Tiptoe through the true bits.

Well, all of my summer flights are now booked.  It'll be time to fill in the rest of the bits (car rentals, accommodations) in the next month.

Air Canada kept e-mailing me about a North America sale, which was perfect, because I'd decided that summer trip #2 would be to Vancouver and Vancouver Island.  I have a bunch of friends out west (including three fabulous blog friends!) so I decided it would be great to head out there at the end of August.  I'll spend about five days in Vancouver, and the rest of my time on Vancouver Island.  My friend Alison, from university, moved to Courtenay last summer, and I'm excited to spend a good deal of time with her.

I was looking through my calendar, and I've realized that between travelling, driving my cat to my parents', glamping, friends visiting me, and going to music festivals, every single weekend this summer is booked up.  It's going to be a fun time.

This evening I wandered to the bookstore to look at travel books, but I'm going on a US shopping trip this weekend, so I hope that we hit a bookstore, as most of the list prices are $4 cheaper in the US.  

In other stuff, I'm reading a book that I adore: Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman.  It was written in the late 1960s, and it's about teaching in an inner city school in NYC.  It's written as a series of letters, memos, chalkboard notes, and pieces of student work.  It's brilliant and I can relate to it so much.  It's funny that even though a lot has changed in education since that time, so much is still the same.  

My favourite line from the book comes from when the main character, a naive first year teacher, writes her department head to tell him her class average is 44 3/5 - it's supposed to be 33.  He replies back "let it be a challenge to you."  Best line ever.  Today I found out that my environmental science course next year will be V-coded.  This means that I'll have to teach two curricula to students of different ability levels at the same time (sort of like a split grade in elementary school, I suppose).  Let it be a challenge to me.

Anyway, I love this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone, whether they be a teacher, or just a former student.

Today I had one of my classes dissect flowers.  I really like a good flower dissection.  Whenever I teach  plants, I go to a cheap flower store that I know and pick up either some mini-daffodils or lilies for my classes.  Mini daffodils are the best to dissect because they have big ovules, and you get a lot of flowers per plant for a low price, but they're out of season so I had to go for lilies which are more expensive and have minuscule ovules.  

My grade tens were super excited about the flower dissection (I guess kids haven't been totally wrecked by technology yet) and were cute as they walked into my room and saw lilies in a giant Erlenmeyer flask.  "Oh Miss, you shouldn't have!" said many a student, as if I'd bought the bouquets for them.  I heard comments about "oh, they're too pretty to dissect!" to which I replied "why didn't you say that about the fish?  Poor fish!"

Of course, a lesson on sexual reproduction always has its moments.  Today I had to field the question of whether flowers have orgasms, and I replied with a deadpan "Do plants have nervous systems?" even though I want to laugh or scream or whatever.

It's never a dull moment when you're dissecting a flower, I tell you.

Into giants you can't stop us.

Tonight was my solo (as in I went by myself) Patrick Watson show.  I AM SO GLAD I WENT!!!

I'd heard from a couple of my fellow music lovers that Patrick Watson was a great live band.  They were right.

This was seriously one of the best shows I've ever been to, and you guys know that I go to a lot of shows.  The way that Patrick Watson mixes an amazing light show with the gorgeous orchestrations of his music is jaw-dropping.  The show was an absolute treat for both my eyes and my ears.

At some points of the show, there stage was covered in little lights that looked like candles.  I loved how this looked.

Not only did the band play full-on arrangements with violins, guitars, gorgeous piano, drums, vocals, and trumpet, they played a couple songs in front of a single mic.

My favourite was "Into Giants" which started at a single mic, then the band ran to their places as the song crescendoed into a full arrangement.  The video below shows this song and how the band plays it live.  If you like good music, watch the whole thing.  Trust me.  It's amazing and gorgeous.



After seeing the Joel Plaskett Emergency a couple weeks ago, and Patrick Watson tonight, I am convinced that Canada produces some of the best live bands out there.  Actually, I was always convinced of that, the point was just re-iterated by those two shows.

