Friday, June 8, 2007

   So long, France!
I left Caen for the last time today. Got to Paris, found gypies asking me for money, left Paris, came to Rotterdam . . . found a friend, hugged a friend, gave a teddy bear to a friend . . .

So yeah, I'm in Themaris' house right now in The Netherlands, her cat curled up next to my backpack and myself not being charged by the minute for internet. It's quite nice.


We'll talk more. meantimes, be glad to know that my solo adventures are done for now . . . and I don't have to pay for hotels for a little while!
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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

   From Bayeux and Back
I was in Bayeux the past couple days. Had a hotel room in the attic of a bar/restaurant of nice people. Lotta English-speaking tourists in Bayeux this time of year . . . not surprised, really. before that, I hit up Juno Beach and the Juno Beach centre (run by Canadians, no less) Anyways, I'm gonna breeze through what I saw while I was there so I can get to the meat of today:

-Juno Beach Centre (excellent war museum)
-Bayeux Tapestry (very cool)
-Bayeux Museum of the Battle of Normandy (ultra-cool)

-Day tour of Normandy on a mini-bus:
---Arromanches/ Mulberry Harbour remnants
---German Battery at Longue Sur Mer
---US Military Cemetary at Omaha Beach
---Omaha Beach
---Pont Du Hoc (REALLY cool place with broken bunkers and craters!)


Anyways . . . so yes, today was the D-Day anniversary. Obviously there were dozens upon dozens of memorial services all over the place. I, of course, only had one I really needed to be at this trip: Juno Beach.

Got there about noon, talked to the Juno Beach Centre people a little (the one girl remembered me from my visit on Sunday), then I walked up and down a couple kilometers of the beach for a couple hours. Feet got sandy, hair got windswept, feet got a little wet . . . but it was nice. To be where they were 63 years ago, to stand on the derelict, spraypaint-covered bunker and the remnants of bunker foundations still on the beach . . . it's definitely something cool.

At 3pm the memorial started. It was pretty straight forward save the fact that you could tell a LOT of Canadians were in the audience (language, accents, pins, flags on backpacks, backpacks from The North Face or Mountain Equipment Coop). Other than that . . . it was windy as all hell! Norman wind for ya . . . the flags on the flagpoles were completely horizontal all day, their metal fasteners clanging like some sort of urban percussion band. So yeah, we got cold. But then at the end we got to the song, and we felt a little better for a little while (until we realised we were singing it in two different languages simultaneously . . . oh, funny funny).

At some point a veteran and his friend commented on the cold wind. I leaned over and asked him, "how would you say today's wind compares to 63 years ago?" he replied, "well I wasn't really thinking about the wind at the time!" Laughs.
Turned out he was a British Artillery soldier who landed at Juno with the Canadians. I chatted with him a bit more, mostly about where I was from, where I've been so far, how good it is for me to have an interest in all this stuff . . . well, I never got his name, but I got a picture with him. Great guy.

Then I came back to Caen and ate a crappy, overpriced Japanese dinner run by people who spoke either French or Mandarin. Yeahhhh . . . tomorrow shall be a baguette and water day . . .


I'm still alive, I had some conversations with people so I feel better in that respect, and I'm doing well. I still can't wait to get to Holland, but yeah. I'll manage.

Like always, everyone take care of each other!
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Saturday, June 2, 2007

   'A Canadian man was killed in Caen today crossing the street . . .'
Don't mind the dark humour in the subject title. It's just been a little joke I've had for myself all trip whenever I walk across a street, over a bridge . . . y'know, news stories and all.

"Witnesses say he was stabbed after inadvertently calling a local man a giant spoon..."


Aaaaanyways . . . regarding my train rides:
-Yes, Beautiful, I should be arriving at Rotterdam CS at 16:06 on June 8th. Cannot wait to see you there! Oh, and did you watch Pirates 3 yet? I think I may need to do that while in your town . . .

