Fes and Chefchauoen

After a long train ride north, I finally arrived in a city called Fes. Its in a river valley and the city extends up on either side of the mountains. The hostel I stayed at was a bit "fancier" than the last one I was at but not as friendly. It felt much more institutional rather than a cozy riad. A riad is a guest house where there is a small garden or patio in the center with rooms on either side. The patio is open air, making the riad pretty chilly in the evenings if its not heated. The patio of this riad was covered over but still open air which was nice but cold. The rooms had heaters but they were only turned on when people started going to bed. Can't complain, in Marrakech we didnt have heaters. It wasnt too cold, more like when you are camping in the summer sort of chilly.

Anyways, after being in busy Marrakech I was excited meet other like-minded people who wanted to do a day trip outside the city. We hopped on a train to Meknes (about 30mins) then took a "grande taxi" to a near by town where there is a site with fantastic Roman ruins. The site is only 50% excavated as once Morocco became independent of France, the funding for the site was completely pulled. The site is called Volubilis and was the Roman capital city of northern Africa between about 25 BC and 280 AD. If marble from the site hadn't been taken to build the palaces in Meknes, it would have been the best preserved Roman site in the world. Most of the buildings were also destroyed by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. It is an amazing site with many reconstructed floor mosaics depicting Roman myths and gods. It was interesting that the mosaics have been left uncovered and open to the elements but I guess that's what happens when funding for such a huge project is cut off completely and left for a government that has bigger priorities to deal with. Most of the statues and more fantastic finds are housed in the Louvre (Paris) and the museum in Rabat, Morocco.

I had no desire to see the medina or anything else in Fes so headed off to a small city called Chefchauoen farther north. It is known to travelers as the "Smurf" city because all the buildings and houses in the Medina are painted white and many shades of blue. Wikipedia doesn't tell me why though. Someone told me that the town was painted blue for a movie a long while back but I can't find anything that says that.

Chefchauoen was amazing! I had such a lovely time there and met some great people. It was really fun to wander the medina through the maze of streets and get totally lost. It was so easy to find my way out of the medina so I was never lost for long. It was such a relief to be able to walk the streets and not get grabbed by a shop owner to come into their store and look at their goods or be yelled at and followed because you didn't go into a shop. On the other hand, I did feel safe enough to wander the medina by myself for a couple hours but in that case I got more offers of marriage and cat calls than any other city I visited in Morocco. It was entertaining to hear what the men on the streets would call out... well I should say "boys" as they were all under 20. Most actual men wouldnt say anything to me, just stare... which is creepier. Anyhow, I got lots of offers to be traded for camels or Berber rugs and the boys would say things like "hello flower"... and "wow wow so beautiful"... I was trying not to laugh right in their faces when they would say things like that. It was interesting that they would never say something until you had completely walked passed them then they would say hello and start trying to talk to me.

Christmas was amazing! It was pretty neat to be in a country where there was completely no sign of Christmas on Christmas day. We all slept in late after having spent the previous evening drinking wine by the fire in the riad. An amazing harty breakfast prepared by the riad owner then off for a long hike in the mountains! (I took pictures but they are on my "big" camera and Spanish computers seem to be unable to handle my camera right now so no pictures of the hike uploaded yet.) We hiked up one of the mountains surrounding Chefchauoen then to the next town over. We wandered the town for a short while and saw a old lady transporting a shipment of straw bales from the edge of the town to her house on the other side of the town. There were no roads through the town, just narrow paths, hence why she was carrying the bales. It was pretty incredible because she had 4 bales strapped to her back then over her shoulders with thin rope. These were full sized 20kg bales of straw and she had 4 on her back! I complain about carrying my backpack which only weighs 18kg. She had to make multiple trips to get all the bales to her house. The other amazing thing was that she had 2 kids with her, one was a girl no older than 4 years old and a boy that was probably 7 or 8 years old. The girl had one full bale on her back and carried that through town while the boy just followed behind, carrying nothing! I should have taken a photo, that little girl was amazing!

After the hike we spent the rest of the day hanging out on the roof top terrace sun tanning and chatting. Dinner was at a restaurant near by then more wine by the fire.

I am back in Spain after the most wretched travel day of my entire trip so far. It involved a sketchy bus, poor attempts at hailing taxis, closed ferry ports, arguing with more taxi drivers, getting help from an incredible Moroccan man (made my day!), hurrying to catch another ferry, waiting an hour to then get on that ferry, waiting even longer on the ferry for the ferry to leave the port, huge swells and an awful ferry crossing to Spain, missing the last bus to Malaga, and wandering the streets of Algeciras to find a hotel that was both open and had a free room (being boxing day). The day was saved when I got to finally connect and skype with my family to wish them a Merry Christmas! The day was terrible at the time but now I can laugh at it...

