A broad (and her daughter) Have Returned...
http://www.originsofmotion.com
Abroad (and her daughter) Abroad
We left again - headed for California (with pictures)
October 30, 2007
Hi All - hope this entry finds you well - it was really great to see a lot of you during our brief stop in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York. (we get around)
Jessica and I are gradually assimilating a lot of our experiences from our whirlwind-one-month tour of Europe and re-adjusting to America though my Google homepage on the laptop sometimes reverts to Danish and spits out results from all over Denmark. As I process the pictures from Europe, I will be loading more images up to Picasa (I have used up the "free" 1 gigabyte quota) and will be adding in some stories to go along with them. And hopefully will have the time and patience to move this blog to a site that is better about subscriptions and comments.
So much has happened - so much to say - where to start - let's see, last I left the blog, we had recently crash-landed in Boston (October 16th) and were ferried out to the restful wilds of Vermont to recuperate.
(just so you know, you can access all the pictures in the blog and more, full size at: This site - picasaweb)
~ sunset from Whitney's
~ meadow next to the "Dam Diner"
~ Jess with Mickey
~ views from the road leading up to Whitney's
During our respite, we viewed every available apartment rental in Brattleboro, discussed job opportunities with lots of potential employers and dropped in on the School for International Training's Open House where I sat in on a master's level course for long enough to realize that Jessica and I really need to continue pursuing higher learning goals (even if they are outside of traditional classrooms) and thus decided the best place for us was California, especially since Mona and BJ's invited us to stay with them for a couple of months (and if you don't follow that logical progression, you don't know me very well, do you?) And so, before we got too cozy with all my favorite people in New England, we made reservations on the cheapest flight we could find to San Francisco.
~ a cool door spotted while apartment hunting
~ the next three are of a place we almost rented (just across the woods from the International School of Training) but discovered it would be really, really expensive to heat.
~ Hannaford's parking lot (Craig is sitting in the car waiting for Dad to finish shopping).
On Saturday morning (October 19, 2007) we bummed a ride from Dad and Craig into Brattleboro from Townshend and tried to rent a car only to find they only had the really big expensive one left, so were left sitting on our luggage in the parking lot of Hannaford's while I used a pay phone more times than I have in the past 10 years put together (3) to get in touch with Whitney to come get us.
Whitney kindly brought us up to Nelson where we availed ourselves of Chris's (CJ's) kitchen to make pot luck supper for Jay. While we were cooking, CJ's pager went off with a call from the Nelson Fire Department just as a thunderstorm began a brewin' - While he was gone we snapped the folllowing shots: 
When he returned, we loaded up in the Durango and Chris and I dropped Jess off in the middle of Pumpkin Fest where she met up with her friends (and I ran into Lisa Moon - who I need to remember to ask about sharing her space again next summer during her possibly slower time) and then headed off Dublin to Dawn and Jay's to help celebrate Jay's 50th Birthday.
Whitney rousted us at the crack of, well, ah, 9:30 the next morning to ferry us out to Troy, NY through the absolute peak of foliage to visit with my mother.
We arrived in Troy and switched cars and drove west another hour or so to go "beagle-ing" at 2:30 - it's kind of like fox hunting, but without the horses (or the fox). The participants still wear hunting gear and carry whips and they still say "Tally-ho!" and blow a small horn - "ta da da dun da ta" and tell the hounds to "pack up!", "pack up!" - the hounds chase rabbits - or whatever else happens to be about on the beautiful properties people give the hunt club permission to hunt on.
And afterward, there is "Tea" - a fabulous feast presented by one of the members buffet-style - this time, "Tea" was at a lovely home of a woman who had raised eight children and had a dining room to accomodate all of them and their families (and a beautiful garden) - so we all fit quite nicely.
Note: this would be a good time for an intermission ... there are only a couple of more stops, but a ways to go before we leave for SFO. (oh great, that rhymes).
