europe trip: chapter 12 (weird weather)

we are caught up!!!!

and what a perfect day to catch up on! we didn’t really do anything today. the weather was a bit uncooperative. one minute it would be the brightest, most pleasant day you could imagine, and then the next minute it would be pouring rain and blustery winds.

we spent the morning preparing the nerves to leave. eventually, when the time seemed right, we RUSHED out the door and strolled down the street to the tourism office. you see, we are going to carcassonne tomorrow to pick up a rental car, and we needed info on buses or trains or whatever it is that will take us there. the info we were looking for didn’t really exist, but i picked up a TON of pamphlets and/or brochures on various attractions and spectacles in the surrounding area. let me share a few with you: you’ve got castles and chateaus, churches and cathedrals, dinosaur and HAT museums, caves, canoe trips, a piano museum, wine related stuff, a slide show about things you can see, this abomination, and oh so much more!!!

after that successful trip, we walked across the street to the ‘8a huit’ or something. it’s just a local grocery store right next to a local bakery. we bought all the necessities: a couple chocolate bars, some chips, a giant loaf of bread, water, milk, and cashews. this entry is full of lists!!!

then we made it home before it started raining again.

in the evening, we watched the shawshank redemption:

it is a good movie, in case you hadn’t heard.
and then we played with the google image labeller game for a while.

now natalie is studying and i am blogging.

i don’t think we took any pictures today, but there have been MORE than enough lately, so just enjoy the break.

scott

europe trip: chapter 11 (find castle/lose bet)

4.13.08

2300 cet

today we found a castle. kinda. parts of a castle, mostly. we woke up and couldn’t decide what to do, but it was SOOO nice out that we just HAD to get out of the gite. so we flipped a coin. it landed on ‘go to coustaussa and play in a castle’. from the looks of it, coustaussa wasn’t much farther then the local super market, which we successfully walked to and from the day before, so we KNEW we could make it! and we did make it. we almost got run over a few times AND we got rained on a bit AND we had to stop for a snack a few times, BUT WE MADE IT!!!

coustaussa is seriously about the size of one city block, if not smaller. most of the buildings look like they’re falling in on themselves, and, as far as i could tell, it consists of 2 men and one dog. one of the men just drives up and down the hills in his old car all day. the other just sits outside yelling at the dog. but it’s very lovely.

coustaussa sits atop a large hill, or possibly a bluff, and as we got closer to the top, we could begin to see the castle. or what was left of it. turns out it’s just ruins now, but that didn’t matter to us! we HAD to get to it. it was the plan, after all. so, once we walked around the village 3 times, getting barked at by the dog repeatedly, we were sad to realize there is no real way into the ruins. it seems to be on somebody’s personal property, and you can only get to see it if they’re hanging around and feel like letting you in. on our way out, we snuck around one of the castle walls, but i guess the castle is still pretty good at being a castle, cuz we couldn’t penetrate it.

the rest of the day was rather uneventful. we strolled back to town and hung out at the gite, studying various things. then we made spaghetti. now we are here.

here’s another fun site involving coustaussa

on our walk, we passed this one solitary grave off the road.

it said something like, “he was my second father”

there she is!!

zoom x5

and this is the city

one of our snack breaks

cool hair!

the entrance to coustaussa

the main road

one of the other main roads

THE DOG!!! (what kind of dog is this??)

there’s that castle again!

we’re almost there!

CHOMP!!

this was actually really good

driveways

i think this is the church

this is the church for sure

natalie dancing again

here we are, trying to breach

giving up

the view from the castle wall

the view from the cherry tree

tryin to get a ride down

SHEEP!!!!!!!!!!

scott

europe trype: chapter 10 (couiza)

this post is FOR april 12

couiza?! hello.
so, we made it to couiza yesterday. the window in the bedroom is like boarded shut! this prevented any natural waking up ability that we have, so we didn’t get up until like 11ish (i’m being conservative here). also, the bed is REALLY HARD which is supposed to be good for your back?? who knows. but we were hungry!! so we walked all around couiza, which is a small town that looks more spanish than french. it’s not far from the spanish border, and the main road is called route des pyrenees so…does that mean something? anyway, we made it to the intermarche, which is just like a small hy-vee or a big walgreens. take your pick. we got a TON of groceries which means that we spent 100 dollars on groceries, which is always good. ALSO we forgot to bring our backpacks!! and so we had to buy bags to carry the stuff home. ha!