Pictures!!

Spice market in Marrakech.

Souqs (markets) in the medina (old town) in Marrakech.

Medina gate in Fes.

Leather shoes sold in the souqs. I noticed that a large amount of Moroccans prefer to wear these shoes (more like slippers really) or actual fluffy bedroom slippers when they are outside the house. Yup.... pink, fluffy, soft, bedroom slippers out in the dirty, chicken poop, donkey pee covered streets.

There are cats EVERYWHERE in Morocco. They are kind of gross and creepy... not cute at all. On our Christmas hike we had to pass along a path just outside of the medina where there were caves full of stray cats and the path was completely covered with chicken feathers and bird parts. Reminded me of a certain someone picking "chicken parts" out of her soup at lunch time... I laughed to myself at the memory.

Medina in Chefchauoen. The man on the right is wearing a typical Moroccan coat. Its floor length, made of a thick material, and has an awsome pointy hood! They look exactly like the Ewoks from Star Wars.

Lovely water fountain on a stairway in Chefchauoen.

Blue!

Main arc leading to the main street of Volubilis.

Tomorrow I am headed to Sevilla for New Years! Should be exciting... I am looking forward to the fireworks!! Then off to Portugal for a couple weeks!

Happy New Years... have a fun night ringing in the new year!!!!!

K.

Morocco

**Note: weird keyboard... cant find punctuation keys!

My first introduction to Morocco was attepting to find my hostel and getting good and lost in the madena in Marrakech. The madena is the old part of the city where all the markets and souqs are. Lucky me, I was proposed to twice on my way to the hostel... *come to my house and be my wife*.... *I come to your country and be your good husband for you*... How could they possibly tell I am desprate for a husband right now? It must be written across my forhead or something. Must look into getting that removed. Kidding.

The Moroccan people are very friendly and willing to help show me where to go. I was warned about this as they want a tip after they help you so I was very determined to find my own way. I also didnt have small change so couldnt actual tip if I did get help. Fail. I got very lost deep in the souq which is the crazy markets where all the shop keepers are yelling to get you into their shop.

One nice man must have felt very sorry for me as I passed him probably 5 times in my lostness. He actually gave me good directions and said *you Canadian... I help you because you people are very kind very very kind*. Lucky me. I must have looked distressed when I knocked on the hostel door as I was greated with a *my you look relieved to be here!* and I very much was. I was offered lots of tea and told to relax on the roof top terrace while they got the paper work in order.

This is one of the best hostels I have stayed at so far. The staff is amazing and so helpful. The people I have met are all awesome as well. I ended up going on an *excursion* into the desert for 3 days and 2 nights. It was amazing! We stopped at some wonderful places along the way including the town where the scene from Gladiator was filmed... you know... when he first becomes a slave. Very cool. We got to ride camels over huge sand dunes while the sun was setting over the Sahara desert and slept in Berber tents for the second night. The tents were freezing cold though. May have had something to do with the fact that it was +27 that day then dropped to +5 when the sun set... big change in temperature feels colder than it actually is. We got back on the camels bright and early to watch the sunrise over the Sahara. Some of the best times I have had yet. The sunset goes on the *best* list for the best sunset so far.

Riding a camel: bumpy up and down and major rocking side to side that gets worse when the camel is walking down hill. The guys on the trip said it was the most uncomfortable 4 hours of thier life. I dont envy them at all but I enjoyed the ride. It was tons of fun. My camel was named John Lenon but I renamed him Fenton after the hilarious youtube video of the dog. Google it. So funny!

Funny part of the night in the desert was watching the Berber guides attempt to start a fire. They had it going pretty good but then it was dying out and instead of adding smaller pieces of wood to keep it going, they poured it out with water then soaked the logs in gasoline, added candle sticks right out of the packages, and lit a match! That got the fire going but scared the crap out of the rest of us! Next they poured some whiskey on the fire which was probably the dumbest thing I have seen.

The food in Morocco is amazing if you like couscous and tagine. Tagine is a mix of meat and veggies baked in those pyramid shaped dishes. The food here is amazingly inexpensive. A whole roast chicken with all the fixings plus a starter, drink, and dessert goes for about $10 Canadian. Of course I cant eat all that so have been opting for tagine or couscous with meat which is about $3 Canadian. Its cheaper to eat out than to buy food from the grocery store and prepare it yourself. How am I going to handle going back to Europe?! Alcohol on the other hand is very hard to come by and will cost about the same as what youd pay in Canada or the States... ie very expensive. Hash or other drugs are sold like candy in the streets, however.