And, I just found out before the show when I was on Patrick Watson's website that the band is playing the legendary Massey Hall in December!  Tickets go on sale on June 1st, so I think I'm going to get mine ASAP.  However, this time I'll get two so I can share this band with someone else.  Yay!

Adventures in Your Own Backyard

Weekends go fast, hey?

This was a nice mellow one for me.  Friday night was spent running errands, on Saturday I had lunch with a friend and ran more errands, and today I woke up early to run a 5K race.  I'm a little bit bummed that I didn't beat my time from the Scotiabank Waterfront 5K in October... I was about 30 seconds slower.  However, considering the fact that I was sneezing and coughing like mad on Thursday night, I guess that's not too bad.  I definitely wasn't at 100% for this race.  Ah well, I plan to run a bunch more races in the fall and I'm sure I'll make a new PB then.

The race was fun though and in a park down the street from me, so I was home by 10 am to have a little nap.  I was aware of a 10 am to 1 pm 30% off shoe sale at a local shoe store, so I was out the door in time to hit that up.  I was thinking of getting a new pair of Birkenstocks, but I'm pretty sure I can get one more summer out of mine.  I don't feel like breaking in a new pair.  I ended up getting a pair of dressier wedges (can't not buy something at a shoe sale), and I like them.

Then I treated my tired feet to a pedicure.  Good idea self.

I had consecutive Skype dates with Claire and Becca T in the late afternoon.  Laughs were had.

It'll be another busy week.  I've got Patrick Watson to look forward to on Tuesday night, and a bunch of school stuff to keep me on my toes.  Three more weeks of teaching until exams (which are actually already written).  However, I feel like I have infinite piles of marking to do in that time.  Seriously, do you ever feel that you have a pile of work that never shrinks no matter how much time you spend on it?

I hope you all have nice weeks.  I'm going to go finish reading The Weight of Water.  Thanks for the book recommendation Jabba!

On reading... (with book reviews!)

I have been doing A LOT of reading lately.  In fact, I'm on pace to read 52 books this year.  I tried doing that a few years ago, and was not successful.  Maybe it'll happen this year.

In the past few months, I've found that reading is the only thing that provides me with true escape from reality.  My mind tends to wander when I'm watching movies or TV.  However, put a good book in front of me, and I'm completely absorbed.  Thoughts of real life float away.  I believe this is because reading uses more of my brain than watching something does.

I am hoping that I can read 52 books this year, however, if I do take the creative writing course that I intend to in the fall, my reading might derailed by writing.  This is a good thing, but I'd really like to do both.  In Stephen King's excellent memoir on writing, called On Writing, he insists that good writers must also be good readers.  In fact, he spends half his day reading, and half his day writing.  I could be down with that, if I didn't have a pesky day job (with lots of homework) in the way.

Of course, I still want to keep up with my running, concert-going, etc. when I start to write as well.  Oh, and I'm supposed to knit a sweater for my work spouse's soon-to-be-born new son.  There's never enough time to do everything I want to do.  I was reflecting on this on the bus this morning, and actually felt myself looking forward to retirement. (According to the piece of paper they send me in the mail, that'll be Decemeber 31st, 2034.)

Anyway, the point of this is that I am really thankful that I've been reading so much this year.  I'd like to review some of the books I've recently read.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman



I'd heard many good things about this book, but was initially concerned that it would be too heavy of a read for me at this time of year when I'm stressed out trying to tie up all loose ends at school.  However, I decided to treat myself to this book on my Kobo. 

It took me awhile to get into the book, but once I did I was really hooked.  I think I finished the last 300 pages on a particularly lazy Sunday.  The story revolves around four women in the Jewish settlement of Masada in 70 C.E.  The Romans had driven the Jews out of Jerusalem, and about 900 Jews settled in this fortress originally built by Herrod.

