Toussaint 3: Eclipse

Last part of my Toussaint trip. Sorry it took so long.

Thursday November 1st: After meeting up with Jessie, her, Camila and I took the subway to Buckingham palace. It was a really beautiful day out and there were loads of people as it just happened to be the changing of the guards time. We went to the National Museum afterward and saw (among others) the works of Manet, Monet, Van Gogh and Degas. After a hurried risotto lunch we ran to the the theatre to see Phantom of the Opera. Having never seen it, I was very excited. Verdict- Love the music, the set design was incredible (my jaw actually dropped), but I still think the story is kinda lame. We then went to a super fancy department store and walked around saddened by the fact that everything was WAY out of our price range. I then separated from my friends to go see the evening show of Les Miserables. Yes, I had already seen it in London with my family years ago, I have a weakness for these things.  It was AMAZING! To be fair, I didn't think the guy who played Javert was menacing or powerful enough, but nitpicking gets us nowhere. As god is my witness, perhaps in another couple of years I will see it again.

Friday the 2nd: Christmas drinks at Starbucks! Heaven's light shone down upon my delicious gingerbread latte. Camila, Jessie and I head of to Camden Market (which is a lot like the Kensington Market area of Toronto). It had a lot of cheap stuff and a lot of artsy cool people and their crafts. We then walked to King's Cross Station (Jessie is a big Harry Potter fan), then along Oxford street. So many expensive stores. We then walked along Baker street until we saw the Sherlock Holmes museum. Splitting up, Jessie and I went to Hamley's (the most awesome toy store in the world). Sorry Dad, I didn't continue to tradition of buying a remote controlled car. We then went to the Victoria and Albert museum. Leaving for Nice tomorrow, I said goodbye to Jessie, met up with Camila and we took a bus to Luton, England. Staying at a airport hotel for the night.

*Side note. Upon getting to the hotel, the woman behind the desk asked us if we wanted 2 singles or 1 double bed. Confused, I said the 2 singles...only to realise later the connotation of her asking.*

Saturday the 3rd: So nice to finally sleep in a real bed and have a nice shower! We woke up some ungodly hour for our flight. As per usual, I got the full body check (hand stuck down my pants and everything!) I don't know why I'm always searched, guess its my intimidating demeanour. So we arrived in Nice, and it was cloudy. Warmer than Great Britain, but cloudy. We walked along the main drag, ate lunch by the beach and climbed to the peak of the city. Lovely pictures were taken. May I say, the bus system in Nice is ridiculous. Its beyond confusing and the maps do not make sense. Somehow, we figured out how to take a bus to the Matisse museum. It was very interesting as I had never heard of Matisse before.

Nice

Church in Monaco

Sunday the 4th: SLEPT IN! Our hostel was lovely, by the way. We spent several hours in the Chagall museum (whose art I do really like). Lunch was zee oh so typical french Kebab. After getting lost a few times, we found the bus to take us to Monaco. Monaco would have been lovely, were it not pouring rain. We walked along the streets, through a carnival, by the palace and a fancy church. Once we finally got back to Nice we were actually soaked to the bone. Having no dinner, we took shelter from the storm back at the hostel.

Grasse

Monday the 5th: We rose early today so we would have the maximum amount of time in Grasse. Ha ha ha. Firstly, the bus station to catch the bus to take us to Grasse was recently demolished. Thanks for letting us know. Secondly, today was the day they officially moved all the bus stations to temporary ones due to construction. Two hours of walking later, we found that right bus. So we made our way to Grasse (the perfume capital of the world). Walking along sketchy streets (this place was the utmost picture of rural France imaginable), we found the Fragonard perfume factory. A tour was taken and much perfume bought. We then went to the museum of perfume, which was way better than expected. We could have spent hours in there. We accidentally got lost walking back to the bus station and ended up in a really dodgy area of the city. Once we got back to Nice we had gelato. I actually forgot to mention it was BEAUTIFUL out today. Sunny and warm, just in time to leave!

