bye bye barca...

what a great time!!
Our third day, we decided to go to Figures and see what kind of odd things Dali put into his tribute to himself. after some trouble with the train...ie the promised train never came so we ended up waiting around an extra hour...we met up with a nice couple american/aussie who ended up spending the day with us. we had a great lunch and chatted about exchanges and australia and did the museum together then got smashed on too much sangria before passing out after a rousing game of dali "memory". If i am ever in California, i am supposed to look her up for lunch. will do!
The last day was the best day yet as far as i am concerned. kim and i split up in the morning and i went shopping with my new friend jeff. he was a great shopping partner. kim went with her new friend James to the Gaudi park which i wasn't into. the four of us took a catamaran tour in the afternoon and guess what!! we saw DOLPHINS! the rest of the afternoon we spent relaxing, swimming, sunning and then eating and getting pretty merry on free sangria as it turned out. we partied on the beach almost until it was time to get up and go to london...
this is the abbreviated version. it was worth way more words, but what can a girl do with only 20 minutes?!
in london now on the last leg and it is definitely a change of scenery. should have done london first...
hoping to find christian eventually, and maybe see some other old friends before heading HOME on friday. there goes my stomach again...flip flop!
cheers,
Kristen

Sleep deprived of the world, UNITE

there is someone snoring in my hostel. not even in my room, but in the one next to mine and so sleeping is now out of the question. it is 6:30am and i just cant fight it anymore.
even the reception guy can hear it and he has tried to wake up mr snuffles who was russian and apologetic, but still snoring. in a fit of frustration, i tossed in a note that will make no difference but which temporarily made me feel better.
does anyone have any brainy suggestions?

Another Day in the Life...

Greetings to all who still read my boring -first i woke up, then i did this, then i did this- commentary. i hear that htat is pretty boing from a newbie blogger. zing.
first of all i have to tell you, i have been trying really hard to keep this spelling mistake free, but i am on a spanish keyboard and the letters arent in the same places and i cant find the punctuation i need....so from here on in: y=z and vice versa. i am tired of continuouslz hitting the backspace.
Spanish? zou might ask...zes. Kim and I woke up in Spain this morning. To be specific, Barcelona. i said goodbze to the girls and the bike team folks in maastricht two dazs ok and it was a tough daz . who knows when we will meet again. hopefullz soon, because i am doing a lot of missing latelz. on the bright side, although i left maastricht, i arrived in sunnz sunnz barcelona. i mastered the metro on the first trz and we found the hostel without anz trouble. it is RIGHT on the beach. i thought thez must be tricking me online and in fact this point was rather understated considering the proximitz i think. i eat mz breakfast while watching the surf break. if zou are stazing in barcelona (and i suggest zou do) staz here. great crowd, good service and can zou beat the location? plus it was onlz 20 euro a night. hurraz for cheap spain!
our first daz was mainlz spent on the road, but we did have a nice dinner including sangria of course. then we walked around a bit, i bought a bracelet from a nice man with manz other prettz things, and then we woosed out and decided that 11 was bed time. we arent reallz the partzing tzpe anzwaz.
our first full daz in barcelona we spent mostlz on a bike. it was super! fat tire bike tours if zou are interested. it was the same companz as in Paris so we knew it would be a good daz. we rode all over the citz and learned a lot about the horrible bloodz things that went on here. including slicing the breasts of saint agatha before crucifzing her for her beliefs, and then there was that other girl whose name i wont attempt to spell who was put into a barrel and rolled down a hill. oh zeah, there were shards of glass in said barrel. but she didnt die. so thez stretched her out on the racks, took out her intestines, jabbed her with hot pokers and then finallz after three dazs crucified, she died. but dont worrz, thez named a church after her so its ok. and it is a big church.
then there was the guz who tried to stab the king. he messed it up and onlz got him in the neck. so thez put him in stocks and paraded him around town all the while removing chunks of his flesh and FEEDING it to the citiyens.
we saw the place where christopher columbus shook isabellas and (she was the queen) which was also the same place where she used to sit with her friends for desserts, tea and a square full of burning heretics back in the daz. man, thez knew how to partz. dont worrz, i took a picture!
we also saw lots of gaudi architechture and other interesting buildings. Gaudi was opposed to straight lines so i would describe his piece de resistance as somehing like the towers i used to make at the beach. dont worrz, i took a picture! this piece to resistance is called something familia ( i know the name, just not the spelling) and he died during its construction so thez are acutallz still building it. he gave up everzthing for his masterpiece and lived in its basement. he gave up washing, shaving and changing his clothes so eventuallz he just looked like a hobo. then he was struck bz a streetcar, and he was treated like a hobo. he laz there for awhile, then thez put him in hospital but didnt paz him much attention. finallz, somebodz recogniyed him as the great architecture, but it was too late. so sad!
and the tour goes on...
after the tour, we went to see some ruins under the citz of the roman forum, and then to the picasso museum. Then it was definitelz time for a swim, so we did that. salt water tastes bad and kim is convinced she will be stung bz jellz fish because poor fenna was, so swimming didnt last all that long. then we went to the aquarium before having dinner on la rambla while acrobats stunted for our viewing pleasure. weee!
then it was midnight and we were tired.
todaz, i am not sure what there is in store! the weather is sunnz and hot again, so i am of a mind to just laz on the beach, but kim is still new and in turbo tourist mode, so i might be navigating for her sake todaz. again.
byeeeeeee

