I miss writing...

I miss writing. But living in this world... where things happen so fast and there is so much going on- work and school and family and friends and cleaning and coffee talks and trying to find time just to relax and read... it gets overwhelming. When I was in France I missed being busy; now that I'm busy I miss the leisure time I had in France... I suppose that's normal. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, right?

I feel like there is so much to say... and so little to say. I haven't blogged since Regan and I took our roadtrip. I haven't even finished blogging all that. I don't know if it's even too late to try and finish now... it was months ago... But so little of substance has happened since then. No life altering travels, no amazing photos to share, no knew countries to add to the list. Just a couple baseball games, work and school... What does one blog about (when one has time to blog at all) when one is busy with the mundane that is ordinary life?

I have no idea... but I miss writing.

Where am I now and What have I been up to? Part 2- SUWWA

Sisty-Ugler Wild West Adventure:

Regan and I loaded all our stuff in her new little VW Passat, opened its lovely sunroof, put a home-made mix of music and got onto 94 headed south. Over the next 12 days we would put about 4,500 miles on “Penny” (my sister’s name for her little black VW) and drive through 11 states.

We started off well with “We Will Survive”, a song that would soon become something like a theme song as we sang and danced our way down the highways. Goal 1: make it to Tim and Ginger DiMenna’s place just past St. Louis, Missouri. We took some pictures coming through MO and then had a wonderful evening with Tim, Ginger and Laura. Neither of us had seen our old friends in YEARS and it was great to chat and catch up. Between Laura and I, our best-friendship from when we were 7 years old sprang back to life as if no time had passed and even after Regan and Laura’s parents had all gone to bed we stayed up chatting into the night.

The next morning Tim and Laura had already left when Regan and I rose from our slumbers. Ginger helped us to bagels and coffee and then gave us a fond farewell and just like that we were back on the road. Historic Route 66 has been rerouted over the years and its current equivalent is Route 44 through Missouri and into Oklahoma and then Route 40 the rest of the way. But if you want to stay on Historic Route 66, there’s a short 10 minute jog through the south east corner of Kansas. Well, of course we had to take the jog! So I pulled out the soundtrack to the Wizard of Oz and off we went to add another state to our list. We missed the sign that said “Welcome to Kansas” but we stopped and got out of the car to take pictures entering Oklahoma. I even jumped back and forth in the middle of Stateline Road saying, “Now I’m in Kansas, Now I’m Oklahoma, Now I’m in Kansas!”

We got back in the car and quickly switched CDs to another home mix so we could start things off properly with “Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping ‘cross the plain!!”… or as I sang it, “Oklahoma, where the sun comes sleeping down the plain”… oops…

One of our first roadside attractions that we saw along the way was clearly the best: The Blue Whale of Catoosa Oklahoma. I will try to upload the video- it really says it all. :D

Outside of our stops for lunch and roadside attractions our goal was to go go go until we couldn’t anymore- in other words, to make it from just outside St. Louis, Missouri to anywhere past Oklahoma City. We did that and then some! We stopped, after something like 13 hours in the car, about an hour outside of Amarillo, Texas in the tiny little town of Sketchville, USA… or as the folks in that area refer to it: McLean, Texas. We couldn’t find the hotel that our Route 66 map told us was there- The Cactus Inn or whatever… turns out we just didn’t go far enough. So instead we stayed at some little motel that had no cable and made me nervous. We both slept in our sleeping bags just to be safe and neither one of us showered- better safe than sorry. We’d shower at our next stop. Across the street from our motel was a llama. No really! Like a real llama, chillin’ next to a trampoline in the fenced in yard of someone’s house- like a pet llama! We thought that was pretty crazy.

We got up and going pretty early and stopped to take pictures of the first ever Phillips 66 Gas Station- non-functional but preserved in its original form. Pretty neat.

Another roadside attraction worth mentioning was Big Texas- the restaurant where if you eat a 72 oz steak on a stage, in front of everyone, you don’t have to pay for it. If you get through it and throw up, you lose though, and then you have to pay. They claim to have fed our father… but they lie, our dad has never been to Big Texas.

Texas was full of roadside attractions and there is one more that will make its presence into our memoires: As Regan and I were driving down Highway 40/Route 66 leaving Amarillo we looked to our left and saw 10 cars sticking out of the ground in the middle of a farm field. We quickly pulled off the highway to go investigate. We parked and went through the little gate and wondered aloud what on earth we were looking at. 10 cars, nose down, halfway into the ground in the middle of nowhere… we had no idea and there was no sign to tell us. We took a couple

pictures of the graffiti-covered, rusted-down old vehicles and then got in the car and called Mom. “Can you look up cars buried nose-down in the ground in texas” Regan asked. “What happened?!” she wanted to know- did we get in an accident? Was our car somehow buried into the ground and we needed some sort of assistance? No, No, No… we just wanted to know what we just saw. The Cadillac Ranch, as it turns out, is what that was.

