Hell In France

i love paris

2008-08-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

how lovely to have patrick meet me at the airport as i returned to the city of lights. while i thought the drive into the city was a bit unnerving, he said paris was all but empty through the holiday month of august so this congestion was nothing by comparison. we immediately got down to the business of catching up by strolling through le marais and st. germain with requisite cafe stops along the way. following a yummy persian dinner at a restaurant overlooking the centre georges pompidou, i hopped on the metro to meet my home exchange partners elsa and enrique who were also just arriving in paris for a week's holiday.

next day, i bid elsa adieu and met patrick for a full day of ambling about in paris' various quartiers. he took me to one of his favourite restaurants for dinner (le temps des cerises) where anarchists from the '68 riots run the place as a coop. tres interessant!

for my final full day in paris, again more strolling with patrick. this place and its history is fannnntastic! could definitely have stayed on a little longer to breathe it in but home calls and along with it my kitties poirot and zazie!

last play day in barcie

2008-08-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

after bidding my home adieu, i strolled along the now familiar beachfront where serious breezes drove wind surfers to dizzying speeds. i said goodbye to the ocean with the promise that we would meet again soon.

met lisa and clare in placa catalunya for one last burst of power-shopping. we ambled up the gracia area to soak up more fiesta. many normally sedate streets had morphed into frenzied hotbeds of activity what with the community dressing them up in fabulously creative themes. it wasn't unusual to see motifs ranging from beehives to smurfland to a devil's lair decked out in a gigantic papier mache beelzebub so frightfully satanic that a toddler forced to pose for a photo op promptly burst into tears. i can only imagine the community coordination and effort that must've gone into this.

lisa, clare and i soon recruited bink, her sister moo, julia and enric to our little posse. a few leisurely drinks into our visit, we were treated to an award ceremony where julia was celebrated as the bronze trophy winner of her all/day ping pong tournament. never mind the fact that there were only 5 participants, it was brilliant...a quaint slice of life among local barcelonians.

strolling around the fiesta, we turned a corner here and bumped into a jazz band. another corner there took us to an r&b show. we were privy to more gravity-defying human towers and fireworks. julia entertained us all in her quick lesson in the fine distinction between the expressions "quieres pollo" and "quieres polla". while the former means "i want chicken", the latter literally translates as "i want dick"!! it would've been hysterical enough with a deadpan delivery but was doubly so with julia turning in a masterful performance.

one by one, i said goodbye to my new and old friends. wonderful to hang with clare and lisa if only for a short time. will seriously miss julia and her charming eccentricities and disarming wit. now on to paris and a final chapter in my travels.

fiesta de gracia

2008-08-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

since it was the holy day of gracia, everything was closed but lisa, clare and i nonetheless walked around everywhere and i proudly showed them my favourite spots. by the time we met my aussie friend bink and spanish friends julia and enric, we were ready for our second wind to kick in.

the fiesta de gracia was in full swing complete with drum bands, huge 5 metre high puppets depicting historical figures, traditional dancers and army guys all mingling with street crowds closed to motorist traffic. loved the human towers 6-storeys high with ever-diminutive members climbing monkey-like to the top. in one heart-stopping moment, the entire tower began teetering dangerously as a collective gasp escaped from the crowd. still, they managed to stabilize and all was right as rain.

we caught some of the artisan action and open-air music but had the crap scared out of us when something sounding like canons went off right next to us in the crowd. not only was the sound deafening but the vibrations from the blasts struck right to the heart of our chests. seems the spanish are well-known for firing muskets and heavy-duty fireworks into the crowd. a tribute to the civil war? maybe. i just think it was men being a little gun-crazy! when it comes to public safety, you might say that spain is far from the leader of the pack!

closing in

2008-08-15T00:18:00.000-07:00

had lunch with my exchange partners elsa and enrique at a relaxing seaside restaurant. they are lovely folks. will be spending my first day in paris in their digs.

picked up my london friends lisa and clare at the airport last night. it has been close to a year since i´ve seen them, so lovely to hang out. we got back to my pad rather late but that didn´t stop us from pulling the table out on the deck and breaking out the spanish tortilla and cava in celebration. woooooohoooooooooooooo!!

blooper

2008-08-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

upon hosting my aussie and barcie friends for dinner last night, we sat out on the terrace with some lip-smacking grub, tasty grappa and great company. enric asked whether i´d used a recipe to whip up my lentil chorizo stew. i replied here was a dish i´d frequently encountered across the spanish camino so improv´d my way through to reproduce this dazzling contact lens stew.

enric and julia had a good giggle then informed me i´d confused the spanish word ¨contact lenses¨ for ¨lentils¨. imagine a yummy piping hot contact lens stew. yummmmmmmmm, simply deeeeeeee-lishhhhhh!!!

small villages

2008-08-12T01:47:00.000-07:00

visited sarria in the north west end of the city where the plaza looks like so many tiny villages in the middle of spain. though i hadn´t connected the dots until yesterday, it completely made sense that barcelona was a town quite distinct from its current boroughs such as sarria, montjuic, sant andreu.

as barcie headed into the industrial revolution and demand for real estate grew in leaps and bounds, the l´eixample area began to take shape with architectural masters leaving their distinct marks. it didn´t take long before the new district grew to fill the gaps between barcelona and its neighbouring areas. these boroughs soon became part of barcelona while maintaining their original small village feel. cool!

shade-hunting

2008-08-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

no doubt one adapts to one´s surroundings but when one´s environment is sooooooo very hot, one sometimes has to come up with different solutions. my ¨beat the heat¨ trick is to hunt out every last corner of shade available and make a beeline for it. anyone following my progress would wonder whether i hadn´t hit the bottle as my path zigzags from one extreme to the other in search of cooooool relief!

gitanos

2008-08-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

elsa had warned me about gitanos, the iberian gypsies. consensus was that they were shameless thieves, first class cons and brutish barbarians, not to mention stinky and rowdy marginals.

gypsy barrios - essentially seedy, overcrowded concrete compounds - are the sadly successful outcome of the spanish authorities' assimilation crusade. some twenty years ago, iberia's last rebellious nomads were crammed into sterile apartment buildings which, in the rough hands of these former tent-dwellers, quickly fell prey to accelerated decay.

gypsies are also called "rom" (free man) and have been associated with the dom indian caste. they are believed to have abandoned their native punjab around the year 900. linguists have even traced back the origins of romani - the traditional gypsy idiom - to sanskrit, and uncovered shared features with modern darvinian languages such as hindi, bengali, and panjabi. so gypsies settled in spain around 1425 and nearly 600 years later, gitanos were still completely alienated mostly because they had retained much of their traditional beliefs and way of life.

few are the metro trips where a couple of gypsies don´t jump into a crammed car dragging a pull cart containing a mini p.a. system, only to whip out a mike. next thing is you are being treated to a syrupy but abbreviated version of some spanish tune, like it or not. oftentimes, the second gitano looks around with an expression of the most intense boredom while smacking a tambourine to the beat and pelting out the chorus. it´s all very entertaining. of course, the hat is passed around before the metro pulls into the next station...

tapas

2008-08-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

it is said that as far back as the 13th century, ailing spanish king alfonso x el sabio ("the learned") took small morsels with wine on his doctor's advice and so enjoyed the cure that he made it a regular practice in his court. even cervantes refers to tapas as llamativos (attention getters), for their stimulating properties, in don quixote. often miniature versions of classic spanish dishes, tapas allow you to sample different kinds of food and wine with minimal alcohol poisoning, especially on a tapeo -- the spanish version of a pub crawl: you walk off your wine and tapas as you move around.

jewish quarter

2008-08-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

i connected with some of my he medieval jewish quarter inside el barri gotico. the area was founded in the 12th century and therein now resides spain´s most ancient synagogue. while most of the buildings have succombed to modernization, the streets remain as they were 9 centuries ago. the gothic surroundings were very amenable to these mental conjurings, particularly as here was a little traveled tourist destination, thus leaving me mostly alone wih my thoughts.

the saga of barcelona's jewish community came to its culminating moment in august 1391 when, during a time of famine and pestilence, a nationwide outbreak of anti-semitic violence reached catalunya with catastrophic results: nearly the entire jewish population was murdered or forced to convert to christianity. and this, a full 101 years before they were expelled from the rest of spain, in 1492, by the reyes católicos, isabel and fernando. no wonder they felt the need to congregate in a ghetto of sorts.

next on the list was the old town´s 13th century gothic cathedral de santa eulalia, co-patron saint of barcelona. eulalia was a young virgin who suffered martyrdom during roman times in barcelona. it is said the romans exposed her naked in the public square but a miraculous snow fall in mid spring covered her nudity. the enraged romans threw her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street. her body is entombed in the cathedral's crypt.

as the cathedral is currently undergoing a faclift, the entire front facade was hidden behind scaffolds and large scale prints representing the future finished product. the view from its towers was beautiful and a funky gothic cloister is home to a flock of 13 regal white geese (eulalia was 13 when murdered).

in the evening, i met julia around the parallel area to check out a concert where her trumpet teacher was performing with the opening band. the apolo theatre is a fairly good sized venue deckedout in the grooviest chandeliers and it was just about filled to capacity. the opening band was tight but lacked in a certain ¨ooumff¨. the headline band wasn´t much better so i cut out in time to catch the metro part way home. the last half was a nicely chilled late night stroll in a barcelona that is rarely so quiet.

barca fc

2008-08-06T11:04:00.001-07:00

fully intending to stuff a little culture into my day, i pointed myself in the direction of the museum of contemporary art. however, upon looking at the map, i somehow got distracted and wound up standing outside the stadium where barca futbol club play their home games. sport trumps culture...art can wait another day!

key to my heart...or at least to the front door!

