Castles and Carnivores, pt. 2

Being a former vegetarian, and most recently a modest meat eater, I have munched on many animals. This is what I can recall eating in the last two weeks, most of it in France:

steak
duck
salmon
haddock
one small gross shrimp
plaice
lamb
chicken
sausage
bacon and other sorts of ham, including tripe (stomach lining)
sardines (fresh but still smelling fishy)
rabbit
pates of many types
venison

As is apparent, there's still lots of seafood in which I haven't indulged. But hey, I'm not sure if indulging in - enjoying - clams, lobster, shriimp, and the like is possible for me. If I have the full bird, fish, crustacean, critter in front of me, I just can't bring myself to eat it. Don't get me wrong; I really enjoy some meat these days for the taste and healthy feeling, especially salmon, but I'm a meat wimp. Being a vegetarian is pretty easy for me if I'm not eating at nice restaurants all the time. Which is fine with me.

It's my birthday. Weird. This has been such a great travelling vacation with lots of hilarious and interesting moments. So far it's just another good day. Which is fine with me.

We haven't seen any big castles like in France. But we visited this awesome little circular Staigue Fort in an amazing mountainous coastal valley. Sheep, rocks, tree patches, and golden brown and green grasses dot the area. The Kerry Peninsula - it was beautiful. Pictures coming later.

It was also raining a lot, and it is today, but yesterday it was quite nice out while we visited the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast. Seven hundred feet straight down to the ocean, stunning and scary. It was quite windy the whole time we were near the ocean, and sizeable waves were pumelling the coastline in many places.

We arrived in Dublin last night and are chilling at Josh's friend Ross' place. My good buddy Dan has been living in Dublin the past year, and he met us in Cork when we arrived Tuesday. He's returning to Nova Scotia for good tomorrow, and it's great that I just caught him.

(Josh)Well it has been a great time travelling around Ireland. We started in the south in a place called Cork, which was a fun little college town with the famous blarney stone nearby. Stayed there a few nights, checking out the town, market, and pubs. We decided to get up real early one day and finally get our sleep schedule back on track for tourists, so we rented a car and headed up the west coast where many of the most beautiful drives are. We stopped at a few heritage sites, mainly a 5th century stone ring fort where we almost lost the car keys while chasing sheep through the fields.......they were found, which was nice, cause it was raining and we were quite far from the rental company by this point.


We got along after that allright and stayed in a bed and breakfast one night, where everyone seemed to be family, and the guiness tasted better then anywhere else I've had it. Tasting guiness is sort of like tasting wine. It tastes a bit different everywhere, but after the first few you cant really tell the difference either way. Well, not exactly I guess.....but you know what I mean. There was a group of folk musicians at a little pub across the street where we ate dinner. They had an 8 person musical session going which was quite nice, and very good to the ears. They played classical Irish music mostly and also mixed in a bit of Van Morrison and other more modern fare. Overall our most Irish country experience.

The Kerry peninsula was amazing, I have no pictures of the peninsula really, becuase it was a nice day in Ireland, which apparently means it was showers interupted by rain. We got very lucky on Friday the 28th when driving north, the sun shone on us a good bit of the day, and we got to take these amazing pictures at the cliffs of Moher, which are just unbelievable, this picture does no justice at all to what it really is. There was some more amazing scenery, and I have to say to all you golf fans, golf over here is nothing like North America where the focus is on water and trees. Here its all about wind and rough and the lie of the ball. I would love to come back here sometime just for a golf vacation, learning to play the links.