 This was in a kasbah house where we were told about Berber rugs and drank tea with a Berber man. They then tried to sell us rugs. Beautiful but no thanks. Too expensive for me this trip. Maybe next time. Note the camel pants I am wearing. No, they are not made from camel, rather are designed for riding camels. Big and baggy with too much room in the crotch. Just what I need.....kidding. They were only the equivalent of a dollar so I bought them.

Lunch at a cafe before heading to the desert. Sylvia, who took this picture, insisted I pull a peace sign... she is from Bali so does this in every picture taken of her. Note the matching camel shirt. This one was actually made of camel.

 Camel ride! This was the second day before sunset. I am in the purple on the 5th camel from the front. Sylvia at the back here is sporting the entire camel outfit with coordinating pink scarf. Dashing!

After dinner around the gasoline and whiskey fire with our guides singing. It sounded like the one guy knew all the words and the others were making it up as they went, kind of like when you sing karaoke and dont know the words. I was trying so hard not to laugh.

I have more pictures but they dont seem to be loading very well. Tomorrow I am headed north to a city called Fes. I have heard good things about it compared to Marrakech so looking forward to that.

Happy Holidays! Its easy to forget that its almost Xmas as there is no sign of it in Morocco, being a Muslim country.... I dont mind :) Time to drink tea and work on my tan!! I will brag... you all are with your families this weekend so I will let you know just how warm (+27) and sunny it is here :P

Miss you all,

Kylie

Typical Day...

Wow, I just read the last post. Sorry about the poor grammer and awful sentence structure.

Ok, a typical day for me no matter what city I am in usually starts with getting up a half hour before breakfast is over. This can be anywhere between 9:30 and 10:30am. Next I slowly get ready for the day ahead which either involves site seeing or traveling. For site seeing days, we usually head out around 10:30 or 11 and check out the city until 2pm when we would then grab some lunch. This is usually something quick like a kebap (addicted now... will need an intervention when I get home), tapas (since being in Spain), or a baguette (but not since France... I cant even look at baguettes anymore...blah!) and a drink or two. Off for more site seeing after lunch.

We often grab food (and drinks) for dinner at a grocery store on our way back to the hostel. A big communal dinner is cooked usually by myself and another girl for the group of us that spent the day together. The night usually progresses to more drinks and lots of talking and socailizing as other people start thier dinners and join us (or we join others).

The night ends either very early (1am), early (3am), or we go all out (6am).... this last one doesnt happen that often but when it does, we still manage to be up in time for breakfast which amazes me.


A travel day depends on where I am headed. Either I am up at 6am for long train rides or 9am for short travel days. I don´t need to be up at 6am but I hate trying to find my hostel when its dark out which is around 6-7pm in Spain. If I´m up at 6am, I grab breakfast at the train station and drink the horrid coffee on the train. Horrid train coffee or horrid hostel coffee... not much difference except one is free.

Train travel is very agreeable for me. Unlike planes, I don´t get vertigo when I get off and unlike cars, I can read (for a little bit) and eat on trains. Fantastic!

When I find my hostel, I usually dump my stuff and find food. Grocery stores are usually near by so I try for those. Making dinner, having a drink, and meeting new people is how a travel day usually ends.

Today was neither a site seeing or travel day for me. I ran this morning, had breakfast, sent emails, bought myself a xmas gift (new shoes....much needed), then napped. Its cold in Madrid so site seeing isn´t really inspiring me right now.

Tomorrow I head to Marrakech, Morocco for a couple nights before venturing into the desert. I can´t wait to see how different Morocco is from Europe and North America. I think I know what to expect from talking to people who have ben there but I still feel it will be a bit of a culture shock for me. All I can hope for is to not be robbed, not get food poisoning, and no bed bugs. Thats not too much to ask for, is it? Sunny and +26 in Marrakech today. Not trying to brag but it will be a nice change from (almost) freezing Madrid. Its like an adventure within an adventure!

Kylie

Road Trip in Southern Spain!

