Next adventure looming

Tomorrow morning I will be getting on a bus, then a train, and then a plane on route to Budapest, Hungary. I will be there for two days, then go to Beius, Romania to help build houses for five days. Afterwards, I will return to Budapest for a night and fly to Athens, Greece. After two days in Athens I will be boarding a boat to cruise for four days around the Mediterranean, visiting Greek islands and making a stop in Turkey. I will return back to Neuchatel after this two week adventure and force myself to continue on with my dream life.

Booyah.

No updates until my return.

Paris Metro

Back from a weekend in Paris.
I LOVE Paris.
There's just something special about that city.
It's my third trip and I love the place even more than the first time I went.

I will write about the trip at some later time, but the point of this post is to say that I love the Metro.

Why? Because...
- It's quick
- I can drift
- It's a game
- It has lines that still run on wheels
- It has multiple pink lines
- It takes me from point A to point B
- I'm Amelie
- It's not confusing
- I feel anonymous
- It gets you anywhere
- It makes nice noises
- I can get serenaded

I want to do this with the Metro. I'm intrigued by this. And like this.

I can't wait to use the London Underground.

Still experimenting

A couple days ago, I cracked open a can of San Pellegrino Chino. I'd bought it in Milan the first time I'd been there, because I thought the can looked really cool. For some reason, I didn't open it until now. I think I initially wanted to keep it unopened, but I've realised that it really it's THAT difficult for me to go back to Italy to buy another can to leave unopened, so I thought I should probably give this stuff a try.
It's just pop, but a flavour that they don't have in Canada. It tasted yucky. Chinotto is "a small bitter citrus fruit similar to an orange giving an extraordinary distinctive bitter/sweet taste". It also gave a tinny aftertaste. A friend brought up the fact that I probably didn't really enjoy the taste of Chinotto because I didn't grow up drinking it, and he wondered if someone who had never drank Coke before wouldn't like the taste of it if they drank it later in life. I guess that's the same thing with me and strong cheeses. The only cheese I grew up eating was the yummy processed cheese slices (I really do like eating them), a couple Baby Bells here and there, a Laughing Cow triangle or two and of course any generic mozzarellas they put on pizzas or pastas.
So that's the Chino story.

I also tried Carpe Diem a healthy drink with ginko and good stuff like that. I should have clued in when the ingredients said something about fermented stuff. The only drinks that I've tried that include fermented stuff are alcoholic, and I don't like the taste of those. This stuff wasn't alcoholic, so I didn't mind trying it. It was all herbal and supposed to be good for you and stuff. Well, I don't like it. It tastes like something's gone bad (duh, it's been fermented). So I think I'll try it again. Oh, and the fact that the first time I went on the website, the quote they had was: "Don't reach for the stars, but seize this moment" (there are a couple different quotes that they cycle through) makes me dislike the drink even more. Of course you should enjoy the moment, but they're dissing people who reach for the stars!!! That's just pure-D wrong.
Ugh.

Sometimes experimenting with weird drinks works well, others, you just move on to the next and make mental notes.

Last day of skating for the season

The Swiss don't believe in ice time over the spring in summer. At least in the non-major skating centres.
It sucks.

Last night was my last night of skating for the season with the CPNS...they have their final gala this Sunday, and then the ice is taken out. The arena's used for concerts, conventions, when not booked it sits there. Using less energy and spending less money than if there was ice in there. I noticed that one of the concerts coming up is the 2005 Star Academy tour. That's right, Star Academy. Star Academy may be bigger here than American Idol is at home.
It was a fantastic night of skating. I don't know if the ice was nicer because they recently had the Junior Challenge Cup 2005, but the ice was so smooth and fast. I felt like I was flying out there.
My jumps were amazing, and I did a 2T2T.
I stroked around for a good 15 minutes at the end. Just doing crosscuts, and Russian stroking and stuff. It just felt nice to skate. I did lots of spirals too. I love spirals.
I'm so glad I skated well for the last day out. I walked out of the rink feeling 10ft tall. I was so happy, and just felt so, I don't know...good. Yet again, I got that great feeling that I can't seem to put into words.

I think it's SO important that everyone has something that makes them as happy as skating makes me feel.

I will never be mouled out

This week at the caf, it's Moules et Frites week. Mmmm..mussels from Brussels...
The caf has theme weeks every so often (just like most cafs do around the world). One week was rosti week, this week it's moules week!!! (I get very enthusiastic about seafood)
You may think that moules at a cafe would be a little sketch, but they're delicious!!!

They even give you four different kinds of moules to choose from.
1. Mariniere (plain)
2. Poulete (cream sauce)
3. Curry (uh...curry)
4. I forget (tomato sauce)

And they give you a BUNCH!!!
It's fantastic!
I've had moules everyday so far, and by no means am I getting sick of them. One of the lovely ladies there laughs at me because I love them so much, but I really do LOVE seafood that much. I do miss seafood. At home, we eat a fair amount of seafood, and here I don't cook it for myself, so anytime I get the chance to eat some, I jump on it!

Anyway, I can't believe I'm eating moules et frites in a cafeteria and enjoying them immensely. What a fabulous week.

