Friday, July 23, 2010

day 64 paris - vancouver

23 july 2009


catherine came at 745a to check out apartment and return damage deposit and then we were off to gare du nord by cab to take the RER to CDG terminal 2. checked-in with no prob and same with security. went to my last swarovski store in europe (paris duty-free) but still could not find earrings :(. boarded the plane after having to wait on the bus and then exit only thru the front which was annoying. on the plane realized that "taking care of ben and hannah tonight" potentially means staying up til 430a paris time. watched "the international" (sucked) and "watchmen" also sucked.


in montreal, we actually had to deplane and pick up our baggage and go through customs which was stressful , but we made it with ample time. we, however, had to wait for others to go through, and in paris and montreal there were people with checked baggage that didn't make it, so we had to wait for their baggage to be removed. customs wise, we were probably slated to be checked, but i figure we weren't worth the time and hassle considering the line-ups. we also watched, " i love you man" again which is still hilarious, and "adventureland" which was mediocre.


arriving in vancouver, we had to figure out which baggage carousel to goto and then we were picked up by kate, dave, ben and hannah!

day 63 paris

22 july 2009


early rise today to maximize our last day in paris and europe (for this trip at least). went to la grande epicerie (kind of like urban fare) and got dragee almonds, chocolate and other gift items for various folks. took the metro to near the louvre, and walked down rue de rivoli in hunt of angelina's. found a cool kids paris book that we got for ben and hannah and then at angelina's, had hot chocolate, white hot choc and pain aux raisins... oh my gosh. all so good!


bought more choc goodies for gifts and for us and then walked to galeries lafayette to exchange tie (got hugo boss tie, AND andree made 20e or so!) and then got rip curl shorts in prep for hawaii! dropped stuff off at andree's and then strolled to rue de petite carreaux for lunch, and to get cheese and wine to take to canada (i chose the gewertzmaminer). napped for a looooooong time and felt the groggiest i have ever once we woke up at like 5:15p. andree wanted to take me to jardin de luxembourg and on the way stopped at monoprix to get OJ and win and pate (for canada). the jardin looked soooo different compared to january, and i could still remember the walking route and photo spot from this past winter. we hung out at the fountain and i watched the little toy boats that kids play with. they aren't controlled... the wind just takes them whereever, and when i enquired as to whether the family was afraid if it would come back, he replied "it's a very optimistic sport..." (brilliant)


then we walked to st.germain de pres to meet zoya and ryan at "lipp" at 151 where i was basically kicked out for being underdressed. also apparently one of the restaurants that poets/ authors/ philosophers like victor hugo used to frequent. andree and i went just next door and had our last meal of moules a la creme and escargots.


after a fun hang out with zoya and ryan, andree and i went to the eiffel tower (this time also to top level) to hang out at one of our romantic spots (2nd level, bench between north and east towers) where we had tea and a brownie this time (not coffee and cheescake like in jan). we also saw a marriage proposal which was cute. got home and packed to ensure 23kg checked baggage compliance, and then was in bed for 2am.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

day 62 lauterbrunnen - paris

21 july 2009


slept in again (ahhhh... holidays with andree :)) and when we checked out, we received 2 bars of swiss chocolate as a goodbye from the hostel! made our way to airtime to say our goodbyes and to grab coffees to go and caught a train to interlaken to hang out for the day.

walked from ost to the field across from the metropol hotel where ew watched paragliders land with the jungfrau framed backdrop

i had a hankering for asian food and there were a tonne of koreans in the region so we ate some korean, and then found a coop and got more movenpick ice cream. walking around interlaken, we found mozart balls and hiking maps that i wanted to get framed, but they themselves cost 35CHF! in the end, we managed to use up virtually all our CHF with coop and migros shopping. the train to bern was stupid hot and people were annoying. final train ride, andree had an earphone in and loudly asked me to "cream her face" which could be taken the wrong way. we played both cribbage and chess and i won. today was trifecta including rock, paper, scissors earlier in the AM. andree also found a german newspaper, found a comic strip and laughed even though she had no idea what was going on. staff in the food car thought andree was a famous celebrity (tina fey?) and when we got back to paris, we did some mass packing, cleaning and interneting.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

