The final countdown...

One week of this Euro-trip left, and I am getting excited to come home. BUT FIRST I am going to Lyon to visit my good friend Joel, who was my workcamp leader in Flamarens. I told him that I cannot come, I cannot afford the train ticket. He was very insistent that if I do not come I will miss exceptional moments, and I thought it wise to find a way to Lyon in order not to miss said moments. So, I found a ride to Lyon for 25 euro and I will get there later today. I will stay probably until Saturday morning, since I have a train ticket to go to London from Paris Saturday afternoon.
I am excited to see Joel again, and to see Lyon for the first time. It is supposed to be very beautiful. I said this to Danielle and she said "Isn't, like, EVERY place you've been to?" She is right; I have not been to many places that are not beautiful! It has been a very full trip; wonderful landscapes, culture, people, and food. I could not ask for more, and I am sure I could not handle more. It means that I will have to come back some time to have more experiences in Germany, Holland, Belgium and other places. I have a big problem now, since I have met so many people from so many countries. I want to visit them all, but I do not have enough money to do it all in one big trip, so I have to choose what order to do my travels in. Perhaps North Carolina, Cuba and Mexico in one trip; then Turkey, South Korea, Japan and Australia in another. And of course more Europe and eastern Europe. I hope the Villa has a lot of hours for me when I get home!

St. Jean Pied de Port

I made it! I did it! And like a crazy person I have not had enough, so I will walk one more day past St. Jean Pied de Port (my goal end point) into Spain...this involves walking about 20 km uphill. I hate walking uphill and that is a lot of it. I think the altitude is 1500 metres...but I can and will do it!
This experience of walking from Le Puy en Velay to St. Jean Pied de Port has taught me a lot of lessons: I have learned to be by myself, to slow down, to keep going when I think I can't, to talk to people with means other than words, to sleep early and wake early...and many more. I think most of the lessons are unspoken, unrecognized. They will be realized through situations that occur in my normal life, upon returning home. I have never done anything like the chemin before, but now I want to return to finish the journey through Spain another time.
I have seen young people struggle with walking, and elderly people breeze through it. The walking is not a matter of being young, but being prepared, going at your own pace and taking one step and a time. I would recommend this walk for anyone, as long as they follow those three rules.
After I reach Spain I will return to this beautiful, historic and touristic town, and take a train to Toulouse. I hope to see some friends that I have made in France before I return home, but I am longing to see all the friends and family I have always had in 13 days.
Until then, bonne courage and bon chemin.

The Chemin de St. Jacques and return to Flamarens

Well, I have not written in a long time because I have been staying in many small villages and have not found internet access. I started the Chemin de St. Jacques, or the Way of St. James (I can't figure out how Jacques=James but whatever) on September 11th and have now walked over 400 km. At the beginning of my journey I walked 20 km a day, but soon after I began to do no less than 24km, usually 26 or 27. Some days I do over 30, but I don't enjoy that very much. I stay at Gites at night, which are like hostels meant for pilgrims. Usually I take a demi-pension, which includes the bed, breakfast and supper. I think its good value, and during these times I meet a lot of fascinating people.
Today I only walked 14 km because I have stopped in Flamarens, the village I did my first workcamp in. I have said hello to a few of the villagers, and I will stay with the mayor and his family tonight. Right now I am in Catherine's house, a lovely woman who has been very gracious to me, the young Canadian who rang her bell unexpectedly early this afternoon. We met when I stayed here before, but she had gone to England for the second two weeks of our camp.
I checked in on the ecomusee that we worked on; it looks largely the same but is quite abandoned. Some shrubs and grass have overgrown the area where we had our table, and the toilets and sinks are dirty and full of spiders. I also checked the wall, it is still standing firm as ever! I was said that the buvette was closed, I had hoped to surprise Daniel and have a Coke!
I saw Yaseen and his parents, they were very happy to see me. Yaseen is supposed to be sick but when I came he came to life, and was acting very much like a 9 year old boy.
Anyway, I have a lot of stories about the Chemin but its too much to write in one blog entry. I hope all who are interested seek them out when I return home!

