Another Step Closer !!

There they are !!


We got our packs. While home for Christmas, Melanie and I bought each other the packs for our trip as Christmas presents. Mine is the red one and Melanie has the gray/grayish blue one on the left. I hope you can make out the colours well, my monitor is kinda old and the brightness is going. Anyway we are pretty psyched about getting them as they are one of the most important things to get before going on the trip, next to tickets.


The packs are made by Asolo, I had never heard of them but the packs looked nice and appeared to be nicer than the ones available on a hiking website I was looking at. My pack (the red one) is pretty nice, I got it from the Radical Edge. It has a pocket for a water bag, a built in rain cover, sleeping bag compartment, and a good sized day pack. It is a travel pack and has handles on the side and top, and the straps on the back can be zipped up in a bag to prevent them from being caught in conveyor belts.


Melanie's is a travel pack so has the protective cover as well, and built in rain cover too. Her pack also has a day pack and a removable toiletry pack which is nice, and will save us having to buy one a nice bonus.


We also got some things to take with us on our trip for Christmas as well. I got a nice Swiss Army knife from my Grandmother, a small sewing kit, a couple of good travel books, and a really cool clothes folder from Chad and Heidi that keeps clothes wrinkle free. The clothes folder will come in handy when we are going to the different restaurants that Melanie wants to go to, as the restaurants she would like to go to wouildn't allow dirty hikers to come in.


That's all for now. Hope everybody had a great Christmas and hope you have a great New Year as well.

A Camera for the Trip

Yeah I know my blogging sucks. Excuses, busy, school......

Anyway I recently picked up a camera for my trip !!! I have been wanting a digital camera for a while, and finally decided on one. It is the Canon S3 IS, it is an ultra-zoom point and shoot, and is considered the next best thing to a DSLR, or a camera that allows you to change lenses.

I like the camera alot, it has swivel screen as you can see in the picture. I like the swivel screen as it allows you to shoot at many angles, and when you close it the screen is not exposed and that means less scratches. The Camera also has a strong zoom for its size 432mm zoom on a traditional film camera (that's alot). There are also macro or extreme close-up features and manual zoom as well.

In short I really like it, and as it can shoot pictures that can be printed at a 11x13 size, if I take an really nice pictures they can be framed for really nice decorations. I also picked up a 2gb memory card wich can store 1500 pictures, which is pretty sweet as well.

If you would like to read further about my camera check out the reviews here, and here.

Fourviere Basillica in Lyon

Stunning View From Fourviere Basillica in Lyon

25%

I am getting there. A milestone, but a long way to go. I hate saving money but it will be worth it when I get there. Two months in Europe is going to be awesome, I hope everybody has been enjoying the blog so far. I know updates have been slow to come at times, but there will be more regular for now on, and much more often when Melanie and I are making our way. Be back with another update soon.

Leaving the Iberian Peninsula and back into France

Back again, well after Seville, we will probably head back up to southern France. I have considered the idea of taking the ferry over to Morocco from the south of Spain as it is only $35 dollars and the cost to stay there would be fairly cheap, but I will worry about that when the time comes. I just want to move on now to other parts of Europe.

The south of France, home to the French Riviera those rich and beautiful vacation spots of the rich and famous, St.Tropez, Monaco, and Nice to name a few. I am sure it will be a beautiful place to visit, if not quite expensive.

Nimes

The first place I would definitely want to take a quick stop in is Nimes, home to one of the most famous Roman aqueducts and one of their most proud architectural feats reaching a height of 160 feet (seen below). The Pont du Gard aqueduct is a world heritage site and has been a tourist attraction for hundreds of years, and was used as a bridge up until the mid 1800's considering it was built less than a hundred years after the time Christ that is amazing. Nimes also has some other interesting Roman buildings, as it is so close to Italy and an area of early expansion for the Roman Empire.

Marseille

Marseille, just the name stirs thoughts of the rich and famous vacationing on the Mediterranean, but once you get past that it is actually an interesting spot. Marseille is Frances most important port, and oldest major cities and was founded by the Greeks in 600 BC and taken by the Romans in the time of Caesar. It has nice museums with many ancient and maritime artifacts, many of which were uncovered after WWII reconstruction.

What really interests me is the catacombs underneath the Abbaye de St-Victor, an old church with a crypt of a martyr killed by the Romans by being ground between two millstones, gruesome. The catacombs are a place where early Christians prayed to St.Lazarus and Mary Magdalene, said to have washed ashore at a near-by town. This being the reason boat shaped cookies are sold during the Candlemas procession in February, luckily they are sold year round to so I can have on (mmmm boat cookie). By the time this is over I am going to know a lot more about the Saints then I bargained for.

