Royal Botanic Gardens At Kew

I would love to have a beautiful garden. I would love to have fresh cut flowers all the time. I finally made it to Kew Gardens. Here are some of my favorite photos of the outing. It was a wonderful day.

Tour de France 2007 - Prologue

As someone who doesn't really know anything about the Tour de France, I was surprised to learn that it doesn't take place only in France. This year, it started in London, which I realized when I was there and stumbled upon the Prologue.
The part before Stage 1, this would be a timed race that the competitors (seeded) would complete in around 9 or 10 minutes. Each would leave the starting gate in one minute intervals.
Just one thing before a barrage of pictures from the race. I lucked out and found a spot 150m from the finish line (I didn't even line up super early in advance, although a bunch of other people did - I was really lucky) right across from the seats for people associated to sponsors of the event. You'll see that most of the seats were free. I really hate that the die hard fans have to line up really early and sometimes end up with crappy seats when there's a this whole section of seating being wasted on people who don't even care to show up. Reminds me of something...oh yeah, the Olympics! It really isn't fair. These people get the best seats and I don't think that they even deserve them.
Enough of me ranting, here are the pictures...

Things aren't that different...

I'm writing from Edinburgh. I arrived this morning and yesterday, my one day in Neuch in the middle of my crazy last-chance travelling, I obviously saw what had happened in Glasgow and London. I wasn't sure if it meant that I should cancel my trip, and obviously, in the end, I didn't.
You could look at this so many different ways. I mean, it could happen anywhere. They could strike twice in the same place. They won't strike twice in the same place. It's safer right now because there's more of a police presence. It's hard to say.
There was nothing special about my trip over. The only thing that I noticed was that no cars were being allowed to drive near the airport building itself. All cars were screened at the entrance by police and told to park in the lots which mean that passengers have to walk a little bit to the actually airport building. This really isn't too much of a hassle in the grand scheme of things.
Everything else seemed really normal, and walking through the streets of the city, there were still lots of tourists, no significant police presence and the people at the hotel made it seem like no one was really concerned about what happened just a little bit down the freeway.
I'm actually making the journey to Glasgow in a couple days. We'll see if it's more intense than Edinburgh. I won't be going to Glasgow Airport though, I fly out of Preswick. London should be interesting though. I'm guessing that I'll see more of an effect there for some reason.
I can't wait for London. This will definitely be my last time (I went in February thinking that, but I know for sure that this is the last). I've got tickets to Rigoletto at the Royal Opera which I'm super excited for. Hopefully I'll get to go see Avenue Q. Shopping? Well, I'm not too concerned. I have a little list, but I'm really not putting a lot of pressure on it, because, well, Paris. Les soldes. It was intense. I definitely caved on many occasions. Bags, shoes, clothes, even a coat. It was a pretty intense couple of days. I'll have to write about it at some point.
For now though, I'm in Scotland (first time!) and trying to figure out what my "Scottish" purchase will be. I really won't use a kilt, although the real shops are so cool. I'm not sure what I should get. I actually have no clue.

Oh, and if you're ever in Edinburgh, you have to visit Mary King's Close. It's extremely well done.

Shrek 3

Again, in Paris...Shrek 3. When it came out in Neuch, it never came VO, so although I thought that I might be able to watch it in French (I was being convinced by my friend that it would be fine, and that it would be a nice way to really test my abilities), but I think that one of the main reasons why you would watch this movie is for the delivery (which I would want to hear the original actors do) and the jokes (which I'm not would get lost in translation - which they did, I couldn't help but following along with the subtitles a little bit...they're so huge, you can't avoid them).
I'd kind of forgotten what had happened in Shrek 2 (all I could remember was that Antonio Banderas stole the show), so for the first little while, I was trying to remind myself of what was going on. It didn't take long, however, so it was fine.
The movie itself was ok. Nothing too stand out. There were some funny one liners, that I couldn't help but laugh at, which I felt bad for the people who were only there to read the subtitles, because it definitely didn't get translated properly. I could potentially also see that either the joke didn't make sense in the French culture. It was really related to American lifestyle, trends and slang.
The fact Justin Timberlake's involvement was interesting. I'm too far removed to know if they were still dating when they filmed this (I'm guessing yes), and whether or not the only reason why he was in the movie was because she pulled some string for him. Or maybe this was made so long ago that they met doing voices for the movie (I'm guessing no).
Either way, it was a lighthearted movie. I liked it, but didn't love it.