day 61 lauterbrunnen

20 july 2009


started off the day quite late and we headed to airtime for a coffee and to have a game of regular sized chess (which i won). after some recommendations from olivia, we were on our way! as we were walking towards trummelbachfalle, we passed by a swiss sausage vendor so we had that for lunch. so good! we also passed a couple of guys who had just base jumped, so our eyes were constantly looking up towards the mountains/cliffs to see if anyone was jumping. however, that was stopped short by the barrage of flies... we crossed a river at some point too and decided to refresh our feet in the uber cold glacial water. the trummelbachfalle is pretty darn cool. 10 waterfalls nestled within a mountain with very little protection between viewer and certain catastrophe. it was here that i got frustrated with my camera in low lighting and subsequently figured out how to change the ISO! after the falls, we stopped nearby for ice cream and discovered swiss made movenpick! hiked to cable car station and caught a "free" ride upto murren where we dined on a patio with amazing views of the adjacent peaks. there was a wasp or something pissing us off, and it got angry and bit/stung andree. we found another coop grocery store (yay!) and then another big chess board with the best view ever of the eiger (where andree beat me again... at "duplo" chess)


for dinner we had swiss cheese fondue with spice, chives, onions, fennel seeds and garlic additions, followed by swiss chocolate and passion fruit/mango movenpick ice cream. i explained to andree the rationale behind her duplo chess wins, with the peripheral vision theory that we tested.



Monday, July 19, 2010

day 60 lauterbrunnen

19 july 2009


so much today! so tired! so sore!


today was to be a day of hiking, and it certainly was. we started out by visiting wanda and getting a coffee and then were off! first to wengen (passing by the appel house that wanda and andree are obsessed about), and we made it up in 40 minutes despite the stated 1:20h. in switzerland, they don't state distances, they do times. good for beginner hikers i guess. wengen is nice! there was a festival going on with live music, we chugged 1L of OJ and got lunch supplies (with btl of rose from lauterbrunnen). we also saw a big outdoor chess board so planned to come back at somepoint to play.


then wengen to kleine scheidegg, and we wanted to go via mannlichen but the signs confused us and we ended up going thru allmend, wengernalp and then to end location in 1:45h (stated 2:45h). we decided to push on through so took the very steep route just off the pool/reservoir looking thing to eigergletscher where just before we ate on a perfect little rock bench with the beautiful alps surrounding us. at this point, we were in shorts and decided to change into pants (editor 2010 - it was starting to get cold as we were quite high up altitude wise). along the way on an earlier part of the route, we also chanced upon a cacphony (well, nice actually) of bells that were around cows! very docile creatures and they crap everywhere. the grass on mountains nearby also looked perfect, soft and very rollable except for high likelihood of hitting a patty of cow poo. at the beginning of the hike, we also took pics of various peaks, and as the hiking progressed, it was very cool to see them get closer and bigger and more beautiful


once we hit eigergletscher, we decided it was clear enough (or would be) to go to jungfraujoch (the top of europe, UNESCO world heritage site). on the train ride up, there were 2 short stops at viewpoints but andree and i decided to sleep instead. at the top, i started to heavily feel the affects of high altitude (3454m) and was light-headed couldn't think entirely straight, and had shortness of breath. hence i blame that for my unintentional shop-lift of my final postcard to emily! whoops...


being that high (and despite having paid 100CHF each for return ticket to eigergletscher), they still charge crazy amounts for food and drink, and our cashier was a mean-ish lady. BUT... the views are wicked! my gosh. so pretty and peaceful (although some tourists have no common sense/etiquette at all). we first went to the ice palace (which was kinda cool, but more a series of tunnels then a palace), then the plateau viewing point which was mindblowing with views of various peaks from the other side (we crossed thru the mountain range on the train ride up), and the glacier. then we went to the sphinx tower thing, another 100m up and andree made good friends with a few birds that ate out of her hand!


