Beach, sun, and not much else...

Lately I've been trying to do a day by day précis of our trip, but for this leg of the trip, it really doesn't matter - every day was pretty much the same. Heck, we even lost track of the days!! This is for the 17th (travelling into Calpe) to the 23rd (travelling to Barcelona). Calpe is a bit bigger than we expected (thinking it was a "small fishing village") but it was still not nearly as large as the resort about 45 minutes up the coast called Benidorm. The sun was great, weather was awesome, beach was lovely, and everyone was very welcoming - and the food was so cheap! We ate out so often, since it was usually cheaper (and we were treated, or treating those that had treated us previously). Many people we met were British (through my relative Ken, who's studio apartment we were staying in), and retired, so it was a bit surreal. Can you believe we didn't meet a single Spanish fisherman??

On the Sunday (what was that... the 20th?) we went up into the mountains to this little village called Guadalest, that spills out around a castle that was originally built by the Moors. It is situated on a mountain top in the middle of a valley that is created by the meeting of three different mountain ranges - simply stunning scenery, and you can see the Mediterranean from the castle walls. Wikipedia has some nice info, but you have to see it to believe it!! The day before we left (um... the 22nd?) we went into Altea, which is a town just next to Calpe, to see the old church which has some seriously Moorish influenced architecture, and to eat at this fantastic Italian restaurant - everything was so quaint and romantic!

Now we're back on the road, much chagrined to lose the beach, but in some ways glad to be moving again. Both of us have come down with a bit of a cold, so while we got to Barcelona last night (after another fun filled transportation adventure courtesy of the Spanish rail system - we left Calpe at 9am, and didn't get into Barcelona until after 8pm), we've only thus far done a walking tour. But it's a nice city! Through the coughing and sniffling and wheezing and complaining...

Love you all, and we're STILL seeking some place that will let us plug in our camera so we can show some of our super fun pictures we've been collecting! What might really happen is a full web album once the trip is over (crappy way to do it if you ask me). Still, you can look up some of the places we've been to and sights we've seen on the Internet - the pictures you'll find might be pretty much the same as ours. Just pretend we're in them!!

Tomorrow we waltz around the city checking out all the Gaudi stuff (our reason for coming to Barcelona). Until next time!

Holy Cow - it´s been quite a while, hasn't it?!

Hello everyone. Today, I will be your guide through the wonderful adventures of Kelly and Chuck en Europe. The last we spoke (or you spoke with Charles), we had visited Sainte-Chappelle and the Musée d'Orsay. The former was incredible! My heart was beating a mile a minute. My breath was taken away. It was absolutely stunning! Pictures do not do the place justice. It is an experience that has to be lived. That evening, Charles and I visited the Eiffel Tower and walked along the Seine. Charles impressed me with his excellent translation skills (renard=duck, mouche=mouth) and I was faced with one of the most important questions of my young life when a bus full of French firefighters piled out before us as we watched the Eiffel Tower glittering before us - as the French seem to only hire the hottest guys for professional type jobs, should I reevaluate my life path to join their ranks and bask in the beauty that is the male French firefighter for the rest of my life? Given that I'm not much of a fan of strenuous exercise of any sort, I thought better of it. But, wow!

Anyway, back to the important stuff. The following day, we visited the best museum EVER! We went to the Medieval Cluny museum which is held in a medieval monastery which was built over 1st century Roman baths! It was pretty amazing. We encountered a lot of works that I had studied, and Charles and I interpreted the works as best we could. It was lots of fun. That evening, as we had moved to our new home in Monmartre, we decided to walk around the neighbourhood and find ourselves our first full French meal. We ate escargots and boulliabase and creme brulée and smoked fish in bernaise sauce and a chocolate and pear dessert - it was decadent! Chuck even had some red wine with his meal. Magnifique! Oh, I forgot - we also went to see Sacre Coeur at the top of the hill, which has a fabulous view of Paris. Inside the church, there were nuns singing which added to the ambience of the already impressive structure and decor. It's a huge fricken church!