- picture courtesy of www.shrek.com

Oceans 13

I saw the VO (version originale) of Oceans 13 last week in Paris. I enjoyed Oceans 11 (enough twists and turns, and well, quite frankly, some nice eye candy too), thought Oceans 12 would live up to its predecessor (it didn't, but still, nice eye candy) and for some reason still had faith in the fact that Oceans 13 might be good.
I was wrong.
It was predictable, which to me is the worst possible thing that could happen in a "heist" movie. Maybe this movie was supposed to be though, because it was laid out a lot different (or at least, that was my impression). They were telling the story as it happened, laying it out completely for you. I'm not sure why they decided to do that, but whatever the reason, it was a bad move. Oh, and it seemed like only 2, maybe 3 characters actually did anything in the movie. It was like the other people in the group had obligatory cameos and that's about it. I was so confused.
At least it had eye candy.

- picture courtesy of www.oceans13.warnerbros.com

CN tower

I know it's been going on for awhile now, but why is it that the CN tower has crazy lights? Is it for the community? Is it for the tourists?
Do y'all at home like it?
I'm all for things that light up the night sky, so it doesn't really bother me - I'm pretty excited to see it for myself. The pictures and videos that I've seen of it are neat.
I think it sparkles too? I like things that sparkle.

Oh dear

Young Canadian women really need better influences. I read that a Forever 21 store has moved into Toronto. C'mon people, you can do much better than that. I guess it's not completely horrible. Cough, cough. Did I hear Massimo Dutti? =) Sigh. Thank goodness I'm going to Paris on Tuesday. Love les soldes!

Shocking

Last night, on the last bus, I witnessed something shocking. Shocking and disappointing. There was a teenager smoking on the bus. It's obviously illegal to smoke on the bus, but he did it anyway. I couldn't believe it. We wasn't trying to blow the smoke out the window, but I did notice that he tried to tap his ashes outside. How considerate. He was far enough back on the bus that the driver couldn't see what was going on. There weren't too many people on the bus that were older than he was...maybe 3 and they didn't say anything. I wonder why? I can't judge, I didn't say anything either. I think I might of had I been in Canada, but I couldn't come up with an appropriate intro line (in French) in my head. After he was done his cigarette, he went to sit with his other pals at the front of the bus (there was a posse at the back as well). I wonder why he felt that he needed to move.

The market

I still remember my first Saturday here in Neuch. It was only a couple days after I arrived, and I was told that it was the place to be on Saturday morning. I loved every moment of it. I was in awe. I couldn't believe that I was in Switzerland. I couldn't believe what lie ahead for me. I couldn't believe that it was happening to me. My dream had come true. All that, just from going to the local market.
This morning, I went to that market again. I haven't been for a long time, because I tend to sleep in too late, or be in a different city. I can't believe it's almost over. Yet, I still had those same feelings as the very first time. I'm so incredibly lucky. I'm so incredibly happy. The market was full with people. Hustle. Bustle. Happy faces. Smiling faces. My memory is unreliable, but I hope I'll always remember the feelings I get at these "everyday life" times. It's nothing special in the grand scheme of things, but it feels like the biggest thing in the world.

I bought a bunch of fruit. I got an overly ripe fig. I need some honey to go with it. I got some white cherries. Apricots. And those flat white peaches. For some reason I want to call them Saturn peaches. Anyway, these peaches were the tastiest and juiciest things that I can remember ever eating. I still have a couple more. I think I'll go eat one now. Oh, I also think that little kids would love them. It's a perfect shape for little fingers to grab onto and so juicy and sweet. That's what I think.

Allez Alinghi!

I'm pretty sure it's only because I live in Switzerland that I even know that this regatta is going on. I followed the LV Cup a little because a colleague is getting pumped about the America's Cup. Hop Suisse!

I want my own garden

Because of my Thursday night influence, I've decided that I would like a garden. I want to grow fruits that I can eat. Veggies don't matter as much. Dad does tomatoes, so I'll let him go on with that. I want fruit trees and berry shrubs.
I used to be a city girl who had no clue what the plants that different fruits come from look like, but now I feel like to have seen and tasted a variety of things.

Did you know:
- Blueberries aren't called bleuets like they are in Canada. They call them myrtilles. Bleuets are flowers here.
- Adding the suffix ier to a fruit name creates the name of the tree it grows on. For example: pommier, cerisier, figuier.
- Red currants are called raisinettes. Black currants are called cassis. Totally different.

New neighbours

Two days ago, four little goats moved into town. They're hanging out on a nearby plot of land and they're super cute. I stop to say hello to them every time I pass.

Longest day of the year

Yesterday, on the longest day of the year, I hung out at the same place I go to every Thursday evening. It was fabulous. I picked raspberries from their garden before it got too dark (I think it was around 10pm) and walked home, snacking as I went. It was such a nice feeling. I got home and added vanilla ice cream to the extra berries that I still hadn't eaten yet. I felt fab.