after, we had a gassed hike (10-15m, stop to rest...) to the hotel/restaurant that was a good 40 min away along the snow. i went to order a coke and some soup and the following conversation ensued:
"hi, can i order some stuff?"
"are you staying here?"
"no, i just wanted some food"
"the last train back down leaves in 15 minutes"
"oh... good to know. thanks...(to andree) babe, we gotta go!"
"you won't make it back in time... we'll give you a ride"
... first ever snowmobile ride! and in the beautiful alps!
we made it in time (luckily)... at eigergletscher, we decided to not hike the eiger trail, and hiked back down to kleine schneidegg and then as last train had already left, back down to wengen where we met wanda. along the way, we peed in the alps (had to... sorry), saw lots of slugs and i proved that sheep respond to "baa", not "beh" (editor 2010 - andree and other quebec peeps are convinced that sheep say, "beh" instead). a sheep came right upto me and almost kissed me! we also found a wally look alike.


back in wengen, we had our game of oversized chess and i got schooled. caught the train back down to lauterbrunnen (for free!) and had dinner with wanda. then i came back to hostel to res, shower and update journal and andree had one last drink with wanda before she leaves for her trip!

day 59 paris - lauterbrunnen

18 july 2009


super early morning to catch 6:54am train to lauterbrunnen so we left andree's apartment around 6:20am, saying goodbye to my last travel bud, nusbaum. the night before, i believe we all "cheers"ed to a whole host of events for back in toronto now that i think about it.


journey was relatively uneventful. arriving in lauterbrunnen (being able to show andree the blue glow to the river... which was at a much higher level this time), it was raining :(


we couldn't check in until 3pm so we grabbed some lunch and bought some hazelnut swiss milk chocolate (0.60CHF!). the hostel is nice and very clean and our room has amazing views of the mountains to the north. we settled in and then napped for 2 hours, and then got in contact with andree's friend wanda who lives in wengen and works at airtime coffee shop in lauterbrunnen (small world!)


she took us for coffee and recommended some hikes, then we went for dinner and drinks, meeting claudio and some really drunk new zealand dude who was really hammered.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

day 58 bayeux - paris

17 july 2009


went to get breakfast and got nusbaum one of the custardish pain au raisin which he liked!


the main street in bayeux also seemed to be getting ready for a street market which was cool. we made our way to the musee memorial de la bataille de normandie which was actually awesome! learned so much more about d-day and subsequent events. nazi marshall rommel, who was in charge of the "atlantik wall" consisting of gun batteries and beach fortifications etc. was killed on my birthday (today!) 65 years ago... crazy. they also had a quick blurb on general von choltitz, who by the description must be the "saviour or paris" i read about in january. hitler apparently ordered him to destroy the city when they were about to pull out but he refused to, hence all the surviving history in the city. also learned that from june 14 to august 25 1944, bayeux was the capital of france!


also learned that general (didn't last long) charles de gaulle was villified by then vichy french government, but was basically the driving leader of the french resistance... oh, and he is a tall dude. got a picture with a jeep (GP willy) that was apparently designed in 4-5 days!


also, to correct my knowledge, the "mulberry harbour" was the name given to the design of the artifical harbours, and they existed at omaha (briefly due to storm) and arromanches.

i also gained a much greater appreciation for other people involved i.e. medical staff, war correspondants, grave registration units and the engineers.


when we left, it was quite windy and i came close to getting hit by a falling piece of pottery that got knocked off a balcony by a shutter... that would have sucked.


nusbaum (back in paris at galerie lafayette) took our quick advice re: jacket... "get it"). for my bday, andree got me a skydiving trip in hawaii, a hugo boss shirt and 2 armani ties! she also got rose champagne and sweet pastries. went to dinner in the latin quarter, drank more.


he also yelled out really loud, "just one glass!" when he tried to get me to booze more :)


other:
- no ticket needed for bayeux-paris trip!