TravelStream™ news feed for member cantelon-polley on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cantelon-polley en-us Copyright ©2012 TravelPod.com Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:50:55 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1196100060/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1196100060/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1196100060/tpod.html Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:50:55 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Brugge - Bruges, Belgium

Bruges, Belgium

We are almost home. This will probably be the last entry. I will save you all from my final thoughts and sweeping conclusions about the continent. For those, you can approach me in person. Instead I'll just give you some quick updates of how we've been doing since we left the Swedes to their meatballs and progressive thinking. Mirabel took her first steps a few days ago in The Hague. They were actually shuffles to the side, but she spent her first few months watching basketball with me, so I assumed she was just playing tough D. I believe we were in Hamburg for a day, or maybe 2/3rds of a day or something like that. We enjoyed Amsterdam, although not the way it is currently designed to be enjoyed. Upon arrival we were informed that our hotel was a "smoking" hotel, and I couldn't help but giggle when the "concierge" slowly explained to us how to unlock the door (my difficulties refraining from giggling may also have been to the thicker than usual air.) We also went around the Netherlands a bit, and now we're doing the same in Belgium. I'm writing from Bruges right now, in a bar, with an Abbe Leffe at my side. Earlier I bought a cherry flavoured beer from the grocery store, only to find out it came with a cork. The only thing my penknife doesn't have is a cork screw, so I went away trying to pry it out with the nail file. I patiently worked away at this cork, my eye closely examining my progress...you can see where I'm going with this. Fortunately, the cork zipped past my ear, allowing me to return home with both eyes, just like you all remember. Anyway, I may retire the penknife when I get home. I probably shouldn't be drinking cherry flavoured beer anyway, it's not very manly (but I think masculinity died in Belgium sometime in the Middle Ages*). I just want to finish by saying that I can't wait to go home. We did a rough count the other day and at that point we had slept in 25 different beds. Mirabel still likes to sleep closer to me, usually with her head spearing my back. Or, sometimes I find her sleeping on my throat. Try sleeping anything on your throat, it's impossible. Alright, that's it from us, in Europe. Tim *To further my point here, I was in a musuem today to look at some of the Flemish Primitives, and there was depictions of people being flayed alive, beheadings, men on horseback. A few centuries later, they were painting about lovely days at the fair and walking through meadows.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1195316760/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1195316760/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1195316760/tpod.html Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:39:10 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Leaving Sweden - Vaxjo, Sweden

