Days 104-109

Getting used to getting back on Canadian soil took some getting used to. I did though take some time on Day 104 to hop over to the library and start planning my next journey!

There was also a stop to my favourite dollar store so that I could get some blu tac to post some more things up on the wall. I decided to take stock of my game show memorabilia.

Countdown, whether you win or lose, gives you really neat parting gifts. As you can see, I got a mug, a clock, a pen (all with the Countdown logo), Suzie Dent's new origin of words book, a copy of the dictionary that is used on the show, as well as an awesome tote bag for it all. I'm told this is the new model, and let's be honest, it looks faaaaaaaaaaabulous. I figure that's about a good $100 worth of swag, so JL, it's time for you to update my status on the GS winners' list :)

I'm pretty sure I mentioned this before, but I was graciously given a Deal or No Deal cue card as seen on the show, as well as an autographed picture of Noel Edmonds, the host.

Completing my game show stash from this trip: my name tag from Countdown, my two audience passes from Deal or No Deal, a drink chip and my ticket from Wer Wird Millionar, an autograph from Julien Lepers of Questions Pour Un Champion, and you can see the corner of a yellow card to the left of the autograph - that's a question card that I got from Questions.

You have to understand at home I have one wall that is all game show souvenirs; I've been very lucky in that respect. Having been to see game shows in five different countries now I've got quite a bit!

Day 105 was just another vegging day. I decided to kick it old school and watch some GSN. My GSN time is at 9, 10.30 and 14.00 hours on weekdays... the only appointment tv for me at this time. Plus catching up on Le Moment de Verite. As you can see... another cameo appearance!!

Day 106 was shopping expedition day. That's pretty much where we stand! Helga and I hit Costco (around noon - you get the free samples that way), and then the Superstore. Helga and Hans have been very generous offering rides when they have been going out, otherwise I walk which is perfectly fine as well!

Pina swung by about 2 pm and we went out to get some errands done for the classes that I was helping with the next day. I hadn't seen her since I had gotten back and it was great to catch up!

Day 107 turned into an adventure, to say the least. I got up early and decided to make Toblerone Cheesecake. Let's sum it up, shall we?

Step One. Realize you don't really have cake pans but you want to share it with everyone. Find pie plates, and don't follow the recipe (ie. double the quantities) thus making not the best cookie base ever.

Step Two. Realize that there's a lot of sticky stuff and you don't have a mixer and actually need two separate bowls.

Step Three. Somehow, without the use of a hand mixer, manage to mush it up and dole it out onto the base.

Step Four. Realize that you don't have enough toblerone left, and then the icing becomes glaze, at best.

I decided I should quit while I was ahead and headed over to work. Pina and I had decided that we were going to play Card Sharks with the kids. Now I had bought oversize cards to use in the UK and mailed them back; how was I supposed to know that postage mail would take close to 2 months to get here? So we improvised: we actually hooked up Bort to the LCD projector and held up the cards to the webcam which surprisingly worked well. I even made a poem, a la Jim Perry's version.

On voit un carte

soit un huit ou un valet

Si on choisit bon

Les bonbons c'est notre paye

Onnnnnnnnnnnn Card Sharks!

Where's my free tshirt then?

The kids were really good at it - we had fun finding out the reasoning to the kids' answers. And we played the bonus round for candies; the first class won 46 bonbons to split, the second only one 5! We asked the kids how they would split it up - one kid snuck up to grab one, and then a second kid made sure his team (the winners) were covered!

It was around noon hour that day that I decided to go home to grab the cheesecake and head up to Barrie. Everyone really liked them (even though that twice people thought they were pecan pies) so really there were no complaints.

Day 108 started in Barrie but then I quickly returned to Newmarket to complete day two of Card Sharks. On this day, we even played in a Spanish class:

Call the cards

Or ask your friend Juan

Get 'em right

And win bonbons

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Card Sharks

See. I'm a regular Nipsey Russell.

It was nice to be at work too on this day as it was the day of the school's Christmas banquet at lunch. It was great to enjoy the nice meal with the students as well as seeing Santa show up to give some gifts out to specific students (and teachers).

I was also invited to join in the evening's drama club activities - it was improv, which was great to participate in!

Finally, Day 109 had arrived and I was super pumped... torch run day in Newmarket. Now although I still harbour some hard feelings about not being chosen to volunteer in Vancouver, I was not going to miss the torch run! I of course am a very spirited person and thus dressed up for the occasion!

I was offered a ride to the site but I was too pumped and decided to see if I had enough layers on. Which I did, thankfully. Halfway there I realized I had forgotten my horn, and as a result, I called up Hans, who was happy to drop it to me en route. At the same time while I was waiting, I passed a Subway restaurant and someone came out and yelled "Hey, you look awesome! Come in and keep warm and have a coffee on us!". I was very flattered that they liked my spirit!

I got to the event shortly after that and didn't end up running into my Ulty friends but did find the big stage...