Zombie in Paris

Well, I left London this morning at 5:30, but in order to catch my train ontime I had to leave Brixton at 3:30. That was very painful. I could not sleep at all in the hours before departure...I don't know if it was excitement, nerves or maybe I just wasn't tired enough. As 3;30 grew closer though, I definately could have used some sleep. I am not known to pull all nighters, and so far I am suffering the consequences of this one. I was able to sleep a couple of hours on the train to Paris, but now I am walking around the city like a zombie. I cannot think; typing this is draining what energy I have left.
Anyhow, I though I would let everyone know that on Thursday I will begin my pilgrimage in Le Puy en Velay; it will probably take a month to walk and I do not know how often I will use the internet during that time. I am going to buy a SIM card so I will have a phone number to call or text; I will post that soon.
Love everyone immensely!

Chilling in London and Preparing for the Camino

So, I arrived in London last Thursday, and was very glad to be able to just relax. Frances is a wonderful hostess, and she keeps reminding me to help myself when I want anything. I sleep in, I read, watch TV, go for walks and not much else. I think soon I should remind myself that I am in London and should go do something interesting or special.
Yesterday I was accompanied by Frances' neighbours, Enid and Byron, to Croydon to buy some hiking gear (I bought a Swiss Army Knife!!!) I also found some really nice ''trousers'' and a hat (I hate hats.) So, I am all kitted out to start my next adventure, but I don't think I am really ready to go just yet. I have not bought any ticket to get to France, although I am working on that now. I want to find the most economical way to get there, and thats proving a problem. Anyhow, after the shopping Byron begged me to go to Wimbledon (he loves the trams!) I gave in to his cute little begging, although while being cute it was also very irritating, and we went to Wimbledon. We did not do much there, however, just go to the bookstore and McDonalds. I have to say I am proud of myself that this is the first time I have gone to McDonalds in Europe...sometimes they just looked like such an easy option! It was good to have a BigMac again, and now I won't have any cravings for a few months I think. The day was full of Byron holding my hand, singing and saying my name over and over again. Quite enjoyable, but on the way home I was feeling quite sick from all those trams and busses!
Today, Frances and I went back to Croydon to meet Juliet and her children. We had lunch together, and I bonded with Isabelle. She is an energetic six year old who took quite a liking to me...we held hands the rest of the afternoon. It was nice to be with Juliet, I think she is quite a wonderful and generous woman. She is very warm and kind to me, and its nice to speak to someone younger than 80 sometimes!
Juliet suggested that she call her brother-in-law and ask him if he has time to take me around. I said that sounded good, it would be nice to get out, and that way I don't have to go to all the traditional tourist sites. He will be able to suggest some other options. So perhaps in the next few days I will hang out with him. And do something with my time in London!

Paris

I have recently been informed that my blogs are highly anticipated and read regularly by certain members of the Degner family, so I think the pressure is on to write more indepth prose...I will do my best!
So my strep-throat is gone, gone gone and I am so happy. Now I have more energy and better spirits to visit this beautiful city. I have now been to the Louvre, the Catacombes, Maison d'air, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame and Champs Elysee. Today was the day I visited Champs Elysee, and never in my life have I seen more wealthy people...it was like their skin was made of gold and silver, and maybe platinum! And they were so posh, so put together. And so this is reason number one why I cannot live in Paris - I am not so posh and I do not love to shop. I do not put myself together so well in the morning; although since high school I am sure my mother would agree I am doing a lot better!
Reason number two that I cannot live in Paris, or anywhere else if France for that matter, is crepes. I ADORE crepes with nutella, and possibly bananas. If I lived in Paris I would want to eat 5 crepes a day, I am sure. And this is a serious health risk.
Reason number three is that men in Paris are very forward and extremely persistent; I just cannot deal with this all day every day. I can only say "non, non, non" so many times a day, and certainly not every day a year.
Reason number four is people like me: tourists stress me out. There are piles of tourists on every corner, every metro, every restaurant, and it is quite exhausting.
So far this is my list of why I cannot live in Paris; none of them do I take so seriously that if the chance came to actually live here I would turn it down! I love this city and if I had a lot of money I would like to spend a long time here.