Hoffman does an excellent job at evoking the journey to Masada and the living conditions there.  Her version of events corresponds to that of ancient historians, even though many modern historians doubt that the end of Masada occurred as previously believed.  It's actually quite the story, and I'd highly recommend this book.  It makes me really want to travel to Israel to see the remains of Masada.

Let's Pretend this Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson




Lawson blogs under the moniker The Bloggess, and although I've yet to check out her blog, her memoir is laugh-out-loud funny.  My favourite chapters are the ones that centre around her childhood, with a taxidermist father who has a penchant for bringing live animals, such as a herd of wild turkeys or bobcat cubs, into the home.  In addition, the chapter about her experiences working in HR is absolutely priceless.  Her frank and open discussions of what it's like to live with an anxiety disorder are brave and informative.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, provided their sense of humour is a little bit twisted (as I would assume any friend or well-wisher of mine to have).  In addition, this book provided with one of my favourite quotes about friendship ever:

"A friend is someone who knows where all your bodies are buried. Because they're the ones who helped you put them there."


The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler



Anne Tyler is one of my favourite writers, and her latest is a pleasant little novel.  Her writing and characters are always very lovely.  This was a nice short read, but if you are new to Anne Tyler, I would recommend an earlier work such as The Accidental Tourist or Earthly Possessions.

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova




Genova has a PhD is neuroscience and is the author of a previous novel (Still Alice) about a women with early-onset Alzheimer's.  This book centres around a woman who develops a Left Neglect after a car accident.  This is a brain injury, usually caused by an accident or a stoke, that causes the patient to be completely unaware of the left side of their body and their environment.

I found the beginning of this book to be a little bit slow, with some unnecessary dream sequences. Overall I liked this book because I learned about such an interesting condition, and came to care about the characters.  Genova interviewed many people with Left Neglect as research for her novel, and as a result, I feel her descriptions of what it's like to have this disorder are authentic.

That's How I Roll by Andrew Vacchss (currently reading)




 I follow Jennifer Weiner, a popular author whose books I like, on Twitter mainly because she hilariously live tweets the Bachelor/Bachelorette and it brings me joy.  She recently wrote an article about her summer reading list for EW, and that's how I came across this book.  It's a crime/mystery novel, which isn't my typical fare, but a nice (well, it's actually a little graphic, so nice mightn't be the right word) departure from my usual literary fiction.

This book is a fictional memoir of a wheelchair-bound hitman where he describes his life, his crimes, how he got caught from death row.  I found the beginning forty pages to be rather rambling, but now the story's started to roll (no pun intended).

I look forward to making more progress with this one tonight.

So, that's what I've been reading.  I hope that some of these titles make it to your own to-read lists.  In addition, feel free to toss book recommendations my way.  I've got quite a few on my to-read list, and some that I'd like to re-read, however I'm always looking for recommendations, especially while I'm on this current reading spree.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'. Gathering no moss.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of fun and busyness, and I caught a little bit of a cold along the way, but my body's do a great job of fighting it off.  Let's do a re-cap.

Thursday

Thursday ended up being a bit of a crazy day at work, but then thankfully it had a nice remedy at the end of the day.  My work spouse moderates the math club, so as an end-of-year celebration she and I, and two other friends, took them on a tour of U of T, and bowling.  It was a beautiful day to be walking around campus, and I think they enjoyed our anecdotes and seeing teachers being weird in a library.  We took them to the science library, and laughed at book titles such as "Mathematics, its mystery and magic".

Bowling was super fun too.  The kids had a blast.  I bowled too and I got one strike and a couple spares.  Probably one of my best games ever.

After the kids were dismissed, the four of us went out for dinner to unwind after the insanity of the day.  I got home late enough for Rilo to give me the side-eye. (Which isn't all that late, but the cat believes getting home past 7 pm is wrong.)