We did make it to Dublin this week in time to relax a bit and prepare ourselves for Jeremy's birthday. We are crashing at my friend Ross's place. I met him and another fellow in Berkeley a few years ago and finally had an excuse to get over here to this side of the Atlantic. We did take a dip in the Ocean on our little voyage up the west coast. This side of the Atlantic is much warmer then Nova Scotia or the north Pacific for that matter, but its possibly only this time of year due to the warmth of the summer jet stream. Overall it really doesnt get that cold here i guess as they dont get snow, but the cold rain chills me to the bones unlike much drier colder weather I am used to.
We have seen a few rainbows already, but as I missed the Dublin European Poker Tour event which I was thinking about playing in, it has been difficult finding the pot of gold. Probably better to wait for Foxwoods anyways which will be a much larger prize structure and is only two weeks away anyways(http://www.foxwoods.com/Gaming/Poker/Tournaments/WorldPokerFinals.htm). Gonna be back to work on Nov 13th in Connecticut, but its only proper, I cant stay on vacation forever. Because without a job, there would be no such thing as vacation! Right? All a matter of perspective I guess.

Josh's B'day

Well, I want to say thanks again to everyone for all their loving support and comments on my birthday. I guess 25 is another big one in a way, but I cant remember really why..........oh yeah now my car insurance is cheaper.....what a day, I must be that much more responsible. I knew it! I woke up and thought "Wow, I feel so responsible. No wonder 25 is the limit, those damn 24 year olds have nothing on me! Iresponsible kids!"

So now that I am officially a responsible adult, I guess Ime gonna have to make a few changes. No more gratuitious nights on the town, no more taking my health for granted, no more singing in the wee hours of the morning. Hmmmmmmm, maybe singing will have to stay. Or maybe just humming, we can compromise a bit here cant we?

It was fun to be in Paris for this day of all days. You only gte to turn 25 once, so why not in Paris? The city where I had my first beer, where I learned to ride the subways, dodge tourists and generally avoid late night confrontations with strangers. It is a city of history and art, moral sacrifice and emotional hysteria, where the old meets the new and cultural crossover.

The city seems quite similar to what I remember. There is an emphasis on good living and common decency on the simplest levels, yet you often see very rude encounters happening everywhere you turn. Politeness is common in almost eveyr interaction, but at the wrong time of night, the waiter can have an air of disregard strong enough to seem rude, while talking to you through his nose. Maddening how these clashing viewpoints can occur. But at the bottom of it all, is a sense of being Parisian that I think permeates the way everyone here interacts and lives. They love their Wine, yet hate the full work day. The canals offer beauty, yet are at the same treated like a personal city garbage dump. The money is not something to be attained through any means like the U.S., but it is still a deciding factor for everyone because how else could you afford eating out in this city everyday? The traffic seems neccesary, yet a large group of people have decided to risk life and limp daily dodging it on their motorcycles breaking every law you would think they have. We have tried to comply to this difficult set of rules, and in the end often failed miserably, but sometimes on a momentous occasion, we have been succeeding greatly.

This town is almost over for us on this trip, we have overstayed our welcome. We have terrorized the maids with our late wakeups and room changes, the restaurants we have closed down on a regular basis, and the locals dont appear to have become used to our brash yet seemingly well timed movements. Overall, I am, ready to get into Ireland and see some old countryside again before we terrorize another city. Oh wait did I say terrorize, dont think I can use that word in this day and age! ill get myself and all my kin locked up for words like that. May have to stay here in Europe forever, avoiding the secret police who are keeping the great nation of the U.S. safe from terrorism...........again.

My birthday was fun, we cruised the town, and I saw alot of things that brought back many memories. My birthday party in itself was great. My best friend Geoff came with us to Paris on Friday. My other cousin Tom arrived early on Saturday morning. My cousin Julie, her boyfriend Paolo and some others joined us for dinner on my birthday on Saturday quite late. We found ourselves in a few different establishments over the course of the night and ended up drinking beers at 7 in the morning when one place finally kicked us out. It was good times all around, and I felt surprisingly good the next afternoon when I woke at around 2pm. Kinda like getting a good nights sleep in Halifax time wise. Thanks again to all who called and congratulated, the next update will be from Ireland.

