pwong's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member pwong on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pwong en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:25:04 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com Bonus day — Calgary, Alberta, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1253732067/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1253732067/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1253732067/tpod.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:25:04 -0500 Back to Spain and France: Where'd My Mojo Go?
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Up WAY too early - our flight departed around 8:30, and we still had to be at the airport a few hours beforehand, despite everybody having formally checked in yesterday.&nbsp; It was tough sleeping last night, because the room was HOT - it was cold and rainy outside, but the window wouldn't stay open, so air circulation was poor.&nbsp; Plus - the couple next door was pretty drunk and yapping pretty loudly until very late.&nbsp; Luckily, there's nothing to do today, since it's a travel day, and it's a bonus day that shouldn't have even happened.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Breakfast was a bit odd - some good croissants (it's tough to find a truly bad one in France), OJ, coffee, butter, preserves, etc.&nbsp; But it was the baguette that was strange, or more so the manner in which it was served - a bunch of them placed on the tables, so people were ripping off chunks for themselves.&nbsp; I hope that everybody washed their hands before eating!&nbsp; Dirty or not, the baguette was really good, crusty and chewy.&nbsp; I just hope the crustiness was because of the crust, and not because of poor hygiene practices of the fellow guests that handled the bread before me.&nbsp; Off to the airport - not the usual sad feeling that happens when going home, probably because those feelings got out of my system yesterday, when I thought I was leaving.&nbsp; The airport was dead being so early, and I wasn't sure why we needed to check in more than two hours before the flight, given that we all arrived by buses, more or less at the same time.&nbsp; A small terminal, there wasn't much to walk around and see.&nbsp; Beyond some duty-free shopping, this morning's activities consisted of plonking down on a bench and trying to catch some sleep.I don't remember much of what transpired on the plane, but can guess that it involved some bad food, mediocre movies, and cramped legs.&nbsp; I do remember some horrific headphones given out by the flight attendants - the kind that fit inside of your ears, they were PAINFUL!!!&nbsp; Circular but for some unfathomable reason, with a tapered point that was quite sharp, it scratched the inside of the ears.&nbsp; And they were huge!&nbsp; Who's got big enough earholes to accommodate these???&nbsp; Were these headphones designed for Dumbo the elephant???&nbsp; Or Mickey Mouse?&nbsp; Why???Perhaps it was the distraction of the pain in my ears, but the flight seemed to pass by very quickly.&nbsp; Towards the end of the flight, I realized that the engaged "couple" from last night had spent quite a bit of time together on the flight.&nbsp; Hmmm ... wouldn't it be funny if they actually ended up together after that charade?&nbsp; Stranger things have happened ... perhaps an obstacle is that the flight was continuing on to Vancouver, where she was from, and he was getting off in Calgary.&nbsp; It's only a short flight between the two cities, so who knows!&nbsp; If I was a millionaire, I'd fly to Spain just to have a cafe con leche and do some Spanish senorita watching, so a one hour flight to Vancouver pales in comparison.&nbsp; Of course, if I was a millionaire, I'd probably be retired in Spain, wiling away the days drinking cafe con leche ... and Spanish senorita watching ...The next thing you knew, we were back in sunny Calgary.&nbsp; For all my desire to travel and be elsewhere, Calgary still has a certain charm to it and for now, it is still home.&nbsp; Having a new place to live in definitely is something to look forward to, as is the lifestyle change that will perhaps go with it.&nbsp; But I am definitely NOT looking forward to unpacking all those boxes, organizing everything, and buying all new furniture.&nbsp; Maybe selling everything I had wasn't such a great idea, after all!So this ends another trip, another great experience, that was wonderful for perhaps different reasons than previous trips.&nbsp; France was memorable, but probably more for the time spent in Sarlat, and the copious amounts of pastries consumed, than anything else.&nbsp; I don't have too much desire to return to Normandy, and have much less desire to return to Amboise.&nbsp; Toulouse merits a return visit, not really for its sights, but to enjoy the buzz and lifestyle.&nbsp; I thought it was funny that Naoual mentioned Toulouse as being a city she could live in, because I wholeheartedly agree.&nbsp; It's one of those fairly rare places that would be more fun to live in, rather than visit - big enough to have a nice buzz, but not too big.&nbsp; Plus, with the beautiful south of France weather, beautiful French women who look a bit Spanish, beautiful French food, and the beautiful French language, what's not to like?And of course, Spain ... what can I say about this country that I haven't already said a hundred times before?&nbsp; I've run out of superlatives years ago, and it's quite possible that such superlatives don't even exist to adequately describe this phenomenal country.&nbsp; I'm no longer sure if this overwhelming desire to travel is actually about seeing the world, or if it's about always needing to return to Spain or countries that share similarities with Spain.&nbsp; Seeing the world may only be a byproduct of this, albeit a very nice one. &nbsp; Who knows ... but whatever the reason truly is, it still results in some beautiful and incredible moments.&nbsp; Whatever it is that I seem to be needing, whatever it is that I am lacking, it's usually out there while I am traveling, and is present everywhere in Spain - it's the land of infinite mojo!&nbsp; And yes, the senoritas are still by far Spain's largest draw, but there is just something about that country that calls to me.&nbsp; Perhaps it's the voices of millions of Spanish women seemingly chanting in unison, in a manner redolent of such impossibly cute Spanish sweetness ... but it could also be that being in Spain assuages that voice inside that sometimes murmurs "You're still not living the life you were meant to live."&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; So what might that life be?&nbsp; I still haven't figured that out, but it likely involves drinking lots of cafe con leche, basking in the Spanish sun, continuing to improve my Spanish, and with that, continuing to improve my chances with the senoritas :)&nbsp; This past trip to Spain was the longest since my first visit there, and it was incredible.&nbsp; It was the first time I've really been fully immersed in the language, with no need to speak even a single word of English, though it was only for the first week of the trip.&nbsp; I'm still merely a tourist in Spain, but this time it felt like ... home ... like I'd finally made a connection with the people.&nbsp; It really makes me wonder ... what would it be like to live here?&nbsp; I've always toyed with the idea, but as more of a joke than anything else.&nbsp; Perhaps it's time to seriously entertain the thought, especially since I've now discovered so many great places up north.&nbsp; I've always known that I would love living in Barcelona or San Sebastian, but now know that La Coruna or Santander would also be awesome places.&nbsp; It'll probably need to be somewhere close to the ocean, so any of the aforementioned cities would do ... proximity to beautiful Spanish senoritas is of course paramount, but that's a given anywhere in Spain.&nbsp; Living in Spain has always been just talk, so we'll see if it develops into anything more.&nbsp; Maybe next summer, it won't be another "Going to Spain" blog, but a "Moving to Spain" one.So as always, the final blog entry needs to end off with a song that will forever be linked with that particular trip.&nbsp; Usually, the choice of song makes itself apparent at some point during the course of the trip, through an experience or epiphany.&nbsp; Other times, it isn't clear what the song will be until I return home, and have time to digest the experience.&nbsp; But this time, like last year, I knew what the song would be even before leaving the country.&nbsp; And also like last summer when there were two songs, it's also by ... Jimmy Eat World!&nbsp; "I'm alone in this, I'm all as I've always been, Right behind what's happening" - those lyrics so perfectly describe that feeling of never knowing what's going on, and of always being one step behind everything.&nbsp; It's that feeling of realizing something a little to late, and going "Huh ... I wish I knew that <i>beforehand ... "&nbsp; In a way, the name of the song is also fitting - because no matter what, some how, some way ...&nbsp;my heart&nbsp;will <i>always be&nbsp;in Spain. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Always Be Could've been a night like any otherOne of us has to driveOne of us gets to thinkI'll force a laugh to break the silenceIt's gonna get harder stillBefore it gets easyYou can't keep safe what wants to breakI'm alone in thisI'm all as I've always beenRight behind what's happeningShe's all lost in thisShe's a light she'll always beA little far for me to reachI was just a boy like every otherI thought I was something fierceI thought I was ten times smarterLove would be something that I just know(Something I just know)How you gonna know the feeling till you've lost itI've been losing plenty sinceI'm alone in thisI'm all as I've always beenRight behind what's happeningShe's all lost in thisShe's a light she'll always beA little far for me to reachMaybe something else I'm missingSomething good and you're the reasonIt's a dream but there's a real world waitingI'm alone in thisI'm all as I've always beenRight behind what's happeningShe's all lost in thisShe's a light she'll always beA little far for me to reachI'm alone in thisI'm all as I've always beenRight behind what's happeningShe's all lost in thisShe's a light she'll always beA little far for me to reach