Friday

I had a great day at work on Friday.  I grossed out two consecutive classes.  I did a presentation on organisms living together for my grade 9s.  Of course, that meant that I could bring in some disgusting pictures of parasitism (tapeworms and the like), including my personal favourite Loa loa, aka the eyeworm.  Their reactions were priceless: "Miss, why are you doing this to us??" etc.

I responded: "because look how this wakes you up!  And your reaction is so funny... C'mon, did anyone enjoy this?"

A few of the quieter boys responded with "I liked it, Miss."  And I know the loud complainers did too.

Then, I showed through my grade 10s an excellent video on the digestive system.  It's pretty awesome in my opinion.  They used microscopic cameras to show food's journey through the digestive system.. Where else do you get to see the pyloric sphincter?

After school on Fridays, I take kids from the Eco Club and other volunteers to do some community gardening in a nearby park.  We often have a large group come to volunteer and I always enjoy it.  What good kids, I tell you.

In the evening, I went to see Joel Plaskett and his Emergency band play at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.  It was such a great show.  Frank Turner, a favourite of Claire's and Siobhan's, opened and was really great.  He had everyone on their feet standing and singing at the end of his set, which is quite a feat for an opening act, although there were many Turner diehards in the audience.

Joel Plaskett put on such a great show, as always.  He is one of the best live musicians going these days.  He played a great variety of new songs, old songs, rock songs, and acoustic songs.  My favourite moment was when he played the song "Lightning Bolt" with strobe lights flashing.  There were so many moments when everyone was just dancing and singing  My throat was hurting because of the cold I have, but I couldn't help but keep singing along.  I decided to make "Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'" my anthem for the summer too.  Anyway, it was a great show, and the music was so good that I felt nothing but happiness; no bittersweetness kicked in at all.  Well done Joel, you are awesome.

Saturday

My friend Vern (Go9) came to visit me and one of her sisters for part of the long weekend.  She also brought another one of her sisters in tow.  They went out to Centre Island for the afternoon, but I opted out since I was still feeling a bit crappy thanks to my cold.  I napped, and did a bit of shopping too.

I met up with them for a nice dinner, and Vern and I headed to my place and had a nice evening of catching up.

Sunday (today)

I woke up early, and even though I still didn't feel 100%, I went for a run since I haven't run since my 10K, and I have a 5K in a week.  It wasn't my best run, but I felt better afterward so job well done.

We headed off to the Jays game.  It was a perfect thing to do on the Sunday afternoon of a long weekend.  It was free Bobblehead day too!  Vern didn't want hers, so it'll be a gift to my dad.  It was great sitting out in the sun, drinking (overpriced) beer and eating hot dogs.  It was an exciting game too, but the Jays lost to the Mets 6-5 in the end.

The attendance for the game was pretty high too - over 41,000!  It made for a congested trip back to the subway.  We stopped off for gelato on the way home, and then Vern had to head off.  It was a nice visit though.  :)

Tomorrow

The weather's gonna be super nice again, but I have to buckle down and catch up on marking.  Giant sigh.  Oh well, life can't be all music, gelato, beer, baseball, and fun, can it?  Oh yes, it can, but not 'til July... and to get to that point I have to mark all these quizzes, projects, and labs.  So summer will be my motivation for tomorrow's day of work.

Hope everyone else is having a great long weekend (if they get one), and happy Monday to the rest of you!

And it's no fun when I'm always at home.

The title of this post is taken from the song "Better Girl" by Best Coast.  Music has a way of working itself very easily and randomly into my life.  My pal Wes from Vancouver is visiting me at the end of July, and I've been keeping an eye out for cool shows while he's here.  I saw that Best Coast just announced a show, and I've heard good things about them, even though I'm not overly familiar with them, so I decided it'd probably be a good bet for a show.

Since I had tickets for the show, I got the band's new album yesterday.  I really like it, and definitely think it will be a part of my summer soundtrack.  I listened to it for the first time this morning on my commute, and it's super upbeat and catchy, and has lyrics that I can really relate to.

Anyway, the title of this post is true, but luckily it's not applying to me these days, and will not be applying to me this summer. 

