Filed under: excursion
Well, it’s June 17th and I will be back on Canadian soil in only 2 days. As predicted by all, I cannot believe how quickly my 6 months away have gone. While I am sad that my 6 month vacation is nearing its end, as I have seen and experienced so much, I am excited to come home and see everyone I have missed so much.
I am also looking forward to spending a summer at the lake and then starting my “real life” in the fall. While I will dearly miss the student life (and hope to return to it in the future), I am thrilled to be in a position now where I can tangibly contribute to my community and (while cliché) apply the many lessons I have learnt over my 5 years in post-secondary education.
As for the blog – I am very behind in updating the many sights I have seen in the last month and a half. As I am leaving Europe in a day and a half (and desperately do not want to leave my une Canadienne en France chronicles, incomplete), here is a Coles Notes version of my May and June:
- Mom and Dad visit – we attempt to see as much of France in 11 days as we can. We successfully see Paris, the city of love, Grenoble (Rhone Alp region), Bordeaux, the red wine mecca, and Cannes in the beautiful South of France.
- I am so sick I spend two weeks in bed.
- I go to London to meet up with PK before he spends 2 weeks touring through the UK with his best friend Warren. We are both sick and whine at each other like an old couple. We manage to see most of the London sites and regardless of feeling lousy, we thoroughly enjoy London.
- I return to Grenoble and frantically try and finish all of the school work that had I managed to put off until the last minute.
- During exam week, I take off to Barcelona for 4 days. I meet up with Dan and Ange (two great friends from Vancouver) and we spend everyday together, along with Ange’s parents who were also visiting, discovering the beauty that is Barcelona. We eat the most fabulous food at every meal and see almost all of the sites. I bask in the sunlight which I have been missing due to foul weather in Grenoble and have the most amazing time.
- I return to Grenoble, finish off my exams, meet up with PK, and pack up everything I can fit into two bags. It is a frantic last 5 days and I barely manage to fit everything in. Not to mention the sad parting of roommates and friends. (Good thing Niki is going to come and visit me in Vancouver next summer!)
- PK and I leave Grenoble on May 27th and head to Amsterdam. We visit the two museums, take in Amsterdam’s famous coffee shops and fall in love with the feel of the city. We eat some amazing meals (and some not so amazing meals) and leave Amsterdam wanting more.
- One May 31st, PK and I take the train to Paris. We spend an entire day in the Louvre, visit the Musee d’Orsay and wander throughout the breathtaking city. The weather was very grey, but as Dana has pointed out to me, Paris is almost more beautiful with that backdrop and I can’t help but agree.
- After Paris, on June 4th, we fly to Dublin. The city is a stark contrast to Paris and seems homely (or should I say modest?) in comparison. PK describes the city as “more real and much warmer” than Paris; “It may be uglier, but the people exude a much greater feeling of hospitality.” The reason for our visit to Dublin was to go see Radiohead at Malahide Castle. We see the first concert of their European tour and are blown away by the concert. It is, or course, absolutely spectacular – the music, the band, the lights, the setting…ahhh, everything rocked!
- From Dublin, we were off the Prague for 2 nights. Both PK and I had heard amazing things about the city and were excited to see it first hand. Upon arrival, we had a true Czech lunch made up of various types of pork, sausages, duck, dumplings, cabbage and cabbage soup. It was so good, especially with the half-litre jugs of beer served up with it. Prague overall though left us unimpressed; it was overly touristy and the locals seemed mostly annoyed to have so many foreigners in their city. The architecture was stunning and its preservation from WWII was impressive, but we are in no hurry to return.
- After Prague, we stopped in Vienna for one night before heading to Salzburg. We didn’t want to make the long train trip in one day from Prague to Salzburg so we though Vienna would be a perfect place to spend one night. We arrive in Vienna at night and spent our time in the “Fanzone” watching two Euro Cup Games. The Fanzone was right in the downtown of the city, next to some of Vienna’s most beautiful buildings. It was absolutely huge with over a hundred food and drink vendor stalls, 10 huge screens and a capacity of 50,000. The Euro Cup atmosphere was contagious and watching the Romania-Italy game and the France-Netherlands game next to fans was awesome.
- On June 10th, we made our way to Salzburg. We rented an apartment in the city and have loved having a kitchen, and a couch. We have spent our days wandering through the small, but gorgeous old town, watching a tonne of soccer and lazing indoors because of the rain. We are in Salzburg because Greece (PK’s team) has 3 games here. PK went to the first 2 (which unfortunately Greece lost) and is planning to go to their last game tomorrow against Spain. I wanted to go to a game, but with scalped, single tickets going for anywhere between 200 and 400 Euros, it was a little bit out of my budget. Salzburg also has a Fanzone (much smaller than Vienna’s though), where PK and I have taken in many of the tournaments games.
- On June 16th, PK and I went to Munich for a day trip. The train ride was only 2 hours both ways, so we couldn’t resist to take in a bit of German Bavarian culture. The weather was less than optimal so we spent most of our time eating German food (pork, potatoes, dumplings and cabbage) and drinking Munich beer. The best part of the trip was our visit to the Hofbrau Haus – this venue is a huge beer hall/restaurant, where beer is served in 1 litre steins and the music, laughter and drinking makes for the most joyous atmosphere.
A beautiful English garden
Yea! Buckingham Palace!
London Eye – PK and I really did see all of London
Bridge near the London Eye
Barcelona beautifully juxtaposes old and modern art
Arc de Triomphe – Spanish style!
The Barcelona crew – Dan, Ange, Florence, Gerry, and James (our host and tour guide)
After a great dinner of traditional Catalunya cuisine
I say pose and Ange gladly obliges
In front of Sagrada Familia
Dan, Ange and I on the Barcelona City tour bus
Barcelona’s Gothic town – narrow, winding streets
Sunshine! and Beach!