Regarding how lucky I am:
-I'm spending a lot of money doing this. Like, most of my life savings thus far. Don't forget that, now, when I come home I'll be broke and unemployed!


Ahem . . . so yes, Caen and the surrounding area is significantly badass. Today and yesterday, I have been to:

-The Caen Memorial, which is a gigantic museum/memorial from the end of the First World War to today. It's very impressive and everyone must come here some day.

-The Ducal Castle in Caen, which William the Conqueror built more or less. I've learned that I enjoy looking through stone battlements . . . lotsa pictures through them and stuff . . .

-Sword Beach, at Ouistreham in Normandy. The beach itself is . . . well, just a beach now. I did go to the No.4 Commando museum, though, which was nifty enough. I didn't have time to go through the really awesome-looking "Grande Bunker", though, which REALLY sucks because it looked cool . . . dang.

-Pegasus Bridge/Memorial. Who saw The Longest Day or played Call of Duty? Y'know that unique-lookin' bridge that British airborne troops captured the night before D-Day? Yeah, I was there. INFINITELY badass place to be. Again, everyone must come here some day.


So that's Saturday. So far so good. Tomorrow begins my ultimo-Canadian voyage to Juno Beach . . . it's Sunday, so the bus schedule is sparse and I gotta pay attention . . . but I am very excited about all this. Should be good.

. . . by the way, it's totally weirding me out that it'll be 10pm and it'll STILL be light out! Man, long days in France, I tell ya . . .


I think that's about all I have to say for now. I'm still alive! AND I bought one of those annoying D-Day crickets to play with, with probably several more to be bought in the near future! "click-clack!"

Oh yeah, I heard my brother got home safe and gave an exemplary account of how well I took care of him in Europe. Booyah for me? I think so. Self-sufficiency-rating with The Mother hath just gone up several notches. Again, booyah.

A'ight dudes, you take care of each other now. Peace.
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Thursday, May 31, 2007

   Made it to Caen!!!
(Yeah, I killed the music coding in my intro. It was causing my browser in this café to crash. I'll put it back when I'm in Holland, if I can remember the code.)


Still alive, and I'm in a city I'm very excited to be in.

But first, some comments:

-Yes, there are pictures. I'm averaging about 100 pictures a day, though that's eased up since I left the tour group.

-I'm no good with postcards . . . also, I feel that it shall be very impossible to find that Saving Private Ryan hill. I will, however, walk ON the Saving Private Ryan beach, if that counts? That'll be later this week . . . lots to see around here, y'know?

-I'd love to come visit you sooner than not . . . sadly, all my train tickets are bought up and preset. But I'll be there soon enough! Hehe . . . so, you wanna meet me at the train station?


Alright, so I'm in Caen now. And wouldn't ya know it, I actually wrote out an itinerary for myself for this week! Heh, with so many places to see, I had to!

-Tomorrow, June 1st, I'm gonna explore Caen, see the Caen Memorial and the castle.

-Next day, head up to Pegasus Bridge and then Sword Beach.

-Next day, Gold Beach, Juno Beach(!!!) and the Juno Beach museums and stuff.

-next day, take a train to Bayeux west of here so I can go visit Omaha Beach and anything else I can find over there. Stay in this area for another day or so.

-June 6th, actual anniversary day, come back to Caen and back to Juno Beach for D-Day ceremonies at "my" beach. Then chill in Caen for another day or so.


So yeah, I'm still alive, still have money, and . . . heh, this café suddenly became full with American travellers. Go fig', eh?

Probably be back in a few days or somethin'. Take care, everyone! And if you're already plenty taken care of, go and help take care of the others . . . I know there's a lot of ya around who need it.


Peace out, kids! Au revoir!
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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

   So far so good . . .
First off, since I haven't said anything about it yet . . . Schultzie, 'tis some wonderful news about August and I look forward to hashing out le plans soon enough!