This evening, I went to see the documentary "Bully" with my pal Fea.  It was good; but I think we both thought it would be better.  It's a definite conversation-started on a heart-breaking issue that's especially important to educators.  It was a valuable film for two teachers to see. 

After the movie, we met up with another friend for a fun dinner.  Tomorrow night, I'm helping my friend take out our school's math club to celebrate the year's activities.  It should be fun.  I think we're bowling!

The rest of my weekend is busy too.

And this summer is going to be insanely busy for me, which brings me back to the title of this post.  There will be a lot of fun because I'll rarely be home.

I feel my pulse working overtime.

Wow, today was a really great day.

I woke up at 6:30 am to get ready for my race.  My pal Jolene (Go9) came down yesterday evening.  We had a pleasant evening where we hit up a local patio for beer and snacks, caught up and went to bed at 10:30 pm.  Extremely early for me, but necessary with the 6:30 wake-up.

Around 22,000 people took part in the Sporting Life 10K.  100% of the entry fees to Camp Oochigeas, which is a camp for kids with cancer.  It's pretty cool that every penny goes to a worthwhile cause.  That alone is a great reason to do this race.

However, running a 10K was a goal that I settled on after running four 5K races last year.  I am SUPER NONATHLETIC.  The fact that I ever even ran one 5K was a big deal for me.  Upping that to 10K is an even bigger deal for me.  Jolene is one of my oldest friends, and today we discussed how high-school-me, or even university-me, would have never ever believed I'd be running 10K races in my thirties.  I am very proud of myself for this.

The route of the race is also pretty amazing.  For the majority of the race, you are running straight down Yonge St. (Toronto's "main" street, if you will) which is mostly DOWNHILL.  I loved it.  I never realized how downhill Yonge is... I don't think you get a complete picture of it on an average day when it's full of cars and pedestrians.  However, it was amazing seeing a sea of yellow (the race Tshirts were yellow) as I ran downhill.  I kind of wish I'd taken a picture, but that would have slowed me down.

There were lots of spectators cheering us on as we ran.  One of the best signs was after the largest hill on the course (it wasn't that large), it said "THE HILL IS OVER!".  There was a group of people with hilarious signs at Yonge-Dundas.  One said "keep going random stranger!" and another said "why do all the pretty girls run from me?"  There were more, but reading them would have slowed me down.

I think I felt better during this race than I've felt during any of my other races, which mainly attests to the fact that I'm pretty fit from all my running.  As I kept running, I kept thinking about how really awesome it was that I was doing this race.  It's definitely one of my favourite things ever.

Once the finish line was in sight, I gave 'er.  I crossed at about 1:11, but later I found out my chip time was 1:09:21, which I'm quite pleased with.  My goal was to finish in under 1:10.  Goal achieved.

Jolene got separated from me at the beginning of the race, because she went to the washroom before the start.  She ended up crossing the finish line a couple minutes after me, but her chip time was 20 seconds greater than mine.  I can't believe how close we were! 

After the race, we had arranged to meet at the first aid tent, 'cuz we figured it would be very visible, but it wasn't!  It was a little bit stressful, 'cuz Jo didn't want to run with her phone, hence didn't bring it, but I eventually found her in line for free yogurt. 

After heading back here to clean up and change, we went out for all-you-can-eat sushi, and gelato on a patio in the sun, which made for a great ending to a really nice day.  After Jolene headed home, I had a nice little nap, and Skyped with Becca T.  I hadn't talked to her in awhile, and it was great to catch up.

So yah, today's been a really great day.  Great race, great food, and great friends. I'm already planning my fall races.  And I've also decided that the Sporting Life 10K will be a regular part of my spring.  I loved this race.  I'll leave you with one of my favourite running songs.  I'm going to head off to have a hot bath to soothe my muscles, some wine, and read a little bit.  It'll be another early night, because I am pretty tired.  10K takes it out of me, but I love it.  It's a good kind of tired.