put me in coach!!

http://www.canadacrew.ca/video.play.htm

check this out if you are curious about rowing, or if you are a rower yourself.
i stole it from christian's blog, which is now listed on the side bar, and i think it is awesome. so thanks!

ah, beau paris!

We got in on the train late last night from our first trip of Kim's stay (one down, two to go!) . We spent a lovely weekend in the city of lights and all had a good time! our first night was a little rocky, as there were too many voices in the supper debate so after a long walk, the six of us (me, Kim, Cam, Cam's sister Jill, Cam's friend Emily, and Jill's friend Maggie) ended up at a horrible place which served horrible food and 8 euro bottles of water. oh la la. Anyway, after that mistep, we grabbed the metro and went down to the eiffel tower to see it in all its luminous glory. that's when the full effects of the horrible dinner caught up with me, the group seperated while i searched for somewhere to "sit" and that was the last we saw of Cam and the girls until the next day. The weather was sweltering, even at midnight. It was a hot weekend in Paris, that's for sure. This was actually Kim and mine's second visit to the tower that day as our hostel was located not far from it. The first time, we were stopped by a couple parisian hooligans who wanted to know if they could kiss us in and catch it on film. Apparently, one of the young men was getting married, and so it was bachelors out for some fun i guess. i take it as a feather in our cap. we must have looked damn cute. they said that if he didn't find someone to kiss, they were going to throw him in the fountains. i said i'd rather see that....but nonetheless, kim braved her cheek for the photographic evidence collection. then we joined the rest of the tourists at the top of the steps to take pictures of the famous tour. le tour, not to be confused with la tour, which is something else entirely.
so back at the eiffel tower, we were haflway to home, so we hoofed it back to the Three Ducks hostel and snuck into bed. Two other hostelers were already in our room, sleeping in their clothes including their shoes! they must have thought we were some sort of super theives or soemthing. they were american on some tour or other we found out in the morning. by then i hated them because they had snored all night long and no amount of obnoxious behaviour on my part could rouse them long enough for me to sneak back to sleep before the buzzsaws started up again. i stomped around, i kicked their bed....it was useless. so i read my book from 6am until 8am. good book by the way: Tom Robins's "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates" courtesy of Erin, by personal librarian.
Day two we understandably started in a bit of a drowsy state, but somewhere along the way we had heard about Mike's Fat Tire bike tours or something along those lines and it struck a chord, so we decided to go and see if we could get on one. luck was with us and we ended up biking our little asses all over the grounds of the Palace of Versailles! Louis XIV is one of my favourite history lessons and so i was so stoked to be having a picnic right where he did! the first thing we did on the tour after arriving in the town of Versailles was go to the market to collect materials for said picnic. that was a challenge...somehow, although i am confident in my french, and i was very clear about what i wanted, i ended up with a kilo of beans and a kilo of peas when i really only wanted a handful of each. i admit i didn't handle the situation very well...i let the man walk all over me and he probably had a good laugh at the dumb tourist. but i cursed him good, so the last laugh is with me. jerk. i made a donation of most of the produce as there was no way i was going to hang 2 kilos of produce off my handle bars. by the way, we were riding california cruisers. sooo cool. the rest of the stuff kim and i got was all what we wanted and delicious. the tour stopped at the hamlet of marie antoinette, and the smaller palaces of the Versailles grounds and also of course went through the gardens and stuff. sunday is fountain day apparently and they were all on. it was lovely. we toured the chateau as well, and my sister bargained for a flying bird toy that my dad is apparently amused with. happy father's day! which reminds me, i owe him a phone call. it was too short on sunday as i was unable to figure out the phone card i bought. another wasted 7 euro. ugh.
After the bike tour, we went on a bike tour. the same company leads a ride through paris at night including an hour long boat cruise with free wine. right on. the girls met up with us for that, so kim and i and all the california girls rode our california cruisers all through the city just as the sun was going down. in paris you need someone to kiss. it was a very romantic setting. we passed by almost all of the major monuments and got the story on each and then got pretty merry on the boat....we were all going to go out to the canadian bar, Moose, but kim and i had curfew, not to mention a glaring energy deficit, and so we just handed in our bikes and went home to bed. luckily, our roommates for the second night were very quiet both asleep and awake. i slept good.
our last day was louvre day. we walked the champs elysees to get our tickets from fnac, i impressed myself with my french at the ticket office, and then we walked through the tuillerie gardens stopping for a crepe on the way. the louvre was hot and crowded, although we didn't have to wait in line or antyhing. neither of us are art lovers, except for a couple of paintings, so we made fairly quick work of hte louvre. we saw all that you are supposed to see, but i forgot to look up my favourite painting "the bolt" by can't remember who. that is a hot painting. see if you can google it. i should have got one in the museum shop. dammit, i always leave something to come back for in Paris. Last time i was there i was upset i didn't get the chance to see inside notre dame. we remedied that yesterday as well as stopping at the conciergie at kim's request to see where they kept prisoners destined for the guillotine during the french revolution, including marie antoinette. i saw marie antoinette's napkin. also the blade that cut off her head. it was grim, but kim liked it. we made a stop uptown for a little souvenir, and i saw a lambourghini, so you know that put me in a good mood. i of course took picutres. it was in my favourite colour ("melon") and jerome, i forgot to mention, it was black stealth rims. it was a hot car. i am pretty sure it was a guillardo but i am not positive. i didn't think they put guillardos in the melon paint job.
anyway, time to catch the train. we met the ladies at the train station and settled in for the long ride home. this morning: irish breakfast and goodbye to cammy. things get sadder here by the day as more and more of my friends leave. The guesthouse is a ghost town and now even our little group of four is beginning to disband. *sniff* when will we meet again??

