The last of the France-Germany Memoires

 As promised, here is the map that outlines our remarkable trip.  Yeah, I'm still on about it.  You like it.  There is much more on the horizon, but many more private conversations still need to happen before all can be disclosed on the Blog.  


In the spirit of sharing the best parts of life, here are some of my favourite pictures from the trip. 

Frank and I at Cinderella's Castle, Neuschwanstein, Germany

Thanks for taking this one, Kat.  Just strolling through Gstaad...no big deal ;)

 It was Eliana and Adeline's birthday on Saturday.  I missed the party and felt sort of empty all day.  The pictures are just wonderful and show a healthy duo of offspring that are growing more and more unique as the days roll on.  I can't wait to be back and witness first-hand what a difference six months (seven?) makes.  Seems a bit too long though.

I hope you had a great weekend, that you are enjoying the weather finally turning into spring-like conditions.  Nonno has started the countdown...86 more days until I'm home.  Yippee!

 

Love This

For the most part, I'm pretty cynical about all things related to loooove.  Give me a break.  BUT, much to my friend's dismay, I do believe that love stays forever.  Yup: forever.  We had a very intense, stunted (because Frank crashed the car) conversation about love and all the issues surrounding love.  What started as a literary chat about whether saying, "I love you" repetitively, once felt, is redundant or necessary, quickly morphed into this guttural outpouring of whether or not love lives once it has, you know, died.

Yes, yes it does.  And that is the end of that discussion.

How can love go away?  How can I feel something that fundamentally changes me forEVER and then just NOT feel it anymore?  How can I LOVE someone and then NOT love them?  It's not possible.  Maybe it's romantic (god forbid) and a bit strange to you (cynic!), but I really do think that love lasts as long as we do.

If in a moment of complete disagreement, whereby your fundamental values are shaken to the core, you believe for an instant that you might actually despise your lover, does the hate overshadow the love? Sure it does!  The hate wins over; the disgust is certainly the more predominant emotion, but the love never goes AWAY.

And this is true for all of you who I've loved (if I've really loved you.  Whoops, that's the one caveat: I actually have to BE in love to STAY in love).  I love my friends now and when we fight just as much as I did when we last commiserated about breakups and agreed on the best taupe toenail polish colour.  I love my ex just as much now, from afar where we can be totally happy independently, as when lay on the grass and talked about getting married. 

Love doesn't go away; it changes.  It morphs into something I can handle and something I can think about without wanting to cry all the time.  It develops into this wonderful, compact-yet-at-times-all-encompassing compartmentalized treasure.  I can open it up and look upon it fondly.  It's awesome.

Enough already...I sound totally romantic.  I can only handle so much.  

So in the spirit of all things lovey and dovey, I remind you that only the lucky ones have matching tattoos and leave you with this...

Image courtesy of Bippity Boppity Boo 

Conversely, I'm also feeling completely and utterly down with this entirely glum English weather.  Even though I haven't been here for the whole time, it has been raining for FOUR weeks on a virtually continual basis.  Ew.  Walks to school SUCK in the rain, especially since I left my good umbrella at the top of the castle in Heidelberg and had to revert to the crap-tastic one I had from when I first arrived in Jolly Olde.  Balls.  

Anyway, because of the sudden onset of what must surely be SAD, I'm really feeling this must-be-NYC apartment.  The area inside is my dream desk and outside, my dream garden overlooking what must be my dream(y) city.  Yup, this is where I'd much rather be...

Image courtesy of Wit + Delight

I hope you're feeling the love today :)

I don't mean to dwell...

But come on...how amazing did this trip look?  Here's Frank's rendition of Heidelberg...

Cool, right?  You can click here and see the rest!

I hope you're having a great day :)

Re-Post...amazing what time does

I'm about to pack it in for the night.  I'm watching Californication, just ate some quinoa cereal with soy milk, and stumbled upon an old blog post that warmed my heart.  I love the quote, I love the picture, I love the uncle shout-out.  I remember this day with clarity, some two and a half years ago.  My, how time flies.

Odd what remains in one's memory, isn't it?

I talked to the Mother Hen for three hours today.  What a treat.  I didn't go into the City, I didn't do much school work, I didn't do much at all.  But I got to talk to my mother.  Nice Sunday, if I do say so myself.  

I hope your weekend was spectacular.