Who's gonna run this town tonight?

In 24 hours, I'll be running down Yonge St. for the Sporting Life 10K.  I got the idea to do this race last fall, and I signed up in December, and I can't believe that it's almost here.  I will be honest... I felt readier for this race three months ago as opposed to now.  I've still be training, but my headspace isn't as clear as it used to be, so it's been tough to get in really good runs.

However, no matter what, it will still be lots of fun, and it will be an accomplishment.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day, and I'm excited to be doing this with my friend Jolene, and hopefully I make my goal time, but if I don't, at least I still did it.

Last night I went for a good run in the cemetery, but just 5K.  I'm lucky to have a good running route where I can run there, run around my favourite parts for a bit, and then run home.  As I was running, I had to stop and sit for a bit.  Not because I was physically tired, but just because it was a beautiful evening, and I just wanted to sit still in a quiet place.  I decided to do just that, and I'm glad I did.  I felt a bit of peace.

Anyway, I'll let you guys know how it goes.  Wish me luck!

p.s. I came across this song on the radio last weekend when I was in Stratford.  That's the only time I listen to the radio.  Anyway, I love this song and got the album and it's great.

Three Good Things

In an effort to be more positive about my life, I thought that I should get into the habit of reflecting on three good things that happen to me each and every day.  I should write them in a notebook, but to get the ball rolling, I will post them here from time to time.

Really, when I think about today, which was a pretty average day, I could list more than three things.  That's pretty awesome in itself.

1) One of my colleagues said something awesome today.  It will be something I will think of next time I need a pick-me-up.

2) One of my friends at worked applied for an award earlier this year.  I had to write him a letter of nomination.  Today I got an email that he won, but he doesn't know it yet.  Still, good for him!

3) I have a student who totally has the same taste in comedy as I do.   He likes Community, 30 Rock, Louis CK, and, get this - Seinfeld.  In all my days of teaching, I've never taught a kid who likes Seinfeld.  Anyway, he had to stay after school to write a test today, and he updated me on the fact there would be two Community episodes tomorrow.  I'm excited.  Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and retrieve the "Troy and Abed in the Morning" mug that I bought at the NBC store in NYC this summer and give it to this kid. He also said that he would like me to include a Seinfeld portion on the next test for bonus marks, but alas, I cannot.

4) My friend Fea and I both had student teachers this year, so we went to an appreciation event at the university.  Free food and wine?  Why not?  It was all right.  Now that we've scoped it out, we figure we'll take advantage every year, because of the free food and wine.  There were door prizes too.  Fea won one but I did not.  So I ate a second piece of free cake.

See, I couldn't even LIMIT it to three.  And I didn't even write about how my little class did very well putting together their cell puzzles today.  That was good too.  Oh, and the post-free-food-free-wine nap that I had was pretty good too.  We're up to six good things for the day!  AND, I got a compliment on my daisy earrings.   AND Obama came out to support same-sex marriage.  AND it was rainy, but a perfect spring rain as opposed to a cold annoying rain, or a too-hard will soak you to the bone rain.  It was A-plus rain. 

So, in summary, a lot of good things happen every day.  I just have to look for them.  I think writing them down every day (not necessarily here, but sometimes here) will be a good practice.

GOOD THING UPDATE:
After writing this post, I booked ALL of my flights for summer trip #1.  Toronto to Winnipeg - free thanks to credit card points.  Winnipeg to Chicago - will be paid for using my student teacher honourarium.  Minneapolis to Toronto - only $20 after I used the voucher I got after my plane home from NYC was cancelled last summer.  So really, the flying part of this trip is essentially free!

Oh, in case you're wondering, AlieMalie and I are road-tripping from Chicago to MSP.  That's how I'm getting in between those locations!

Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop.

I promise you that this post is going to be ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE.  I'm going to write it in chapters.

Chapter One: Aging Supermodels really DO bring people together... providing those people don't get sick.