When in Rome!

Day 3: thinking back now, what did we do? our plan was to go to the Coloseum, but since we still hadn't been to the Vatican, and we woke up to a thunderstorm thus inspiring long pants, we decided to hike across Rome to the Vatican for round two. If you recall, the fashion police stopped us the day before. We were dressed Vatican proof for sure and got in no problem. It wasn't the experience I had expected. In fact, I was downright depressed. It is supposed to be this really sacred place where God is supposedly apparent and thriving, but to be honest, I don't feel that god lives there. It is too crowded with snapshot happy tourists, catholic pomp as a show for said tourists, and bad manners, to be frank. It is grand, I'll give it that. and some of the artwork is indeed beautiful, but what that has to do with religion, i am not sure. i don't think god cares about how much gilted ceiling some lowly humans can cram into a vaulted space. whatever. I was bummed. It wasn't enlightening or inspiring. but i do like the funny costumes of the swiss guard...
After that, we walked back into our neck of the woods and ran into fofo from the guesthouse!! how random is that?! as if i would run into someone i know in Rome. small world.
Day three was also our first encounter with the best ice cream in Rome. We visited the Trevi Fountain in the morning before the Vatican let-down and just behind it is the Gelateria San Crispino. wow. I had honey, melon, lemon, orange, and hazelnut and meringue before the end of our trip. we went twice...
We kept dinner more low-key that night, stopping at a fresh fruit stand to snack and then we went off in search of pizza forno ligna. "woodfired". the place was in the piazza navona again and it was sooo good. we stopped in some shops, including a really cute toy store. you can still buy those tin wind-up toys that i think are so cute. but i didn't partake. that night, after dinner, we went to the Spanish Steps to hang out with all the kids drinking there. It was so nice. People were jamming with guitars and singing and drinking wine straight from the bottle. every once in a while a young man or woman would seperate from the crowd and sit alone on the steps just gazing. I am assuming this is the act of "finding oneself".
i was so ready for bed. we walked home, slowly, because my feet had almost no flex left.
ugh. sleep!!!
Day 4: COLLOSEUM! so awesome. we took the tour and learned a lot. Before we could meet up with them though, we walked around the capitaline hill. the weather was absolutely beautiful (note that i said that) and we were hot hot hot. The air was pregnant with the humidity and heat. we looked at some old buildings and made up some stories to go with what we were looking at. We both have a new love of Nero. that kooky fella. haha. so misunderstood!
The colloseum was even hotter, but the tour was really informative. it dispelled all the myths presented in "Gladiator". Gladiators are apparently not slaves sentenced to death. who knew?
After that rigourous morning/afternoon, it was clearly time for more ice cream, so we went back to the trevi fountain and San Crispino.
About this time, Mother Nature's water broke. The weather switched so fast there was nothing anyone could do. It poured. we were almost literally washed out of Rome. By the time we got back to the bag deposit at the train station, we were as wet as if we had fallen in the Trevi fountain. We laughed mostly as it was a pretty funny thing really. no sense getting upset. the rivers flowed through Rome though. let me tell ya.
Then it was time to catch the aiport bus back to Ciampino. easier said than done. They only sent one coach for 150 passengers for flights all leaving within an hour of each other. duh. anyway, it was chaos. there were women throwing punches and swearing and the driver was almost completely overwhelmed. We stayed out of the way, and our patience was rewarded as they did send a second bus which we did muscle our way on. there was still a whole bus load of people left on the curb though wondering if they'd make it home that night.
we did. Duck and all, all the way from Brussels to Maastricht and in bed by 1:00. Big day Friday! my sister arrived!! more on that later...
for now, greetings from Paris! I am writing to you from the bike tour office where we are just getting ready to tour to Versailles! Time to visit the Sun King. A bientot!

When disaster Strikes....

So while I am here, galavanting in Rome, relying on a carefully planned itinerary, i was smacked upside the head with some very distressing news. I was not banking on the netherlands railway operators to take Friday as official strike day. this makes sense to them because then all the people they are screwing over from 3am until 11pm can just take the day off work and get a long weekend. they forgot to ask me about it though, and i need them on friday because that is the day my sister arrives in amsterdam. our wings have been officially cut. i have agents working for me in maastricht to try and find a rental car that is automatic (why oh why can't i drive a stick?!) or else a ride....oh woe is me. why is it that the dutch trains consistently screw me over? this is the third time now in as many trips. my hands are tied on the matter as i am in rome at the moment, and won't be back in maastricht until late thursday. i have to be in amsterdam by 11 at the latest on friday. any advice would be welcome, but oh yeah, my friggin email is down too. damn utoronto.ca.