"Never get too old to forget what its like being young"-Joshua Ewing, 2005

Castles and Carnivores

Travelling backward in time a bit. . .on our way from Beaune to Normandy we spent a day in the Loire valley, a beautiful area of green fields and magnificent castles. There are literally dozens of castles, the biggest and most grand of which is probably Chateau Charmond; you can see our picture there in the previous blog. Josh and I remember going there eleven years ago on a family trip while we were living in Paris. You know how most times you revisit a place after many years of growing up, and it looks so much smaller and less exciting. Well, Chateau Charmond looked just as large and even more magnificent than I could remember. There must be several dozen grand chambers, each of which is nearly as big as a house, and infinitely more valuable. Fancy portraits of kings like Francis the 1st decorate the walls, as well as tapestries depicting old legends or Homer oddysies. Then there are trophy rooms filled with stag antlers. . .kind of creepy really. i mean one hanging above a doorway is one thing, but a whole room with just antlers! it's like a room full of bones. the only difference is that they're more aesthetically pleasing.

Then there was this other castle, Chateau Severgny, which was equally ornate but much smaller. A wealthy family lived in this castle just until fifteen years ago or so, and now it is another great tourist spot. That cool armour picture from the previous blog was taken in this castle.

Just by chance, as we strolled into the castle grounds (which had some ginormous cypress type evergreens! like the giant redwoods) we saw a small crowd gathered around a zoo-like cage complex. We went over and saw about 75 hounds crowded in this staircase, baying and climbing atop each other. And on the main floor of the cage, below the staircase, lay a long pile of disgusting duck leftovers, bones, corn, and dog food. it smelled so bad, but of course so good to these hounds. Finally the gatekeeper unlocked the door and the hounds frantically ran to the food pile, and after a couple warning wips from the keeper, dove in. it was one of the most chaotic, primitive scenes i've witnessed in a while. the dogs fought over the biggest pieces, drew a little blood even, ripped and pillaged that meat. they ate every last bit, including all the skulls and bones. a little circus scene. of course, it was wild mostly because the keepers feed them all together, to make a scene for tourists. what a funny world we live in. we're embarassed to act animal like in any way, to let out our primitive instincts in public, and yet we enjoy seeing other animals epitomize it for us.

Storming The Beaches

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind
- Bob Dylan

The wind was blowin along the D-Day beaches yesterday, but I'm not sure if the answers were. Sixty years after World War II there is still plenty of violence across the globe, much of it caused or excacerbated by those same countries that saved the world from Nazism. Governments, corporations, and individuals are still generally self-centered, trying to gain more power, more resources, more money. And so the rich take advantage of the poor - not being evil or sadistic, just to further their own interests. But the consequences are astouding. Each year, African countries as a whole pay more on their debts than they receive in aid; meanwhile more than 6,000 African die each day from AIDS (http://www.data.org/whyafrica/issueaids.php), and big pharmaceutical companies won't sell AIDS treatment drugs at a low price to these countries.

We westerners certainly aren't killing these people, but we may be contributing to their plight by keeping poor countries in debt, not paying much attention in general, and exploiting them for their resources. These thoughts were running through my mind yesterday as we visited the Normandy beaches that American, British, and Canadian troops stormed after four years of German occupation of France. We also visited the Canadian WWII cemetery, where about 4,000 souls lie. It hit me harder than I was expecting; most of the soldiers were in their 20's, many of them younger than I. It's not fun to think of such unpleasant events, past and present, but sometimes it's important to remind myself of the bigger picture. We live in a world filled with unimaginable pleasure and wealth as well as widespread suffering. If some of that suffering is avoidable, then perhaps more should be done to help mitigate it.



