I'm Not Jewish, I'm A Woman

...A woman?

No no, Roman

Aaaaand that's basically what I had in my head all day as I traipsed around the Roman monuments in Nimes. That, I have to say, was a pretty cool day. I did not know there were so many things to know about gladiators.

Nimes was the site of a huge Roman settlement, you know, however many years old that is. A few thousand. It has some of the most well preserved Roman buildings in the world. THE WORLD. And does it ever show. The biggest one is the Arenes, or Arena for us English people. It's basically in exactly the same shape as it was two thousand years ago. The only thing it was lacking was some gladiators and the roving vendors selling badger spleens.

SO. That was cool. The Square House (la Maison Carre) was next, but it was under renovation so I didn't see much of it. What I did see was neat, though. It's a temple, so the outside is quite heavily decorated with all neat Roman carvings and things like that. Lots of pillars. You know the drill.

 I went to la Tour Magne next, which is an old defense tower up on a hill, so you get a pretty good view of Nimes and the area around. It's a good climb up a bunch of steps, but the view seemed worth it.

And now for something completely different.

They've bled us WHITE, the bastards...

And what have they ever given us in return?

A: THE ACQUEDUCT.

Namely, the Pont du Gard.

Wow. That was fabulous. It's amazing that anybody managed to build that thing, let alone in Roman times. Not sure what else to say, really, besides wow.

And so that wore me the heck out, so I've been sleeping in and drawing and writing and generally being a starving artist. Although I haven't actually been starving; Jacqueline is an awesome cook. I've got the whole sleeping on the couch thing down pat, though.

It's been nice to not do anything for a few days, I must say.

Has my roommate really been far as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Don't worry if you don't understand the title, old people. It's a *young hip internet* thing.

So...yeah. I don't know if it's because I'm tired, don't speak much French or had too much wine but...my roommate's really confusing. She kept asking me if I wanted to go have some dinner (in French) and I was like, 'Sure...? We just met but sure...?' Then she left without me. Then she came back a few minutes later and said something about how she would pay with her special debit card? And I said, 'Okay, um...just let me use the bathroom first.' So I did, and when I came back to the room she was talking on her cell, apparently discussing her debit card with her boyfriend (I'm not sure what the deal is. It just looks like a card). So I fiddled with my computer while she talked, and when I heard her finish, I looked over and she was asleep.

What.

Seriously, I was so confused. Now I've sort of just accepted the weirdness of the universe and realized how funny it actually was. She's either got short term memory loss or is, like, REALLY high.

Anyway, this weirdness is all taking place at the hostel in Nimes, which besides all the stoned roommates is actually an awesome place. It's a twenty minute slog up a hill, but so worth it. It's very cozy and friendly and a nice sort of bohemian reprieve from the usually clinical hostels I've been staying at. The guy at the front desk is an older British guy with a mohawk and a bunch of tattoos, and he's super keen on helping people out. Also, there's lots of good cheap food, 'good' being the adjective I am excited about. I've had plenty of cheap food in the past little while, mostly in the vein of crackers, Brie cheese and drinkable yogurt. It was nice to finally eat something hot again.

I don't know why I'm tired, but I am. I spent all day on trains coming from Amsterdam, with only a brief hour's reprieve in the Gare de Lyon in Paris. I spent the first three-hour train ride finishing The Girl Who Played With Fire (not because there was nothing else to do; it was because once I started I couldn't stop). At Gare du Nord, I met a girl from Milan on her way home through Paris who spoke zero French and could not figure out the Metro ticket machine. We were both going to Gare de Lyon, so I guided her through the Parisian public transit system, and then bought her a pain au chocolat while we waited for our trains. So, I felt good about that. It was weird to know more about Paris than someone who lives so close to it. I always assumed that if you lived in Europe you knew everything there was to know about Paris, I don't know, by proxy or something. It's like instinct; Europeans just know how to deal with Paris, right?

Silly Canadians.