The next morning (Monday), we were up at 7ish so Mom could take us to work with her - she works at RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute) where we got to meet many of her co-workers and received an in-depth tour, complete with a tour of the chemistry building, the library, the computer building (which used to be the church - says a lot about engineers right there, folks), the architecture building, the new theater building (bigger than a couple of IMax's I've seen) which can only be viewed from the balcony of the library, and the polymer studies building (think plastic!) and lots of gadgets (an old fashioned generator, which I believe is a kind of gyroscope) and glow in the dark fish!
Farewell to Mom and back in the car to Nelson.
Chris/CJ very kindly offered to drive us to Boston to catch our noon flight on Tuesday. So, that makes it Monday evening - I got to take Ridge-Leigh and Peppy out for a walk up on Center Pond Road and around and up to the Iselin's that included stopping to chat with Tom Buttrick who was setting up for the Monday night Contra Dance at the Nelson Town Hall and running into Ingrid, Rosalyn and Owen and getting to congratulate them on their recent nuptuals. Back to the house (and about to drop from sheer exhaustion), I was greeted by Chris and Kirk and Whitney and Barbara offering to take us out to Keene to Elm City for dinner, which was delicious, as always - a good night's sleep and off to the airport, once again.
~Ridge-Leigh's in the back of the Dodge with my luggage.
Whilst waiting for our first flight (to Atlanta) - we got to sit in a cafe and watch to Space Shuttle launch; zero to ... 12,000 miles an hour in 7 minutes! wow - what we take for granted these days.
~The airport had some cool stuff in it:
~ and then, of course, there's always the view from the plane:
Got held up on the runway leaving Atlanta for about an hour or so, waiting for a wall of thunderstorms to pass over (Jess was slightly horrified to learn about "wind shear"), but then finally took off for San Francisco - interestingly enough - I quite teared up, realizing how much I have missed life in California - or perhaps just all the possibility that life here holds and all the plans that I have put on hold for the past 19 years as Jessica has grown to adult hood.
I love and miss you all - stay in touch - I will try to as well.
Elizabeth
e-mails regarding the New Blog Entry... (October 30, 2007)
e-mails and repies from folks:
--- cindy sterling wrote:
--- cindy sterling wrote:
> Hi Elizabeth - I had a dream about you and Jess
> this morning - all
> about your trip and how it ended unexpectedly and
> off to CA, shipping
> yard, crates, Chinese dealers, and trolley
> cars.....hmmmm.... Anyhow, I
> hope you are doing well and I do miss having your
> smiling face and
> casual energy gracing Maine Street, Keene..... New
> windows in the
> studio!.... Keep in touch and I promise to do the
> same. Tim and I are
> setting a wedding date for Octish 2008 - hope you'll
> be able to get back
> for it. I'll send you info when its more solid. I
> hope I can keep the
> solid man solid and make that date happen.
>
> Garbage is great, yoga is better, think about your
> waste line and reduce
> - even if it is the hip propaganda of the republic.
> One cannot help
> topple consumerism if we only decide not consume.
> That'll make those
> hipsters fall onto their buttocks. Remember 11/23 -
> International Buy
> Nothing Day - spread the word!!!
> And yoga is not about the pose, but the journey in
> to the postural
> world. Love ya! I miss ya!
> Give Jess a smile and hug for me
> peace and love
> C
>
Hi Cindy -
> this morning - all
> about your trip and how it ended unexpectedly and
> off to CA, shipping
> yard, crates, Chinese dealers, and trolley
> cars.....hmmmm.... Anyhow, I
> hope you are doing well and I do miss having your
> smiling face and
> casual energy gracing Maine Street, Keene..... New
> windows in the
> studio!.... Keep in touch and I promise to do the
> same. Tim and I are
> setting a wedding date for Octish 2008 - hope you'll
> be able to get back
> for it. I'll send you info when its more solid. I
> hope I can keep the
> solid man solid and make that date happen.
>
> Garbage is great, yoga is better, think about your
> waste line and reduce
> - even if it is the hip propaganda of the republic.
> One cannot help
> topple consumerism if we only decide not consume.
> That'll make those
> hipsters fall onto their buttocks. Remember 11/23 -
> International Buy
> Nothing Day - spread the word!!!