Alright . . . so the bad news is that I'm paying 59€ per night in the hotel I'm staying at right now.

The good news? I found a hotel, period! AND I made it to Dieppe in one piece! AND I hit up a laverie automatique today so I have clean clothes again finally!


So how hae I been since? Well, first off it's taking me longer to type things out over here because European/French keyboards are laid out significantly different from North American ones. I'm starting to get a feel for it, but it's still messing me up a lot. Umm . . . my cough seems to be getting better, which is probably in part to not staying up and drinking every night anymore (along with having cough syrup with codine in it . . .). I have a new found love for baguettes as cheap and filling food . . . and . . . I'm finding all sorts of great Canadian-type war memorials here in Dieppe. I've still more to see, but apparently museums and stuff are closed on Tuesdays here. Go fig, I guess.

Speaking of memorials . . . I finally saw the Vimy Ridge Memorial yesterday before I left the tour group while we were enroute back to London. Gotta tell ya, that thing is amazing and pretty much everyone who didn't leave the bus coach in Paris knew how much it meant to me by the end. For one, if not for knowing we'd stop in Vimy on the way to London, I would have left the tour in Paris . . . for another, a guy gave me the bus microphone so I could tell everyone about Vimy Ridge. Finally, once the bus came to the parking lot outside the memorial, I got off the bus and RAN to it since we only had 10 minutes to be there.

Heh . . . then I had a taxi called for me at the visitor's centre to bring me back to town, got my bags and said my goodbyes to the rest of the people. I'll be honest, it felt pretty special to get off in the middle of nowhere like that. People were shocked that I was if they didn't know prior, I got to go down the bus and give everyone still going to London a personal goodbye . . . and then as they drove off and I got my gear together, I got a big line of waving hands from all the windows as they drove past me. Yeah, that'll be q keeper memory . . .


So it's about 2:40pm in France today. I'll probably just wander around until dinner and then go to bed early or write or something. I'll probably post again when I'm in Caen just so I don't keep hitting up this internet café nonstop. Tomorrow I'll check out the castle, the Dieppe Raid memorial/museum . . . heh, I'm probably gonna get bored once I'm done. Ah well . . .


Oh, and according to all the MSN screen names of everyone set to "away" while I sat here NOT chatting with anyone (what the hell?!?!), apparently they announced Starcraft 2. Neat.


Alright, time to wander. Au revoir, mes amis!
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Monday, May 28, 2007

   If anyone's wondering . . .
It's about 7:30am on May 27th, and today's the final day of the tour. We're hauling out today, brother's heading back to London . . .

. . . that said, this is also officially the point where I start my solo travels in Normandy.

Hopefully, I'll catch the train from Arras to Dieppe well enough, and HOPEFULLY I can find a place to stay while I'm there! Hoo boy . . . honestly, as exciting as this is, I'm scared shitless. Yes, I just said shitless. That's how scared I kinda am.


In other news, Parisians aren't nearly as bad as people say. Basically, they'll be jerks if you instantly try to speak to them in English (shock, huh? Imagine someone in the US speaking to you in French, what are you gonna do?). But yeah, if you at least try to say hello or excuse me or please, well . . . they'll put forth the effort. Heh, if only I knew more French . . .

Oh yeah, last night we had dinner at the Cafe where they filmed Amelie. Incidentally, it's just around the corner from the Moulin Rouge. Neat, huh?


Alright, I hope I talk to you guys soon enough. Wish me luck, guys!
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Saturday, May 26, 2007

   12 minutes of time to go!
5€ for 15 minutes of internet time . . . eep.


Alright, so here I am in Paris now, at the final city of this Contiki Tour. I still have no idea how or where I'm gonna stay in Dieppe and Caen once I get there (hopefully). Umm . . . but yeah, it's been alright, save for the fact that everyone's drinking 'til late into the night and sleeping for maybe 2-4 hours afterwards . . . . . needless to say, many people on the tour now have coughs (including myself).