Anyway, I don't know why all that is important. I just felt like writing, I guess. Dad, if you read this, I'm going to the Pont du Gard soon, I promise. I will take lots of pictures.

HAARLEM

…no, not that Harlem. Two A’s, Haarlem. Haarlem, the Netherlands. I swear there are no ghettos here, just some old almshouses.

Through great adversity comes great opportunity, or something like that. I forget the quote, if it even was a quote in the first place.

   Anyway, I kind of screwed up. I got all excited to attend the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Amsterdam on November 11^th. I figured if there was one place to be a Canadian on Remembrance Day, it was Holland.

   After I arrived I found out that the Dutch celebrate Remembrance Day on May 4^th. So, I wallowed in sadness for a while, then kicked my ass into gear and did some awesome stuff.

   First off was the Corrie Ten Boom house, aka The Hiding Place. It’s a museum in the middle of Haarlem dedicated to the Ten Boom family, who were a family of clockmakers, but also a family who hid Jews fleeing from the Nazis in WWII. There are so many fake walls in that house, I can’t even begin…but wow. What a story. Google it, or just wait until I get back and I’ll tell you about it. (If you know me, that is.) Free, too, with very nice guides that let me loiter and ask questions.

   As I was walking away from the Ten Boom house, I saw a windmill. And I thought, ‘shucks, I’m in Holland. I should probably see at least one windmill up close.’ But this was not just any windmill. This was a museum too, one where you could go right inside and see all the inner workings of the mill. I dug that tour right into the ground, it was so cool. The original windmill had burnt down in the thirties, unfortunately, but the recreation is basically exactly the same, and fully functional to boot. I learnt more about windmills than I actually knew there was to know about windmills. Then afterwards I got to stay and have tea with the guides, which was fun. They’re all volunteers so you know they’re really enthusiastic about their work, and about things in general.

   The guides pointed me in the direction of an almshouse, of which there are several (read: a lot) in Haarlem. I’m still not sure why, but there was something about Haarlem that attracted almshouses, mainly for women. Most of them nowadays are residences, so I didn’t really get to snoop up close, but it was neat to pass by on the street.

   The guides also sent me to the Teylers Museum, which is the oldest museum in the Netherlands, and I’m willing to bet the most full of random historical stuff. It has fossils, coins, paintings, medals, sculpture, geodes, prints, books, and, my favourite, an entire room dedicated to obsolete scientific crap with funny names built by the Victorians. I swear, I will never, ever get tired of obsolete scientific Victorian crap. I got to see a ‘phonautograph’ and a ‘kaleidophone’ and an ‘automatic galvanograph’ and basically a thousand different things named with various combinations of those words. I spent way too much time in there. And then, just when I thought I was done, I found out the museum had a room dedicated to old-timey magicians, so after my heart stopped palpitating I checked it out.

   The only thing I love more than obsolete Victorian science crap is 18-19^th century magical crap. Those people were so effing clever, man. And so classy, too. Man…I miss those days, despite not being born then. I want more magicians wearing gloves and starchy vests and capes and funny mustaches.

   So, some World War Two history, a windmill, tea and cakes, and obsolete crappy Victorian things. I’d say that that is a day that more than makes up for the lack of poppies and reveilles around here.

BIKES, BIKES EVERYWHERE

...is about as close as you can get to describing the traffic situation in Copenhagen. Man, there is one hella efficient transit system here, I tell you what.

Oh yeah, there are some nice churches and things too. Honestly, though, I didn't see too much. I think I've sort of seen as many quaint medieval streets as I can for one trip. Lovely as they are, I couldn't stand the thought of seeing any more. Which is not to say that I didn't have fun and/or do things, they just weren't the typical 'oh my god I'm in Europe' things.

I took a canal tour, which was fun, but that's about as far as I went with the Danish tourist office. I climbed up a bunch of towers, namely the steeple of Our Saviour's church and the Rundetaarn. I had some awesome hang-out goodtimes with an online friend on Saturday night; that was peachy to a quite grand degree.