Ok, I am not really going to bother with the details of Barcelona so will move on to what happened after. I went on to Valencia which was beautiful but I spent too much time there. I was also a little unmotivated to see any sites as I had just come from Barcelona which was so incedible it´s pretty hard to top. Valencia is known for its art museum, imax theatre, and aquarium which are all designed to be very modern. You can see this in the picture below. The imax theathre is designed to look like a human eye when you stand at a certain spot on the walk way and look at its reflection in the water. Pretty neat. I spent most of my time in Valencia just relaxing and catching up on travel errands (laundry, postcards, etc).

Granada was next. What a cool city! It is unlike any where else in Spain. Much more character and flair as it has such a huge Arab influence from near by Africa. Many small ally ways with shops selling Moroccan ñeather bags, shoes, fabric, clothes, spices, etc. It was an interesting warm-up for whats yet to come.

Granada is located in the mountains so is at a higher elevation. This means ´´good-bye +23¨abd hello +10! So cold! Its also know for the caves located in the hills surrounding the city. These caves are sort of separated into the gypsy caves, hippy caves, and nomad-traveler caves. The gypsies were the original inhabitants of the caves then the hippies took over a section. Most of the caves now have electricity, new this past year. The nomad caves are rented out on a weekly or monthly basis for about 200 euro per month, electricity included. You can also stay in the hippy caves where rent is only a bottle of wine a week. Considering wine is 65cents per litre, I would say its a pretty good deal.. if you can handle the smell of hippies!

The main attraction (other than the caves) in Granada is the Alhambra. Its a palace-fortrace that was built by the Muslim Emirs in the 14th century then King Charles V took it over and built himself a palace on the same grounds. I went up there with a Kiwi I met at breakfast. We spent a good 3 hours wandering the palaces, gardens, and fortace before lunch. Granada is amazing for another reason. You buy a 2euro drink (beer of course) and you get free tapas! Imagine that! Buy a drink, get free food! I didnt want to leave Granada for this reason but also had to leave Granada for this reason. For those who dont know, tapas is like a small dish of food that is served with drinks. Each one is different and all bars have a different menu of tapas they specialize in. One place we went to we got full sized sandwiches with our drink. Another had couscous with beef. So many yummy tapas... pretty much the only thing I have been eating since leaving Valencia.

After lunch that day we were taken on a very informal tour of the gypsy caves. A guy staying at the hostel (major hippy) made friends with a cave woman (hehe) a few days before and offered to bring 4 of us up there. We brought beer, wine, and bread up as ´gifts´as getting food up to the caves is quite a chore. No wonder the cave people (hehe) have stayed up there for hundreds of years! They have the best view of the valley, Granada, mountains, the Alhambra on the other mountain, and perfect view of the sunset! We played music with the gypsy lady, drank a few beers, and watched the sunset, then she gave us a tour of her cave. It was 4 rooms basically dug out of the mountain with white walls, lots of lights, a small tv, kitchen, bedroom, closet, and living room. She had quite the comfortable set-up in there! It was amazing how generous she was to us new comers. The cave people (hehe) dont like tourists but they opened up to us, welcomed us into their home, and offered us more drinks and food. Considering how little they have and how hard it is to get food up into the hills where the caves are, this completely amazed me. This was another ´best day´ for me.

Granada was also where I met our road trip crew. The kiwi I had spent the day with was also friends with 2 other guys (Americans) and we met an Aussie girl that night. The bond was formed... the next day we rented a car and drove south to the coast of Spain. We spent 4 amazing days together exploring the coast, enjoying a couple beers (well... more than a couple, they were only 61cents per litre!!!!!), eating more tapas, and watching many an amazing sunset over the Mediteranian Sea. We went from Granada to Malaga to Tarifa to Gibraltar to Ronda then up to Seville. One evening we found apple pie at the supermarket so took it to the beach and watched the sunset while eating comfort food. Well, comfort food for 3 of us anyways! Today we split up in Seville as Hannah was headed to Portugal, one of the American guys was headed home today, the other American goes home in 2 days, and the kiwi also heads home very soon. Sad day today as most of us split up!

Right now I am in Madrid with one of the Americans. Our kiwi friend is coming tonight on the bus so will meet us here for a couple nights before more good-byes :( On Wednesday I am on a flight to AFRICA! I am spending just over a week in Morocco for 2 reasons: my 90 days in the Schengen countries expires on Dec 23rd so I need to get my passport re-stamped and I have also heard from everyone that Morocco is mind blowingly awesome so I am going. Hello camel tour through the desert!


Dinner time!

Kylie

ps. I swear I will upload more pictures soooon!

Get up to date! Where am I?!

