freak out - I lived to tell about it). So I start off in the direction of the bus station, which thanks to a nice old man I met along the way, I eventually found, about 45 minutes later. So it's about 1 AM at this point, and I got to the counter and explain my situation. The lady there tells me the next bus to Coventry isn't until 6 AM - great. So I go to the tiny, cold little waiting room of the bus station and set up camp on the floor. I finally manage to get to sleep when, at about 3 AM or so, we're woken up and told to move to ANOTHER waiting room. At this point I start talking to another girl about my age, who turned out to be from Lithuania. She even shared her laptop with me and we watched Grey's Anatomy... goodtimes. 6 AM FINALLY rolls around and I get into Coventry no problem. That day was pretty much a write off: Meagan and I just slept and hung around her flat. That night we went with some of Meagan's flatmates to see "2012", which was showing in a lecture hall in Meagan's uni for a cheaper price - to sum it up, it was awful, so bad in fact that we left early and got a drink at a pub on campus.
The next day Meagan and I took a trip to Warwick, which is a town I'd visited the last time I was in Coventry, but by the time I'd gotten there it was already dark, so it was nice to see it again in daylight (and this time with Meagan)! It is a really cute little down with a VERY impressive cathedral which we got to poke around in. Then we had lunch at a charming little restaurant called "The Rose and Crown" and got milkshakes after at a little sweet shoppe. After some more walking around we headed back to Coventry to get ready to go out with some of Meagan's flatmates. We went to one of the clubs we'd been to the last time and it was pretty fun. The next morning Meagan and I were able to share a cab to the bus station (Meagan was leaving to go back to Vancouver for her week off) where I then caught the bus (with no problems) and headed to the airport to fly to Dublin.
I arrived in Dublin mid afternoon and found my hostel without too much difficulty. When I checked in, the guy asked where I was from, I said Canada. He asked what I was doing in Europe, I said studying in France for the year. So then he says, so you're with the other girls in your room then? And I said no, I came to Dublin alone... and he goes, well that's weird because there are 4 girls in your room who are from Canada who're also studying in France. Interesting. So I go up to my room and sure enough, there were 4 very nice girls from Ontario who are all doing their exchange in Lyon! Anyway, I took a brief nap and then set out to O'Connell street, the main street in Dublin. I did a bit of shopping, grabbed some fish and chips in a really cute little pub and then decided to see 'Valentine's Day' the movie (keep in mind it actually IS Valentine's Day and I was alone - I can't decide if seeing this movie under these circumstances makes me a bit pathetic, or shows I'm mature... haha) After the movie my friend Ruth (who was home for our week off, and therefore just an hour or so outside of Dublin) came to meet me for a drink and the Temple Bar, which is the really famous bar in Dublin. So that was fun to see her for a bit!
The next day I had breakfast at the hostel and then went to do the free walking tour the other Canadian girls had told me they'd done. My guide was REALLY knowledgeable, she knew a ton about Ireland's history; I had no idea they'd been under British control and fighting for Independence for so long! If memory serves me, Ireland only became its own republic in 1922, and was apparently in quite a bad state for much of the 20th century - slums and poverty were widespread! It was really interesting to hear about. We saw the main sights of Dublin, which included Dublin Castle (not really a castle, it's been used as a political building throughout the years), Trinity College (an old and prestigious university in Ireland), the Temple Bar district (a touristy area with tons of pubs and restaurants), THE Temple Bar itself, as well as several other sights. After the walking tour, I met up with the other Canadian girls and we went to the Guinness Storehouse where we learned how Guinness beer is made (barley, yeast, water and and hops) and at the end, we were allowed to pour our own pints and enjoy them at the top of the building with a lovely view of Dublin. After the storehouse I headed back to the hostel as my flight to Edinburgh was at 6 the next morning! While cooking dinner I met two OTHER Canadian girls and had a game of crazy eights with them before going to bed.