My hostel was in sort of a woodsy area (although, really, Denmark doesn't have a whole lot of wilderness. It was really more like a dry wetland), so I took a few walks there. I also visited the free town of Christiania, which is within Copenhagen but legally is an entirely separate state. It's run entirely by the residents, who are all artists. Like, all of them. Christiania's very colourful, to say the least. It's like Denman Island if Denman Island had no cars and very lax laws on graffiti.

Today I left my bag at the train station and took a day trip back to Sweden, to Malmo. I saw the Turning Torso, which is basically a building shaped like a helix. I also took a walk in the Kungsparken (which I think is the proper spelling...there are so many variations on 'King's Park' I never know which to use). That was great. I spent hours there, but unfortunately it was so beautiful I got distracted and forgot to take pictures.

I leave you with the one new thing you learn every day: there are jellyfish in Malmo. Right in the canals. Go figure.

SO...

…Stockholm.

Oh crud, am I tired. I just spent three days…doing things. Doing a lot of things. All very cool things, though, so that was a bonus.

In no particular order, I :

- Visited the tropical butterfly house

- Toured the Nobel Museum

- Took a stroll in the royal Hagaparken

- Visited the Vasa Museum

- Saw the Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty

- Visited the State Museum of Stockholm

- Visited the Medieval Museum of Stockholm

- Paid my respects at the grave of Stikkan Anderson

and some more stuff that was awesome but too numerous to list here. Those were just the biggies. Basically, I haven’t sat down for three days except to sleep.

HOWEVER. I feel great. Tired, but in a good way. Hungry, but also in a good way. I bought some Danish rye bread, liver paste and brie so I’m eating just fine.

Right now I'm sitting in the Copenhagen Central train station, leeching off the McDonald's free Wifi while I wait for the tourist office to open. I got off the night train from Stockholm at 6:27 this morning, but I'm surprisingly awake. Still, I am looking forward to crashing at the hostel.

HAR-MAR-NEE GRAN-JER

…is how Scottish people pronounce ‘Hermione Granger’. This I know because of the dad that was playing a Harry Potter card game across the aisle from me with his daughter on the train to Edinburgh.

Anyway, I am safe and sound but totally worn out in the Skeppsholmen af Chapman hostel in Stockholm, Sweden. I’m staying in the awesome part of the hostel…the part that’s a clipper ship. In case you were wondering, yes, it is as cool as it sounds. I have my own peephole and everything.

My last post was from Wincanton…not a whole lot has happened since then, but what did happen was awesome and exciting. Mum, Tammy and Linda met me for a few days in London, you know, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye, and all that. There’s really not a whole lot to say about London other than what’s been said before; it’s great, it’s fun, it’s awesome, go see it someday.

Edinburgh, on the other hand, is a whole crap ton of fun. It’s totally on my list of places to go back to one day. I didn’t get to do a lot of what I wanted to do, but the stuff I did get to do was just as awesome. I could go on for hours about all the stuff I saw, but I’m tired right now. Maybe later.

I didn’t just see Edinburgh; Mum and co. and I spent some time with our Scottish relatives. We got to see the town where my great-grandmother grew up, and where a lot of her relatives are buried. That was a nice few days away from the big cities. I think I needed that.

So, before I fall asleep at the keyboard, I’ll end this. Goodnight for now.

I Just...I Can't...What...I Don't Even...

...have the words...

Okay, well, actually, I have one word. One word for you.

DISCWORLD.

Oh my god.

I just...wow. I don't even. Wow. This...wow.

Okay, let's see if we can put a sentence together. Oh wait, I just did. Let's go for two.

So, the Cunning Artificer's Discworld Emporium in Wincanton. (Damn, I failed.) Let me try again.

I SPENT SO MUCH BLOODY MONEY. But oh my gods was it ever worth it. My bed is covered (I'm not exaggerating. COVERED) in Discworld memorabilia. I had to clear a space to sit down to write this blog.