]]> A threesome with two hot chicks — Amsterdam, Netherlands http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/6/1216348800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/6/1216348800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/6/1216348800/tpod.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:03:58 -0500 The Tradition Continues: Five Consecutive Summers in Europe
Amsterdam, Netherlands

I woke up and was greeted by Laurence, after he had returned from his morning run - "Good morning!" he said, as he offered me a handshake with his sweat-soaked hand ... I didn't want to be rude, but eeeewwww ...The three of us grabbed breakfast together, and then I went back to the room to throw some things into a daypack, before heading out.&nbsp; I got into the elevator, just as a group of guys ran out giggling.&nbsp; I thought nothing of it, until I stepped inside and noticed the foul, noxious odour - somebody let a big one rip, and it wasn't pretty!&nbsp; I said to myself "Screw this!" and decided to walk down the three flights.&nbsp; But apparently this elevator had it out for me, because as I arrived on the floor below, the elevator door opened, and I caught another whiff of the toxic gas.&nbsp; The funny thing was that there was no one waiting for the elevator on that floor, so there was no reason for the elevator to stop there, unless it purposely wanted to torture me!&nbsp; As I stepped down onto the ground floor, the same thing happened - nobody there, and still no reason for the elevator to stop and open its doors, and no reason for it to subject me to its deadly contents, once more.&nbsp; Sigh ... what can you do?&nbsp; First stop of the day was the Coster Diamond factory - they offer a free tour and of course, there is a sales pitch that goes along with it.&nbsp; What do you expect?&nbsp; They offer guided tours in dozens of languages, and I ended up with a guide from Sweden.&nbsp; I was surprised to learn this, because she had absolutely NO accent.&nbsp; Perhaps I should have asked for a Spanish-language tour, then maybe I would have had a Spanish tour guide ...After, I browsed through some high-end shops near Museumplein - there were no $10 t-shirts for me there!&nbsp; It started to drizzle as I walked over to De Pijp - there's a certain elegance here in Amsterdam that makes a light rain quite pleasant.&nbsp;&nbsp;I took a quick walk through the Albert Cuypmarkt again, and then headed over to the Hollandsche Schouwburg (Dutch theatre) - it's a quick stop, as there isn't a whole lot to see there, but it's still a very important historical site.&nbsp; When the Nazis took over, they changed it to the Jewish theatre, and it became the only place in town where Jewish performers or patrons were allowed access to.&nbsp; It later became a gathering point for Jews that were to be sent to a nearby concentration camp.&nbsp; I hopped onto a tram for the Jordaan, where I had hoped to visit the Noordemarkt - it's only open certain days and it was closed the first time I tried last April.&nbsp; And today ... it was again closed :(&nbsp; On the tram ride over, I noticed a market over at the Waterlooplein and considered seeing that instead, but chanced it and missed out on both.&nbsp; It's alright, it's just another excuse to one day return to Amsterdam :)&nbsp; But still, the Jordaan is a great place to hang out&nbsp;... The&nbsp;Stedelijk Museum was closed in preparation for a new&nbsp;exhibit,&nbsp;so I went&nbsp;straight to the Electric Ladyland museum.&nbsp; It sounds more like a nickname for the&nbsp;red light district, but it's actually a museum&nbsp;of&nbsp;fluorescent art.&nbsp; It's a small museum, and the door remains closed while the owner gives tours in the basement, so I listened to music on a nearby&nbsp;bench until he was finished.&nbsp; It's&nbsp;trippy, and perhaps the most unique museum I have ever&nbsp;visited.&nbsp;&nbsp;Apparently,&nbsp;1/5 of the world's fluorescent rocks are found in New Jersey, and the owner kept making humorous jokes at New Jersey's expense.&nbsp; He's a pretty entertaining guy.I wandered around Kalverstraat and the Dam area before returning to De Pijp for dinner.&nbsp; The&nbsp;Javanese/Surinamese place&nbsp;was packed again, so I went to Cambodja City, which&nbsp;was open today.&nbsp; I tried the Fernandes drink,&nbsp;a light, carbonated, refreshing beverage.&nbsp; I thought it was some kind of carbonated juice, but it turned out just&nbsp;to be a soft drink - the&nbsp;green&nbsp;jello colour should have tipped me off.&nbsp; Chicken soup - a light broth with eggs, chicken, bamboo shoots, and tons of cilantro.&nbsp; A perfect dish for&nbsp;the now rainy weather.&nbsp; I was disappointed at first, because I expected Thai-like complexity, where seemingly&nbsp;disparate flavours that should&nbsp;result in something dischordant and cacophonous,&nbsp;perform like a choir singing in perfect harmony.&nbsp; But soon after, I had no complaints - it was comfort food, a simple but delicious&nbsp;bowl of sweet, flavourful soup.The main course was a Cambodian pancake - the pancake was&nbsp;remarkably crisp (maybe the batter was egg-based?), stuffed with chicken, crisp shrimps, bean sprouts, onions,&nbsp;carrots, cabbage,&nbsp;mushrooms, and it was all served with a side of lettuce.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A rich, thick broth was oozing out of&nbsp;the crescent-shaped pancake - the fresh, vibrant flavours are&nbsp;exactly what delicious Asian food is all about!&nbsp; A great dish, with its numerous contrasting textures.&nbsp; As I ate, I noticed that my nose was longer stuffy - perhaps&nbsp;all the second-hand pot smoke in town has cleared my sinuses?A couple of German girls&nbsp;dining next to me struck up a&nbsp;conversation, asking about the location of an internet cafe.&nbsp; I usually have to make the effort to talk to beautiful European women, so it was a nice change!&nbsp; Too bad it isn't this easy in Spain ... Anyway,&nbsp;both girls&nbsp;are from Hamburg, but one&nbsp;now lives in Holland, and they are both crashing with a friend for a few days in Amsterdam.&nbsp;I wandered around Amsterdam&nbsp;aimlessly, in an attempt to burn off some of the calories from dinner (I overate&nbsp;and felt&nbsp;pretty stuffed, after).&nbsp;&nbsp;There were a few new bunkmates - some dude from Minnesota, and a couple of girls from Long Island.&nbsp; I asked if they were still&nbsp;in&nbsp;university, to which they replied, "Yes, are you&nbsp;still in university, too?"&nbsp; I&nbsp;laughed and said "Hell no!"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
]]> Desert, dessert, both are good when served cold — Calgary, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/7/1232852820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/7/1232852820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/7/1232852820/tpod.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:19:46 -0400 South American Culinary Tour: The End of the Road?
Calgary, Canada

The hostel served up some licuado this morning - not so good and after, my stomach ... ooh ... not good ... Today is my last day in South America - the original plan was to do a day trip somewhere, perhaps San Antonio de Areco.&nbsp; But with that crazy full-body cramp last night, I decided just to take things easy, since I was still feeling a bit wrecked.&nbsp; Instead, I'm just going to be lazy and bum around BA.As I packed up and left the room, the smelly Dutch guy&nbsp;woke up and asked me what time it was.&nbsp; I told him, but seeing that he had slept in the SAME outfit that he'd been wearing the previous two days, perhaps I should've given him some advice and said "Time for you to take a shower!"Off for a walk - Florida was quiet,&nbsp;since it was a Saturday morning.&nbsp; Over to the Metropolitan Cathedral - I&nbsp;had walked over here on our second day in BA, with R&amp;D and Wade, but&nbsp;we never went inside.&nbsp; The cathedral has a much larger interior than you would think, given how it looks from the exterior.&nbsp; Inside were a number of tombs, with familiar&nbsp;names like Chacabuco, Maipu, and Las Heras - many streets in Argentina, and even Chile, are&nbsp;named after these guys.&nbsp; Coincidentally, Chacabuco was&nbsp;the name of the street where the Hotel Puerto Valparaiso was located, and was where you could find the lovely Liszett :)After, I wandered over to Plaza de Mayo, where I found a nice spot in the shade and tried to finish off my book of Neruda poetry.&nbsp; I haven't made much progress, given the amount of time I've been traveling.&nbsp; I suppose that I haven't had much opportunity to read for much of this trip.Most of today's&nbsp;activities consisted of sucking down&nbsp;Gatorade,&nbsp;sitting around, eating, and shopping -&nbsp;the shopping was done mostly for the A/C!&nbsp; I was a little surprised today, because even at 1 PM, it wasn't oppressively hot.&nbsp;&nbsp;Back to the hostel&nbsp;to enjoy some more A/C and&nbsp;free internet.&nbsp; Robert ended up sitting next to me, and asked for help checking his email.