So its been awhile...whats happened since I wrote the last post? Well i'll tell you in a minute. What comes after Florence was the wonder of Rome! Rome itself wasn't amazing. To me if you took all the monuments out, its am ugly city. This is compared to say Florence where if ypu took the main "sites" out, its still an amazing city. Even, on a lesser scale, Paris: if you took away the major points, its not nearly as nasty as Rome. Don't get me wrong, I loved Rome but not because of the splender of the city, it was the historical sites that MAKE Rome awesome. I can go on and on about how spectacular the coloseum is, how stunning the Trevi Fountain is at night, and how seeing the Pope was surprisingly a high light of Italy for me but I am lazy right now. I will say that the coloseum was way bigger than I imagined, I threw 2 coins in the Trevi Fountain (one means you'll return to Rome one day and the other means you'll find love...three means Italian lover so I stopped at 2 coins!), spent 2 hours at the Vatican to see the Pope speak then another 6 the next day checking out the whole Vatican City with my mates. The Vatican was really breath taking. Imagine the most ornate decoration you can imagine in a Cathedral then multiply by 60 and thats St Peters Basilica. Every inch, corner, and surface of the interior is cover is some sort of decoration whether it be sculpture, painted surface, or gold leafed (often it was all of the above!).

Best part of Rome for me was the mates I made at the hostel. There was a big group of us that all got on so well. Kiwis, lots of Canadians, one or 2 Americans, UKers (what do you call them now that they are "united"?)...so much fun, love them all!

After Rome a bunch of us headed to the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento to be specific...near Naples) for a couple splendid days in the sunshine! We rented scooters and drove the crazy mountain/coastal roads. I can honestly say it was the best day of my trip so far! I will go back one day, maybe in February?

Pizza was invented in Naples. We were to lazy to actually go to Naples for pizza so instead went to a local pizzaria where the Guiness World Record holder for biggest hand tossed pizza dough works. He actually owns the place and the walls are plastered with awards, trophies, and photos from past pizza competitions he competed in. Johnny (pizza guy) is teaching his 2 year old son how to toss dough too, so cute! Needless to say, it was the BEST pizza I have ever tasted. Not an exageration, this is a fact. Simple, traditional, margaritta pizza. I am drooling just thinking about it!

To sum up some of the "bests":
-best beer: anything German...especially like Lowenbrau
-best sausage: Germany again...currywurst
-best muesum: Berlin-Parthanon
-gelato- tied! corner of plaza at fake David (Florence) and the Gelatoria in Rome with dark chocolate gelato so dark it looks black.
-best home made dinner- paella in Barcelona (getting ahead of myself in the timeline of places visited)...honorable mention to pasta dinner we made in Florence.
-best waffles- Brussels.
-best chocolate- Brussels (hostel beside Godiva factory, remember?)
-best day- Amalfi coast on scooters with the mates...

All the "bests" I can think of at the moment....so many more but my current hunger is trumping my memory.

Ok, after Amalfi coast I took a 12 hour train ride North back to Lyon (as mentioned in earlier posts) for a 2 week intensive French language course. Awesome experience, crazy host mother! I am glad to be back on the move though, 2 weeks in one place was hard!

I just spent 5 crazy days on Barcelona! Met up with one of my Rome/Italy mates before she headed back to Canada and we had a blast! Barcelona is a cool city. The people are ao much more chill and friendly than the French! Siesta: best idea ever. No joke. Who wouldnt want a 4 hour nap in the aternoon?? Its like it was invented for me! The Basilica in Barcelona is insane! Gaudi (architect who designed it, also wont be done until 2030) is a nutter but also a genious in my eyes. I have so many pictures of the interior, plus I had the audio guide so spent a good 3 hours there. Yes, it had been awhile since my inner nerd could be satisfied properly.

So much that happened in Barcelona (besides amazing weather!). I will do a proper Barcelona post next but wanted to get y'all up to date.

The pictures are of Gaudi's appartment building he designed (didnt live there) and the inside of the Basilica he also designed. A lot of his inspiration came from nature, which is quite obvious when you look at the top of the pillers and how they branch off like trees. Anyways, these pictures suck big time at shoing how breath taking the inside was but it gives you a mini idea.

Kylie.

Florence

What an amazing difference there is between Florence and Venice. Florence in in the Tuscany region of Italy and is considered the "birthplace" of the Renaissance. It was refreshing to be in a city with wide streets (compared to Vencice)! Our first visit was to the Duomo, a huge domed cathedral (aka Santa Maria Fiore). Pictures do not do the cathedral justice as it is made from both white and green marble with intricate details all over its exterior.