2008-08-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

before having my senses fully about me this morning, i ran out to pick up some breakfast fruit only to realize i´d left my keys in the house. knowing that one half of my exchange partners is minding my pad in toronto while the other half is 300 km away in zaragoza, i just knew this would happen.

luckily, gary was still inside the house but fast asleep. i located his window in the apartment building and looked about for a projectile to slipshot at it. there were no pebbles to be found so old cherry pits would have to do instead.

after calling gary´s name and assailing the window for a good 5 minutes, the neighbouring apartment´s window whipped open and some guy´s head popped out. in the split second it took me to look over, i suspected i´d upset a night owl´s beauty sleep and was in for an earful. but when the face registered, i realized to my surprise that it was gary´s sleepy face. so...who´s window had i been pelting with old sun-bleached cherry pits?! lucky for me noone was home!

what with gary leaving tomorrow, i know i won´t be doing that again!

sitges

2008-08-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

gary and i spent the day at sitges, a little seaside beach town less than an hour out of barcie. it couldn´t have been less than 40 degrees in the shade, not that there was much shade to be had. crazy hot.

still, we checked out the digs and were impressed with some of its architecture. very attractive spot with lots of great shopping and restaurants. on one of the menus, we saw the following translation of seafood paella: ¨soggy fisherman´s rice¨!!

gaga 4 gothic gargoyles

2008-08-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

i strolled around the old gothic quarter on a self-guided walking tour and sleuthed about in search of all known vestiges of the excavated roman walls. the ancient roman colony - then known as barcino - was founded between the years 15-10 bc in the time of emperor augustus. the barri gotic covered around ten hectares and housed some 1,000 inhabitants. living under the constant fear of attack, the romans built a sturdy wall in the 2nd century ad to protect the city and its residents. a second wall complete with watchtowers was built in the 4th century as further reinforcement.

fascinating to think some of these stones that i was admiring had been standing for 19 centuries. the battles they´ve seen...the evolution they´ve witnessed, the injustices and acts of bravery. blows my mind.

it´s a wonder people walking around the old town don´t collide more often as there is soooo much eye candy to contemplate up high in the cornices, windows and towers. my faves though are the gargoyles. there are so many different types, shapes, sizes and are immortalized in the oddest poses. i´ve gone gaga over gargoyles!

temps just soared today. ahhhhhhhhh, thank my lucky stars there is no longer a water shortage.

through the eyes of another

2008-08-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

gary is in town! spent the day subtly smiling at his excitement upon sharing some of my most highly coveted city gems. whether architecture, a district or food, g obliged by exhibiting the appropriate amount of glee. out popped the camera every 5 seconds!

i had intentionally set aside the gothic quarter´s born area to discover it together. we caught our second wind in a discrete square near the cathedral where a musician serenaded us with some ancient instrument while we contemplated the neighbouring church´s many gargoyles. also checked out la boqueria and its gastronomic cornucopia of colours, textures, smells...an epicure´s delight! a terrific day on both counts, capped by a typical spanish lentil chorizo stew dinner and san miguel cerveza. que bien!

yummmmm, sardines!

2008-07-31T03:04:00.000-07:00

first things first. had a lovely day hanging out at la pedrera checking out more gaudi-isms and getting into the exhibition of architectural models depicting all his works in the city. fascinating! this followed up by a trip to the beach to coooooooool it right down.

but the highlight of my day was dinner at enric and julia´s with j´s aussie friends moo and bink. we sat outside on the candlelit terrace surrounded by palm and lemon trees and sundry other varieties of wildlife, indulged in lively chatter and enjoyed a gorrrrgeous dinner of sardines and salads. no, we´re not talking the variety that you find swimming in preservatives in a can. these sardines were phhhhat, fleshy and fresh. yummmmm...

collserol

2008-07-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

swung by julia´s pad en route to the mountain range surrounding barcelona. we spent the day hiking around collserol national park. i hadn´t realized until we got there just how much i´d assimilated into my daily experience the hustle, bustle and noisy racket of the city. what a treat to the ears and eyes to uncover a little slice of peace and tranquility. throughout the day we saw few other people on the trails. how perfect! we thanked our lucky stars that julia picked up a map as the waymarkers were conspicuously absent.

toward the end of the day, we found ourselves standing before a squatter´s house on the edge of the park. to ensure we were on the right track, we asked directions of maria, one of the house´s 3 residents. so very welcoming, she invited us in for a visit where we took a load off and restored ourselves over the course of the next hour.

maria told us that the house is officially owned by a major builder who has all but abandoned it as it borders on two areas, therefore building permission would have to be approved through two separate administrations - a near impossibility in espana. thus, the residents have built themselves a little haven off the grid, decking the place out with a functional toilet, solar panel, water well and self-sufficient garden complete with requisite ganja. really quite remarkable.

as much as i admire what they have accomplished, the squalour in which they live quickly turned me off. evidently, this is a problem as they cannot generate enough electricity and water to effectively keep everything in a reasonable state of cleanliness. but more than this, there was no radio, tv or internet access. eeeeeeekkk!! their forms of entertainment consisted of visits from we strangers as well as their guitars. a cursory look around revealed no books. without some purpose to keep my mind occupied, i would get cabin fever pretty quickly and would go stir-crazy, nobility be damned!

maria graciously set us on the right path to sant cugat a mere 20 minutes away. there we found a gorgeous XVth century hermitage in the middle of a hip hop happnin´ village featuring high end shops and beautiful people. the juxtaposition of maria´s squat against this shoppers´heaven was truly striking.

balcons de barcelona

2008-07-30T01:47:00.000-07:00

on a side of a building of the l´eixample district is a ´92 mural known as “balcons de barcelona”. using trompe-l'oeil as a technique, it conjures a group of outstanding personalities in the city´s vaired history. among these are included joan maragall, pompeu fabra, antoni gaudí, joan miró and pablo picasso.

art and more art

2008-07-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

wayyyy hot a day, so i planned on spending time hanging with some a.c.

figuring i might as well absorb a little culture by osmosis, i headed over to puig i cadafalch´s caixaforum factory, now reformed into a gallery. there was an exhibit on display focusing on the medici´s artistic and cultural reign in tuscany from the 14th to 17th centuries. really fascinating.

on my way home, detoured to hit gaudi´s casa vicens. while originally built by ceramics magnate manuel vicens in 1888, gaudi was commissioned to transform it, a mission he evidently took to heart. while the interior maintained many of the original ceramic mosaics, the typical gaudi touches prevail both inside and out. if i didn´t know any better, i would´ve thought i was peering at a gingerbread house!

beach party

2008-07-28T01:07:00.000-07:00

joined julia and a gaggle of her pals on the beach at dusk for a little hang time. while the beach was just as crowded in the evening as during the day, it was a completely different crowd. we met near the chix bar in view of the beach volleyball courts with the boys´ bar right next door proudly flying the rainbow flag high. the bars were cranking out some decent house tunes and people were dancing on the beach. samosa and beer vendors darted in between beach blankets and all of this madness with the sun setting over a vast expanse of crystal blue ocean. terrific!

also met one of julia´s friends, a sydney-sider who handed me the best quote: australia is the country with the greatest natural killing potential per square metre!t quote: australia

lunch at julia´s

2008-07-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

visited the gorgeous hospital de sant pau again, another creation from the master domènech i montaner built between 1913 and 1930. as one of the principal examples of modernism, it occupies 9 city blocks in the heart of l´Eixample and hides many a surprise for repeat visits.

headed over to julia and enrique´s for lunch. hadn´t seen julia in nearly a year and it felt as though it was only yesterday when we´d parted ways. their digs could serve as the set for a pedro almodovar movie, so completely have they got the spanish feel down pat! they prepared a brilliant tuna lunch with the piece de resistance for dessert: santiago pie! impossible not to recognize it as it bears the trademark santiago emblem of a dagger. i was so excited, i could barely speak! we chased it down with some lovely dessert champagne and lively chatter.

somehow (go figure!) the conversation turned to hockey and it soon came out that enrique´s two sons had played hockey as kids and enrique was a big fan as well! he even pulled out his ref´s jersey and whistle as well as his sons´jerseys, hockey sticks and a puck. it was only by the grace of god that a spontaneous game of shinny didn´t erupt in the kitchen. however, we did pull out the cameras and snapped some priceless shots. great to break bread and bask in the delightful company of good friends.

hip hop at el teatre grec

2008-07-26T02:34:00.000-07:00

set my sights on montjuic´s teatre grec last night as i´d heard there was going to be a hip hop dance competition. sadly, the tickets were sold out but i was able to catch most of the hip hop happnin´s from the ticket office where i camped out for a bit until they kicked me out. turns out it wasn´t hip hop dance after all, rather hip hop rhyming! their freestyling sounded dead-on but my spanish hasn´t improved to the point where i can catch that level of lingo at those breakneck speeds.

l´eixemple

2008-07-26T01:42:00.000-07:00

as i write in my blog, i am being serenaded by my neighbour in her vocal scale practice. so very urban barcelona!

strolled around without any specific agenda today. wound my way around the l´eixemple district that just has to be the world-wide crown jewel of modernism. look here! and there! oh, and there too! i found everything from street lamps by pere falques to domènech i montaner and puig i cadafalch´s benches, balconies, façades and chimneys. of course, as usual all roads lead to gaudi and this ´hood was no different.

at the time when plans were being drawn for many of its buildings, catalunya was enjoying an economic boom driven by the industrial revolution of the XIXth century. consequently, tradesmen were a busy bunch. together, scuptures, mosaics, wrought iron, plaster, wood, glass and paintings converged to turn l´eixemple into a fantasia brimming with art even as its residents and workers still go about their daily business. brilliant!

gave the barcie version of the arc de triomf a good once-over. it was built in 1888 using the red brickwork that was popular in the moorish revival style of that era. at the pinnacle of the archway is sculpted barcie´s coat of arms while funky gargoyles stand guard over elaborate colourful mosaics. lining the avenue leading up to the archway are columns of fantastically elaborate art nouveau street lamps. gorgeous.

to mix it up a little, i headed into barcie´s gothic area and ambled about. some of the roman artifacts date back to the 2nd century a.d. ! if only the walls and alleys could talk...the stories they would tell. you could almost imagine yourself in the same ´hood, the clock turned back several centuries with a voice reverberating through the streets ¨bring out your dead¨!!

crosstown extravaganza

2008-07-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

my mission today was to walk diagonally from the very south eastern point of the city to its very north western point. since i got a bit of a taste of expanded horizons yesterday, i decided to continue on the same theme, stopping here and there to contemplate a few architects other my beloved gaudi.

saint pau hospital was a project of the architect lluis domenech i montaner that was completed in the year 1901 and consists of a whopping 27 pavillions. what a legacy, simply gorgeous. also stopped to pay my respects to salvador valeri i pupurull´s comalat house completed in 1911 and whose facade is all modernism and art nouveau. right across the street from puig i cadafalch´s palau de baró de quadras and not far from his delightful nordic-looking casa punxes completed in 1905.

but fear not, i came full circle to worship at the altar of the high priest gaudi upon reaching my destination. there, the güell pavillions stretched out before me in all their modernist gaudi-ness. breathtaking!

montjuic

2008-07-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

if only for a blink of an eye, time to shift my obsessive adulation from one artist/medium to another: miro. headed over to the montjuic district, locale of many attractions but the main one in my mind being the miro foundation housing a handsome collection of his works. had a good long browse simply musing his paintings, tapestries and sculpture in various wings organized to visually depict his artistic evolution. fascinating.

montjuic is a smallish mountain which was selected to host the 1929 world´s fair. architectural remnants from this era include the national palace and its ornate fountains, the olympic stadium and numerous gardens everywhere. the olympic stadium was intended to host an anti-fascist alternative olympics in 1936 in protest against the 1936 berlin olympics but the spanish civil war forced a reprioritization that saw those plans forever shelved.

gaudi up the yin yang!