Updates

It has been awhile, and I think this blog will go faster for me because I am getting used to the French keyboard...this could be troublesome when I go home and have to readjust. Ok, so I am finished each and every workcamp, and now I can relax...except that I cannot because I am staying in a hostel and apparently there is a reason they are called youth hostels. It is because you would be crazy to stay in one if you are over the age of 25, or if you value sleep. And I am trying to recover from strep-throat, which is hard to do with the medicine prescribed to me by the utterly thorough doctor who walked in the door, shone a light down my throat and wrote a prescription. But slowly I feel better!
And enough of the whining.
I LOVE Paris. Did anyone know that it is supremely beautiful? It is such a pleasure to simply be able to walk through this city. I wish I had all the time in the world so that I did not need a guide book or some idea of what I want to do, because it is my favourite thing just to start walking towards one destination and to get lost...you find so many beautiful and interesting things along the way.
I have not been in anything except the Musée d'Orsay, but I have seen Bastille, Le Louvre, Le Tour Eiffel, Le Grand Palais, Les Halles, St Eustache, La Seine, and so much more. I look forward to going to the Catacombs, Notre Dame, and all other sites.
Everyone should come be with me in Paris.

Update

I think that today I am going to the mountains, so I probably will not be writing much from now on. My next workcamp will be very rustic, we will not even have running water. In the next few days I will try to call family and friends, but until August 20 I may not blog. So, until then!

Toulousse

I have just stepped off of the train in Toulousse and said goodbye to some very good friends. My workcamp in Flamarens has come to an end, and leaving has been far more emotional than I ever thought it would be. At the camp I lived, worked, ate, played and slept with 8 amazing people for 20 days. Additionally, I made many friends from the village and nearby village. In the past few days we finished our work on our wall; it was bittersweet: it was satisfying looking at the finished project of the past few weeks, but looking at it reminded me of how it is all over so quickly.
Thursday night we hosted a dinner, a soirée, at the ecomusée where we gorged on food, wine and good company. The next day we spent all our time writing notes to each other to remember our time by; it was like the end of highschool and the frantic signing of yearbooks. We exchanged addresses, took pictures like mad, and that night we had some friends come to say goodbye. This morning we packed, and left our beloved ecomusée. In Agen our group split in two and I said my goodbyes to Anka and Daniella, the Slovaks; and Yusuf the Turk. Then, Ruben, my Mexican; Seung Eun and Sung Koo, my Koreans: and Maria the Ukrainian and I boarded the train to Toulousse. Here, Ruben, Seung Eun and Sung Koo carried on there way to Barcelona. This group was closest to me during these 3 weeks, and we all cried as we clung to each other and said goodbyes. I did not know that these people would have such an impact on me, and I did not know that they would love me so much.
Soon, Maria will continue on her way to Madrid and I will wander around Toulousse by myself. Tonight I will be with Joel, our fearless leader. Then tomorrow is unknown.
I am happy to have some free days to relax, wash my clothes and catch up with emails and phone calls; but I am sad to leave Flamarens and all that it meant to me. I will return to the village as a pilgrim, and undoubtedly will stay for a day or two. But the friends I made in my workcamp will not be there, and I will miss them.
This means that I must work very hard this year so that I can continue travelling: Mexico, Korea, Turkey, Ukraine and Slovakia are all beckoning to me!

Flamarens

I am now in France, I arrived July 6 and have not yet had enough time to write a blog. I am at a workcamp with international volunteers: Slovak; Ukrainian, Mexican, South Korean and French. We are in a village of 150 people, and all of the villagers are kind and generous with us. Our work is to build a wall in the village, and to clean the Ecomusee for closure. The town had their party last weekend and attending the three dances were among the highlights of my time so far. Tomorrow we are leaving for the weekend to go to a Samba festival that another camp organized.
It is hard to type a lot; the keyboard is very different and I feel tired. I miss everyone but am having the time of my life. Until next time, adieu.