another hilarious part of this flat is that it’s owned by british people! and supposedly has tons of ‘original art’ which seems plausible, but the paintings are all of trees. oh well!

here are some photos.

couiza

bridge just outside our flat

same bridge, different view

a typical day in couiza: barren

all these small towns are built in the old labyrinth style, with really beautiful alleyways running between buildings.  but see the shutters?  they are on ALL the windows of ALL the buildings…it’s quite strange.  and many of them remain closed during the day, and all of them are closed at night, so you almost get the feeling that they are trying to keep something out…

see the bridge??  a bit further down from our flat.

view from our patio.  see the bridge?

the river sals, view from our patio.

view from a kitchen window

a CLIFF that we found on the way to the intermarche

we bought CRUSTY bread from hot n crusty, just kidding it’s from a patisserie

the river, and a great pose

the patio door?  i’m not responsible for these photos

patio

“the lounge”

the computer here still runs windows98; if that’s not impressive

bathroom/toiletroom

the REAL bathroom

bedroom

i’m really sorry i’m the only person who made it into these photos. guess i’ll have to take some of scott.

natalie

europe trip: chapter 9 (train-ing day)

almost there!!

this is all about april 11:

not much to report. we got up SUPER EARLY!! 745!! so we were tired all day. the train was leaving at 1017; we started our journey to the train station at around 830. the most exciting part of the day was probably that the automated ticket machine, the one that would print us our pre-ordered tickets, wasn’t working right. it took us a while to get this problem solved, but, like usual, we overcame!! the first train ride, the one to carcassonne, was 7 hours and 35 minutes. we spent most of this dozing off in uncomfortable positions (none of wich we captured on camera, unfortunately) or staring off into space. looking back on it, the airplane ride, which was about the same length, was time much better spent.

we got to carcassonne at 1545 and didn’t have to get on the train to couiza until 1640, so we looked around a LITTLE bit. we had heavy bags, so didn’t do too much exploration. we found some kids skateboarding and a little market where we bought spaghetti, sauce, one tomato, cheese, and bread. we went back to the station and waited for the next train to come.

the ride to couiza was short and sweet, but after getting to the station, we got a BIT confused. we used saul mirsky’s ‘auto routes’ program to map out directions to the gite we are staying at, and it hates us. basically, it told us to go the complete opposite direction of where we were supposed to go. after walking down an empty highway for TOO LONG, we turned around, called martin (the owner of the gite), and got on the right track. eventually, we found it. it’s a cute little place in a cute little town. natalie’s gonna write up an entry for april 12, so you can see some fun pictures there!

since we were sleeping or feeling sleepy most of the day, this is the only picture we have:

sorry

scott

europe trip: chapter 8 (stealing our way)

ugh: april 10th!!!

WE ARE CATCHING UP!!!?

here is april ten…

fist thing… april 10 is molly’s birthday. if i don’t mention this, i’m sure there will be problems later… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

our WHOLE plan for the day was to go to the pompidou and eat a FALAFEL. alix knew of “THE BEST!!!” falafel place in all of paris, and, as a testament to our good fortune, it was very close to the pompidou!! l’as du falafel. it’s in le marais, the jewish quarter of town. we walked around eating falafel, looking for a good place to sit. WE FOUND A PARK!!! in this park were 2 kids, one lady with a stroller (minus baby) taking pictures, and a lot of people sitting and eating falafels. we felt right at home.

after devouring our israeli lunches, alix NEEDED cheesecake, so we got snacks. then we passed a gelato store, and we had to get that too. while walking toward the metro, eating gelato, natalie and alix were stopped by two korean ladies. turns out these ladies were taking photos for some korean fashion magazine and wanted to included my companions. i was looking great too, so i can only assume it was a magazine for GIRLS!!!

we said ‘farewell!’ to alix, sending her away to paint, while we ourselves turned on our heels and walked into the POMPIDOU. upon stepping foot inside this museum, we immediately got confused. after looking at some spinning thing and another of louise bourgeois’s large spiders, we found the line to get tickets. deciding this line was too long, we walked into the middle of some highschool field trip and gladly followed them through the two ticket taker gates.