Quite frankly, I'm a terrible Buddhist. I'd be lying if I told you that all this stuff wasn't making me ridiculously happy. It's all just sitting there...BEING BEAUTIFUL. So many shiny new things. I'm in love.


But anyway, the store's nice too. I spent a lovely hour browsing their fine wares, chatting with the clerks (lovely, lovely people) and petting the store cats. They even gave me some little freebies because I'd come all the way from Canada. (The clerks, not the cats.) I was lucky to get there when I did, though; they were only to be open for another hour before closing for Wednesday AND Thursday. I would have been totally out of luck if I'd come any later.

But I wasn't.

And now I'm going to go paw through all my stuff.


Sweet.

The Angels Have The Phone Box!

...and luckily, they work at the Doctor Who Exhibition at the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff.

Seriously, guy at the front desk...SO NICE. I bought a defunct toy (the nature of which I will be revealing in person because it is too damn cute for a mere blog to handle), and he tried THREE more before we found one that worked. He didn't even blink. Then he gave me a whole whack of spare batteries, a bunch of bumper stickers and a Dalek facecloth for my trouble. Wow. I couldn't even believe it. THAT is called customer service, my friends!

Of course, the exhibit itself was awesome as well. I got to look at David Tennant's sneakers through a glass case (OOH AHH) and see all his costumes. They had a Tardis, of course, and a whole shipload of props and monsters. GOOD TIMES, people, good times.

I also hung out under the Torchwood tower (the big mirror tower at the Millennium Centre). Unfortunately, Torchwood was closed that day. Either that, or Jack saw I was coming and locked the door. :( But I did get to see the tower with the water running, which was a bonus. When I first showed up it was bone dry, and I thought 'Aww. Maybe it only runs on Sundays or something'. But THEN a little trickle of water ran down it. And another, and another until the whole thing was shimmering. Very beautiful, I must say.

I saw Cardiff Castle too, and that was awesome. It started as a Viking fortress, then the Romans took over, then the Normans, then the Georgians and the Victorians, so there are, like, fourteen different kinds of building all put together. The one thing they all have in common is that they were each built by eccentric rich people. William Burgess designed most of the Georgian part, and apparently he was high on opium the whole time, so most of it came out quite...original. Especially the nursery. But a good day, either way.

Tomorrow...WINCANTON.

The turtle moves.

Guess What I Climbed Up On Today

…I’ll give you a hint. Peter Gabriel wrote a song about it and it wasn’t ‘Sledgehammer’.

HOLY CRAP THE VIEW WAS AMAZING. I can see why there’s a song about that place. I saw the city, but not the lights, because it was the daytime. No eagles, either. Just some woodpigeons. Still beautiful, though. Apparently there used to be a Roman settlement on top of the hill, but it got burned down by the Visigoths (or somebody like that) because the Romans only dug a defensive trench on one side. Nice job, Romans.

That was Bath. Apparently, Solsbury Hill is in Bath, not Salisbury. (Note the spelling difference. I HAD NO IDEA.) Salisbury was nice, but I kind of just took it easy there. The cathedral…honestly, just like all the other cathedrals I’ve seen. I didn’t do a lot of sightseeing in Salisbury, but I did a lot of hanging out with cool people in the hostel, so that was fun.

Right now I’m in Cardiff, getting ready to go to bed. (Peter Gabriel was lying to you. One does not simply ‘climb up on Solsbury Hill’. It’s practically vertical. I AM EXHAUSTED.) Tomorrow…well, you’ll have to wait and see what tomorrow is going to bring. All I will say is that it involves a blue British police box and time travel…

Vic-Tory

...just pretend that was the Announcer's voice. I am stupid and do not know how to post audio links.

So, yes, Victory. Namely, the HMS Victory. Which I visited today. NO BIGGIE.