2008-07-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

after scoring an umbrella at the beach, i figure it was a win on dual counts: sunburn avoidance and the bonus that my lily white chest didn´t prompt a coronary from any of the locals. purrrfect day for a swim, felt soooo good!

ambled over to the landmark statue of christopher columbus at the foot of la rambla, likely one of the city´s most vibrant streets. on its centre promenade, barcelonians and tourists can walk all the way down from plaza catalunya to the sea, surrounded by interesting markets and some of barcie´s most outstanding architecture. the place is literally bursting at the seams with life, bars, kiosks and street performers.

in plaza reial just off la rambla are lamp posts designed by master gaudi himself and in the central promenade of la rambla is a mosaic created by joan miro. el mercat st. josep - affectionately known as ¨la boqueria¨- occupies some prime real estate for the local foodies among us. of course no walking tour would be complete without its fair share of ancient palacios and ornate churches.

directly north of la rambla and plaza catalunya lies one of barcelona´s main avenues: passeig gracia. in 1906 the architect pere falqués i urpí designed its now famous ornate benches and street-lights in typical modernist fashion. by that time, the avenue had become barcie’s most fashionable street, with buildings designed by modernista/art nouveau architects of gaudí fame and others.

i paid hommage to master gaudi once again today with a visit to casa batlló. this theatrical whimsey was borne of a pre-existing home whose owner commissioned gaudi for a serious make-over. the facade is decorated in organic forms evoking bones, masks and precious stones while the roof conjures images of scaly dragons. i also notice that our master architect was a huge fan of fruit as many of his designs incorporate foliage and carmen miranda style cornucopias willy-nilly. simply fantastic!

also visited la casa calvet where gaudi took up the challenge of designing a building in the style typical of the industrial L´Eixample neighbourhood. regardless of some of the baroque touches and the grey stone of nearby montjuic, gaudi´s signature is everywhere.

continued my gaudi tour at la pedrera with its undulating trademark balconies. if i hadn´t known better, i would have thought i was suffering from heat stroke and my vision was wavering! on its roof is a veritable forest of chimneys adding fully to the effect of freakishness. the building is currently used for apartments. imagine living there!

finished off my homage by walking up gaudi avenue from the temple of sagrada familia. i cannot even fathom that level of genius...

mount tibidabo and güell park

2008-07-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

left the house this morning on a mission: to find guell park, gaudi´s self-styled garden of creation. however, i was ummmm, shall we say slightly side-tracked? due to the labyrinthine nature of these neighbourhoods, i was soon lost and seemingly on a collision course with mount tibidabo. you know what they say, if mohammed will not go to the mountain, then the mountain must go to mohammed!

well it seemed this mountain was calling to me. you know, when a mountain summons you, there isn´t much room for futzing around! also, i read a great book last year ¨l´ombre du vent¨ by carlos ruiz zafon where the story´s climax took place on mount tibidabo so this was my way of tipping my hat to dear carlos. near the top i discovered some lovely hiking trails which to my astonishment were marked in the very same red and white stripes used by the french chemin st. jacques. though they were meant to mark a local trail, i greeted them as old friends.

at the summit awaited a fantastic old cathedral and i even got to ride at the very front of the cable car on the gravity-defying descent, woooohoooooooo!! had a good little nose around the neighbourhoods in the foothills of mount tibidabo where i drew the conclusion that barcelona is not without its old money!

eventually wound my way to my original destination named after eusebi güell who wanted to create a stylish 20 hectare park for barcelona aristocracy so commissioned his close friend antoni gaudi to architect it. gaudi worked on the park from 1900 to 1914 before the project ran out of steam and the city purchased it as park land in 1915. as one of the entrances was perched atop a rather steep hill, those wishing to bypass the stairmaster style workout could hop on the string of 6 or 7 outdoor escalators at the top of which is a fabulous view! the park contained amazing stone structures, stunning tiling and fascinating buildings. i also found walkways supported by twisting rock pillars that seemed to be growing out of the ground like tree trunks. at the top of the park was a terraced area with a superb view of the park and of the city. here were multi-coloured tiled mosaic seats in a breathtaking palette of colours.

as a huge fan of cartoons and animation, i cannot think of another architect who more closely embodied the concept of animation while his designs remained of course within the realm of still life. all those curves and flowing lines...it was almost as though the landscape wanted to break into a spontaneous jig and bust a serious move! gaudi must have had a blast with these designs.

octagonal city

2008-07-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

how to describe barcelona? we are talking about a mediterranean powerhouse that stepped out of the middle ages with the appearance and energy of a young debutante. with a healthy two milleniums of roman history in her back pocket, the ´92 olympics kick-started a spectacular transformation that saw the dawn of a technological revolution while preserving the treasures of her architectural capital and natural beauty.

two thousand years ago, roman settlers founded barcelona - then called barcino - and evidence of their stay is still very much alive and well. in the old city are ruins everywhere of old palaces and vestiges of the ramparts that made up the fortified wall around the city. as threats to the city diminished with the passage of time, the walls came down and the city grew well beyond them but barcelonians always had the presence of mind to protect and highlight their heritage. consequently, much of the old roman fortifications are highlighted by barcie´s historical society as bona fide ruins.

but well outside of the old town, many new buildings - even if built in concrete - still follow the principles of spanish architecture: curved flowing lines and plenty of flourishes. one really funky feature of the newer (by european standards, that is!) industrial L´Eixemple neighbourhood is that their city blocks are shaped octagonally. in a city where high rises rule, this creates the illusion of space where you would otherwise have felt crowded. i caught an aerial photo of this phenomenon - gorgeous!

while strolling through some of these octagonal blocks, i came across an open air market housed under the fabulous mercat de sant antoni building. though relatively young by barcelonian standards, the building dates back to 1850 and has plenty of charisma.

deja vu village square

2008-07-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

checked out that fabulous little village square for my morning cafe con leche and hung out watching the locals play out their sunday morning. picked up and continued on my way in a labyrinth of zigzagging streets only to find another similar quaint village square a half hour later. hmmm, i thought, urban planners a century ago must have had their own cookie-cutter molds much like developers of today, so astonishing were the similarities. in fact, this bar was strikingly like my previous one and positioned in the exact same location in the square! uh-oh, waidaminnit...the chairs were stacked in the identical way and either that dude had an evil doppelganger twin or i´d somehow looped back!

so much for my razor-sharp sense of direction! mom if you´re reading this, i know you´re shaking your head and chuckling!

the ocean

2008-07-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

eventually my wandering footsteps traced a path to the ocean. as part of my shopping spree the other day, i picked up some boardie shorts and swim top. it took only a glance around for me to realize that i shouldn´t have bothered with the top. most of the women on the beach were topless anyway. when in rome...

ahhhh, that salt water. felt really good. thanks to the strong wind, there was a virtual traffic jam of speedy wind surfers out on the water zipping to and fro. the beach was wriggling with action too. i´d forgotten it was saturday. how great that i rarely know what day it is!

eventually, i kept walking along the promenade by the ocean, turning north a few hours later to return home. en route, i passed by gaudi´s sagrada familia to which he devoted 40 years of his life, thus the moniker ¨God´s architect¨. the ongoing works are likely to extend until year 2025 as the only existing copy of his last recorded blue prints were destroyed by the anarchists in 1938 at the height of Franco's invasion of Barcelona, long after gaudi´s death in 1926 at age 74. thus modern architects are working blindly, guessing at what gaudi might have intended.

was ravenous by the time i reached my pad so i celebrated my arrival in barcie by making myself a mediteranean dinner at a mediteranean hour! potato tortilla with a beer chaser. now that smells like spain!

village in a city

2008-07-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

set out today on a mondo walk around the city. left with a general idea of the direction i wanted to head in but was hoping for an aimless wander. the idea was to let my feet take me where they would and see where that would land me.

i hadn´t left my front door more than a few minutes when i came across a fantastic find! i am located in san andreu which was a small village on the outskirts of barcie over a century ago. since then, the city grew and like an enormous sandbank engulfing a house in its path, the village was absorbed into the city. however, the village square remains as gorgeous as it was many years ago. you´d swear you were in a small village in the middle of nowhere in northern spain! i´ve a feeling this will become my regular morning coffee spot sitting out on a terrace watching the world go by in the square.

a plague of pesky parrots

2008-07-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

here´s a weird one. parrots - also known as the south american monk parakeet and originally from latin america - have prodigious appetites and their population is mushrooming in the city´s green spaces. they made their presence known in many of the parks that i walked through yesterday.

here is an aggressive parrot that eats just about everything green it can get its beak on and is threatening the survival of local bird species. apparently, the first specimens were released by their owners in the 70´s after they grew tired of the birds´ raucous chirping. since then, their population has grown to well over 2,000.

there are even more in the catalonian countryside. farmers say last year quaker parrots ate over 50,000 tomatoes! experts from barcelona's museum of natural sciences are now trying to control the bird but their breeding season has just begun and continues until november. yet another example of invasive species with no natural predator in sight.

quite the contrast!

2008-07-19T03:39:00.001-07:00

how did i get so lucky to be living in the lap of luxury? my own bath, fridge, double bed and access to the internet at the drop of a hat. seriously, u may think of it as a given but after a month of either shared or no access to any and all of these things, you develop an acute appreciation of the little things.

spent a good portion of my first day disinfecting and laundering all my effects in an industrial laundry to ensure there would be no chance of dragging bastardo bedbugs into my kind hosts´ home. also went mad on shopping spree with the goal of avoiding so much as a glance at my hiking clothes again. i wonder whether the neighbours would rat on me and call in the cops if i started a bonfire on the terrace, feeding it my hiking gear in some ancient form of ritual cleansing?! while on the camino, there was never any sense of fashion to contend with as i left with only two sets of clothes anyway. now, i need to give this a little thought. so many choices, how will i deal?!

on my first night in barcie, i slept an unprecedented 13 hours! this must have been my body saying ¨enough with the bedbugs, snorefests and night trains already!!¨ soaked lazily in a tub, hung out on the terrace, stuffed the fridge with fruit, beers, wine, spanish chorizo and all other manner of yummy local fare. all it takes is a glance at the fridge and i turn into a phhhat mess of drool! i even spoiled myself with heavy things i never could have bought while traveling like bottles of vino tinto, melon, big package of granola...oh yeahhhhh bayyybie!

i am still finding my sea legs following my stark change of scenery. only a few days ago, vast expanses of poppy-speckled wheat fields, bodegas and infinite blue skies stretched out as far as the eye can see. now i have returned to all the conveniences of city living, only with big traffic, big noise and development everywhere.

ahhhh, but the architecture. that is what i came here to breathe in. there is so very much of it that historic buildings are used at every corner for seemingly mundane purpuses. what i assumed had to be an ancient coliseum turned out to be an office tower and this to the great amusement of a local whom i asked. people here are so accustomed to immersion in this historical tapestry that many no longer even notice. the majority of buildings aren´t even called out as historic, so rich is the tradition of medieval roman architecture in barcelona. i picked up an architectural guide of the city and have been greedily gobbling it up over the past few days. so many treats awaiting me in the city!

final tally

2008-07-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

after 30 days on the road and nearly 1000 km under my belt, i can honestly say i´ve seen some wonderful things and met some truly outstanding people. yet again, the camino has distinguished itself as a unique way to take a time-out and think about what is important in my life. no way can you listen to some of your fellow pilgrims´stories without feeling compassion and humility, never mind a whole lot of luck as well.