The next morning I was up before dawn to get to the airport where I got the plane to Edinburgh, where I arrived relatively early. I dumped my stuff at my hostel, which was located right on the "Royal Mile", the main street in the old part of town, and then went to do the free walking tour (offered by the same company as the one I did in Dublin) which was, AGAIN, really good! Our guide had long hair and kind of resembled a pirate but he was amusing. On the tour we saw the St. Giles Cathedral (where the Queen worships when she comes to Scotland), the Elephant House (the "birthplace" of Harry Potter, since JK Rowling spent most of her time writing there - possibly the highlight of my trip) and Greyfriar's Cemetery (where hundreds of Scotsmen were imprisoned for their religious beliefs - it is apparently a very haunted cemetery where there have been tons of poltergeist encounters!) Our guide knew tons of interesting stories too. While on the tour I met some more (you guessed it) Canadians, whom I broke the ice with by mentioning that I too owned the same pair of Olympic mittens one of them was wearing (thanks Pat!) So after the tour, they invited me to go along with them to Rosslyn, which is just outside of Edinburgh, to see the Rosslyn Cathedral, which is apparently where the Da Vinci Code was filmed! Unfortunately the Cathedral was under a lot of construction and it was therefore kind of hard to fully appreciate it but it was still cool and we got some nice views of the countryside. That night I did a "City of the Dead" tour, where a guide takes you down to an underground "city" kind of thing where the poorest of the poor used to live. Many apparently died down there due to fires that would happen above, and since the "city" (which is pretty much a bunch of caves) was completely black, people wouldn't be able to find their way out and it would get so hot that they would suffocate. Pretty creepy stuff!
The next day I slept in a bit and had a leisurely breakfast, then headed to Edinburgh Castle, where I ran into the group of Canadians from the day before. So together we explored the Castle (which is HUGE, it was impossible to see it all) but it was really interesting: my favorite parts were the prison (which was used as recently as WWII for German POWs), seeing the Scottish Crown Jewels (which went back and forth A LOT from Scotland to England, but they're finally back in Scotland) and seeing the firing of the one o'clock gun (which used to let everyone know what time it was back in the day but they carry on the tradition). The rest of the day was pretty low-key: I had a delicious lunch at the Elephant House (the birthplace of Harry Potter), checked out a cool vintage store (filled with kilts!), tried a deep fried MarsBar (which was delicious and disgusting at the same time) and walked down to the Holyrood Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. That night I ended up playing some cards in my hostel with 2 MORE Canadians, 2 Germans and a Norwegian, and afterwords we ended up going to a bar which was really fun!
My last day in Edinburgh I met up with one of the Canadians whom I had met while on the walking tour, and together we hiked Arthur's Seat, a mini-hike that gave us a lovely view of Edinburgh - you could even see the coast! It was really pretty. After the hike I just did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the airport to catch my flight back to Dublin, where I had to connect to go to London. Since I got into London pretty late I had planned to stay in a hotel near the airport which turned out to be a really good idea - it was SO nice to have a HOTEL room all to myself for a night (even if it was just a Travelodge, ha!) Plus, my room had a TV, so I got to watch a bit of Olympics. I even got to have a bath, the only one I've had since leaving Canada, apart from a few I got to take at Christmas... point being, it was a big deal for me! I got to sleep in the next morning and have a leisurely breakfast, then it was back to the airport to catch my bus to central London.
Once there I had a BIT of difficulty finding my hostel, as it wasn't really on a main road, but eventually I found it. I checked in (I was the bottom of 3 bunk beds - it was like being in a coffin) and then set out to walk around a bit. I walked around Hyde Park, saw a lovely sunset and also wandered over to Buckingham Palace. The next day (we're now at Saturday, by the way) I did yet ANOTHER one of the free walking tours with ANOTHER awesome guide. We saw all the major sites: Constitution Hill (the street leading to Buckingham Palace that is painted red, permanently, for the Queen!), Buckingham Palace (where the guide told us several funny stories about Palace break ins), Trafalgar Square, Number 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives, and also the name of my hair salon back at home!), Westminster Abby, the Parliament Buildings, Big Ben, etc. After the tour, I went to the Camden Market which, along with having lots of clothes, is also an area that seems to specialize in tattoo and piercing places (again, don't worry family, I didn't get anything done!) But the market was really cool, it was right next to a pretty river - I just really liked the setting! I also got some yummy Indian food there. That night I met up with some French friends from Aix who were also in London that weekend and were staying at the same hostel as me. We ended up drinking, playing cards and pool in the bar that was the bottom floor of our hostel and which they close to the public at about 1:30-2, and then leave open to everyone staying in the hostel - so we ended up having the place to ourselves which was pretty sweet! It was weird to go back to speaking French as I had been in English mode all week long. But it was really fun!