This is what it looked like BEFORE

the tires fell apart and a world of tourists saw fit to color all over them.

Now… they look like this:

As we headed further West Route 66 took a jog Regan and I were a little wary of. Crossing from Texas into New Mexico Route 66 goes further south than it’s now-a-day counterpart Highway 40. So we tried to keep to our plans and follow Historic 66 through the Ghost Town that was once Glenrio and through the empty wilderness… but umm… it turned into a dirt road. As in one moment it was paved with the little Route 66 symbol on the pavement and the next its a dirt road that we can’t see where it goes. We followed it for about 5 to 10 minutes but we got a little nervous that this wasn’t right or that we were going to get lost. So… we turned around, said goodbye to Glenrio and got back on 40 to head into New Mexico the more mainstream way.

Once in New Mexico it was getting to be around lunch time and we stopped at Kix on 66 Café. Good food and AMAZING flavored coffee :) Then we stopped off just next door at Tee Pee Curious (mentioned in our Route 66 guide) to pick up a couple souvenirs.

As we drove onward we kept passing an inordinate amount of billboards for some truck stop of sorts called the Flying C Ranch. They advertised that they had Fireworks and Souvenirs and Flame Throwers and all kinds of things… I once miss-read the sign and was like “flying polar bear fleece blankets?” Which, later, lead to the comment that became an inside joke, repeated often over the next few days, “They sell moccasins there… and flying polar bear fleece blankets as well.” We decided, however, not to stop at the Flying C Ranch.

Instead we kept plugging and soon enough we made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico where we, thankfully, checked into our nice and clean Days Inn and headed into Old Town Albuquerque for the night. We wandered through the souvenir shops full of Native American jewelry and through the touristy old town. We stopped to watch some community organization put on a show of Thai music and dance- interesting and unexpected. Then we stopped off at some local place to have a delicious taco salad for dinner.

After dinner we drove down to a little park and walked around down by the Rio Grande River for a while. The plan from there was to go out on the town so we drove around downtown trying to decide where to go and we picked The Library, mostly for the name and Regan effectively changed her facebook and twitter statuses to “Headed to the library ma… to study…” As it turns out the atmosphere in the library was little on the lame side (not to mention that the waitresses were dressed in ways that scream degradation of women and their bodies) so we had our one drink and then headed back to the hotel to relax in the comfort of our room and plan out our next day.

Yet to come:
Sky City
The Land of Fire and Ice
The Petrified Forest
The Meteor Crater
Sedona
Flagstaff
Grand Canyon
Zion Canyon
Brice Canyon
Denver, CO
Wiggins!
Iowa City
“Beam me home, Scotty!”

And all that’s in between! More to come!

Where am I now and What have I been up to? Part 1- returning Home

Where am I now and What have I been up to?

I’m beyond sorry and terribly sad to say that I haven’t written/journaled/blogged since leaving France. It’s been just over a month and exciting things have happened (and some not so exciting things as well) and here I have been remiss about it all. Well I felt like today was as good as any to attempt to catch up a little bit. 

I suppose I need to go back to my last couple of days in France, don’t I? Goodness… that feels like a long time ago…

My last couple days were free of the work- not that there had ever been all that much of that to begin with- but full of time with friends. I can honestly say that one of my best nights in the whole of 8 months was my second to last night there. My friend Alicia came over and we made cooked dinner in my apartment while drinking a nice bottle of white wine. We sat at the table talking for a little bit and then decided to take the wine (and the ice cream we had bought) with us and go for a walk. We headed down to my favorite view of the city- at the top of the Monte de la Grand Cote- what I have lovingly referred to in the past as “The Big Hill”. We finished what was left of the wine, realizing all too quickly the mistake of only having one bottle to start with, and ate some ice cream while taking in the glorious view of all Lyon sprawled out beneath us.

Before it would be too late and the last of any open shops would be close we left our glorious view in search of an alimentation or petite marche that might still be open to buy some more wine from. SUCCESS! We picked up another bottle and Alicia was able to put good use to the wine bottle opener she kept safely in her purse for times like this. We sat at the other view from the Croix-Rousse- over by the Grand Cayou (the Big Rock… and really, it’s just a big rock) and ate a little more ice cream and drank a little more wine. As it happened we ran into another friend who had a similar idea: my co-worker from Paddy’s Corner, Paul, was sitting at the overlook as well with one of his French friends. When we’d eaten our fair share of ice cream we offered it to him and his friend. They didn’t want any right now, but Paul lived just around the corner, so he ran the ice cream home to his freezer where it would stop turning into soup and might be of some use at a later time.

