Tomorrow I am leaving France...
Give a man a fish and he'll ask for a lemon. Teach a man to fish and he'll leave work early on Friday.
- Unknown
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Quote of the Day
He who thinks by the inch and talks by the yard deserves to be kicked by the foot.
- Unknown
- Unknown
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wheee
I've just had the greatest night of my stay in Aniane - with two Americans from Texas, two local frogs and an insane Spaniard. We ate and drank and had a lot of laughs.
I went and joined couchsurfing.org on Sunday night, and by Tuesday I had friends in town... just incredible!
I went and joined couchsurfing.org on Sunday night, and by Tuesday I had friends in town... just incredible!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Quote of the Day
Subtlety is the art of saying what you think and getting out of the way before it is understood.
- Unknown
- Unknown
Monday, August 2, 2010
Quote of the Day
I'm all out of French quotes, so back to unknown authors again for a week...
The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy.
- Unknown
The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy.
- Unknown
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Quote of the Day
The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know.
- P. J. O'Rourke
- P. J. O'Rourke
Saturday, July 31, 2010
I've arrived
It took me three days of driving through Europe to get back to Aniane *sigh*. A traffic jam caused by an accident in Sweden, two long queues in Germany and a huge clusterfuck in France, basically stretching from Lyon down to the exit to Nimes (check the map!). It's a miracle I haven't gone insane yet, although I've been close to screaming my lungs out in the privacy of my car. I've managed to get my picture taken TWICE, and not for pass photo purposes... I'll probably get a couple of "nice" surprises in the mail in the coming months, courtesy of the German and French traffic police, respectively.
For most of the day I've had a Czech couple in the car with me. Nice kids, though their body odor left something to be desired. Then again, it's hard to stay clean when you've been thumbing down through Europe for 4 days already. They told me only foreigners had stopped for them in France, mwahahaha. The girl, who was the only English speaker, endeared herself to me when she browsed through all my travel CDs and after squealing with delight several times, ended up with "Born to Run" as her first choice. There's still good in the world, people.
Soon I shall go out and stuff face at the local cafe. The weather forecast is sunny for pretty much all of next week ('cept Monday), and whatever rain does fall I shall take as a welcome break. The weather forecast for Oslo is rain or partially cloudy at best for ten days, muahahahaha!
Also, I've always wanted to use the word clusterfuck in a post, and now I have. Wheeee!
For most of the day I've had a Czech couple in the car with me. Nice kids, though their body odor left something to be desired. Then again, it's hard to stay clean when you've been thumbing down through Europe for 4 days already. They told me only foreigners had stopped for them in France, mwahahaha. The girl, who was the only English speaker, endeared herself to me when she browsed through all my travel CDs and after squealing with delight several times, ended up with "Born to Run" as her first choice. There's still good in the world, people.
Soon I shall go out and stuff face at the local cafe. The weather forecast is sunny for pretty much all of next week ('cept Monday), and whatever rain does fall I shall take as a welcome break. The weather forecast for Oslo is rain or partially cloudy at best for ten days, muahahahaha!
Also, I've always wanted to use the word clusterfuck in a post, and now I have. Wheeee!
Quote of the Day
Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they translate into their own language and forthwith it is something entirely different.
- Goethe
- Goethe
Friday, July 30, 2010
Quote of the Day
I do not dislike the French from the vulgar antipathy between neighbouring nations, but for their insolent and unfounded airs of superiority.
- Horace Walpole
- Horace Walpole
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Quote of the Day
George, Prince of Wales: I’m as happy as a Frenchman who has just invented a pair of self removing trousers!
- Hugh Laurie in "Black Adder"
- Hugh Laurie in "Black Adder"
Fuck that
I've been in Norway since 1am Wednesday morning and I am already hitting the proverbial walls, going gaga with the urge to travel. So I'm packing my stuff and heading back down to Aniane, where I've prepaid the house till the 7th of August. Yes, I am insane.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Vroom, vroom
Ok, I am back in Norway after two days of insane driving from Aniane. I left that city just before 9am Monday and promptly hit a traffic jam into Montpellier. Argh. After getting on the motorway, I had a little experience that made me almost question my decicion to leave, and at least partially restored my faith in the future of the human race:
I stopped at a gas station to load up on goodies, and when I came to the counter to pay, I said a resounding "morning" in answer to the chirpy "bonjour" they always feed you. Usually the French will go into lock down mode when I greet them in English - they keep speaking French, or they lose all ability to talk and just point at the numbers on the screen. But not this young frog! She can't have been more than 18, but she actually grinned, and said "Do you need a bag with that, Monseiur?"... and followed up with "here is your change" and when I left, she grinned even wider and uttered that most American of phrases... "Have a nice day". She seemed so cheerful and proud to be speaking English I could have cried.
A few miles further up the road, somewhere after Nimes, I stopped and picked up two hitchhikers; two Belgian girls heading back to Brussels after a theater festival in some town which has temporarily escaped my mind. One of them spoke some English, and we had a jolly good time talking and playing music for hours. They drove with me all the way to Luxembourg, where "every Belgian stops to fill up with cheap gas", and they could hitch a ride for the final leg of the trip. As I left they were loading their stuff into the trunk of a Belgian car, so I guess they made it back safe and sound.
After Luxembourg the directions became ever more confusing so I decided to just trust my map, which amounted to almost the same thing, I later discovered. I spent the night in an overpriced hotel along the A 1, somewhere between Cologne and Dortmund.
