Meine liebe Deutschland!

I'm not too strong in German, so I don't know if that's right, but it's my attempt:)

From Aix, I took a night train to Hamburg to visit the hometown of my father. It was with mixed feelings that I approached the city, not knowing what to expect. At first, I didn't think much of it; a grey, cold, damp city by the water, with lots of factories. But this was just the view from the train station (Hauptbanhof), on a rainy day.

I climbed the tower of St. Michaelis church (all of 300+ steps) and saw a wonderful view, even on a foggy day. It really has a certain charm that I can't explain; maybe if I were there longer I would have words for it.

St. Michael conquering the devil

In the basement of this church is a crypt, where Johann Sebastian Bach's son, Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach, is buried. For me, that was cool to have a tangible piece of music history right there in the church.

Martin Luther

Besides this expedition, I also checked out the Rathaus, the old town hall, with the Hamburg crest- very sharp.










While I was in Hamburg, I got a tip from my dad to check out the family business, knife stores, which is run by his cousins. I was pretty excited to find it, and took the train way out of the city to find this store, which turned out just to be a warehouse, and not a store at all! I never did find the store, because the guy at the desk didn't speak much English, and I didn't have time to cross the entire city to the other side, where the store actually is. That was a pity, but I did get to speak to my ...second cousin, I think? ...on the phone, very randomly, and we very nearly met up, but I had to catch my train back to Paris. Hopefully on the next trip, whenever that may be...

On the way to Ralstedt

Then, back to Paris for one last night. It was surprisingly sunny and warm when I arrived. To pass the time and browse through some more little boutiques, I headed back to Montmartre and caught the sunset view of the Eiffel Tower.

The trip was over far too soon, but I'm so glad I got to experience these places and people!

Thanks for reading:)

~La grande aventure, pt. 2~

Next up, Nice! We had a couple of days to play with and decided, although it would be a long trip, to spend some time in the south of France. It was lovely, although we definitely stood out by wearing flip flops since it was fall weather for the locals! We made a trip to a medieval village, and to Monaco which is very close, and got to see the famous Montecarlo casino, as well as an aquarium. It was a good time to relax and enjoy being in a hostel with others our age. One girl joined us for the day when we went touring about.

Fruit and flower market

A Ferrari in front of the Monte Carlo:)

From here, we headed to Lyon where I knew of some people that were letting us stay with them, some friends of friends. They were so hospitable to us and showed us around, and Lyon is quite pretty, especially the old city. We went to church there, which was pretty great for me, since it's been a while since I went to a French-speaking church. Heather and Grace were kind to put up with me since I wanted to go so badly. I thoroughly enjoyed our time there!

A fresco of a lion

Then, the long-awaited city, famous for cheese, wine and chocolat, the city of love...Paris!!! I was so excited to see Paris in the fall, and it was indeed beautiful. There weren't really any red maples but seeing the trees all yellow and orange was lovely, and the Eiffel Tower definitely surpassed our expectations! We got to see it both at night and during the day, and at night, it sparkles with lights all over it, every hour on the hour. Of course, we had to make the trip to the very top, and, needless to say, the view is spectactular. If you ever get the chance, you should definitely go.








Besides the Eiffel Tower, we checked out the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and Sacré Coeur/ Montmartre. I got to briefly see a friend I haven't seen in three years which was wonderful.
From Paris, we split up- the girls to Britain, and me to Aix-en-Provence to visit my friend Lynn from college. I was reluctant to leave them since it was so much fun all together, but I was excited to see Lynn. It was a great visit, very chill (it rained the whole time) and we got to see the new James Bond (in English) before it came out in North America. It's known as "little Paris" ans is a very sought-after place to live, apparently, for the wealthy. It's rumoured that Angelina Jolie is buying a house nearby. I hope I can visit longer next time:) So good to reconnect with Lynn.

I'm posting too much, so I shall put Germany on the next one! Meine liebe Deutschland!