The Eternal City

Day 1: I am here with Wouter and our journey was...efficient. Wouter drives a Citroen 2CV circa 1985. Google it. It is a stick and the shifter is in the dash. there is a choke. you have to add your own lead to the gas. it is nicknamed "the duck" and there is a cult in the netherlands devoted to its lawnmower-esque existence. anyway, it is a thing of beauty and it scares the crap out of me. so we drove to brussles at 4:45 on Monday morning and made it safely without any incidents to speak of. it 6:59 when we checked in for our flight...check in closes at 7:00. We were one minute away from not being here at all, and miraculously, i kept my cool. we walked straight onto the plane, and although we were among the last onboard, we found two seats right beside each other which wasn't the luck others were having. our seats were perfectly placed at the end of the plane, so we walked straight off too without having to wait around at all. long story short, the entire trip was wait free!
we only got into trouble when it was time to find our b&b. later we discovered we are just blind. this place we are staying is really nice, you can see it online at romeby.com. it is called Maian. We didn't waste any time and got right to it. the first day we covered a lot of ground, checking out the colloseum, the roman forum, a nice little restaurent for lunch, the pantheon, a gelateria, and the monument victor emmanuel II. We even sat in the Esquiline park in Nero's backyard. A theif tried to snatch my purse there from where it was sitting between us. Before I could think about it, a choice phrase completely inappropriate for a young lady escaped in a bellow and i think i actually might have scared the bastard. anyway, my purse is safe and now duct-taped to my person. the rest of the picnicers in the park started pointing and immitating almost immediately and a nice man on the bench across from us assured me that they must have been high.
After that, we came back to home base and took a nap. Wouter was trying his best to convince me he wasn't tired, but passed out almost before i did. the sun is hot in rome and the walking is long. i was ready to just call it a day. but dinner! we had pizza OF COURSE.
Day 2: We decided to visit the pope yesterday. But he wouldn't have us. Although we were clearly within the guidelines on their goofy signs, the Vatican fashion police didn't approve of our attire, so we will go back tomorrow. to save the day, we went to the Vatican museum and the sistene chapel instead. It was beautiful! my favourite was Raphael's School of Athens. The Sistene chapel was nice too. We walked to the Vatican city of course, because it is much more fun to walk, and on the way, I saw a Lotus Elise. Pictures to follow!
We had lunch at this awful little local spot who i think didn't approve of tourists. they served my coke with a shot of beer in it, which raises a great number of questions, and they didn't appologize for the mistake either. anyway, it was a horrible dining experience, and in general i have to say the service in rome is horrendous so far. it wrecked our mood, so it was clearly time for some retail therapy. We hit the Via Condotti for some museum shopping. as in, look but don't touch. I fell in love with a little something from Prada, and it is still torturing me. Wouter is so cute. he estimated it at 20 Euro. he forgot where we were apparently. anyway, the item of my affection was 6 times that, but i think Wouter's guess was more accurate in terms of actual value. therefore it still rests in the glass case at Prada. by the way, it was only a keychain. it was shaped like a skull and cross bones and would have been really hot on the purse i had also picked out for 500 euro.
Then we sat on the spanish steps and people watched for about two hours. i tried to find the restaurant apparently owned by the family member of a family member, but i coudln't find any likely candidates.
