Many Days...

...it is hard to write something for the blog. I just don't want to do it, I think I can get around to it tomorrow, magically it will write itself. Sadly, many days I don't get around to it 'tomorrow', and it definitely doesn't write itself. I always have plenty to say, but I think that it won't be interesting or I don't know where to begin. Then I get tired and think "Tomorrow. Definitely tomorrow."

Tomorrow has to be today since I am going away again this weekend. This time to Berlin to visit an old high school (and college) friend who is living there. I'll wander around Berlin for a few days while she works and then we will go on a self-designed "Great German Composers" tour: Leipzig, Halle, and Weimar. I'll be there from 7 or 8 days...my return date is not fixed yet, since I don't know how much time we will want to spend wandering. :)

So, now for the long update about the weekend trip.

Milena and I left on Saturday morning. Took the train from Saint-Lazare to Rouen to Le Havre-about two hours. We checked into our hotel (http://www.hotel-le-green.fr/) and took a nap. Then we wandered around the city center and over to the cathedral, Notre Dame. I went to mass and light a candle for Monica.

Masses here are really cool. I know what is going on because I know the mass and so I can figure out what they are saying for the scripted parts, but I have no idea what the readings say or the homily is about. Well, even that is not quite true. I know that the priest was preaching on the Resurrection. But really, I have no idea. Also, related, but not quite, the French really know their stuff about bread. Even communion is better here than in the states. The wafer is light and fluffy and yummy. Weird to say about a communion wafer, but there you have it.

So...then we wandered around for a while longer. Sat in the sun outside the (closed) Museum of Natural History. And then we had a ridiculously large and delicious sushi meal. Wow. That was good sushi. Fresh beyond fresh (as you would expect...Le Havre is right on the English channel and Atlantic). Tuna, salmon, mackerel, octopus, and an unidentified white fish. I ate a lot of rice too. And then we had really good ice cream for dessert. I had banana and chocolate ice cream, which Milena thought was weird and couldn't decide if she liked. Banana and ice cream is (was) a foreign thought to her.

Lots of photos on the bridge walking back to our hotel.

Talking and TV. Oh! The German channel! I love the German channel! (Yay! I will be in Germany on Saturday and get to hear German again! WHOOO!)

Sunday, we slept in late and didn't emerge from our room until about noon. Then we walked for nine straight hours. To the beach (very very very cold) and up into the town, up the hills and cliffs, to many churches (all of which were closed. Weird, I thought, for a Sunday), almost to a neighboring town, Harfleur, to the 'sketchy' area of town, and back to the hotel at 9 pm. Lots and lots and lots of pictures. I was hungry when we started and paranoid that we wouldn't find any place open because it was Sunday (sorry for that, Milena), so we stopped at a kabob stand and bought 'kebap complets', kabob sandwiches with fries inside! Delish! We sat down outside the town hall in a park and we promptly surrounded by birds. Milena pretended to feed one and it hopped up and down following the motion of her hand. Pretty funny to see a little sparrow (I think) so willing to get close to humans. One of the birds was a seagull. He marked his territory around us with his caw. When we got up and left, he followed us. He followed us for a good four or five blocks to around park where we stopped to take some pictures. We named him Finn. Some of the other people in the park scared him away, so that was the last that we saw of Finn. :( After finally getting to the Museum of Old Le Havre (which was also closed...this town was mostly empty...so few people around! and nothing seemed to be open), we bought a yummy and cheap pizza around 8 in the 'sketchy' area of town and devoured it when we got back to the hotel.

Monday was pretty low-key. We had planned to take a late train back to Paris, but then realized that we would probably miss the last metro home and wouldn't get back to Lila until 1 or 2. So we opted for a 1 pm train. We checked out of our lovely tiny hotel and walked to the beach for an ice cream breakfast (with cidre, since Normandy is known for its cidre...same thing as cider). Then off to the train. Bought lots of sugar for the ride back...I don't think that I had much in the way of substantial food that day.

I really loved that trip. The town is gorgeous, the food amazing and the people (those who we encountered) were really friendly. Everyone should go there at some point. Not too touristy, but enough to have stuff to do. Also, I want to live there some day. Absolutely beautiful!!!

When I got back, I checked my email and there was a email plea from my prof to see if someone could babysit his kid that evening. I offered and so was home for 2-3 hours before I left again to babysit. TC's son, Edward, is 2 and a half, and is adorable and very very happy and giggly. We played ball and raced his toy cars and read 6 books (3 of which were Curious George) and danced to the Beach Boys. When I told TC and his wife about the Beach Boys, they were shocked..."Beach Boys?! The old Beach Boys?! You listen to that stuff! Wow. I haven't thought of the Beach Boys in years!" etc. Poor kid, Beach Boys is classic! Especially for the spring and summer time! Oh well. At least I have exposed him a little.

Tuesday and Wednesday nothing happen. Oh wait. I slipped down some wet steps on Wednesday and fell on my butt. I was wearing my backpack and my laptop was inside. When I opened my laptop, it was no longer on (I had put it to sleep). So I tried to restart it. No luck. Took out the battery (and I discovered at that point that I had dented the case...sniff!) and it restarted. Then it said that it couldn't find the Airport hardware (the wireless card). "Umm...I do have an Airport card!" Panic. Went to DJ, the IT guy and he popped out the Airport card for me and stuck it back in. The knock from the fall down the stairs knocked the card out of place. So, all is well now. But my butt hurts.