... and was invited to come stand with three ladies - Joanna, Jennifer and Lisa (my apologies if I'm wrong - please tell me!) who all worked at the Bay and said that I was dressed for the occasion! Who am I to turn down a chance to entertain people!

We ended up being really close to the stage which was awesome. Newmarket was chosen to have a "community celebration" and thus we got an hour of "preshow" before the main event. First, not pictured, was a community band, then we got these two guys - the one on the left was the MC/dancer and the other one painted a torch bearer in 8 minutes - really impressive!

Next up was the Coca-Cola drum team... who were very impressive:

... and their equally impressive aerial artist (and the not pictured juggler/swinger)! It was all quite inspiring.

The final act was Justin Hines, who is a successful artist here in Canada and lives on the east side of the city. My parents and sister have seen him several times between him - this was my first and he was great!

And then it was time. I'll let the video speak for itself:

Truly it was powerful stuff. I was standing right near Clare's family; as you might imagine they were pretty choked up.

I borrowed Joanna to get a picture with me with a torchrunner... and then I found myself standing next to four people that were pretty much dressed up the same as me, and KC Colby from A-Channel Barrie came up to us and said "Hey guys, do you mind being in a shot for the news tonight?".

Those of you who know me... it's not my intention that this happened. IT JUST HAPPENED! So of course the bunch of us said yes.

We did a few shots - this one didn't get used, but we actually picked up KC and carried him like a torch!

And here's the shot that did get used - we were the first image on the news teaser that evening! Awesome!!!

KC and the cameraman Steve were also nice enough to pose for a picture for the blog - thanks very much guys, I appreciate it! I hope we made a good shot for you!

Afterwards I did end up getting a picture with a torchrunner! It was pretty awesome to hold it. Apparently they are allowed to purchase them for a nominal fee - I know I would have!

And after all that... I got to go to my work staff party. It was great catching up with tons of coworkers and great friends - I feel very lucky to work at such an awesome school. Also back for a visit was my good friend Sarah - she is one of the people I have known the longest at school. She is now working for a different school where, as she puts it, "is" the art department! I am extremely pleased for her.

Faithful blog reader Caleb and his brother Gareth were also at the get-together. Watch out Ohio, in May, I'm coming to get you...


And that's about enough for now, don't you think? How is it though that I'm still a week behind???

Cheers,
Vick.

Omnibus: Days 98-103

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a bit lagging in the blog. I’ve just needed some time to get used to snowy Canada again, I guess.



So the first day back, day 99, I could tell I had jetlag. I woke up bright and early! At 3 am. Grrr. It’s amazing though the lack of things that you can do at that time. I guess I could have watched the western feed of Craig Ferguson, upon retrospect. In any case it was a low key day, although I adjusted to the first day with a lack of a vehicle at my beck and call, so it was time for a powerwalk. I walked about 30 minutes to the east to get my hair cut.

Those of you who saw my hair in the later pictures (ie. the pictures in Limoges, the one of me surfing) know that it was a long time coming. I suddenly feel free, and feel like I’ve dropped two or three pounds (not including the 5-10 that I actually did drop in schlepping around everything in Europe). I then headed over to work to see everyone. It was fun getting to see them… just catching up on stories with a few close friends (and some students who gave me huge hugs!!)

Day 100 – woo! Filled with excitement! First stop, a 3.30 am wake up! Making progress, obviously – these first few days I could only make it to about 9.30 pm mind you and then I stopped fighting the urge to sleep. And what does at 5 am in the morning? One hangs up one’s dive gear from its long trip, OBVIOUSLY. It was pretty much a low key day (and this also teaches me not to slag in my blogging) but I did get in some walking to go pick up a couple of things at the dollar store. I find that I have to at least get out once in the day or I go pretty crazy. It does take some getting used to bundling up, however.

That evening marked my first time watching Countdown with someone. Hans and Helga figured out the result pretty quickly… but it didn’t really matter. In fact the 988 numbers game solution chart that Rachel wrote out is now up on my wall at home as a keepsake.


I had been invited up for breakfast on Day 101, and I said if I woke up early enough, I would go. Which, sadly (?) I did. Up at 5.30 am, started walking at 6.30 am, got to the bus station at 7.10 with plenty of time to spare to get the 7.30 am bus up to Barrie. Then a city bus to the restaurant… two hours to get there using feet and public transport compared to 40 mins by car – what a difference! It was great getting to see everyone however, there was a group of about 8 of us, just chatting over pancakes.

Got the bus back home at 11 am, then got back to the house, packed a bag and headed down to Toronto. I got 2 tickets to see Air Farce New Year’s Eve being pretaped – apparently they went like hotcakes.


The taping went well (best sketch by far was the Slap Chop parody) and Luba Goy suggested that my friend and I would make a cute couple! Me and Gweezy are just friends, folks. We did manage to get a picture with the stage manager who has one of the driest senses of humour that I’ve ever heard.