put in a whack of kilometres under a blazing sun so was very happy to reward myself with a yummy paella and a few beers in pamplona´s buzzing plaza. as i revelled in all the architecture and imagined it morphing over the centuries, i performed a little mental review, picking out those moments that stuck out as my faves. it wasn´t long before i realized that while the landscapes were gorgeous, my highest highs almost unanymously consisted of people interaction. sometimes with strangers, other times with new friends. again, a reality check that connections are what matter most to me.

instantly popping to mind among my faves were the roll-on-the-floor laugh fest with sebastien and christian, dinner with the three french women who had each lost a son, the crossing from france into spain over the mountains, bidding adieu to friends in roncesvalles and feeling momentarily sad only to hear patrick call my name, arranging patrick´s name in pebbles on a medieval bridge knowing he would discover it...so many warm memories.

but enough with the philosophizing...barcie awaits - the town that never sleeps. who knows what kind of trouble i´ll sniff out there?!

follow your destiny

2008-07-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

no, this isn´t another one of my wooey-wooey tangents. crossing the mountain range to pamplona, i found myself gazing in wonder at the superb view from alto de perdon: to the south, the barren sierra guarded by armies of wind turbines and to the north, the ancient city of pamplona framed in the pyrenees.

at the summit is a column of wind turbines that trigger your involuntary duck reflex with each revolution. also, a collection of galvanized metal sculptures depict the many types of pilgrims that have crossed this mountain pass over the centuries. a smiling man approached me to ask if i could snap a pic of him and his friend with the sculptures as a backdrop. my homing instinct kicked in when i detected a quebec accent.

it seems they were film-makers creating a documentary on the camino for francophile quebec audiences. they were very excited to hear i´d completed the classic camino frances last year and was just wrapping up my le puy camino. with so many stories in my grab bag, how could i refuse when they asked if they could include me in the film! that was my second day in a row of andy warhol style 3 minutes of fame. the stars must be in uranus...

hike day 30: lorca

2008-07-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

rough start to the day what with many swollen and painful bites. after the antihistamines kicked in, i only wanted to curl up and sleep the day away. still, i was determined not to let the critter situation set the tone for my camino grand finale.

though my second day walking upstream, i still ran into folks i´d met weeks ago on the Le Puy portion of the road. these were the self-described slow pokes who prefer a short day´s walk mixed in with lots of r&r. lovely to see their smiling faces again.

traffic was heavy, i must have easily crossed 200 or more pilgrims. with my morning cafe con leche stirring things up nicely, i needed to take care of business but the steady stream of pilgrims posed a problem. i waited for a lull on both ends then jumped behind some thick bushes. with the trap door flying low and both barrels ready to fire, i suddenly heard 5 spaniards approaching. better safe than sorry, i froze the pose hoping to wait them out. well didn´t they spontaneously stop for a wee sip of water and a chin wag right then and there in front of my (ahem...) bush? i knew if i moved, i was lost. no matter that i was completely disinterested in the hired help´s thieving ways or little jose´s musical genius. the drop of my hand is all it would have taken and suddenly i would have become the camino´s voyeur perv with a copraphilic penchant.

thus, i crouched, i waited. patience sensei, today´s lesson is patience.

zen no more

2008-07-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

ok enough is enough, i´m losing my sense of humour now. unless we´re dealing with a conspiracy of silence, i fail to understand why i have provided a healthy meal for an army of bedbugs the last two nights while my bunkmates have awakened unscathed.

could it be blood type? body type? maybe like cats jumping onto the lap least likely to pet them, they obey a drive to conquer those most wary of them? ughh...thank god for the train to barcelona this evening. maybe i´ll finally get some shut-eye without those bastardos chowing down on my bits.

hike day 29: los arcos

2008-07-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

what an incredible day. where even to begin?

how about starting with the reappearance of the bedbug scourge in los arcos? i was devoured alive and barely slept. between the previous night's snorefest and making for bedbug grub, little sleep so very happy to be parachuting out now.

still, thanks to the magic of anti-inflams, even bedbugs were not enough to dampen my spirits. moments after i bid bedbug hotel adieu, i crossed a small bridge leading back into charming los arcos. quel cacophony! some 30 storks were busy bathing in the river, all the while competing with the early morning singing frogs and ducks. i was speechless.

at the very apex of the los arcos church is an enormous nest. imagine a large pilates ball and you are now looking at roughly the size of the stork nest. two black and white specimens were preening above the church bells. what a sight.

so i began walking against the current. not that it's that obvious as the camino symbols are unidirectional and geared for the walk toward santiago so it didn't take long before i got lost but some lovely local packed me into his car and put me on the right road. i now had to amend my standard "hola bonjour guten tag" pilgrim greeting by tagging on a "buen camino".

so many were the familiar faces that i crossed, many of whom i'd left behind as much as a week ago. there was little korean sinye who can barely communicate in any other language and whom i greatly admire for not letting this stand in the way of his santiago dream. then there was french mimi and sidekick jocelyne who barely stand halfway as tall as me yet carry enough to keep a pack mule in business. how about german hans whom i'd last seen glancing up anxiously at the pyrenees following his heart bypass surgery some months earlier. young gaetan from gatineau who had fretted that his tendinitis would force an abrupt end to his camino. even "madame soupir" as patrick and i dubbed her from the annoying habit of sighing long and hard to show the world how much she suffers for her camino. i almost felt as though i was watching the conclusion of a play where each actor was taking a bow. with each one (well ok, mme soupir didn't make the cut!), i stopped for a quick debrief, hug and kisses before wishing them well and moving on. i felt loved.

and of course i ran into patrick. right in the middle of some of the most gorgeous vistas this side of the universe. though we'd parted ways only 2 days earlier, there was already a list to catch up on but not nearly enough time. we made a date in paris in a month's time after our respective trips. very much looking forward to it.

if i had to choose a slice of geography to be backtracking on, this would to the list. imagine rows of vineyard bodegas, golden poppy-speckled wheat fields as far as the eye can see, all of it framed in a distant sierra with wind turbines standing guard over the mountains. stunning.

eventually i wound my way back to the wine fountain of irache where there appeared to be a camera crew set up. taking no notice, i cupped my hands under the fountain and toasted aloud to patrick's happiness, to my family's, to my friends, all the while renewing the contents of my makeshift cup in between toasts. at the outset, i toasted each of my friends individually but quickly realized i'd be tanked in no time flat! all the while, the camera crew recorded my every move. upon inquiring what they were recording for, they replied they are putting a special together for some spanish news program. and there i will be, slobbering with vino tinto running down my chin!

one more day to pamplona then a new adventure begins.

hike day 28: lorca

2008-07-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

every day the navarra newspapers are all about the latest victims in pamplona´s running of the bulls or corrida battle of wills. at an estella cafe, eavesdropping over the shoulders of every man intently studying the details of yesterday´s ¨nut-goring¨ in its full cover photo glory, i detected a collective sigh of compassion and instinctive movement to protect the family jewels. given that it was his ¨hey diddle diddle¨that landed him in this precarious position in the first place, no doubt our man will have plenty of time in hospital to ponder the sheer stupidity of his so-called act of bravado. (no judgment here!!) at the very least, he will be the hands-down champion in any contest involving a show ´n tell of the best scar!

neither rain nor sleet nor apparently early morning hours can deter the party atmosphere at bodegas irache where a mere twist of the tap is all it takes to make red wine flow in the fountain. party on, pilgrims!

made it to the charming town of los arcos, a bit of a stretch but well worth it given their fantastic cookie cache. yes, i would walk a healthy 1000 km or so for serious cookies...and why not?!! a grrrl´s gotta live a little, non? mais zut alors!!

here is where i stop pushing south and retrace my steps north to pamplona where i will be boarding my train to barcie in a couple of days. hard to believe my camino is once again drawing to a close, but only for another adventure to pick up where this one leaves off! don´t want to think about it though, i want to savour every moment.

amateur de ponts

2008-07-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

i cannot help but smile at the thought that patrick will follow in my footsteps today and is bound to spot the little gift i left behind. as a huge afficianado and photo recorder of ancient bridges, he will stand at the only logical angle from which to snap his pic where i spelled out a message in pebbles on the bridge´s ramparts: ¨pont de patrick¨. he will absolutely love it.

los roncaderos!

2008-07-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

too many are el camino´s qualities to list in 10 words or less. however, this pilgrimage is also notorious for attracting international snorers of great distinction, of which i am convinced my three bunkmates were champions in their respective weight divisions. i finally gave up and snuck out of the albergue at 5 a.m. in time to catch the sunrise. if for no other reason, i will be happy to hear the whistle blow as my train leaves for barcelona in a few days.

i, bird brain

2008-07-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

as geeky as it is, here is the list of funky birds i´ve encountered while in france and spain!

chocard à bec jaune (alpine chough)
martinet à ventre blanc (alpine swift)
hirondelle rustique (barn swallow)
gypaete barbu (bearded vulture)
pie bavarde (blackbilled magpie)
heron garde-boeuf (cattle egret)
grue cendree (common crane)
coucou gris (common cuckoo)
aigle royal (golden eagle)
pic-vert (green woodpecker)
gasconnade
faucon pelerin (peregrine falcon)
cigogne blanche (white stork)

hike day 27: cizur minor

2008-07-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

had a terrific dinner with patrick last night. it wasn't so much that the food was out of this world as much as the company. of course, realizing we were parting ways the next day, we may have indulged in vino tinto a wee bit much! in fact, when the neighbouring table left a half-finished bottle of wine behind, patrick quickly pulled a switcheroo with our empty bottle! but not before catching a complicit smile from a pilgrim at a nearby table.

so much bonding in such little time. i left patrick standing on the river bank next to the fabled medieval puente la reina bridge looking forlorn as i waved goodbye. as we say en bon francais, ce n'est qu'un au revoir as i will do an about face in 2 days for my return stroll to pamplona where a night train will deliver me to barcelona. no doubt i will bump into many familiar faces going upstream and i hope his to be one of them. if not, patrick will pop over to paris from his native town of lille to visit before i head home.

salut yvon!