I bumped my head on the Eiffel Tower

It's true- my friends and I were going to the top platform of the Eiffel Tower, and somehow I (the shortest of the three) bumped my head on the steel of the tower. Turns out it is pretty solid stuff, actually:)

So! I'm back from my trip to Europe (sigh) ...not really ready to be back, either. Already, it doesn't seem real that I even went, and I only came back last night. I was sure I would have time to blog while I was there but I wasn't able to post any photos, so I'll have to inundate you with photos now that I've returned!

I'll try to sum it up briefly, but you probably all know I'm not that good at it :) ...

~La grande aventure, pt. 1~

I landed in Munich to begin with, and met up with my two friends who had been there already two weeks. From there, we toured about Munich before catching the night train to Rome. I love architecture, even though I don't really know the names or the styles, and it was great to see all the historical buildings in Munich, and go on a free tour as well led by a funny Australian man.

Once in Rome, we trekked to our (overpriced) hostel where we began our theme of staying on the top floor of wherever we were:) I thought it was a good deal but it turned out not to be; at least some other places were much better. Grace and I both loved the movie Roman Holiday, and the next day, when we took a tour on those double-decker buses -we were on the top level, in the rain- we got to go to several sites which are in the movie, like the Fontana di Trevi, and la Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth), plus the Colosseum, of course! We got some sweet pics which I am now adding.

From Rome, we headed to beautiful Firenze (Florence), where, after some escapades with no one answering the door at the hostel, we ended up getting in and the guy who runs it was extremely helpful. He and his sister made our stay really great because they were so welcoming. Personally, I loved Florence- it was so beautiful and a different feel from Rome. Of course we checked out Michaelangelo's David while we were there, and took in a panoramic view of the city. I should also mention that I taught Grace to bargain in the touristy alleys, where she then proceeded to get a better price than me for the same things:)

We took a short trip to Pisa to snap some photos of the tower, but we've decided it's pretty over-rated and actually spent more time watching the kids running around. Children sound much bossier when they're yelling in Italian at each other, I've decided :)

I didn't get to ride it but it made for a sweet pic!

Another night train later, and we were in Zurich. Although we were there for less than a day, it was beautiful by the river running through the city, and filled with posh shops I probably would be too nervous to go into:) A funny thing was, we saw two Buddhist monks taking their picture in front of a Louis Vuitton store. While we were there, we shopped a bit at a chocolate store named Sprüngli which was amazing! I tried their specialty, mini macarons called Luxemburgerli, which I will post photos of, naturally.

Mmmm...

I will save the rest for a future post:)

42.2 km later...

This past Sunday marks a first for me- I completed my first marathon! :)


My friend Mandy kindly let me stay at her place the night before, in Toronto, and I got rested up before race day. I thought I would be a ball of nerves but I actually was relaxed and not too stressed- I even managed to have a good night's sleep whereas I'm usually so "tendu."

The starting line was pretty stressful- crammed in with 12,000 other people- but we eventually got going. I had to really book it to catch up with my friends but ended up running with another girl from my clinic for pretty much the whole way.

I won't bore you with all the details...but try it sometime :P At about 38 km, I was really fading and didn't want to take another step. I felt like I couldn't breathe and had to walk/run the last few kilometres, which I hate doing, but I still finished well. I dropped back from my friend and finished a few minutes after her, but it turned out we finished in about the same time because of the starting line. Somehow I still pulled together some kind of energy and still ran across the finish:)

I tried to post photos but they are official race photos and can't copy them...so I took a couple of my own, of the medal, race shirt and my race bib.

Next up, Boston.... (yeah right!)

I just have to say...«Je raffole de l'automne!» It's my favourite season; even though every year I'm wishing for the last moments of summer to linger a little longer, I am so thrilled when the air changes and there's that delicious autumn smell.

Soon, I hope to post some fall photos, but for now, here are a couple that my little sister Ruth took from soccer, and one of Ruth taking a photo.

Kind of looks like we don't do much... :)

Deking out the competition

On the way to Toronto, I had a great visit with my former roommate, Jenny. It was great to reconnect before continuing on.


Well, it may be my last post before Europe...I'll let you all know how it goes!

Ciao! And Happy Thanksgiving a little early! :)

Miscellany

The countdown is on... 4 days till my race, about 20 till Europe!!! Yikes! There is too much to do till then, but hopefully it will all come together.