The following day we made our way to Toulouse by train. Nothing much to say about that, except that I beat Charles in a game of chess on the bus. Oh yes... The train we wanted to take was full and the guy at the desk said our only options were a midnight train or travelling the next day. But we prodded and prodded and he found us a route in which we took an intercity train then a bus then another train! An adventure!!! It was quite fun, But we were exhausted when we got Toulouse and went to bed right away.

My hands hurt from typing, so Charles is going to type now while I dictate...

In Toulouse we had an awesome place to stay (The President, and they gave us a really awesome breakfast). The next morning we first visited Les Jacobins, which was like a convent/abby, made in the gothic style with beautiful "palm tree" pillars (we'll put up pictures eventually so you can all see it - facilities are limited at the moment). Charles was very excited for two reasons - first there was displayed the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas. Also, there was an exhibit on the Golden Age of Arabic Science - Charles had a blast explaining all the science stuff to me. I had fun too, and I learned! After that it was my turn, and we went to see Saint-Sernin, which is a beautiful Romanesque cathedral - that was the most exciting experience, which would take a lot of discussion, but we don't have much time... so on to Madrid!

We had a disastrous trip... I mean, a new adventure from Toulouse to Madrid. We had to take three trains, the second of which was late, so we missed our third train. One argument and an hour in line later, plus another 2 hour wait, we finally hopped a high speed train and made our way from Barcelona to Madrid. Our first (and only day) in Madrid was fabulous - we went on a walking tour with an Australian named Deb, had tapas at a little restaurant on some back street, marvelled at the art of the Northern Renaissance in the Museo del Prado. The highlight of this visit was, of course, Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" - mindblowing, and defying description. It was fricken HUGE! We also saw a lot of other art that really blew us away - Charles even enjoyed it. Then we met up with a friend of mine who lives in Madrid, had oodles of fun with her (lovely lady), and came home and chatted with our roommates (who are rather interesting in themselves). Mendy (from Toronto) and Aaron (from LA) had just finished their rabbinical studies in Venice and were medieval geeks like me!

Today we are leaving, sadly, I really like Madrid - it's chill, and it's hot (thank god, finally a place that's hot), and oh my god I completely forgot! When we were in Toulouse, it was Bastille day, and we went and saw the fireworks on a bridge over the river - it was beautiful. There was this sweet little girl who was maybe one or so years old, and she kept saying "oooh, oooh, oooh" at the fireworks - so cute!!! And Charles was very proud of himself for making a French joke (it was hilarious). The little girl was curious because he was taking out a map to try to figure out what a particular building was in the distance, so Charles showed her the map, pointed, and said ¨Vous êtes ici!" - to which everyone tittered. You know, being French and all. So back to Madrid...

We're leaving today, so sad! But we're off to Calpe, sandy white beaches, torrents of vacationing Spaniards, and we're hoping some respite from the big city. Although, Madrid was rather laid back, and certainly a very different experience from Paris. Goodbye, and goodnight - I love you all! As soon as we can put up pictures, we will!

P.S. But wait! That's not all!!! I've decided to save the best news for last. Our last night night in Paris, we got a phone call from my family letting us know that my little baby nephew, Connor Lawrence, finally arrived safe and sound (8lb 60z) - which of course means he'll be super smart. I can't wait to meet him, I'll post pictures on Facebook as soon as I get the chance. Now we have to pack and check out, so I really really really gotta go. I love my little nephew, and we're having a great time, and we'll talk soon! Bye bye bye!

Paris continued...

I'm really enjoying this city, even if it is just humongous (it would take weeks to have the time to see much of it, without breaks).

July 9th - Versailles... what can I say, this was just spectacular. It's easy to see how the ostentatiousness of the place was in part the reason for revolution - while the vast majority of the populace lived in squalor, the Royal family lived like ... well, kings! On the train out to Versailles some buskers came on board with a guitar and an accordian to play some traditional French songs - very Paris!