&nbsp; OMG!!!It was&nbsp;rather comical if you weren't me, because if you were me, it was&nbsp;torturous and painful.&nbsp;&nbsp;I kid you not,&nbsp;when Robert&nbsp;tried entering the website&nbsp;name, I&nbsp;was asked "Where's the 'H'?", then "Where's the 'O'?", then "Where's the&nbsp;'T'?", and on and on until he finally spelled&nbsp;Hotmail.&nbsp; The worst part for him was that it was an old keyboard, so many of the letters were rubbed off of the keys.&nbsp; I suggested that he find a computer with a newer keyboard, perhaps one that wasn't next to me, but he said he'd just stay.Honestly,&nbsp;I&nbsp;could've just logged him in within 30 seconds, but then some other poor sap would only get sucked into it like I was, so I tried to let him do as much as he could himself.&nbsp; I understand that he's never&nbsp;really used a computer before, but it took him 15 minutes just to get to the&nbsp;Hotmail page, and&nbsp;enter&nbsp;his user name and password!&nbsp;&nbsp;But of course,&nbsp;he entered the wrong password, so he had to go through the entire process again.&nbsp; All in all, it took him 30 minutes to find out that he had exactly ZERO emails.&nbsp; Sigh ...During this whole episode, the guy across from me was smirking - I guess it was&nbsp;karma, because I was quite amused the&nbsp;other night watching some guy trying to help Robert out.&nbsp; I was incredibly frustrated with the whole thing but&nbsp;felt bad, because he's a genuinely nice guy, though incredibly annoying at&nbsp;times.&nbsp; I wondered how he was managing traveling on his own.&nbsp; Trusting, nice, naive ... it's only a matter of&nbsp;time before he gets scammed in South America, if it hasn't already happened.&nbsp; Needing to escape, I went in search of lunch&nbsp;at&nbsp;El Palacio de Pizza. I'd still been feeling run down all day, but was starting to feel a little better after lunch and the OJ.&nbsp;&nbsp;I did some more shopping, not so much because I needed anything, but more because I wanted to stay out of&nbsp;the heat.&nbsp; I popped into the Zara, hoping it would be like the ones in Spain, but it wasn't :(&nbsp; Beautiful, nicely-dressed Spanish women assisting other beautiful, nicely-dressed Spanish women - they should really start charging an&nbsp;admission fee to see that!&nbsp; I'd pay hundreds of dollars for that privilege!&nbsp; They had some great deals on jeans, but I didn't realize they were all skinny jeans until I tried them on - in most cases, they didn't get any higher than my calves before getting stuck.&nbsp;&nbsp;The odd pair that actually made it past my calves, I only tried on just to laugh at how they looked on me -&nbsp;ridiculous!&nbsp; I'll never understand why guys&nbsp;wear skinny jeans - not only are they incredibly uncomfortable and only look good on women, but they will likely compromise&nbsp;your ability to have children in the future!I was feeling very fatigued, mostly due to the dehydration from yesterday, but possibly partially due to poor circulation after trying on&nbsp;all those skinny jeans, so I hid out in Galerias Pacifico, drinking another big bottle of Gatorade.&nbsp; It was green apple-flavoured, and quite nice - it almost tasted natural,&nbsp;unlike the artificial taste of most Gatorade varieties.I wandered around the mall a bit, not really shopping, because everything was so expensive here.&nbsp; It was surprising to find the Cultural Centre&nbsp;Borges inside of the mall, a&nbsp;live performance theatre that also had an art exhibit.&nbsp; You wouldn't think a soulless shopping centre would've had anything remotely cultural inside.I stepped out of the cool, air-conditioned oasis of the mall, and felt a blast of BA's horrid mid-day heat - I immediately turned around and went back inside.&nbsp; I grabbed&nbsp;la merienda,&nbsp;what&nbsp;Argentineans call their afternoon snack, at La Brioche Doree, a big French patisserie chain.&nbsp;&nbsp;I stuck around a while, enjoying the air conditioning, and finally finished off the Neruda book - it took until the last day, but I finally did it!&nbsp; It's not that I didn't enjoy it, it's just that I never got around to it.&nbsp; I'll have to read&nbsp;it again when I get home,&nbsp;this time&nbsp;ignoring the horrid English translations.&nbsp;It's quite disappointing, because now that I've finally got my Spanish&nbsp;back to a&nbsp;decent level, I'm leaving&nbsp;South America.&nbsp; I guess that's a&nbsp;bit of a&nbsp;problem&nbsp;when traveling with others - I never sought out opportunities to speak Spanish, because I didn't need to.&nbsp;&nbsp;It's a shame really, because with a little more time here, I probably could've made a real breakthrough and taken my Spanish to&nbsp;a higher level.&nbsp; Oh well, just another&nbsp;excuse to return to&nbsp;Spain this summer :)&nbsp;Having more time to kill before my flight, I went in search of an internet cafe - I preferred paying for the internet, rather than going back for the free internet at the hostel, and risk having to give Robert another computer tutorial.&nbsp; It's for his own safety - if I had to deal with that again, I'd probably snap and strangle him with the mouse cord!&nbsp; The place I found was a bit more expensive than others, but it had one huge selling point - A/C!&nbsp; I returned to the hostel to get my bag, and walked over to the Manuel Tienda Leon terminal to catch a shuttle to the airport.&nbsp; It was a pretty hot walk, which probably was a bad idea, given how run down and dehydrated I have been these past two days.&nbsp; But I felt like I needed to do some physical activity, since I had been so lazy today.&nbsp; I arrived around 19:00 and could've really used another Gatorade, but the terminal's cafe had just closed.&nbsp;&nbsp;It's funny that they don't even have a vending machine around, since&nbsp;you'd figure it'd be a great money maker, with the number of&nbsp;people they shuttle to the&nbsp;airports.&nbsp; On the ride over, I reviewed and re-sized the photos I took the past few days, and realized that I hadn't done much of&nbsp;anything.&nbsp; There's been a lot of wheel spinning on this&nbsp;trip,&nbsp;with much of it due to poor planning on my part.&nbsp; They say Rosario&nbsp;is a nice city, and I could have seen it had I organized the last&nbsp;week of the trip differently.&nbsp;&nbsp;It's been a great trip, but&nbsp;I was left strangely unfulfilled&nbsp;by the whole experience&nbsp;... I think it's mostly due to the tour.&nbsp; I&nbsp;guess it's just not my type of thing, and felt that there was absolutely no&nbsp;value&nbsp;in it.&nbsp; Ezeiza airport - I realized where all of BA's beautiful women had gone, they were all working here!&nbsp; It seemed like every airport counter was staffed by Argentinean models.&nbsp; I checked in, admired the views, and went to pay my departure&nbsp;fee.The gouging at this airport is unbelievable - a bit bottle of&nbsp;Gatorade in central BA cost about $1.35 CAD, but here, it was&nbsp;over&nbsp;$5 CAD!&nbsp; Given the relative prices for food, that's like paying $10&nbsp;for a Gatorade in Canada.&nbsp; I&nbsp;had enough time to grab a meal before coming to the airport, but decided to wait, since I'd have lots of time to kill before the flight.&nbsp; I regretted that, because I&nbsp;expected a reasonable amount of gouging, but nothing of this ridiculous&nbsp;level!&nbsp; Many of the restaurants were offering a&nbsp;crappy steak sandwich for the same price I paid last night for an excellent ribeye steak.After a day of doing nothing&nbsp;but relaxing and hydrating, I was starting to feel a bit better.&nbsp; After going through&nbsp;security, I bought a big&nbsp;bottle of water to take on&nbsp;board with me, but&nbsp;was instructed to throw it out.&nbsp; This was interesting, because every other airport I have been to allows water on board if it's purchased after the security checkpoint.&nbsp;&nbsp;The on board dinner was a crappy beef stew made with frozen vegetables, and served with rice.&nbsp; The&nbsp;greens in the salad looked suspect,&nbsp;so I only ate the chunks of cheese on top.&nbsp; The chocolate mousse wasn't good, but edible.&nbsp; They had a great entertainment selection on board, with a choice of probably a few dozen movies and TV shows, and a bunch of video games.&nbsp;&nbsp;I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona, hoping there would be tons of Spanish hotties, but there weren't :(&nbsp; Oh well, it was still nice&nbsp;to see the city of Barcelona again!&nbsp; I managed to sneak a few hours of sleep in before landing in Dallas.&nbsp;&nbsp;It was 3 degrees C when we landed, and a blast of cold air&nbsp;chilled me to the bone as I stepped out of&nbsp;the plane into the walkway.&nbsp; If I find 3&nbsp;degrees cold, how will it be when I return to Calgary and its&nbsp;-25 degree weather???&nbsp; I am NOT looking forward to that!I had 4.5 hours to kill in the airport, so I wandered around, did some reading, some shopping, and&nbsp;used one of their free internet terminals.&nbsp; B&amp;H and I had a pretty&nbsp;bad meal here on&nbsp;our way down to Santiago, because we had walked almost the entire&nbsp;length of the terminal and found nothing decent.&nbsp; If only we had walked just a bit further, we would have found a pretty good selection of places, including Einstein&nbsp;Brothers, an American bagel-shop chain.&nbsp; I had never heard of them&nbsp;until recently,&nbsp;when I had&nbsp;seen&nbsp;some wall postings on Facebook between Diane and&nbsp;Hannah (from La&nbsp;Serena), that had made references to it.&nbsp; Feeling&nbsp;full at the time, I thought nothing of it, but later on, I found out that our flight offered no meal.&nbsp; It was a four hour flight, that takes place right over the lunch hour - how could they not give you something to eat?