> And yoga is not about the pose, but the journey in
> to the postural
> world. Love ya! I miss ya!
> Give Jess a smile and hug for me
> peace and love
> C
>
Hi Cindy -
What a cool dream - and you're setting a date! wow -
we'll definitely be there - wouldn't miss it for the
world (that expression suddlenly has more meaning to
me than it used to...)
we'll definitely be there - wouldn't miss it for the
world (that expression suddlenly has more meaning to
me than it used to...)
Miss you too - thought of you on Saturday as I took my
first California yoga class, in a dome, on a bluff
above the Pacific, having walked from Mona's house to
this place on the beach - quite cool - but so
different from your classes, so "removed" - like, you
know, like "California" like, you know?
first California yoga class, in a dome, on a bluff
above the Pacific, having walked from Mona's house to
this place on the beach - quite cool - but so
different from your classes, so "removed" - like, you
know, like "California" like, you know?
I'm gearing up to getting involved in the massage
community here - have been scoping it out and hope to
have learned from all our efforts on Main Street what
to do and what not to do - will let you know how it
goes.
community here - have been scoping it out and hope to
have learned from all our efforts on Main Street what
to do and what not to do - will let you know how it
goes.
Jess got a job in a gift shop in Half Moon Bay - only
a couple of hours here and there, but she's getting to
and from it herself (on the bus) and using the phone
and she even made a sale! with a real live customer
the other day. Quite cool as well.
a couple of hours here and there, but she's getting to
and from it herself (on the bus) and using the phone
and she even made a sale! with a real live customer
the other day. Quite cool as well.
Miss you - take care and keep up the good cause work -
love,
Elizabeth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--- Jen Van Herten wrote:
> I miss you terribly, my dear friend!
>
> I had heard from Kirk that you were on your way
> West, and I have to say, knowing you are back on the
> continent but still so far away makes me a little
> sad - though I know you must be very happy to be
> back out near San Francisco.
>
> things with me are much the same - dedicated 100% to
> school, so that I barely leave the school premesis
> these days. It's amazing, there are people there
> every night until 2:00 AM, and there are sometimes
> people that stay later than that! And, what's even
> cooler, if I did feel like being crazy and come in
> at whatever time I wanted, I could get security to
> open up the school for me, just so that i could
> work! How awesome is that??
>
> Anyway, I'm pulling all A's these days - well,
> except for drawing class. Apparently, I am a really
> crappy drawer! Not that I didn't know that, but you
> know, it kinda sucks to have one class that brings
> down the rest of the average... I'm feeling pretty
> young these days, everyone around me is aged 18 to
> 23. It's quite a culture shock, and apparently
> "sick" is the new "cool". Did you know that?? Next
> thing you know, it won't be just "That's sick,
> man!", it'll be "wow, that's cancerously diseased,
> man!" And somehow this is a good thing??!!??
>
> Well, I am learning lots about computers and
> internet, all the leisure stuff, anyway. I just
> discovered Youtube - and found out they have movie
> clips of morris dancers and contra dance events.
> which is cool, I mean sick, so that I can show my
> new friends about this awesome, I mean cancerous,
> dancing that I do in my other life! LOL (Is LOL
> still used??)
>
> Well! Anyway! I wish you all my love, I miss you
> more than I can tell you, and I can say that I keep
> wondering how long and how much it would cost to
> come out to see you sometime - I miss you just that
> much!
>
> Hope the weather is great there today - it's rainy
> here, but that's okay - I just bought a pair of
> rubber boot wellies and a rain coat, so I'm well
> prepared.
>
> Duster misses you, too.
>
> Love ya lots,
>
> Your Canadian Glass-blowing artist friend,
>
> Jen
>
> PS - hot shop humour is really dirty - we have to
> heat things up in the glory hole, jack down, punty
> up, blow harder, blow and cap, and it goes on and
> on... Yep, and I just blew my first glass bubble
> yesterday! before that, I've been making glass
> chickens - yep, solid formed glass chickens! it's a
> long story... But I'm certainly learning a lot and
> having fun doing it!
