Germany and the Wedding

The real reason for the trip was a family wedding in Germany. The couple tried to combine the best of Canadian and German traditions, and had most of the ceremony translated to save those of us with very poor German skills.

It was a beautiful wedding, followed by a reception in a castle, the outline of which I captured at sunset the night before. And to follow, were fireworks.

Strasbourg and Zurich

I spent a couple of lovely days in Strasbourg - I was going to try and make it to London, but it was going to be too crazy and too much stress. I hadn't had a holiday off work in a year, and really needed some time, so I spent a couple of very relaxing days in Strasbourg. The hotel that I booked was right next to the Galaries Lafayette food store, so I picked up some bread and cheese for dinner one night - so yummy!

After that, I went on to Zurich, where I met up with friends. I picked a mid-morning train, and much to my surprise, the promotional train for the latest Harry Potter film was at the train station. There were a surprising number of people dressed up
(especially for 10am on a Sunday morning) and they had the owls out in full force. They surprised me by taking me to the mountains. It was beautiful there, but like the rest of Europe, it was wet and cold. So much so that it actually snowed. Snow - in June! Not what I had expected!

The gardens of Giverny

I hopped on yet another train to Vernon, and from there, headed out to Giverny by tourist bus. The busses meet the train, and also timed to get back to the train just in time so that everyone can board. Where I live does't have trains, so I think it's a bit stressful to catch trains - in larger centres, the track that the train is on often isn't posted until just a few minutes before the train leaves, and I'm always afraid that I'm going to get on the wrong track or catch a train going in the wrong direction.

Giverny is home to the house where Monet painted, and his house and back garden are open to the public. The house was beautiful, but the gardens were spectacular - just what you think of when you imagine a Monet painting. Giverny is also home to the Impressionist Museum which had a Monet exhibition open for the summer. I didn't manage to make it to many of the museums which had Monet paintings in Paris, so I was glad that someone had arranged to transport them to Giverny for me.

When I got back, I spent the next day visiting two of the smaller museums in Paris - the Marmottan, which houses a huge collection of Monet paintings, as well as other impressionist painters, and the Cluny Museum, also known as the Museum of the Middle Age, themes of Cluny. The Cluny Museum has the famous Cluny tapestries of the "Lady and the Unicorn" displayed. I'd visited both museums on recommendations, and would definitley go back again - the museums were smaller than some of the better known museums, but without the line-ups and the crowds of other places.

Ah.... Paris!

After visting Vimy Ridge, I spent the next day (and one of the only nice days on my trip) doing some sight seeing. I also took a break for a coffee and some macarons, which are small almond/merangue cookies, filled with icing or jam. There was a bakery a few blocks from my hotel which had the most wonderful flavours - the one's pictured are pistachio, salted caramel and rose, but they also had passion fruit, cassis, and chocolate. Dinner in Paris is usually served late, and many restaurants don't even open until 7:30. I'd usually finish my sightseeing day in the early evening, and then pick up some of these delicious treats to hold me over to dinner.

Pictures - Vimy Ridge

I'm back, and have finally found a few moments to write about the trip!

I arrived in Paris, and spent the first day exploring the flea markets. I had printed off some instructions on where to find good places to buy beads in Paris, and managed to scoop up some gorgeous vintage glass, buttons and other treasures.

The next day, I was up very early, and climbed the hill near my hotel to the Sacre Cour. It was so nice to be up before everyone else, and snap off some pictures when everything was dead quiet.

I then headed for the train station to catch my train to go out to the Canadian war memorial at Vimy Ridge. This is a particularly significant monument for Canadians, as it was one of the first times that Canadian troups fought together, and they were able to capture a particularly difficult position held by the Germans. The monument contains the names of all of the Canadian soldiers who died during the first world war.

Vimy Ridge isn't particularly easy to get to - an hour by train to Arras, and then a taxi ride up to the memorial itself. Fortunatley, most of the taxi drivers know what tourists (particularly Canadian tourists) want when they indicate that they'd like to go to Vimy Ridge. There is direct service between Paris and Arras several times a day.


















