Dear Blog Faithful,
So. We've made it backto Canada in one piece; Dani home to the K-Dub, and I... well, I'm at my uncle's in Toronto, spending one more night feasting on family foods and living out of my increasingly disgusting-yet-loveable backpack.
Feeling as though a few more stories need to be told, and a few more pics need to be shared, I'm sure that we'll post at least a few more things on this blog. For that matter, I'm also actually thinking of taking the leap towards a 365 day quest of blogging the life and random thoughts of me... so you might get more pics and stories there too. haha - well, if anybody wanted to read it. Just not until after I've started work and have officially made myself too busy for things like walking and healthy eating though. 'Cause that's how this Cinque Terre conquering chubster rolls.
The end of the trip has been bittersweet. Like, were we really in Paris this morning? Did Gigi really make our underwear sparkle and smell like a delicious whif of God breath? Did we really NOT buy any pastries at a parisienne patisserie?!!! ...check back when it's not 4am Paris time, and, like I said, we promise to eventually describe a bit more.
Pout maintenant, je vous souhaite une bonne nuit, le Canada! C'est bon d'etre de retour.
xoxo
-a.
25 August 2010
20 August 2010
ALIVE!
We`re still alive! ...and STUFFED full of french food after THE greatest stay up in the french countryside/the cutest little northern french village with my cousins in Neuf-Mesnil/Maubeuge, which sadly ended this afternoon . It was a fish-a-palooza event for Dani, as my family was boggled by her vegetarian ways (but charmed none the less) , and an all-around love-fest and perfect little mini-holiday from our holiday. After 14km days of hiking in Cinaque Terre (google that business. we almost died. (in the best way possible.)) and being exhausted by the busy pace of Nice and Monaco, I can`t even begin to describe how lovely the past two and a half days of non-stop eating have been. Muscles, salads, kabobs, pasteries, chocolate, CHEESE, belgian fruit sauces...
I drool all over again.
Oh, & did I mention our private back-yard accordian concert alongside Lucille 1 & 2?!!
Anyway. More later. & we pictures. We promise.
xoxo from PARIS!!
-a&d
I drool all over again.
Oh, & did I mention our private back-yard accordian concert alongside Lucille 1 & 2?!!
Anyway. More later. & we pictures. We promise.
xoxo from PARIS!!
-a&d
12 August 2010
The Other Side of Italy
So. Today (like, in an hour) we leave our most AMAZING hotel (yes, that's "hostel" without the "s" for those of you following along.) that we got to stay in compliments of one smarty pants D. Stock, B.A. Hon, M.A. and her most wonderful parents who felt that her M.A. deserved something nice. I agree, and couldn't be more lucky to be tagging along. THANK YOU FOR THE HOTEL!!!!
We've been enjoying our time in Firenze ("Florence", to the English. Why can't places just be called by their mother-tongue names the world over?!), but as we find the crowds of tourists suffocating, are quite looking forward to our time in Cinque Terre. I mean, I'm sure that there'll be crowds there too, but I'm hoping that I at least have the option of shoving the annoying ones over one of the hiking trail cliffs.
I am mostly kidding. ish.
While in Firenze, we've done a LOT of wandering through street markets. It is here that I thus give a shout out to our friend Eryn (who you can view in a few of our Scotland pics!), as I have purchased this ridiculously wonderful Italian leather suitcase-bag that makes my heart flutter with delight, and which Eryn, Queen of the Shops, could appreciate. It also cost more than I make in a day of work. Maybe if I didn't get paid in pesos this wouldn't be such an issue, but dear LORD is my bag ever pretty!!!! I just want to hug it. (& have. In fact, I've danced with it.) But yes, to get back to my original point, there has been some wandering and some shopping and Florence, crowds aside, has been great. SO great, in fact, that we've even gotten free cappuccinos from the Italian army, and a free desert at our local diner! Just for being amazing! & charming, and cute , and Canadian... or something... :P Anyway, true stories none the less.
Both of us are well, and can't believe that we'll be coming back to our motherland in 2 weeks. Ummm, weren't we just 2 weeks into our trip, contemplating how long of a trip it was?! Whatever though. 2 months is wonderful, but an awfully long time to be away from our beds, our dogs (read: Dani's true love, Cooper), and of course, our families. Enjoy your silence while you can; we'll be back soon!
Ciao, bellas!
xoxo
-a. & d.
We've been enjoying our time in Firenze ("Florence", to the English. Why can't places just be called by their mother-tongue names the world over?!), but as we find the crowds of tourists suffocating, are quite looking forward to our time in Cinque Terre. I mean, I'm sure that there'll be crowds there too, but I'm hoping that I at least have the option of shoving the annoying ones over one of the hiking trail cliffs.