(Josh) On the upside, it has been a fun few days. We visited some chateaus in the middle of the Loire Valley, and made our way north to visit my good friend Geoff who is living in Caen, right next to the beaches of Normandie. I wont go on for too long, but i would like to say I had one very Ironic moment when I saw an American who had just been staring at one of the Beach monuments, get into his rented Mercedes Benz and drive away with the the though of tears in eyes.
After the beaches, we went to a WWII museum, where there was all sorts of allied and Nazi memorabilia. very interesting, but I was a bit confused about one thing that got me thinking a bit about human nature, in that we are always attracted to the crude and evil in ways we cant understand. The Nazi memorabilia is about 10 times as expensive as any other memorabilia. I asked the proprietor why this was so, and he said becuase it is rarer. But why is it rarer? Odd if you ask me that people would rather have something from the losing side who has been deemed as evil, rather then something from the winning side to glorify their own ancestors, and the people who have been deemed as the saviors by history.

I didnt buy anything from either side, as it seemed to me this guy was profiting off other peoples confused feelings either way. Overall the main thing that stuck with me was that wars in the past it was much easier to distinguish, kinda like old movies, that the bad guys are obviously bad, and the good guys are obviously righteous. These days on the playing field, the jerseys all seem to be grey to me, and it seems more a matter of opinion whos right and whos wrong, whos winning and whos losing. The propaganda machine has always been great at convincing us one way or another, but with so much information at our fingertips, it gets harder and harder every day to be sure. I guess that is why wars arent world wars anymore on large country scales, but rather becoming what we (will) call terrorist wars. Governments wont publicly go against the super powers very often anymore, but there will always be a large group of nonbeleivers who will keep fighting for their cause.

terrorism n.the act of terrorizing;use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate, and subjugate, esp. such use as a political weapon or policy. Websters New World Dictionary

Dancing, Dancing Dancing in the Streetsssssss

(BY:Josh)Well as Jeremy said, the gastronomic delights have been pleasantly experienced every couple of hours it seems here in Bourgogne. We have been wining and dining to no end. The scenery is amazing, the market is outstanding, and the people are very friendly. We have been tourning around wine country tasting and purchasing some of the finer varietals, all on the assumption usually that our french is good enough to understand their recommendations.

Coincidentally, an australian friend Brad I knew from Berkeley happened to be working here in Beaune for a hot air balloon company, and he came touring with us around the countryside yesterday tasting wine. We met up with him again in the evening and proceeded out to a few bars with his friend Luke. We then realized the Beaune bar scene is not quite happening during the evening nearly as much as it is at say 11am on saturday morning, so we decided to go the one "CLUB" in town. It was quite a laugh, and I think that the average age of the girls there might have been a young 17. The french are not known for their drinking age requirements being very strict. We danced and drank beer, as I think I was on the verge of wine poisoning, and I practiced my french a good bit with some friendly locals that let us sit in their section for awhile and wanted to practice their english.(I think it is fine to answer me in English when you want to practice your English, but when its midday and I ask a simple question, many people come off as very rude when they want to show you their english is better then your french)

Surprisingly, the musical talent of the DJ was far beyond that of most american "club" DJ's, and the selection was much better then I had expected. The crowd was quite tame in general, and this may have been due to the younger age, or the lack of practice in alcohol consumption that seems to have possesed most drinking age club attending americans. The bartenders also do not expect a tip, but when you insist they take it, they seem quite happy. It was an interesting night overall, and I was more then happy to be overcharged by the taxicab on the way home and just find myself in a bed with the prospect of a long and overdue late sleep in.

P.S. Doesnt Jeremy have a striking resemblance to Jerry Garcia? Its almost as if they arent playing techno music.......it musta been that disco dead from the 80's lol

may i have some grey poupon?

Josh and I arrived in Beaune yesterday evening. It's about three hours southeast of Paris, situated in a flat valley between rolling hills and vineyards everywhere. vineyards that are changing their colours to all hues of yellow and some red, with old stone walls lining every small plot of land. idyllic? mais oui.

