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
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
posted by Unknown at Friday, June 03, 2005
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