Mia and her (past) travels and other various interests of hers.

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So I’ve been in France just over a week now and I realise that I haven’t posted anything about it. But seriously if you were here you wouldn’t want to be inside blogging!

My first week back with the Seguin’s (my host family from my high school exchange) was really great. Not much has changed there except that their eldest daughter (she’s my age) has just moved into an apartment by herself about 25 minutes away. Near Avignon. She goes to school there and works in Eyragues which is where her apartment is as well. The apartment is tiny with the kitchen/lounge-room just in one space and the bedroom up on a small mezzanine level. I think she’s happy there though because her boyfriend lives in that town too.

I’ve been having a nice time. I cruised around Avignon for 2 days seeing the sights. Some I had already seen and wanted to re-see, like the Palais de Papes. Which is the oldest Gothic palace in the world and has housed 9 popes in it’s time:

 

 I was there by myself so there aren’t many photos of me!

It was really nice, also, to go back to Nimes and have a look at my old school and walk around where I walked around so many times and get lost in the same places that I always used to get lost in!

Right now I am in Cotignac with Charlotte (my parent’s close friend’s niece). Well actually she’s out practicing for her boat license which she’s going for on Monday. For some reason I’m sitting inside doing this on the most glorious of glorious days! So glorious in fact that we dared try to 16°c pool!

I actually did go in but the computer overwrote the pictures with some other ones! Seriously!….no you don’t believe me do you….

Tonight we eat at a very traditional French restaurant that Charlotte used to work at in the village. Oh yeah the village, by the way, is the one of most adorable things I’ve ever seen. 

 

It’s set in a valley in between some mountains and it’s most famous aspect is a huge rock on the side of one of the mountains which was, once upon a time, sculpted by a river that ran through it.

 

It has remains of castles (about 400 years old) still built into the rock. The rock is 400 metres long and 80 metres high and gives the village a distinct, historic feeling.

 Charlotte’s house is around 300 years old and very very Provincial. It’s lovely.

Plans over the next few weeks:

Back to Seguin’s Tuesday

Leave for Barcelona Wednesday morning (oh, yeah!!)

Maybe going skiing with Charlotte one weekend

Go to Lyon on the 17th and 18th November for The Cat Empire

Go to Rennes to visit Pauline and Pascal 

Back on the train we hopped. This time our Couchette could sleep 6 people rather than 4. It was just me and Dee until about 2am when a Polish girl came to sleep in our cabin. She didn’t sleep so much as drink vodka and send text messages.

Photo fun in the Couchette:

That was overnight from Gdansk to Berlin. We arrived in Berlin at 7:30am and found our Hostel easily. The Hostel was bright and welcoming (it’s called The Sunflower, go figure!) and they have washing machines that aren’t broken…much.

We did a bit of walking around Berlin. Not as much as I would have liked but we only had a day there. It’s definitely somewhere I want to go back to and check out the music scene properly and discover different areas of the city (it’s a huge city!). Our evening consisted of hanging out with Davina’s friend, Simon (pronounced ’seemen’ in German, no seriously it’s hilarious) drinking red wine, eating pizza and chatting.

Back to Amsterdam the next day. I ended up liking it and deciding that it was just the mood I was in at the time that made me dislike it.

Our first night back there of course consisted of the Ani Difranco concert. This left neither of us disappointed but completely and utterly fulfilled. There was a great vibe, a really nice crowd and a brilliant performer. It was a wonderful evening.

Thursday was the last day that Davina and I were together. She got on the train to Romania at 8 in the evening.

That night I was shown the three major gay bars in the town (all in a street I’d been in numerous times and hadn’t even realised it was the ‘gay’ area!) and also the ‘red light district’ which was fascinating to say the least. We were offered Coke at least 3 times (not the carbonated, caffeinated sugar water kind either). I was surprised to find out that the Red Light area is actually one of the safest area of the city (besides the pickpockets) because it’s under constant surveillance by the police and there are always Police officers patrolling (for leisure or work though, who can say!?)

My tour guide was a highly camp, extremely fabulous Maltese guy called Mark. He’s a lot of fun and really easy going and we got along well.

Friday: Mark had left so I was forced to spend the day with two gorgeous and very sweet Brazilian guys. Oh the trials and tribulations of travel! We visited the van Gogh museum (which was excellent and very interesting) and generally strolled around taking in the sights.