I lie. Such a biggie. I got to see a ship's biscuit, and see how they fired a cannon. I learned what grog is, and I got to see a little bronze plaque on the spot, the very spot, where Admiral Nelson was shot at the Battle of Trafalgar. WOAH. So cool. Unfortunately, they asked us not to take pictures inside the ship, and being the Canadian I am, I complied (unlike some sneaky tourists who took pictures behind the guide's back. FOR SHAME). Though I did get some cool pictures of the mainsail, which is full of cannonball holes, but overall survived Trafalgar. I also got to see the museum exhibition on Henry VIII's warship, the Mary Rose. They're doing work on it right now, so I didn't get pictures, but I did get to see a bunch of videos and replicas, so it was all good. The guide at the museum said that the videos were actually better than the real thing because of all the close-ups, so that was good. Also, there were enough artifacts to see to...sink a ship. Har har.

Yesterday I walked along the seafront, which was also very cool, but in a different way. The sea was more blue than I've ever seen it. There are a lot of great green spaces along the walk, and lots of nice gardens. Unfortunately, Southsea Castle is closed in October except for group bookings, so that's a miss for me. But I did get to see the war memorial.

I'm sitting under Spinnaker Tower right now, but I don't know if I'll go up. Perhaps I'll post later if I do.

PS. I promise there will be pictures on Facebook soon. As soon as I can get access to a relatively private internet connection, I'll upload them.

A Girl Walks Into A Bus Station In Caen

 …and starts blogging. Get it?

Anyway, all is well and good. I’m waiting for the bus that will take me to the ferry that will hopefully take me to England. I had a nice morning walking around Caen, but I think I’m ready to not carry this backpack around for a little while. I enjoyed the town, regardless of the forty pounds of nonsense on my back. I wandered around a very beautiful church, ate some fromage on a park bench and got to watch a demonstration (those pesky train folks again) from afar. Then I sat in a train station and ate some yogurt while a French hobo talked to himself behind me, but he kind of gave up when he realized no one was listening and wandered off.

You can’t actually get on the internet in the station unless you’re a Neufbox (French Internet provider) member, so by the time this goes up I’ll probably be in England. I managed to find a hotspot (4 euros an hour, but worth it, I think) in Caen, but who knows when I’ll find another. I guess I’ll have to start going to cafes.

I’ll finish this post once I find some internet, at which time more interesting things will have happened. Hopefully.

And here we are, in an internet café in Portsmouth. All is good; I’ve decided I’m tired and need a break from trains so I’m going to hang out here for the next couple days. I’m staying at the Ferryman guest house; hopefully I’ll be able to afford it. My debit card has so far been frightfully disappointing. I was trying to avoid currency exchanges, but frankly ATM’s are not much better. I might have to swap some euros soon.

So, other than the debit card, everything’s going well. I don't think I'll be going to Plymouth on this trip; I'm just too tired. But who knows; maybe after some sleep I'll head out that way.

I Am Not Jean Rochefort

…I just don’t understand French train signs, is all.

I was sitting in a seat marked ‘Bordeaux St. Jean Rochefort’ on the train from Agen to Bordeaux. When we stopped at Marmande, a bunch of people got on. Because I and the lady I was sitting next to were sitting in reserved seats, we immediately checked to see if anyone was headed for our spots. I was convinced that I should watch out for someone name Jean Rochefort, but she never came. It was only after I arrived in Bordeaux that I realized the seat I had been in was reserved for someone (name unknown) from the St. Jean station in Bordeaux up to the station in Rochefort.

Durr.

Anyway.

Blogging here from the Bordeaux train station. The Wifi here costs twelve (Canadian) dollars an hour, so I’ll put this up somewhere else, I think. I’ll be in Paris by this afternoon, so hopefully they’ll have some form of cheap internet that I may inform you of my train travels.

   I’m on my way to Portsmouth, England. Unfortunately I had to cut my time short in Agen due to train strikes scheduled to start tomorrow. Sure, it would have been possible to get into Paris, but there would be one train for every three. Meaning three times as many people on the train. I don’t think it’s fair of me to carry a backpack like mine on a train like that. Also, the Paris Metro is going to be screwed up totally, so the more I get done today (Monday) the better.