&nbsp; I was glad that I checked, and I hauled ass over to Einstein Brothers to grab something, just five minutes before boarding began.&nbsp; I lucked out and the emergency exit aisle was empty, so I stretched out and relaxed the whole way home.&nbsp; I'll definitely be back to South America, and have plans&nbsp;to return to both Chile and Argentina.&nbsp; It sounds like the distant parts are the most enjoyable, and I wasn't able to get to any of them&nbsp;because I&nbsp;had to be in certain places at certain times.&nbsp;&nbsp;Patagonia, the Argentinean lakes district, the salt flats&nbsp;... I missed out on so much!The problem is that you need too much time to thoroughly explore both countries.&nbsp; With such large distances, it's just not feasible to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.&nbsp; I'll have to think about it some more, but I'm pretty sure my next South American trip will include other more adventurous countries, but I'll still sprinkle in a few&nbsp;bits of Chile and Argentina.I had expected&nbsp;more out&nbsp;of Santiago, and even more out of BA - I guess that's the problem with expectations, because neither of them lived up to them.&nbsp; They could both be nice places to live if you&nbsp;made decent money, but as&nbsp;far as tourists go, I thought they were both only OK.&nbsp;But of course, the biggest disappointment was the lack of female Spanish tourists.&nbsp; Where were they??!??!?&nbsp; How come it took me almost a month of traveling before meeting even one?&nbsp; I cannot answer these questions ... perhaps they can only be answered by some higher power ...It wasn't long before we were approaching Calgary - I'm used to flying in over the&nbsp;north and seeing my neighbourhood, since I'm usually flying back from London.&nbsp; It was neat to fly in over the south, for once.&nbsp; All that snow, and cold ... it made me want to cry!&nbsp; And even worse, I wasn't even made to feel welcome when I returned - I'm used to getting grilled by&nbsp;customs agents from other countries, but I'm unaccustomed to&nbsp;getting grilled by my own!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And so ends another journey - if the current economic situation continues, this will likely be the last one for quite some time&nbsp;... sigh ... there is always a&nbsp;song that forever reminds me of&nbsp;a particular trip, and in this case,&nbsp;there are actually two.&nbsp; If there really will be no return to Spain this summer, then at least I still have the songs I have grown to love over the past few years of traveling.&nbsp; I can just flip on my iPod any time those feelings of claustrophobia and wanderlust take hold - it's&nbsp;amazing how&nbsp;something as simple as a song can evoke memories that are as vivid as the day they were mentally recorded.&nbsp; In an instant,&nbsp;it can take you back to a certain moment, a certain place, a certain&nbsp;feeling ... &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The first song of this trip is one perfect for those long, introspective bus rides through the Chilean dessert - the ideal soundtrack for the kind of soul-searching one does while gazing out at a desolate landscape.&nbsp; Melancholy lyrics, haunting melodies ... the song arouses a sense of longing, a&nbsp;sense of&nbsp;endless searching&nbsp;... it's beautiful, and I love it.&nbsp; Even without listening to the lyrics, the emotion in the lead singer's voice and the music are powerful enough to stir feelings in anybody.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The second song is about losing sight of yourself, and living a life you never wanted.&nbsp; In some ways, I felt a little trapped by the GAP tour, and thought that this type of activity was not me in any way, shape, or form.&nbsp; The themes and words of this song&nbsp;go far deeper than something as trivial as an organized tour, but&nbsp;I still identified&nbsp;with the lyrics.&nbsp; &nbsp;I'll keep hope&nbsp;that I will be in Spain this&nbsp;summer and if not, that sucks, but I'll deal with it.&nbsp; It'll&nbsp;just make it extra special the next time I&nbsp;am able to wander around the globe :)"Cold Desert" by Kings of LeonI'm on the corner, waiting for a light to come on That's when I know that you're alone It's cold in the desert, water never sees the ground Special unspoken without sound You told me you loved me, that I'd never die alone Hand over your heart, let's go home Everyone noticed, everyone has seen the signs I've always been known to cross lines I've never ever cried when I was feeling down I've always been scared of the sound Jesus don't love me, no one ever carried my load I'm too young to feel this old Is it you, is it me Or does nobody know, nobody see Nobody but me"Let me be myself" by 3 Doors DownI guess I just got lost,Being someone else,I tried to kill the pain,But nothing ever helps,I left myself behind,Somewhere along the way,Hoping to come back around to find myself someday.But lately I'm so tired of waiting for you,To say that it's okay, Tell me please,Would you one time,Let me be myself so I can shine,With my own light,And let me be myself.Would you let me be myself?Cause I'll never find my heart,Behind someone else,I'll never see the light of day,Living in this cell,It's time to make my way,Into the world I knew,And then take back all these times that I gave into you.But lately I'm so tired of waiting for you,To say that it's okay, And tell me please,Would you one time,Let me be myself so I can shine,With my own light,And let me be myself for awhile,If you don't mind,Let me be myself so I can shine,With my own light,And let me be myself.That's all I've ever wanted from this world,Is to let me be me.Please, would you one time,Let me be myself so I can shine,With my own light,Let me be myself.Please, would you one time,Let me be myself so I can shine,With my own light,And let me be myself for awhile,If you don't mind,Let me be myself so I can shine,With my own light,And let me be myself,Would you one time,Oooh, let me be myself,Let me be me
]]> Soul sucker — Paris, Île-de-France, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252941252/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252941252/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252941252/tpod.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:06:17 -0400 Back to Spain and France: Where'd My Mojo Go?
Paris, Île-de-France, France

The last day of the trip ... sigh ... like most other trips, it started the same way as other final days - with me crying and screaming like a little baby, and the hostel staff having to drag me out of bed and throw me out into the streets.&nbsp; Luckily for me, I was able to sneak back in and have some breakfast.Crappy croissants, ok coffee, cereal, bread, etc ... nothing special, but enough to get the day going.&nbsp; Got in some final Spanish practice for the trip, sitting with a lady from Madrid and one from Argentina.&nbsp; They left shortly after I sat down, which seems to be a common occurrence with myself and Spanish-speaking women :(A family from the UK took their places - a mother and her two teenage sons.&nbsp; Quite the well-traveled kids - one had been volunteering in Africa, the other working at a camp in the States, and had used the money he earned to travel around there for a while.&nbsp; Sounds like it's been something the parents have encouraged in them from a young age.&nbsp; I managed to dodge the hostel staff and sneak back up to my room to pack - Brent told me that he was reading early this morning, and he dropped his book through the gap between the bunk bed and the wall.&nbsp; He hoped that it didn't land on me, but he said at least it was at the foot of the bed, so it shouldn't have landed on my head.&nbsp; I told him it was no big deal, and that it actually would've been ok had it landed on my head, if it happened to be a Playboy, opened to the centrefold.&nbsp; That wouldn't be such a bad way to be awakened.The plan for this morning was to head over to the Champs-Elysees, but I noticed on the map how close Sacre Coeur in Montmartre was, so this became the first stop of the day.&nbsp; The only other time I've been here it was dull and grey, so any photos I took were converted to black and white.&nbsp; Not this time - the sky was a beautiful blue, something I haven't seen much of in Paris before.&nbsp; A lot of dumb asses here run a bracelet scam, where they approach you and ask to show you a bracelet, which they tie tightly on your wrist.&nbsp; Once they do that, they tell you how much it costs, making you feel obligated to buy it, because getting it off is quite difficult without cutting it.&nbsp; Most people pony up, because they feel guilty.&nbsp; I saw a bunch of these dumb asses milling about, one of them calling to me, and I ignored him.&nbsp; He quickly approached me and grabbed me by the arm - this never ceases to PISS me off!!!&nbsp; Unless this is Spain, and unless you are a beautiful little brunette named Cinthia, Claudia, Elena, Eva, or Isabel, do NOT touch me!!!&nbsp; But if you are, you can touch me all you want :)As soon as he grabbed my right arm, I stopped dead in my tracks, raised the back of my right hand directly in front of his face and firmly shouted "Do not touch me!!!"&nbsp; He let go and backed off.&nbsp; I hate scammers like this, who prey on tourists.&nbsp; Get a life!&nbsp; I know they're trying to earn a living, but there are tons of vendors who work tourist sites like this, working very hard to earn very little.&nbsp; But at least they do it by selling something that people actually want, not by scamming them into buying something they don't want or don't need.After Sacre Coeur, it was off to the Champs-Elysees, in search of some souvenirs, and for a nice stroll.