let me tell you about the museum… natalie HATED it. well… i think she just got annoyed at a lot of the stupid art, and then got tired before we got to the cool art. i like the place, though. it’s another place i would suggest to paris visitors. especially if you can get in for free!!

being the seasoned veterans we now are, we walked back to alix’s apartment, hung out for a while, watched the ‘groove is in the heart’ video, and then went to various markets, shopping for dinner. natalie and alix also bought hairdye. the wailing wall’s new album kept us dancing while we cooked some beans and rice and vegetables, and after dinner, we began the HAIR DYEING PARTY!!! it consisted of an itunes party shuffle and two girls sitting on a bathroom floor, getting messy. you’re all jealous.

this was april 10.

gettin’ pwetty!

dangerous art.

dangerous art part2

this is our class

RECOGNIZE THIS??!!!!! not cool. stop stealin’ des moines art you !

natalie’s favorite piece.

from the back

this is what nightmares are made of

this wheel would turn every so often, making the monster twist slowly and noisily

natalie’s favorite piece

kinetic art makes your eyes bleed

paris is cute

that church in the background is the guy from montmartre!!! wow!

walk on art.

ok

yes i will

practicing our model faces

natalie’s submission

struttin’

alix and lelu

successful poses!

cookin!!!!!

i found a chapeau!!!

viva la

dyeing party!!!!

scott

europe trip: chapter 7 (the city of the dead)

here is april ninth:

april 9.

we spent the WHOLE DAY with alixandra’s family: ann, brad, zoe. they are cool people. brad and zoe showed up to the house shortly after we woke up. we warmed up all the leftovers in the fridge and ate a small meal. i’m not sure what ann was doing, but we were going to meet her later, near alix’s school. after lunch, we did just that!!! alix showed us where she paints and we got to see her paintings and all of the paints and painty-things, and other homemade concoctions they use there. THEN we went to a restaurant nearby where the waiter brought us 2 menus, 4 glasses, 3 napkins, and a cold crepe with nutella accidentally smeared on the outside of it (it was supposed to be a REAL nutella crepe. i.e. warm and with nutella INSIDE. plus, at no point were there less than 6 of us).

our plan for the day was to see pere lachaise (also known as “the city of the dead” because of it’s size and all the roads/districts) and montmartre, so after the quick snack, we went across the street to the cemetary. if you like cemetaries, you will like this place. lots of old graves and monuments and all the cool stuff you would ever want to see in a cemetary (minus zombies, skeletons, mummies, vampires, werewolves, ghouls, etc.). also… there are some famous people buried here. i don’t remember any of them except jim morrison and oscar wilde. we took a fun picture of alix and her family looking forlorn in front of a tomb. it’s going to be next year’s christmas card! after finding old oscar’s grave, we headed back to the entrance to meet stephanie. stephanie is one of alix’s friends.

NEXT we took the metro up to montmartre. tourists EVERYWHERE!!! the church looked really really cool, but neither brad nor zoe were feeling the steps, so we didn’t climb them. natalie and i will go back later and run them like rambo or whoever that guy was. we walked around and hung out in a park for a bit before riding back to alix’s apartment.

it was the family’s last night in paris, so they took everyone out to eat at “hotel du nord”. it’s not a hotel. it’s a restaurant. i know… confusing. it was very loud and there were lots of people, but it was fun. melissa, another one of alix’s friends, joined us there and we ate and ate and ate and ate for 3 hours. i said it earlier, but let me emphasize; alix and her family are cool dudes!

that’s about all that happened on april 9.

the sign translates to “fear street”

a normal intersection in the city

looking for housing?

sorry that last caption was so bad

this dude was all glass and iron. very cool. most are made of stone.

looks like a face?!

precious people!

axel peterson’s relative, i’m sure

this guy wins the spookiest statue award!!

same dude with a friend

just actin a ghoul!

eh? not bad!

this is oscar wilde’s grave.

i guess it’s tradition to kiss this. with LOTS of lipstick. i guess cuz he was a dandy?