There are numerous other places to visit in Marseille, such as the Chateau d'if, where the Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned, the famous novel. There is also the beautiful Notre-Dame de la Garde, it is only 150 years old, and was built on top of the site of a 13th century chapel. It has some fine marble mosaics, and is topped by a statue of the Virgin and Child a landmark that can be seen for miles as it is the highest point in Marseille.

Anyway you get the picture Marseille is a pretty cool and historic place. It is also home to different culinary dishes, best known is Bouillabaisse, a fish stew flavoured with saffron. The local market is also supposed to be a nice place to go with many local spices available such as rosemary, fresh eggplant, pink garlic, and fresh seafood. On that note, the next place we will have to go is Lyon, the culinary capital of the world, a definite pilgrimage site for Melanie. Hope you like the pictures.

Pont du Gard, you might recognize it from a VW Beetle commercial a few years back.

Marseille

Abbae St.Victor, not to much to see from the outside, at least from this side

Rue de Athens in Marseille

Marseille harbour, notice the Chateau D'if on the centre island

Notre-Dame de la Garde

The nave of the cathedral

The statue of "The Virgin and Child"

A distant picture of the cathedral

August, where did it go?

Well here I am again, once again apologizing for not updating in a long while. This time I will blame things on work, which was busy, and that I had to finish up a paper for my Co-op work-term. On a side not I started my third and final work-term with Parks Canada last week. It is an accounting position, but seems like it will be pretty good. I work in Ardgowan, the home of one of the Fathers of Confederation, I actually have a nice stone mantle beside my desk and a set of french doors in front on me. Anyway want to know anymore let me know if not I will move on.

Seville, Spain

Having stepped into Portugal and experienceing Lisbon, its back into Spain. Seville, is an ancient city, dating back to the time when Greeks held the Iberiean peninsula before Rome did, and it actually has a founding myth that deals with Hercules and his visit to the Hespirides.

The older parts of Seville, is a picture of the romantic visions of Spain that are seen in movies and postcards, flowered terraces, narrow roadways, and hidden plazas. From what I have read this sounds like an interesting city, with unique culinary and historic attractions.

Seville has quite a few treats that from the area, that would be intereating to try. There are polvorones and mantecados, a sort of shortcake made with almonds, sugar and lard; Pestiños, a honey-coated sweet fritter; yemas de San Leandro, made by nuns in the city's convents, and Tortas de aceite, a thin sugar-coated cake made with olive oil. The yemas de SanLeandro sound particularly interesting to me for some reason, which is just a egg-yolk pastry, but is kind of neat in that Nun's make it and you can almost picture it having been made and sold for hundeds of years. I don't know just part of me that wants to connect in some way with history. Seville will definitly be a sweet spot to visit (sorry I had to).

As I said earlier, Seville also has alot of history behind it, with a great cathedral, a royal palace, and bull fighting arena. The cathedral dates back to the 12th century , and has some nice gardens and architecture, the roal palace, known as Real Alcazar, is also an architectural landmark with awesome craftmanship and detail. The local bull rig is a famous arena dating back more than two hundred years, though I am unsure if I would want to wach a fight or not. I know Melanie wouldn't want to but, but there is part of me that would like to watch it just to say that I have had the experience. I guess I will make that decision when the time comes, or maybe we will check out some flamenco dancing instead. Check out the pictures below.

Maestranza Plaza, a bull fighting arena holding up to 14,000 people

The bull fighting ring

The Royal Palace - Real Alcazar

The Real Alcazar's gardens

Giralda Cathedral - What can be said, incredible

View from Giralda Cathedral of its gardens

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, another port city no surprise there. The capital city of Portugal full of history much like all of Europe, conquered by the Moor's in 1175, and largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1755. Portugal made its fortunes on spices, so there should hopefully be some good food here for Melanie and myself to try. I read that Lisbon is a great place to sit and relax at local cafes, and go to the beach, so it may be a nice place to relax and recharge the batteries for a couple of days.


Festas dos Santos Populares

This is an event that looks fairly fun and a good reason to set a goal of being in Lisbon for the 12th of June. This festival if for the cities saints, and is held throughout June starting on the twelveth for Saint Antonio. The entire city is decorated in paper lanterns, streamers and lights, something like Mardi Gras I guess. People exchange special gifts, there are parades, dancing and celebrations everywhere. The traditional dish of sardines cooked over charcoal are cooked in the streets, and the celebrations go until dawn, especially in the older areas of the city that were not destroyed by the earthquake.