Sunny Nice

Monday the 5th (Once all hell broke loose): We almost miss our train home, thankfully we made it just in time. Once on the train an older angry french man sits in the same booth as us, he was a lot of fun. It took us a while to realise, but the train was moving at a snails pace. People on bikes were passing us. It was then when we realised we were to miss our connecting train in Marseille. Goody. Once we got on a later train in Marseille, we found out that we no longer had seats as this train was filled with a bunch of extra people. We sat in the noisy area between two cars for the 4 hour ride. Hourray! So what at this point our trip (which was supposed to take 6 hours) had already taken 8, and we had only just arrived to Lyon. Thinking that we had to stay in Lyon for the night, thankfully, we discovered that there was 1 bus left going back to Grenoble.  Once arriving in Grenoble, we were lucky enough to not have missed the very last tram! I arrived at my place, only to discover I forgot the key code to get in my building (it was sense memory). I started shouting obscenities into the night, and throwing rocks at the windows of my floor mates). This is after 2 am, mind you. Thinking that I cant stay outside in the cold and have nowhere else to go, I frantically call the guy who lives across from me, Andrew. He was awake and opened the door for me!!! He saved me from inevitable robbery, sketchiness and death. I am eternally grateful.

So that is my Toussaint break! Whew, glad all this typing is over with.

Random facts:

-I don't think I ever mentioned this, but they don't generally use toilet seats in France. I guess public buildings are too cheap. Its kinda gross.

- Getting a carte de sejour (visa) is a bitch. 

-I just booked a flight to Berlin to see fancy German Christmas markets.

- I went out clubbing last night and was greatly disappointed by the amount of watering down of the shots. 5 tequila shots and still sober? Straight alcohol my behind.

-Its freakishly warm in Grenoble. Yesterday it was 17 degrees and was still above ten degrees at 4 am.

Toussaint 2 :Temple of Doom

Starting from where I last left off: it is now Monday the 29th of October. I am still in Edinburgh.

Monday 29th: Once again, Camila and I woke up early so we could meet up with Jessie and get as much sight seeing done as it was our last day in Edinburgh. We walked back to the Royal Mile, and walked along it until we got to Edinburgh Castle (at the top of the hill). We paid to go inside, and saw a beautiful, nearly 360 degree, view of the city. Once inside we went on a little guided tour and then into some of the buildings. Most importantly: Mary Queen of Scots chambers. Inside, their was a chronological painting of all the Kings/ Queens of Scotland (later Great Britain in general) followed by the Scottish crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny. 

Camila and I, who were both really stoked to see the famous Stone of Destiny, were greatly disappointed when we realised an hour later that we had been so focused on the jewels that we had failed to acknowledge the large gray rock right beside them. DAMMIT! Our first major Scotland fail.

Hungry, we walked around until we found a restaurant that wasn't too pricey and looked tasty. There, I had a traditional Scottish salmon burger with avocado. Well, maybe not traditional, but it was sooooo goood! We rewarded all our trials and tribulations thus far with some dessert. Ice cream served on a cookie ftw!

We then went to the National Museum of Scotland, which is really cool and free! Inside, I saw Dolly the cloned sheep (now Dolly the stuffed sheep) and a lot of other artifacts and science-y things. It was like a mixture of the ROM and the Science Centre. Camila and I bid adieu to Jessie, packed up our bags and headed to the bus station to take the night bus from Edinburgh to London.

Hello sharks!

Night Bus: Duh duh duh!!! The dreaded night bus.....actually wasn't so bad. Firstly, it was packed. No empty seats, which kind of annoyed me as I asked a 50 something-year-old woman to sit next to her and she gave me this really angry look (her poor purse was forced to settle with the over-head compartment instead of its own seat) Boo. Hoo. Anyway she was weird. I actually burst out laughing when I saw her open a small individual sized packet of jam and start eating it with a spoon. I regret nothing, it was hilarious.

Kensington Gardens

Tuesday Oct 30th: We arrived at Victoria Station in London around 5 am. Not knowing at the time that that area is rather sketchy, I'm glad Camila and I decided to wait in the station until dawn. We checked in to our hostel (into our room with 18 other people!!), showered and walked to Kensington Gardens (10 minutes down the road). We walked along the gardens, past the Orangery (fancy tea place) and Kensington Palace. We met up for a free 3 hour walking tour of London (regrettably the tour guide was trying a bit too hard to be funny and it was just awkward). We ended up in the Soho area of town and had pizza for dinner. Then it was off to the theatre to see Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" (longest running play ever don'tcha know). It was suspenseful and funny, even if I did figure out the murderer. As it was now dark, we took the underground back to our hostel.