Also got a chance to chat for a minute with Bill Brioux, tv writer and owner of www. tvfeedsmyfamily.blogspot.com which is an excellent read for Canadian TV viewers such as myself.

As it was getting late, I headed over to catch a go train, which became a go bus, which became a go figure when the conductor really wasn’t being helpful at all. Sorry you have to work a Friday shift but you know what you signed up for!

Day 102 arrived and after staying the night at Kelly’s in Mississauga (and picking up the last seven episodes of Amazing Race and a few more of Le Moment de Vérité that she taped for me) we headed out for some Christmas shopping. She got her hair done, we had a nice Mexican lunch, and I bought TOILET PAPER. Yes folks, it can’t be all glamorous shopping in the Christmas markets of northern Germany. Sometimes you just have to take care of the essentials.

Once I left Kelly’s it was the fun of 3 hours of public transport (for essentially only 2 go transports!) and then back to the house to pound down a couple of TAR episodes and a relaxing dinner.

Day 103 was a nice Sunday. So what did I do? I watched TV. Quel surprise. And I finally finished TAR – and was quite surprised that I managed not to spoil the ending for myself, which was one of the closer finals in recent memory. After that marathon I decided to go for a walk, and headed over to the library. Had to start researching for the South Pacific! I ended up checking out 5 Lonely Planet books – as a contributor to LP (seriously, I have a story in one of their books) I really enjoy what they have to offer. The lady at the checkout desk was surprised… I told her it was time to get away from the snow again!!!

And now I’m only a few days behind – but there’s some awesome stuff to come, don’t you worry!

Cheers,
Vick

Days 97 and 98

It is with a heavy heart that I write this entry. I’m actually writing it during day 98, currently 11,000 metres above sea level, somewhere off the tip of Greenland or something similar. I’m on the flight home.

Europe for me has been just as good this time around as it was in 2002. Just different.

Strasbourg, for example, wasn’t the same – partly due to the fact that I wasn’t a student this time. Didn’t make it any worse, though.

The experiences I that I have had during the seven weeks, as you know in reading, have been mind-blowing. It has been wonderful travelling around. I haven’t done the final calculation in regards to number of miles travelled, but I did figure out that I have spent an average of every other day on some kind of train ride – whether 10 minutes or 10 hours.

Surfing in Spain in December? Hiking up a cathedral in Northern Germany? Nearly losing my lunch due to an irate chef? Running into a wall? Eating a deep fried Mars bar? Leading a cub scout sing a long? Meeting a rally car driver? Spending time with absolute strangers that started out as a whim on an email but becoming great mates? Just some of the highlights that I’ve had in the last 49 days.

Thanks Europe, I hold you dear in my heart and hope to return soon. Although Europe is done, as someone pointed out, “hey, you’ve still got 9 months!” which is true! Let the planning for the next adventure commence!

________________________________________________

I would like to tie up loose ends in Europe, however. My last full day, day 97, started as it has many times before, with a taxi ride. I had saved my last day on the train for this my last train trip; I figured I might as well go out in style. The “primero clase” on the Renfe trains – Spain’s national railroad – was quite spacious, can’t really complain, spent most of the communication with the attendants speaking in Spanish and to boot – free breakfast! I hadn’t had eggs for brekky probably since England and enjoyed them with a side of croissant and jam.

We pulled into Madrid around 2 pm and then the fun began again, as we were parked a good half mile along the track from the station – there was time for walking on the platform. I hopped a metro to get to Barajas, my hotel, and then the lady said I was crazy for taking a taxi for 1.5 kms but at this point it was worth the 3 Euros.

After slugging the luggage up to my room (which was nice, again, natch) I headed out to get some food and a couple of last souvenirs. I ended up at a Christmas market, which didn’t really have any food, so I popped into a place across the road that had tapas (small appetizers). I asked the server to recommend me some, and ended up with some salmon and cheese sandwiches which were incredibly tasty. No complaints! For dessert I found a churros stand – basically they are like sugary pretzels.

If I had had some more energy I would have gone out on the town but I was pretty much done. Turned on Spanish language Password and then followed up with Pasapalabra. Poor Maite – last night’s contestant did even better – she was down to seven seconds with one to go for the 336 000 Euro jackpot, and didn’t know the answer! I do hope she wins it, she’s obviously good at it.

I couldn’t fall asleep for awhile… and once I did I woke up on Day 98 really early (ie. 5 am local time) because, oh, I don’t know, SOME PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO BE QUIET AT A HORRIBLY EARLY HOUR WHEN THEY ARE PRESUMABLY LEAVING FOR A FLIGHT. I had to get up an hour later anyway, but still.

When I did roll out of bed, I packed my last little things, had some mini pain au chocolats and then walked the three minutes to the bus stop to catch my ride (only one euro!) to Madrid Barajas airport. Check in was fine, security no problem (first time they didn’t open the case for my underwater camera) and then I took it easy before visiting duty free to do some browsing. It took my entire willpower to not buy stacks of Milka bars.

