Thursday, March 31, 2005

San Sebastian - dia seis

Got in to San Sebastian at 8:30 in the morning. The whole train ride was effing cold. Cold and colder. Cold air was blowing like November wind from the vent. No couchette. Yeah, and no blanket. What is this bullshit? Curled up in a fetal position and wrapped myself in my fleece as much as possible. Even used my brother as a shield. No go. Still effing cold.

And my coach sounded like a chorus of thunder, lighting, and machine guns. There is snoring, and there is firing BBs by breathing.

So I slept intermittenly all the way to the French border. Saw dawn break over the Atlantic through the coastal towns. Would have enjoyed it much, much more if I weren´t frozen like the Ice Age. Still, it was a beautiful sight to see nonetheless.

At Irun, (I know, world famous town we´ve all heard of) we changed train and ran into some Amerikens, whom I started chatting with like good ol´ friends. Two New Yawkers were heading to Madrid and the girl from San Francisco was going to lay on the beach on San Sebastian, so we hooked up.

SS is a mere 15 minute ride from Irun, and we got there smack monkey booty early in the morning. No one spoke any English, so thank god for my français that saved the day several times. This town, in one word, is beautiful. No, gorgeous. Gorgeous and dead. No one was out, well, that´s kinda an exaggeration, since there were people working and all. But it felt a little empty walking around.

We got our gluteus maximus in shape by walking up to see Jesus. Holy Donostia, the view! My brother whined like a bee eye tee see etch at the steep incline. In fact, he did this most of the day because we walked around uphill most of the day. Super funny kid. When you told me we´d be walking around Europe, you didn´t say uphill! No, it´s all downhill from here on, I promise. Really? Yes, after you walk up.

Oh, and did I mention there were boulders with chalk marks on the way up? YES! CHALK MARKS! YES! BOULDERS. BIG FAT YUMMY LOOKING BOULDERS THAT MAKE ME SALIVATE AND GOT INTO ROCKGASM MODE. There are climbers here. Omg. Can I have a private moment please. Me and sir rock here have some intimate business, so um, turn around.

After ogling at this town from above, we said goodbye to Jesus and made our way down from El Monte Urgull. Laid on the beach and fell asleep within 2 seconds flat. Got a tan on my right cheek only. You don´t get this fakin´and bakin´ baby! The sand was soft, the water blue and clear, the sky blue. What else could a girl ask for? Oh, I know, how about the wind to stop blowing, huh? It was 19 Celsius but the wind chill factor (why yes I do know my meteor terminology) made it feel like 19 degrees Fahrenheit.

After five in the afternoon, the whole town came alive. People were everywhere, playing some sort of tennis looking game on the beach. Zee hawt surfer boys strut their stuff. Groups of teenagers sat around on the beach. Families took stroll on the board walk. It felt so nice. So warm. So friendly. I luv eet.

I could live here. I told Quan.

Wait, maybe not. They don´t seem to have Thai food. So eh... maybe not. But it ain´t half way a bad place to be chillin like a villain. After all, a gorgeous beach front and more bars per capita then anywhere else in Europe, who could resist?


San Sebastian.

Pictures stolen from teh intarweb until our pictures are uploaded. In fact, most of them will look like this album.

Finally, our own pictures

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Pareeeh - day threeh (hey that rhymes eh)

So today, we did absolutely nothing.

Well, nothing considered "touristy" (because, you know, we´re sooooo local already). Woke up late. Lounged around. Listened to music. Hung out with Alex our nephew, who loooooooooves to run around and shrieks at 100+ dBA. Had a nice talk with my brother about life et tout ça. Ate too much brie. Hung out some more. Packed. Planned. I got the trip straightened out, yet once more. The itinerary keeps changing, of course. Got in touch with friends for some fun loving free loading couch crashing around Europe.

Went to visit my cousin, Alex´s mom, in the 13eme arrondissement. Headed to Montparnasse to catch our late night train, just to find out that it was actually leaving from Austerlitz. Stupid Eurail time table. Putain! Merde! Oui oui je jure! Luk aat mee I am giving cigarettes to a babee. Why? Becos I am French!* So we took a bus there just in time to make reservations, got our passes stamped, bought an overpriced panini, and got on the night train to San Sebastian.

Our little walk around this town has just begun.

* Robin Williams reference for those who know

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Paris, jour deux

This morning I woke up just in time to get a call from Seattle from my mom. Are you eating ok, sleeping ok, walking ok, talking ok, dressing ok? Yes, mom, yes, oh, all except for the dressing part.

I seem to have packed all the hobo clothes apparently, according to my mom. I cleaned your room and found all the nice clothes. What did you bring? You better dress nice. Don't look like a hobo at your uncle's house. "Oh, what, you mean I can't walk around in my boxers?" My brother wanted to know. "Oh by the way, mom, my pants have holes in them", I said. My mom hates us, or at least how we play with her.

Lounged around for a while and listened to music while my uncle went crazy. Do you know how to take the Metro? Do you have money? Do you know how to use the key? Can you get in? Have you learned your alphabets? Quan and I were like, let's get outta here before he gets spontaneous human combustion running back and forth worrying about us.