&nbsp; I headed over to the Mercedes dealership - surprisingly, they had apparel and memorabilia from its various racing teams, but nothing from Formula One!&nbsp; Perhaps it's because their car sucks this year. &nbsp; &nbsp; Time for a snack at Laduree - a famous Parisian cafe that I've never had the chance to visit during previous Paris trips.&nbsp; Finally, it happened today!&nbsp; It's famous for its chocolat chaud, hot chocolate described by some guidebooks as being "liquid gold".&nbsp; The restaurant part of Laduree was reserved for those wanting a full breakfast, which I wasn't into having already eaten, and also because the prices were INSANE!&nbsp; They had a little bar where I could have a hot chocolate and on my way in, saw that they had pain au chocolat with pistachios in their patisserie!&nbsp; I've never seen any variation on pain au chocolat before, so I absolutely HAD to try one.&nbsp; But unfortunately, it wasn't possible to get one in the bar area, which I really couldn't understand, since a regular pain au chocolat was readily available, and it was only a matter of walking 10' to grab one with pistachio.&nbsp; Kind of stupid, in a way - another guy also asked for one but was also rejected.&nbsp; Oh well ... maybe next time in Paris! A bit more shopping along the Champs-Elysees, then off to Rue Cler to pick up some lunch picnic.&nbsp; The plan was to bring a picnic to the Champ de Mars, and sit in the shadow of the Eiffel tower.&nbsp; As I approached the tower, I remembered that I have never returned to the Trocadero, so instead had the picnic there.The day had started with much walking and after lunch, the day finished with much more walking - down Rue Rivoli, and an unplanned jaunt through the Tuileries, which was so sunny and beautiful when the sun was out, that it was impossible not to pop in.&nbsp; Naoual had suggested that I have a drink on Canal St. Martin if it was sunny, because it's a very popular spot with locals.&nbsp; But the clouds were rolling in, so I decided against it, as it was supposed to only be good if the sun was shining.&nbsp; The day finished with some shopping at the Forum Les Halles.&nbsp; All in all, it was a long and tiring day.&nbsp; Back to the hostel to pick up my backpack, and it was off to the airport - in a bit of a rush, I didn't have time to pick up any food before boarding the train.&nbsp; Luckily, I had the chance to buy a big bottle of water beforehand, because it was HOT on board - packed with people leaving work and heading back home, out to the suburbs.&nbsp; Funny moment - there was a South African couple on the train, with the husband complaining about how much his wife packed.&nbsp; "Next time we're packing ony a g-string!"&nbsp; Charles de Gaulle Airport - for some strange reason, it feels like I've visited this airport before, though I'm almost positive I've never been here.&nbsp; Maybe it's just deja vu.&nbsp; I checked in, only to find that the flight had been canceled, due to mechanical problems - the plane we were supposed to take was coming from Vancouver, from where it hadn't even departed.&nbsp; We were all to be put up in a hotel nearby for the night, and catch an early flight out.&nbsp; I'll never complain about extending the vacation for a day, even if it means having a night out in the middle of nowhere.&nbsp; Given the volume of people on the flight, I had hoped that they would run out of rooms and tell me "Sorry, but we're going to have to put you in a dorm room where the Spanish women's national pillow fighting team is staying, and conducting an all night practice."&nbsp; A man can dream, can't he?&nbsp; &nbsp; On the bus ride from the airport to the hotel, some extremely self-absorbed, money-hungry lady sat next to me.&nbsp; She was pissed off at the delay, which is understandable, but all I heard was yapping about "I'm a contractor and am losing SO much money by not working tomorrow.&nbsp; Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!&nbsp; I'm never flying Air Transat again!&nbsp; Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!"&nbsp; Sorry lady but if you're all that rich, you wouldn't be flying a low-end charter airline like Air Transat!&nbsp; I managed to switch the direction of the conversation to the point of her trip, and actually got some decent information about Corsica.&nbsp; Long on my list of places to visit, perhaps meeting this lady is a sign that I need to hurry up and visit Corsica.&nbsp; Because I really can't say meeting this lady added anything to my life, only sucked away a bit of my soul, so hopefully some good can come of it! &nbsp;&nbsp; The hotel is actually pretty decent, a business-class place.&nbsp; Dinner wasn't scheduled to be served until late, probably because we had slammed the place, even with several hours of notice of the flight cancellation.&nbsp; I killed time before dinner by watching music videos, watching the Spanish-language channel, cutting my toe nails, and washing a pair of undies, since I didn't account for the extra day tomorrow.&nbsp; An exciting evening out in the boonies!&nbsp; I had asked the receptionist if there was a nearby town I could walk to, and was told 'Yes ... but there is nothing interesting there, not even a bar."&nbsp; In comparison, toe nails and undies sound like a blast! &nbsp;&nbsp; I ended up sitting with a couple from Calgary, who tired of the rat race and moved out to Victoria a few years ago.&nbsp; Nice, friendly, and people who seem to realize that happiness is about following your dreams, and not defined by the number of zeros in your pay cheque, these are the type of people that make traveling worthwhile, when you have the good fortune to meet them.&nbsp; Unlike a certain other soul sucker encountered earlier today ... Anyway, I completely forgot their names, but they'd just done a tour of Italy, France, and one of my faves, Croatia.&nbsp; Hearing them talk about Dubrovnik made me eager to return - next summer, anyone?&nbsp; We also got on the subject of Zadar, and it's sea organ - a pretty cheesy attraction, but it was nice to see that someone else thought it was as amazing as I did!&nbsp; See blog entry entitled "Am I hearing things, or is the sea speaking to me?" http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/europe_2006/1157013960/tpod.htmlThough they did bring up something I don't remember - apparently there was a large digital display near the sea organ, on the ground.&nbsp; When you step on it, visual effects are created.&nbsp; I think I've found yet another reason to visit Croatia again, beyond the gorgeous Adriatic Sea, beautiful scenery, and gorgeous Croatian women.&nbsp; Just for reference, on my list of "Countries with the most beautiful women", of course Spain is #1, Argentina/Uruguay are tied for #2, and Croatia, The Netherlands, and Poland are close behind in a tie for #3.&nbsp; Some OK wine was served with dinner, and the starter was a prosciutto and cheese salad - not too bad, though the balsamic dressing was a bit too sweet.&nbsp; The main course was salmon, served with a cream sauce and some very bad,mushy veggies.&nbsp; Dessert was a choice between chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and some fruit salad.&nbsp; The starter and desserts weren't bad, but the main course wasn't so hot.&nbsp; After dinner, a guy stood up and said he wanted to make a toast - he gestured to a couple sitting across from him, and said that his best friend and his fiancee were supposed to get married tomorrow.&nbsp; With the delay, they weren't sure how it was going to happen.&nbsp; Ok ... I had my doubts, because I saw the groom at the airport with his buddy, and the bride at the airport with her friend, and the two sets of friends certainly didn't seem to know each other.&nbsp; After people began scattering for the evening, they started calling people over.&nbsp; People started asking them details of what happened, and something definitely wasn't right.&nbsp; When someone asked how they met, the truth finally came out - they had only met today, and the guy's friend decided to play a big joke.&nbsp; The female half of the Victoria couple looked a little distraught thatthey had perpetrated this type of joke, probably because she seems like a bit of an idealist.&nbsp; For a pessimistic realist like myself, I just went "Meh, whatever!" A practical joke about a fake wedding ... how wrong is that?&nbsp; What kind of person would do something like that?&nbsp; Hmmm ... see blog entry entitled "Surprise!&nbsp; We got 'Mary-ed'!" http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/euro-2007/1189018680/tpod.htmlThe two sets of friends kept drinking wine, going around looking for the half-empty bottles scattered about.&nbsp; I went back to the room to relax.&nbsp; Some European artist named Milow re-made 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology", and I'm sorry to say that I watched the video while cutting my toenails.&nbsp; Sorry, but that being such a horrid song, how could anyone be inspired to re-make it?&nbsp; It's an acoustic version, and I couldn't decide which was more terrible.&nbsp; Shockingly, the re-make hit #1 in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany.&nbsp; I still can't comprehend the motivation behind it ... it's like finding a steaming pile of dog crap on the sidewalk, and trying to turn it into a chocolate cake!
]]> A familiar face — Paris, Île-de-France, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252854843/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252854843/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252854843/tpod.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:36:59 -0400 Back to Spain and France: Where'd My Mojo Go?