2008-07-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

heyyye toi! t´as pas recu la note que j´ai demande a marie-claude de t´envoyer? j´ai pas ton courriel, alors reponds a mon blogue en me le laissant pi je t´enverrai une petite note bien personelle! comme tu peux bien voir mon p´tit hibou, je m´amuse comme une folle!! h xoxox

hike day 26: zubiri, pamplona fiesta

2008-07-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

our early morning quest for a cafe con leche turned into a 20 k extravaganza before we finally wolfed down some breakfast. patrick and i walked along evoking images of piping hot java and lip-smacking omelettes when we spotted a gazebo-style tent set up in front of a farm. some entrepreneurial soul had a little cottage industry going where a half-dozen pilgrims busied themselves grazing and pouring coffee down the hatch. to kick up the ambience a notch, the farmer had his teen son and daughter serenade us on the fiddle and accordion. much to the amusement of the pilgrim audience, they were out of sync both in rhythm and tuning but proud papa´s smiles made it a heart-warming scene nonetheless.

as we approached pamplona, the party atmosphere became increasingly palpable. rare were the locals not dressed in the trademark red and white colours of the province of navarra. people everywhere slept in parked cars, under citadella trees, dead drunk in the street at 11 am. in the old town, the city´s cleanup crew waited for noone to hose down the street refuse with enornous firemen´s hoses. apparently we had just missed the running of the bulls by a few hours, a daily event over the course of 9 huge party days where a daily average of 5 are typically gored, trampled or wounded in some unspeakable manner by the most bone-chilling monstrous toros you´ve ever laid eyes on. even at that early hour, bar patrons spilled out onto the streets bleary-eyed, evidently stretching out the previous night´s festivities. drum bands, piccolo bands, brass bands rang out from all corners of the city, folk dancers shook their booty in leg bells in the streets and vendors everywhere flogged their wares. what a party!

salut cricri!

2008-07-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

je t´envoie une note par l´entremise de mon blogue en esperant que tu le lis toujours car je n´ai pas pris note de ton courriel lors de mon voyage. j´ai fortement pense a toi il y a quelques jours lorsque je me suis arretee en pleine campagne a un hebergement ou l´hospitaliere te ressemblait a deux gouttes d´eau! elle aurait sincerement pu etre ta soeur jumelle, j´en suis restee bouche-bee. franchement, tout en elle remontait un peu de toi y inclus son caractere bien sympatique. elle m´a meme dit qu´elle revait depuis longtemps de visiter le quebec. ah ben la, je l´adorait!! salut, je t´envoie des bises! h xoxox

hike day 25: les adieux

2008-07-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

yesterday in roncesvalles, i bid adieu to handsome cedric, the group of 8 french that i kept running into over the past week and swiss jacqueline. as i waved them off in their taxi van, a bit of melancholy swept over me. not for long though. i hadn´t taken more than 3 steps when patrick from lille called me from his table at the cafe across the street where he was chilling with a beer.

your lives intersect with fellow pilgrims, you parachute into their private dramas, then just as quickly they are gone. while it may seem like a mere blip on the radar, they have left their mark just as you have left yours.

nice to see some things never change though. last night while laying in the monastery with some 125 other pilgrims, i fell slept to the thunderous rumble of surround-sound snores all culminating in a dramatic cadence!

patrick and i walked together through the mountains, landing in zubiri. how very strange to walk this familiar road a mere 10 months later yet with different players. i recall only too well sitting at the same cafe for breakfast where i met julia whom i will be visiting in a few weeks in barcelona. then stopping for lunch at the promontory with helga to breathe in the view. dangling my feet in the river at zubiri with julia and a few other pilgrims. same locale, different people and experiences. am appreciating every moment.

tomorrow will be a crazy day. pamplona awaits as i will hit it on the saturday of its week-long festival which includes the running of the bulls. i hear the city is in serious party mode!

unleashing my inner ¨wooey wooey¨!

2008-07-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

the day´s ascent was punctuated by flocks of sheep, goats, herds of cows and horses crossing my path. and there was this swiss guy in a 10 gallon hat taking a break on a rock while munching on a banana. then more herds, gorgeous vistas and windscapes. ohh, there was the swiss again...seemingly sitting on the same rock...seemingly eating the same banana! more pilgrims strolled by, i stopped to breathe in the magnificence of it all and...good god! there was the swiss banana-eater on that rock again as if in some weird deja vu.

¨come on now grrl¨, i thought, ¨get a hold of yourself¨. this ain´t no hollywood flic starring shirley maclaine and he ain´t no alien personified in the king of atlantis come to abduct and immaculately impregnate her 70 year old vessel. he´s just a vitamin b deficient dude taking frequent banana breaks. eeeek, you slide the barn door open a smidegeon and out goes your inner wooey running amok sewing a morass of bizarrisms through the minefield of your imagination!

hike day 24: hounto

2008-07-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

upon awakening, i peered out the window at the sunrise and thought ¨paradise is exactly where i am right now¨. however, when i waxed lyrical to the innkeeper, she replied that her paradise would be in montreal. happiness truly is a state of mind. paradise then, really can be exactly where you are...right now.

i set out on a gorgeous sunny day with a good wind at my back. the higher i climbed, the more magical the panoramas. layers of hills and vales silhouetted each other while the morning fog floated far below. many were the new pilgrims rushing by, oblivious to the enormity of their good fortune in the weather department, anxious only to get some mileage on their hiking boots. i consciously slowed my pace, eager to savour every second, not caring to participate in the foot race. roncesvalles would materialize soon enough. this very same crossing last september was still painfully etched in my memory: horizontal freezing rain, a sea of mud, drenched to the core...i couldn´t wait for it to be over. what a difference perfect weather makes.

this path has been travelled by pilgrims dating back as far as the 9th century after saint james´bones were allegedly discovered in santiago. pilgrims in those times had no topo maps or gps, technical gear and often travelled in the company of a mule. they were frequently victims of brigands so they rarely carried anything of value except letters of passage from their land owners. the road was gradually refined to what it is today as western passages required crossing deep rivers while to the east the mountain passes were higher, snowier and posed a greater danger.

while the pyrenees pass is a much easier and safer endeavour today, its beauty has not diminished over the centuries. the great italian artist frangelico was known to paint sensuous landscapes of his native corsica which look very similar to the pyrenees. when asked about the source of his inspiration, he replied that the mountain tops were reminiscent of a woman´s curves. viewed through that lens, i was suddenly detecting a bottom here, a facial profile there...i could even make out a sleeping giant´s body laid out with a foot so detailed and perfect it surely must have been sculpted by master rodin himself. osme of the breathtaking vistas left me feeling so humbled, i was literally moved to tears. such beauty...i am so lucky to be able to witness it.

last night i indulged in an excellent confit de canard dinner with a dozen pilgrims. hans the german had undergone heart bypass surgery a mere 4 months earlier and was looking forward to his first hiking day over the pyrenees with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. he was taking it very slowly this morning. as i passed him, i smiled and uttered some words of encouragement. i am putting out good vibes in hopes he didn´t find it too grueling.

then there was handsome playboy cedric from marseille around whom there always appeared to be a drone of giggling girls. and of course jacques - always distinct in an aussie akubra - who lives right on le chemin de compostelle in aubrac who watched thousands of pilgrims march past his home before he decided one day to experience it first hand. we may have been perfect strangers a week ago but the camino has a way of bringing people together. earlier, the three of us stared in disbelief as 50 or so enormous eagles glided effortlessly above, paying tribute to the statue of the virgin of biakorri. i will always remember this moment and they will always be part of it with me. in this way, we shall remain forever bonded.

what is a pilgrim?

2008-07-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

a "pilgrim" is defined as someone who embodies his devotion or thanks by way of taking it on the road. the destination varies according to the nature of the pilgrimage but in my case i wanted to step away momentarily from my material possessions and enjoy the people i would meet and the places i would visit in the presence of that moment. the way i see it, this is one way of making direct connections with the world and within myself. feels good to achieve that goal.

so that answers the "what is" question., how about the question "how does one identify a pilgrim?" some may say it's the scallop shell hanging off their backpack, but not all pilgrims subscribe to it. others may say it's the walking sticks and the noise they make against the pavement as the kilometres roll away, but not all pilgrims carry a stick. i say the easiest way to identify a pilgrim is to look for the telltale farmer tan: any flesh between the sockline and shorts or below the shoulders is nicely tanned while everything else remains pale as a white baby's bottom!

hounto, my karma

2008-07-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

a little slice of heaven has fallen smack into my lap. as i was disenchanted last year with the slovenly accomodations at saint-jean-pied-de-port, i aimed a little higher brow this time, pushing 5 km further into the mountains before calling it a day. the inn at hounto boasts of a spectacular panorama over a stunning valley. also, because i arrived first, i have my own room...with a double bed...and my own private bathroom and shower. sooooo exciting!

a half dozen peregrine falcons are playing tag in the skies above, cowbells are ringing in surround sound, the pyrenees are towering above me and life is decidedly splendid! whatever was the life of righteous morality that earned me this karma, i bow down deeply to it in thanks.

busted!

2008-07-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

honestly, it was bound to happen sooner or later. here's the deal.

when hiking long distances in the countryside, some of the niceties of civilized living must necessarily slip by the wayside. not to put too fine a point on it, peeing becomes a simple matter of taking two steps to the side of the road, dropping your droars and letting 'er rip. of course, a good glance in either direction and a listen for oncoming traffic is de rigueur.

well, all the checks were successfully executed, my gotchies were hovering mid-calf and i had a good flow going when...a car buzzed around the corner. busted en flagrant delit! there was nothing to do but crouch wayyy down for modesty's sake and flash (ahem!) the driver a sheepish but apologetic smile. before he disappeared around the bend, i detected the old aggravated rolling eyes routine as though this were behaviour typical of any foreign devil! hmmm, given the technological advances in hybrid vehicles and their stealthy approach, i'd best be advised to reconsider my cavalier peeing technique in favour of a wee bit more cover!

saint-jean-pied-de-port

2008-07-09T03:09:00.000-07:00

it's a gorgeous day in saint-jean-pied-de-port, my trailhead for last year's trek. how wonderful to find the town again, a bit like an old friend. the plan is to nose around a bit then move on to hounto, some 3 km up in the mountains. this time tomorrow, i will be in spain. adieu chemin saint jacques, hola el camino de santiago de compostella.

heeeeeeeere we go!

hike day 24: ostabat

2008-07-09T03:01:00.000-07:00

on my last full day in france, i marched to the gentle clanging of cowbells all around me. i am now in the foothills of the pyrenees where pastures are carved into hillsides and collections of white dots punctuate the landscape. how these cows, goats and sheep manage to maintain their balance on such steep fields is a mystery to me.

nike could really cash in by developing a livestock hoof pump where each animal could auto-adjust according to the grade in their particular pasture. clearly the nike r&d team urgently needs my creative mind.

having left behind the road signs in french and languedoc, the signs are now bilingually displayed en basque. i crossed the occasional bit of graffiti in support of "ETA", the brutal basque terrorist movement that has kidnapped and killed a number of tourists in past years. weird...

meeting place

2008-07-09T02:59:00.001-07:00

as the pyrenees grow nearer, the number of sleeping options grow fewer. thus, i've had to slow my pace in order to hit the inns at exactly the right time. consequently, many of the pilgrims that i passed all congregated in front of my gite this afternoon. it was like old home week!

underground fascination

2008-07-09T02:56:00.000-07:00

a number of french folks have commented on the 8th canadian wonder of the world: the "city underground"! they are utterly fascinated that we canadians should resort to building shopping spaces under our downtown areas, enabling us to escape our harsh climate whenever necessary. since i've now heard this a half-dozen times, i can only conclude that which is perfectly natural to us is simply weird and foreign to them. question de culture!

hike day 23: aroue

2008-07-09T02:52:00.000-07:00

shortly after leaving the gite, i was strolling along some hedgerows when a car stopped before me at a farm gate. out popped a woman with a healthy couple of french baguettes and stuck them in the hollow tube welded to the top of the mailbox. brilliant, a rural delivery bakery!

the woman was all set to drive away when the lady of the house came running out carrying a loaf of some sort. they chatted a few moments, indulging in the freshly baked spice cake. i cannot say what did it in the end, whether the darting glances at the cake or my tongue hanging a mere centimetre above the gravel road. either way, madame took the hint and offered me a slice. mmmmm, right place, right time!

left aroue this morning and soon got to the top of a hill where i ran into swiss martin drinking in our first view of the pyrenees. glorious! also with him was patrick from lille with whom i spent the rest of the day. what a charming guy and great sense of humour.

hike day 22: book murder at sauvelade!