On my last full day in London I went to Speaker's Corner in the morning, located in Hyde Park, which is a little cafe that people use to express themselves through speech. Apparently Sunday morning is a good time to hear people talking but unfortunately I didn't catch anyone doing it. It sounds like it would be really cool to see someone do though! After that I walked for about an hour to get to Notting Hill (I haven't seen the movie but I was intrigued all the same). I wandered into a random thrift shop and asked the girl if I was technically "in" Notting Hill yet - with this comment she knew I was a tourist and suggested I go to the Portobello Market, which I did - it was so cool! It was mainly vintage jewelery, a lot of which was REALLY beautiful (I may have bought a few things) but they had other items too. Amongst this really cool vintage market were also some GORGEOUS little clothing boutiques - man, I wanted to buy everything! These stores were just SO nice. One was decorated with antique sewing machines covering the walls - there were at least 100 sewing machines, it was so neat! And most of the stores were painted really bright colours! And the homes - man, they were gorgeous. Not quite the quaint little cottage-in-the-city type homes I'd been picturing (AKA, they were massive and luxurious) but SO beautiful. It was just a LOVELY area, and it was probably my favourite part of London! (I think I need to see the movie now...) After Notting Hill I went to St. Paul's Cathedral which was AMAZING (and enormous), probably my favourite Cathedral I've seen so far in Europe (and I've seen quite a few already!) It was actually where Princess Diana was married, so that was cool. After that I walked down to see the Tower Bride (Tower being its proper name, and not "London" Bridge as I thought before) and then later I did a night walking tour of London, where they told us about the darker side of the city: executions, deaths in the Tower of London, and of course the famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, WHOM I found out was never caught BUT the man they suspected was a Canadian... awesome.
The next day I was flying out but not until the evening - unfortunately I had come down with something the night before and was still feeling quite sick the next day, so rather than walking around all day in the rain I decided to take it easy at my hostel and just get to the airport early. So I missed out on half a day of sightseeing, and the trip ended on a BIT of a low note, which was kind of the way it started, I guess! But I got to the airport early/stress free which was nice and got back to Aix with no problems.
ALL IN ALL, MY TRIP WAS AWESOME. I liked Dublin, then I really liked Edinburgh, then I really REALLY liked London - it kind of went in a perfect order because I ended up liking each city more than the last (but as I said, I really liked each one!) I found people were very friendly in every city (most of all Edinburgh!) so that was a nice change from the cool attitudes you often encounter in France. It was also refreshing to be in an English speaking environment, and not have to think at all about what I was saying (although I'll admit, I sometimes had a bit of difficulty with the accents over there, especially the Scottish ones!) I had initially been a bit nervous traveling alone but it turned out really good - sure, there were a few moments when I thought, it might be nice to be with someone right now - but I ended up meeting up with or meeting people in each city so it worked out really well! And I played more cards in that week than I've probably played in my life (not counting Uno of course.) But, and this may or may not sound silly, I'm kind of proud that I planned and executed the trip by myself and even though there were a couple of bumps along the way (ie. running around London at midnight trying to find the coach station) I dealt with it and kept a relatively cool head! One last thing: to anyone doing any traveling any time soon, these free walking tours are TOTALLY worthwhile. The website is as follows: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/ and there you can find what cities these tours are offered in. But they're really an awesome way to get to see a city!!!
All that being said, it's nice to be back in my room and with my friends here in Aix. But doing such a long trip does get me excited for what's coming up: next weekend, AMSTERDAM! Man, traveling gets addicting...
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