Wednesday: So our hostel claims to have free wifi, but no one can mysteriously access it. hmmmmm. Anyway, after sleeping in for the first time in ages, we had breakfast and made our way to the nearest subway station. We accidentally took the wrong subway car, but eventually found our way to the Tate Modern Art museum. Spent a few hours there then walked around that area of the city. We walked along the river until we crossed Tower Bridge. For dinner I had fish and chips! By this time, it was going dark so Camila and I decided to walk around and see London at night. The skyline is a lot prettier at night, in my opinion. We made our way to the Leicester Square and met up with some of Camila's friends. As it was Halloween, EVERYONE was out wearing costumes, it was a lot of fun.

Tower Bridge

Stay tuned for my next instalment.

So fly

Fun Facts/ whatevaaaaa:
-I really should have seen Braveheart before going to Scotland. It kept getting brought up. I'm just not a big Mel Gibson fan!!

-I can't believe I didn't notice the freaking stone of destiny! I'm an idiot.

-I wish we could have spent more time in the National Museum of Scotland, it was really big.

-There was a creepy, old guy in our hostel room who slept in his underwear. Bleh!

-On Wednesday we actually walked/ stood for 6-7 hours. I couldn't even believe it when I look at a map.

-Because of France being on holiday, there were more french people in London than british. 

Toussaint: the saga begins

Hello all,

Since my Toussaint break was 10 looong days, there is far too much stuff to talk about in one mere post. Hopefully I can write it all down in three without leaving out too much or boring you to tears. Shall we begin?

Friday October 26th: I had to sleep over at my friend Camila's place as the B tram does not run early enough to get me to the train station for our 5 am train. Exhausted, we get on the the earliest A tram and  get to the station just in time. Literally, the doors closed as we ran on to the train. A sigh of relief was uttered as we headed to Geneva to catch our flight to Dublin. We almost missed the boarding of that too. I knew this was gonna be an interesting week.

Upon arriving in Dublin, we made our way to the hostel, checked in, and decided to get some lunch and explore the city. Wanting to profit from the limited time we had in Ireland, Camila and I decide to grab something quick for lunch. Saving the more traditional food for dinner. Then we saw it, three innocent and inviting letters: K F C. Neither Camila nor I had eaten fried chicken in ages, so we decide that it would be a good idea. We look at the menu, the best deal being a "family meal" with enough chicken and fries to feed 4 people. Oh we were such ambitious fools. After much gorging, we were still unable to eat it all. Sitting at the KFC, filled with chicken and self-loathing, we planned out the rest of the day.

We decided to walk around Dublin and catch all the sights along the way.  This includes Trinity college (beautiful!!), Dublin castle (right in the city center), grafton street, a market, and temple bar (a cool night-life-y place with a bunch of pubs and cobblestone streets). Still being full from lunch (so much freaking chicken), we go to a pub and order a Guiness and Stella to split. A rather satisfying day.

That's totally how I lounge on rocks too.

Saturday 27th: We get up bright and early, so we can see the remainder of Dublin attractions before having to head to the airport. We walk to Merrion Square, which is a large park. There, I saw the single greatest statue in the history of the world. Oscar Wilde sitting on a rock. Now, it is common knowledge that Oscar Wilde was gay, but man is his pose on that rock suggestive. They even give him this weird, creepy smile. It's priceless.

What's with the face???

We went to another park called Saint Stephen's Green. In my opinion, it was a lot prettier. We made our way back to the castle to see the inside of the courtyard, passing the oldest bar in Dublin and several very pretty churches. Then, the National Leprechaun Museum. Oh, I'm sorry, the world's ONLY leprechaun museum. I can sense your jealousy through the computer screen. It was actually really cool and interesting. I drew a picture which they hung up afterwards! Again, we almost missed our flight to Edinburgh (not really our fault, the bus was late). Once there, we made our way to our hostel (a converted church!!!) and went to  bed.

A masterpiece done in 2 minutes

Pretty cool hostel, eh?

Sunday 28th: Camila and I made our way to the Royal mile (a historic and pretty main road in the old part of Edinburgh) to meet up with our friend Jessie and go on a free walking tour. Our tour guide was awesome! I learned so much about the town and saw so many cool things I never would have seen in that 3 hour period: Greyfriars cemetery and Bobby (look it up), back streets, "Hogwarts", etc....Afterward, pretty cold and hungry, the three of us make our way to a pub. It was there, ladies and gentleman that I tried haggis! May I say, it was delicious. Tasted like the meat in Shepherds pie. We then went to an art museum, walked along Rose street (which has a lot of restaurants and pubs). We ended the night at a coffee shop after walking through a PriMark (UK version of Forever 21). Went back to the hostel, which had the most uncomfortable beds I have ever slept in by the way, I could feel the spring coils. Tomorrow, we would get up early again.