My favourite van Gogh painting:

Luis the Brazilian.

I left for France the next day. I’m really glad that I was able to see Amsterdam through happier eyes than the first time. I think my view of it would have been tainted for a long time if I hadn’t gone back.

So far my summary of Poland is that I really want to learn Polish. I can say “Hello”, “Yes”, “No” and “Thank you” but I think I say them quite well. Haven’t figured out what “Goodbye” is yet.

Actually I have more of a summary than that. There are no photos yet because I’m only allowed on the Hostel computer for 15 minutes and that’ s not enough time. Soon though.

Poland is cold but beautiful. I’m very glad we came here. I’m feeling a lot happier and more invigorated about the whole “travel” thing. Gdansk turned out to be a “holiday within a holiday” kind of thing I guess.

The town of Gdansk was almost completely destroyed in WWII but pretty much all of it has been restored. It’s just beautiful. I think there is a fair bit of poverty as there are lots of people begging on the street but they don’t come up to you they just sit there with a sign so it’s not an annoyance.

 

Highlights have been climbing the tower of the biggest church in the town and having an amazing view of the whole town, discovering little restaurants and bars away from the main streets and the sleeping cabin in the train that we were in from Berlin to Gdansk. It was so cute and cosy!

We’re probably leaving for Berlin tomorrow. Davina has a friend that will let us stay with him if we bring him cigarettes, apparently.

-If you want to see photos that aren’t on the blog click here

More photos soon. I promise.

Update: Et voilà les photos!!

 A few of you might know already that I’ve been a bit low over the last few days. I don’t know whether it’s Amsterdam itself or just a low after the initial high of leaving, arriving etc..

Hard to pinpoint it. But the fact is I’ve been really homesick over the last 2 days. So what do you do when that happens….why you go to Poland of course!!

So that’s what we’re doing. Going to Poland for a few days (don’t try to talk me out of it Mum, I’ve already paid for the sleeper train reservation) then back to Amsterdam for the Ani concert. Which by the way I have tickets for now. Hallelujah!!

Sounds a bit crazy but I need to get out of this place.

So, I’ll see you in Gdansk!

(pictures of Amsterdam are coming!!)

I am possibly in one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to.

 

    

It’s called Böbing and it’s in the Bavarian region of Germany. South of Munich. About 30 mins from the Austrian border.

 I’ve spent a glorious 3 days here riding into the town, riding to the lake and walking up hills. The weather has been cool but fine and lovely in the sun.

Alas today we leave for Amsterdam. The next part of our journey. We are going to see Ani Difranco in concert. I’m slightly stressed (even though Davina tells me not to be) because our tickets never arrived at their place in Böbing. So as it stands we have a receipt that we bought them but no tickets. Just ever so slightly stressed.

 We’re travelling on the train overnight to get to Amsterdam. Dee is very excited. I am very excited. We have much excitement!

I didn’t want to go. They said that because I am in Munich at Oktoberfest time it’s a crime not to go. I told them I woudn’t be drinking.Oktoberfest is very strange. Everybody dresses up in traditional German clothes (Dirndels for girls and overall things for boys). Then they go to a big show ground. In the show ground there are lots of rides and pretzels and gingerbread hearts with icing. There are also the beer gardens which are indoors and huge and stuffy and smoky and seriously overcrowded. Everybody says ‘Cheers’ and sings and sometimes dances (in the very small amount of space that there is) and a band plays traditional German music up on a platform that you can’t see. Sound like Mia’s scene? I got a taxi home early. What a party pooper!

    

      

   

   

   

  

  

    

Spot Germans internationally:

They wear

-Denim and Denim

-Black and black or

-anything and cargo or camoflage pants.

This ‘wild rice’ isn’t actually rice. It’s a grain. So why do they call it rice? It’s like it was rice once but then it partied too hard.

    

    

   

Arrived in Munich about 2 hours ago after a 9 hour flight to Bangkok, an 11 hour flight to Frankfurt and a 3 hour train to Munich.

As per the title I have just eaten a traditional Bavarian breakfast whilst trying to soothe my swollen calves with litres of water. This was possibly counter-acted by the amount of salt in the pretzel and sausage.

Arriving at Munich station I was surrounded by girls in Derndels and boys in german overalls. Good old Oktoberfest. I´ve been told we are celebrating it tomorrow night. Eek.