…

another beauty!

okay. the pic is a bit small: two boys, man standing with dog, bust of some dude. YES!!!!

this is what i imagine my father’s grave to look like: man holding book.

i didn’t know we were supposed to be sad :(

scott

europe trip: chapter 6 (discovering paris)

4.11.08

210 cet

oh bother. we are SOOOOOOOO behind.

this entry is going to be about april 8:

april 8th started like any other day. it started in the afternoon.
we got up and did some studying up on paris, decided what we wanted to do before going back to london, and then narrowed it down to checking out notre dame. there were a few other things we threw into our plan, but our plans usually revolve around not making plans. so there. before heading down towards that old church, we walked around alix’s neighborhood. we stopped at a bakery to buy a baguette, a vegetable market to buy a tomato, and then got a wheel of cheese and two cans of fruit nectar. this was lunch! and what a wonderful, walking lunch we had!! let me tell you… there’s no better way to see paris than to walk aimlessly carrying a large, skinny loaf and chompin’ on a tomato.

the day was mostly devoted to exploring, so we didn’t bother looking at maps, we just soaked in the general area of where we were supposed to end up and walked more or less in that direction. on the way we saw a lot of french things and accidentally came across some places we want to return to before we have to leave. we discovered the palais garnier (or the grand opera house as SOME people call it), some phallus, the louvre with his pet spider, and some stupid river.

upon approaching the notre dame cathedral, we were greeted by charlemagne. he’s a cool guy.

okay. so notre dame? one of the most beautiful places i’ve ever been to. seriously. even if you hate christianity, i think this place would blow you away. i’m too tired to go into detail, but we snapped a bundle of pictures. so there.

we took the long way back to the apartment, mostly because we were sticking to our ‘no map’ agenda, but it was really great. we passed the pompidou, some old amazing churches, a couple of city halls which the french call “mairies”, kfc, and a restaurant.

for dinner, at 2300, we hat a crep.

this is outside of alix’s apartment.

this is outside of the outside of alix’s apartment. paris has big doors.

paris has arches.

just your average parisian street.

just your average parisian

the side of the opera house: ‘looking like an overloaded sideboard’

the front of the opera house. motorcyclists do wheelies mostly. not here, though.

that’s napoleon up there!!!! probably to make up for his short stature? he has a LARGE statue!!!!

natalie posed as napoleon

natalie does this a lot…

one of the MANY corners of the louvre.

arches at the louvre and half a head

stone lady outside of the louvre

practice

the pet spider

the seine

constantinople or whatever his name is…

the weather wasn’t great, so we stole this picture from brian castriota

notre dame

notre dame again

etc.

etc.

mass was in progress

mysteries

THE ORGAN WAS HUGE!!!!

success!!!

scott

europe trype pt 5

pupdate for sunday, april 6 and monday, april 7.

sunday, april 6.
number one lovely surprise: it snowed this morning, and we woke up to racheli throwing snowballs at my window.  she was SO excited but let me tell you, i guess being from des moines where the snowfall this year was epic, scott was just pissed about it and i, as usual, just wasn’t impressed.  so we went back to sleep ha.  when we finally got up, (a couple of hours later) the snow had completely melted and we were HUNGRY.  as it was sunday, most of the shops around my flat were closed, but we found this small kabab place on a side street, and ordered these immense falafels.  they were wrapped in tortillas so it was kind of like eating a mexican falafel but that was ALL RIGHT.

the falafels were actually really great.  that night dom’s dad came over for dinner (dom is my flatmate.  dom’s dad is my flatmate’s dad).  while dom and his dad went to the pub, my other flatmate racheli cleaned the kitchen?!  is that fair?  anyway, dom made really good vegetarian lasagna, and we made some salad and cooked some vegetables so it was pretty nice.

dom’s dad is really british, though.  as in, he was afraid to try the green tea i made, and kept asking to smell it and asking questions about it.  i wanted to just say TRY IT bro!  you’ll probably like it, for real!  oh well.

after dinner, scott and i looked through some dvds that racheli has.  let me be more precise.  racheli has a stack of about 50 cds that her father burned for her, from israel.  each dvd has at least 3 movies on it…i would say, of at least 150 movies, only four worked.  going through the dvds was hilarious, though, because even though some of the movies would work, her dad somehow wouldn’t have copied the entire movie?  so the end would be missing which essentially makes watching it pointless.  no END?  THE END.