On Friday night, I went to see About Face, or as I've been calling it, the aging supermodels documentary.  I was supposed to go with my pal Eric, and two other friends, but each of those friends got sick (unrelated illnesses) at the last minute.  Luckily, I was able to find one stand-in among my work friends, and I sold the other ticket in the rush line.

Anyway, all three of us really enjoyed the documentary and had some good discussion after the film.  Most of the models turned out to be really interesting people with more personality than I ever imagined, and the overall message of the movie is that beauty is found in self-confidence.  My own self-confidence has taken a beating this year, however, I'm working on getting it back.  Or healing it.  Or whatever.  I guess seeing these beautiful women struggle with self-esteem and aging made me feel OK about it, and also appreciate my own beauty.  It was good.

Chapter Two: Visit to St. Ratford (in point form)

- dinner with friends at a really nice new restaurant
- planning summer GLAMPING (I'm in charge of bringing the glam)
- my dad enjoyed MacHomer and I did too
- I read a lot
- I ran
- I relaxed

Chapter Three: If I could have one person in this world on hold for hugs, it would be Dan Mangan.

The video for this song, one of my favourites, came out today... or at least I found it today.  When I first watched it, I just wish I had Dan Mangan around to give me a big hug whenever I feel a bit sad.



Chapter Four: I'm now a VP of Promotions for Ben Folds Five

Christielli history - in 1997 I discovered Ben Folds Five's album "Whatever and Ever Amen".  That was a life changing album for me.  I quickly consumed EVERYTHING BFF had done, and remember very fondly when their follow-up album came out on the last day of my first day of university.  (Surviving that first year was a big deal for me.)  That album got me through a rough summer where my beloved Nana battled and eventually died of cancer.  The song Magic describes a loved one dying, and it was an important touchstone for me that summer.

Luckily, the band played that fall in Toronto and I went to the show.  Not long after that, they officially broke up and I was sad.  I tried to fill that gap with Coldplay (didn't work).  Luckily, Ben Folds went on to have a great solo career, and I even followed Darren Jessee's (drummer) band too.

HOWEVER, how happy was I to learn that my favourite band from my late teenage years is working on a new album together?  Moreover, they are using a new way to get the album out: Pledge Music.  Bascially, you pledge the band while they are working on the album.  What's kind of cool, and lead me to pledging, is that I get a bunch of perks.  I get the download, my name in the liner notes, the signed vinyl (CD was sold out, so I went for the vinyl), a Tshirt, and the title of VP of Promotions.  It was a bit of a splurge, but I figured, why not?  I've downloaded the first single and I really like it.  PLUS 18/19 year old me was freaking out in my head, and I like indulging 18/19 year old me whenever I can.  Seriously though, I think when one's old favourite band reforms, it's an occasion to splurge.

Chapter Five - RIP MCA

The Beastie Boys bring back high school for me.  Things like dances and when MuchMusic actually played videos.  The cool boys at school listened to the Beastie Boys, but they were good enough that I didn't hold it against them.  Lately, I've been known to break out into "Sabotage" at school, and it was sad to hear of MCA's death at such a young age.  I'm sad I never got to see the Beastie Boys live.

I am so thankful for music, and musicians.  I think that's why a musician's death always affects me.  Even though I have exactly zero musical talent, music's always been my philosophy, my best friend, my touchstone, my soundtrack, and so much more to me.  I write a lot about it because I'm thankful for it.  It's kind of cool because yesterday was Music Monday, a day to celebrate music education, and Ben Folds has been tweeting/blogging a lot about the importance of music education.  Today I had to cover a music class for half a period, and it was really nice.  It was keyboarding, and the kids were just practicing and I chatted a bit with them.  I took piano for years, and although I've lost it, I'm glad for that experience.  It was pretty cool too because one of my student council kids was composing a song on piano, and I didn't even know he had that talent.  It was pretty good, and we were chatting about music and I recommended Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright to him.  We'll see how that takes.