 


Interesting facts:

-Some signs in Ireland are written in Gaelic
-People in Dublin are super nice
-Leprechauns ARE real
-In Edinburgh there's a wall made of the ash from the bodies or burnt witches
-People LOVE Greyfriars Bobby. 
-I saw the cafe thats rumoured to be the place J.K Rowling wrote the first 2 Harry Potter novels. 

Silly cats, moustaches and ice skating

Hi-ho!

This weekend past was actually a lot of fun. What I thought was going to be a normal weekend turned out way way way better than I could have imagined.

On Friday, there was a local wine festival-testing-thing in Grenoble. A couple of my friends and I decided to go. While we did taste a lot of different regional wines, the owners of the vineyards didn't seem to pleased to be giving us samples (as we were clearly not going to buy loads of wine). I, however, did buy a really nice sparkling wine! I also confirmed what I already knew, dry white wine is the best. Fruity wine is plain disgusting.

Friday night started off with some tacos. I really love the family dinners we keep having. It's a lot of fun to cook with people and a good way to start off a night of hanging out. After much guacamole and tacos were consumed, we decided to make our way to the house warming party of one of our friends. Ironically, he had been living in the same apartment for almost 2 months now, but no matter. A party is a party.

The party was really fun. My friend and his roommates had just gotten a new little gray kitten named Jimmy. "Jimmy zee silly cat", actually. He is so tiny and adorable. A lot of my time was spent in his presence. One thing about that night is that there was a french-themed party going on as well, so many people had drawn black moustaches on to themselves, at this point and time, I decided against it.
Several hours later, and a bit more alcohol consumed, I wavered.

I was only really embarrassed sitting on the tram riding home with that ^ on my face. 

Saturday night was the Canadians time to shine. We went figure skating. Indoor figure skating (as the weather here is still in the low 20s, suckers). It only cost 3 euros too! 3 euros to rent skates and skate for 3 hours. I shall return. I did honestly have a lot of fun, and it did very much remind me of home. Plus its something I can do moderately well, so I looked like a pro in comparison to others. :P

Sunday was a day of work. I worked on a presentation I had to give on Tuesday and cleaned my room. I did go out for Kebabs for dinner though. I also had salted caramel haagen daaz. One way to make a boring day way better.

Fun facts/ General Annoyances:
-Kebab should be France's national dish. They love them over here, every other store is selling Kebab. It's a hollowed out loaf of bread with shawarma-like meat, lettuce, tomatoes, white sauce, etc...It is really delicious

-3 days before a huge national holiday, the trains went on strike. Why god why? I think I'm in luck, I think my train is still going. I'm praying my train is still going.

-Today I was standing in line to buy vegetables at a market. I was just about to put my tray on the weight, when a guy totally cuts in front of me and puts his on the weight first. No one says anything. I gave him a "I'm standing right here" look, and he totally ignored me. As did the cashier. Clearly I must have died and ghost me is invisible to all French people.

* It wasn't a mistake either, he totally knew I'd been waiting in line for 5 minutes*
** Photo cred goes to Krista and Emily-whose pictures I stole**

The France Principle (a math problem)

Two random musings

A math problem: 

1. If the level of attractiveness among individuals is higher in France than in Canada does that mean that those who are normally deemed attractive are now merely mediocre? I feel as if people in Grenoble (not solely French but other international students) are generally good-looking. Does this result in a bar being raised? Are once deemed "beautiful" North-Americans now average? Are the plain horribly disfigured? I fear my self-esteem has been lowered while my expectations have been raised.

A want ad:  Plain Canadian seeking averagely attractive European.

*But seriously. It's something in the water, most people are good looking.


2. In France, people generally dress nicer than they do in Canada. Now fortunately I'm in Grenoble (which is a sporty city so people don't dress as ridiculously to the nines). Still, my clothes from Canada are not as fancy or "in style" as though of others around me.

The predicament: I only brought one suitcase with me to France, thinking I'd buy more clothes once I got here. Since arriving I have bought some sweaters and pants etc. The problem is that they are a bit fancier than the rest of my clothing. This results in me not having other clothes to match them with. This then results in my need to go out and buy more clothing or shoes. Seriously, I feel as if I need to constantly buy things to wear with the other things I just bought. Oh and btw, clothes in France are EXPENSIVE!!! I would like to buy a nicer pair of shoes to wear with my nice new pants, but I don't want to spend the money. Thus France has screwed me once again.