Paris, Île-de-France, France

It's the last full day of the trip ... sigh ... but a good thing for me is that I'll be seeing a familiar face today in Paris - Naoual, who I met in Prague three years ago.&nbsp; It's always nice to see somebody you know while traveling even if it's at the very end of a trip, because the solo backpacker life can be a bit solitary, at times.&nbsp; It was interesting how this came about - I ended up meeting up with her in Paris three years ago at the end of that trip, and we emailed a few times after, but simply lost touch.&nbsp; I was debating whether or not to contact her this time around, not sure if she even remembered me, but lo and behold - I get a friend request on Facebook at the beginning of the trip while I was in Spain.&nbsp; C'est la vie!&nbsp; At the time, Naoual was actually in Morocco visiting family, and made the comment that we weren't so far apart, which I thought was quite coincidental, since we hadn't spoken in so long. &nbsp;&nbsp; It was a quiet morning, with time spent watching Tom &amp; Jerry cartoons in French, before having breakfast at the usual spot in front of the TI.&nbsp; This spot will forever hold special meaning for me, as I've shared many beautiful, intimate moments with pastries here in Bayeux ... The Edmonton couple I met yesterday was raving about cafe creme, so I tried it at the hotel's cafe.&nbsp; The only difference I could see was that it had less milk than a cafe au lait - it was good, but no better or worse than a cafe au lait.&nbsp; For some strange reason, I suddenly realized "Crap!&nbsp; I forgot to buy saffron in Spain!"&nbsp; Perhaps it was because drinking coffee on a sidewalk cafe in France made me think about cafe con leche in Spain.&nbsp; Saffron from Spain is considered the best in the world, and is yet another excuse for me to return to Spain next year.&nbsp; Usually, if you buy a certain amount of them, they throw in another little container of it.&nbsp; I'm hoping that if I buy a few thousand pounds of it, they'll throw in a little Spanish wife for me :)&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; I lingered over the coffee before checking out, as I was in no rush to get to the train station.&nbsp; I arrived well before the scheduled departure time, and killed some more time - there's no better way to do this in France than to eat!!!&nbsp; On the train - there was a nice lady sitting next to my reserved seat, who kindly told me that it looked like the seat was reserved, thinking that I had just walked on looking for a spot.&nbsp; Or maybe she was just revolted by the sight of my still somewhat crusty pie eyes, and was afraid it was contagious. &nbsp; Today and tonight was supposed to be spent in a small town named Honfleur, but I've grown tired of all the small French towns recently, and decided to spend my final night in a livelier place - Paris was exactly what the doctor ordered!&nbsp; The train ride to Paris was scenic, and given how windswept the region is, I was surprised that there aren't more wind farms in Normandy.&nbsp; Paris - I checked into the Vintage Hostel, which was a lot better than I expected, given the mediocre reviews on the Internet.&nbsp; It's got decent facilities (kitchen, internet, TV lounge), and the rooms are fairly clean.&nbsp; There aren't any lockers in the rooms, but some are in the luggage storage area, which is a bit of a pain to use.&nbsp; I had a quick chat with Brent, a young American moving to a small town near Paris for a few months, to teach English.&nbsp; He's doing a bit of sightseeing in Paris before making his way over there.&nbsp; He asked me how I liked Spain, and our conversation went like this:Me:&nbsp; "I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Spain!!!"Brent:&nbsp; "My buddies loved it too!"Me:&nbsp; "Did they mention the women?"Brent:&nbsp; "Yup!&nbsp; But they only said they were beautiful, but didn't really describe them."Me:&nbsp; "Do you like cute little brunettes?"Brent:&nbsp; "I think that'll be alright!"Me:&nbsp; "Then you'll also LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Spain!!!"Having time to kill before meeting Naoual, I was off to the Marais for a stroll - Paris has many great walking areas, but the Marais is one of the few neighbourhoods that remains bustling even on a Sunday.&nbsp; I started out at the Bastille, then made my way over to Place des Vosges - it's funny, because I've been here at least three times before, and the past two, I've never remembered what it looked like, until I got close and realized "Ohhh ... THAT'S Place des Vosges ..."After the Jewish Quarter I continued wandering around, surprised at how closely-located everything is in this amazing city.&nbsp; I arrived in Naoual's neighbourhood early, Gaite, because I had no idea how long the metro ride there would be.&nbsp; We agreed to meet at the metro, and it was a funny moment - she arrived at one entrance, and I was at another, across the street.&nbsp; There was that moment of uncertainty, as she looked at me, unsure who I was, and I looked at her, unsure of who she was - this went on for a few seconds until she made a hesitant half-wave at me, and I did the same, kind of like "I <i>think <i>that's you ..."Funny - this and the last time I saw her in Paris, she had just changed jobs and moved apartments.&nbsp; She lamented over how much of a pain moving is, and I could completely sympathize with her, given my recent problems with moving.&nbsp; We walked around, and it was quite chilly, especially without a jacket.&nbsp; Apparently, Paris was almost 30 degrees just a few days ago, but not today!&nbsp; We grabbed a drink, her opting for some wine, and me opting for a pastis - apparently, only old people drink pastis in France, which explained why those French people sitting next to me at the restaurant in Sarlat were so happy to see me drink it!&nbsp; After, we wandered around in search of dinner, deciding on crepes - does it get any more authentic than crepes, for a final night in France?Crepes are a specialty of Normandy, but I never did sample them while there - Naoual remembered dining at this particular crepe joint several years ago, and remembered it being good.&nbsp; Plus, many restaurants are closed Sunday night, so we didn't want to continue aimlessly wandering for nothing - though I enjoy that greatly while by myself, I prefer to sit and chat when I have company.&nbsp; The place dishes out crepes in record time; our meals arrived in only two minutes.&nbsp; I can't even comprehend the physics of how that it is possible, given that everything appears freshly made.&nbsp; Even Naoual was shocked, even though she'd been here before.&nbsp; It was great to catch up with Naoual, though perhaps it wasn't really catching up, since we never really got to know each other all those years ago.&nbsp; It's always difficult when you meet as traveling vagabonds, because there's never much of a chance to talk, as there's always an end date to it.&nbsp; The subject of Trevor did come up, a guy we all met that night in the hostel in Prague.&nbsp; Neither of us heard from him ever again, and she mentioned that she was a bit weirded out by him, because he had mentioned to her that he was a member of some cult.&nbsp; Interesting ... We walked back in the direction of her apartment, and she pointed me towards La Tour Montparnasse, where I could hop the metro back to the hostel, without having to transfer lines.&nbsp; I'd never seen the tower before, but it's quite striking, because it towers so much over every other building in the immediate vicinity.&nbsp; We said our goodbyes, and this time, I promised to stay in touch more than I did.&nbsp; Who knows, maybe I'll even see her next year, since there's talk of doing that big Euro trip with the boys in the summer.&nbsp; Back to the hostel, hoping that Brent was around so that we could grab a beer - he was already asleep, so the only drinking I did was from my big bottle of water, while writing in my journal.&nbsp; Off to bed ... the final sleep of the trip ... sigh ...
]]> Les goddams!!! — Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Basse-Normandie, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252682100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252682100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252682100/tpod.html Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:15:54 -0400 Back to Spain and France: Where'd My Mojo Go?
Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Basse-Normandie, France

Breakfast was once again pastries, and once again, it was cold eating them out in front of the TI, which has become my pastry-eating place - the problem with the town is that there aren't many conveniently-located plazas with benches to sit on, so the TI ends up serving that purpose for me.&nbsp; Off to the shuttle to Mont St. Michel - our driver is actually from Montreal, but moved here many years ago.&nbsp; I ended up sitting next to a nice older couple from Edmonton - we discussed our various travels, and how they had fallen in love with rural life here in France, and how they'd like to retire here, perhaps running a Bed &amp; Breakfast.&nbsp; I recommended they do that, so that I could spend my holidays here in France at their B&amp;B, and they could spend their holidays at my future Spanish hotel.&nbsp; Mont St. Michel - on its own, it's not the most impressive abbey you will ever see, but tres cool because of its stunning location.&nbsp; The interior isn't anything special; Mont St. Michel is all about the view from the causeway, from where it's an otherworldly vision.&nbsp; After, I walked along the ramparts to escape the tourist hordes below - the crush of tourists is completely suffocating, and seeing it up close made me glad that I didn't stay nearby, and instead day-tripped from Bayeux. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; After touring the tiny town, I sat with the Edmonton couple on some rocks, waiting for the shuttle, then boarded and headed back to Bayeux.&nbsp; I didn't have a chance to eat lunch at Mont St. Michel, only snacks, so I was starving by the time we returned, so I stopped in a fancy tea house for a quick bite to eat.&nbsp; After, I wandered around town, did some shopping, and proceeded to check out the offerings at five other pastry shops.&nbsp; I can't stop doing that while in France!!!&nbsp; Off to see the tapestry, Bayeux's most famous sight.&nbsp; The artwork is the equivalent of finger painting, but really, it is impressive because it was made over 1000 years ago.&nbsp; It's the story of William the Conqueror's rise to power.&nbsp; Sadly, the most interesting facts for me were that William was originally called "William the Bastard" (how's that for a name?), and that the French called the English "Les goddams", after the word they always heard the English use.&nbsp; Hey, I've never pretended that I travel to learn history, I've always been honest about traveling for food, beautiful Spanish women, and having funny stories to tell!After the tapestry, I toured the inside of the cathedral - nothing special there.&nbsp; I had earlier seen a pair of shoes I liked, and returned to the store to try them on.&nbsp; Unfortunately, they weren't the right size for me, but the salesgirl was - a short, cute little mademoiselle that was positively Spanish senorita-esque!&nbsp; Sometimes I REALLY wish that I spoke French ...I couldn't resist having another pastry before dinner, even though the past few days I have spoiled my appetite by doing so.&nbsp; Determined to regain my appetite before dinner, I took a long walk, well over an hour long.&nbsp; I made it to the outskirts of town, over to Place Charles de Gaulle, and the British Cemetery.&nbsp; Back in the centre of town, I once again had trouble on deciding where to have dinner, but eventually ended up at L'Assiete Normand - bastards!!!&nbsp; Once again, the single diner is discriminated against.&nbsp; "Sorry, we have no room.", just before a few more walk-ins were seated.&nbsp; Yeah ... sure ... I wandered around some more, looking and looking for a place to eat, but again, nothing jumped out at me.&nbsp; Tonight was the time for something simple, so I ate at Pizzeria le Florentine.&nbsp; Once again, I overate, a very common theme here in France.&nbsp; I waddled around town again, having another early night.&nbsp; I prefer my Spanish nights of under eating, and wandering the streets until late. &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;
]]> The Longest Day — Bayeux, Normandy, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252595686/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252595686/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252595686/tpod.html Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:14:30 -0400 Back to Spain and France: Where'd My Mojo Go?