The flight from Madrid was uneventful, which was okay. However by the time we landed I only had 45 minutes to make my connection. And! It turned out that I had to clear passport control, which, although only a formality, seemed awfully long…

The flight back to Toronto felt like an all you can eat buffet. Snack of smoked almonds with a drink. Lunch of Asian style chicken and rice with a drink. Snack of Belgian Chocolate ice cream (I went back for seconds). Snack of tomato mozzarella basil quiche. I didn’t need to do anything else because I was eating the whole time.

Got back into Toronto 45 minutes early, bonus, cleared customs really quickly, got my bags almost instantaneously and walked out to find Dad. He had been nice enough to come down from the North to pick me up at the airport and it was great getting to catch up. Him and mom also got me a “starter grocery kit” of a few of my favourite foods, although we did stop at Pizza Pizza to grab a slice for later.

When I arrived home I was greeted by H and H with open arms. It was great to see them and they agreed likewise. We had dinner together, and although I was trying to stay up really late, I made it until about 9.30 pm and then I wenzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Cheers,
Vick.

Days 93, 94, 95 and 96

Day 93 was another one of my long scheduled train days. With my rail pass, I can do as much travelling in a midnight-midnight period using only one travel day. So this day was to be no exception. First off I was sad to say goodbye to my hosts at the Hotel Patricia. Anik and Jerome were exceptional; Anik even drove me to the train station in Beaulieu! Which helped immensely.

Beaulieu to Nice; short hop. Nice to Paris Gare de Lyon, longer trip, six hours. But it was in first class and I had a lovely chat with some of my seat mates and the couple sitting across the aisle.

I had two choices in Paris; either walk or take the metro. At this point the backpack seemed to be getting heavier and as such I decided to risk the stairs of the metro world. Plus it was raining. To go what seemed to be about a half mile I had to go on two different lines encompassing a MASSIVE three stops.

It is hear that quite possibly the most frustrating and laughter inducing moment happened.

Even moreso than running into the wall in the post office in Italy. I have to get through the rapidly opening and closing gate once I get my ticket out of the slot to get into the metro system. I plan out my trail: push dive bag (one wheel short again!) and continue through.

Except it really didn’t happen that way.

I got the dive bag through.

Not so much the backpack.

It was something out a of a comedy film. My backpack was stuck halfway through the metro door. Goodness me.

It was at this point that I started making a scene. Not so much calling out “please help me”, but, since I was in Paris, using some “choice words”. I can’t of course reveal them to you, and I’m not proud to say that I yelled them out, however they were impeccably French.

Soon I had three people either trying to pull or push me out. Finally, the doors opened. I looked back.

There’s a young lady, who is now stuck herself.

I’ll give the Parisien Metro system one thing, you really have to work to cheat at it.

The gentleman behind her states that “I’ll scan my card, then we’ll both go through at the same time. One, two, THREE!”

They both make it through. I thank everyone profusely, make my connections, and get on the Limoges bound train.

I’m not sure why my day is weird, but it stands gets more bizarre. The train ride to Limoges is uneventful except for the time I go to the washroom. It’s halfway through the four hour ride and the back door is open. I don’t really think much about it, I just go into the washroom.

When I emerge, another passenger is there right as I open the washroom door to pull me back to safety. It was at that point that it occurs to me what COULD have happened. The train stops shortly afterwards to get everything rectified, although we’re not allowed to use that door again during the trip.

I pull into Limoges around 7.30 pm and although I might be able to take the bus system, I haven’t been able to confirm it, so I decide to get a cab. The driver is kind enough chatting with me… although my ride costs me 20 Euros as the hotel is really north of town. Kind of nullified the cost of the room, which was a steal at 28 Euros per night. I really don’t care at this moment as I’ve been travelling since about 8 am that morning.

Day 94 promises to be adventurous, although not without its problems. I wake up for no apparent reason at 4.45 am and can’t get back to sleep. As a result my day does not start until 10 am, as there is little to no motivation to do anything at this point.

I do eventually get downtown and get dropped off at the train station at around 11 am. It is a gorgeous station; no doubt about that.

I also found this sign:

Which translates to mean If you take my spot, take my handicap. I think is very well put.

I stumble onto the tourist office and like every other city I’ve been to, get a map so I have a rough idea of where I’ve been and where I’m going. I start by visiting a covered market to find some lunch. I do love the markets in Europe, they are just so wonderful. I am then thrilled to chance upon two young ladies wearing matching M&M shirts and know exactly what they are doing.

It turns out that my last full day in France is the start of Téléthon – an annual fundraising event all across France to raise money for research for child illnesses. I am pleased as punch to make a small donation and receive a bag of M&M’s as a result.

I continue to explore, this time heading south of the city centre. I find the town’s main cathedral.

It is open later in the day and thus I continue to keep moving, finding the botanical gardens. They are quite beautiful, especially the water fountains.

I take some time to sit down and reflect on the last six weeks. It has been quite a ride. I am extremely fortunate to have had the adventures that I have. And I have tons of pictures – and one really awesome video – that I can always look back on, plus this blog.