I am mostly kidding. ish.
While in Firenze, we've done a LOT of wandering through street markets. It is here that I thus give a shout out to our friend Eryn (who you can view in a few of our Scotland pics!), as I have purchased this ridiculously wonderful Italian leather suitcase-bag that makes my heart flutter with delight, and which Eryn, Queen of the Shops, could appreciate. It also cost more than I make in a day of work. Maybe if I didn't get paid in pesos this wouldn't be such an issue, but dear LORD is my bag ever pretty!!!! I just want to hug it. (& have. In fact, I've danced with it.) But yes, to get back to my original point, there has been some wandering and some shopping and Florence, crowds aside, has been great. SO great, in fact, that we've even gotten free cappuccinos from the Italian army, and a free desert at our local diner! Just for being amazing! & charming, and cute , and Canadian... or something... :P Anyway, true stories none the less.
Both of us are well, and can't believe that we'll be coming back to our motherland in 2 weeks. Ummm, weren't we just 2 weeks into our trip, contemplating how long of a trip it was?! Whatever though. 2 months is wonderful, but an awfully long time to be away from our beds, our dogs (read: Dani's true love, Cooper), and of course, our families. Enjoy your silence while you can; we'll be back soon!
Ciao, bellas!
xoxo
-a. & d.
07 August 2010
Dear Mother...
Okay. So these stupid pictures won't place themselves on the page like I want them to, and 3 of them just deleted on me... but here are some shots so that my mother can quit telling me that I "never" update the blog.
Happy? :P
*
We start in Budapest, where we took this heartfelt shot of grandeur. (Please note my slight sarcasm upon that last word & my love of sidewalk chalk.)
A parting shot of Budapest...*
...annnnd, onto Roma!!
Is it me, or is Dani awkwardly distance-pinching that statue!? ;) TREVI!
Is the line at the Coliseum REALLY worth it? (We're still debating...)
Dani @ St. Pete's - a FANTASTIC building that sucks up money faster than you can say "Bless you!" :) (Seriously though, a wonderful day well spent.)
10 hours later (that'd be today), we're all gelato'ed up and Vatican'ed out! :)
There were actually (literally) hundreds of people around us here. Asian flash mobs and the whole lot! Luckily our photographer had an eye for the scene.
Anyway, we debated staying here, but opted for our hostel instead. Didn't want to seem pretentious. You know how it is.
Is it me, or is Dani awkwardly distance-pinching that statue!? ;) TREVI! Is the line at the Coliseum REALLY worth it? (We're still debating...) Dani @ St. Pete's - a FANTASTIC building that sucks up money faster than you can say "Bless you!" :) (Seriously though, a wonderful day well spent.)
10 hours later (that'd be today), we're all gelato'ed up and Vatican'ed out! :) 05 August 2010
Why (Some) Girls Make Terrible Girlfriends
Ciao!
Yesterday, we arrived in Rrrrroma. (It's hard not to roll your "r"s in Rome.) Anyway, our plane touched down at just after 10pm, which, after baggage and the shuttle into the downtown, left us getting to our hostel at about midnight. Being the ol' pros that we are (knock on wood), this did not phase us the slightest, as carrying 50lbs on our backs just seems like natural torture at this point. (SICK TORTURE... but "natural".) We checked in, our beds were made for us, and all was well with the world. Well, mostly.
Anyway, come the light of day, all IS still well, but it's a bit different around the edges. Which leads me to my real point, which is about the joys of some women in our women only hostel, and some of the stark realities that the light of day has brought to me.
Read:What follows is my testament as to why I'm starting to think that (some) girls make terrible girlfriends.
**
Our hostel is a bit like one shmoozy, kind of clingy girlfriend. Y'know - the kind you swore you'd never be? Sure, it's all cute and quaint from the outside. Clean hallways, comfortable pillows and mattresses, a bidet in one of the bathrooms, huge private lockers; it's all glitz and glam and new and exciting. The relationship is fresh. She looks good, you look good... it's all good! At least, you thought is was. What happens when you wake up in the morning though, and you realize (as you wait in line for one of three shower-toilet combo bathrooms) is that really, maybe there's just a little something off about this girl?!
It's not that I don't like our hostel. I do! The location is great, and all is well. What I'm underwhelmed about is those wonderful qualities that make some girls terrible girlfriends. They're the girls who you suddenly wake up to find have taken over. Y'know, garbage on your kitchen and end tables, blow dryers at every plug in, hair all over the floor - okay. I'm guilty of that too, but whatever - a thousand tiny little bottles of shampoo and conditioner and creams and crap you've never even heard of or imagined littering showers and counters and surface area of floor that's covered with pools of water from your shower that just should not be. There's the neatly stacked plates, covered in yesterday's food that somebody left next to the moldy sponge in the sink, which prompts my step-dad's line of "Who was your servant before I came along!?", and which goes along with thoughts of, "Is it THAT hard to throw moldy food out of the mini-fridge?!"