monday, april 7.
my grandmother’s birthday!!  happy birthday!  i called her on the train to paris…but first……
we woke up relatively early (10), then packed for our trip to france.  it was RAINING (the weather is good and consistent, two bonuses), and we were trying to get to my bank before we left town.  we got stuck in traffic while on the bus, and finally just decided to make our way back to the train station.  when we got there at around 3pm, though, we realized that the trains that had been scheduled to arrive at like 8am were just arriving.  AND, thinking BACK to earlier in the day when we had passed king’s cross (the train station), we remembered that there were photographers and ambulances; anyway, finally we gathered that there had been a ‘suspect package’ and that king’s cross had been closed for two hours in the morning, so everything was delayed.  we were only about an hour and a half late arriving to paris, though.  yay!

we made it to the place we are staying, which is NICE.  it is the apartment my friend alixandra is renting, and she has the master bedroom (come to think of it, so do i, but mine is smaller than her bathroom).  anyway, three levels with wooden floors, and a bathtub, and a gorgeous kitchen.  her family is in paris this week, as well, but they are staying in another apartment across town that they are renting.  they had made a copious amount of really tasty mexican food for us, which was READY when we arrived and we just ate and THEN we had BROWNIES and they were GREAT.  i love her family, so we just sat around talking until they were tired enough to go home.

after that, scott and i watched cloverfield, which he liked and which i thought was all right, but i still wasn’t a huge fan for several reasons.  first, putting the camera in one of the character’s hands as a documentary type film is just an excuse to make a low budget, poorly filmed feature.  second, i understand what the director was going for, but there have been numerous movies, among them the blair witch project, that have used this method, which made it seem highly unoriginal to me haha.  third, cool acting!  i DID really like the monster, so that was the only salvagable item in the film.  oh no i guess i am really judgmental heh.

i miss some people at home and i especially miss my little nephew who is decent!

cool concert!

BOY was this place PACKED

on the TRIP

this happened on the trip

MEXICAN DINNER IN SPAIN WHAT A SURPRISE

natalie 

europe trip: chapter 4 (punks ‘r’ us)

4.06.08

342 gmt

so today we did better. we got up at 2pm. baby steps.

our main goal today: get vegan hotdogs. goal #2: buy a hat.

natalie knew of an AAMMAAZZIINNGG vegan hotdog stand out in jolly ol’ camden. she just couldn’t stop talking about it, so i got hungry. the bonus was that camden has a lot of little stupid shops and markets along the street, so it was very likely i would find a hat to keep my beautiful locks out of my eyes.

let me tell you about camden…

“Camden Town is an inner-city district located 2.3 miles (3.7 km) north of Charing Cross, and is famous for its crowded market and as a centre for alternative lifestyles. The area is popular with students, including those from overseas. It is also an area with a large congregation of people following alternative subcultures, most notably goth, punk and emo.”

if i was scott from 10 years ago, i would’ve been IMPRESSED with all the punk shops, as well as all the punk rockers. but… being the jaded asshole that i am, i was just annoyed by most of it. i told natalie i was allowed to be annoyed because i’d lived through both a punk AND rockabilly fashion phase, so i have the goddamn RIGHT!!

there’s just somethin about 20-somethin’ punk rockers all decked out in their punkest punk clothes that makes me cringe. i still love certain aspects of punk rock fashion, don’t get me wrong. and i still love punk rock. but… these punks that are just a horrible xerox of something that was only SOMEWHAT unique 30 years ago just annoy me. i think part of it is they’re pretending to be individuals, but dressing in a uniform, part of it is that they’re rebelling against society and the status quo in a way that really has no positive effect on anything, and really isn’t even shocking or all that rebellious in this day and age, but i think the main reason i get pissed off looking at these assholes, is because they’re taking something wonderful and meaningful on so many levels and by not understanding what ‘punk’ was, is, and always should be, they’re perpetrating the stereotype that the opponents of punk rock created. they’re proving to the world that those who were against punks from the very start were right, and that punk rock, or any alternative lifestyle for that matter, is something to be looked down upon and kept away from.

and don’t get me started on rockabilly dudes… one step away from living a life always dressed in your rennaissance fair outfit. or your anime convention cosplay costume.

soooo…

goal number 1.) get vegan hot dog; eat it.