When he returned he brought with him a glow in the dark Frisbee and thus began the game. With the wine carefully set aside- within walking distance should someone want a swig (yes, drinking wine out of the bottle had become typical among my friends as we didn’t bring cups with us anymore… besides it tastes better out of the glass bottle than out of a plastic cup), we tossed the Frisbee around in the dark park of the Grand Cayou with the Easterly edges of Lyon down the hill behind us.

When, at last, the wine was gone and Paul’s friend decided he was tired, we stopped playing Frisbee and we prepared to call it a night. Until, at least, Alicia mentioned something about that ice cream. We bid au revoir to our French Frisbee-mate and followed Paul back to his place to revisit the ice cream. Paul happens to live with our friend Kim and so she joined in the ice cream fun instead of returning to bed when she saw us come in at whatever early morning time it now happened to be.

The night ended with Alicia and I climbing out the apartment windows- it’s street level and the windows are really the most fun way of getting in and out of this apartment- and trying to find Alicia a suitable velo (bike) to ride home. (No, we didn’t STEAL one… if you didn’t remember, Lyon, along with a few other French cities, has a bike rental system that is highly functional all over the city… at least it’s NORMALLY highly functional… we had some issues this particular evening, but in the end it all worked out). I headed back to my apartment to get some rest. It had been an amazing and wonderful 2nd to last day in Europe. 

My last day in Europe wasn’t too bad either. I got up early and went to wander the Tuesday Market. The Tuesday Market in the Croix-Rousse is the best because it has not only all the food stuffs that it has 5 other days out of the week, but all the “material goods” people show up too. So they have purses and shoes and table cloths and nail polish and kitchenware and underwear and just about anything you can think of! So I wandered through there for a while and then met up with Kim for more wandering and some brunch of pastries and coffee.

I can’t honestly remember what I did with the middle of my day… I know I saw some people and tried to make the most of my last day… anyway… I did dinner with a group of my friends and then went over to Paddy’s Corner to meet up with Michelle, my Irish friend, and a couple of the Paddy’s regulars that I wanted to say bye to. We had a beer together and then my friends and I headed down to the bar boats. Alicia, Kim, Lucy and my old boss, Oscar joined me as we drank a little along the qaui (the… boardwalk? Is that what we call that area next to the river?) before heading into a bar. It was a nice night out of music, friends and fun before we all headed home. This was the 2nd time ever while overseas that I got a cab home- but as Oscar pointed out- it was my last night and I really didn’t want to walk home. 

The next day I sat around agitatedly until, at last, it was time to load all my bags into my friend’s SUV (he’s an American… the French don’t typically drive SUVs) and head to the airport. It took a while not only to unload my 3 large suitcases, computer bag, and backpack, but also to get the three large bags checked… there was some confusion as to how much it would cost for me to get my luggage home and the woman behind the desk and I both agreed that 680-some Euros was far too expensive. Finally things got taken care off and it cost me somewhere around 140 Euros, which is what I expected, to ship it all home. I went to the gate and chatted it up with a guy I had met at the bar the night before- we had noticed then that we’d be on the same flight and it was nice to have someone to talk to while I waited to start the trek home. He invited me out with is friends in Dublin, and despite the fact that it was DUBLIN, I was too tired and decided a nice night in my lovely hotel room seemed much more appropriate. I took a nice long bath in the tub and then watched some movie from the plushness that was my bed. Oh, how nice it was to NOT be sleeping on a mattress on the floor after 8 long months!

There’s not much to tell about the next few hours—I ate breakfast at the airport and waited around, going crazy and ready to be home, for most the morning and early afternoon. Then finally boarded and sat for 9 hours, beyond excited to be back over US soil. I actually started tearing up when I saw the Chicago skyline from the window of the plane and had to work to hold myself together as I practically sprinted through the airport, through airport security, got my baggage and out into the sunshine of Chicago. I waited as patiently as I could for my Mom, sister and best friend Janki to get to me- between traffic and the speed at which I made it from the plane to the sunshine, they weren’t quite there yet. And then I saw the car come around the corner and park and I tried to move my 3 large bags, computer bag, backpack, sweatshirt, and plastic bag full of something or other I had picked up along the way all over to the car but was tackled before I had made much progress by my sister. There were lots of tears, mostly mine, as I hugged three of my favorite ladies in the whole world and lots of laughter as we heaved all my crap into the car.

