Pictures from my trip are coming soon, but transferring and exporting and uploading and formatting everything is more than I can deal with right now.
Casualties of the trip:
Sunglasses (sat upon during the train ride to Geneva)
Purse (in a story we won't discuss)
One pair of tights (related to the purse, in a story we won't discuss)
Items smuggled, at various times, onto an airplane, wittingly or unwittingly, by either myself or my traveling companions:
Lighters
A corkscrew, complete with an actual blade
Nail clippers and razors (can you take these on planes?)
More than 100ml of shampoo and toothpaste, not safely contained in a one-quart plastic bag
Items lost:
NONE!
Literature (well, the definition varies) read:
Lolita
Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal
New Moon (please god do not judge me, I can explain!)
The April 2010 edition of French Marie Claire
And coming soon, a story in four parts:
Lyon: In which I remember, after 24 hours of saying "pero" with a French accent, how to speak this language, and also why I love France so much
"Shit, 'caminer' isn't how you say 'walk' in French, is it?"
Highlight: speaking French without getting funny looks, or alternatively, ordering mousse de chocolat à l'orange after eating chèvre chaud for lunch
Lowlight: trekking from the bus station to the hostel for 45 minutes up hills, carrying all my stuff, after Lyon shut down the subway line because of an incident voyageur
Geneva: In which we leave the EU without realizing it
"Wait, what do you mean they don't use Euros here?"
Highlight: Finding the Protestant Cathedral (yes, really) and taking in spectacular views of the entire city
Lowlight: Getting contôled on the train and having to pay an extra €25 for having bought the wrong tickets (on purpose, heh)
Barcelona: In which I accumulate rocks in my pockets and sand in my shoes
"It's like... the Mediterranean version of Venice Beach plus Hawaii plus Mexico, or something."
Highlight: Napping on the beach, drinking wine on the beach, wading in the ocean, picking up rocks on the beach, listening to music on the beach, taking pictures on the beach, getting sand from the beach everywhere, and finding that sand in the bottom of my bag last night as I unpacked
Lowlight: The story we won't discuss
Mallorca: In which we break out the flipflops, finally
"Wait, they speak Catalan here too!?"
Highlight: Dramatic readings of scenes from New Moon, featuring Jacob the Gay Werewolf, Edward Cullen, the Mostly Absent and Ashen-and-Listless-when-Present Vampire (played by me as I recovered from my stomach pyrotechnics), and Author
Lowlight: Throwing up on the side of the road (yes, really) - not my finest hour, though I managed to not get it on myself or anyone else - and the following 24 hours of absolute misery lying comatose on my bed
Plus one extra airport scene, in which I get locked in a newsstand for fifteen minutes because the lady went to take her cigarette break, didn't realize I was still in there (reading Marie Claire), and lowered the grate before I realized what had happened.
Stay tuned...
Oh my god so many great stories!! I am dying to read each delicious tale in its entirety. And you realize that by saying you won't discuss the event, you are going to have to discuss it anyway. At some point. I am so very very insanely jealous of your time in France, blargh!! But it is so awesome you got to rediscover the joy of speaking French in a francophone place! Two, even! I love the New Moon shenanigans, I hope there was video taken of that.
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