The River Arno runs through Florence with multiple bridge crossings. The most famous of which is the Ponte Vecchio with a multitude of jewlery shops built along its edges. Supposidly there used to be other more "undesirable" shops along the bridge but a long time ago those merchents were kicked off and replaced by jewlers. Fun fact: the Ponte Vecchio is also the only bridge along the Arno that survived the Second World War.

We were staying at probably the weirdest hostel I have been to yet. It was chosen due to its inexpensive nature and the fact that they offered a "free sangria" night on the weekends. This should have tipped us off before we booked as good hostels shouldnt have to offer free booze to get business. There really was nothing wrong with it but the people staying there were a very odd crowd. Quirky is almost the right word...

Our second day in Florence was very productive: laundry, David, stamps, dinner. That is a lot for us backpackers to do in one day! Laundry is usually an all day activity (though it only takes an hour or so) with the rest of the day spent lounging in the sun or something like that. Anyways, clean clothes then off to find David! The museum he is in was built specifically to display him and it is quite obvious. The rest of the museum is a bunch of small rooms with the walls crammed full of religious paintings and busts from the 17-1800s, all of which are of no interest to me. The busts are all of semi-rich people who loved themselves too much.

Turning the corner from one such room, you enter a long corridor with four of Michelangelo's unfinished carvings ('Prisoners'). At the end stands David in all his glory atop his pedestal. It was the first statue of David in which he is not holding a weapon or any indication of the giant. To put it quite bluntly, David is the most amazing statue I have ever seen (so far). He is incredably anatomically correct except for some minor details like him being much to thin back to front in relation to his height, huge hands, creepily large head, and his weird heart shaped pupils. The David had already been started by another sculptor before Michelangelo got to him. The piece of marble had been started then stopped and sat outside for 25 years before Micky started on it. He is a must see for anyone that travels through Italy, as far as I am concerned.

Lunch was interesting: pizza by weight. You tell the person which pizza you want then how much you want in grams.  

Stamps: pretty straight forward... we bought stamps.

Dinner: fresh pasta (the real stuff) with pesto sauce. I died, it was so amazing. So amazing in fact, we made another batch the next night, the pasta waas a different shape though. Best meal of the trip so far without a doubt. Simple yet amazing.

Day 3 in Florence was Pisa! To sum up our day in Pisa... long walk to a leaning bell tower then gelato. Not much else there. The best part was laughing at all the tourists "holding up" or "pushing over" the bell tower!  See the picture below: classic!

Photos: These are of Venice

 Tourists at Pisa:

 These are of Florence (including the one above):

 I call this one "fake David" because, well, its not the real one. It is a copy and is standing where the real David stood for over 200 years before moving inside.

 Pisa again:

 Back in Florence, this time at night:

Venice

They say even the locals get lost in Venice. This was not a good thought for us as we rode the train past Milan on our way to a city of multiple mini islands with a total population of 60 thousand. Venice is of course the city of cannals and the story (according to wikipedia) goes that in the summer when Venice is crowded with tourists, many of the little alley ways and side streets become flooded because of all the extra weight on the "islands". Wikipedia also said not to talk to the locals about Venice eventually sinking, bit of a soft spot for them.

Speaking of getting lost, the first time we got lost we weren't really lost. More like got off the train one stop too early. We exited the train to a beautiful view of a old Italian city but it was clearly not Venice. No gondolas, glassware, theatre masks, or WATER for that matter. Our Aussie friend made that last point quite clear to the rest of us. Back on the train. This time we knew we were in Venice because all of the above clichés where right out the front entrance of the train station.

The second time we got lost was about 10mins after leaving the train station. Well, thats not entirely true as at the time (and for about another 45mins) we thought we knew where we were going. The directions to the hostel seemed simple enough: "take the water bus to _____ stop". Pffft the water bus would have cost us €6.50 each so we choose to walk to the specified bus stop instead. Lovely walk, beautiful stores, and tastey looking food... Well we walked and walked amnd walked then asked 5 different shop owners for directions, each one telling us to head in a different direction. They also all said they weren't entirely sure where the address for the hostel was.

We were getting hangry so stopped for pizza ("when in Italy...."). The plan was to borrow the restaurant's phone to call the hostel but the waiter wasn't allowed to lend the phone, but he came back with his cell phone! What a guy! We tipped well.

Turns out the hostel was around the corner from where we ate dinner! Of course. Gelato time! Amazing!