   So, we’ll see.

   And here we are ON the train. My goodness. Surrounded by Russians on all sides, tearing apart a whole chicken and making sandwiches. Well, sure. Why not. My neighbours on all sides have sort of closed their windows, so there’s not much to see. Thank goodness I brought forty pounds of crap to keep me occupied. I was getting lost in thought. Like, really, lost. I was starting to stare into the abyss, or it was staring at me, or something like that. It was trippy. So I started to blog.

   Anyway, I met a nice girl at the train station; she said she lives in Sweden, and when she found out I was headed that way she gave me her address. Perhaps there will be a meeting? Who knows.

   And, here we are in Caen. Sorry this post is so broken up, I’ve been writing at different times each day to see what happens. So far…disjointedness. But I think I will finish here, at a hotel in Caen, after a very nice train ride from Paris. I talked with a French guy on the train for literally an hour straight (in pathetic French with desperation English thrown in) but, overall, an enriching experience. I now have two strangers’ addresses in one day; a new record for me!

   I’m going to go enjoy a scalding shower before I keel over from exhaustion. Until the next hotspot, my friends.

Here We All Are Then

...in Agen, safe and sound. Though possibly for a shorter time than I'd hoped. There is a whole lot of political jive going on right now in France; there is a law in the works that raises the age of retirement by two years. Some people aren't very happy about that, so the train workers are going on strike on Tuesday, leaving me with the option of leaving almost immediately or being stranded in Agen for who knows how long.

Not that that's a bad thing, but I do have other places to see. Agen is fun to explore, and it's a treat to spend some time with Kim and Jacqueline. It sucks that I have to cut my time short, but I'm sure I will enjoy my early foray to Britain.

So, besides all this scheduling hoohah, I just spent a great week in Quimper with Melina and Kel. I hardly had time to take it all in, I saw so much. Castles, churches, beaches, forests, ruins, everything. My favourite was the ruins of a Breton chapel, St. Languidou. And of course galettes with Melina's in-laws. Galettes are like a huge crepe made with a special kind of flour...'delicious' is all I have to say about that.

I packed for winter, unfortunately, and so far then weather in Agen has been in the high 20's. I've got way too many sweaters for my own good right now. Hopefully things chill out in Stockholm...

Paris For A Day

Or two…about a week ago…or something like that…

So, yeah. Apparently I’m a terrible blogger. I was supposed to be updating this thing daily. It’s been what, like, a week and a half? And this is my first post. In my defense, French keyboards are weird. Writing a whole long post on one would have driven me crazy.

HOWEVER. I now have the ability to hook up my compy to the interwebs. And so, without further ado, I present…blogging. Yaaaaaay.

But this is fun blogging. This is about travel and cool stuff like that. Cool stuff…like Paris?!?!dotdotdot?!?!

Yes, I landed in Paris on the morning of September 27^th at Charles Du Gaulle airport. I was supposed to meet my uncle Kel there at the Arrival gate. It only took us three and a half hours to find eachother. Having gotten off the same plane. Seated eight rows apart.

SHH. We’re special.

But the point is, we found eachother at the bus stop headed for Montparnasse, where we were to meet my cousin Melina. And meet her we did. Then we all headed along on the Metro to her cousin’s apartment, where we stayed overnight.

There's not a a whole lot else to say about Paris at this point. We did the whole Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame thing and then headed out. It was really quick. I'll get to stay longer near the end of the trip, so I'll write more about Paris then.

Why Are There No Posts?

For the simple reason that I have not left yet.

But seeing as how I've never had anything remotely resembling a blog, I thought it would be best if I learned how to do stuff now.

So, give me about two weeks, and we'll see how we are then.

I'm mostly doing this for family, but I guess if you happen to stumble across this, then welcome. :)