The next few days is as you would expect it, lots of story telling, unwrapping of the presents and souvenirs I had brought home, lots of hugging and seeing people I had missed dearly over the past 8 months, a lots of laundry.

Then, just as I was getting rid of my jet lag, I started packing again. My adventures were not yet over. I had one more trip to take before truly returning to reality.

SUWWA

The Sisty-Ugler Wild West Adventure!

My sister, Regan, and I have been driving across country- mostly on Route 66 enjoying several attractions along the way, including the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Oklahoma and the Meteor Crater in Arizona, among other things. A much more full and complete story will come eventually, but I just had to log on and say how much fun I'm having and how great it is to be here, back in the good old US of A. And what better way to reaclimate myself to the States than to take America's Main Street down to the Grand Canyon (our next destination)?

Fully enjoying myself.

Check out our pics thus far at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/azile29/SUWWA?authkey=Gv1sRgCPHLseeY7NiZ1wE&feat=directlink

MORE PICTURES!! Vienna! :D

http://picasaweb.google.com/azile29/Vienna?authkey=Gv1sRgCNuo9fi3wZiHGw&feat=directlink

Again... there are lots :)

New Pictures!!! :D Venice

It will take a while since I took SO MANY PICTURES!!!! But here is your first batch. The pictures from Venice :)

Love and Hugs!
http://picasaweb.google.com/azile29/Venice?authkey=Gv1sRgCOiLqtKX0tmvNA&feat=directlink

Prague (WARNING- VERY LONG!)

I rose for breakfast and quick packing up on Wednesday and made it to the train station with no problems. I even met a girl at the tram stop who would be taking my train. Eva was 20 and was studying near Vienna. She was Czech and was headed home for a short visit. We found our train and while I had a reserved seat she did not. Luckily, there was no one next to me so I had found, yet again, a great traveling companion. Eva and I chatted, she was excited to practice her English. She said that living in Austria her German was getting better but her English was failing. We had discussions about the way school systems are in America, France and the Czech Republic and about the restrictions or opportunities those systems provide for the students of those nations. We talked about random vocabulary she had struggled with- such as the difference between ‘countryside’ and ‘landscape’. It was so easy to fall back into the simple language and the easy flow of my teacher-y lifestyle back in Lyon. Eva wasn’t headed all the way to Prague though and soon enough she left the train. I used the rest of the travel time to do a little school work but mostly to catch up on my sleep.

I arrived in Prague and went straight to the big sign saying INFORMATION. I realized that, once again, all I had to find my hostel was an address, no map, no directions. I bought a cheap map and asked the nice man there to circle the address of my hostel on my map. He did so and I headed off to find my way around yet another fantastic city. It wasn’t difficult! Despite the fact that I couldn’t pronounce any of the names I was seeing and the roads wound and curved in the typical European city style, the streets were clearly marked and it was actually pretty simple.

I got checked in, by this point it was evening. I had a quiz I needed to take for my psych class and I couldn’t get my computer to pick up the wifi for some reason so I headed out to a nearby internet café called Bohemia Bagels. I ate a tasty bagel sandwich for dinner and took my quiz, then headed back to the hostel. Two young ladies at the bagel place told me about a bar crawl they were doing that night and how I should come on it. But the club they planned to go to was outside the city and between the scary idea of going out alone on a bar crawl and the even scarier idea of having to take a taxi back to the hostel by myself I declined.

Day 2:
Marine would be joining me in Prague (YAY for a travel companion!!) but her bus wouldn’t arrive until 2:45. I had the whole morning to do something fun. I knew we planned to take a walking tour, so I wanted to avoid what wouldn’t be covered on that. I got advice from the girl at the reception desk and took off for Vysehard.

This place was beautiful!! The old southern fortress to the city lies here along with a couple very old churches. St. Martin’s church is a circular church- unique and beautiful from the outside. (Sadly, you can’t go inside.) The views of the city are lovely and the grand Cathedral is impressive. While exploring I discovered a wall, thick as they were in that time they provide the perfect resting place. From this wall I looked down into the “summer theatre” and imagined how perfect it would be to sit there in the warmth of summer with a light breeze coming off the river below, watching theatre or dance or listening to concerts in this small but luxurious open space. Here is what I wrote while sitting on that wall (I have a journal I carry with me in my purse for just such times):

“The 7th I think… Thursday in Prague:
I’m sitting on the old ramparts near the south part of the city… the Vysehard, looking down on the “summer theatre” and the river and the sprawling city. A train goes by and I’m reminded of my dad’s old train sets from my childhood. I remember the sound the trains made and the way the little trees and towns looked. I feel like I’m in that world. The church bells ring. This isn’t real. This is a historical dreamland. Only if I look closely enough can I find modern day reality here. I chose not to look closely. I would rather eat my apple and enjoy the dream.”