The next day we left the map at the hostel and decided to wander the "streets" without one. Turns out it wasnt very difficult to find our way around in the day time, as long as you knew where the Grande Canal was most of the time, you were fine. The streets are only as wide as 2 people walking side by side, 3 people down some streets. I can't imagine what its like in the crowded summer months!

We came across an interesting flea market selling neat old stuff. It literally was just "stuff" but unlike our garage sales, all of it was neat stuff: old glass perfume bottles with the little 'poof' handle, old skeleton keys, black and white family photos from the 1920s, gaudy jewlery... sorry if I cant spell (not like I can normally), seems my brain is stuck in 'French mode' from a week of learning. It actually took me a few tries to spell perfume correctly in english.

Anyways, back to Venice... We ate more pizza and pasta that day as well as sampled some cannoli (singular- cannolo) although we were not entirely satisfied with the ones we had. It may have had something to do with the fact that we were attacked by pigeons while trying to enjoy the cannoli. Oh, fun fact about cannoli, they originated in Sicily and are more popular in the USA than they are in Italy... ie TLC's Cake Boss, which is where I first heard of them.

The following day, two of us headed for the train station while the others stayed behind in Venice for another day. Florence time! I wasn't extremely excited for Florence, more excited to be done with Venice. It was boring, great for people over 50 or couples looking for a 'romantique' holiday (French coming out again...). Dont get me wrong, I am glad I went but probably wont go back (well maybe for my 55th birthday if the city hasnt sunk yet!).

Oh the pictures of Venice are amazing! I cant wait to post them!

Is it sad that I screamed (inside my head) when I saw a Starbucks while on my way home from class yesterday? Maybe. Today is Friday to I treated myself to the most expensive coffee I have ever bought. Picture the menus at your local Canadian Starbucks now replace the dollar sign with the euro sign. Yup, I paid the equivalent of $6.25 Canadian dollars for a Tall Mocha Blanc (so €4.50). Yicks. Unlikely that will happen again.

Kylie

Monaco

Monte Carlo in Monaco is quite the city! Picture old ladies wrapped in fur coats (+25 degrees that day too) walking mini dogs while slathered in layers of makeup (the old ladies, not the dogs) as very expensive cars drive by the clear blue sea on their way to the casino to gamble away money they have clearly no other use for. The harbour was packed full of yachts inside bigger yachts tied beside even bigger yachts. Did that make sense? It was quite the day. As we sat having lunch at the harbour we played "which yacht will I buy when I grow up?". There were maybe 6 sail boats total in the harbour and of course they were massive like all the other boats.

We got our passports stamped at the tourist office which was pretty neat as Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (rivaled by Vatican City), then went into the casino. There are hardly words to describe how ornate the interior is. No pictures allowed of course. One surprising observation was the contrast between the interior of the mens and womens washrooms. The womens was 2 stalls, painted wooden doors, one sink, and an air hand drier. The mens on the other hand had 10+ stalls with marble doors and walls, 6 marble sinks, and a man in a suit handing out towels. Dont ask me how I know this. The guys I went to the casino with took home a couple chips for souvenirs. They were the fanciest casino chips I have ever seen.

Pictures: The first is a line up of yachts in the harbour. You can see the size of them compared to the little cars parked behind them. I think the people are too small to see.

Second picture: Monte Carlo Casino

Third: My new cars.

4th: The famous hairpin turn in the Monaco Grande Prix.

5th: More yachts!!

Sorry if the formatting is a little different than usual. I am on a French keyboard and its very different than I am used to. Anyways, lots more posts to come as I am on a 2 week stop over in Lyon to learn some French!! I spent 2 amazing weeks in Italy just recently and will be able to catch up on posting due to my classes ending at about 2. Basically I have signed myself up for the most intense French course imaginable. About 30 hours per week for 2 weeks plus after school studying for 2 hours on average so far. Yicks!

But Italy was amazing... I can see myself going back in the next 4 months as there is so much more I want to see. So many desserts in Italy! I need to pull out those running shoes these next few weeks. My favorite dessert was an amazing key lime pie. Not cake, I know, but I also had bowls and bowls of gelato... but more on that later :) You may be happy to know I am no longer in +25 degree weather anymore. Lyon is sunny and +8 today...bit of a shock for me!

love and miss you all,

K

ps. if anyone can fed-x me a Tims coffee (large, 2milk 1sugar) I would be forever in debt to you. As much as I love espresso, I am sick of it!! Its impossible to find "american" coffee and if you do, it tastes like dog barf.

France!!