2008-07-07T02:13:00.000-07:00

mea culpa, i have committed a crime punishable by death. at least that was the case eons ago in medieval france. back in the bloody heyday of heads-will-roll style french law, oral tradition was alive and well, illiteracy ruled and even kings were ill-versed in the arts of reading and writing. these were times when a little piece of magic known as a book was a rare and precious thing. the maiming or - worse yet - destruction of any such coveted gem was considered a heinous crime akin to murder of one's brethren.

with three days of hiking left north of the french border, i was eager to jettison some ballast. this all in anticipation of my crossing in the pyrenees: 1400 metres straight up followed by a 500 metre descent over the course of some 26 km.

thus, my 1200 page novel - which has been my steadfast companion these past weeks - was submitted to a surgical procedure this morning. the first half that was happily consumed was - ohh horror of horrors - guillotined and abandoned on the shelf at the sauvelade inn. act of heresy? maybe so but a lighter pack makes for happy feet and on a trip such as this, that is what it's alllll about!

a little rain on one's parade does not a catastrophe make!

2008-07-07T02:06:00.000-07:00

arrived at the gite in uzan only to find i was their sole visitor and there was no possibility of food. luckily i had some bread and tea. i soaked in my first bath in a month. quel luxe supreme! here i was in the middle of nowhere in moo country with the perfume of manure thick in the air...but i had an internet connection! yes virginia, there is a santa claus!

rain. big rain. wrath of god biblical deluge and the whole rang-a-dang-dang. so much so that i found myself procrastinating this morning and finally had to kick myself out the door. the first half hour was plain silly as i hopscotched my way across fields, lifting my legs high to avoid the flooded weeds. when finally i conceded that it was a losing battle, i felt nothing less than liberated. whether mud holes or ankle-deep puddles, i was now free to plow through dead centre and raise my head to enjoy my surroundings. so what's a couple of pruny wet feet? it's a lovely day in the countryside.

hike day 20: miramont-sensacq

2008-07-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

pulled up to the small village of miramont-sensacq where the only other pilgrim was a rather unpleasant fellow so i headed over to the local pub where a dozen burly farmers gave me the once-over. upon stepping inside, i asked whether they knew who had won the euro cup. instant ice-breaker, and especially so when they placed my accent. i was their long-lost "petite cousine" quebecoise!

well into the conversation, they asked what sort of daily rituals i did to prepare for the day's hike. told them i stretched first thing in the morning at which they insisted i show them right there and then. before long, i had them trying to stuff their toes into their mouths to emulate one of the stretches! one of the guys remarked on the similarities to yoga and proceeded to demonstrate some weird contorted semi-hand stand. with all the weight on his hands and his bum half way in the air, his ears looked as though they would jettison to opposite corners of the bar!

another guy mentioned he attends "laughter class" twice monthly and suggested we try one of his exercises. imagine a dozen macho farmers and i improv'ing mowing the lawn on the bar, over the chairs, buzzing around like inmates from one flew over the cuckoo's nest. what a little magic dust won't get you and all this thanks to another pilgrim's unpleasant demeanor. you just never know what lies around the corner...

hike day 19: maison labarbe

2008-07-05T02:49:00.000-07:00

muchhhhhhh better today. though a few layers of skin have burned away from the allergic fever, the swelling has mostly receded thanks to anti-histamines and there has been no further evidence of the little critters whose name shall not be named! am crossing my fingers this is the one and only time we cross paths this trip.

today was a 39 km day. the first half was a breeze, particularly when i climbed over the crest of a hill only to discover the pyrenees stretched out on the horizon as far as the eye could see. though the heat has returned, i could see clear as a bell each and every rocky, snow-capped peak. what a sensational view!

a blackberry story

2008-07-05T02:47:00.000-07:00

sadly, though i can see the blackberry bushes showing signs of bearing fruit, i will be long gone by the time they are ripe enough to eat. however, i have found a worthy substitute in the many plum trees frequently found all along the route. barely bigger than a cherry, each fruit is the tastiest, juiciest and crunchies little breakfast morsel you could possibly hope for. ask and le chemin saint jacques shall provide!

hike day 18: eauze

2008-07-05T02:41:00.000-07:00

dined last night with 3 french women whose faces have become familiar over the past few days. lovely women, all of them in their 60´s. over some yummy eats and grappa, they revealed that although they have known each other some 3 decades, the bond between them really crystallized when all three lost a son through various accidents, all around the same time. wowww, rough. can´t even imagine. my heart went out to them.

the heat has subsided and what with overcast skies and a good breeze, today was perfect hiking weather. really couldn't ask for better.

called it a day at maison labarbe, a gorgeous country inn dead centre of gascogne vineyard country. as it turns out, it was a duck farm specializing in the production of duck pate, confit de canard and other duck fine products. for dinner, they served the most mouth-watering - you guessed it - roast duck with duck-infused cassoulet and scrumptious local roast potatoes prepared in duck drippings. of course, the requisite platter of fromage followed, capped by ice cream, everything served with local wine from the gers region. ain't this the life?

putain de punaises!

2008-07-03T04:15:00.000-07:00

bedbugs. ughhhhhhhh. dozens of bites, very painful and swollen, evidently another allergic reaction similar to last year. sleepless night, felt them crawling all over me every second. switched beds three times, submitted my clother to a meticulous inspection at 3 am but the place was infested. disgusting.

hit the road early as i couldn't sleep anyway and got my mind off what i certainly knew to be hitchhikers in my knapsack. the day was saved in a big way when i ran into christophe, sebastien and laurent - from toulouse, lemans and montpelier respectively - a couple of super sweet guys with whom i laughed my way to eauze, some 35 km later. when we reached the city, i set all my belongings out on the lawn and laundered everything in sight. hope that does the trick.

had a grrr8 communal dinner with an international crowd. the camino's a little like life that way. one minute up, then next down but the very next back up again. tiens, c'est comme ca, n'est-ce pas?

hotter 'n hades

2008-07-01T08:03:00.000-07:00

so intense is the mid-day heat that even my eyeballs sweat. hot, Hot, HOT!

what's in a name?

2008-07-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

first, i strolled through Chier (To Poo), then i hit Montcuq (MyAss) and now i have secured a spot for the night in Condom. ce qu'ils sont vulgaires, ces francais!! (clin d'oeuil, marie-claude!!)

hike day 16: lectoure

2008-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

after hearing that la romieu must not be missed, i left the ancient vicarage of lectoure at dawn in anticipation of a hot 35 km day. every 10 minutes like clockwork, the sound of a gunshot echoed across the valley, instantly followed by flocks of swallows noisily taking flight. with all the gunshots reverberating across the countryside, one would have thought these hunting grounds. but no, it was nothing more than the tried and true method of pest control, one step up from the old scarecrow routine.

listed among unesco's world heritage sites, le romieu was settled in 1062 by a couple of monks who had just returned from a pilgrimage to rome (thus the name "la romieu"). the jaw-dropping cathedral with its octogonal tower was completed mid-xiv century and is surrounded by gorgeous grounds.

also, ancient folklore would have it that a young girl saved the village from certain starvation after a severe storm wiped out the local crops in the xiv century. as a huge cat-lover, she was pressed by the villagers to sacrifice all her precious felines as an emergency food supply (eeee-yewww!!) unbeknownst to her neighbours, she hid her favourite male and female inside her home where they had dozens of kittens. a few years later, the village was visited by plague-carrying rats, upon which angeline cut loose her army of cats to oust them. thus the village was once again saved by angeline and her cats. it is said as she grew older, angeline's features became very feline-like with pointy ears and chin and a hairy face! to this day, locals hold the many strays in high regard, feeding them and keeping them off the bbq spit!

au royaume des tournesols

2008-07-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

no doubt about it, i have landed smack in sunflower country. crops litter the countryside as far as the eye can see. right on the verge of blossoming, they already heed the magnetic draw of the sun, unanymously standing at attention as if patiently awaiting orders before springing to life. i wonder if i will still be in france by the time entire hillsides of mature sunflowers rotate their faces in unison from east to west in adoration of the sun's every whim. (is that laying it a little thick?!!) hmmm, what happens when the day is overcast or rainy? (way to throw a wrench in the works, h!!)

hike day 15: auvillar

2008-06-30T08:51:00.001-07:00

spotted a couple of deer bouncing across rolling hills of wheat fields before the morning mist had burned away. just the birds and i. very peaceful.

stopped for the night in the old vicarage of lectoure, yet another superb little town with a grab-bag full of architectural goodies dating back to the middle ages. not much is open though. this is typical of villages and small towns in france. i'm guessing it's because they tend to cater so much to tourists on weekends that they need the extra day off. marie-claude, ai-je vise juste?

hike day 14: saint-martin

2008-06-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

sunday...another steamy hot, sunny day in le midi and an anniversary to celebrate as i look back 14 days and over 430 km ago to my first steps out of le-puy-en-velay. hard to believe how quickly the time and mileage have blown by, almost as surprising as the vastly different scenery from one region to the next.

stopped in the town of moissac in the morning for un grand bol de cafe au lait and a croissant only to find the cental square buzzing with the most enormous market filled with temptations to sway even the staunchest of resolves. of course, it didn't take long before the cheese merchants captured my attention with their ginormous barrels of every lip-smacking cheese imaginable. the moissac cathedral is simply stunning.

the path wound down to the real first stretch of flat ground since i began my trek. it was a riverside stroll along la garonne lined with endless rows of magnificent giant platane trees. i eventually hung my hat at a spectacular midieval vicarage turned reno'd inn high in spectacular auvillar. the heart of the village is a triangular area of XIIIth century arcade-style buildings where the birds and shadows have plenty of nooks and crannies in which to play games. also featured is a type of midieval gazebo construction dominating the elegant triangle. those midieval urban planners really had it going onnnn! now take all of this art, history, beauty...then erect a double-stacked mother of a nuclear plant a mere 10 km away and you have one of the oddest cultural and geographical juxtapositions imaginable.

