Homecoming
We've returned.
I promise to give a good full recap of everything that went on once I'm recovered my Canadian Circadian (not to mention digestion). Fow now, a recap:
Venice was stunning. For such a little place, it held onto a LOT of stuff. There are so many churches and temples, nearly all of them Catholic, but there is also much occult and pagan imagery built into it that I felt right at home. My limitted Italian and Jim's NO Italian actually managed to get us pretty far; we ordered food correctly and didn't accidently end up with pork belly instead of a cheese sandwich or something. We always found the correct wine. I had to eat salmon quite a bit since I received a few sideways glances when I mentioned the word "vegetarian" in passing. (I had already checked Happycow.com... NO veggie restaurants in Venice). I didn't meet a meal I didn't like. We went everywhere, saw everything, got lost a few times, slept badly, drank a lot of espresso, walked much and had a ridiculous blast.
Paris... there isn't anything bad to say about Paris. Okay, one thing: it doesn't smell very good. And once we were denied entry into a nightclub for no obvious reason... wasn't full or anything.... but I digress. Once again, we did everything we could possibly think of. We did tourist things like museums, churches, various neighbourhoods and landmarks. We did non-tourist things like groceries, laundry, and tiny side-shops. We spent 11 days assimilating into a culture that was surprisingly close to our own. Our moderate french got us through most situations (except for the aforementioned club rejection), and a goodly number of customer service and serving staff spoke enough english to get us past any serious language/vocabulary blocks. We even found a cafe server who had visited Montreal and loved Canadians. On our last day, we found an American/British run juice bar where the staff was entirely english speaking (but spoke french to us upon our arrival) and gave us a good taste of clean eating after many dinners of baguette and cheese. Which is not to say anything negative about baguette and cheese! There was a patisserie on the corner near where we stayed with the happiest baker we have ever encountered. She loved her job, loved her life, dealt with our slurred drunken french (she was across the street from the local pub, Les Deux Singes) and did everything with a bounce in her step and smile on her face.
Now back at home I'm ready to hop into homeopathy and re-devote my life to moderation. I plan on doing everything with a smile on my face, a bounce in my step, loving what I do and how I do it.
Details to follow!
I promise to give a good full recap of everything that went on once I'm recovered my Canadian Circadian (not to mention digestion). Fow now, a recap:
Venice was stunning. For such a little place, it held onto a LOT of stuff. There are so many churches and temples, nearly all of them Catholic, but there is also much occult and pagan imagery built into it that I felt right at home. My limitted Italian and Jim's NO Italian actually managed to get us pretty far; we ordered food correctly and didn't accidently end up with pork belly instead of a cheese sandwich or something. We always found the correct wine. I had to eat salmon quite a bit since I received a few sideways glances when I mentioned the word "vegetarian" in passing. (I had already checked Happycow.com... NO veggie restaurants in Venice). I didn't meet a meal I didn't like. We went everywhere, saw everything, got lost a few times, slept badly, drank a lot of espresso, walked much and had a ridiculous blast.
Paris... there isn't anything bad to say about Paris. Okay, one thing: it doesn't smell very good. And once we were denied entry into a nightclub for no obvious reason... wasn't full or anything.... but I digress. Once again, we did everything we could possibly think of. We did tourist things like museums, churches, various neighbourhoods and landmarks. We did non-tourist things like groceries, laundry, and tiny side-shops. We spent 11 days assimilating into a culture that was surprisingly close to our own. Our moderate french got us through most situations (except for the aforementioned club rejection), and a goodly number of customer service and serving staff spoke enough english to get us past any serious language/vocabulary blocks. We even found a cafe server who had visited Montreal and loved Canadians. On our last day, we found an American/British run juice bar where the staff was entirely english speaking (but spoke french to us upon our arrival) and gave us a good taste of clean eating after many dinners of baguette and cheese. Which is not to say anything negative about baguette and cheese! There was a patisserie on the corner near where we stayed with the happiest baker we have ever encountered. She loved her job, loved her life, dealt with our slurred drunken french (she was across the street from the local pub, Les Deux Singes) and did everything with a bounce in her step and smile on her face.
Now back at home I'm ready to hop into homeopathy and re-devote my life to moderation. I plan on doing everything with a smile on my face, a bounce in my step, loving what I do and how I do it.
Details to follow!
posted by Em at
6:55 AM
2 Comments:
Welcome home! Sounds like you had a terrific time and made some wonderful memories. I've seen pics of the wedding, you look fantastic! Oh, yes and the table centerpieces looked great too, especially the birch candles!
Welcome home! Sounds like you had a terrific time and made some wonderful memories. I've seen pics of the wedding, you look fantastic! Oh, yes and the table centerpieces looked great too, especially the birch candles!
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