Leaving Rome

Well, I am sitting in the laundromat so that I can start in France with clean clothes...three weeks of travelling and I really miss being able to wash my clothes any time I want. I have had a good time in Rome, and have been keeping pretty busy. Debbie and I have been to the Ancient city to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum; the Vatican to wave to the Pope...but we didn't get to, he must have had a lunch date or something. Yesterday we went to Pompeii, which was awesome. I was hoping to see loads of petrified people, shielding themselves from the oncoming lava flow. We saw three such people, but they were lying down and in plastic cases, so it was hard to see just how terrified they must have been. I asked Debbie what position she would like to be frozen in time for, and she decided a cool lean, with a hand on her hip and her other hand over her brow, as if looking into the sunlight. She wants eternity to know she has sass. I think if a volcano was coming I wouldn't have much time for sass...maybe a run or maybe a duck for cover.
The excavations at Pompeii were huge, and so many frescoes have been almost perfectly preserved. You can get a real feel for how this community was before the volcano erupted.
Last night we went out dancing and I for one had a great time. I love dancing, and I love being in a place where people go for the fun of dancing and not for other reasons...I expected Italy to be full of a lot of aggressive people, especially in a club. But where we were everyone minded their own business and just enjoyed dancing.
We slept in this morning, and went to the market in Campo d'Fiori. We had a nice lunch and then I left Debbie to do my preparation for France. She went to explore the Jewish Ghetto...even though its Sabbath and most things were closed she had a great time. Debbie loves souvenirs, so she had great success in this area today.
Well, my laundry is done and I should go back to the hotel now. I have to try to find some bugspray before I leave so that a repeat of the Ostia affair does not occur.
Ciao!

Mosquitos and Italy

So, on Monday I flew from Barcelona to Rome, and Debbie and I met up easily at the airport. Not so easily, we found the Cotral that took us from the airport to Ostia, where our first hostel booking was. It was super hot, and the hostel did not aircondition. We took a metro into Rome and saw the Spanish steps, purely by accident. We even walked them before we knew what they were. I definately know very little of what things actually look like in Rome, so its hard for me to know what I am and am not seeing.
When we went back to the hostel after the steps, walking around and eating, we went to bed. This was possibly the worst experience anyone has had in Italy. The windows were open and all night we were kept awake by mosquitos. In the morning we got up early to go to Pompeii and I had at least 200 bites. All over my face, legs, back and arms. Then, to make matters a little upsetting, we could not find the meeting place for Pompeii ontime so we missed our tour.
The day went a lot better after we had breakfast. We arranged to go on the next Pompeii tour so we did not lose money or the experience. That will be tomorrow. We went to see Ancient Rome. The Colliseum, Roman Forum and Palatino. Then we went to our next hostel that had AIR CONDITIONING!! We had two roommates. One of them was named Dustin and he was from Montana. The three of us all fell asleep for at least three hours that afternoon, and when it was time to get dinner, Dustin came along. I had delicious caprese and calamari. We had a bottle of wine, and then we went walking. We ended up at a bar and I had a little too much...I think the wine threw off my judgement.
The next morning Debbie and I went to the tourist office to find a place we could stay for the last 4 nights we will be in Rome, and now we are in the Aphrodite Hotel, a three star with AC. Its nice, and nice to have a double room, no roommates.
We have been to the Vatican, climbed up to the Dome of St. Peters which was breathtaking, and we did an open bus tour. Rome has so much to see and do but it is hot all the time, so I am finding it hard to keep going all day long. In the afternoons we need a bit of siesta. And now I am going to take mine. Ciao!

The Mediterranean and Classic sunburns

Every summer I get a brutal sunburn the first time I spend an afternoon on a beach. Yesterday the girls and I went to Barcelonita and went to the beach. I should have known that things would go wrong because when I went up to change I found to my shock that instead of grabbing my black bathing suit bottoms, I had grabbed a black sports bra. So, I had to suck it up and go in the water in my underwear. Luckily for me, I suppose, it was a clothing-optional beach and wearing underwear was a lot less risqe then what most people were doing. Although I suppose on a European beach it isn't even considered risqe. So, the girls and I helped each other put on sunscreen, but apparently that didn't work out to well because I got a burn all over my shoulders and on my thigh. It is becoming tradition for this to happen, try as I may to prevent it. So, now I am trying to wear sleeves to protect my burnt shoulders and to cover up the awful pattern in which I am burnt.

I am having a good time in Barcelona. We sleep in, walk around all day, drink lots of water (well, I drink lots of water), eat gelats and tonight we are going to a Flamenco show!!! The show is just down the street from us and its something we've been looking forward to for a long time. Then tomorrow it is our last full day in Barcelona, and tomorrow is the final football match. If Spain wins, be sure we will not be sleeping one bit!