It is time for a nap. I hike back to the train station, catch the bus back to the hotel, and crash for a couple of hours.

After dinner and a quick chat to family back home, it is time for some real good old fashioned fun.

While I had been recommended to come to Limoges by someone, I thought it would be nice to see if there was any way that I could get a dive in. As it turns out that wasn’t possible, but in emailing back and forth to the president, Patrice, of the dive club that is affiliated with France 3 in the region (of all things!) he invited me to come join them in the pool on this evening. Some of you might say I’m crazy to have travelled to a different continent and I’m diving in a pool – I say you’re wrong. Part of the fun is meeting new people.

So it was with great pleasure that Patrice came round to my hotel to pick me up to head out to the pool. I introduced myself and off we went. Our first stop was to pick up the tanks and gear for that evening. It turns out that the club owns a small trailer which neatly fits all of their gear in it… within 3 minutes we had arrived, hooked up the trailer, and we were off again! I wonder where I can get one of those for a reasonable price.

We arrived at the pool and I met several other members of the club and was introduced to everyone else on the pool deck. They have a block of time (around 90 minutes) every Friday evening where they share the pool time with two other dive clubs in the area. It does lead to a lot of people underwater at once but surprisingly everyone is very respectable of each other’s space.

Patrice came over to me and said vous êtes un moniteur, oui? (You’re a DM, correct?) to which I responded that yes, I was, and he asked me if I would mind helping out with the basic students! Which I said yes, of course. I pretty much help as much as I can back home.

So it was very interesting to see the same things going on, only slightly different. I spent about half the time with the N1 group (niveau de base) and then popped u/w for some picture and video taking.

It turns out that there was even a high dive board. Now as many of you I am EXTREMELY INTROVERTED so it was with surprise that I got on the board, and went for a dive, literally.

Here's me with Gerard, who I was helping with the basic course.

It was definitely a fun evening at the pool, and we wrapped up around 11 pm. Back in the changeroom all of sudden someone said “Vive le Canada”… at which that point I was flattered… and then they said “Vive Celine Dion” to which I just shook my head. Further conversations included the explanation of poutine.

Stéphane, one of the moniteurs – and ironically only one of two people that actually has a connection with France 3! – gave me lift over to the brasserie (read: brewery). There was a good crowd of about 20 of us that sat down and just shot the breeze.

And happily, flammekuche was ordered! Gotta love it.

You can see I'm laughing in this picture, that was me most of the night, everyone cracked me up well and good.

Here's a pic with me, Patrice, and Valerie. Patrice is the president of the club and an outstanding fellow!

We got pretty much an entire group shot. Thank you to Patrice for these pics!

Olivier was a new recruit to the group, just learning how to dive. Good on ya!

Here's me with Stephane and I think Marilyne... in perspective.

It ended up being quite the perfect night… just a great time with great camaraderie and a great group of new friends. We actually closed down the brasserie (ok, it closed itself down to regulations) and I got back home pretty late. Not going to mention how late, but sufficient to say I got about 4 hours sleep before I had to turn around and get up for the train!

So Day 95 was an early party scene, followed by a “nap” for lack of better terms, and then off to my next destination – and final country on this journey – Spain! I had done some research and found a little pension just outside of the city centre that is Irun – which is the first town past the French/Spanish border, if you’re looking at the northeast corner of the map. There was a specific reason, but I’ll get to that.

I have been doing all of my reservations through booking.com and it has yet to disappoint. I

ended up in a gorgeous little place which had a gorgeous view,

and to boot, because it was the weekend, I was eligible for a discount through the regional travel initiative so one of the nicest places I’ve stayed throughout this adventure ended up being the cheapest – 26 Euros!!!

I just realized that’s a horribly bad run on sentence. Sorry Clive. Later I’ll put in a comma splice (C/s!) just for you.

After a short nap (for real this time) I headed on into town. Irun was a quaint little place, which featured the most interesting traffic crossing signals:

The little guy actually runs when you get down to three seconds! You can see in the time lapse that he realizes that it’s time to get on your horse and go. This makes me laugh intensely.

My mistake, however, was not getting any food in the city centre. The pension was a good 40 minutes walk from the city centre and apparently Saturday night either a) nothing was open in my area or b) it was smoky as all gets out and I just wasn’t in the mood for nicotine-flavoured tapas.

Instead I had the most MARVELLOUS dinner that I got at the grocery store – nacho chips (read: Doritos). Think of all the food groups it has – dairy (cheese dust), breads and cereals (the corn chip), meat poultry and alternatives (umm… the spices) and fruit/veg (umm… the spices?)! Wow! What a healthy meal!

Day 95 promised to be better, I thought, food wise at least. I started my walk into town around 7.30 am to get my train to nearby San Sebastian… which is a surfing town! I had scheduled a lesson for later in the morning.