last night, frustrated as i was with the service around here, i decided that it was time we went somewhere that would leave me both satisfied and satisfied. So we went to the Piazza Navona for dinner and found a great little place where the food was tasty and the waitress nice enough (and dutch, as the prying americans sitting next to us weasled out of her) (but we still spoke to her in Italian) . It was a great meal, the best yet, and a real bank buster, but if you know me well, you know that i can't stand bad service. i was getting desperate. that will hold me over. We wandered back the piazza, watched a man juggle fire whilst balancing atop a unicycle 6 feet high. we looked at the artwork that was on display there and then wandered to the pantheon again. in that piazza there were a pair of mimes making fun of all the passers by. they were a riot for the most part. we watched them for awhile, and then we made our way to the Trevi fountain. i tossed in a coin, of course, and then it was home to bed.
Day 3: about to find out!

NSK update

So i guess my result was 4th. mixed feelings....dang i hate fourth. ;) btw, 10 finished.

Talk about anti-climax

Yesterday was the NSK that I have been yabbering on about now for quite some time. Finally the day came and very shortly into it, i knew it was going to be a long one.
i went to nijmegen with some of my teammates so that we would be closer to Arnhem and the race site the morning of. well, as luck would have it, a situation involving low funds prevented us from catching the right train. oops. so we arrived late. no big deal. just be quick on the warm up and make sure you find something to eat, i thought. i got registered, and again, unexpected financial assistance was required. doh. once i had my plate and all that, i went back to my kit and started moving things around and getting into race-wear...i had no idea the nightmare that was waiting for me in my bag. my appelstroop, which is basically glue, had opened in my bag thus covering all my belongings in a sticky honey like substance smelling of cooking apples. that wasted a lot of time putting all that stuff away into other bags and such, and i just had enough time for one prelap. i needed this because i had yet to see this famous stair case everyone had been telling me about: indeed, a set of stairs probably about 70 in number accent the middle part of the course and is famous for breaking people and equipment. why you would include such a hazard in your race course is beyond me. i got back from my one lap, and felt alright. i asked a dutch official what time and where i was supposed to be for the start making it clear that i am strictly english only. she told me 2:06. i sat down with my friends at 12:12 ready to have a bite to eat and then meditate on getting my head out of the morning's bad luck and into a successful race plan. then jikki asked me if i was ready to go...apparently i had been misinformed and i actually only had 6 minutes til the gun. shit. so i started and got stuck behind some slow people who fell over some stupid root and that was that. the rest of the race was boring frankly. i couldn't catch the lead group that got away after the root incident and there was nobody behind me giving me a run for my money either. so i just pedalled away until i thought it was done. at this moment i am still not sure i finished as i was directed to do something in dutch....maybe stop...maybe do another lap. can't be sure until the results are posted. however, despite my bad racing, we had some excellent team results: Wouter placed 2nd and would have had 1st if it hadn't been for an incident of his own on the famous staircase, and Jikki took the gold in the women's division.
i was more then ready to go home. Elton, Wouter, Jikki and I got onto the train at 3:30 and didn't get off again until 7. we were detoured around some track troubles that would be comparable to travelling to peterborough on a detour to barrie. argh. plus, i had a pounding headache as i still hadn't had the opportunity to eat OR fill up my water bottle. oh well.
today, as i write this, i am in a beautiful apartment i have rented for the next three nights in downtown Rome. the sun is shining and the temperature is fabulous. the eternal city waits, so don't feel too bad for me, even if i complain way too much :)