Spain continued....

Well it has been a while since I updated my blog, sorry. I would say that I have been extraordinarily busy, but that wouldn't be the truth. I blame it all on the World Cup, 30 days of Football, 2 or 3 matches a day which one do you think I would turn my attention to? It was a good World Cup, Brazil got eliminated but so did England which kept it from being a great World Cup. Enough rambling more planning.

Santiago de Compostela

I think this would be a good place to go next, not only for its historical significance, but it is also far enough away, that the train trip would be a good chance to get some sleep, and save money on a hostel.

A Pilgrimage Site

The third most important city in Christianity behind Jerusalem and Rome, this where the body of the Apostle James is said to be kept, and one of the most important pilgrimage sites of the medieval period. Pilgrimages have taken place to this area since the 8th century, more than a thousand years! Though the places that have enshrined the remains has changed, the idea that millions of people have come to this place for the same reason is incredible. I know that millions go to Disney, but this place doesn't have daily fireworks or rides.

The present cathedral was built in the 11th century with additions through out the centuries that followed, as is the case for most cathedrals. The cathedral can be seen in the background of the picture above, towering over the typical clay roofs of Spain, or in a really nice pic if you follow the hyperlink above. A unique thing about the pilgrimage site is that there is a golden scallop shell that pilgrims kiss when the reach the cathedral. The scallop shell was the emblem of Saint James, and pilgrims often wore one of these shells around their necks. The Cathedral is also depicted on Spanish Euros.

A Beautiful Place

Santiago de Compostela may be place with unique and interesting history, but it is also a beautiful area over looking the Atlantic Ocean, the capital of the Galician community. The Galician area has many hills, beaches and scenic areas. The coastline has many fjord like indentations, and numerous rivers through dense forest. The many hills, some up to 6000 ft., make for some beautiful hiking and some great watersports. This area may make for a more recreational part of the European experience.

The local cuisine as can be expected, contains a lot of seafood and paprika. The dish that I immediately recognized that originates from here is Empenadas, a meat pie that most often contains cod or chicken. Empenadas are popular through out Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, though the meat is often wrapped as opposed to its original pie form.

Check out the pics below of various spots and scenery in the Galician area.

Next stop Portugal !!

One more pic of the Galician costline, looks like an old fort, kinda a nice picture for a postcard.

Galician Hills, almost looks the fall in New Brunswick

More Galician Coast

Galician Coast - nice Scenery, and what looks like some nice beaches

Oh well...

Just a quick note. A couple of posts back I mentioned that I applied for a job in South Africa, and much to my dissappointment, I did not get it. It would have been cool, but I guess it was not meant to be.

For something interesting, here is a picture of the Alcazar of Sergovia just outside Madrid. The plateau that it is on has been the a stronghold since Roman times. This Alcazar was built in the eleventh century, and is said to be one of the many castles in Europe that Walt Disney used for inspiration.

Forget France, Ole !

Well I have had enough of France for now, I am going to move on to Spain. Probably the first place to go will be San Sebastian and then Bilbao.

San Sebastian - What can I say about San Sebastian, just look at it, it is beautiful. It is also well known for its Basque cuisine, which should appeal to Melanie. The Basque use a lot of paprika, lamb, and various meats. They are also famous for fish stews, and can you really beat a good fish stew? I don't think so, the food sounds great hearty but lots of flavour. As far as any fascinating buildings or monuments, there isn't much to consider, as the city was burnt down in the early 1800's buy British and Portuguese troops after a siege of the French.


Bilbao - capital of the Basque region is home to one of the Guggenheim museums, and probably the best known Guggengeim museum for it's architecture. The Guggenheim Museums are dedicated to modern - contemporary art, and I am not one that really appreciates modern art. However, given the fact that this is where the best is supposed to be, I should probably have a look. They are supposed to have a giant metal spider there so that should be interesting, maybe not the Mona Lisa or magnificent fresco, but interesting.

Pamplona is near by as well, but the running of the bulls is not until July, so I will probably not be around at the time, but it would be on heck of an experience unless I got gouged. More from Spain coming soon.

Crossing my fingers

First of all I must apologize for not updating the blog in the past two weeks, I have been slighty distracted in the past few days.