Golden Gaels logos are everywhere...sort of

Someone I know was wearing a zip up sweatshirt with the Golden Gaels logo on it. Or so I though. When I asked her where she got it from (I knew she wasn't a student or alumni), she said that she'd actually bought it in Bern! Strange! She bought it only because it said something about Canada on it (it was a sweatshirt with three patches on it).
On closer examination, I noticed something odd about the logo. It didn't say "Golden Gaels", but "Golden Goalies". Hmmm...something wasn't right.
And below the crest was something about "Kingston, Canada", but there was also another city in there, that I didn't recognize (and that I can't seem to recall right now).
So it this sweater just like "Lido Dido 7-Op"? Or like the classics of "Panaphonic" and "Sorny"?
I didn't think Queen's Athletics was popular enough for Europeans to have knock offs for.
Weird.

Florence and Siena

Last Tuesday (the one before yesterday) was a Cantonal holiday. The equivalent of a provincial holiday.
We took advantage of the long weekend by going to Florence and Siena.
Florence was just like all the other European cities that I've been talking about (with the necessary components to make it indeed "European"), so I won't get too much into that part of it. I will mention that for some reason, I was expecting the Duomo to look like the Duomo in Milan (gothic in style), but I was a little thrown off by the fact that this one was made out of red, green and white marble (symbolic colours). It reminded me of one of those 3-D puzzles.
I was disappointed in the lack of shopping that Florence had to offer, or should I say, the lack of affordable shopping it had. Does every Italian city have it's own Via Montenapoleone district?
The famed leather market was kind of fun. Bartering is definitely an art form, and it's interesting to see different people make their deals. True personalities really come out when haggling for the best possible price that you can (or are willing to) get. The people who are shy seemed to settle more, whereas the aggressive one either got amazing deals, or just didn't get anything at all. You know how alcohol sometimes brings out ones true character, I think the same can be said for bargaining. When bargaining, sometimes I get caught up in the moment, and then don't end up buying anything because I think that I'll be able to get a better deal elsewhere, or don't want to eat my words when I tell a vendor that "I won't buy it unless you give it to me for x amount." I hate eating my words. They never taste good. I was eyeing a fabulous "monk bag". I liked the pastel purple one (think Easter egg shade). The leather was SO soft. Mmmm...baby lamb...(animal activist, don't go all crazy on me, I just say it how it is.) I liked the suede one. I just didn't want to spend the money on it. I can always go back if I really change my mind. I'm sure it'll still be there.
Ponte Vecchio was crazy. The jewelry stores were too busy with bling. Since there was so much quantity that they wanted to display in their windows, everything just looked gaudy. My taste in bags shows that I enjoy a good amount of "gaud" every so often, but this was a little extreme even for me.
Speaking of gaudy things and jewelry, I did buy one silly thing this weekend. A gaudy pink bracelet. Unfortunately it's not in the same style as my belt and bag (that would be TOO much), but it's got big pink baubles on it. It was more expensive than I would have wanted to spend on such a juvenile looking piece, but it was in a little boutique, so I wanted to support the designers...and heck, I fell in love with it, so why do I need to justify it?
Meals were crazy. I was recently going over the pictures I took from the weekend, and I'm convinced, that my face is fatter than it is now. I didn't realise that food can go to your face that fast. I was shocked. Actually, disgusted. Still, the food was worth it (for the weekend). Lunches and dinners were 4+ courses long. Man alive that food was good. I can't even describe it. It was just FAN-tastic! I did reach my food tolerance limit on the last day though. I just wasn't hungry anymore. I don't know how the Italians do it.
I'd heard about how there's random body parts in different churches, and how you could see these random parts. On our day trip to Siena, I saw two. St. Catherine's head and one of her fingers. Apparently Catholics like to have something to pray to, and that's why they've got her finger and head in this one specific church. I think I would have been more interested in seeing them if they weren't covered in wax (the skin/colouring and such). Seeing bones would have made me like the authenticity of it more. Also, the display of her head was far enough away that I couldn't see the little details of her face (or it could just be that I'm pretty much legally blind). Oh well, it was an experience in itself. I'd never seen anything like it.
The statue of David was really impressive. It was a lot bigger than I expected it to be. I also liked "The Prisoners". All of Michelangelo's works blew me away. How such a hard material could be chiseled into such beautiful shapes. How someone could understand form and dimensions SO well that models weren't necessary. It's incredible. We did go to the Uffizi and see famous things in there, but that kind of art isn't really my style.
Oh, something that really surprised me was the amount of English speaking folks there. I truly do believe that I heard more English (sans British accents) in Florence than I did Italian. Not only did it thrown me off, but it was a little bit of a disappointment. I like being surrounded by the native language when traveling. Even if I don't understand what they're saying. It's just so much more authentic.

Very random...

I wasn't there to witness it, but on a recent trip to Prague, apparently there was a Queen's Golden Gaels sweater for sale in a local shop. It was a plain, crew neck sweatshirt, with just the Golden Gael crest on it.

How curious.

Reading roadblock

I've been trying to read For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, but three chapters in, I've put it back on the bookshelf.
I just don't find it interesting. I find myself just scanning the words, and going through the pages, but I'm not absorbing, or enjoying, or wanting to read more of the story.
I think I might just be a little intimidated by the fact that it's Hemingway (although I'm not sure why it would be intimidating at all), but the book just isn't working for me.
I'm going to move on to the next book for now, and maybe come back to this one.
I'm a little disappointed and discouraged, but hopefully I'll be able to find another book and get back into the swing of things.