France

Written on July 22...

Ahhhh, finally I have a plan!!!

Arrivée à Paris le 24 en soirée (Ze-Bus)
Départ de Paris le 28 en soirée pour Marseille (train)
Départ de Marseille le 31 pour Lyon (train)
Départ de Lyon le 4 pour Grenoble (train)
Départ de Grenoble le 8 août en mi-journée pour Londres (Ryanair).

A flight from Grenoble was 1/5 of the price of a train back to Paris than Paris-London! Crazy!
This plan only gives me a few days in Paris, but I've heard it's very expensive there, and anyway, I figure that even if I never get to visit all of France again, a visit of "Paris only" remains highly possible, so it's all good. On a bright note, I get to visit beautiful Marseille, where apparently the Mistral blows (hehehe, since this could be misinterpreted, FYI the Mistral is a wind in France, cold and strong! :-P, so anyway, I'm somewhat anxious to see the reaction of people there when I tell them my name !!!! hehehe

I then heading to the town of Lyon; which is apparently quite beautiful and worth visiting, then off to Grenoble which I like for the name (and it's in the Alpes, and a friend of a friend; the girlfriend of the guy I'll be staying with in Paris, lives). I'll only be in London for a couple of days, but seeing how bad the Euro is already hurting me, and the fact that French people tell me they can't afford it there (!!), I hope to survive the 2 days in London (hehehe, should be ok). Then, finally, it's home !!! yay!!! well, kinda, mom's place for a while, then move to residence... which I'll eventually call home for sure.

So anyway, couple of stories I want to remember:

We sometimes hear of the immigration tensions in France, but I have to admit that I have only seen a couple of examples of it. 1- I overheard a few homeless people talking and they kept repeating "les arabes et les noirs"... alright, whatever. 2-Then in Bordeaux, I kept buying water at this convenience store, so the guy (clearly from arabic descent) and I started chatting once. He said "vous êtes québecoise?", I said yes, and I asked if he was french, half joking, expecting a "mais bien sur!" or something. His answer surprised me, as much for the content, as for the speed at which it came out. He said "nooon! je suis Tunisien", so I said "vous n'êtes pas français?", he said "no", I asked if he was officially a French citizen, and he said "oui, mais vous savez..." ... wow, it was a clear display of "feeling of non-assimilation" and it made me wonder if our "minorities" in Canada would have the same answer... I left it at that, but almost asked him why he came and stayed here then (but if you've ever met someone from a 2nd or 3rd world country, it's almost the national dream to go live overseas, so it was kind of a stupid question. It would have been better to ask if he knew what was awaiting here before coming....as this is something I wonder every time I take a cab driven by an Indian, or go to the Dry-cleaner, etc).
Anyway, the 3rd incident was in the tram. The system is as follow: you buy a ticket at a stand at the tram stop, and validate it on the tram (by inserting it into a little machine in the tram). The system is basically control-free, except for the controllers, who, like in Vancouver, roam the trains, and most of the time you don't see them, but sometimes they just appear and check everyone's ticket. Well, 3 black teenagers had their ticket but didn't validate them (once validated the ticket is only good for 1 hour), when they saw the controller get on, one of them rushed to the nearest "validator-machine" and proceeded to validate the tickets. The controller saw him do it, so he said that this wasn't how it's to be done, and they had committed an infraction and bla bla bla! I honestly don't know if he would have done the same if the culprit was a middle-aged white woman (i.e), but they black guy argued for a while and they said, "c'est ça, c'est parce que je suis noir!" I was unfortunately getting off at that point, so I didn't hear the response, but I also don't think that it was entirely justified (the it's because I'm black comment).... this is, so far, the extent of my witnessing of "racial inequalities", despite the fact that the hostel in Bordeaux was in a clearly impoverished black/arabic neighborhood (aka ghetto'ish)

To finish on a brighter note: hehehe in La Rochelle, I realised that I hadn't had any cheese yet, which is sort of a crime when in France (in my mind at least) hehehe, so I bought a slice of brie and some bread, ate most of it for lunch and put what was left in my bag. Later that day, I kept getting whiffs of stinky feet, and happened to be wearing my sandals which sometimes give me "not so good" feet odour (hehehe) so back at the hostel, I washed my sandals and my feet, but was puzzled by the fact that neither stunk... whatever, I then went to bed and had yet again a nasty whiff, re-smelled my feet... everything was good so I went to sleep (note, I always sleep with my purse next to me on the bed). The next morning, I had to pack for the trip to here, so I started loading and unloading the stuff in my purse, only to take out the cheese and bread and get a REALLY strong feet scent! hehehe it was the cheese which hadn't kept too well in my bag!!! hehehe end of story! hehehe