Bayeux, Normandy, France

The bathroom in my room has an odd odour ... I have no idea why, since it's only got a shower stall and a sink, and the toilet is down the hall.&nbsp; Maybe it's smelly gases backing up through the drains, or perhaps it's me???&nbsp; Another bad sleep, because I didn't bother with earplugs last night since I had my own room.&nbsp; Some other guests checked out quite early, fumbling around with their luggage, and some irritating seagulls woke me up way too early.&nbsp; Breakfast was at the patisserie just a few doors down from the hotel, the same place where I had the divine St. Eve yesterday evening.&nbsp; The hotel's cafe/bar offered a breakfast for 6 euros, but I didn't feel it was good value, especially when a couple of pastries only cost me just over 2 euros.&nbsp; Though I suppose Pierre-Henri also charged 6 euros for breakfast, but that came with the whole experience of eating in a beautiful garden.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; I ate and waited around for the D-Day tour company to pick me up, along with a Kiwi couple.&nbsp; The tour operator called to advise they would be 20 minutes late, so I grabbed a cafe au lait at the hotel.&nbsp; That and the pastries ended up costing me about 5 euros - still preferable over the hotel's breakfast, as a croissant and bread could not stack up to a pain au chocolat and apricot danish.&nbsp; The van picked us up, and we were off to the German cemetery, for the first brief stop of the day, then to Ste. Mere Eglise.&nbsp; Ste. Mere Eglise is famous because many paratroopers landed off target around the area.&nbsp; D-Day was all about timing - only for a brief three-day period once a month would the invasion be possible, as low tides were needed to invade by sea, and a full moon was needed for the paratroopers to have some lighting.Weather conditions were far from ideal, but Eisenhower made the decision to proceed with the invasion, because missing this window of opportunity would mean waiting another month to invade.&nbsp; Many German factories had been destroyed through earlier attacks, but they were starting to be rebuilt, so the time to invade was now, before they recovered.&nbsp; The exact location of the invasion was kept a complete secret, and even the soldiers did not know where it would be until they landed on the beaches.&nbsp; They only knew that it would be France, because they were given some local currency and a French phrase book. Because of the weather, many paratroopers missed their drop points, and many ended up landing in flooded inland areas, drowning themselves.&nbsp; Timing of the paratroopers arrival was also terrible, as there happened to be a fire in Ste. Mere Eglise that night - normally there was a curfew, so no townspeople and few German soldiers would be out on a typical evening.&nbsp; But the Germans allowed the residents to be out in the streets, fighting the flames, which also meant additional soldiers were around to watch over them.&nbsp; So not only did the flames light up the sky and ruin the element of surprise, but a large number of German soldiers were there to witness it, and as such, many paratroopers were shot and killed before even landing.&nbsp; One of the tour members from the States commented that it was unfortunate that I missed out on the Canadian sights, and it was, but since it's all shared history, it's still a worthwhile experience, either way.&nbsp; Due to my poor planning, I wasn't able to reserve a tour to any of the Canadian sights - you usually need to book a couple of days in advance, so I was lucky to even get on today's tour.Knowing I was Canadian, our guide gave us a bit of info on the Canadian participation in D-Day - Juneau beach was where the Canadians landed, but it was originally named Jelly beach.&nbsp; The Brits named their beaches after fish (ie - Gold, Sword), but the Canadians objected because Jelly didn't sound all that great.&nbsp; So instead, it was named after the Canadian General's wife.Our guide also brought up the ill-fated Canadian-led mission at Dieppe - while none of the major objectives of that mission were accomplished, and also suffering huge casualties in the process, the mission resulted in later successes for the Allies.&nbsp; The Allies learned important lessons and applied them to the D-Day invasion; these lessons ultimately contributed to the successful execution of D-Day. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was a packed itinerary today; after Ste Mere Eglise, we went to Utah beach, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha beach, and finally, the American Cemetery.&nbsp; It ended up being the longest day, especially with the early start, but also because it was so overwhelming - there is so much information to take in, and is quite mentally draining. &nbsp;&nbsp; After returning to town and having a snack, I popped over to a souvenir shop that runs a couple of Internet terminals.&nbsp; Seeing a couple of girls struggling with the French keyboard, I pointed out that you could easily change that by clicking on an icon at the bottom right hand corner of the screen, or use a couple of short cut keys to toggle between languages.&nbsp; It was funny how grateful they were for that simple tip - trust me, they'll save tons of money on Internet time with those simple tricks.&nbsp; I've wasted a lot of time in Internet cafes before finding out those tricks.&nbsp; I later ran into them at the grocery store, where they were standing over the freezer section, debating whether or not they should have ice cream for dinner.&nbsp; You can tell it's their first time traveling on their own, and on such an extended trip.&nbsp; They reminded me of that group of three American girls from Barcelona because they were so excited just to have the chance to travel, and it definitely puts a smile on my face to see young people like that traveling and discovering the world. &nbsp;&nbsp; Back to the hotel for a bit of relaxing, and then off to find dinner, which was a very difficult choice tonight.&nbsp; Shall I have a sit-down meal, a kebab, or maybe a crepe?&nbsp; I was hesitant to make a choice, because of the disappointments I've had lately, and none of the menus around town seemed to jump out.&nbsp; I finally chose a place called "Le Petit Normandie". After dinner - I was too full again, and I needed a walk.&nbsp; I heard some French women practicing their Spanish which, quite frankly, made my night!&nbsp; They are the two most beautiful languages, and combining them is always a treat to hear.&nbsp; The walk didn't last long, as it was very cold and windy tonight.&nbsp; Back to the hotel for some reading, TV, and more smelly bathroom odours.&nbsp;
]]> A horrible mistake — Bayeux, Basse-Normandie, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252509275/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252509275/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/9/1252509275/tpod.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:10:25 -0400 Back to Spain and France: Where'd My Mojo Go?
Bayeux, Basse-Normandie, France

This lychee yogurt I've been eating is pretty good, but seems a bit odd eating it in the morning, as it's more dessert than breakfast.&nbsp; A cheese sandwich and apple juice rounded out the meal.&nbsp; The hostel serves breakfast for 3 euros, including cereal, coffee, tea, milk, OJ, bread, jam, and butter.&nbsp; Not a bad value relatively speaking, with the variety offered, but I prefer having my yogurt.&nbsp; Off to the train station - a pretty cool day, shorts were not the best choice.&nbsp; SCNF, the French national rail company, has the cutest little jingle that they play before they make announcements at the train station.&nbsp; The only thing cuter would be the same "da da da da" in Spanish!&nbsp; You can hear the jingle at the start of this video:&nbsp; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv4SYg2nOXoI'd almost forgotten about this until I returned to France this time around.&nbsp; I now associate "da da da da" with France and therefore French pastries, so I have a Pavlovian response any time I hear it, and drool uncontrollably, imagining pain au chocolat, pain au raisin, croissant, macarons ...I passed through Paris just to change trains, on my way up north to Normandy.&nbsp; It was a bit of a pain, as I needed to change train stations as well, from Gare D'Austerlitz to Gare St. Lazare - I ended up doing so by metro, but it probably could also have been been done by RER (Paris suburban commuter rail), perhaps saving me the cost of a metro ticket.Having time to kill before my connection, I wandered outside the station, in search of a cafe au lait and a pastry.&nbsp; There weren't many decent options, so I ended up at what looked like a chain patisserie.&nbsp; Things are getting expensive in France, as train travel isn't cheap, and I'm also doing a few tours from Bayeux, which will add significantly to the cost.&nbsp; Of course, all these gourmet meals are unnecessary and I could save by eliminating those, but ... well, I'd never do that!&nbsp; Bayeux is ... cold!&nbsp; After checking in, the first order of business was to book a tour to the D-Day beaches for tomorrow.&nbsp; The whole point of coming here is to use it as a base for day trips.&nbsp; After, a quick walk around the town - there isn't a whole lot here, in terms of making strolling around a great experience, though there are a ton of WWII-related sights.&nbsp; I looked around in a couple of clothing shops, as I am in desperate need for some additional long pants - I've only got one pair of jeans and seeing how the weather has drastically changed up north, it definitely won't be enough. &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I checked out a number of restaurants around town, not really seeing anything that jumped out at me, except for one place I saw at the beginning of the dinner search.&nbsp; I decided that unless I found something better, I would return here.&nbsp; I decided to investigate all the restaurants listed in the guidebook before choosing a place, since it's a small town, and I really had nothing else to do.&nbsp; The final restaurant recommended by the guidebook was La Coline D'Enzo, which happened to be one of the very first restaurants I saw, and was in fact the one I earlier saw that piqued my interest!&nbsp; I probably could've saved 30 minutes off my dinner search since I ended up back where I originally started - but it was a good thing, as I needed to burn a few calories before yet another gorge fest.&nbsp; I don't usually have a set budget while I travel, but I watch what I spend and the trip usually doesn't end up being too expensive.&nbsp; I have the usual odd splurge, but not much more than that.&nbsp; But after this trip, where I'm splurging on food every night, I'm pretty sure I don't want to see the final numbers!&nbsp; As I sat down at the table and got settled, a very cute French mademoiselle approached and asked if I was dining alone.&nbsp; Isn't that every guy's dream, that a beautiful woman just strolls up and sits down?&nbsp; Unfortunately, she was one of the waitresses and was just here to clear away the extra setting :(&nbsp; Overall, the meal was decent, though I found the restaurant tries to be a little too much, and overdoes it with some of&nbsp;with their dishes, obscuring some of the simple flavours, instead of accentuating and letting them shine through.Once again, I ate too much, a very common theme for me in France.&nbsp; Needing a walk, I wandered around for a surprisingly long time, given the size of the town. &nbsp; Some drunk dumbass made a mocking bowing gesture to me as I walked by a cafe - shows a lot of ignorance, as I'm not Japanese and really, a bow is meaningless to me.&nbsp; I should've probably snapped back in Spanish, which probably would have confused the ignoramus even more ...&nbsp; Back at the hotel - a bit of reading, and a bit of TV.&nbsp; I ended up watching a 9/11 documentary, and only then realized that tomorrow would be the anniversary.