I am happy that I went early to San Sebastian – I got there around 9.45 am and although I found the surf shop it apparently wasn’t the place where you got the surf lessons. I thought perhaps maybe they could have put that information on the door… so it was with relief that I stumbled upon some surfers (if you can call Seattle “local”) who were happy to lead me to the area – “you need to go to the surf beach, dude” – these guys epitomized the lifestyle. Good for them, it’s not like I epitomize any kind of lifestyle.
Right?

In any case I got into the shop, and was immediately kitted up with a wet suit (yee-haw, a rental) and then was told to just wait.

Here is where my Spanish language skills came into play. Both the shop keep and one of the instructors were asking me if either I could do a lesson tomorrow or do a half/half split today and tomorrow. I stumbled to explain but managed to communicate that I was leaving for Madrid tomorrow for my flight. This apparently posed a problem.

However as it’s become apparent to me on this trip, the karma points kept cashing in. The shopkeep was able to get someone to get out of bed to come do the lesson! When my instructor, Joseba, arrived, I thanked him immediately, but I could tell that he really didn’t mind that much, he seemed instinctively to enjoy his job.

So we headed out to the beach, dude. It was comical as you have to cross a major tourist street with cars zooming either way with your board, but you do it.

We started the lesson by spending about the first half hour getting down the basics. What it boils down to is you have to position your body, on your stomach, flat on the board, PADDLE PADDLE PADDLE when you’re told, then get to the hard part. Start pushing your body up like you’re doing some funky yoga position then kick your secondary foot up and then your primary foot. Seems easy, right?

Well it’s not! I spent about the better part of the next hour laughing because I just couldn’t get it! The closest I got was positioning the second foot, but that was it. I also spent the majority of the hour drinking salt water and trying to avoid getting hit by my board when it was battered in the waves! I just had too much of a fun time though!
It helped that Joseba was patient! He explained that everyone is at different levels in their first day and I was somewhere in the middle. I’ll take it. For a thirty-one-year-old I think I do okay. I remarked to him that it was the same with diving – everyone progresses at a different rate.

It was also pretty neat that about 90% of the lesson was conducted in Spanish. Now while my Spanish is rusty I managed to get through it without much pain in the brain! Joseba explained that it was a great way to practice while doing something physical at the same time.

We got back to the shop around 1.30 pm and we snapped a picture!

It was less than 50 Euros for 1.5 hours of instruction, wetsuit, board and everything else… a great deal and a great experience!

After it was all done I was pretty knackered. I walked around a bit, grabbed a burger and some gelato, and then headed back to the hotel. I love water sports but afterwards I find that I’m a bit delirious at times! Good delirious though!

And you can see that some people feel that a naked traffic guy is inappropriate, so they did something about it!

I flipped on the telly after dinner and found the most intriguing show – Pasapalabra. Its originations are in the UK and one of the creators is Canadian (I believe). They play several rounds – each team has one civilian and two celebs. You build points which then are added to a base time so that you can play in the final round.

The final round is where this good game becomes GREAT. Both players participate with their time banks. They are each given 25 definitions which either start with, or contain, a certain letter (the latter is the case for less common letters such as X, Y, Z and the ever popular Ñ). The one who scores the highest wins and comes back for the next show.

HOWEVER if you get all 25 you win the jackpot which starts at about 100 000 Euros and adds 6 000 Euro per day when it’s not one. This show featured a 330 000 Euro jackpot! And it was a heart breaker when one contestant got 24 out of 25, having missed one earlier in the round.
Pasapalabra does hold some game show infamy – it holds the record for the single highest game show win – over two million Euros. It’s on youtube, go look it up.

Tomorrow – my last full day in Europe!
Cheers,
Vick.

Days 90, 91 and 92

I’d like to start by saying that this post is a bit about losing things, as you’ll come to see. First of all, I think I’ve lost count. If day 90 is November 30th, which it is, how did it happen that it’s only day 90 and not day 91? I started this blog on September 1st, so 30 days in September plus 31 days in October and 30 days in November clearly makes 91. Not the biggest worry, obviously, however it does bug me a little…




Right then! Early morning walk to the Gare in Lyon, called Lyon Part-Dieu, not to be confused with Paris Gare de Lyon. Okay then. Uneventful train trip to Nice, however I could notice it getting sunnier! Quick switch to a regional train at Nice Ville, not to be confused with Mean Town. Got into Villefranche-Sur-Mer, my home for the next three days (and the length of this post) shortly thereafter.


This is the point when I pretty much almost lost it. I was told to take the sidewalk next to the beach, and then follow some steps, and then blammo, I’d get to my hotel. However I get to the sidewalk, and it turns out the entire passageway is closed.


I evaluate my options. I’ve never been here, so it’s not like I can go on memory. I haven’t written down the phone number of the hotel, so it’s not like I can call them. I then look up. Way, way, up.


You'll have to click on this pic and the next one to get the bigger version, but do you see that small building that has the red arrow pointing? That’s the train station. The blue arrow indicates the mess of construction that wasn’t even being worked on… Let’s now pull back and see the grander shot.