As some of you may know, I am in the Cooperative Education program at UPEI, and recently there was a pretty enticing position advertised. The job is an international postion in Durban, South Africa. What is great is that travel and accomodations are covered (not usually the case). The postion involves working with a non-government organization, helping to promote good goverence and institution building.

Durban is an port/resort city on the Indian Ocean, and as you can see in the picture is a rather nice looking place to go for a swim. If you can't tell, I am pretty excited about the possibility of getting the opportunity to go there. Who knows, I may have to change the name of this blog.

This is the reason I have been neglecting my blog, writing my cover letter and tweaking my resume. The deadline for applications is the 2nd of June, so hopefully I will get called for an interview and then who knows.

Will write an update this weekend about Europe. Probably about food, so Melanie may have to help me.

"Take a little wine for your body"

Though I know that the title is a slighty out of context scripture from the book of Timothy, it was the best intro I could think of. The subject of this post is wine if the title didn't give it away. France being the most famous and largest producer of wine, it is something that has to be appreciated and sampled while visiting.

France has nine major wine regions, ten if you include Champagne. The regions encountered first along the route are: The Loire Valley, Bordeaux, and South West wines. I will also discuss the subject of Cognac, which is a wine based product.

The wines in France are able to maintain distinctive regions by a system called "Appellation d Origine Controlee", meaning "a regulated origin name". Wines that want to carry a regional classification, must follow strict guidelines. Guidelines include the strict use of certain grape varieties and being grown in a specific region of the country.

The Loire Valley - This wine region is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world. The Loire Valley, is best known for its sweet and dry white wines. The white wines from this region do not use the popular Chardonnay grape as a rule, but use the Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon varieties. I have tried Sauvignon wines before, and they are my white wine of choice, so I will probably enjoy this area (as if I won't enjoy every area).

Bordeaux - This is the most famous and largest producing wine area in France, producing over 700 million bottles a year! The Bordeaux region is best known for its red wines, but does produce some white and rose wines. The humid atmosphere of this area of France make it ideal for growing wine, the most commonly grown grapes in this area include types of Cabernet and Merlot grapes.

South West Region - The South West region though close to Bordeaux, generally produces what is considered by some to be a lower quality wine. Growing many of the same types of grapes as Bordeaux, this region does produce some nice wines. Wines grown here included full-bodied red wines, and aromatic white wines. This area is one of the more ancient wine growing areas of France, and the writer Virgil, praised the area for its wines.

Cognac - made from white wine, the process to make cognac makes it "eau de vie", and is under the category of brandies. The white wine is cooked in a copper pot, the evaporateded liquid is collected and then double distilled over a twenty hour distillation period. The distilled wine is then aged in large oak caskes, in a controlled environment. The longer cognac ages the darker it gets, and is best when over ten years of age. Melanie and I bought a bottle of cognac last year, a blend with Madagascarar vanilla, it is delicious, something to have on special occasions.

A great thing about wine in France is that it is served automatically at every meal, and is quite cheap. I know the wines that are served are probably not the best quality, but are probably as good as most bottles I buy in Canada, and would hopefully give me a notion of what the regional tastes and qualities are supposed to be. Cognac, now that is where some costs could be seen.
The most interesting parts of these pieces of the jouney would be to see the production processes in each area, and the differences that each area would have.

So Many Sights to See

It's hard to comprehend the shear number of places with historical or cultural significance there are in France, and I suppose the whole of Europe. Just taking a quick look within about 200 kilometres of Calais there are so many places that I feel would be a shame not to visit.

As it would probably be impossible to track the specific route we will travel, I have decided it would probably be easiest to write about certain waypoints that would be of interest and in a reasonable distance of the preliminary route I previously laid out. I chose to do this not just because it will be easier, but I don't want to lay down a specific route. I think it would make for a much more enjoyable trip with no specific route anyway as detours will probably be the most enjoyable part of the trip.

Anyway, if you look above, you will see a cropped section of northern France with numbers. The numbers as I am sure you have all guessed are the waypoints I have decided to write about for this section of France.

1 - Arras - I wrote about the cemetery where my great-grandfather is buried in my last post, but what I didn't know at the time is that Vimy Ridge is near by.

Vimy Ridge, for those not up on their Canadian WWI history, was the site of one of Canada's most "glorious" victories in the war. Canada was able to take a fortified German position in only a few days, as compared to France and Great Britain who had not been able to take the position in a series of attempts over a two year period. Just one of the battles in which Canadians have distinguished themselves. Vimy Ridge is also the site of France's tribute to Canada for the contribution we made to defending them in WWI, a site with a memorial that was recently commemorated on a special edition nickel, and seen to the right.