Cheers

P.S. Laundromats are FREAKING expensive here!!! Like 4-6E for a load!!!!!!! I had to do too much laundry for my usual system (wash the clothes of the day while I take my shower (clothes not on me of course!! I have a bar of clothes soap that I bought in India, and just incorporate clothes washing inbetween "me" washing) so I decided to do a load at "the bargain price" of 6.2E for wash and dry, for a load of up to 8kg... I though "I don'th think I even have 8kg worth of clothes..." so I washed everything I have with me... it's good to have all "machine-washed and dried" clothes for the first time in months!!! hehehe

Written on July 21 …

Well, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I only have enough (barely enough), to be in the towns I visit, aka, not do any sort of activity or visit or tour that require any form of payment (I’ve put a 5E limit, but realistically, nothing is less than 10E, and even that’s rare). I feel much better now that that’s settled (kinda like when I decided I wouldn’t eat Kristen’s sweets anymore - it’s liberating) as I don’t feel like I should wonder if an activity is worth it or not, if I should do it or not, if I’ll regret it if I don’t do it…. Now it’s so very simple, if it’s more than 5E, it’s not happening. As such, I’m somewhat only scouting for my next visit (where I’ll make sure to have a budget of 100E/day, as opposed to my current 40).

So anyway, here are a few pics from Bordeaux. I’m not taking very many pictures, as people are not very remarquable (just like us really, at least on picture) and, well, a building is a building… and once again, you can easily go to Qc city if you want to get the feel (travelling has really made me realize that we have it all in Can, except for India, most of I’ve seen/done so far I could have seen/done, with light variations, somewhere in Canada!).

"Si j'avais les ailes d'un ange, je partirais pour... Québec!" (French-QC song)

It's nice to see the contrast of the new tram in front of the old cathedral.

This was a fairly common sight, the old street names used to be carved in a brick of the house at the corder of that road. Here we have the original name "Rue Royale", which was renamed "Rue de la Liberté" during the revolution (Freedom fries anyone?? hehehe), and is now something else.

This is just a building, called Place des Douanes (Bordeaux used to be the most important port of the region, and this place is right in front of the water) where the buildings still have the same function as hundreads of years ago!!! I visited Bordeaux on a walking tour (before ,y resolution to not tqke more tours), and I must admit that it was very interesting to hear about the history and purpose of certain landmarks. For example, the guide talked about the architects that designed that part of town, a fqther and subsequently his son, why the buildings qre in the shqpe they are, etc. I forget most detqils, but it was very interesting.

Anyway, I then visited the city of La Rochelle, which was very pretty, but mostly (read: entirely) living off tourism, which means that everything is overpriced and geared toward families and couples. This brings me to my second resolution for when I come back, it’ll definitely be with someone, preferably a “my man”, as Europe really feels like a place to visit with someone. I’ve met quite a few other lone travellers, but I know I would be having a better time right now if I was with someone I’m close to. Anyway, no biggie, as this is only a “scouting trip”, right? . Back to La Rochelle, here are a few pics.

La Rochelle is known for it's fort and port, and has always been known to be a bit of a rebel town, electing a mayor while everyone was still under the monarchy, being protestant when all of France is catholic, and stuff like that. It was also the capital of France (or was it Bordeaux...?) for a while, until it was moved to Paris.

Anyway, undeniably, the best time was to watch, over and over again, parents getting angry with their kids (who indeed literally bounced off the walls)… travelling with young kids… hmmm maybe not such a good idea! Hehehe I don’t know if the French have too high expectations, or if their kids were really that bad (I’ve seen quite a few who actually were!!) but it didn’t seem fun for them. All I could hear as I was walking around was “don’t do this, come back, do that, that’s IT, it’s the last time I tell you!, no you’re not getting this or that or that or that! Hehehe good times! Hehehe

Last pic of La Rochelle, simply because I hadn't seen a nice sunset in a while:

I still had the bad cold in La Rochelle and felt very bad about coughing and tossing and turning (being in a room with 5 other people), so I barely slept both nights. However, I must mention that I was in a room with French girls (for the first time), actually I should say women (late 20’s and mid 30’s), which was sooo much better than being with the younger people of before (I’m not much in the party mood, can’t afford it) and these women actually wore normal clothes (as opposed to the “skankyness" of the younger crowd).