Birthdays and Barcelona

Well, this is my first post since I became 22 years old, and you will notice by my writing that I have changed drastically because of my age! Talia and Lauren took me out for dinner on the 24th, to Soho. I did not realize that the reason we went to Soho was so they could get balloons for me, and so I kept suggesting different directions to head then they were hoping to go. Since it was intended to be a surprise, they never made it to their balloon shop. We went to a restaurant called Bella Italy, which is a big chain of Italian restaurants in England. It was very good, and our server Flavio made the evening very enjoyable. He was so friendly and joked with us a lot, and at the end I told him that in Canada on your birthday the whole waitstaff sings to you and you get a free dessert. So, while I was busy talking with the girls, the lights started to flicker and all of a sudden Flavio was walking towards me with our desserts and birthday candles, singing happy birthday. He gave me the dessert free, but we gave him a big tip.

On my ACTUAL birthday we unfortunately had to check out of our hotel, sit with our luggage in the bar for a couple of hours and then head off on the subway to the airport. We got there nice and early, and waited for our flight by walking around the airport. The flight to Barcelona was short and I liked it that way. I had an empty seat beside me and that made me happy. We grabbed a taxi to our apartment, which is just off of a busy tourist street: La Rambla. We had a nice dinner of different tapas and paella.

Today, we walked the whole city and went to all sorts of buildings designed by Gaudi. He was a modernist architect and all his buildings are really strange: they are scary looking but at the same time beautiful. He uses a lot of wrought iron and the artwork is all very interesting looking. He began building a cathedral, but died before he completed it. Today, work is still being done on this unfinished masterpiece.

Well, for now that is all. I need to get back to my apartment to shower, and eat some fresh fruit that I bought at the market. As always, pictures will be available when my memory stick and a usb outlet cross paths.

Abbeys, Cathedrals and Palaces

Well, Talia and Lauren safely arrived on Wednesday, and I left Auntie Frances to join them at ISH (International Student House). We have a room for four to the three of us, and the place has a lot of people from all over staying. In our hallway are a lot of teenage Italian girls, in Britain for an English program. The place is decent, and cheap. Well, our first morning we went to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. We got there very early and so we decided to go across the street to walk in Green Park. The park is indeed very green. At the other end of the park there were decorated beach chairs that people could pay to sit in. It was amusing to see so many empty chairs, because really, who would pay to sit in them?

The changing of the guards took forever to start, and there were so many people there to view it. First, the guards on horseback went down the street to the right of us, and the band played. The guards disappeared and then nothing seemed to happen for a long time. Then the bands started filing onto the grounds, and what they played was quite shocking. - they played Star Wars music. It was kind of hilarious hearing people slowly recognizing what was being played, it seemed so out of place for Buckingham Palace and all its British Grandeur. What I found was the event is only worth going to see once, and if you like the music you'll keep coming back. The crowd didn't see much action, and I think this was a little disappointing. There we met up with Talia's new friend Nicole, an Aussie who went on Contiki.

After the Changing of the Guards we went into the Royal Galleries, where we saw some of the art and ornate furniture and objects the Crown has collected over time. The works were beautiful, its so hard to imagine growing up in that life, where one family owns so much wealth and has so much prestige that they can create a whole museum of their wall-hangings. When we finished at the galleries, I was so hungry and went off with Nicole to eat before we went to the Royal Mews. I spent £8 on a plain hamburger and chips. It was outrageous, but I suppose when you own a cafe on Buckingham Palace Road you can charge anything you want!

The Royal Mews is ''living history:'' it is where horses are trained, royal carriages are kept and the people who care for them live. It was cool to see the Golden Carriage, which Elizabeth II rode in for her coronation. It gets quite tiring going through so many museums though, and reading so many explanations for the displays. Everywhere I go there is a display to look at.
We have also gone to Westminster Cathedral, the London Eye, London Tower, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Harrod's, Kensington Palace, and to watch Grease. Everything we have seen and done is so interesting, and since I have four days that I haven't written about everyone will have to ask me questions about them all when they see me, or email me. Maybe I'll have time someday to write about them. I also have lots of pictures that I will add as soon as possible to facebook. So, until next time, Cheerio!

