Sunday, March 27, 2011

Home is behind, the world ahead

That song has been running through my head all week.

Sitting on the floor of a cold and internet-less Paris airport with a long, long night ahead of me is enough incentive to actually write a blog post. Amazing I know.

Spent a lovely weekend in Hull at Lucy’s. And guess who was born and raised in Hull? Guess whose house has been made into a museum about his life and about slavery and abolition? that’s right, William Wilberforce (i.e. One Of My Favourite People In History, Ever). How awesome is that?

We spent two nights in London which is the one part of this trip that felt/feels familiar and easy...haha, never thought I’d say that especially not last September when the thought of deciphering that transit system struck terror into my heart. Saw Wicked (which was pretty great, creative and clever and deeper than I expected), went to the Imperial War Museum (my third and probably not last time...I love that place) And then spent a long, long nine hours on a coach to Paris. We assumed we could sleep on this journey. Never assume.

..that was how my post last night began, but it never got very far, because a security person came by and told us that the airport closed in an hour, leaving us homeless in Paris. After a few seconds of panic, some hasty prayer, and some help from the guy at the airport tourist office, we managed to find a cheap hotel and a bus that would take us there. The whole bus was full of people whose plans were similarly foiled—a bedraggled collection of Canadians, Americans, French and other Europeans—and we couldn’t do much but laugh. I expect half of that hotel’s business comes from unfortunate budget travellers.

Sky Sailing just came up on my playlist and there are bright clear mountains just beneath us and this combination makes me happy. Hello down there, we are captains of the sky, huzzah. I’d really like to know where we are right now, but those fancy moving-map things are far too deluxe for this airline. Instead the cabin is bright yellow and plastered with advertisements. Yay Ryanair! For £25, I’m not complaining.

And, oh yeah, there was Paris. We were there for a couple days and they were filled with pouring rain, way too many pictures, the typical tourist sights, avoiding everyone who tried to convince us to buy their stuff by yelling and shoving it into our faces, croissants and jam, battling high-tech toilets next to the Eiffel Tower, and gazing into the Seine contemplating Javert’s suicide. haha. If we had had longer and I had planned it before I would have hunted down all the Victor Hugo/Les Mis places, but we didn’t and I didn’t, but just being there was cool enough. (The check-in guy at our hotel was called Marius, but he had a beard and red hair and in general looked nothing like Marius, it was very sad.)

Descending now. Hello Italy!

4 comments:

  1. (referring to title: ) LOVE LOVE LOVE that song!! That whole scene = epic-ness. (you have such a wonderful taste for post titles! ;) ).

    Yay, for Mr. Wilberforce! (he's awesome)

    I would really like to know what those 'deep' things about 'Wicked' were.... (You know me..... :P)

    hahahaaa!!! you and your unwillingness to part with money :P. Hearing about it all is SUPER hilarious. Makes it all the more adventurous, eh. ;) (and those at home all the more worried for you :P ...hehe.)

    Any more awesome (and long) conversations with random people about deep stuff?? :D

    Peace, love, joy, happiness, sunshine, and... safety (:P), be with you, m'dear! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah! Sounds like you are having fun in a hectic way!

    Paris is very neat! Yes, people do try and get you to buy things and some of the Parisians are snotty.
    We bought fruit from some Indian's and talked with them, and they were so happy to have some people to talk to they, they insisted that we take some fruit free!
    Not all Parisians are snotty though.
    Sorry, enough of my stories.

    AAAHHH! Too bad the Marius fellow didn't live up to his name!

    Where in Italy will you visit?
    Well safe travels!
    (do I send you letters to Capernwray?)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Zoe--Me too! possibly my favourite scene in all of LOTR...no wait...second...no, tied for first.

    Re. Wicked, mainly what stuck out to me was the theme of speaking up for the truth even when it's not comfortable vs. making up your own version of the truth because it's easier or more popular. It's not my top favourite musical but it was good and definitely worth the money.

    Haha, for all my talk about not spending much, I have spent WAY more than I wanted to. It wouldn't exactly be possible to spend any less, I don't think, but it adds up SO fast even when you're just paying for the bare basics :P Don't worry about me...I'm not doing anything intentionally stupid and God's got our backs ;) as He's proved over and over already so far!

    Anna--yep, pretty much :P

    Eh, I wouldn't use the word snotty, they're just very in-your-face :P But yeah we encountered a ton of nice Parisians too along with the not-so-nice ones. I love your stories, tell away :D

    Yep, letters sent to Capernwray are just great! Italy: Rome, Florence, and Venice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wicked: Ah I see. That's cool. I love how you get so much out of stories so easily. :)

    Score!! Kelsey spent more than she wanted to. ah HUH!!!! :P I know.... it does add up terribly :(. and yes yes I know. God's got you covered and you're not stupid. I'm just being an annoying worry wart. And it's my job to tease :P.

    ReplyDelete