mum's the word

2008-06-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

the french countryside offers up a cornucopia of wafting aromas worthy of a king's ransom. as me mum used to remark when i was but knee-high to a grasshopper, "now breathe in deeply children." my brother and i never figured out how a skunk in full fight or flight could elicit the identical response from her. i have long since ceased asking why and resign myself instead to the reality that mom's standards of olfactory excellence rest on a different plane than the rest of we earthlings! :^}

hike day 12: cahors

2008-06-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

had a dining experience in cahors fit for the gods last night. the meal started with a generous platter of the most scrumptious cold cuts followed by a delish braised chicken with mixed veggies on the side. now all of this was going down quite nicely with the local trappist monks' beer but the bar was raised a few notches with the arrival of the cheese platter. a half-dozen of the most phantasmagorical cheeses of various shapes and sizes landed at our table. num num num...some local sweet melon capped the meal nicely. ohhhhhh yeahhhhh baby!

took my leave of lovely cahors through its spectacular bridge and began a fairly arduous hike up up and away. half way up the cliff, i discovered another hiker who had somehow fallen over and the weight of her bag had wedged her in a rock gully on the edge of the cliff! precariously perched, to say the least. she was in such a tizzy that it hadn't occured to her to unsnap her knapsack to get herself out of her bind. such was my good samaritain move of the day.

after a steamy but much less mountainous day of hiking, i reached my evening destination. me voici maintenant, les deux pieds fermement plantes en plein dans montcuq. trust me, i am certainly not the only person deriving perverse and juvenile pleasure in the knowledge that without pronouncing the letter "q", the name of the place literally turns into "MyAss"!! thus the translation for the above: here i stand, both feet firmly planted in MyAss!! noone seems to pronounce the "q" in the village, honestly! everyone is walking around here talking about their own asses. what up??

hike day 10: marcilhac-sur-cele

2008-06-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

some days you so badly want to put your bag down that you know you can't...for it will be twice as heavy when you put it back on again. somehow my brain got stuck on a loop of that sarah silverman spoof "i'm f---ing matt damon3! thanks for that lisa!

1, 2, 3 spiders gliding across my cheeks...no this is not the intro to some freakazoid arachnophile story. that is typically the number of spikders that landed on my face before i got around to wiping them off. because this part of the path is so little traveled (no doubt due to its difficulty), it was like a cobwebs shooting gallery where they came at me in rapid-fire succession. itsy bitsy spider up the nostril spout...

in the end, i was rewarded with some spectacular vistas over saint-cirq-lapopie, a midieval throwback to the brutal days of the french revolution when "les oubliettes" were cast into the mountain dungeon that still towers over the village to this day. "les oubliettes" zere "the forgotten ones" or prisoners who were sent careening to their death into the dungeon pit full of guillotine-like blades. this little nugget was delivered with such good humour and reverence by a local that i gave him my best "eeee-yewww" look. to this, he responded "mais alors quoi? on est en france. on tranche les tetes des rois pour un rien! (translation: what?? this is france after all. even kings' heads will roll on a dime!" ahhhh ces francais. zut alors!

hike day 9: beduer

2008-06-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

what a gorgeous deviation along the gr651. on one side are stunning rocky cliffs of dizzying heights and on the other the meandering cele river with its sweet lullaby. a group of peregrine falcons rode the thermals a dozen metres away and aside from the gaggle of rabbits, i had the whole place to myself. ahh, que de beaute.

made my way through rugged mountain terrain to st-sulpice with nary another pilgrim in sight. this quaint little village's claim to fame is the half-dozen "troglodyte" houses that levitate between heaven and earth as they hang off the high cliffs. it is as though someone or something got down to the task of carving them out of the cliffside, then in a 3 century fit of procrastination left them half finished. consequently, they look like half houses precariously perched on the cliffs. also, the houses have been modernized with all manner of architectural trills so the clash of eras is striking against a backdrop of charcoal and rust coloured cliffs. what an extraordinary feat of engineering.

to cap the day, i threw together a simple pasta with the most divine blue cheese sauce. if heaven is the kingdom of cheese, then i'd best start making good with my maker now!! of course rumour has it that the camino cleanses you of all sins. i figure since this is my second year in a row hiking it, there's a heavenly cornucopia of curd somewhere out there with my name on it!

sainte-eulalie

2008-06-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

yesterday morning i followed a red herring near sainte-eulalie and found myself inauiring for directions of a kindly madame breakfasting in her garden. quite aside from setting me straight, she generously insisted i pull up a chair and join her for coffee. once she realized i hadn't yet eaten, she pulled out a veritable shmorgasbord of homemade breakfast gateaux and jams and a spectacular platter of cheeses! what a feast and a lovely chat as well.

if connections such as these are what it's all about, then maybe i've found a small part of what i came here looking for.

solo?

2008-06-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

few are fellow pilgrims whom i meet that have undertaken this voyage solo. many local folks look behind me, past me, searching for another backpacker before asking incredulously "mais vous etes seule?" my stock reply is that you are never really alone for you meet so many locals and other pilgrims along the way. they can't believe it and often suggest i must be very "couragious".

that kind of comment must come from a somewhat cynical view of the world where one must have someone else on whom to rely in the event of a mishap. seems to me if you live in anticipation of a shitstorm, then it shall be served up on a silver platter. anyway, people are by nature helpful and so i believe perfect strangers can be relied upon in an emergency.

another frequent question that comes my way is "don't you get lonely?" truth be known, i am only too happy in my own company during the day, occupying my thoughts with everything and nothing, working hard to reign them in to focus on the present. if i meet people along the way or in the evening, that is enough socializing to sustain me. call me weird if u will (a little touch of quirk never hurt anyone!)

everybody hurts...someplace

2008-06-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

funny thing this pilgrimage business. you leave with the vague notion of disconnecting, elevating your soul yet the first thing you discover is your body. shoulders, a pair of arms, toes and an incalculable number of bits and bobs that suddenly begin to make themselves heard. everyone doesn't hurt everywhere but everyone has at least one ache, one sore, one challenge.

young guys are the worst as their unshakeable self-confidence and sense of competition pushes them to greater speeds and distances and ultimately straight into tendonitis or the biggest blisters known to mankind.

most pilgrims look upon any extra mileage off the waymarked path as heresy , their arch-enemy. whether as a result of getting lost or intentionally detouring, i view it as part of a richer experience for it is that extra km that leads you to some of the rarest gems, be it a cheese farm, a hidden valley or a heartwarming exchange of cultures.

hike day 7: cheesy kingdom

2008-06-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

just before hitting figeac, i turned a km off the beaten track upon spying a sign for a cheese farm. the maitre fromagier (read "the big cheese"!) led me through a taste tour of her dozen cheeses, each with its own distict flavour and texture.

while i presented a polite, inquisitive and attentive front, somewhere in the deepest recesses of my lizard brain screamed "gimme Gimme GIMME NOW!!!" honestly, can you think of a better way to kick-start a monday morning?

hike day 7: conques

2008-06-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

fairly arduous hike first thing to get up and out of the conques valley. i have taken of late to hanging out in village churches between 12 and 3, not because i've discovered my latent devout self but rather because the heat is so intense in le midi that the coolest place in town is actually inside the churches. all locals siesta in the afternoons so when in rome...

not too many options for accomodations in this area, meaning another night under the stars.

conques, le conte de fee!

2008-06-23T08:04:00.001-07:00

OMG, this place has jumped right off the pages of a fairy tale. i am overnighting in a 9th century abbey that is inhabited and managed by catholic monks. the stone circular staircase is the kind where you never quite feel alone even though noone is visibly standing nearby or even within earshot. and of course, any self-respecting 9th century architect would build at least one secret passageway into the new abbey's stairwell! the village sits in a tight deep valley and every building looks the part. now i get where disney's inspiration came from!

supped in the abbey with the 40-strong members of the lourdes choir who gave a concert that very evening. told them my mom would go bananos over a vial of water from bernadette's grotto. ask and ye shall receive. mom, the water's in the mail!

some churches don't translate well into good musical venues for the natural accoustics confound the source sound with its own powerful echoes. the abbey however proved a gorgeous locale as the kyrie eleison's rose up, filling the cathedral with the voices of 200 angels. beautiful.

to further pad the ambience, i heard the sound of high-pitched screeching coming from inside the walls throughout the choir's performance. as i left the abbey, i spotted clusters of bats chasing each other from the cracks in the high midieval facade. spooooooooky!!

on adore les quebecois!

2008-06-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

what good fortune that i took the alternate GR6 route to the GR65! stopped for a stellar coffee in campuac, only to meet a new mom from vaudreuil near montreal who was visiting her in-laws, the bar owners. how could i refuse an invitation to join them for lunch, particularly when genevieve's brother-in-law is a chef?!! the spread consisted of very typical old-style french fare, though somewhat challenging, even by my standards. when the calf's head was served on a platter surrounded by rich veggies, what to do?!! and the pigs' knuckes and tripe, all doused in oodles of sauces and creams? mmmmm, deslish though. and of course the wine. it's a wonder i didn't kill myself on the hike that ensued! god, the french love their quebecois cousines and for this, i am eternally grateful!

hike day 6: estaing

2008-06-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

note to self: lead with walking stick to avoid indiana jones style face full of cobwebs. that would be the prize for trailblazing through the alternate yet more scenic GR6 to espeyrac. quite the varied terrain, but mostly in remote country paths which farmers clearly use to shepherd their bovines to and fro. consequently, the din was astonishing from swarms of flies buzzing around multitudes of cow pie (there it is again, all roads leading to pie!!) the good news: they weren't the biting variety. the downside: they live only to find a nice comfy orifice in which to lay their eggs. further to a short gestation period, i may just give birth to either ArachnaBoy or Lord of the Flies.

la lingua franca

2008-06-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

after 6 days of total immersion in france where not a single word of english has passed my lips, my brain has flicked the switch and i am now thinking en francais. love it, ca fait du bien! i only hope the transition to spanish is as painless - michelina, a cuando nuestra cena para praticar la idioma?!!

while i seem to have the language thing licked, it is taking me a bit longer to exorcise my culture and city. case in point, upon awakening this morning to the sound of a bell clanging in the distance, i caught myself imagining an old polish man in his knife sharpening truck rather than the bell's true bovine owner!

hike day 5: l'estrade

2008-06-20T04:07:00.000-07:00

one step at a time ever descending through rocks and creeks and mud. ahhhh, the pungent smells of the forest while a gentle mist hung above the earth as if conjured straight out of a witch's cauldron. then suddenly the path emerged out in the open before a sign boasting that saint-come-d'olt is one of france's loveliest towns. though the competition is stiff, i couldn't agree more. actually, this section of the trail - though rugged and demanding due to the constant mountain ascents/descents - has the most charming midieval villages. in fact, the other two larger towns (espalion and estaing) on today's trail were also straight out of a travel brochure. estaing's showpiece was the superb castle overlooking the river lot where ex president giscard d'estaing is said to summer. if the south of france is where i was looking for razzle and dazzle, it didn't take long for me to find it! then i ran into my gaspesie friends simon et guillaume...at the village bakery bien sur, refuleing. this was getting to be a habit!

hike day 4: gentianes

2008-06-20T04:04:00.000-07:00

what varied terrain! the morning started with a steady climb through farmers' pastures parcelled off on rolling hills. then came a near 1000 metre ascent-descent in forested paths with a steady diet of rock-hopping through streams of mountain run-off. (if i was a mountain goat in a previous life, sadly my chevre talents don't extend to spontaneous cheese production!) by the time i hit my destination, i wasn't yet ready to hang up my hiking boots so i just kept walking knowing my emergency camping gear would be making its first appearance. the verdict, with a little mcguyver savvy and no rain, all good!

la tarte et encore la tarte!