I stopped for lunch at this little place on my way out of the Vysehard. I had a little bit of time before going to meet Marine. I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted, nor what I was going to get, so I just kind of picked something and was lucky enough that it turned out to be really really good. A strange mixture of things, my lunch was 5 little spring-like rolls with chicken in them, 5 little Mexican burrito type rolls with beef in them, 5 little triangles of pita bread with a very light garlic butter spread on them, all surrounding a small pile of lettuce with a creamy dill dressing on it. I would never think to mix these things, but each was so individually good that it didn’t matter and somehow it worked. I think the most exciting was the baby burritos because I mix Mexican food SO MUCH!!! Just that little taste was like a baby slice of heaven in that moment.

It was nearing 2:10 so I paid for my meal and set out to cherche Marine. I got back to the station easily enough, but finding WHERE her bus would come in ended up being a pretty tricky exercise. Everyone I asked where the Eurolines busses were just shook their head to indicate their inability to understand English. And even those who understood English didn’t know the answer. There were no signs anywhere for major buses, only little local busses. I was circling the station when I saw a Eurolines bus and was like “HAHA!! Where are you going!?!?!” I literally ran and followed the bus until it pulled over and then I stood there, on the side of the road with no signs and prayed that Marine’s bus would descend at the same place. There were other local busses, but no other Eurolines. Sure enough, Marine’s bus did not descend (damn it… what is that word in English?!? You know… where the bus stops for the last time…) at the place where I was. Marine and I spent the next half an hour and far too much money to even think about walking in circles trying to find each other, calling to be like, “what street are you on? Are you near the McDonalds? Do you see a sign for McDonalds?” etc. Eventually I got her to stand still and I went and found her. Funnily enough, where we met up was super far away from where either of us started, which, even more fantastically, was only about 100 yards away from each other to begin with. Oh good times.

So yeah, then we went and dropped her stuff off at the hostel and went to meet up with this guy Nico and his friend for a drink. Back story: on my last night at Paddy’s I was saying goodbye to some of the regulars and one of them asked where I was going on vacation, because she knew I was vacationing before I was returning home. I told her and her friend Nico, who had been at the bar a couple of times, but wasn’t as much as a regular, asked when specifically I’d be in Prague. As it turned out, our times overlapped by 1 full day. Thursday. So we exchanged numbers and he said when I got in I should text him, which I did. We planned to grab a drink once Marine got into town.
Back to real time: So we met up by the statue in Old Town Square and then went off to a bar he knew called Le Chapeau Rouge. How fantastic that a French guy would take us to a French bar in Prague.  We chatted and drank a beer- he sipped a teeny little shot of rum the whole time while the three ladies drank pints of beer. (I had a Stella… it’s the only one I knew.) Nico and his friend/collegue, whose name I now can’t remember, invited us to dinner that evening at this restaurant that served vegetarian food (Nico is a vegetarian because he can’t stand the thought of killing the animals) just off the square. We thought that’d be lovely, so we split up, them to pack their bags, Marine to take a nap since she barely slept on her 17 hour bus ride from Lyon and me to get some more school work done.

We all met back at the square around 8:45 and went to dinner. I was pleased to discover that the restaurant also did serve “ordinary” food… you know… food with meat. I ordered some sort of pork dish that I remember being really good, but I can’t recall all the funness of it in detail. At any rate, Nico and I drank red wine, Marine drank dark beer and Nico’s friend drank pepsi light. Our waiter was amusing and fun and almost right away offered us a 30% discount on our dinner- he and Nico had met up earlier in the week apparently and he was pleased that Nico had made it back. Plus we were the only people in the place. Our waiter started to drink with us and just kept refilling our drinks- the girl drinking the diet pepsi kept trying to say no, she didn’t want any more and we kept joking around about how drunk she was going to be- quite the life of the party.

In what was probably the strangest and most unexpected turn of events of the evening (well, at least up to that point) our waiter asked if anyone at the table wanted to buy some Pot. Marine and I were incredulous… seriously? Do things like this just happen here? Waiters just up and ask if you want some pot? Like it’s a desert or a café or something? Nico’s friend didn’t seem phased, apparently between Prague and Nico all week long she had gotten used to it. But the three ladies replied, “No thank you” and Nico went back to the bar to sort things out. Then he came back and rolled a joint right there on the table. Talk about education.