2 - Chartres - A UNESCO world heritage site, Chartres is home to the famous Chartres Cathedral. Chartres Cathedral built 800 to 1000 years ago, is said to be one of the best preserved examples of French Gothic architecture. The pictures I have seen are really amazing, the stained glass, decorations and the building itself are something I am sure would render someone speechless.

3 - Dieppe/D-day - Places of military significance, Dieppe to the right, and the bay to the left of the "3", are two WWII sites that I believe deserve to be visited, and to pay respects. Dieppe, unlike Vimy Ridge, was a place where Canadians were not successful, many were mowed down as they reached the beach, and only half of those sent were able to retreat. The bay to the right, was the sight of D-day, a battle which as we all know was a turning point in the war, and a pivotal moment in the history of the world.

4 - Rouen - a cultural area and historic area, once the capital of Normandy. There is a beautiful cathedral here, and was once home of Claude Monet. The local museum has many of Monet's works on display. The really interesting and dark part of Rouens history is that it was the place where Jean d'Arc was burnt at the stake, and imprisoned. A place that would be interesting to visit given her legendary status and heroics during the 15th century.

5 - Orleans - The site of the battle considered the turning point in the Hundred Years War, it is also the battle in which Jean d'Arc made a name for herself. In the Orleans area there are two French "Chateaus" that are incredible examples of the extravagance of the 15th century and the French aristocracy.

The Chateau de Chenonceau is just cool being built over a river, and is considered a great Renaissance building, with an impressive garden. The Chateau de Chambord, incorporates design elements by Leonardo da Vinci, one of them being a double-helix stair case, incorporating two flights of stairs in you guessed it double-helix pattern. The stairs were designed so that someone going up one flight could not see another person going down the other flight. Pretty Cool !

Well that is it for this post. I know it has been mostly about war memorials and architecture, but don't worry I will be exploring the various cultural and culinary aspects of Europe as well. One thing at a time, and as always feel free to make a comment or suggest I look into something that may be of mutual interest.

Starting Out

Though I never intended this blog to be a day-by-day planning of the trek (I have to use that word), in considering the initial London to France route it has appeared that I have found that it would probably take up the initial day in Europe.

When travelling from England to France, the first thing I thought of was the "Chunnel", curious what the price would be to take the Eurostar train under the English Channel, I found that it was about $325 for two people(all references to $ are in Canadian). Once I saw that price I thought it may be cheaper to take the rail to Dover and then a ferry to Calais in France. After some detective work I found that it would cost about half as much at $175 for two.

Anyway, I decided that the rail/ferry trip would be better anyway, and a chance to see the English countryside, along with a short boat ride to France is a lot nicer than a tunnel, and would not take much more time according to schedules. I figured Calais would be a nice place to start the trip anyway, as Calais is close to Arras. Arras is the home of Faubourg D'amiens Cemetary which is the WWI cemetary that my great-grandfather Edward Rawden is buried in, and a place I have wanted to visit for a long time.

About my blog

As mentioned in my initial post, this blog will follow the preperation for my trip to Europe with my girlfriend Melanie. The expected date for the start of the trek is in May of 2007, after I graduate from UPEI with my BBA, and we would likely return around the end of August though dates are flexible as we don't want to rush. The blog will cover any exciting news and information that I find out during the planning process, like exciting locations I discover, or ways I find out to save money and cut down on expenses.

There will be many random posts, but I will also try to do brief bios on each country we plan to visit. The bios on each country will allow for lots of feedback, and cover information such as:

• important history
• local destinations
• hotspots
• travel information
• and anything else I think may be of interest

Theblog will also be used by Melanie and myself while in Europe, to relay information and experiences to everybody about what we have been doing and seeing on the trip. The blog will allow us to keeping in contact with everybody as writing to everybody would be nearly impossible, though we will seend out lots of postcards. I hope that this blog will be interesting and would be happy to hear any suggestions.

The Route

Here is a map of the intial route we are planning to take trough Europe(you can click on it to see a bigger picture of it). The route is preliminary, starting in London, and then going down the east coast of France. The route does not really show detours or particular stops in each country, a more detailed map of each country will be provided, as each country is discussed in the series of posts to come.

ETA May 2007

This blog will follow my preperation for, and travels in Europe. My girlfriend Melanie and I will be travelling throughout Europe for appox 3 months and seeing as many of the sites as possible. The trip won't be cheap, but will be well worth it. (I hope)