I left La Rochelle on the Ze-Bus (I LOVE that name, it’s actually how the French sound when they try to say “the”hehehe), which dropped me in a town called Tours, where, oh how wonderful, I have a single room!!!!! For 18E/day (aka pretty much same price as the other Auberges), this Auberge de Jeunesse only has single rooms (actually becomes a student residence during school time)! I’m staying here 4 nights and couldn’t be more ecstatic about my accommodations!!! Furthermore, they don't kick us out during the day (all the other places so far would block access to the dorms from i.e 10-4 or 11-5 for cleaning -which was kind of annoying, specially for sick me). Now I can, sleep in, go back for a nap anytime, toss and turn, blow my nose as loud as I want (I’m still quite sick), cough, go to the bathroom (shared, but whatever) as often as I want, all without bothering anyone at all. This type of room is pretty much what I’ll have for the coming year in Residence at U of Montreal, so I’m happy to see that it’s totally satisfying!
So anyway, I’m starting to feel better already (or maybe it’s just the medication I got at the pharmacy…) and I think I’ll be fully back up and running by the time Ze-Bus picks me up on Tuesday. We will then go see some castles, before getting dropped off in Paris, where I’ll probably be staying with the boyfriend of a friend of a friend (sounds sketchy, but is not! Hehehe). That should allow me to save a bit of $$ (aka not go over budget for once!), while meeting some French people (they are sooo funny to hear when they speak, they sound exactly like in the movies, with their “oh la la” or “c’est la galère” hehehe. After 4-5 days in Paris, I still have 7-8 days where I have to decide where to go…. I plan on finalizing my itinerary on Monday at the latest, buy all my tickets and reserve all my hostels, and just enjoy the rest of the trip.
Tours is known for being a student town (big U here), as well as the main centre for the Loire region. It's nice to be in a "real" town (not only touristic), and just walk around and stuff. I heard that they have a 7E card which grants access to all the museums, as well as a walking tour of the old town... it exceeds my 5E limit, but by so little, and for seemingly such a good value! I'll let you know what I decide.

Well, that's that for that.
Cheers!

P.S. It's freaking cold here!!!! It'd kind of ok in the sun in the afternoon, but there's always a cool breeze and it gets freaking cold as soon as the sun disappears! It's apparently once of their zorst summer in years, and I agree, it does't feel like summer!!

Written on July 17....

First of all, I thought that the keyboards in Spain were messed up, but the French one take the cake!! There is pretty much not a single key in the same place as "our keyboards", which means that I type like a grand-ma who's just been put in front of a keyboard for the first time!!!, with the exception that my fingers automatically go for the "old" key location on pretty much every keystroke! arrgghh!! You thought there were a lot of typos in my blogs before!!! (well at least it forces me to read them before posting them... I guess! but what a pain!!!) Furthermore, they've configured the PC here (at the hostel) so that we basically can't do anything with it other than Internet and Word... aka hid the Start button so we can't play in the control panel...

Anyway, other than that I'm very happy to be in France and I'm totally enjoying being able to understand anything anyone says at anytime! It feels so free and easy!!! Well, free in the sense of "not trapped", not in the sense of inexpensive, because free it is not!!! Gees!!!! I didn't take surfing lessons in San Sebastian because they were 50E/day, so imagine my face when I heard that a day of going around wineries and wine tasting was 85 (!!!!) E !!!! I could have gone on a 1/2day for 30E, but by the time I had wrapped my head around the idea, the tour was full... oh well, I guess I'll gust have to go in the Okanagan (or whenever I come back to France, which is bound to happen anyway); So instead I took a walking tour of the Old Bordeaux, which was quite nice and instructive. I got a few decent pics to post some other time (the PC here is -not surprisingly- locked in a wooden box).

However, despite my relief at being in a country where I can fully communicate, I must admit that I'm very tired...it may be from the massive cold that kept me in bed all day yesterday (or maybe I got the cold because I'm tired...), but I think it's still the "having to plan transportation & accommodation in a foreign city, pack my stuff and go every other day" syndrome... It doesn't help that I didn't have a guide book yet (until today) and that the one I ended-up with it not that great at all... I found out that there is a reason why Lonely Planet is so widely used, it's because it's BY FAR, the most comprehensive and useful and user friendly guide out there!!! Coming a far second is the Michelin guide, but it barely compares... Unfortunately, I couldn't find a single edition of LP France, in English or French, anywhere. It seems the French prefer to sell guides for every single region separately (not exactly useful!!!), so I ended-up with a Reader Digest guide; with decent maps and a stupid little tourist blurb on every region/city (no "how to get there" or "hostel/hotel listings" though!!!), so I feel a bit left alone on the "find a place to stay" front. Luckily, the Auberge de Jeunesse are everywhere here, and apparently invariably the cheapest option; so I just find the one in my next destination, call and book (knock on wood, been lucky so far with bed availability). However, in these places, I always end-up in the dorms, which I also think I have to get used to. I find sharing sleeping quarters with 4 to 6 people a bit draining, but I'll get used to it I guess (double unfortunately, in the Auberge de Jeunesse, they separate girls and guys dorms, so I don't even get eye candy...That must be why my batteries are so low! hehehe

Nevertheless, the French people are very nice, very friendly and welcoming. Today I got a hair cut (at the only "no name, not fancy and therefore not expensive" place I found. It was a small salon, and my hairdresser had been there 17 yrs! She knew all her clients by name, their history, the whole thing! So cool!!!
Well, that's that for that, heading off to La Rochelle tomorrow and from then I've booked a "kind of tour", with ze-bus; where they drive around a loop, through certain cities, and we get to get off wherever we want and stay for however long we want in each city, and just hop on the next bus (generally a couple of days later). Furthermore, they reserve places in the local Auberge de Jeunesse for us, which I hope will alleviate my "fed-up'ness" over the next 4-8 days!!
Cheers!!!!