Come back to me Jude Law, Retour des Alpages

I feel as if every week I write that nothing much has happened, but it honestly feels that way. I should write down the things I do each day, as a week later I can't seem to remember anything.

Monday 8th: Um....went to class.

Tuesday 9th: Accidentally got the time wrong and missed a class...oops. Hung out with Camila and Estelle at Estelle's place. Plus the trams this week don't run past 8 pm, so I have to book it from my later classes so not to be forced to walk 30 min home in the dark.

Wednesday 10th: Early morning grammar class followed by unsuccessful trip to sketch market. A bunch of my friends and I met up, but by the time we got there (around 1 pm), people were closing up their sketchy windowless white pedo-vans. Instead we all ate shawarma and went to H&M. 

*Very important side note* On Wednesday nights I have my other french language practice course. The week prior, I was pulled from one class and put into another. In said new class my teacher looked like Jude Law. I accepted my awesome fate. Horror of all horrors to come back this week to a new prof who is old and balding and does not look like anyone remotely attractive. God dammit France....god dammit.*

*Important other side not* My friend Camila, who is supposed to be in the class with me is now going back to her old class due to lack of Jude Law. Way to leave me alone. Por que Camila? Por que?

Thursday 11th: Today I had my first field trip for my "History of Grenoble" class. It was actually really cool. We went to the Archeological Museum of Grenoble (fo freeee!) and just had to look around for an hour or two. It was very interesting, the museum is built on top of a very old church (17th century old) and had a bunch of crypts and skeletons just laying about. Later that night I went out for pizza with  some people for my friend Will's birthday.

 



Friday 12th: No class. Slept in. Met up with people, I think. I honestly don't remember what I did on friday (which would only mean I did nothing). I actually think I just sat and watched tv...can't remember. Friday night, however, I did hang out with people on residence. We all tried to go laser-tagging, but the place was booked so we ended up just playing King's cup and eating cheesy bread.

Saturday 13: Camila, Estelle, Krista, Emily, Will and I all took the train to Annecy. Again? I hear you say to your computer screen. Well, let me explain. Apparently once a year Annecy has a festival called the "Retour des Alpages". It dates back to when, during the fall, it got too cold for animals to stay outside on the mountains so the villagers walked them into town for the winter. Now its a huge folksy festival that ends in a parade through the town with animals.

 

It was honestly a lot of fun. Although very very crowded (claustrophobics beware). There was a lot of people in costumes, loads of St. Bernard dogs (Annecy has a dog club), traditional cider, tartiflette, sausages, music and crafts for sale.

I personally bought a pretty little painting of the town of Annecy to hang in my room. Once we arrived home from the festival I stayed at residence to watch a movie. Intending on taking the tram at 1 am, I found out that while the tram where I live goes until 1:45 am, the one on campus only runs until 12:50...oops. So Cayda had her first sleepover in Residence Ouest!

Sunday 14th: Didn't go to bed until 5 am, slept until noon. Well there goes my plans for a productive Sunday. Ate at "Quick" (the french equivalent of McDonalds or Burger King). It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. MacDo is better. After that, I planned on going to my little grocery store around the corner, which is one of the only ones open on Sundays. It was closed!!!! GAHHHHHH

Fun Facts:
-French buildings label their floors differently than we do in North America. Our 2nd floor is their first (they count the ground floor as "floor 0").

-Irish people have to mandatorily learn Gaelic in school (my friend Dom informed me of this).

-My room gets sooo humid that my veggies go mouldy after 2 days. Well there goes my dinner.

Hey!

Short post again as nothing very exciting has happened over the past few days.

I got re-assigned into a new group for one of my classes and my professor looks like Jude Law. Not too shabby.

I booked airfare, trains, etc... for my 10 day Toussaint (french holiday) break to London, Edinburgh and Dublin. Now I'm poor

I finally bought a knee brace after limping around Grenoble for the past month. Hopefully this helps.

Oh, and I'm sick. Stuffy nose, cough and all. 

Thursday night I went to an "Oktoberfest" night at a club. While it was very fun, it wasn't very german.  They maybe had 1 flag hung up on the wall. woo. hoo.

Today I went to the Sketch Market and bought a 4 pack of paper towel for 1 euro. SCORE!!! I also cleaned my room. Exciting, I know.

Hopefully tonight will be a little more fun. We shall see.