So far, I'm not too injured that I can't compete, so I'm going to do my best. I'm looking forward to seeing my friends Mandy and Robin in Toronto; they're kindly letting me stay over the night before the race. I'm excited to go to the runner's expo and hopefully get some free stuff:)


Tonight, our small group is meeting for the first time. I'm kind of nervous but looking forward to what this year will bring, and how we will blend together as a group. It's been a while since I led anything like this before and I'm very glad there are three of us leading. We're going to be discussing prayer for the first while, which is something that's always a challenge for me, so it will be great to get input from others and to explore all this together.


The other night, I couldn't get to sleep right away, and I started just thinking about everything that's going on, and I realized how important it is for me to take some time in every day just to process, and to allow myself to calm down for a few minutes. I really need this quietude in my life and I'm too stressed when I don't take those few minutes, and it was a time when I could refocus.


Church was like that too this week- I had to listen to some things I didn't want to hear, about our love for Jesus showing by the way we live with each other. So simple, but immensely hard to practice for me, a lot of the time! I tend to pick my situations where I can not be too bothered or inconvenienced, and that's pretty opposite from what Jesus wants. This is especially the case with my sister- and in the past, with my roommates- and it was an opportunity for my pretenses to be stripped away. Again. (Not fun.) It reminded me of Edmund in Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis) when he is a dragon and he has to get all the dragon skin peeled off in order to go back to himself; I would say it's a pretty close parallel.


This has turned into a long post; again, my words escape with me:) I will update probably after this weekend, hopefully the race pics turn out okay!

my room (for lack of a better photo) :)

Why ain't it always summer? Why must it end? Who wants to put their shoes on? Not me, my friend (Anne of Green Gables musical) :)

Can you believe it's the second week of September? There's already a chill in the air and I'm still clinging to the last thoughts of summer.

I just have to say, I can't wait till my friends Josh and Laura have their baby- I guessed they would have it on the 8th but it looks like I was wrong. I can't wait to see photos of the little one, if you're reading this, hope all goes well, it will be such a cutie!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of a visit from my Aunt Barb and Uncle Phil who were passing through on their way back from a wedding. I haven't seen them often the last few years, and they moved to the States this year, so it was a pleasant surprise.

We went out for lunch before they took to the road again, and had a great time catching up. Now I'm thinking...road trip to New York state? :)

Somehow, September is filling up so fast already, even though I'm no longer a student- it surprises me every year when every day almost I have somewhere I need to go or something I need to get done.

Right now, my time is largely consumed with training for this marathon - 18 days left! Yikes! - and trying to avoid injury. I am SO taking a break after this one! Hopefully I can actually finish the race, that's the goal at this point. (Of course, it would be a nice bonus to do it well- but we'll see...)

This year, I'm co-leading a small group in our young adults group, so I'm pretty excited about that, plus continuing with ESL conversation class. How did I get so busy for someone who's not a student? I feel like I have more (or just as much) on the go as when I was a student with three part-time jobs in the summer. And that's without family responsibilities like kids! To you moms out there, I don't know how you do it, but I applaud you!

I leave you with a couple of photos from Roman Holiday- I love the idea of dancing on a barge in Rome:) Who knows, I may get to try some of these things! We shall see...

Happy September!

Sisters

This weekend, my little sister Ruth came down for a visit, one week after her birthday as kind of a late birthday present. She took the train to Toronto and I met her there; we enjoyed walking around Toronto until our train back to London. It was her first time in either city, and on a train, so I think it was fun for her.

While she was here, Liz and I took her out for supper, and for ice cream at Marble Slab. The girl there actually thought we were twins- we were like, "Um, no... there's ten years between us..." - unbelievable! We also took Ruth to Niagara Falls on Saturday - a first for her and Liz. There was a huge rainbow arcing over the entire falls for several minutes. I tried to get some shots of it but I think I overexposed the photos.

All in all, it was great to have her, and we had all kinds of adventures, including getting lost on the way to and back from the falls! Good times.

We also took some goofy car photos on the way back - this is one where Liz looks so impressed :P