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A Couple More Days in Paris

Sunday, September 3rd, 2006

We spent a couple more days in Paris after my last update. We took the time to visit Versailles and the Musee d’Orsay. Versailles, naturally was overpriced and packed, but I enjoyed the Musee d’Orsay, though Kathy seemed less interested in it.

Quite aside from the sites that we went to see in Paris, it was the experience of staying there that was interesting. Staying at Andrea’s apartment was a very different experience from staying in a hotel, as I’d done on previous trips to the city. It was quite a cramped apartment, and the kitchen consisted only of a 2-burner hot plate and a bar-sized fridge, equipped with a few utensils, and for cooking in, a kettle, one pot, and one small frying pan. Obviously with those tools, the cooking potential is limited, and I get the impression that Andrea eats out most of the time, but we did make a couple of attempts – a stir fry one night, fried chicken another, and fried beef on another night. It was fun to go out and get groceries…Paris is jam-packed, the second densest capital in the world, after Tokyo, and there were several food stores within a few blocks, but none completely stocked the way we’re used to in Canada. So we would take a trip to the baker, the butcher, the produce stand, and the ingredients all seem to be much higher quality (and admittedly more expensive) than what we could buy at Safeway.

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Rocketing through the sky, Only to go back underground

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

Once again, a busy few days. After spending a not-so-restful night at the Budapest airport, we continued our journey at much increased speed, hopping in just a couple of hours over half of Europe, and landing in Paris. Quite a change after four and a half months of slowly winding our way over more than 6000km. It was quite fun, really. I always forget how much I like flying. And despite our worries and going crazy making sure we packed everything that might be considered a liquid into our checked baggage, they didn’t even ask us to give up our water bottle.

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So Much to do, So Little Time

Friday, August 25th, 2006

The Rain Breaks in Budapest
The Rain Breaks in Budapest

Arriving in Budapest after a long, sleepless night on a train from ... [Continue reading this entry]

Beautiful Romania

Sunday, August 20th, 2006

What an Ass
What an Ass

Sorry for the delays in posting; at first we were feeling a little lazy (and under the weather), and then ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Good, the Wet and the Poorly Organised

Friday, August 11th, 2006

Our time in Romania has been pretty good, thus far, but there have been a few frustrations, mostly because it's high season, and trying to do anything results in lineups.

We've realised that it's impossible to know in advance what's going ... [Continue reading this entry]

Not Exactly the Best Week

Saturday, August 5th, 2006

Warning: what follows may come accross as a bit whiny. Sorry. If that bothers you, stop here. The fact is, it hasn't been the best week, so most of it's just recounting all the various problems we ... [Continue reading this entry]

Relaxing in a beautiful country

Thursday, July 27th, 2006

Walking out of Town
Walking out of Town

We've been a little lax on the blogging lately - apologies. We've just been ... [Continue reading this entry]

Churches and a Communist Legacy

Friday, July 21st, 2006

Early Church surrounded by Communist Buildings
Early Church surrounded by Communist Buildings

We've been travelling around Bulgaria for a few ... [Continue reading this entry]

It’s Opposite Day

Monday, July 17th, 2006

We've now arrived in Bulgaria, where we're currently staying in the second large city, at a pleasant 300,000 people, Plovdiv. There's a fantastic old city here, though not super old, as most of it was built up in the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Beautiful City, but the plumbing could use some work.

Friday, July 14th, 2006

The Aya Sofya
The Aya Sofya

Well, so far we've been having a great time in Istanbul. People are much friendlier than in Greece, and ... [Continue reading this entry]