The female figure in the last picture represents Canada, as she mourns for those who were lost in battle.

Onwards....

I'm in Strasbourg for a couple of days - my original itinerary called for a quick trip to London, and I realized when I sat down to make final arrangements that a trip over the channel would either see me spend way too much time on a train, or be very expensive. The alternative was a stop in the charming city of Strasbourg, which is about half way between Paris and Zurich.

My university offered an exchange year here, which I didn't use or apply for, and this trip is a nice chance to see what life would have been like if I'd gone away for the year. Strasbourg is charming and lovely - everything you'd expect from a small European town. It's also much different than Paris - less English is spoken or available, still touristy, but in a more French/German way.

I'm off to Switzerland tomorrow to catch up with some friends for a few days. They've promised to show me the "real" Switzerland, and if their past tour guide skills are any indication, I'm in for quite a treat.

The beauty.....

I travelled up to Giverny yesterday to see Monet's house, garden and studio. The museum in Giverny was also hosting an exhibition of his work, so I got to see examples of all the paintings they were referring to. Friends had recomended Giverny - they'd really liked it, and now I can see why - it was a beautiful place, and so peaceful.

I will definitley be posting pictures when I get back - at the moment I don't have a way of transferring pictures from my camera to the computer, but I will post lots when I return.

On the road

After navigating several airports, a few train stations and several other modes of transport, I've finally arrived! I learned to navigate the french keyboard system while in Morocco, and it's proven to be a challenge yet again as I learn to type over again. I discovered a charming bakery near the hotel that makes gourmet macaroons, and have devoured far too many of the sweets. So far my favourite is proving to be the salted caramel, but the pistachio is also fantastic.

I managed to navigate the french train system to get to Vimy Ridge yesterday. Vimy is the site of one of the largest Canadian First World War monuments. The farmland that surrounds the monument is so lush and green that it was hard to imagine the fighting that occurred almost a hundred years ago. Surrounding the monument were the soldiers cemetaries - not only for Canadian troups, but also for British and Japonese soldiers.

China 2005 - Part 5 - Conclusion

Here's the last lot - thanks to everyone who's left comments saying that they enjoyed the pictures - it was a great trip - and I enjoyed taking them.

I'm planning on putting blog candy up tomorrow, so stay tuned. I haven't this year, largely because I've been busy, and I should have been working on a couple of gift that I haven't yet got done. But I have something (super-cute) that isn't really gift worthy on it's own, so I thought I'd put it up for blog candy......

China 2004 - Part 4 - Beijing and Great Wall

China 2004 - Part 3 - Xian and Beijing

China - Part 2

Memories of China - Day 1

I visited China in September 2004, Almost 4 years to the day before the Olympics. All of the Olympic coverage has brought back a ton of memories. China was such a different place to visit - it was becoming modern at such a rapid pace, and you could see construction in almost every form as we traveled throughout the country. I remember how quickly foreign things became familiar too - when we first received green tea - with it's loose leaves floating in a clear, tall glass, it seemed very odd, but by the end of the trip was normal.

There and back again

I *think* I've finished the marathon of travel that's pretty much eaten up my life for 3 months, and it's lovely! I love being home as much as I love traveling. Of course, I can't complain about the travel - this last trip was to New York - one of my favourite places. And I finally got to the Cloisters and got to see Wicked - both were just as amazing as I'd hoped they'd be.

Back from Vegas...

I decided to take a short jaunt down to Vegas with some friends this week - the attraction of warm weather and sunshine (and shopping!) was too much to resist, and so I thought I'd take a quick break. It was a nice break, and good to catch up with my friends, but equally as good to be back home again. In Vegas, we went to the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton, mostly at the request of one of my (male) friends. Not being a trekie, or even close, I had a very blank look on my face as the tour guide asked what part of a series or movie a certain character or sequence was from. Fortunately, I was with another female who hadn't watched any of the movies or series either, and so the two of us were able to commiserate during the tour.