Well, a bunch of 'em went out for more drinks just now, but I'm staying at the hotel. My brother who's more sick than I am is up in the room right now while I'm in the lobby doing this (10 minutes left!).


So Paris . . . haven't really talked to many people yet aside from the hotel staff so I can't say one way or another about what they're like. But so far Paris is gorgeous. Tomorrow/today we have pretty much a whole day to just wander around the city, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll try to hit up all the big sites sooner than later and take the pictures and all.

Hope you're all still doing well. I still have no clean clothes and I'm most likely missing you all plenty. Thinkin' constantly of all of ya, especially those of you with very, very complicated things going on at home (I threw coins into the Trevy Fountain in Rome for ya!).


Talk to you guys in a bit. Au revoir!

(7 minutes!)
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Thursday, May 24, 2007

   REALLY short post!
Bonjourno!

Well, here I am in a not'horrible hotel just outside Florence, Italy. Goin' out for a Tuscan dinner in about 20 minutes and then going to an Italian discotech afterwards (it's gonna be ridiculous, I bet). Anyway, we've been spending tons of Euro left and right, I'm barely getting by with washing clothes in the sinks whenever I can (I have two sets of shirts, socks and underwear drying on the very hot balcony as we speak). As always, I'll give the full report once I get home. But let's see how things are at this moment . . .


-Amsterdam . . . it's a dirty, dirty city at night. I went with a group thing and even caught a . . . well . . . a "cultural" show while there. Yeah . . . neat experience. Amsterdam during the day? Gorgeous. Canals are cool, the Anne Frank House is cool . . . the people are cool and speak English.

-Germany has the BEST food ever! We were very well fed there. Also went to the Hoffbrau House (spelling's wrong but I'm on the clock for internet right now) and drank some very large beers. Yes, beer halls in Munich are glorious, seeing as the steins hold ONE LITER of beer apiece. It's cool.

-Went rafting on the Rhine in Austria which was fun. Now funny story: up until this point I had always been saying everywhere that I felt really uncomfortable without mountains, and England and the Netherlands are very flat countries. Well, once you've seen the Alps . . . heh, I cant call the Rocky Mountains mountains anymore! Those things are huge! Yeah, I loved Austria for the short amount of time we were there.

-We were warned that Italy was like, the most dangerous place to get pick'pocketed ever. We've as a group now developed the shout, "Gypsy!" as a sort of inside joke. I haven't been picked yet, though, so I think I'll make it into Switzerland alright.

-Saw the pope, got a picture of him. Saw Roman ruins. Saw the Colesseum, saw gypsies ("Gypsy-formation!"), saw some cool stuff in Rome. The place is dirty as all hell, though . . . heh, Venice too . . . . . Florence? I think that's my favourite so far. Everyone here's so laid-back and I'm sad we only have half a day here.


Anyways, laundry aside I'm doing well and having fun. Everyone here is great and I've made all sorts of new friends yet again. A bunch of Canadians and Americans mostly, though there are also a brother and sister from Brazil. A good selection of Aussies and Kiwis (very fun people). I'll tell ya all about 'em later.

In other news, the weather in Italy is hot as all hell. It's killing us. Sucks. Ah well.


Umm . . . . . European people whom I need to visit next month, I'll message y'all sooner or later, probably once I'm in France. Take care, everyone! Ciao!


(Oh yeah, I love saying things in Italian - pretty language.)
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   REALLY short post!
Bonjourno!

Well, here I am in a not'horrible hotel just outside Florence, Italy. Goin' out for a Tuscan dinner in about 20 minutes and then going to an Italian discotech afterwards (it's gonna be ridiculous, I bet). Anyway, we've been spending tons of Euro left and right, I'm barely getting by with washing clothes in the sinks whenever I can (I have two sets of shirts, socks and underwear drying on the very hot balcony as we speak). As always, I'll give the full report once I get home. But let's see how things are at this moment . . .