Nico and the server and the other two wait staff (all servicing only us as no one else was there and at this point they closed the terrace and locked the doors) all sat around drinking with us and smoking. They eventually brought us a bill but when we looked at it we were shocked! Certainly this was the most unexpected turn of events of the evening!! They gave us 70% off of our bill!! Which actually brought it down so much that then Nico, perhaps just because he was being nice or perhaps because he was drunk and high, offered to pay it all. We thanked him profusely and then the wait staff offered us another round of free drinks. Talk about amazing luck!

At the end of the night Marine and I left a nice tip on the table and then we all took a few pictures in the street and parted ways. Nico and his friend walked off towards their hotel, the wait staff toward some techno club and Marine and I toward our hostel a little mystified at the turn of events.

Day 3:
Marine and I had two plans for Friday: 1. go on a tour- there was supposedly an amazing free tour at 12:45 that the receptionist recommended and 2. go on a bar crawl- it was Prague after all.

After breakfast and all the morning routine we set off to explore the city a little until tour time. We grabbed a light lunch at this quaint little place that sat below the back end of a church near the Old Town Square. It was just pasta, but it was flavorful and inexpensive. We were looking for a few specific souvenirs so we went searching for those while waiting for 12:45 to roll around. Then we made for the Astronomical Clock to look for our tour guide. We stood there for a good 15 minutes or so and didn’t see anyone. We couldn’t figure out what happened but one thing was clear- there was no amazing “Alternative Free Tour” going on. We gave up on plan number 1 and took off to explore on our own.

Not having brought with me my file folder full of information on Prague, its history and the main attractions (because I thought I’d get all that from the tour guide) we didn’t really know where to go. But aimlessly wandering suited us well and we took pictures as we went. We paused to rest our feet and have a beer (yes, be surprised at the amount of beer I was drinking… one the day before around 5ish, one on Friday around 3:30 or so… oh, and there’s more to come!! But beer is the cheapest thing to drink in Prague, cheaper than wine or even coca cola. And when you mix it with lemonade and make a “Shandy” out of it, it’s really not too bad.) before crossing the famous Charles Bridge, where I spontaneously bought a super cute bracelet for myself. 

We continued walking, wandering and taking pictures until we got too tired and too hungry. Then we headed back in the direction of the hostel to find some food and prepare for our evening out. We decided we wanted the experience of eating on square and the prices didn’t look that bad, so even though we knew we’d get a better deal if we went further out, we had gotten free dinner the night before, might as well eat well tonight. 

I ordered this chicken with pear that came with two different dipping sauces: one a mango chutney and the other a blue cheese. It was SO GOOD!!! Both sauces were delicious but honestly the blue cheese was fantastic. And with the pear! YUM!

We became aware of the time and our need to clean up a little before hitting the bars so we paid and rushed back to the hostel, then literally ran back to the square to catch the pub crawl. There was apparently no need as I guess there is someone who actually picks up people from our hostel and joins the rest of the group just off the place… oops… that would have been good info. Oh well. We paid 12 Euro for what everyone kept telling us was the best pub crawl in Prague. We started at a bar called Molly’s with free beer (here I couldn’t ask for my Shandy and I just had to take what was free) and free shots of vodka and absinth. Marine was all over it, taking two vodka and one absinth shot and taking down 3 beers in our marvelously free Power Hour. I was a little more reserved, drinking 2 beers (which is still a lot for me) and taking one shot of vodka. I figured the absinth in Prague was part of the experience so I needed, at the very least, the picture… when the lady came around maybe the third time I was like, “ok but…” and she answered with “just a little one”- perfect. So it was probably about a 1/3 of a shot but hey, experience had, no damage done. (I had heard stories of what Absinth had done to people and I was not interested in blacking out or forgetting my evening.)

We left Molly’s and I was pleased that Marine and I were making friends with the group- two other girls, Lauren and Maggie were hanging with us for the most part, along with a couple of Italian guys, Stepheno and Fabrizio (perfect Italian names, right!?) who were just hilarious. The two Irish guys, James and Peter, an American guy named Patrick, a Canadian brother and sister, Cat and Leon, as well as an Aussie named Alan (who was staying at our hostel) all were in and out of our group throughout the night. A Portuguese guy named David joined in our group’s fun during the end of the evening.

The next bar was Harley’s, as in Harley Davidson and we were given free shots of something not too strong as we walked in the door. This was to be our most expensive bar of the night, so Marine and I, already joyeuse as she likes to put it, did not feel it was necessary to pay for more alcohol. They started playing some salsa music and since no one else knew how to salsa I pulled Marine away from her conversation with James the Irishman to dance with me. Soon after we left Harley’s for our third bar of the night.