FAILED!!!!

this particular food stand had closed down and there was some worthless everyday garbage in its place. natalie asked them what happened to the old stand, and they didn’t think it was a good question.

we got some sweet vegan burgers across the way. they were very good, so don’t worry.

goal number 2.) get scott a hat. any hat. a hat that looks decent.

FAILED!!!!

if natalie remembers correctly, we tried on 1000 hats and none of them worked out. :(

then it rained.

we went to the supermarket nearby to escape the cold and wetness. while there, we bought some tight noodles and veggies to make stir fry. and at home we made stir fry.

racheli, dom, nico, and us two ate it. it was very good, if i DO say so myself. then we ate some cookies and nico and racheli sang shaggy and backstreet boys songs for everyone. from what i understand, this is a typical weekend here at 370a hornsey.

blah blah blah

OH!!! natalie and i watched the undersea episode of ‘planet earth’, and let me tell you… THE BEST!!! i may do some screen captures at a later date and post ’em up.

this is a canal perpendicular with camden street. it was pretty.

this hat wasn’t so bad, in retrospect.

that lady behind me could find a better one, though…

dr. pepper ZERO. after an extensive taste test, we decided they must have forgetten at least 10 of the 23 original flavors.

we’re good at doing anything

cool

“…butt naked on the bathroom floor…”

since the hats didn’t pan out…

since the hats didn’t pan out…

scott

europe trip chapter 3 (5 hour day)

good work, first of all, waking up at 6pm today. looks like we aren’t jet-lagged.

after getting up just in time for dinner, i showered and we ran out of the house and ran all the way to the bus stop which is about 10 feet away from my door. i was winded so we decided to take the bus. scott pissed me off because he wanted to take stuff to do on the bus, and obviously my anger was vindicated because isn’t talking to me on the bus enough!? anyway i ended up taking stuff to read and he didn’t heh.

we went to covent garden, which is a super tourist-y market with shops and stands and food. we both had cheese and tomato paninis, and watched this really great street act. the guy doing the street act was apparently going to start juggling a chainsaw, and kept telling us about it, but he kept getting annoyed because the audience wasn’t clapping enough, and he kept bringing up the fact that a lot of us were standing with our hands in our pockets or our arms crossed. also, he kept threatening to leave and go have sex with his girlfriend if the audience wasn’t supportive enough, and he threatened a group of teenagers like three times. i mean threatened as in, ‘i am literally going to line every one of them up and kill them, i know it’s not pc but i am going to kill them all.’ anyway i felt good about him holding a chainsaw. before he did the chainsaw though, he packed up his suitcase and started walking away…i think he was expecting people to start clapping or something to try to get him back?? they didn’t, but he came back anyway, which is always good. then he was going to get up on a really tall unicycle, and needed four guys to hold it and one large man to help him get up, so after a lot of cajoling he got some people to volunteer, but before he would climb up there he did some other stupid shit, like take his clothes off and throw things in the air and not catch them. so three of the five volunteers left, and so did we. oh, bonus: his soundtrack was hey ya by outkast, slim shady by the real slim shady, and some song by pink. i was actually really glad that the playlist was so oldschool i guess.

then we walked around through chinatown and soho, and walked to trafalgar square. oh! we got a crepe which wasn’t that great (does that rhyme?) but i was pleased that they served our hot drinks in glasses, not cups. after that we walked MORE because scott has never walked before in his life, he told me. we came across a gay and a girl who were playing what scott called ‘gypsy jazz’ music, and what i call jug band music without the ole jug. they were really really great, the guy was playing the clarinet like a sax which changed my mind about clarinets. i played one until 10th grade and have hated them ever since but now i am a fan wow! things change i GUESS. anyway this cute old man with a bright yellow scarf started talking to them and then a rolls royce rolled up and so i think he was from a record label and was hooking them up, OR he needed a slave who would play clarinet because no joke this guy was alright. then we came home and now we are being cute and sitting in bed on our computers. not ON them please don’t be silly.

here are today’s great photos

‘natalie, we have to look romantic, please try to look romantic’

there’s a great merman statue behind us
and lots of great drunk kids in front of us

he has an instrument

look at that beard! wow

whatever.

natalie