-Amsterdam . . . it's a dirty, dirty city at night. I went with a group thing and even caught a . . . well . . . a "cultural" show while there. Yeah . . . neat experience. Amsterdam during the day? Gorgeous. Canals are cool, the Anne Frank House is cool . . . the people are cool and speak English.

-Germany has the BEST food ever! We were very well fed there. Also went to the Hoffbrau House (spelling's wrong but I'm on the clock for internet right now) and drank some very large beers. Yes, beer halls in Munich are glorious, seeing as the steins hold ONE LITER of beer apiece. It's cool.

-Went rafting on the Rhine in Austria which was fun. Now funny story: up until this point I had always been saying everywhere that I felt really uncomfortable without mountains, and England and the Netherlands are very flat countries. Well, once you've seen the Alps . . . heh, I cant call the Rocky Mountains mountains anymore! Those things are huge! Yeah, I loved Austria for the short amount of time we were there.

-We were warned that Italy was like, the most dangerous place to get pick'pocketed ever. We've as a group now developed the shout, "Gypsy!" as a sort of inside joke. I haven't been picked yet, though, so I think I'll make it into Switzerland alright.

-Saw the pope, got a picture of him. Saw Roman ruins. Saw the Colesseum, saw gypsies ("Gypsy-formation!"), saw some cool stuff in Rome. The place is dirty as all hell, though . . . heh, Venice too . . . . . Florence? I think that's my favourite so far. Everyone here's so laid-back and I'm sad we only have half a day here.


Anyways, laundry aside I'm doing well and having fun. Everyone here is great and I've made all sorts of new friends yet again. A bunch of Canadians and Americans mostly, though there are also a brother and sister from Brazil. A good selection of Aussies and Kiwis (very fun people). I'll tell ya all about 'em later.

In other news, the weather in Italy is hot as all hell. It's killing us. Sucks. Ah well.


Umm . . . . . European people whom I need to visit next month, I'll message y'all sooner or later, probably once I'm in France. Take care, everyone! Ciao!


(Oh yeah, I love saying things in Italian - pretty language.)
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

   Jet lag's a bitch . . .
Yeah, I made it. I'm now slowly working on my London accent . . . it's a little tricky since I'm really not talking with the locals too much right now and my Auntie Karen ("auntie" in the asian sense) never really picked it up and it still speaking Chinese-accented English more than anything else. I'll keep working at it, though, even though I'm probably mixing dialects more than anything else (that Giant Hornet thing really stuck the Billy Boyd Scottish into me, which is really complicating things).

Anyways, it's probably about . . . 9:42am here, 1:42am back home, and I need to quickly put some breakfast in me so we can head out and go to more places like The Globe Theater (very excited about that, even if it is just a rebuilt approximation). So I'll make a quick point of things from which I shall elaborate more once I'm back in Vancouver in late, late June:


-The tube is better than the skytrain: faster, and rougher. Good times.
-They had a Nock Volley Gun at the Tower of London; I was amused.
-On the first day I was using Tower Bridge as my focal landmark to figure everything out.
-According to my brother, some French high school girl was apparently crushing on me while we were on HMS Belfast.
-Big Ben is a LOT bigger than I thought.
-Fish and chips come with peas here. Quite good.
-When you order coffee, you also have to specify if you want it "white" or "black".
-Uppercase number keys go: !"£$%^&*().
--->"@" is actually where the " is. It's amusing.

Alright, I gotta head out before things start closing again. Hope you're all well, as I'm doing quite well here. Heh . . . I'm pleased to see that my presence over the podcasters hasn't changed since I've left town, and . . . I think I'll leave it at that for now.

All my love as always, everyone. Cheers!


[EDIT:] I won't be potentially living on the street until after the Contiki Tour ends at the end of May. Heh . . . if I still don't get a place to stay by then, maybe I'll sleep outside the internet cafes, eh?

And don't forget to watch Exo-Squad!
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