Vaxjo, Sweden

Hello Gang, Wassup? Well as promised we are going to send a bit more of an update today. If you thought we had a lot to say before imagine what we have to say now that we´ve taken such a long break from updates. AHHH! So if you have only a little time here's a pointform version (Poland: thief, Prague: women, beer and hockey, Berlin: Rain, gay bar, Copenhagen: hash, Sweden: couch surfing). But if you're at work and looking to waste time read on: Last time Tim wrote we had just arrived in Krakow, Poland. We spent 5 days there. Had a great time, ate perogies and vegan food, checked out a castle, walked around, drank coffee and found an english bookstore. We really enjoyed it. We had a private room in the hostel (which we always have) but this one was equipped with bunk beds so we spent 5 nights sleeping with our matttesses on the floor because it's really hard to share a single bed with anyone even if it is the baby (who still likes to sleep perpendicular to us or on our heads). The biggest news from Krakow was that a teenage boy walk into our room one night while we were playing with the baby, said something and walked out. We thought he'd just mixed up where his room was and I was more embarrassed by the state of our room than anything else. Later when I went downstairs to use the phone I couldn't because a young girl was using it to cancel her travellers cheques. Apparently that teenage boy had taken her wallet and another girl's cellphone. So I suppose we narrowly avoided being robbed though unlike those girls we never leave our room unlocked so I suppose we didn't really narrowly avoid anything. I just wanted to seem dangerous. Then we moved onto Wroclaw, Poland which isn't pronounced the way you'd think, the W's sound like v's, the l actually has a slash though it so it sounds like an f and don't forget to roll your r. Icompletely gave up trying and began calling it 'this city' while I was there. Anyways we went there to get ourselves closer to Prague but we soon found out that the train running from Poland to Prague through Wroclaw had been cancelled. Wroclaw began to be a disappointment. We were there on All Saints Day (Nov 1) so everything we wanted to see was closed. Wroclaw continued to be a disappointment. I tried to buy pastries using my regular tourist hand gestures and the store keeper mocked me to the point where I left feeling shamed and without a sugary treat. We HATED Wroclaw. Well maybe hate is too strong a word. But we were defintitely feeling trapped there without too much to occupy our time so we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We went out to a place with a coat check, candles and waiters in tuxedos. This didn't change Mirabel's messy eating behaviour. We even saw a picture proving that the late Pope and other 'celebrities' had eaten in this exact restaurant. Maybe not the best place to take a baby but we felt Wroclaw owed us. After a great 3 course meal we started warming up to Wroclaw. The next day our bus to Prague left more than an hour after it was suppose to - we hated Wroclaw again. Prague rocked. Museums, castles, good, cheap beer and beautiful women. You are all getting 'I love Czech women' t-shirts' (ha ha). Tim fulfilled a dream of taking in a European hockey game though I'm not sure in his dream his wife and baby made him miss 2 goals and most of the first period. Ooops. Mirabel was scared at first but when she realised that you could screech and clap as loud and as much as you wanted she became a real fan. And I got a good, cheap beer served by a beautiful Czech woman so Tim's dream come true soon became a family dream come true. Berlin was cold and rainy. If you woke up on a Sunday to weather like we had in Berlin you would most likely grab the paper and a coffee and jump back in bed. But since we only had a few days there I put plastic bags on my feet and snowpants on the baby and we headed out. When we couldn't find the musuem we were looking for and we were completely drenched we ran into a department store restaurant (as Tim says 'it's not exactly the Sistine Chapel but it'll do). We drank coffee and came up with a new plan. The weather let up enough that we were able to see some sights including the East side Gallery which is the longest, still standing section of the Berlin wall. Oh and I should say that every single meal we ate in Berlin was AWESOME! Especially the one in a gay bar where we met a couple of 'bears' who were early for their weekly meeting. We know this because I asked what their group was - I thought it was a scrabble night, still naive after all this travelling. From Berlin we went to Copenhagen. Took Mitabel to the free state Christiana but didn't let her buy a brick of hash as a souvenir. The weather continued to be pretty miserable. But we found an amazing museum that was free, had changetables, a lunch room where we could eat our packed lunch (very importnat to the budget travellers) and an interactive children's area that Mirabel loved except for the life like looking horse that we tried to put her on in order to take a photo. She screeched and clung to us - my little animal rights activist. Finally we began mooching our way through Sweden and have been treated so well that we are wondering why we didn't do this the whole time. It's cold here but not rainy so we've been able to really enjoy it. We went skating on an outdoor rink and I went to a spinning class with one set of hosts. It's amazing how much easier those are when you don't understand 'crank up the resistance'. Despite the fact that we haven't had to pay for accomodations we are still spending our daily budget as everything here is quite expensive. We leave tomorrow and if you want to know where we're going you'll just have to stay tuned... We have 2 weeks left, only 2 weeks. And I think just like the rest of the trip we have mixed feelings about it. We are looking forward to being home and sad to be leaving, it's really hard for us to remember that people work but in a short time we'll be working joes again ourselves. Please place your souvenir orders asap. See you soon Much love from all of us to all of you. Rachel, Tim & Mirabel
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1195048560/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1195048560/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1195048560/tpod.html Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:00:48 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Doing well - Vaxjo, Sweden

Vaxjo, Sweden

Hello. Sorry we haven´t written in awhile. This is just a brief message to let those who might be concerned about us know that we´re still alive, eating well, enjoying winter. Tim
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1193323260/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1193323260/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1193323260/tpod.html Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:04:17 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Krakow - Krakow, Poland