The red arrow indicates the train station, again. However the blue arrow now indicates where I had to hike to so that I could access the main road and have any chance at finding the hotel. Normally this wouldn’t be bad… if you didn’t have 20 kilos on your back and pulling 20 kilos behind you.



I really have to rethink the value of packing.


I make it to the road in about 20 minutes of huffing and puffing. I don’t think I’m out of shape, rather, I challenge any of you to do that hike that I did. At the top I take a few minutes to once again reevaluate the situation and think, sod it, I’ll keep walking… at least it’s downhill from here (it really was). Five minutes later, I find a sign pointing to the hotel. Hallelujah.

I sound the bell at the front door and one of the owners, who is probably in the same age group as me, answers. She can see that I am exasperated, and invites me in. I then hear the golden phrase “Our house is your house”. I had been recommended this establishment from a student at my school, and I am certainly not disappointed. I take some time to relax and then head out to explore, as is my usual want to do.


My intention for this day was to make my way to Menton, a nearby town that I previously stayed in and fully enjoyed. But the fact that was it was nearing 5 pm, the sun was falling and frankly I didn’t want to wait for an ever delayed train. So I popped in to the nearby Super U (read: supermarket) and picked up food for dinner.

Food for dinner, in my world: tandoori chicken, rice, and even better that, for chilling out – a bottle of Beaujolais nouveau, a baguette, and some camembert. This, folks, is living.

I know it may surprise you to know that I’ve actually probably seen more television in person than I’ve watched on the actual screen. I have allowed myself a bit of tv time… and my new fave French way of life is 7-8 pm in front of the tube, to watch La Roue de La Fortune (take a guess) and Le Zapping.


La Roue is some game which apparently is quite immensely popular in the US and consists of a wheel and a hangman puzzle. The French version is a bit more active than ours – their host consistently berates the players when they don’t aim for the big money, they have something called “Caverne” which is basically old-school shopping mixed with a Supermarket Sweep-esque twist. I’ve seen 5 or 6 episodes of it and it is growing on me.

Just before La Roue starts their bonus round, I usually switch over to Canal+ to watch Le Zapping. This basically consists of 7-8 minutes of clips from TV from the day before. It is literally anything and everything – not everything shown is family friendly, and it’s a mix of the sane to the insane. It’s like The Soup, except missing the snarkiness of Joel McHale. In fact, as a fundraiser for AIDS research, they run an event called:


La Nuit de Zapping. I attended this event back in 2002 in Strasbourg and it was phenomenal, and it lasted SIX HOURS!! I got home at 3 am, but I’d go back and watch it again in a heartbeat.


Day 91 promised to be filled of pizza, pasta, gelato, or some combination of the three – I was heading to Italy! Beaulieu is about 1 hour by train from the Italian border, so you can pretty much head over for the day to walk around. Before I got there, I did take a nice walk along the beach, where, when trying to take a self, picture, I got hit by the biggest wave of the day! I wish I had gotten my reaction on film.


I had full intentions to get to San Remo, the second or third town past the border, however, there was a loss of trains due to a regional train strike! A strike in Europe, you say? NOT POSSIBLE. Sarcasm mine. I decided that Ventimiglia would have to do for my Italian experience.


I did leave a lasting impression on Italy. I went into the post office, and it turns out they have some kind of system straight out Star Trek whereby you have to enter the first set of doors, let them close automatically, then you can enter through the second set of doors by pressing a button. However I didn’t see anything posted, and frankly if it was, it was probably written in Italian.

It bears noting that all of these doors were made of clear, very clear plastic.


It should come as no surprise, then, that I PLOWED into a clear plastic wall.

Go ahead, laugh. I can laugh now that it’s a few days on!


I’m sure everyone heard me hitting the wall and it left a huge welt for the remainder of the day on my noggin, just above my right eye. Nobody looked my way… bless the majority of Europe who don’t even give you the time of day, which, at this time of day, was juuuuuuuuuust perfect.

After that adventure, I picked up some pizza and went and ate it on the beach, just watching the waves roll in. Peaceful. For dessert I went scavenging and found some gorgeous gelato:


All the fun of fruits and chocolate rolled into one! At this point I’ve decided to head back, as Ventimiglia is slowly starting to weird me out. On the train ride back, I meet two young women from California who are here as part of their job, running a hospitality suite for some clients in Monaco. I am happy to help them get on the train as they are unsure which one it is, and we have a nice chat before I am again back in Menton.




I decided that I wanted to hike up the hill to the Youth Hostel where I had stayed the last time I was here. 373 steps later I am rewarded with this gorgeous view of the town:



I also found the same sign as previous; it still makes me laugh (graffiti tagging aside)



The Cote D’Azur, while expensive for the most part, doesn’t always have to be – there are plenty of free things to do, you just have to know where to find them! Back to Beaulieu then, to watch La Roue, eat baguette, and drink more wine. NB: I’m not advocating drinking, but it is the social thing to do here! I also had to get some things ready for the next day’s activity.