Ok so a lot has happened since my last post. I will say sorry in advance for spelling errors as I am typing on a French keyboard but someone changed the format so its in english format... so the letters on the keys dont match what somes out when I type. Very strange.

Went to Paris to meet Tanya and Cam and spent 3 days touring the city seeing all the typical Paris sites. Beautiful city!! I was glad to have gone back (last time was in 2004... or was is 05?). We then said good-bye to Cam and headed south to Lyon to meet up with some extended family. Dad's cousin's husband's brother and his family. So connected through the NZ side of the family. To sum up Lyon: best food I have ever eaten. All home cooked meals, all French cuisine, all into my belly. One night they served 7 different types of desserts! Yes, I tried them all. We went on a wine tour and had some "samples"... more like full glasses of which we of course spared no drop. That same afternoon we toured small French villages in the area. All the little houses and buildings are made with stones from the local mountains so they are all bright yellow with orange roofs! So beautiful! 

The French Alps were next! Our Lyon family suggested we stay in Annecy which has a huge lake, lots of good shopping, and lovely walking paths around the lake. Tanya and I checked off each one of those on our list of things to do in Annecy :) We took long walks around the lake, had picnic lunches, and shopped in the afternoon... big spenders (NOT). It was a romantic little vacation. 

I said good-bye to Tanya as it was her turn to head back home. I had planned to head to Italy but the wee little town I was going to had floods and landslides the morning I was going to head out so plans changed and I am now in Nice! What an amazing French city! I can see why celebs like this part of France although this is a good time for me to be here as all the prices have dropped (off season now) but its still sunny and hot hot hot! I have been running almost every morning while I have been here followed by a swim in the sea then sitting on the beach all day long! So far this is the best part of my trip mostly because of the beach and hot weather. My tropical kiwi blood is happy again! 

Plan for tomorrow is Monaco! Its a short bus ride away. Dont worry Mom, I wont gamble ALL my money away in Monte Carlo :) The pictures are me in Nice, Annecy France, and Nice without me in the picture.

K

 

 

Strasbourg, France - October 19th

It would be impossible to be a veggitarian here! Not that a variety of veggies arent available, but the meat in the Alsance region of France is so good! I was pondering this over my dinner consisting of a fresh bread roll, soft cheese (dont know what it is), and some sort of amazing meat (also dont know what it is, though I know the label said "100% beef"). Practically in heaven right now, the only thing that would make this meal perfect would be a nice piece of cake for dessert. When I was picking up dinner from the supermarket I spied a pile of skinned rabbits at the meat counter. Their eyes were covered with little cardboard sleeping masks. From what I could see, it looks like rabbits have lots of fat on their ears. I didnt buy one as I have no way of roasting it (not actually the real reason).

I have been reading a lot of books on this trip mostly because of all the train travel but also becuase I actually have time. Once I left Germany it has been difficult to find english books for a decent price. I am reading an interesting book Brendan lent me (he said I only have a week to read it as he wants to read it after me) but I also happened to stumble upon a little english book store (book stores are called "libraries" here) that is closing down so everything is 50% off! I may have to go back again tomorrow and stock up, although carrying a load of books around in my pack isnt the best idea.

The hostel I am currently staying at runs off bookings from school groups (mostly German kids) and tours groups (mostly American collage students) so the place is packed. I managed to snag a room with only one other person, a lady from Isreal. She is a lawyer who is fascinated with the German culture although she made it clear "but not what they did to us during the War". She gave me lots of great tips if I head into Switzerland and we shared a dinner similar to what I had tonight.

I was quite proud of myself yesterday when I ordered take away lunch completely in french! Its all coming back slowly but surely. Vanessa lent me a French phrase book which I have been reviewing and I am evesdropping on converstaions to hear the proper pronounciations. I have found many words that we learn in Canadian french classes are different and the French form sentences differently. I did know this before but its a little confusing right now. More practice is all I need.

Today calls for rain. I saved all the museums for today because I am smart.

Ticket to Paris for Thursday was either 1) get up at 4:30am, swtich trains twice, travel for a total of 5.5 hours, and pay 65€ OR 2) train at 10:30, switch once, arrive by noon, and pay 3€. Why did the ticket lady even give me the first option? Do I look like I am willing to get up at 4:30? I am not on a deadline here, I paid the 3€.

Two pictures...I broke down and bought a "mini" gingerbread cookie; the view from my hostel room yesterday morning.

K

Ps. I discovered a snack...imagine the puffy cheesies except not cheese flavour...peanut butter flavour. Talk about weird textures :s