The sky cleared out as we walked around Paris, looking for an English bookstore to buy a guidebook. I was doing what comes natural for a girl: comparison shopping. Hmm which bookstore has a better selection and better price? "Hey, you know what, when people ask me what Paris was like, I'll tell them the bookstores are excellent", my brother said.

Sat in front of the Musée d'Orsay for 45 minutes waiting for Alice and Kuang, and played the "Spin the American tourist" game. It's like that scene from Indiana Jones, The Holy Grail, where Indiana is like, you'll never find him, and you see the guy walking around asking, "do you speak English?"

After lunch we walked to the Arc de Triomph, where two Chinese top secret agents parachuted down to meet us and asked us to perform a top secret mission. We were to buy them Louis Vuitton purses and wallets, because they can only buy 2 per passport. Alice and Kuang went, me and Quan were held at a gunpoint as hostages.

Interpol agents were on the rooftop, talking in their sleeves and recording everything. They entered the store, Alice and Kuang got snobbed out, and agents discovered their identities. Alice hung on to her LV wallets while being dragged on the floor by her hair, kicking and screaming, "400 Euros per wallet, what a bargain!"

Actually, two Chinese women asked if we could buy them LV stuff, and Alice and Kuang got adventurous and were denied, snob style, by the sales people.

Climbed up Arc de Triomph to see all of Paris. Well, more like, to see all of Paris traffic. Other people may go up there for the Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur, Quan and I are up there to watch how six lanes of cars, motorcycles, and bikes merge into one big blob, and how they sort themselves out. Every second is an accident waiting to happen. We were perversely fascinated by that possibility.

It started to rain, and Alice and Kuang were leaving town, so we hung around for a little bit and headed towards the Louvre, where it was closed and there was a private party. The people making the movie "The Da Vinci Code" were there, scoping out the place. So don't forget, when it comes out, I was the original extra cast.

Anyhow this has been a super long day, and there'll be many long days yet to come. I'm signing off here. Tonight we'll take the train down to San Sebastian, and then into Lisbon.

See ya later.

ps. I love bagels.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Paris

In Paree. A wee bit jet lagged. Eating my weight in sugar (mostly bunny chocolate) to stay awake. So much to write. The writer, the starry-eyed dreamer, the wanderluster is fiercely alive. Tout est fermé. It's Easter, so everything is closed. The weather too. It's cloudy and rainy. My brother is severely jet lagging, ie. sleeping like it's still Pacific Standard time.

My dad, paranoid about time as usual, dropped us off just a little early, we only had to wait three and a half hours to board at SeaTac. In my infinite wisdom I left my Lonely Planet book at home. Now it's just a lonely book on the couch.

We'll wing it, I told my mom, I'm sure some nice European guy wouldn't mind my company for a few days. Plus, us American girls have a reputation of being easy. This did not sit well with her, for some reason. Buy a guide there, she said nervously. They don't have bookstores in Europe mom, only bars, and she shook her head at me hopelessly, thinking, where did I go wrong?

The flights from Seattle to Chicago and Chicago to D.C. were bumpy, like a horse ride. Hello, turbulent city. "The Incredibles" were on twice. I caught bits and pieces of it between intermitten sleep bouts, namely when the flight attendants woke me up. Hi, your eyes are closed. You appear to be in deep sleep, but I'm not sure. In any case, tea or coffee?

The long layover in D.C. was sweet, because we got to hang out with Tammy, walking the near empty streets and crashing in one of the few restaurants that were open, which happened to be one of those high class dress-upsy places, where even the servers make you feel like an underdressed hobo.

My uncle picked us up at Charles de Gaule, and he drove us along the Seine, for my brother, really, since, you know, I've been here before, soooo many times, dahhhhling. That bridge! That street! Where I used to run and make fun of tourists. Le pont Mirabeau, which always makes me a poet, stands in the fog, with that ugly steel thing in the background. My brother is so excited, happy as a boundin' sheep, speaking for French that I had heard from him in years. I didn't even know he knew that many French words, even.

My nephew Alex still remembers me from my days of babysitting him. Maybe a little too well. Let's play! You wanna come play? Okay, you stop using computer now, and you come play with me. So, I ate two bars of ice cream, two pounds of chocolate, made houses and cars out of Legos, and played airplane, a game where I pick up a 7 year old boy and spin him around until I am blue dizzy and he falls down giggling, screaming, "again!"

Yeah, and I've spent the day checking emails, mostly from people who might let me sleep on their couches. Oh, and making some small changes on my website. Pretty proud of how I still remember to use the French keyboard. Like I never left. Okay except for the occasional snafus, like, %Hi ,o, so itùs &&M"à and I'm here, itùs so qzeco,e thqt Qlex still re,e,bers ,e: Qnyzqy I love you bye1%

Anyhow my brother's up, so we're gonna grab a taxi and go see Kuang and Alice, who are conveniently in town. Yay!

Later.

"I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now" ~ Edna "E" Mode


Pictures

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Going away

So, tomorrow I'm gonna have a little small au-revoir party before Quan and I start drinking our way through Europe.

If you're in the area, come by Deluxe on Broadway Friday night around 10:30'ish to have some burger and beer and send us off.

Would love to see you.

Cheerios (and milk!)

L-N.

La premiere fois

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Explore. Dream. ~Mark Twain
So this is gonna be my European journal. I'll update as often as possible, so come back often!

Cheerios!