Nice: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Jordan: Still stuck with bum USB drives.

So Nice is a bit of Jekyll and Hyde. For two solid days we had to deal with rain, but today it was sunny and hot. Today was beach weather and accordingly we sat on the beach. The Mediterranean was bright blue, the shores were covered in smooth stones, that didn't always feel smooth on your back, and some women were topless. It was nice to see the sun again.

For the last two days we grunted it out through a steady rain, soaking ourselves and most of what we were carrying, despite our meek purchase of mini umbrellas. Money well spent but they only worked so well.

The first day wasn't raining so hard, but we thought, it's raining today, let's do our indoor activity today and soak up the sun later. We headed to the Musee d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, where we hoped to glimpse Andy Warhol's famous Campbell's soup can, something I was excited about, despite the lack of soup content that accompanies the piece. We never saw the soup can, but we got in for free. We also saw some other crazy stuff. Large, oversized ugly papier mache people, Indiana's LOVE painting from the 60s, and a glowing pink room you walked into that had a bunch of quotes and figurines and pictures and all sorts of crap all together. In the mix was a suicidal Pinocchio, lost without his Jiminy Cricket.

Yesterday we thought we'd do our outdoor activities, or at least some of them. It was raining harder that day than the day before. We went outside anyway. We climbed to the top of Nice. Up several flights of wet stone steps to the lookout, viewing the panaramas of Nice meant to be seen in the glowing sun. Kennedy had to hold two mini umbrellas over me while I took photos. It was a Nice view. We continued on up the side of the cliff, as the rain came down a little harder, up to the Parc de Chateau. At every corner of the park you had a different view, of the harbour, the beach, the city or the mountains to the north.

Before descending we seeked cover in a small stone shelter that has probably been there for the last 500 years. Kind of cool. There was this one square rock on the wall amongst the bricks that I swore was a pressure switch to open a secret door. There was even a door-shaped bit of brick-rock-wall opposite it in the alcove, but alas, when I pushed on the square rock, nothing happened. Kennedy held her breath so long waiting for something to happen she almost fainted.

Then we went back to the hostel to dry everything out.

Today, sunny, warm and all kinds of awesome. We took a little side trip to St. Paul de Vence, a medieval fortress town in the hills. It was pretty cool. It was almost untouched from the way it would have been several hundred years ago, except that every building was a new art and souvenir shop. But people still live there, on the sides of the stone walls are satellite dishes, but crazily enough the townspeople still get their water from the local watering hole. Awesome.

Then we got back to Nice to lie on the beach for a couple hours, which was very nice, particularly after you wedged your back into a little groove in the stones. By the way we will use adjectives other than ¨nice" in later entries.

This is getting crazy long so also we had a beer on a patio, went to an Italian place called Pasta Basta, oh yeah, and had some of the most bitchenest pastries we've ever had. With a nutella centre.

See you in Italy.

PS Brian tell me all about Flight of the Conchords.

Musing in Madrid...

Kennedy: This post will be short since we only have 15 minutes of time left at our Internet cafe... We´ve spent the last couple of days in Madrid. Compared to Barcelona, it´s pretty calm, but just as nice. And hotter! The weather has been perfect, at least 25 degrees every day and clear blue skies. We stayed two nights in two different hostels, one sketchy and one roomy. Both cheap :)

We took our first high-speed train from Barcelona, got to Madrid in 3 hours, going up to 300 km-hr. Our train tonight to Nice will not be so quick... we leave at 10 p.m. and, after two stop overs, will arrive tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Ahhh.. hoping for a comfy chair and no crying babies!

So past few days have been spent seeing the sights: Museo de Prado, Jardines de Sabatini (great place to watch about 17 dogs playing with each other!), Palacio Real de Madrid, yet another gothic cathedral, and the Royal Botanical Gardens near the Prado. We´ve also tasted some delicious churros, a fried pastry that made our napkins transparent from all the grease - yummm. Also had paella and pints at a fun little tapas bar patio.

That´s about it, time is ticking down fast. Sorry we can´t add any photos again, a lot of these computers don´t have USB ports available. Will hopefully get a chance in Nice.

Ciao for now!

Barcelona es L´orgasmic

Kennedy: Hola all! We´ve just spent the last three days in Barcelona, enjoying the sunshine, delicious tapas and amazing landscapes and architecture. Some highlights: Port Vell -- gorgeous beach, though it´s not quite hot enough to swim. La Sagrada Familia -- giant building by Antoni Gaudi. They started construction in 1880 and it won´t be finished for another 11 years. When we went to see it there were construction workers all over making noise, but the view of what was completed was incredible. Lots of detail and interesting designs. Before we went to see it we only knew it as the building with Dr. Seuss-esque qualities. We will post photos later, we aren´t sure how to do it on the computer we´re on at the hostel :) Also saw a few more churches and museums, not sick of them yet but I´m sure after a few more cities, it´ll be enough already.

We stayed at a pretty nice hostel just off Las Ramblas, the major tourist street in the city. Always lots of people around so it´s a safe and fun atmosphere. Our first Spanish meal was tapas and sangria at an all-organic restaurant called L´orgasmic. It was amazing!! We ate at La Fonda yesterday for lunch, the first actual sit-down restaurant we´ve been to. It was tasty and affordable -- thanks Aneil!

Our roommates have all been cool, and most can speak English enough to have conversations which is nice! They´re from Paris, Argentina, Germany and Australia. Had drinks with the Aussie last night at a few local pubs.

Now off to Madrid. For anyone who recalls our trip schedule, we had to cancel San Sebastian because we couldn´t get a train from Paris. Sad, but true.

Hope you´re all well, talk soon!

Canadian boy {and girl} in Paris

Jordan: We arrived in Paris in the morning and spent a couple hours navigating the subway system and trying to find our hostel. Our first day was pretty blah and exhausting. We got to bed around 9, fell asleep instantly and slept for 12 hours straight.

Day 2 was much more interesting. We wandered around the city for at least 6 hours. Our only guide was the peaks of large buildings in the distance that we thought we would like to see. We first went to Jardin du Luxembourg and took a couple hours to browse the gardens and see the palace. Today we would not enter any buildings, making this a free day.

From the gardens we saw a cool building and walked towards it. It turned out to be the Pantheon. From there I saw what I thought was Notre Dame Cathedral. We checked it out, it totally was Notre Dame. CFP.

From there we thought we'd walk to the Eiffel Tower, a bit of a trek but we were determined to see it. On the way we stumbled across the Louvre. We walked the grounds. Awesome. There are a lot of naked people outside the Louvre. We have a picture of Kennedy with one of the larger ones.

Then we just kind of wandered down La Seine, seeing Invalides, Champs Elysees, and a couple museums before arriving at the Eiffel Tower. We will climb that later. In July, when the lines are much longer. We're smart like that.

Off to see Catacombes and Montmartre today, then catching a train to Barcelona this evening.

Bienvenue mes amis!

Now that we've started giving this blog link out to people, we thought we'd better give you something to read.

For those who don't know, these are the places we plan on hitting up. Before you ask, no, we don't plan on stopping ever. Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, England, Scotland, Ireland and back to France, because you gotta see that place twice. That is the itinerary of a duo who is never going to stop.

Kennedy: I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at all the things I have to get done this week to prepare. I have a backpack, now I have to fill it with all the essentials to survive on for 3 months, aka mousse (have a feeling the heat won't be great for my curls), reading materials (I don't do well sleeping on trains... though I think I'll have to learn), shoes (I've been told I have to keep it to three pairs. This will be difficult). 10 days should be enough time to get my life in order.

Jordan: I'm already packed.