My Favourite Moments

Alrighty, since I had time on the train I decided to compile my eight favourite moments since the beginning of the trip (in no particular order):

1.Listening to Led Zeppelin in London's National Gallery

I was walking around aimlessly when I was shoved into a corner by a group of rather loud and smelly American tourists scrambling to see Van Gogh's painting of sunflowers. The song 'Ramble On' by Led Zeppelin came on my iPod (my favourite by him) and I turned around and saw a Renoir painting that I basically fell in love with (see above). It was an excellent moment.

2. Walking in Paris in the Rain

For our last night in Paris, Heather and I got all dressed up and walked up and down Champs-Elysee in the rain. It reminded me of Sabrina when Audrey Hepburn is telling Humphrey Bogart what to do in Paris and says something like "You have to forget your umbrella and order yourself some rain and find yourself a very good friend, then drive up and down Champs-Elysee in a cab"

3. Eating Sandwiches in Cannes

This one isn't terribly exciting, but Heather and I had just finished swimming and tanning and we both smelt like salt and sunscreen. We perched on the boardwalk and drank coke and ate ham sandwiches, not talking and watching people walk by as our hair frizzily whipped in the breeze.

4. Our first 10 minutes in Pisa

This is the fountain outside the train station in Pisa- about as far into the city as we got

After a mix up with the trains, we ended up only having about 10 minutes in Pisa before returning to Rome. So, we walked twenty feet into Pisa, bought some Paprika Pringles and Twix bars, then walked back to our platform and ate them while I laughed hysterically at the ridiculousness of spending 8 hours on trains to go nowhere and Heather forced steam out of her ears.

5.The Dover Marathon

 

Our hotel on the cliffs

After (another) mix up with trains, we learned that we had roughly 20 minutes to catch the last ferry from Dover to Calais. As we were told "it was only a 15 minute walk" we thought it wouldn't be a problem, however, it ended up being a 40 minute jog of two girls in trench coats with rolly suitcases along the cliffs of Dover. (I find this memorable mostly because when I replay the incident in my head, our running is rather fast and jerky, like a silent film from the twenties.)

6. Angela's Trattoria
We went for dinner in a little trattoria across the street from our hostel in Rome, mainly because we had gotten a discount coupon. However, the food turned out to be excellent and we ended up having alot of fun (and then returning a few nights later). At one particular moment, Heather had just gone to the washroom when the waiter brought out our tirimisu and the band (a saxaphone and guitar) started playing Dean Martin's "You Belong to Me"- my favourite song by him. People were laughing in the background, the lights were dim, I was well fed and sufficiently lubricated and had a very wonderful moment.

7.A Random Train Ride

i'm not actually sure when this occurred (or where) but I was on a train, in that space of mind where you're not quite asleep and not quite awake. I was listening to Eddie Vedder (I think his music translates so well to travel- whether on a train plane or automobile) and watching the fields of red poppies blow as we swept by.

8. Tonight- drinking chamomile and eating apfelstrudel
Earlier today, Elda, Hansjorg and Claudia left for the seaside and Katja and Sonja were both at work, so Heather and I had the house to ourselves. We sat out on the balcony, drinking chamomile tea, listening to music and eating apfelstrudel that Claudia had gotten us (thanks!!). The sun was beginning to come down behind the tyrolean mountains and the wind was blowing a bit, but mostly we just basked in the warm sunshine.