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.