I wake up on Day 92 really quite too early but I shower, have a quick pain au chocolat and am out the door around 7.45 am. I get to the train station in Beaulieu and that’s where the wheels fall off.

Well, at least one did.


Literally.

I find, by looking down at my suitcase, that one of the wheels of my dive bag has fallen off.


Great, just great.

But I will not be deterred. I pick up the wheel and make a mental note to fix it later. As a result, I go Beaulieu to Nice by train, then the train station to the harbour by city bus.


I arrive at a place that calls itself Nice Diving (no, seriously, it does, I have pamphlets to prove it) just before 9 am. I meet Stéphane, my Divemaster for the day and Arnauld, among others. We get everything ready and I notice that there’s only been one tank set aside for me. I thought we were doing two, I ask politely. Turns out that’s not the case, everyone gets too cold after the first one.

I forget that if you live in a warmer climate, December is still cold for you… but I mean really, it’s 62F at depth!!! We haven’t had that water temp since early September. Ah well, as long as it’s a good dive!


On the way Arnaud and I get chatting and he is nice enough to point out to me all of the different landmarks that we pass. It turns out Mr. Elton John has a house on the Riviera!

That he has used, I’m informed, once. At least it’s there when he wants it.

We go to pull into the intended site but it’s not really looking that well with it having rained earlier in the week. So we go to the alternate.


During our brief briefing - that’s the best way I can state it – if you’re in my dive club, I can tell you privately later – I find out that we’re going pretty deep. I state that I’m cool with going deep to a certain limit, then we’ll go from there. I say to Arnaud (who is with me on the dive as well) that I’m usually not an air pig, but we should just take it easy. It turns out he has a bigger tank than me! We’ll take it step by step then. Stéphane is also on the dive with us.

I should explain that previously, I did what’s called a “bapteme de plongee” or “diving baptism” (read: discover scuba) when I last visited Nice. It was, to put it nicely, not a nice experience. I was left at 20 feet with another NEW diver while the instructor was completely out of his mind. For those of you who are reading and are curious: I am a DM and would happily arrange for a FUN, SAFE discover scuba session. Just let me know!


In any case, 333 dives later, I feel a little better about this time. We start descending and I can see fish all around me, it is quite an assault on the senses. We get to about 90 feet, and I’m doing great, so we go a bit deeper. A minute later or so, I find that we’re totally at the bottom and it’s 129 feet! I should note that this is in recreational limits for scuba divers – the max is 130 feet. At this point I do two things. First, I do a dexterity check, as when you’re at that depth, sometimes it can get a bit loopy. Secondly, we don’t stay long. You only get a few minutes at that depth, so I took advantage of it to take a look around, and then we made our way up progressively to 100 feet, then 90 feet, then 60 feet – where there was some awesome marine life:


You can see a light in some of the pictures, that’s because Arnaud had his light with him that although was heavier than the weight I had in my BC, it was quite functional. He was nice enough to point out what was great to see on the dive, including this wonderfully camouflaged fish:

When we were at about 30 feet I immensely enjoyed the wall of fish that was surrounding us. Beautiful. I have a better video clip I'll try to post someday.

All in all it was a great 46 minute dive.

On the way back Arnaud and I chatted further and I’m sorry I didn’t get to dive with him more, he seemed like a great guy. That’s the only thing that is the problem with this trip: I meet so many wonderful people but sadly I only get to talk to quite a few of them fleetingly! As it is, that’s part of the fun of travelling.


I paid up for the dive and then headed back to the train station to catch a train back to Beaulieu. I would have liked to stay in Nice and do some looking around, but with a dive bag missing one wheel and that was pretty much soaking wet, I figured it would be best to get back to the hotel. I did a double take when I got off the train in Beaulieu - someone was running to get on the train, clad in full wetsuit and with a speargun in his backpack!

Further proof that I was recommended a great place to stay at: I get back to the hotel, and the female owner is more than happy to have me rinse out my gear and then hang it in the front garden! I tell you, luck was on my side.

I figured at this point, because it’s nearing 2.30 pm, it’s time for some lunch. There was a small takeaway at the bottom of the hill, so I arrived, clad in shorts – yes, shorts, because it was 15 degrees Celsius outside, and it’s December, so it’s a novelty – and bought a sandwich. The lady was appalled that I was wearing shorts, as she was wearing two sweaters!!!


I had a wonderful walk around Beaulieu, and was gobsmacked (there it is again) when I saw the following combination:


Truly, I’ll probably never seen that again. And proof that it really can be that warm in December...


A short hop back to the hotel to check email and a nap, then I foraged for pizza for dinner, packed up the suitcase, and got ready for the next day… and another long day of train travel!
And I can't forget about Mira, the hotel's dog who just didn't want to face the camera when I tried to get a picture. I guess that means one of us is camera shy...

Cheers,
Vick.