Oh, but that girlfriend - she is sly! Catch her without her make up on, and she's surrounded by a posse of friends saying that she's never looked better! "Isn't this THE best hostel!? I LOVE that it's all women!" arise cries from newbs who clearly haven't spent 5 weeks on the road, staying at places like Goat Hostel in Budapest, or Rossio in Lisbon. Tell me then - why is there an oven, which tricks you into buying 3 days worth of dinner groceries, when it doesn't work, and the only person who is around to answer your questions are the people who run the hotel across the street because, hey! "24 hour reception" apparently means "we don't ever have anybody here to look after the place or answer your questions", which, in bad girlfriend code translates into, "OMG! So sorry. My cell phone died and I totally didn't get your msg! Were we supposed to meet up!!??" It's like you left toothpaste all over the counter, used the last square of t.p., and then ran out before your boyfriend woke up, hoping he didn't notice. (Please note. I am not a boy. & I have noticed the 24 hrs. of toothpaste spit on the counter, & the now obsolete toilet paper in bathroom #1. It's gross & inconvenient in that order.)
It's just so... wrong! What's next, a love fern!? A guilt trip because you're insecure and don't want me hanging out at my other hostels, judging you based on them?! I can't help it if my past relationships were better than this one! I mean, not "better"... Those relationships just weren't the same! Oh hostel, I DO like your friends... I just don't know that I can commit!! You understand, don't you!?! IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME!!!!!!!
**
Anyway, like I said (or at least, meant to say), I actually quite like our hostel. It's in a great location, only a close walk away from the Trevi Fountain (which we saw today!) and the Coliseum, and a zillion other "little" things that make Rome Rome, and the beds ARE super comfy. It's just... I don't know... "different", is all!
:P
That said, GOD I love Rome.
xoxo from the land of Christiano Rinaldo billboards the size of the CN Tower!
-a. (& d.)
(Though I take full responsibility for the cattiness of this blog. :P)
Yesterday, we arrived in Rrrrroma. (It's hard not to roll your "r"s in Rome.) Anyway, our plane touched down at just after 10pm, which, after baggage and the shuttle into the downtown, left us getting to our hostel at about midnight. Being the ol' pros that we are (knock on wood), this did not phase us the slightest, as carrying 50lbs on our backs just seems like natural torture at this point. (SICK TORTURE... but "natural".) We checked in, our beds were made for us, and all was well with the world. Well, mostly.
Anyway, come the light of day, all IS still well, but it's a bit different around the edges. Which leads me to my real point, which is about the joys of some women in our women only hostel, and some of the stark realities that the light of day has brought to me.
Read:What follows is my testament as to why I'm starting to think that (some) girls make terrible girlfriends.
**
Our hostel is a bit like one shmoozy, kind of clingy girlfriend. Y'know - the kind you swore you'd never be? Sure, it's all cute and quaint from the outside. Clean hallways, comfortable pillows and mattresses, a bidet in one of the bathrooms, huge private lockers; it's all glitz and glam and new and exciting. The relationship is fresh. She looks good, you look good... it's all good! At least, you thought is was. What happens when you wake up in the morning though, and you realize (as you wait in line for one of three shower-toilet combo bathrooms) is that really, maybe there's just a little something off about this girl?!
It's not that I don't like our hostel. I do! The location is great, and all is well. What I'm underwhelmed about is those wonderful qualities that make some girls terrible girlfriends. They're the girls who you suddenly wake up to find have taken over. Y'know, garbage on your kitchen and end tables, blow dryers at every plug in, hair all over the floor - okay. I'm guilty of that too, but whatever - a thousand tiny little bottles of shampoo and conditioner and creams and crap you've never even heard of or imagined littering showers and counters and surface area of floor that's covered with pools of water from your shower that just should not be. There's the neatly stacked plates, covered in yesterday's food that somebody left next to the moldy sponge in the sink, which prompts my step-dad's line of "Who was your servant before I came along!?", and which goes along with thoughts of, "Is it THAT hard to throw moldy food out of the mini-fridge?!"