>
> Take care, my friend!
>
>
Hi Jen! - I think of you often - I even have a picture I took especially for you - though it won't neccessarily bring back good memories - it might though. You see, I thought to myself, this is how someone who can't walk and is by themselves leaves their driveway, not with the thing in the back of the car!
>
> I had heard from Kirk that you were on your way
> West, and I have to say, knowing you are back on the
> continent but still so far away makes me a little
> sad - though I know you must be very happy to be
> back out near San Francisco.
>
> things with me are much the same - dedicated 100% to
> school, so that I barely leave the school premesis
> these days. It's amazing, there are people there
> every night until 2:00 AM, and there are sometimes
> people that stay later than that! And, what's even
> cooler, if I did feel like being crazy and come in
> at whatever time I wanted, I could get security to
> open up the school for me, just so that i could
> work! How awesome is that??
>
> Anyway, I'm pulling all A's these days - well,
> except for drawing class. Apparently, I am a really
> crappy drawer! Not that I didn't know that, but you
> know, it kinda sucks to have one class that brings
> down the rest of the average... I'm feeling pretty
> young these days, everyone around me is aged 18 to
> 23. It's quite a culture shock, and apparently
> "sick" is the new "cool". Did you know that?? Next
> thing you know, it won't be just "That's sick,
> man!", it'll be "wow, that's cancerously diseased,
> man!" And somehow this is a good thing??!!??
>
> Well, I am learning lots about computers and
> internet, all the leisure stuff, anyway. I just
> discovered Youtube - and found out they have movie
> clips of morris dancers and contra dance events.
> which is cool, I mean sick, so that I can show my
> new friends about this awesome, I mean cancerous,
> dancing that I do in my other life! LOL (Is LOL
> still used??)
>
> Well! Anyway! I wish you all my love, I miss you
> more than I can tell you, and I can say that I keep
> wondering how long and how much it would cost to
> come out to see you sometime - I miss you just that
> much!
>
> Hope the weather is great there today - it's rainy
> here, but that's okay - I just bought a pair of
> rubber boot wellies and a rain coat, so I'm well
> prepared.
>
> Duster misses you, too.
>
> Love ya lots,
>
> Your Canadian Glass-blowing artist friend,
>
> Jen
>
> PS - hot shop humour is really dirty - we have to
> heat things up in the glory hole, jack down, punty
> up, blow harder, blow and cap, and it goes on and
> on... Yep, and I just blew my first glass bubble
> yesterday! before that, I've been making glass
> chickens - yep, solid formed glass chickens! it's a
> long story... But I'm certainly learning a lot and
> having fun doing it!
>
> Take care, my friend!
>
>
Hi Jen! - I think of you often - I even have a picture I took especially for you - though it won't neccessarily bring back good memories - it might though. You see, I thought to myself, this is how someone who can't walk and is by themselves leaves their driveway, not with the thing in the back of the car!
Anyway - I'm glad to hear your so into your work (sorry about the drawing, but, Hey, you can't be perfect at everything!)
I miss you too, but this is truley the best place for Jess and I right now - we're still planning on trying to do six months here and six months back East - we'll see how that goes once we get on our feet here.
love you, miss you
your globe-trotting friend who's happy to be be "back in the U S, back in the U S, back in the U S A..."
Elizabeth
your globe-trotting friend who's happy to be be "back in the U S, back in the U S, back in the U S A..."
Elizabeth
and she replied:
ha ha ha - great picture! glad you're thinking of me!! lol, boy that was an interesting weekend, eh?? Remember dinner with my sister and her friend at the mexican restaurant in keene? I don't think I've laughed so much since! Except maybe at the pic you just sent me... lol!
Glad you are where you need to be. It's a good feeling when that happens, no question.
Hope you have a good day! I will chat again soon...
Jen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mom wrote:
Elizabeth,and
This is beautiful. Thank you for the prose and photography. It brings
me closer to you both.
Much love,
Mom
Hooray! You must have heard me sending out questions psychically. I
look forward to the photographs.