The most amazing meal ever. Honestly – best in this lifetime!
Our favourite coffee shop
The most amazing mint tea ever!
The famous canals
One of our best dinners on the trip so far – Netherlands traditional food with a twist
PK in all his glory
PK licking his lips in anticipation of the famous Parisian food
The Louvre – PK and I spent 6 hours there!
The view from our hotel room
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The Guinness Storehouse
PK is uber excited – look at that grip on the brochure
The view of Dublin from the top floor of the Storehouse\
This building is much more exciting (and photo worthy) now that I am standing in front of it
Malahide Castle
The massive stage at the concert
VERY excited to be seeing Radiohead
The rainbow kept the rain from dampening our spirits
GREAT concert
The huge crowd
Last look at Dublin before we were off to Prague
Huge beers (by my standards at least)
Screens set up in the town square to watch Czech Republic’s first game in the Euro Cup
The famous astrological clock – how cool!
Charles’s Bridge behind me
The view from Prague Castle
PK working at a smile
All of the doors in Prague Castle are much shorter than PK!
Stunning Gothic cathedral
The Fanzone – Yea Euro Cup!
Soccer mania
PK is addicted to soccer!
Fans everywhere!
The Swedes march to the stadium on game day (there were thousands of them!)
Greece v. Sweden
Greece v. Sweden
The Salzburg Fanzone
PK proudly wearing the Greek jersey
Greece v. Russia
Greece v. Russia
Greek fans chanting, drumming and building energy for tomorrow’s game. Want more of a first hand experience? Watch PK’s video on YouTube: Ellas Ole Ellas Ole
Rain didn’t stop us – thank goodness for ponchos
The beautiful garden behind the Royal Residences
Surfing in the Englisher Garten park – too cool!
Bier Garten in the middle of the park
Hofbrau Haus
Mmm, Weissbier
PK managed to drink 2 of these
The band, playing traditional Bavarian folk music
This is only one of four rooms in the Hofbrau Haus
Marienplatz – I really love the Gothic architecture
Phew! So there you have it; my last two months in a nutshell. I am excited to see everyone when I return and to share more photos and stories that did not make it to the blog.
Filed under: Uncategorized
At the end of April, Mom and Dad undertook the 12 hour flight to come visit me and see some of France. We met up in Paris at 8am and I forced them to deny their jet lag and spend the day sightseeing. We were staying near the Champs-Élysées, so we spent the day wandering around there. The concierge suggested a great French Bistro close to the hotel and I was able to surprise Mom and Dad with my adept ordering abilities. Highlights:
- Dad’s utter amazement with the traffic circle that surrounded the Arc de Triomphe. The organized chaos blew his mind.
- As we strolled down the the Champs-Élysées, a homeless beggar approached Mom and I holding out a note explaining her situation and asking for money (or so I assume). I shook my head at her and kept walking, my typical approach. About 5 steps later though, I realized that Mom was no longer beside me. I turned around to find her intently reading the woman’s note. I had to go retrieve/rescue her like a mother prying a 5 year old away from a candy store window.
- The first amazing French dinner I have eaten since arriving in January.
The next day, we crammed in as many Paris sites as we could. We visited the Louvre, the gardens next to the museum, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. That evening we went to Paris’ most famous dinner theatre, the Moulin Rouge and returned to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up beautifully against the dark night sky. Moulin Rouge was spectacular; the costumes, dancing and singing were amazing. After a few glasses of wine I was cheering emphatically and Dad even seemed to be enjoying himself.
On our last day in Paris, we went to the Paris Flea Markets and Mom and Dad ate their first French crêpes. The flea market was not as cool as it was claimed to be and we didn’t get to the train station on time because cab drivers apparently don’t work on Sunday afternoons. We had to search for over a half hour to find a cab and I have never seen Dad move with such agility as he darted back and forth across the streets to flag one down.
We missed out train to Grenoble, but were able to catch the next one only an hour later. Once in Grenoble, we spent a few hours of separateness as 3 days in one hotel room was a little cramped. For dinner, I took Mom and Dad out to one of my favourite restaurants in Grenoble, La Ferme a Dede. We had hearty mountain cuisine (plenty of meat of potatoes) and ate so much we had to waddle home.
We stayed in Grenoble for 2 nights, as I had a few classes that I need to attend. Mom and Dad spent their days wandering around the city and practicing their French. They also went up to the bastille (where the GGSB Gala was held) and took in all of Grenoble. Mom’s remarks, “Grenoble is so big; I had no idea. The downtown is so condensed and quaint. I can no longer tell everyone at home that you are going to school in a lovely small French town.”
From Grenoble, we headed to Bordeaux. It was here that I came down with the most atrocious flu. It was so bad that I had to make a hospital visit. The flu kept be in bed for over 2 weeks, causing me to subsequently
miss the rest of our France adventure. From Bordeaux, we drove to Cannes, and before we knew it Mom and Dad’s 11 days were up and we were back on the road for Grenoble and then Paris.
Even though I was unable to act as slight interpretor and tour guide for the second half of our trip, Mom and Dad said they still had a fabulous time. They were so taken by the Riviera, that they would like to return in a few years, rent an apartment and spend a month there. I tried my best to weasel my way into that proposition, as I too love the water, endless beaches and fabulous food that reside in the South of France.
I don’t have anymore pictures to share, because Mom used her camera while I was thoroughly testing out the hotel beds. For the stories of what Mom and Dad were up to in Bordeaux and Cannes (and a recounting of the multiple amazing meals and bottles of wine consumed), you will just have to call them and ask yourself!