]]> Is "Panga Pank" the new "Hanky Panky"? — Kuressaare, Estonia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/euro-2007/1188959160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/euro-2007/1188959160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/euro-2007/1188959160/tpod.html Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:51:15 -0400 Backpacking in the Baltics: How Many "Mary Moments" and "Mary-isms" Will I Witness and Document Before She Kills Me?
Kuressaare, Estonia

I had some trouble sleeping last night - I was coughing and wheezing all night long, and couldn't really breathe.&nbsp; Perhaps my body is breaking down now that I'm 30!&nbsp; Mary Moment #22:&nbsp; Mary screamed in the middle of the night, scaring the crap out of me.&nbsp; And when I started screaming "Mary, what's going on???", she wouldn't answer me.&nbsp; Probably having nightmares about traveling with me ...&nbsp; Breakfast was included at the guest house - pretty standard stuff for this part of the world.&nbsp; There was a Spanish soap opera playing on TV.&nbsp; Telenovelas are so cheesy!&nbsp; But they also have Spanish hotties, so I'm not complaining.&nbsp; We set off to find another car rental agency and managed to&nbsp;get a car.&nbsp; Saaremaa isn't a very big island - we drove around the western side of the island for awhile, then headed back to Kuressaare for lunch.&nbsp; We did a little bit of shopping before heading out to the southern end of the island.&nbsp; It was a bit of a boring day, but there was nothing else to do anyway.&nbsp; On the drive back to town - a couple was standing outside their broken down car.&nbsp; We pulled over and found there was a bit of a language barrier.&nbsp; He started to pull out a short ragged old rope ... uh, no ... I don't think it would have been safe to tow him.&nbsp; We offered a cell phone but they declined.&nbsp; We finally managed to agree to bring the wife to the next town.&nbsp; It wasn't a very pleasant ride as they had obviously been fishing all day ... the wife wasn't exactly minty-fresh.&nbsp; We dropped her off and were on our way.&nbsp; Mary later confessed that she thought they might kill us.&nbsp; I then confessed that I wish they had, because it would've been the most exciting part of the day!&nbsp; For dinner, we went to a tavern located inside of an old windmill.&nbsp; It was a pretty atmospheric place that served pretty good stuff.&nbsp; We couldn't finish the huge portions, but I guess we shouldn't have ordered soups to start.&nbsp; We took a quick walk before heading back to the guesthouse, where we watched an ultra-lame horror flick - Final Destination.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
]]> Mary's Revelation: "I AM A DIRTY GIRL!!!" — Tallinn, Estonia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/euro-2007/1188699720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/euro-2007/1188699720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/euro-2007/1188699720/tpod.html Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:50:07 -0400 Backpacking in the Baltics: How Many "Mary Moments" and "Mary-isms" Will I Witness and Document Before She Kills Me?
Tallinn, Estonia

Knowing that she hadn't eaten dinner last night, I left a few granola bars on Mary's pillow before going to sleep.&nbsp; This morning, she told me she thought "What a great hostel!&nbsp; They leave food on your pillow!"&nbsp; She was a little disappointed when I explained that it was NOT the Estonian equivalent of a mint on the pillow.&nbsp; Mary did a crazy thing last night - she slept with 4 guys!!!&nbsp; Of course, it was 4 guys all sleeping in separate bunks, but that's a minor detail that makes the story less interesting.&nbsp; The hostel serves a good breakfast - toast, cereal, yogurt, ham, cheese, tomatoes, good jam, and juice/coffee/tea.&nbsp; They also had some powdery mix of grains that is supposed to be a traditional Estonian breakfast when mixed with yogurt.&nbsp; I never tried it - but one of the other guests remarked that it tasted like flour mixed with yogurt ... it didn't sound too appetizing.We chatted with a couple from Berlin - they had just visited Saaremaa Island (our next destination).&nbsp; It didn't sound like they found it very exciting when they described it as just being an island of trees.&nbsp; They did give us some tips for areas to stay when we go to Berlin.&nbsp; Off to do some laundry - there was a place conveniently located just down the street from the hostel.&nbsp; Unfortunately, they were swamped and couldn't have our laundry ready until Tuesday - not very good since we leave Tallinn on Monday morning.&nbsp; The lady was pretty friendly and did suggest another place we could try.&nbsp; Unlucky Mary - just before leaving the hostel, she asked if she should put her dirty laundry in a backpack to cover it up.&nbsp; I said no, because it's just down the street.&nbsp; Well, it turned out that the other laundromat was quite a distance away - so Mary had to walk 20 minutes through the touristy (and packed) old town to get to the laundromat, all the while displaying her panties for all to see.&nbsp; Hordes of people were subjected to Mary's "Panty Parade".&nbsp; We found the other laundromat and the laundry Nazis that were employed there.&nbsp; Pat and Mary Asian Circus-Sideshow Freak in the Baltics Moment #3:&nbsp; "NO MACHINE!!!" they barked at us, as they pointed to the bags of laundry on the floor, waiting to be cleaned.&nbsp; Ok ... what did this mean?&nbsp;&nbsp; Should we come back later?&nbsp; "NO MACHINE!!!&nbsp; NO MACHINE!!!"&nbsp; We finally got instructions to return at 7 AM tomorrow morning!&nbsp; It was a terrible start to the day - they were so rude that I wondered if it was racism.&nbsp; But then they yelled "NO MACHINE FOR DIRTY GIRL LIKE YOU!!!" as we left.&nbsp; Apparently, they had heard about the Panty Parade on the news this morning.We walked around Tallinn and finally found a place that could take our laundry.&nbsp; In total, it took us almost 1.5 hours to find a place!&nbsp; After returning our laundry to the hostel (giving Mary another chance to extend the Panty Party), we grabbed lunch at "Kompressor".&nbsp; It's one of the few places in town that isn't ultra-touristy, though it does still get quite a few tourists.&nbsp; There were students hanging out here drinking ... milk?!??&nbsp; It's funny - in most countries, people go out for a beer, but here they go out for a milk!&nbsp; Perhaps that's why Estonians are so tall?Lunch was a great deal at 10 euros for the both of us, and we couldn't even finish it all.&nbsp; It was a day of happy pancakes for me, and happy panties for Mary!&nbsp; Off to the photo museum - nowadays, I tend to find photo exhibits better than art museums.&nbsp; But today I didn't find that to be the case.&nbsp; It was more an assorted collection of old photos taken in Tallinn, than a collection of photos of important historical events.&nbsp; We browsed for a bit and then went to the Dominican monastery.We had dinner at an ultra-tacky restaurant, but only after another experience with a rude person at our first choice of restaurants.&nbsp; What the heck?&nbsp; We tried avoiding the touristy places, but pretty much everything in the old town is tacky and reminiscent of all the bad parts of Prague that I despise.&nbsp; I felt better after sampling the pear cider - wow!!!&nbsp; Light, refreshing, sweet ... kind of like Spanish hotties!&nbsp; Anyway, we were stuffed after.&nbsp; But the highlight of the meal was probably the waitress - quite possibly the cutest waitress in all of Estonia, and VERY probably the shortest waitress in all of Estonia (5'-4" isn't much in this land of giants!)We took a quick walk around town - though it's known for nightlife, there isn't much to see or do in the old town if you're just walking around.&nbsp; That's why I like Spain so much - just walking around at night is fun and memorable there.&nbsp; But if you like strip joints, Tallinn is the place to be!&nbsp; I had a very uncomfortable sleep tonight - I shrunk my sleeping shorts and they were pretty tight.&nbsp; Or perhaps as Mary predicted, my butt grew.&nbsp; Who knows ...&nbsp;
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