Oh, but that girlfriend - she is sly! Catch her without her make up on, and she's surrounded by a posse of friends saying that she's never looked better! "Isn't this THE best hostel!? I LOVE that it's all women!" arise cries from newbs who clearly haven't spent 5 weeks on the road, staying at places like Goat Hostel in Budapest, or Rossio in Lisbon. Tell me then - why is there an oven, which tricks you into buying 3 days worth of dinner groceries, when it doesn't work, and the only person who is around to answer your questions are the people who run the hotel across the street because, hey! "24 hour reception" apparently means "we don't ever have anybody here to look after the place or answer your questions", which, in bad girlfriend code translates into, "OMG! So sorry. My cell phone died and I totally didn't get your msg! Were we supposed to meet up!!??" It's like you left toothpaste all over the counter, used the last square of t.p., and then ran out before your boyfriend woke up, hoping he didn't notice. (Please note. I am not a boy. & I have noticed the 24 hrs. of toothpaste spit on the counter, & the now obsolete toilet paper in bathroom #1. It's gross & inconvenient in that order.)
It's just so... wrong! What's next, a love fern!? A guilt trip because you're insecure and don't want me hanging out at my other hostels, judging you based on them?! I can't help it if my past relationships were better than this one! I mean, not "better"... Those relationships just weren't the same! Oh hostel, I DO like your friends... I just don't know that I can commit!! You understand, don't you!?! IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME!!!!!!!
**
Anyway, like I said (or at least, meant to say), I actually quite like our hostel. It's in a great location, only a close walk away from the Trevi Fountain (which we saw today!) and the Coliseum, and a zillion other "little" things that make Rome Rome, and the beds ARE super comfy. It's just... I don't know... "different", is all!
:P
That said, GOD I love Rome.
xoxo from the land of Christiano Rinaldo billboards the size of the CN Tower!
-a. (& d.)
(Though I take full responsibility for the cattiness of this blog. :P)
01 August 2010
Snapshots of Wien
Ange outside of Shonbrunn palace.
Shonbrunn palace and its spectacular gardens.
Ange uses the Info box outside of the National Library!
The Austrian history museum in Museumsquarter
Props to Empress Maria Theresia.
Stephensdom with its crazy cool mosaic roof.
Graben street.
Another pretty Vienna street.
Immature, I know, but... HA! It's just too easy sometimes...Buda-buda-buda-pest!
Hello world (or the miniscule fraction of you who are reading this blog)! It's day 34 and we've just spent our first night in Budapest after 2 glorious evenings in Vienna. The contrast is rather stark, it seems, though we have yet to go exploring Budapest. As I look out the window of our lovely little hostel "The Goat", the streets are sundrenched and illuminating rows of nostalgically filthy, but beautifully ornate building facades. Today is our designated "day of rest" (it IS Sunday after all, and Ange went to church in Krakow on Thursday, so we've earned it (yes, "we" :P)). We're planning to lounge around at a cafe, perhaps read and write some postcards, then head to the Roman thermal baths in the city park. At the moment, I am just SO overjoyed that the sun is shining. We had a solid week or so of cold, dreary rain in Poland and Austria. (I think our excitement is well-evidenced by the fact that we both joyously threw on sundresses this morning. Ange finally gets to wear the beautiful white dress that she bought in Olhao, and she, of course, looks stunning :D!)
We both loved Vienna and wish we could've stayed longer (though, financially, it was probably a good choice not to). We spent our one full day of sightseeing zipping through Shonbrunn Palace (disgustingly beautiful seat of the Hapsburgs), Hofburg Palace (another stunning Hapsburg residence), the Stephensdom (reminded me of an Austrian version of the Sagria Familia in Barcelona), and the wonderful, winding streets of Vienna. Yesterday before catching our trian we caught the Upper Belvedere museum, where we saw a bunch of Austrian masterpieces, including Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" -- very cool (aside from the museum security being really anal about wearing backpacks on one's back...? ugh). We could've spent days wandering, taking in the architecture and greenery, and, of course, sitting in cafes contemplating life and all of its complexities... But, Budapest beckoned, and so we will enjoy a full 3 days here before catching a flight to Rome.
More on Budapest to follow... stay tuned!
Much love,
d & a
We both loved Vienna and wish we could've stayed longer (though, financially, it was probably a good choice not to). We spent our one full day of sightseeing zipping through Shonbrunn Palace (disgustingly beautiful seat of the Hapsburgs), Hofburg Palace (another stunning Hapsburg residence), the Stephensdom (reminded me of an Austrian version of the Sagria Familia in Barcelona), and the wonderful, winding streets of Vienna. Yesterday before catching our trian we caught the Upper Belvedere museum, where we saw a bunch of Austrian masterpieces, including Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" -- very cool (aside from the museum security being really anal about wearing backpacks on one's back...? ugh). We could've spent days wandering, taking in the architecture and greenery, and, of course, sitting in cafes contemplating life and all of its complexities... But, Budapest beckoned, and so we will enjoy a full 3 days here before catching a flight to Rome.
More on Budapest to follow... stay tuned!
Much love,
d & a
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