Robin's Europe Trip Journal Pt. III

Previously on RETJ: I dabbled in crime and went to an art museum.

Mar. 23/08- Easter!
8:07 AM France Time
1:07 AM Saskatchewan Time

I am very tired. The girls kept me up. I slept shallowly until like one and then I woke up at four because I was so hot. I am not liking this hotel room. Justine, Zoe, Jessica, Nicole, Chelsey, Megan, and I are in a suite which sounds awesome but it's not. There are two sets of bunk beds, a single, and a double. I am on one top bunk which moves everytime I move around. There is one small bathroom and one plug in and one light bulb for seven girls. I showered last night and got dressed this morning in the public bathroom downstairs. People in Avignon are very lecherous. Jessica, Chelsey, and I were using the phone booth outside and it's right on a curve in the road so people would slow down, honk, and yell things in French and/or Spanish. I wish I could understand but sadly, I can't.

There are a bunch of little Italian boys on our floor and they are super annoying. We refer to them as the Italian Stallions. They're loud, they flick the lights on and off, and knock on the door and run away. I'm pretty sure one whistled at me. They're like ten. Everything is different in Europe.

Mar. 24/08
2:21 AM France Time
7:21 PM Saskatchewan Time

So today we went to Palais de Papes, which is a castle where the seat of the papacy was moved for awhile. It's like, this giant castle [as previously mentioned] and it's super cool. We saw a bunch of tombs and stuff. Then we went to Arles and there was this bullfighting festival type thing going on. There were a bunch of stands and we ate at a restaurant where Van Gogh used to eat. I got a Jesus bracelet for Mar and a fan for Kat. I'm tired so I'm going to bed.

Remind:
Arles
Avignon
Aqueduct
Mooning

8:06 PM France Time
1:06 PM Saskatchewan Time

In Arles, there was an aforementioned bullfighting festival. There were bands like every five minutes and it was super crowded and amazing. Avignon was beautiful. There were all these old buildings and cobbled streets. Chelsey, Jessica, Megan, and Nicole got mooned by some random. In the afternoon we saw a Roman aqueduct and we stayed for a surprisingly long time, considering there wasn't much to see at the aqueduct.

Today I had 4-5 hours of sleep. We went by bus to Cassis, which is a little seaside town. the roads are paved with this really nice tile, which is weird. Jessica, Justine and I had to go the bathroom so we left in search of public toilets. I asked someone at an ice cream store by saying, "Ou est les toilettes publique?" Then he gave us directions. He must have guessed we weren't native French speakers because he said his directions slow and repeated them. We got the instructions but couldn't find the toilets (I was proud of myself for understanding). In our defense, the bathroom did not look like a bathroom. These bathrooms were so weird. Everything was automated: the flushing, soap, water, air, and afterwards the bathroom was sprayed with disinfectant so everything was wet. Jessica couldn't get the soap or air to work and she couldn't figure out how to open the door. I couldn't ge the soap working and Justine made fun of both of us. Megan and Nicole went in together so they didn't have to pay as much and they thought the liquid was pee (how they thought it got on the walls and ceiling was beyond me) so they covered the seat with toilet paper which was sprayed again, making it wet and soggy for the next users.

Something I forgot to mention. In Arles, I went to the bathroom and they gave us an allotted amount of toilet paper. It was like five squares, not enough for anything. Mme. Helene said you're supposed to wipe the toilet with it and you get nothing, I guess. Weird.

Anyway. We went on a boat ride at Cassis, and I felt like I did after I watched Cloverfield. I still feel vaguely nauseous. At Cassis we had paninis. Mine had goat meet, cheese, and tomatoes and it was incredible. We fed the pigeons which was great fun. I tried some of Chelsey's rum cake which was saturated with rum. It burned going down. I got marzipan at La Cure Gourmande. Currently, we are sitting in the stopped bus. It broke down on the way back from Cassis. I'm hungry. I last ate at like one. We were supposed to be having a relaxing evening and pack for Barcelona tomorrow. I was planning on having a bath but I guess that's not happening. I'm tired and hungry and I need to pee. The Quebecers are super loud, they move around all the time, and they're kind of annoying. We went to L'atelier de Cezanne, where Cezanne painted. I thought it was a Cezanne art museum, but it was one room with Cezanne's old furniture and some rotten fruit. There was this sad cat there that wanted to go into the atelier but he was thrown out. It was sad.

The bus is finally fixed. They said it would be between 20-30 minutes but I think it's been like two hours.