Augusta Field, Program Coordinator
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Advising & Learning Assistance Center
We have landed... though still we're still quite "up in the air"
We are safely ensconced in Whitney's house in West Townshend, VT, thanks to Whitney and CJ for meeting us in Boston on Tuesday. The flight out of Nice, France was wonderful - dawn on the Mediterranean, the sun a huge orange ball just above the horizon. As it rose, it lit up the Pyrenees Mountains, highlighting their jagged peaks and plunging valleys as we flew North to London. (got to drive around Heathrow in a bus on the wrong side of the road for a while as we changed Terminals ... the "terminal" that flights to Boston leave from is stuck way away from the main terminal and is quite, well, um, "shabby", being just a sort of a put- up Quonset Hut... I think, maybe the British are still a bit peeved about that Tea Party thing....
Anyway, the weather in Boston was spectacular - crisp and clear - very nice to come back to. After a very long drive (gee, this a big country) - we arrived at Whitney's and with the exception of a nice visit with Dad, have been sleeping and recuperating, and planning, and plotting... and where will we go next and what will we do there...
Some thoughts:
Short (and long) term - settle back into New England, so many wonderful people here. A "massage" day in Keene every week - probably a Tuesday - so I can enjoy the company of the many cool people there ... a day job maybe in Vermont, an art studio/home for Jess and I in....
Winter - spend it in California (I miss my friend Mona) - Six months here, and six months there? (that's what I'd like to do)
It's Thursday, I think, so I will begin making phone calls a little later this morning. I hope to see a lot of you at Jay's 50th and Jessica is heading to Pumpkin Festival to meet up with her friends on Saturday.
I can't thank you all enough for all your communication - it was a real life line and please don't stop now that we're back.
Anyway, the weather in Boston was spectacular - crisp and clear - very nice to come back to. After a very long drive (gee, this a big country) - we arrived at Whitney's and with the exception of a nice visit with Dad, have been sleeping and recuperating, and planning, and plotting... and where will we go next and what will we do there...
Some thoughts:
Short (and long) term - settle back into New England, so many wonderful people here. A "massage" day in Keene every week - probably a Tuesday - so I can enjoy the company of the many cool people there ... a day job maybe in Vermont, an art studio/home for Jess and I in....
Winter - spend it in California (I miss my friend Mona) - Six months here, and six months there? (that's what I'd like to do)
It's Thursday, I think, so I will begin making phone calls a little later this morning. I hope to see a lot of you at Jay's 50th and Jessica is heading to Pumpkin Festival to meet up with her friends on Saturday.
I can't thank you all enough for all your communication - it was a real life line and please don't stop now that we're back.
Journey to Copenhagen
Small Pictures with Captions
Journey from Haarlem, The Netherlands to Amsterdam.
From Amsterdam to Hamburg to Copenhagen
Journey from Haarlem, The Netherlands to Amsterdam.
From Amsterdam to Hamburg to Copenhagen
The remainder of the Copenhagen Pics
The rest of the pictures (small versions) from Copenhagen
This is a place I'd really like to return to - there is so much possibility here, and not a dim wit in the bunch.
September 25 - 30, 2007 (I think)
This is a place I'd really like to return to - there is so much possibility here, and not a dim wit in the bunch.
September 25 - 30, 2007 (I think)
Haarlem, The Netherlands
Small Pictures of our time in Haarlem
(Click the above link)
We came down here from Amsterdam (escaped, actually) for a few days of decompression realizing that all the work of preparation and actually leaving had left us exhausted.
Since a picture is worth 1000 words - and there are 49 here - I'll let them mostly speak for themselves except to say that Haarlem was all about seeing and being seen, so there are a lot of people watching shots here.
And, also, we saw our first European Church from the inside here. Our Hotel was just around the corner from the church and the main square of the old town.
September 21-24, I think
(Click the above link)
We came down here from Amsterdam (escaped, actually) for a few days of decompression realizing that all the work of preparation and actually leaving had left us exhausted.