July 10th - This was probably our longest day yet - a full 10+ hour day on our feet, seeing the Louvre, the Jardin de Tuileries, walking up the Champs-Élysées, under the Eiffel Tower (the lineups were way too long to see it), and then over to the Mouffetard Marché on the Metro to get some fresh food for dinner. Insane!! The funniest part of our day happened at the beginning when we were seeking a particular road near the hostel to use as our main route to the Louvre (a mere 45 min walk). We asked a police officer sitting in a police van for directions but she could not speak English, so she was yelling to get her partner's attention (he was nearby on his cell phone). After a few failed attempts, she decided to turn on the siren to get him over!! Hysterical!

July 11th - today we hit the Musée D'Orsay (which I liked better than the Louvre) and Saint Chapelle. Ironically, the longest wait by far (for the whole trip to date) was to get in to see Saint Chapelle, mostly because you have to also enter the Palais du Justice and the army is there in force checking everyone thoroughly. Saint Chapelle was completely overwhelming - another "stopped in our tracks" moment. Tonight we are going back to the Eiffel Tower to perhaps go up, but at least see it lit by night.

Tomorrow we move hostels to live in Montmartre for a day, then Toulouse on Sunday... Still not homesick (yet).

Dublin then Paris

Phew - getting online has been a chore, and being able to upload photos even more problematic. Except one spot (Kelly's cousin's in Belfast), we've not been able to plugin the camera, so everyone will have to be patient with our photo uploading - personally, I'm not a fan of how this handles photos inline with posts anyway, it's a pain!

So... July 6th - Kelly's Great Aunt Betty made us a traditional fry for breakfast, then we hopped on the rather uneventful bus to Dublin. When there, we just got into the hostel, and wandered around the city seeing nothing in particular (but it's a nice city!). We had a relatively early night, I think the flurry of activities in Belfast wore us out. Little did we know that we'd seen NOTHING yet!

July 7th - we went to Trinity College, and while wandering around campus we asked some guy what a particular building was used for (it had a greek pantheon look to it). Turns out it housed a Gutenberg style printing press, but more importantly, it turned out the guy was there for the past while from Toronto, studying his PhD. He offered to get us into the library and to see the Book of Kells for free (since he's a student), so off we went. The library was absolutely amazing, it stopped me in my tracks (coincidentally, images of it were "stolen" by Lucas for use in the 2nd Star Wars as the Jedi Archives - look it up!). Anyway, we then took Jon (our benevolent guide) for a coffee, since he had to discard his to enter the library building. After we hit the Chester Beatty Library which houses one of the largest book collections, in terms of rare prints. It's like the Bata Shoe Museum for the history of printed material! Very neat stuff (some papyrus pieces on display dated to circa 150 AD!!)

After that, we hit the General Post Office for the history, and (of course) to mail a postcard. A quick photo opp with the James Joyce monument led us onto the bus to the airport to get to Paris. What an adventure this turned out to be - the flight was delayed a bit in departing. Then, upon landing at Beauvais airport, we were held on the tarmac due to a security lockdown. Some idiot had left unattended baggage in the terminal, which was subsequently evacuated. After an extra hour+ on the plane (it got kinda warm), and another 30 minute wait to even get into the terminal (they let us just stand in line outside the terminal on the tarmac), we finally got through customs, our baggage, and only a 1:15 bus shuttle to Porte Maillot - quite a ways in the west end, far from République where we were headed. Oh, and due to the delays, the metro was no longer running. A 20 minute cab ride later, and we finally got to our hostel rather tired at 2am.

July 8th - But we're in Paris! Today was just walking around, seeing the Panthéon and a bunch of famous dead people, Notre Dame, and more wandering around. Tonight might see us wander towards the Eiffel Tower, weather permitting (stupid rain!! We left Ireland because of that, don'tcha know?).

Cheerio, more to come - we're in Paris until Sunday morning.

Belfast and Northern Ireland

Ok, so it's been a few days since we managed to make a post - not only are things kind of busy, but we've had little chance to get on to the 'net. Also, we were hoping to get onto a computer that allows us to plug in the camera, so that we can put the odd photo up... so this is going to be quite the extensive update (I'll try to keep it brief, but we're trying to cover a whole week!!)