I finished up Monique's Blog Candy gift this afternoon, and it should be in the mail tomorrow, and hopefully in her hands shortly! I'd actually started this one right after my first two items, but decided it didn't really suit the next recipient, Christine, and so I hope Monique likes it. She's posted that she likes green, so I hope it suits her.

Eastern Europe - Days 11 through 16 - Russia

Our first stop in Russia was St. Petersburg - home to most of the Russian nobility. St. Petersburg itself was a gorgeous city - I think it looked like a wedding cake with beautiful pastel buildings and white scroll work around the outside of each one. On our first day, we had a sightseeing tour of St. Petersburg, stopping at several churches and the main square. We were all pretty tired from the overnight train, so it was back to the hotel and then out to a ballet. Getting to the ballet required negotiating the local metro system. St. Petersburg has some of the longest escalators on the lines in their metro system and the line we were on was no exception to this. I don't think you could see the bottom of the escalator from the top, and it was a bit scary not knowing where you were going.

The ballet was wonderful - a very modern interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. It was a very classical style of ballet, but the setting and costumes were more modern, making for a wonderful evening. What a treat to be at a ballet in Russia!

The next day we were off sightseeing. The first stop was the Church on Spilled Blood - a beautiful onion domed church which was the sight of the shooting of one of the Czars. The church had been restored recently after falling into disrepair during the communist era. Many churches in communist Russia were "secularized", and used as skating rinks, swimming pools or warehouses instead of churches. This church was no exception, and the beautiful mosaics that lined the inside of the church had recently been restored to their original state.

That evening we boarded the last of our overnight trains. We didn't know it at the time, but a bombing and derailment had occurred the previous night on the same train line, so security was extra tight on the train. Fortunately our train journey was uneventful.

We arrived in Moscow and were escorted on another city tour. Most of Moscow's tourist attractions centre around Red Square and the Kremlin, so the city tour wasn't as exciting as in St. Petersburg, but it was a wonderful city to visit. The next day I got the chance to visit both sites again. We started out by visiting Lenin's mausoleum - a bit creepy and very strange. It was very dark in the tomb, and there was very little time for your eyes to adjust to the change between sunlight and darkness, so I just about ended up tripping down the stairs in the tomb. After re-emerging from the tomb, it was over to St. Basil's cathedral. Although St. Basil's is probably the most famous cathedral in Russia, it's fairly simplistic on the inside - nothing like the ornate tile work in the Church on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg.

After that, it was off to the Kremlin. I was fortunate enough to arrive at a time when they were performing a military exercise, and got to see a few of the soldiers who still work at the Kremlin in their duties. From there, it was off to see some of the churches at the site - there are 5 that are open to the public, and most of which were still in their original state. Someone did point out that it was fairly ironic that the churches inside the Kremlin, which was supposed to be the secular head of state, were the best preserved churches in Moscow. The Kremlin also had a fantastic exhibition of Cartier jewellery. Given the remarkable lack of obvious security around the site, we had a discussion over dinner as to whether the jewellery was real or not, as there were hundreds if not thousands of carats of diamonds and other precious gemstones. (All of which was very sparkly!)

After that, it was back to the hotel for a farewell drink and some dinner. I had an early flight out, so I called it a night pretty early. I'd arranged for a cab to pick me up at an insane hour of the morning, and drove to the airport. Of course, what was supposed to take 1 1/2 hours only took half an hour without traffic, but I got to the airport with plenty of time to make my flight. I had a *long* layover in Frankfurt, which doesn't have much entertainment in the airport, so I ended up spending $30 on a sandwich and coffee, but at least the staff at the restaurant let me sit for a couple of hours without too much hassle. After 6 hours, it was finally time to board my flight back home, and I arrived in Calgary 9 hours after that.