Since a picture is worth 1000 words - and there are 49 here - I'll let them mostly speak for themselves except to say that Haarlem was all about seeing and being seen, so there are a lot of people watching shots here.
And, also, we saw our first European Church from the inside here. Our Hotel was just around the corner from the church and the main square of the old town.
September 21-24, I think
Nice, France
Friday, October 12, 2007
Nice, France
Jessica ate an octupus. Maybe it was a squid - a little one - but, whole! This was after we swam in the Mediteranean for the first time - I guess that feeling of being a mermaid just overcame her
They call this place the Cote d'Azure - because of the color of the water - amazing! it's like swiming in liquid, transparent tourquoise.
The sun is shining for the third day in a row - maybe fourth, if you count the afternoon in Marseilles when we rode the bus up to la Notre Dame de la... um, I forget - it's written down somewhere... for a beautiful view of the city and surrounding valley/mountains/Mediteranean Sea! (I swear we will get pictures published soon!)
note: add to the list of "jobs that Jessica will never do" - bus driver in France!
After swiming (and our salade d'Oceane with bruchette Bolognase), we decided to just return to the hotel and take a nap. But, on the way, I spied a staircase and a turret and... we climed 754 steps (Jessica stoped counting after about 450) to a park containing the ruins of a medeavil castle, complete with mossy, rainbow-filled waterfalls.
And then, after not nearly long enough gazing at the panorama - I swore we could see Switzerland through a gap in the surrounding peaks, we were chased out - just like the "jardin de... something-or-other" where we had just sat down after dashing through the Louvre in Paris!
"le Park es Ferme!" (lots of whitsle blowing) says an elderly guard, who escorted all the stragglers out of the park "No, no, le Park es Ferme! - dis way, dis way sie vous plait, Madam - (more whitsle blowing)" as we try to head down the driveway to see the Roman-like arches... "Just one more picture?", I ask. "Oui, oui.... NO!" (more whitsle blowing, right next to my ear!) , "ah, not you, Madam... Messiers, le Park es Ferme!"
Continuing to negotiate many more winding driveways with many more wonderful vistas and waterfalls, le guard, huffing and puffing (it was downhill) admits confidentially as he pats his large belly, "It is my girlfriend - she feeds me... (sigh)."
"Max!", (whitsle) - we see the reason for the whistle as an ageing (Huge!) German Shepard appears around a bend herding yet more stragglers out of the park as the beginnings of a beautiful sunset streak across the clouds to the "oest".
I tried to convince the guard we wanted to go back the way we came, but he persisted "No! le Park es Ferme! but, here, here is the Hebrew cemetery, I'll wait." And many, many more downward turning lanes, we decend the staircase of the Angles (I think - I took a picture of the sign) and arrive in a brightly lit warren of leather shops, tourist boutiques, pastiserries and cafe's all just closing and many soon-to-be loud and raucquous night clubs just opening - with local children playing "football" in the very narrow streets, jumping up onto the very, very narrow sidewalks as the itty bitty cars and very loud scooters pass at break-neck speed....so much for returning to the hotel for a nap after our swim and our meal!
Nice, France
Jessica ate an octupus. Maybe it was a squid - a little one - but, whole! This was after we swam in the Mediteranean for the first time - I guess that feeling of being a mermaid just overcame her
They call this place the Cote d'Azure - because of the color of the water - amazing! it's like swiming in liquid, transparent tourquoise.
The sun is shining for the third day in a row - maybe fourth, if you count the afternoon in Marseilles when we rode the bus up to la Notre Dame de la... um, I forget - it's written down somewhere... for a beautiful view of the city and surrounding valley/mountains/Mediteranean Sea! (I swear we will get pictures published soon!)
note: add to the list of "jobs that Jessica will never do" - bus driver in France!
After swiming (and our salade d'Oceane with bruchette Bolognase), we decided to just return to the hotel and take a nap. But, on the way, I spied a staircase and a turret and... we climed 754 steps (Jessica stoped counting after about 450) to a park containing the ruins of a medeavil castle, complete with mossy, rainbow-filled waterfalls.