weekend whirlz

all in all it has been a good past few days!
saturday i was in Rotterdam with Wouter and his entire family for the wedding of his sister. a Dutch wedding isn't all that different from a Canadian one, but i liked going because i got to practice my dutch all weekend and was pleasantly surprised that i understand even more! the ceremony started out with the couple's story, which is one difference. normally we do that sort of thing at the reception i think. there was also an extensive history lesson about the Mayflower which left from Rotterdam before stopping in Southampton to get the English settlers onboard. I hope i don't have to elaborate on the Mayflower: everyone think back to gr. 3 history around thanksgiving time. you know, plymouth rock and pilgrims and such. at the brewery where the wedding was held, there was a very interesting poster listing the passengers and their fates. neato. after the ceremony, we went to the couple's apartment for a reception. I was forced to eat oysters which i still think are disgusting despite the enthusiasm of the caterer. There were french wines as the couple's next stop is France for the "real wedding" in a chateau in the south. tough break! Wouter and I stole away for a little while to walk around Rotterdam a little bit, in search of magnet, but my mission failed and i only ended up with sore feet. the world cup qualifier between the Netherlands and Romania was in Rotterdam that day so the streets were full of soccer hooligans wearing orange and getting blasted. Netherlands won, 2-0 i think.
After the reception and our hike, we all went out to dinner to another spanish place...Mr. Gronheid was quite merry. He told me I had to stay in Europe at least another 2 months and that he'd pay. haha. tempting! Ike, Wouter's sister, and her boyfriend Roy were also very nice people and hopefully they come to Ontario to ride bikes sometime. Roy says he has one of those giant stunt kites and he invited me to come to Amsterdam to try it out anytime. it was a very nice day! Everyone was really friendly, and i am glad that I went.
Sunday was race day! I got up early to meet the ladies for 11 so we could be in Den Bosch by 1. It poured the whole way there and i was reminded of the Head of the Trent last fall. A hypothermic experience I care not to repeat. we sat in a café for a long time because i guess someone mixed up the start time and we were there far too early. oh well. finally we got on the boat and then went to wait some more at the start line. sunday was all about waiting really. even during the race i felt like i was just waiting for it to be over....it is a different experience racing with a recreational crew. on the way back, they wanted to do drills, but i just wanted to go pee, so i had to veto that one. then we de-rigged, which was stressful because of course, "I know best" is the ever current theme in a group of women working together. I just pretended i know nothing and did as i was asked and kept my mouth shut. this was in the interest of getting home sometime before nightfall...it was already 7 before we got out of the parking lot. oh how i miss rowing in canada. that night, 2-seat threw a little bbq party which was excellent, however we didn't get there until about 10:30pm. i was starving and it was a nice end to the day.
I hear i wasn't hte only one racing on sunday and I am curious about the Canada Cup! nobody has posted results on the message board and i can't find them online. maybe they're not available. :(
yesterday all i did was ride my bike. i put on a record amount of kilometres and then had some dinner, watched napoleon dynamite for the umpteenth time, then crashed like it was my job.
today, i have to return my pumas because they ripped and that's just not right after only 3 months. clearly a defect. i want new ones.
then i think i am going to a giant bike store with prices that are el cheapo so that should be fun. i love a trip to the bike store!