July 1st - Happy Canada Day!!! We did a walking tour of the city (self-guided), following a popular bus tour route. Mostly saw murals, but walked through Shankill Road and Falls Road, as well as a quick jaunt up Sandy Row (amongst other places). Here's an example of one of the murals we saw. We also checked out St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast Castle, and had a traditional "fry" at a small place at the top of Shankill Road with Great Aunt Betty (soda bread, pancakes, eggs, and potato bread ... mmmmmm).

July 2nd - Let me see... Carrick-a-rede (you can see Kelly here crossing the rope bridge, this was the return trip), Giant's Causeway (it rained too much, dulled the excitement), Dunluce Castle (here we have Kelly, her cousin Pamela, and Betty again), tea at Morelli's in Portstewart, drove the Antrim Coastal route back between Torr Head and Ballyvoy (Google Map it!), and it was all simply INCREDIBLE!! Kelly's cousin was awesome, driving us everywhere we wanted to go - all told we were out for about 12 hours!!

July 3rd - The next day Kelly's cousins Elaine and Gary took us for a tour of the areas to the south east of Belfast. Here we saw some pretty cool things - Carrickfergus castle (what, I'm not quite away in this picture, ok??), Scrabo Tower (my future ancestral home - it was small, but quite heavy), Grey Abbey (one of the most peaceful places I've ever been to), along the coast of Strangford Loagh, took a ferry from Portaferry to Strangford, then saw Inch Abbey, the St. Patrick monument near Downpatrick, a quick look at Killyleagh Castle (which is still inhabited), and then we had dinner at the Shields' family farm near Saintfield. There are buildings on the farm that date back to the 1600s, including the old family house which was occupied until about 1998 (I think), which itself was built around 1750.

One thing that has completely blown me away on this trip is the hospitality of Kelly's family. They have done virtually everything for us! All of them are wonderful, warm, and welcoming. I am definitely coming back just to see them, and spend time here!! And while it has rained here and there, for the most part, it's been quite nice and even almost warm (high teens most of the time).

Aside: On the left here you'll see Scrabo Tower. It's not quite as small as it appears... we have a video which we'll try to post sometime that has a panoramic shot of the hill just beside where the tower sits. I've decided I'm going to move in here some day, perhaps get a dragon for protection. Good idea? I think so!!

July 4th - This was our first day out on our own. We took a bus out to Londonderry, the famous walled city - it was somewhat reminiscent of Quebec, but without any French signs :D We wandered around the city, took in the cathedral in the town, learned much of its history and involvement in the "Glorious Revolution" in 1690 - the town survived a 105 day siege from King James II!! The city outside the walls was also the site of Bloody Sunday (Jan 30th, 1972). The highlight of our trip was a happenstance tour of the Apprentice Boys of Derry building, wherein not only did we get an excellent walk and guide of the place for free, but the tourguide (nice gentleman by the name of Philip) took us up to the very top of the building for an off-the-beaten-path tour, where we got quite the view of the city and its surroundings. Philip told us quite a bit about both the historical city, and how it has changed since The Troubles.

July 5th - today was a much quieter day, after several very long days of travel, walking, sight-seeing, and delicious food and fun. We actually slept in (shock, eh?), then a little later Elaine picked us up to just drive around the city to see some of the other places where murals are, aside from the more touristy ones. Tonight we're going to hit the Crown Pub for a taste of Guinness, where I will finally (hopefully) learn what people mean when they say "it doesn't travel well"

Next stop: Dublin, Ireland

First few days in Belfast

Hello!!! We've arrived in Belfast ! The flight was nothing special, although they served us chana masala which made us happy. My cousin Elaine picked us up from the airport - she is wonderful - and took us to my Great Aunt Betty's (who is just the sweetest woman on the planet).

Yesterday we went for a walk in the city after a 5 hour 'nap' to explore the shopping district. Today, although raining, we are doing a walking tour to check out the architecture and murals. Apparently this evening there will be marching bands preparing for the 12th of July celebrations. That is all for now - no pictures yet, but we'll get some up as soon as we're capable.

p.s. I love my family!!