We stopped in the street for another free shot- literally walking forward for our guides to pour flavored vodka into our open mouths. Then proceeded on to Le Chapeau Rouge, but instead of sitting up at the tables on the first floor, like Marine and I had the day before with Nico and his friend we all went downstairs to a dance floor. The music was more techno-y than I care for, but we were dancing and I was joyeuse so it was all good. Maggie and Lauren wanted another beer so Marine and I went with them and of course we each got one too. We were told at 1:15 we needed to be out in front of the bar to head to our last stop, some club we were getting free entrance to.

Our guide marked our wrists with some complicated symbol and we followed her to the club. We went two levels underground to this open dance floor. Maggie, Lauren, Marine, Alan, Cat, Leon, the two Italians and I all headed straight for the dance floor and there are some marvelous pictures of this good fun! Marine and I had had enough to drink and as we danced some of the group started getting tired. I think it was around 2:30 or so that the group consensus was to leave. Alan, Marine and I all made it back to our hostel, which, blissfully enough, was only about two blocks away, just around the corner. WONDERFUL!

In retrospect, this night was the perfect way to spend my last Friday night in Europe!

Day 4:
Our nightly activities were not going to keep me from enjoying what little time I had left in Prague. I forced Marine out of bed around 10 and soon enough we were out in the sunshine again. Miraculously enough, I was not hung over. I could not entirely say the same for Marine, but drugs and fresh air did help quite a bit. As did the ice cream we ate around lunch time. In fact, that was one of the greatest experiences… we bought these big cones of ice cream and just sat on one of the side streets and watched people walk by. It was relaxing and wonderful.

Around 2:00 we went to meet up with a different free tour. As it turned out, I had our hostel call the company and ask, the Alternative Free Tour was canceled, no longer running. But the NewEurope line of tours was supposed to also be pretty good, and again, free, so we grabbed their flyer and headed to meet up with them. The guy that ran our tour was GREAT! He was charismatic and engaging and he knew his stuff- listing off dates and history like no other! It was really impressive and it gave you a much better idea of what you were seeing and why it was important. My only regret is that we didn’t do it the day before. The thing is, he gave us some really cool info and told us some really cool stories, like this one about a man trying to steal from a church:

He wanted to steal this jewel encrusted gold crown that sat on the Virgin Mary’s head on one of the statues in the church. He snuck into the church at night and when he tried to steal the statue the legend says that the Virgin Mary’s statue came to life and took his ahold of his wrist and then froze again, not letting him go. When the priest came into the Church the following morning he was shocked to find the man trapped up behind the alter. The man explained the story, apologized profusely, promised never to steal again if only they would cut him free. The priests in the area gathered and discussed, they could not deface the statue, it was the Virgin after all. So instead they cut the man’s arm at his elbow. He was free to leave, but his forearm has been kept in the church to this day as a warning to those who try to steal from God.

I wanted to go in and see the arm, but we didn’t have time on the tour, we just heard the story from the outside of the church and then moved on. And since we did the tour on Saturday, I didn’t have a chance to go back.

He also took us to St. Wenceslaus Square and we saw the memorial and the statue from a distance, I would have liked to get up close, but there wasn’t time.

We finished the tour not far from the Castle and Marine and I knew it was something we had to go see. So we thanked and tipped our guide and proceeded to climb the hill towards the castle. The idea was to go into St. Vitus Church and to go to the Golden Way- the castle itself would probably just be another castle, but the view of the city was also supposed to be good from up there.

We wandered around in search of an ATM (because we were tired and thirsty and because no place in Prague seems to take credit cards) as we went and finally we succeeded and managed to sit and have a lovely view of some cool looking building we didn’t know what it was and didn’t have enough energy to check out up close. I had a coke and Marine had a beer and then we trudged onward. We found St. Vitus Cathedral and were disappointed to find it closed. Chances are even if we hadn’t stopped for refreshments it still would have been closed since we finished our tour around 5:15 or so, climbing the hill took a while, finding an ATM took even longer and the church closed at 6. Fail.

We walked on to find the Golden Way- which actually was very cool. We went into Kafka’s old house and took bunches of pictures of the colorful, picturesque little homes squished into this center of Prague’s power-center.

At the end of the day we were tired and hungry (I feel like this is becoming a theme) so we headed back towards food and hostel. We grabbed a hot dog… at least that’s what an American would call it, but it was much better than any hot dog, and ate that on the square listening to live music. There were bands there for a huge EU Marathon that would take place on Sunday. Apparently things had been going on all week… the only thing I had noticed was the stage they set up in the middle of Old Town Square and the random samba parade (that I took a fantastic video of that I will, of course, post).