And then, after not nearly long enough gazing at the panorama - I swore we could see Switzerland through a gap in the surrounding peaks, we were chased out - just like the "jardin de... something-or-other" where we had just sat down after dashing through the Louvre in Paris!
"le Park es Ferme!" (lots of whitsle blowing) says an elderly guard, who escorted all the stragglers out of the park "No, no, le Park es Ferme! - dis way, dis way sie vous plait, Madam - (more whitsle blowing)" as we try to head down the driveway to see the Roman-like arches... "Just one more picture?", I ask. "Oui, oui.... NO!" (more whitsle blowing, right next to my ear!) , "ah, not you, Madam... Messiers, le Park es Ferme!"
Continuing to negotiate many more winding driveways with many more wonderful vistas and waterfalls, le guard, huffing and puffing (it was downhill) admits confidentially as he pats his large belly, "It is my girlfriend - she feeds me... (sigh)."
"Max!", (whitsle) - we see the reason for the whistle as an ageing (Huge!) German Shepard appears around a bend herding yet more stragglers out of the park as the beginnings of a beautiful sunset streak across the clouds to the "oest".
I tried to convince the guard we wanted to go back the way we came, but he persisted "No! le Park es Ferme! but, here, here is the Hebrew cemetery, I'll wait." And many, many more downward turning lanes, we decend the staircase of the Angles (I think - I took a picture of the sign) and arrive in a brightly lit warren of leather shops, tourist boutiques, pastiserries and cafe's all just closing and many soon-to-be loud and raucquous night clubs just opening - with local children playing "football" in the very narrow streets, jumping up onto the very, very narrow sidewalks as the itty bitty cars and very loud scooters pass at break-neck speed....so much for returning to the hotel for a nap after our swim and our meal!
Pictures - Amsterdam and Copenhagen - small ones
some Thumb nail picutures of Amsterdam and Copenhagen
These are small, big pics are uploading as we speak.
These are small, big pics are uploading as we speak.
Marseilles, France - a tough decision made.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, October 10 -12, 2007
Marseilles and Nice, France
Monday and Tuesday, October 8 and 9, 2007
Paris: Montmartre and la Gare d'Lyon , France
We left Marseilles today for Nice - "when did you get there?!?", you ask? Monday, I think - maybe, Tuesday - yes, Tuesday, because we left Montmartre (Paris) Monday after a restful morning sitting in a cafe munching sandwiches and enjoying the work of a local artist who had done an amazing series of "branches" in acrylic, which Jess discovered. We were also continuing to recover from colds and waiting on the "Lava-matique" for our laundry. After which we arrived at "le Gare d'Lyon" train station only to be unable to buy our tickets south because of yet another miscommunication with the bank (or delay in transactions clearing, or something!). Fortunately, this time, we had about 100 Euros between us and were able to book ourselves (and our incredibly cumbersome baggage(!)...when will we just ditch the rest of this stuff! - or at least get better wheels! (When we arrived in Nice, we discovered that one of Jess's wheels has disintegrated altogether!) into the Blue Planet "HoStel" about 2 blocks from the train station (I checked out the room first, as has become my custom since a bad experience in Copenhagen, - a 3rd floor walk-up - European floors, that is, which start with zero - and came down and said we would check elsewhere - my first (well second, if you count the one in Copenhagen) rejection of the trip, only to find that there was no "elsewhere" available that night). So, we broke out the luggage locks and left the luggage in the dorm room on the bare linoleum floor lashed to the child-sized bunks - made up the beds with our rent-a-sheet (one apiece) and went out to explore this region of Paris - kind of a questionable neighborhood, if you hadn't guessed, and find a "pharmacia" to buy some more "mouchoirs" (tissues). After a couple of hours of exploring, which included stopping to see if a man retrieved his cat which had just escaped from it's carrier in the middle of a busy boulevard and hidden under a car - found a very nice neighborhood - kind of a "Soho" type area and had a really good, fresh and tasty Japanese supper.