Peeple of zee wurl, relax

Thanks Sailor...[the parrot in Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins] . Good advice. I have been doing plenty of relaxing (ie reading afore mentioned book) and sometimes not so much.
With no more school to get in the way, I spend most days orbiting around workouts. Also of note, I finally "fixed" the British Airways debaucle. i think. I had to take the train all the way to schiphol to speak with an agent in person, as advised by my travel agent. if you will recall, she also recommended that I cry. Luckily, it never came to that. It was a fifteen minute job of which the first 10 were spent in line. click click done sort of thing. He had no trouble cancelling the ams-lon leg as I had asked as many as five times on the phone. on the phone, i was informed that cancelling one leg would cancel the other as well, but this is apparently not the case. He did warn me though, "if you get a smart ticket agent in london, they may notice the change and ask you to pay the difference in tickets." I asked him how much that would be and he said "a lot". turns out it could be as much as $1000CDA. you've got to be kidding me, i said. he said he just wanted to make me aware of the situation. basically i am going to pretend i didn't hear that as now the leg is cancelled, can't go back now, and hope that i get the usual stupid (?!) ticket agents. you know, as opposed to those smart ones. After that whole thing, i thought about joining Cam, Erin, Fenna, Tal and Erin's friend visiting from Toronto, Lani in Amsterdam. but opted not to in favour of the bike ride i promised myself and also in favour of not blowing anymore money for seemingly no reason in one day. so six hours on the train, one problem fixed, and perhaps one made. time will tell!!
I made pancakes for breakfast the next morning and while i was eating them, i read two postcards from toronto from my favourite cousins, Garret and Eric. Hey guys, if you're reading this, thanks a bunch....it was nice to see home and hear from you guys!
what else? work out...bla bla bla...bike....bla bla bla....sleep....eat....repeat.
THEN, I made everyone come with me on this cave tour thingy. We went into the network of limestone caves started by the Romans. There are over 32000 tunnels under Maastricht and the country side and since Maastricht is the best place to cross the river Maas, the city was constantly under siege in the 16th and 17th centuries. The farmers would hide out in the caves with their families and livestock and wait out the siege. If they went into the city walls with the rest of the people, then chances were, their cows weren't coming out, so economics dictated this extreme form of camping. if you want to keep your cows, keep em close. after a month or so, they'd go back to life as usual. During the second world war, they hid all the valuable dutch art, including the Nightwatch by Rembrandt in the caves. Napoleon rode his horse through them. the oldest date i saw written on the wall was 1554 or something. pretty wild. and pretty friggin dark too i might add. it was a good time though. Cam even did it depsite claustrophobia. yay cam!
Later that night, Highlander threw the exchange students (ie their livelihood incarnate) a little bbq. it was ok...food wasn't great, and the lineup was rude, but it was nice having everyone in one place in the good weather. plus it was only 2 euro and that's pretty damn good for dinner.
Today, I pulled an erg test. 2k, and ok. then i did some domestic things while i waited for the bike ride we were supposed to have this afternoon. laundry, shopping, post office...nothing much. but then it started thundering, so so much for bike ride. oh well. tonight i am supposed to go to a going away party for a member of the rowing club who is moving to edmonton for a year. i have a feeling i am going to be made into some sort o mascot for this thing...i have already been asked to bring as much canadiana as i can muster. not sure i want to go...
this weekend we have the dommelregatta and all the ladies and i will pull 7.5km in Den Bosch. It should be a good time....for sure there'll be tea anyway. Tomorow, I am going to Rotterdam with Wouter to see what goes on at a Dutch wedding...plus i get to see Rotterdam and get all dressed up. hurray!
Next week will be a final push on the bike...my last week with the bike in fact...before the NSK race which HAS to go well. Then I have to try and unload my bicycle or else find someone worthy of a generous donation. Then...nothing but fun and sun. Kim will be here before i know it and there are some travel goodies in the very near furture that i am really looking forward to!
i'll leave you the itinerary and then be on my way!
Cheers!
June 13-16 Rome
June 17 Amsterdam
June 18-20 Paris
June 20-24 Maastricht and Area
June 24-28 Barcelona
June 28-July 1 London