Krakow, Poland

I may backtrack a bit, but only to make a point. We cut our visit to Romania short by a day. The sidewalks in Brasov were mostly rubble, making it difficult to push a stroller. And there were many stray dogs, making it necessary to push a stroller quickly. But there was obvious wealth in the area, and the main strip was very chic. The people shared this disparity as well. There were some absoultely beautiful Romanians, while many others have yet to adopt the dual eyebrow system. Our hasty departure meant that we had to think about our next destination quickly. It was either gonna be Istanbul, where we have heard nothing but amazing things (and a claim that it was still bathing suit weather), or north to Vienna, and eventually, winter. We chose to make things ********* ourselves. Fast forward a few days to Bratislava. We get off the bus and soak in pleasant sunshine. Fast foward two minutes later, and we are being pelted by hail and sleet. We jump on a streetcar, and the sun comes out again. We disembark 20 minutes later, and it bombs rain on us. Our 2 dollar umbrella literally snaps in half, and the spokes threaten all eyeballs within a six foot radius. We run inside. The sun is out again. There are no diapers left, and so I make my first official "diaper run." I go twenty-five minutes in one direction, water pouring down on me and no grocery store in sight. Finally I decided to head the other way and so I walk another 25 minutes back only to realize that the grocery store was about one step in the opposite direction from where I departed. Even if I had turned my neck slightly to the left I would've seen it. I'm only pointing this out now because I've noticed a pattern emerge of: adventure-brief nightmare-turning back into adventure.// A few days ago we went into the mountains in Slovakia, and I had booked us a place above the snow line in a tiny little village called Zdair, with the address 478 Zdair and directions "take a bus." But when we got to Zdair, there were no street signs and the numbers didn't follow any kind of sequence. They would go 342, 343, 562, 4, 327. We walked for a while in the freezing rain. Rachel requested we asked for help in a restaurant. They told us it was 5km in the opposite direction, and a man offered to drive us. Getting into his car, I noticed the restaurant's address was 666, but I figured I had visited enough churches in the last month to afford me one ride with the devil. So, we were safe. The woman that ran the pension spoke no English, but poured us (mostly me) many shots of homemade raspberry schnapps. I only know it was raspberry because she pointed to the word in her English-Slovak dictionary (I believe my taste buds were burnt off by the liquor on its way down). Rachel kept saying "how could you drink that stuff?" And I just shrugged my shoulders and swayed. //Now onto today's journey to Krakow. We sat in the rain waiting for a bus to take us to the border, only to find out that it wasn't going to come for another hour. The pension owner convinced two lodgers to give us a lift and then we walked across to Poland where we were to find a bus to take us to Zakopane, where we would find a bus to take us to Krakow. A mini-bus pulled up and we were the only passengers. This old guy just grabbed a handful of my money and told me to shut the door. As we hurdled down foggy, curvaceous "roads", the guy tried to cater the drop-off point to our needs. Being in the country only a scant few minutes, my Polish was not where I would have liked it to have been. The guy had a cigarette going in one hand, a pen and paper in the other hand, and the steering wheel in neither. His eyes were also apparently averse to watching the road, as he kept yapping at me in Polish. At one point, to stave off a collision with oncoming traffic, I alerted him by saying something like "yiyiyiyi!" And he casually nudged the wheel to avoid our deaths.//But, we're here, and I can see my breathe in a mirror and I can't walk through walls so I assume I'm alive. We've been to McDonald's a lot, because they are clean and warm and usually have changing tables. I'm proud to say we haven't bought a single thing in them, so we are screwing Ronald over royally! We usually just change the baby, and then escape like bandits. Although in Bratislava, while Rachel was changing the baby, this old British guy approached me and asked me what the "specialty was here." I just stood there stunned, and was close to saying "a Big Mac" when I realized he was talking about Bratislava (which he later pronounced "Bra'i'slarvar." Also in Bratislava, I paid for a coffee and the clerk looked at me really annoyed and started getting my change. I then realized I accidentally paid him with a combination Slovakian crown and a 50 Euro bill. I guess I apologized a little too exhuberantly because he told me to "quit crying!" Ok. I'm done. From Tim.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1192708920/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1192708920/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1192708920/tpod.html Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:30:23 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Vienna - Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria

Greetings from Vienna, Or should I say greetings from a smoky internet cafe in Vienna. I don't think Europe received the anti-smoking message yet and as a result after only a month we have much darker lungs. In fact, I think we may end up in Amsterdam as the baby now requires something a little more substancial than nicotine to get her through the day. Tim can fill you in on all the geography, architecture and history. I'm here to tell you what you really want to know: how we're eating and sleeping. I have been an unfaithful vegan and have had a generous amount of dairy products and a few samplings of meat. It all tastes as I remember it but now comes with a guilty conscience. I have a bit of acne and I tried to blame it on the dairy I've been eating but my husband pointed out that I had this much acne before. Where has all the love gone? I think we left it in Paris, we'll be sure to pick it up again on our way home. The baby has been eating fairly well and still gets as much breast milk as she likes - especilly when she's kicking up a fuss in the middle of the night in a hostel or at museum. It'll be a hard habit to break upon our return but I'm sure we'll manage. Speaking of hard habits to break, We've developed a few, First the baby has slept with us every night since our arrival, without insident, except the other night when she crawled out the top of our bed. She was fine and it just involved us re-arranging furniture to fix the situation. Second, we now think it's a good idea, if not a necessity, to eat a sweet pastry or an ice cream cone every single day. The baby herself has been given ice cream and just like her parents she loves it. We also bought some baby cereal in Hungrary without being able to read the cereal box and it may as well have been a vanilla cake mix we were feeding her. We've since bought a healthier version and surprise, surprise she dosen't like it as much. Finally, we've progressed from our $20 gelato in Rome to $14 coffees in Vienna. After being caffeine free my entire pregnancy and lactation I decided that I couldn't pass through Paris and Italy without trying the coffee. And thus I am hopelessly addicted and for some reason willing to pay these prices. We have a strict budget. It's our budget but Tim's making us stick to it. But we both need our coffee. SEND MONEY FAST. tee hee We visited a museum today and it was a perfect day for it as it is rainy. We got soaking wet on the way home and will probably stay put for the night now. Tomorrow we head to Slovakia for a few days. We've come from Romania, and I never thought I'd say this, but I found it incredibly boring. Although a nice Romanian lady gave Mirabel and I a bag of food when we were walking around on the street looking to buy warmer clothes. I think she thought we were poor. And the crazy thing is, I took the bag from her. I think I thought it would be easier than trying to explain to her that I'm an english speaker etc. etc. Anyways we left the food in our last hostel for the fellow traveller who had previously helped themselves to our food anyways, just like being back in university. Okay as you may have guessed Tim and I could go on and on with these updates but I'll sign off now. Much love, Rachel
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191917220/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191917220/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191917220/tpod.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:55:14 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

With Pictures! - Szeged, Hungary

Szeged, Hungary

Good morning from sunny Szeged. It's called the sunshine capitol of Hungary, but it is not to be confused with Debrecen, which is also the sunshine capitol of Hungary. I think our last entry was from Florence. From Florence we went to Venice, and spent a day crossing bridges. Then we took a 13.5 hour overnight train to Budapest. This was my first experience with a sleeper car, and the accomadations were snug to say the least. Three Malaysian girls and an angry Frenchman were to make up the rest of the room. The Frenchman let out a bonafide, slow "Zut alors" upon seeing the arrangement. He was then *****ed at by the Malaysian girls for putting his luggage in a tenuous position. Rachel tried to speak to him in French to explain the situation, and he retorted "desolee!" I guess it was too much for him, because he paid extra to get a private room soon after. Budapest was fantastic. On our third day we met up with my sister's friend, Valerie, and her Hungarian boyfriend, Gergor. When he shook my hand he said, "my name is Gergor," and I thought, "oh good, he speaks english." But his english pretty much ended there, and Valerie was called upon to translate for the next two days, which I'm sure was exhausting for her, because Gergor clearly like to talk. Occasionally he would break out some english, and say something like "Shakespeare: To beer, or not to beer. That is the question." Another thing Gergor liked to do was cook, so we ate well. We also bathed well, as Budapest has many hot springs, and we enjoyed a day at the Szechenyi Thermal Baths, which is a lavish indoor/outdoor set up with pools of varying temperatures, saunas and the like. I tried every pool out at least once, and went from broiling sauna to ice cold water a couple of times. It's quite possible my sperm count is now in single digits. From Budapest we went on to Pécs, which is a smaller city south of Budapest. When we told Gergor our plans to visit Pécs, he approved. This wasn't always the case. When I would mention places outside of Hungary, particularly in Slovakia and Romania that I wanted to visit, Gergor would speak in Hungarian for about a minute, and then Valerie would translate "Gergor has opinions about this region." But, on his recommendation we are in Szeged, and I have to say there's little to hate about this city. It's bright and there's lots of green space to let the baby walk around in. The playground equipment in Hungary is designed for fun and not safety, and I nearly broke my leg testing some sort of spinning mechanism out. Anyway, we're here for another day, and then we're going into Romania for a week or so, and then either North or South. If you would like to see most of the pictures, this link should work. I am having trouble understanding Hungarian. http://www.flickr.com/welcome/6090399/4 91658/ Tim
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191656520/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191656520/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191656520/tpod.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:43:47 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Pecs - Pecs, Hungary