Everything is Illuminated

I think that this is why I relish writing for you so much.  It makes it possible for me to be not like I am, but as I desire for Little Igor to see me.  I can be funny, because I have time to meditate about how to be funny, and I can repair my mistakes when I perform mistakes, and I can be a melancholy person in manners that are interesting, not only melancholy.  With writing, we have second chances. 

You mentioned to me that first evening of our voyage that you thought you might have been born to be a writer.  What a terrible thing, I think.  But I must tell you, I do not think that you understood the meaning of what you said when you said that.  You were making suggestions of how you like to write, and how it is an interesting thing for you to imagine worlds that are not exactly like this one, or worlds that are exactly like this one. 

It is true, I am certain, that you will write many more books than I will, but it is me, not you, who was born to be the writer.

~Jonathan Safran Foer

Page 144-5.

How to be Happy

Image courtesy of Things she Loves via Flickr

Don't you love it when you read stuff like this and think to yourself, "I totally DO those things!  Wicked!"?  I do.  I hope you're having a good weekend :)

Rain Showers in April

It has been raining all week here in Jolly Olde and though it makes walks to work a bit of a pain (and wholly worthy of the Hunter Wellies), there is something magnificent about it too. When the rain clears, because it always does here, and the sun shines for a brief moment, again, because it always does and it is undoubtedly only for a mere moment; when the sky turns an evil shade of gray and the clouds roll in the sky with vigour; it is in these brief glimpses of time that the world comes alive.

There are patches of sky that are bright September blue; I see bursts of green, sprung from leaves that simply were not there earlier in the day; I pass buds near-exploding with rich colour and potential, fat and ready. The best part are the blossoms: they're pink and white, vibrant and fluffy. I want to cut off branches and fill my house with scads of blossoms...somehow I resist.

Yes, spring certainly is a phenomenal time of year. Reminds me of just how alive we all are.

France, Germany, Happy times

Here are a few goodies that my friends took on vacay...

More Down with Consumerism

Image courtesy of Halifornia.

Alright, folks, it's yet another try at non-consumerism. I know I can do it.

You like adventure, too? Cool!

Awesome! Image courtesy of Halifornia.

Dusseldorf

We spent but an afternoon in Dusseldorf (and ended it all off with a bang...story later) and wished we could have stayed longer. It was a delightful, riverside community, with a bustling waterfront. A gorgeous market greeted us after we hit a pole, dinged the car, and laughed our heads off parked the car and headed outside.

Woo Hoo is right, Germany. Thanks for a great stay!

Heidelberg...be still my heart

Heidelberg was THE PLACE for me. It was my Mecca and I was fully ensconced in its beauty, small-town vibe, and tranquility. It was everything it promised to be and it was certainly my favourite place on the trip. There, I said it. I felt like this little girl as I passed moment by moment...










Awesome. Here's a bit of what we saw...









Beautiful bookstore (home of, "Let me check ze computa!").

My Nonna has been wearing 4711 perfume since I was born (and perhaps before then). I have never seen an ad for it before this one:

And that was the end of the first day. We were tired and the rain was threatening to return. So we headed the 2.5 km back to the hostel for some beautifying before our Best Dinner Ever (in celebration of Kathleen's birthday, courtesy of her family). Thank you a thousand times. Ah, here is the view from our room as the sun set (love):












Aleisha brushing her teeth with, you got it, champagne. Awesome.






After dinner was over, we got a bit rowdy in the town square. Of course we did.






On day two, we split into pairs and hit the town. Frank and I stumbled into the Philosophy Library at the university to print out our boarding passes. Naturally.






And here is where I had The Big Thought: perhaps I should go back to school. Oh dear.

We climbed a huge mountain (or what felt like a huge mountain) to the castle that overlooks the city. Swoon.

...then walked back down...

Argh... ;)

I popped into the Heidelberg Suites Boutique Hotel for a quick restroom break (and wound up staying longer than expected! Who could blame me with facecloths in lieu of paper towels?!). So wicked.



On the way back to the hostel, we passed this amazing accordion player. It reminded me of a picture of my Aunt Erika, taken when she was about ten, holding an accordion, smiling her adorable dimpled grin, hair in plaits on either side of her head. :)






These flowers reminded me of Leanne. Weren't these the ones you wanted? Ranunculus?









Ah, off on the road again on our last day. This warehouse was converted into awesome usable space. We really liked this hostel.

But we LOVED this coffee shoppe.













Too-da-loo, Heidelberg!