Ever since we stepped in the door of the house our aunt Val and uncle Alain (and friends) are renting, we've been enjoying the finest cheeses and wines, all the while gazing from atop a ridge to the valley below. Vineyards are everywhere around and you can stroll through them, picking grapes if you wish. The season is finished; the vinicultures have picked their grapes' worth. It was funny to find this out after we had strolled by the edge of a vineyard the afternoon before, nimbly picking a grape or two and looking around conspicuously.

This is true high class vacation. Our aunt and uncle's friends Russ and Sinclair know a lot about wines, and engage everyone present in smelling, tasting, and discussing each wine. Wines have different levels of acidity, bitterness, fruitiness and a host of other qualities of which I don't yet have an inkling. Each field and its winemaker produces a distinct wine. And any one wine will itself change from year to year, quite drastically sometimes depending on the weather and growing conditions. The 2002 wines, for instance, are generally good to drink now, while the 2001's need several more years of sitting. The latter are still too aggresive to the palette and need more time to smooth out. This is all mindblowing to me; before this trip I've had little experience with wines, and it all just tastes so good. I'm not sure if I'll ever be a tough wine critic though. Does the true wine lover love all types of wine or just the best wines? I think Plato, or perhaps just my philosophy class, asked this question, and it's an interesting one. Most people might side with the latter, but I'm still divided.

I MADE IT!!!!!!(josh)

So,

after about 12 different things going wrong on the arduous journey to the airport including construction, delays at my bank, stopping for gas at the wrong place, and everything taking longer then expected, I was informed at the airport at 12:01 pm on tuesday that I needed to be there at 11:57am at the latest, and they therefore could not let me on my plane scheduled to embark at 12:27 from Reno(I only had carryon), possibly the unbusiest airport ever! Anyways, Ive never been so mad in this post 911 era, and got quite angry with the personnel at continental desk, but alas, this did nothing for me, despite the fact that they could have pulled a string or two for me had they really wanted to I believe.

Anyways I got on my plane yesterday with plenty of time to spare(even though I of course was sent to secondary security due to my late attempt at getting on the plane the day before) and had a quite uneventful pair of flights to Paris. So we made it, tomorrow we head for wine country! I am excited to be here. It is definitely much more to take in then when I was 12, as I seem to find happens everywhere to me, and I cant wait to see some of the old haunts!

Here is a Pic of us, we will update it as the group grows over the next few weeks. The trip can only get better.

First Impressions

include:

The cars are way smaller and therefore more efficient. Smart cars are common rather than an anomoly. Lots of people are walking and biking everywhere. . .but there are still lots of cars. I haven't seen any traffic jams, though.

With a quick glance around and a stroll down the lane, there is obviously less obesity here - at least in Paris. Researchers say that obesity is an epidemic in North America, and I'm starting to believe it, especially when seeing comparing cultures.

Things are built to last here, at least relatively speaking. From stone walkways to the Canal de la Vilette (next to which my cousin Julie lives) with its rotating bridges (to make way for boats) to the old, classy apartment buildings. I guess it makes sense because Europeans have inhabited their compact land for so much longer than us and have learned the value of long term planning. I really like how the smaller streets are so narrow and chilled out. Pedestrian friendly, and it makes for more of a community feel.

I certainly see things here VERY differently than I did eleven years ago. wink.

made it. . .err, in half

Good adventures are always filled with the unexpected, and this trip has started off true to that ideal. Josh missed his flight in California. I feel badly about exposing his imperfections so early into our trip, but this blog will be a lot more interesting the more truthful it is. Anyway, I made it to Paris and am hanging out with my cousin Julie in her chiq apartment and hood in the northeastern part of the city. Haven't been to Paris since we lived here for four months eleven years ago! I feel the same amount of foreigness, but I at least hope to think I have a little more guts than back then. Being a complete wimp when I was young, it's easy to improve on this.

haiku for you

Funny thing with fall
Falling into winter time
The best fall of all

That's about all the entertainment we can provide you, seeing as how we didn't actually get to Paris yet. More to come.