Tuesday I va-va-vroomed my way up Germany, picking up a Latvian couple and deposing them at the airport in Hamburg. The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful - the long trek up western Sweden was, as usual, a long dark teatime of the soul. I came home at 1am this morning. Now I am going to go over my finances and see if I have the money to do anything more than just exist for the next three weeks... there's also about two weeks of Italy stuff to blog, wheeee! Keep watching this space!
The last farewell... me and some of the staff at the Cafe d'Esplanade in Aniane, where I took most of my dinners. Nice people all, but they spoke maybe 20 words of English between them.
This is a little lighthouse on the tiny island of Sprogø, between the two bridges of the Danish Storebæltsforbindelsen. I've always wanted to live here.
Elvis is alive, at least according to this German spedition company.
I stopped at a gas station to load up on goodies, and when I came to the counter to pay, I said a resounding "morning" in answer to the chirpy "bonjour" they always feed you. Usually the French will go into lock down mode when I greet them in English - they keep speaking French, or they lose all ability to talk and just point at the numbers on the screen. But not this young frog! She can't have been more than 18, but she actually grinned, and said "Do you need a bag with that, Monseiur?"... and followed up with "here is your change" and when I left, she grinned even wider and uttered that most American of phrases... "Have a nice day". She seemed so cheerful and proud to be speaking English I could have cried.
A few miles further up the road, somewhere after Nimes, I stopped and picked up two hitchhikers; two Belgian girls heading back to Brussels after a theater festival in some town which has temporarily escaped my mind. One of them spoke some English, and we had a jolly good time talking and playing music for hours. They drove with me all the way to Luxembourg, where "every Belgian stops to fill up with cheap gas", and they could hitch a ride for the final leg of the trip. As I left they were loading their stuff into the trunk of a Belgian car, so I guess they made it back safe and sound.
After Luxembourg the directions became ever more confusing so I decided to just trust my map, which amounted to almost the same thing, I later discovered. I spent the night in an overpriced hotel along the A 1, somewhere between Cologne and Dortmund.
Tuesday I va-va-vroomed my way up Germany, picking up a Latvian couple and deposing them at the airport in Hamburg. The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful - the long trek up western Sweden was, as usual, a long dark teatime of the soul. I came home at 1am this morning. Now I am going to go over my finances and see if I have the money to do anything more than just exist for the next three weeks... there's also about two weeks of Italy stuff to blog, wheeee! Keep watching this space!
The last farewell... me and some of the staff at the Cafe d'Esplanade in Aniane, where I took most of my dinners. Nice people all, but they spoke maybe 20 words of English between them.
This is a little lighthouse on the tiny island of Sprogø, between the two bridges of the Danish Storebæltsforbindelsen. I've always wanted to live here.
Elvis is alive, at least according to this German spedition company.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Quote of the Day
France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes.
- Mark Twain
- Mark Twain
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Martigues
On our way to the airport in Marseilles Friday, Nina and I stopped and lunched at Martigues, a cozy little town by the sea, or at least by a canal that leads to the sea... All pics here.
Bridges over to an island. I saw a sign saying that during times of festivities, the island was closed for car traffic to anyone not wearing a badge or something like that.
A wall painting. Wheee!
Bridges over to an island. I saw a sign saying that during times of festivities, the island was closed for car traffic to anyone not wearing a badge or something like that.
A wall painting. Wheee!
Saint Baudille
Took a trip up to mount Saint Baudille earlier today. There's a TV broadcasting tower at the top, and the views are absolutely stunning. You feel like you can see all of France from up there. All pics from this series can be found here.
Indeed, indeed.
Views from the ascent.
Horned cattle.
The TV tower.
Views from the top. Just stunning.
Views from the descent.
Indeed, indeed.
Views from the ascent.
Horned cattle.
The TV tower.
Views from the top. Just stunning.
Views from the descent.
Quote of the Day
Doris: You have no values, your whole life is nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm and orgasm.
Harry: In France I could run on that slogan and win.
- Woody Allen in "Deconstructing Harry"
Harry: In France I could run on that slogan and win.
- Woody Allen in "Deconstructing Harry"
Grotte des Clamouse
Thursday we went to the Grotte de Clamouse, which is just up the road from Pont Diable. Sadly, the experience was somewhat diminished by the guide, who spoke about one sentence of English for every 150 sentences of French. He would go on and on and on about something in French, then at the end say "zis iz very fazinating stone, ok?" or something equally inane. There was also one instance of French arty-fartyness, with a completely uninteresting light show and accompanying music.
The cave itself was interesting and varied, so here are the pics, all of 'em can be found here.
We learned that the white crystals had been made during a cold climate, while most of the colored ones came from periods with a tropical climate.
Yes, these are rock formations. The drops of water inside a stalagtite are sometimes blocked by stone, and then the water will take all sorts of directions, creating the most incredible formations. This is what makes Clamouse special, it has lots of these.
These thin, thin, stones are hollow.
Some forms are... ahem... suggestive...
Robes of rock.
The cave itself was interesting and varied, so here are the pics, all of 'em can be found here.
We learned that the white crystals had been made during a cold climate, while most of the colored ones came from periods with a tropical climate.
Yes, these are rock formations. The drops of water inside a stalagtite are sometimes blocked by stone, and then the water will take all sorts of directions, creating the most incredible formations. This is what makes Clamouse special, it has lots of these.
These thin, thin, stones are hollow.
Some forms are... ahem... suggestive...
Robes of rock.
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