Pecs, Hungary

update
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Budapest - Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, Hungary

update
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191224280/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191224280/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191224280/tpod.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:40:43 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Venice - Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy

update
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191155400/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191155400/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantelon-polley/europe-2007/1191155400/tpod.html Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:55:09 +0000 Travelling across Europe with our baby Mirabel

Florence - Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy

Hello Sorry for that last lame update. That was more for Mirabel's grandparents, who I'm sure worry about more her daily whereabouts than the rest of you. So here's our update: On Sept 25 we caught an early morning flight, correction: we caught an early morning subway, bus, plane, bus, walk, from Paris to Rome. We settled down to eat lunch at 2pm which is a very respectable lunch hour for Italians but about 3 hours too late for a woman who gets severely cranky if her blood sugar level drop even .0001 below 'normal' levels - Tim will verify this scientific data. Anyways we thought we'd stay put for the day but after a shower and a family nap we found ourselves at the Collesium and checking out some Roman ruins. The following day we took in all the Rome biggies - I even saw the Pope. We were going to stay an extra day but our Russian 'landlady' informed us that Rome was full. We could have waited until 1:30pm to find out if they had a cancellation but we figured that was too long to wait if we did indeed need to make alternative arrangements. Its one thing for Tim and I to sleep in a train station and yet a whole other thing if we force our 10 month old baby to do so. So we found accommodation in Florence and bought our train tiket. It was pouring, POURING, rain when we got here so we bartered with a street vendor to get a cheap umbrella and then tried to find our hostel with soaking wet directions. Mirabel was dry and happy upon our arrival, Tim and I - not so much of either. Then Tim and Mirabel came down with colds so I went out on my own (still in the pouring rain) the next day for a few hours and I ran into Sandra Shamas. This will mean nothing to about 98% of you but she is a Toronto celeb who got rich on her one-woman shows. I thought I had seen her at the Pantheon in Rome but was almost sure of it when I saw her here in Florence so I approached her and did the whole 'I'm a big fan routine'. Anyways that was kind of cool for me to see her and all the other great stuff we're seeing. Now I have a cold so Tim went out on his own yesterday and we're staying put as best as we can. We should be totally recovered by tomorrow when we catch a morning train to Venice to spend a sole day in Italy most expensive city then we're off to Budapest on a night train. (Mike we are planning on making our way down to Istanbul if you are serious about meeting us there - let us know dates and times). Okay I think that's it for now - still trying to figure out how to upload pictures but trust us we have all the requisite ones of Mirabel infront of the Eiffel Tower, the Collesium etc. Plus some great ones of her eating a baquette in Paris and a fresh, whole tomato in Italy. Oh and another story for the grandparents, Mirabel climbed a flight of stairs (with me close behind) yesterday. Pretty cool Finally on a whole travelling with the baby has been both easier and hardier than travelling alone. Harder for all the reason you can imagine and easier because she is still a pretty darn happy kid and her smile helps us get smiles and assistance in return. We've had some ups and downs but that could have happened in Toronto too so we are trying to stay positive and enjoy the highs and ride out the lows (like paying $20 for 2 gelatos in Italy yikes!) And I cannot believe how much the Italians love babies. She has been held and kissed so much - which is probably why she got sick but oh well. Okay that's all for now. Much love again, Rach P.S I think you can just send this website onto to others who might want to read about our travels.
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