a tale of ten cities.

whoa. sometimes i don't realize how much i am doing until it is done. then, i take the time to look back, and i can barely believe that i fit so much into two weeks. this trip was more about visiting friends then it was about visiting places. i apologize for the lack of blogs, but i plan on making up for it now with an epic novel of a post. i promise to forgive you if you stop reading now.

paris: i think i last wrote about dieppe, which was my last stop before i went to paris for two leisurely evenings. when i was backpacking last summer, i met andrea in prague (oh, one drunken evening...) and we have stayed in touch ever since. when i was coming through, i couldn't NOT visit her. i LOVE paris. there is something in the air that makes me satisfied with strolling around, sitting in cafes and contemplating life. there are a lot of cities in europe that i love, but i can imagine making paris my home. i am not sure that i would ever get anything accomplished, but i would certainly adopt the parisien mentality without too much trouble. andrea and i are both talkers (yes, it is true) so we chatted in the evenings while i meandered the streets, frequented cafes and did absolutely nothing touristy during the day. ah, c'est la vie.

dijon: picture the most picturesque french town/city, insert my fashionable friend kristin macrae taking a year of french classes and throw in a dash of the most delicious food imagineable, and you will understand why i visited. it wouldn't really have mattered where kristin was, because i would have made the trek... but i am glad it was dijon. it is so perfectly french. the buildings, the mustard, the shopping, the friendliest folks. it is not the same as paris, where people are more reserved and tend to turn their noses up. in dijon, everyone is welcoming and chatty... even with my feeble attempts at speaking french. kristin was a splendid tour guide, exposing me to the culinary delights (not forgetting the kir royal's and wine) of the city. i bought my first designer bag, hit up a townie bar and got to crash in residence. gotta love the extremes!

arras: after reading 'the stone carvers' by jane urquhart, i have always been fascinated by the canadian war memorial to vimy ridge in france. particularly with all of the restoration that happened recently, i knew there would be no better time to experience the monument. while it is considered canadian soil, it is not easy to get to, especially for a backpacker. i took the train to arras (the closest major city), but there were no lockers at the train station to leave my luggage for the day. i was stuck with my bags for the day. at that moment, i regretted going shopping in paris. the monument itself is breathtaking. tall, imposing, chalk white -- it was striking against the stormy french sky. the carvings were done in lifelike detail, looking over the plains below. walter allward said that the memorial came to him in a dream... and i think that it felt like i became a part of that dream as i wandered around, apart of the spirits that live there. afterwards, i wandered down, through the forest, to the underground tunnels, which can still be visited on a guided tour. of course, they have been enlarged for safety reasons, but it is incredible to touch the underground walls, which were dug almost a hundred years ago. thousands of humans waited, the night before the vimy attack, and lived their last hours in these tunnels. i will definitely be voting for the vimy ridge memorial as one of the wonders of canada.

lille: i only went to lille to catch the eurostar train back to london. i found it crowded, dirty and busy compared to the serenity in the french countryside that i had experienced in the previous few hours.

london: for the next week, i used london (and carolynn's flat) as a base. since visiting care was the main purpose of my trip, i wanted to spend a lot of time with her; but since she had essays to write, i did not want to distract her too much! we sampled welsch rarebit, had thoughts of poutine, dealt with abandoning roommates, made huge life decisions, listened to songs of africa, talked to erin on the phone, battled in our sleep, ate copious amounts of cheese, wandered the streets, gourged on lattes, saw harry potter naked, relaxed in parks, met up for picnic lunches, purchased fabulous shoes, drank beer, discovered hidden gardens and desperately tried to be quiet during our gossip sessions so we didn't wake up her light sleeping housemate.

brighton: care and i took an evening field trip to this tacky seaside town but had the BEST time. we got a ride to the coast from one of care's old friends, troy, and were lucky enough to be introduced to his entire party-hardy group of friends. we couldn't find a hotel room, quite literally, so in our typical resourceful manner we found a train that returned to london at 4 AM. that's right, 4 AM! no sleep for the wicked. brighton is certainly a young, crazy, party city. aside from drinking and meeting all sorts of of crazy young folks that have gradually migrated there, we ate fish (hold the chips) on the pier, contemplated sleeping under benches on the beach and judged all the freaky-looking fetishy people we saw all dressed up. the city certainly attracks a lot of wackos! probably why care and i ended up there.

canterbury: four years ago, when i was backpacking in australia, i met a lovely brit named ali. she is now a school teacher living in canterbury, so i went to visit her. it was a perfect day trip from london, and gave care the chance to have a serious library day. ali is as cute and hilarious as i remember her, and canterbury is absolutely brilliant. we caught up over sausages and mash, went on a little river boat tour of some of the quiet parts of the city, and explored the enormous canterbury cathedral. aside from being a little tired from my brighton adventure the night before, it was a perfect day!

bath: i wanted to get a little pampering, so i took a day trip to stonehenge and bath. stonehenge was a quick stop, and to be completely honest, 45 minutes was all that i needed. the rocks were beautiful, but since they are sectioned off, there isn't much of a chance to wander. the bus took us to bath, and dropped us off at the roman bath museum which was AMAZING. since the water was green/brown, washing up wasn't overly appealing, but the insight into roman history was intriguing. if you want a good laugh, check out a video on youtube of a guy jumping in. yuck. another highlight of bath was convincing a priest to let me into the bath abbey even though i had run out of money to pay for the entrance fee. note to self: looking poor and sorrow and donating a handful of pennies works wonders with men of god!

glasgow: i was really excited about venturing up to scotland, because my family names originate from there, and i have always heard how downright friendly everyone is. every scot i have ever met has had an affinity for a good laugh, a good beer and yelling at small children. ahh, scotland the brave. glasgow isn't a city that immediately bowls you over with beauty. it is very industrial-looking, and clearly has a significant working-class history. there was even a shipbuilding holiday while i was there. go figure. but i wasn't there to sightsee, i was there to catch up with old walkhome friends margaret, marcello, kevin and toner. margaret gave me an exquisite culinary tour of the city throughout my stay; marcello and i peeed our pants laughing over a few pints ("your face looks like a ripped out fire place") and i serenaded kevin with my favourite scotland-themed song from my childhood. count yourself lucky that you did not have to hear me sing it... "land of the dirty hanky, land of the wee bikini, land of where the people frolic, scotland the brave!". i can't say that i saw any frolicking or wee bikini's during my short stay, but with scots, you never know!

edinburgh: the architecture in edinburgh is beautiful. i was only there for about eight hours, but i was mesmerized by the buildings, the castle, the alleys - the ancient royal feel to it all. i was on a mission to soak up as much as i could during my day, and i had a stellar tour guide. david toner, of walkhome fame, met me for lunch at the elephant house, a cafe where it is said that jk rowling wrote harry potter! i didn't invent an empire while i was there, but i did have a delicious brie and bacon quiche. yum! toner gave me the scots tour of edinburgh, which included a music store, having paper throwing competitions and having a hair-growing contest. the scots i met know absolutely nothing about scotland! but i was content with made-up facts and lessons on scottish slang. after toner left to make it big as a rock star, i wandered along the royal mile ("how long is the royal mile, you ask?"), explored the nooks and crannies in edinburgh castle and even braved the underground tunnels of an old close (aka alley off of a main street).

i am back home in canada now, severely jet-lagged and missing my europe friends. a huge thank you to everyone who housed me, hung out with me and showed me around while i was visiting over the past two weeks. i will certainly return the favour anytime! everyone else, if you are still reading, you are quite the champ. have a happy day.