It is in these "questionable" neighborhoods in which I often find the massage therapy businesses - in all the European cities we've visited - the "spas" are always very upscale, but the therapy offices, well I'd say that that end of the business is a few years behind the US - maybe 10 or 15 - which may have something to do with the readily accessible "alopathic" (regular) health care - or may have something to do with the fact that it is illegal to practice medicine not taught in state run medical schools (even chiropractic, which can be, by law, taught, but is not) - probably the latter, what do you think?.
So, this entry is leading up to letting you all know that all of this traveling has been exhausting, thrilling, but exhausting and much, much, much more expensive than we'd ever planned and that, having come to the point where the money is running low enough to either settle in and get some serious employment here or to come back to the USA (and settle in and get some serious employment) we have decided to come back - to settle where? we haven't decided, but none-the-less, to suspend our world exploration for now.
Booking tickets was tricky, but, believe it or not, Nice, France had the best fares - so, we're headed to paradise to spend our last few days in Europe (this go-round) at the beach before flying into Boston on Tuesday, the 16th - just short of a month into our year long adventure.
Marseilles and Nice, France
Monday and Tuesday, October 8 and 9, 2007
Paris: Montmartre and la Gare d'Lyon , France
We left Marseilles today for Nice - "when did you get there?!?", you ask? Monday, I think - maybe, Tuesday - yes, Tuesday, because we left Montmartre (Paris) Monday after a restful morning sitting in a cafe munching sandwiches and enjoying the work of a local artist who had done an amazing series of "branches" in acrylic, which Jess discovered. We were also continuing to recover from colds and waiting on the "Lava-matique" for our laundry. After which we arrived at "le Gare d'Lyon" train station only to be unable to buy our tickets south because of yet another miscommunication with the bank (or delay in transactions clearing, or something!). Fortunately, this time, we had about 100 Euros between us and were able to book ourselves (and our incredibly cumbersome baggage(!)...when will we just ditch the rest of this stuff! - or at least get better wheels! (When we arrived in Nice, we discovered that one of Jess's wheels has disintegrated altogether!) into the Blue Planet "HoStel" about 2 blocks from the train station (I checked out the room first, as has become my custom since a bad experience in Copenhagen, - a 3rd floor walk-up - European floors, that is, which start with zero - and came down and said we would check elsewhere - my first (well second, if you count the one in Copenhagen) rejection of the trip, only to find that there was no "elsewhere" available that night). So, we broke out the luggage locks and left the luggage in the dorm room on the bare linoleum floor lashed to the child-sized bunks - made up the beds with our rent-a-sheet (one apiece) and went out to explore this region of Paris - kind of a questionable neighborhood, if you hadn't guessed, and find a "pharmacia" to buy some more "mouchoirs" (tissues). After a couple of hours of exploring, which included stopping to see if a man retrieved his cat which had just escaped from it's carrier in the middle of a busy boulevard and hidden under a car - found a very nice neighborhood - kind of a "Soho" type area and had a really good, fresh and tasty Japanese supper.
It is in these "questionable" neighborhoods in which I often find the massage therapy businesses - in all the European cities we've visited - the "spas" are always very upscale, but the therapy offices, well I'd say that that end of the business is a few years behind the US - maybe 10 or 15 - which may have something to do with the readily accessible "alopathic" (regular) health care - or may have something to do with the fact that it is illegal to practice medicine not taught in state run medical schools (even chiropractic, which can be, by law, taught, but is not) - probably the latter, what do you think?.
So, this entry is leading up to letting you all know that all of this traveling has been exhausting, thrilling, but exhausting and much, much, much more expensive than we'd ever planned and that, having come to the point where the money is running low enough to either settle in and get some serious employment here or to come back to the USA (and settle in and get some serious employment) we have decided to come back - to settle where? we haven't decided, but none-the-less, to suspend our world exploration for now.
Booking tickets was tricky, but, believe it or not, Nice, France had the best fares - so, we're headed to paradise to spend our last few days in Europe (this go-round) at the beach before flying into Boston on Tuesday, the 16th - just short of a month into our year long adventure.