Brixton Day

Well, I spent the morning today just staying in, which was nice because I've been fighting a cold. Then Frances and I went out with Emma, a nice neighbour of Frances who is currently in medical school. We went to a Turkish restaurant, where I am very sure the restauranteer fell in love with me, but since I am leaving in a week and was with my elderly aunt did not ask me to run away with him (half a joke, half reality.) Then Emma took me around Brixton, where she told me about the history and showed me pictures of the buildings as they used to be, as we looked at this modern, multicultural and busy place. The market was a scene out of another country, it no longer felt like England. Anyway, I am on Emma's computer and don't want to put her out so I'll keep this brief. Talia and Lauren come tomorrow and I am very excited. Now, I'm going to cook for Frances and myself. Oh, and pics are up on facebook but I don't know how to put them here yet.

Out and about in England

Well, it is day 3 in England and this is the first opportunity I have had to sit down and use a computer. I am staying with Auntie Frances, Mark's aunt, who apparently is called Auntie Far by all who are near and dear, and she is wonderful. She lives right near Brixton Prison and she owns the town. Everyone around knows her, from her neighbours to the guys manning the shops, and she is very good to me. She takes me around, introduces me to all sorts of wonderful people and arranges good things for me to do. We arrived in Brixton after a £70 taxi ride from Gatwick on Saturday around 3, and she had not slept at all (or maybe only an hour of the flight.) I slept the entire time, excluding when meals and drinks came around. On our first day here we just settled back into her apartment, set off for supper, came back because she forgot her bus pass, set off again, came back because it was forgotten again, then finally didn't even use the pass because we walked to a pub about 15 minutes away. After dinner we just walked home, bathed, read and went to bed. Francis called about every person in her address book to let them know we were back. The next day we went to Euston station where I caught a train to Northampton to attend the Althorp Literary festival. At the station in Northampton Susan, Mark's cousin, picked me up and we drove through the town to Althorp. Here Susan works and organized the literary festival, which was quite impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed. The first lecture I went to was given by two women, each of whom had written a book on a royal mistress. Not a subject I have been familiar with, I found it quite entertaining and interesting. It seems that it was quite expected for a King to have a mistress, although it was frowned upon by the Church and often led to many problems for the mistress and even sometimes the King. Anyway, the two tales were quite contrasting, the first of Katherine Swynford and the second of Henrietta. Katherine it seems had quite a loving relationship with John of Gaunt, and through marriages to other people they always loved each other, and after struggling with public opinion and disgrace, the two were finally married and their children legitimized. Henrietta was simply a mistress of necessity, and as a great intellect had what seems to be quite a boring affair with the Prince of Wales. She decided to leave court after two decades of it dragging on and didn't regret her choice or her new found freedom. Anyway, thats probably rather boring to all of you who weren't there! The second lecture was by Lord Spencer, who talked about Althorp, his family and his life. He was warm and personable: a pleasure to listen to.
So, it took me forever to get back from Northampton to London, and even longer to eat that night. Frances insisted that we couldn't go in a restaurant with few people in it, but all the restaurants were empty so I insisted that she settle. We ate Thai in a completely empty place, where the food was good. There had been a fire in a tire shop (or tyre as the Brits spell it) and the road had been closed off. All busses had been diverted and we couldn't even walk down. This was because they were afraid the containers in the shop may be unstable. This may explain the lack of restaurant-goers, or the fact that it was 11 by the time we were leaving.
Today, we met up with Juliet, Frances' neice, and her little boy Oliver. The day was spent walking around London. Juliet used to work for the current Chancellor, who was then a minister (I think). So she knew all about the Parliament buildings and all the churches in the area. We went in Westminster, then walked around the Parliament buildings, had lunch in the park (where apparently whoever asks for the table is the one who all the questions are directed to: ''Do you want anything to drink?'' ''Are you ready to order?'' ''Do you want more bread?'') Afterwards we just walked through Trafalgar Square and went in St. Martins-in-the-Fields. Then I was left alone and went to the National Gallery. Now I am just wandering the streets and will soon return to Brixton. I am still feeling tired, presumably from the flight, and I have a bit of a cold/hayfever. Also, I suppose it is a good idea to conserve my energy for when Talia and Lauren meet up with me on Wednesday, for I'm sure they will be running around like crazy people taking pictures and seeing every possible sight there is. So until next time...
Cheerio!