We decided that with it being my last Saturday night in Europe and the last night of my vacation we should probably go sit at this one pub on the corner of the square that was offering 39Krown beer (that’s less than $2 for a pint) and have one to end it all. We sat there and chatted and then I had to ask Marine to pause so I could write this in my journal:

“We sat there as the sky changed, each blue more beautiful and captivating than the previous. Each time I glance to my right at the clock tower recalling this glorious moment, this outstanding opportunity reflecting back at me against the clear blue background with increasing depth and vigor.”

I’m not even sure those words can explain that picture, and since I’m not sure the picture came out on my camera, it might just be left in my mind for no one to share in… but truly, the blue was unbelievable until it became so dark that it was a midnight blue, almost black. And the whole time the tower stood against it, bright regardless of the fading light in the sky. (The Prague tourism office must know that shining light on the tower makes the tourists happy.) 

Marine and I returned to the hostel and popped online to call our Mom’s and wish them Happy Mother’s Day. Shortly after we both hit they hay.

Day 5- Returning to Lyon:

I got up early, showered and ate breakfast, then packed up my things with Marine’s help and walked out the door, hugging Marine goodbye and wishing her one last fantastic day in Prague- her bus would leave on Monday.

I metroed and bussed it to the airport and got checked in without trouble. I grabbed a sandwich to toss in my bag for lunch. My flight was at noon and I only had 50 minutes connecting time in Brussels. If my plane got in too far from the where the other took off I’d have to book it and there’d be no time for a rumbly tummy.

As it happened, that wasn’t the case, the flight to Brussels was fine, nothing to report. And I got off one plane and was ecstatic to discover that the gate for my second was less than 50 meters away, just kiddy-corner to where I disembarked. I went and sat down and pulled out my knitting. After a short time an older woman came and sat down next to me. She was staring at my needles as I worked. I smiled at her, but her face remained focused on my needles. Eventually she began speaking to me in French, no question of whether I spoke it or not, just off she went. Our conversation began with her asking if I was knitting a sweater, “C’est un pull?” “No, no, c’est un shawl” “C’est un shawl!” and then she asked about my needles- saying that she’d never seen such needles in France. (I was knitting on circular needles that have a nice long cord.) I explained that they were perfect for this because the shawl was so wide at the base. We continued on like this, mostly talking about knitting and then somehow the conversation transitioned into more. Somehow, and truly I’m not entirely sure how we got there, we were talking about Faith and God and the difference between believes in America and believers in Europe. We were talking about how Faith is not something you can touch and how so many people want proof these days. We discussed how people the reasons why people go to church and the differences is between visiting your Friend and sharing a meal with Him verses feeling obliged to go to eat. This woman was someone who believed too. We chatted this way while people began boarding, when we finally got in line ourselves, through the corridor and all the way to our seats. She told me how happy it made her to speak with me, and that that is also part of what being croyant really means—what being a true believer and a true Catholic really is. We don’t give money to the poor because people are watching and we aren’t nice to each other because we want something in return. We just do and we just are. We just have random conversations about Faith with people so that in an area of the world where we struggle to find communities of Faith to give us the boost we need we can give each other that boost.  This made me happy inside… I found a French practicing Catholic. I think… it restores my faith in the goodness of the French and of the ability to find Faith in France. After all, if there was one, there must be more!!

All the same, I’m happy that I’m coming home- home to that place even this old woman could describe- a place where Faith is something we believe in our hearts and souls without proof or physicality. A place where the mentality is there and we are prepared to serve others just because it’s what’s right. A place she was able to describe just based on the description provided to her from her own daughter. A place I miss and I place I call home. That’s where I’m coming- I’m coming home! 

I just have to add… I knew I was back in “Franceland”- not France because technically Geneva is in Switzerland, but there are enough French people there that it practically counts… anyway… I knew I was back where the French were when, sitting on a bench waiting for my train to show up, a French person next to me blew smoke in my face. It’s not the spoken French that announces that I’m back in France, no, I heard French on my travels occasionally. It is the rudeness. I got all the way back to Lyon on a super crowded train where people stood in the isles and sat in the doorways because France oversells the train and then only provides 3 cars for what could have filled easily 5 or 6. I got on the metro and when I went to get off I was jostled because everyone had to be first and they pushed and didn’t care whose way they got in as long as you didn’t get in theirs. Oh the French. How glad I am that I will be home in just 4 short days, leaving you all in only 3.