Mar. 28/08
1:35 AM France Time
6:35 PM Saskatchewan Time

I'm pretty sure I'm missing a whole day here, but I'll talk about Spain. We left Provence on Wednesday. We drove to Carcassone, a medieval village type thing. We saw a real castle from the medieval times and there were a bunch of souvenir shops. I got a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and while this sounds innocuous, it isn't. It came on a massive baguette. I finally got my debit card working in Spain. I could take from my savings so I was rich again and it felt good. Anyway. Then we drove more until we got to a place called Pampignon (possibly spelled wrong.) There we went shopping for like two seconds, visited a church, and then drove on to Spain. In Frnace, we could get by, language wise. We sort of understood people, we could make ourselves understood, and we could read signs and stuff. In Spain it was so hard because we know like five words in Spanish. Luckily, everyone we spoke to spoke English. The shopkeepers are cutthroat. They barter and hound you until you buy stuff.

Mar. 29/08
7:48 AM Ontario Time
5:48 AM Saskatchewan Time

So in Spain we went to this long street called la Rambla whcih has a bunch of souvenir stands, restaurants, and street vendors. We wore our bookbags on the front to avoid pickpokceters and looked like dumb tourists. Jessica was an amazing barterer. My attemp at bartering didn't work, but I have concluded I just had a mean shopkeeper. I was only asking for two fewer Euros. Jessica got 10 off a cross in Barcelona, so it's not like I was being reasonable. At La Rambla, I may or may not have gotten asked for a smoke/gotten hit on. Too bad I don't understand Spanish.

In Spain we went to this giant church that had been under constructions since 1882. We also visited a park that originally was supposed to be like a suburb or something. The park was really nice and had a bunch of street vendors. I wished I could buy from the vendors but Mme hustled us along. Our hotel in Barcelona was a definite upgrade, although the bathroom door was a swinging frosted door so I felt naked while on the can. The food was good though. On the first day the five of us had supper with an American woman and her son, who was 23ish and kind of flirty. The woman inexplicably said we were all really pretty. They asked about the weather and the woman asked if it got up to 80 degrees and Jessica was like, "it usually gets to about thirty." and she didn't realize the woman was speaking in Fahrenheit. I'm confused as to why Jessica didn't think it was weird that the woman pondered if the temperature got to near boiling in Canada and why the woman didn't think it was weird that the weather stayed in the minuses in August. Nicole gave Canadians a bad name when she asked if the US had 56 states, but the son called the provinces providences, so I guess the ignorance evened out. He knew where Saskatoon was, so that was interesting. The next day at La Rambla we saw them again, although I didn't know who they were at first and I wondered why strange tourists were waving at me.

I just read an earlier entry where I said that maybe the snowdrifts would be gone when I went home. Sadly, this is not to be. It has been snowing all week and spparently it blizzarded twice.

I saw Mrs. Zadorozniak on this flight. Random. We are riding Air Canada Jazz again but there are no little TV screens, so now Juno for me. I grow sad.

I finished The Other Boleyn Girl on this trip, mostly in like three sittings. Im liking Justine more. I think since I've become friends with everything and started talking more she's warmed up to me. It's kind of frightening, actually.

I had the best sleep ever yesterday. I was zonked by 8:30 PM and didn't even wake up when Justine came back to the room, and I wake up at ANYTHING. I woke up at 5:30 AM when Zoe elbowed me and tgook my spot and I slept sporadically until 7:30 AM when I was wide awake. I was all ready by 8.

I thought we were going to do something in the 24 hours we were in Toronto but we didn't. It went by fast, even though we just hung out in our hotel rooms.

Note to self:
3 AM wakeup
Jehovah Witness and plane debacle

Okay, so we had to leave the hotel in Barcelona at 3 AM and catch the plane by 7. I slept for a couple of hours beforehand, but the other four didn't so by the time we got to the airport they were half dead with exhaustion. Jessica sounded like she was half drunk and you couldn't make sudden movements, or else she didn't know what was going on. It was hilarious.

On the plane from Frankfurt to Toronto, some people were in my seat and Moen told me to switch places because this little girl was separated from her mom. So I went to find her seat (which was in the middle of the little row in the middle, so in other words, it sucked) and SOMEONE WAS THERE. The guy next to the guy in my seat was super mean so I went back to tell Moen I was not sitting by that asshole and it turns out the seat by Jessica was free so I just sat there. Diagonal from us, the woman who sat beside Jessica was a Jehovah Witness and she was trying to convert Nicole and she said Nicole didn't believe in God because she was a Ukrainian Catholic.

Anyway. It took me a couple of days to recover from the time change. I recall sleeping a lot and going to bed at like 8, but that is a weird twilight time that even now is fading from my memory. Weird changes that have occurred since returning from Europe:

I now go to bed early and can get up early!
I eat breakfast now.

And that is the conclusion of my travel journal. I hope my two readers enjoyed it.