2008-06-20T03:45:00.000-07:00

somebody pinch me: i'm either dreaming most exquisitely or my third shakrah has levitated to a higher plane. my gastronomic home runs are flying so fast and furious i can barely keep track. how about we begin with a dazzling and decadent croissant a l'amandine that had my eyes popping out of my head over breakfast yesterday morning? or even its piping hot companion - a smooth yet deadly potent cafe au lait that soon had jet fuel coursing through my veins? (zeez french...zey mayk a mechant cup of coffee, n'est-ce pas?) i've likely already gone on long enough about the fine local cheeses but what of the marvelous chestnut spread i picked up from a farmer? propriety be damned, this was a job for one spoon, one sitting.

ahhhh, but the prize, the crown jewel, the mother of all things palette-pleasing snuck up on me today at the stroke of noon in the village square of aubrac where the cows are the prettiest eye-shadow wearing animals you´ve ever seen. completely oblivious to the fate lady luck had in store for me, i unloaded my knapsack at an outdoor cafe in search of something with which to whet my whistle. and there, to my amazement and suddent excitement lay the three biggest, motherest, most lip-smacking tarts i have ever laid eyes on! i instantly began salivating like one of pavlov's dogs. the first was an apple crumble, the second an apple custard and the third a mile-high bumbleberry. que de beaute divine, i nearly fell on my knees in thanks. now what could be better than an oasis of tarts on a long hot hike? (me, me, pick me - i have the answer in my back pocket!) why, a heaping slice of bumbleberry tart the size of new york state of course! messieux, dames, lunch is served.

hike day 3: finieyrols

2008-06-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

looooong hike today: 42.5 km. it's always the last half kilometre that damn near kills you. what is it that kanye said? 3dat dat dat dat dat don't kill me can only make me stronger"! still plenty of mud and flooding but the sun was out, the birds orchestrated fine symphonic overtures and the wildflowers put on a veritable show.

very happy to report france trumps spain in the hygiene department when it comes to inns. all accomodations thus far have been uber-clean. strangely though, spain's camino is wayyyy more connected than france's. finding an internet cafe is no easy task and when you do, they're anything but cheap. weird...

poo

2008-06-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

one of the small villages i crossed yesterday was named "chier". for the uninitiated, this is a french colloquialism signifying taking a dump, pinching a loaf, popping a poo. imagine if this were your return address! this simply wouldn't happen in canada. except in newfoundland...alongside blackhead, placentia bay and dildo arm. anyhow, i digress.

hike day 2: le sauvage

2008-06-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

my exit out of monistrol was a straight-up switchback climb out of the valley to rise above the rain clouds. the respite was only momentary though. all day long, a deluge of rain, the mountain path turned to a river and mud half way up to your knees. little to do but damn the torpedoes and forge a path dead centre.

i thank my lucky stars for some hangtime zith a couple of hysterical viennese and swiss dudes who saved the day over a fantastic aubrac region goulash dinner with a few bottles of local red.

hike day 1: le-puy-en-velay

2008-06-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

it was a good day for walking as the skies spat down a light cool drizzle. will i get stuck down in the fires of hell for missing the morning mass and blessing in le puy's cathedral? the risk was well worth it to get a jump on the other pilgrims on the road. so i'm an instant gratification grrl, deal with it.

anyway, i had a date with my friend marie-claude from bretagne to meet her on the road. we spent a lovely afternoon together hiking through pastoral scenes, gorgeous wildflowers and birds, farms and forests, crossing goat farms along the way. goats=goat's cheese=yummalicious lunch! marie-claude and i eventually met her peeps bruno et aline as we all chatted our way into monistrol.

this lovely riverside village is nestled in a valley surrounded by the high cliffs of le massif central. the entrance into the village is heralded by a bridge conceived in 1890 by none other than gustav eiffel, architect of paris' sentinel. our man gustav was clearly ahead of his time but not so visionary as to imagine large transports crossing his design. hence, many are the marks and gashes marring the inside of the bridge where large trucks attempted the crossing, managing only to hopelessly wedge themselves in!

i bid bruno, aline and marie-claude adieu, then turned my attention to my inn's roomies. a dozen grenoble residents and i broke bread over the region's local dish: lentils and far, sausage with cheese and home grappa. yummm! by dinner's end, my new french friends looked to me for my best impression of the latest "tetes a claque" skits! une soiree tout a fait sympa!

mommy, i shrank the car

2008-06-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

le-puy-en-velay: a stunning 6th century town paved in the kind of cobblestone i'd challenge you to find at the Home Depot. it also happens to be the trailhead for my trek and stars as attractions the usual suspects: town square, tall stone walls, tudor-style houses and the quintessential ancient cathedral. strangely though, the cathedral centrepiece is a black virgin mary: who knew?

as i strolled around exploring impossibly narrow and winding streets, i spotted a car lurching around a very tight corner, then bunny-hopping to a stop: the driver - who didn't even sport enough peach fuzz to respectably call it a beard - was visibly concerned with the geometry of his car in relation to the corner. easing it into reverse, he inched backwards, glanced across his shoulder? then somehow hit the gas. the midieval wall clearly weighed in as the victor in that battle. with a few chunks of history strewn on the ground and an entire bumper freed of its daddy, i'd say the dude definitely flunked that geometry class.

the civilized way!

2008-06-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

i'm in love...with the french rail system, that is. what else whisks you out of the city in minutes flat and flies you through the poppy-strewn countryside in the lap of luxury at speeds of up to 320 km/hr? wowww...

the party begins

2008-06-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

marching, dancing and hollering in front of la gare de lyon was an enormous party of revellers, their faces painted in french colours and waving the flag. at first i figured it was all about the euro cup but i soon stood corrected. who knew basketball was such a big deal in france? the party was in full swing inside the station where the volume was off the charts. it was all good-naturedly raucous until the party spilled over onto one of the tracks. a number of police instantly materialized, a few punches were thrown and before i knew it, some of the partyers were being escorted into a paddy wagon. the moral of this story: party as hard as you like, only don't mess with our train schedule.

switching gears

2008-06-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

as i strolled to the train station, i could sense myself mentally switching gears into hiking mode. i am much looking forward to abandoning the hustle and bustle of paris in exchange for wide expanses of countryside and mountains. how lucky am i to be in a position to pull this off?

i had a visitor this morning while sipping on a bowl of cafe au lait. from the first sentence she uttered, this dane was evidently bursting to tell someone, anyone. seems she'd been in a bike accident some years before - i swear i will never again ride without a bike helmet! - and had been drawn to paris to attend a "handicap conference" as she called it. there she introduced her invention: a kitchen implement for people with limited hand control. while i was happy for her and the success of her brainchild, i couldn't help but thank my lucky stars for the relative ease with which my trip plans had come together. how much more difficult - if not impossible - would this hike have become, given some of the challenges faced by my danish friend.

scooter nation

2008-06-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

with a price tag at the pumps roughly twice that of its canadian counterpart, little wonder that france is a nation of scooters and bikes. in fact, paris' main train stations all boast of enormous parking lots exclusively for scooters. also, a number of main arteries have been re-engineered to accomodate dedicated bike lanes. every couple of blocks, you will find fleets of self-serve bikes - no old beaters found here, we're talking relatively new, well-maintained hybrids - where a visa or monthly membership card is all it takes to unlock your trusty steed for a few hours. then, you simply return it to the fleet of your choice anywhere in the city. brilliant!

mind you, i'm still not sure i would risk life and limb riding a bike in a city like paris. as pepe le pew once said, "zeez french pee-poll and zayr cars...zay are cray-zee, no?" ok, so i might have taken a some artistic license with that quote...

pie, Pie and MORE PIE!

2008-06-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

sunday morning i awoke feeling verrrry excited. jumped out of bed and set out in search of a cafe au lait. the locals weren't quite as keen as i for the streets were all but deserted at 7.30 am...except for this one little bakery where the lineup extended outside the premises and right around the block.

bakeries are to paris as banks are to north american cities in their corner real estate monopoly of major intersections. call it a lifestyle choice if you will. i call it a good thing. how the other two bakeries manage to eek out a living with the grand pubah of quality baked goods sitting pretty across the street remains a mystery to me. well, "when in rome", so they say.

was a 20 minute lineup worth the wait? let me tell you about the palette-tickling chevre quiche with a mixed berry torte chaser! ho ho, that's it. i'm packing my bags and calling paris home. more specifically, i am moving directly above that rocking bakery. though hmmmmm...on second thought, my anticipated volume of quiche and pie consumption might prove an issue to the structural integrity of the building. note to self: give further thought to a sound pie strategy.

gay paris, official start of my big adventure!

2008-06-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

the red-eye delivered me to paris' doorstep saturday moning just as markets were beginning to buzz. all that fabulous cheeeeeese...yummm.

got settled into a cute little b&b kitty corner to the city's most famous cemetary, le pere lachaise, which boasted of an impressive list of long departed residents the likes of eugene delacroix, max ernst, edith piaf and jim morrison to name but a few. a few days earlier, a friend (tip of the hat to you geor-g!) had so thoroughly dramatized oscar wilde's sordid and sorry tale that a visit to his resting place topped the list. a dandy in both life and death, even his gravestone was right off the scale in flamboyance.

my forays took me out to the 14th century place de la bastille, then down to paris' waterway artery, la seine. how is it possible to cram so much fantastic architecture in so few square kilometres? notre dame, sainte chapelle, the stunning hotel de ville...a mere stone's throw from the louvre and its pyramids, now landmarks in the post-davinci code era. as the sun set, i spotted l'arc de triomphe down the champs elysees as the eiffel tower hovered over the left bank.

one bridge after another shouted out the history of the city. pont neuf was the first of la seine's many bridges to outlaw the construction of houses on its surface. until 150 years ago, packing real estate into every last little nook and cranny was considered de rigueur. imagine living with the ever-present sounds of the river rushing underfoot and the frequent bellow of foghorns shaking the foundations over breakfast!

these days, the bridges are tourist attractions complete with artists, chochka hustlers and mimes. one frenchman even pledged his undying love to his girlfriend, proposing on the spot while cameras flashed all around and supportive friends and strangers sheered him on.

Leaving soon, soooooo excited!

2008-06-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

in six days i will be heading into another big adventure. can't wait! will miss my friends and of course my kitties as i haven't yet managed to teach them how to email!