I love sharing music.

We have made a spark.

Last night, or tonight, or whatever you should say when you wake up at 4 a.m. and decide to write a post about the night before was excellent.

I went to see Rose Cousins, whose album We Have Made a Spark, has been on heavy rotation ever since I bought it about a month ago.  I saw her play at the Rivoli, which is a small bar that I used to frequent a lot in my university days.  I hadn't seen a show there in awhile, and being there brought back fond memories of discovering the Toronto music scene.

Rose Cousins has a gorgeous voice, and her songs are absolutely heartbreaking.  She opened with a cover of Blue Rodeo's Five Days in May and closed with a cover of Adele's Rumour Has It.  As fun as those covers were, it was her own songs that truly shone.  She was joined by a bunch of her friends, including Oh Susanna on vocals.  It was such a nice memorable little show, and I was glad to be there with some really good friends. 

Here's her new professional-like video for the song Go First.  It's a song that breaks my little heart.  Love it.



This concert evening is sandwiched in between my two Hot Docs documentaries.  The first I saw was all right, however, we agreed it was more of a docu-drama than a documentary.  Tomorrow evening's documentary, the one about aging supermodels, will be fun no matter what.  I originally thought I might be going by myself, but now three friends are joining me.  I guess aging supermodels are something that brings everyone together.  You heard it here first.

Looking Forward

There are many things going on in the next week, and in the next few months that I'm really looking forward to.  In an effort to remind myself of how awesome life is, I am going to list them here.

Next week...

1) I am going for sushi with my friend Katie on Monday.

2) I am hopefully Skyping with my pal Sandee (Go9) on Tuesday.

3) On Wednesday, I am going to a documentary at the HotDocs film festival with my friend Fea.  It looks like it might be a bit depressing.  It's about a 38-year-old woman whose dead body was left unnoticed in her London apartment for three years.  There was an article about the film in the Toronto Star that was really interesting, so I wanted to go.

4) On Thursday, I'm going with a few friends to see Rose Cousins play at the Rivoli.  I love her album so much, and I'm very excited for this show. 

5) On Friday, I'm going with another couple of friends to another HotDocs documentary.  This one's about aging supermodels. I had wanted to go to a different one that evening, but it sold out.  When I read about this one, I figured my friend Eric would want to go, and he said yes right away.  I really wanted to see a film at the newly renovated HotDocs theatre on Bloor, so I'm glad I get to go.

6) On Saturday, I'm heading down to Stratford to take my dad to MacHomer.  I loved this play when I saw it in Toronto, and can't wait to see it again!

This month....

1) My 10K race is in two weeks!  I'm as ready as I'll be, and my friend Jolene (Go9) is running it with me.  It'll be fun!

2) I'm going to see the Joel Plaskett Emergency!

3) My friend Vern (Go9) is coming down for the long weekend.

4) The weekend after that, I'm running my first 5K race of the season.  I'm hoping to beat my time from October 2011.

5) I've got my solo Patrick Watson show.

June...

1) There are tonnes of free shows going on in the city for Luminato and NXNE.  I'm hoping to catch Rufus Wainwright, Matthew Good, Kathleen Edwards, Dan Mangan, and Ohbijou. 

2) Jabba is coming to town!!!  I'm so excited to meet her!

3) It's the last month of work!

The Summer...

1) Trip #1 - I have my tickets to see Feist play at the Folk Festival in Winnipeg with my pal Matt.  I also want to rent a car and drive to Saskatchewan, so I can knock that province off my list (it will mean I've been to 9/10... all that's left will be Newfoundland).  Then, I'll fly to Chicago to meet up with my pal Alex, and we'll spend a few days there, then roadtrip to Minneapolis-St. Paul's.  (The order of this trip is still pending.)

2) My pal Wes from Vancouver is visiting Toronto!  I haven't seen him in five years! 

3) The Group of 9 is trying to organize a camping trip... It'll be glam camping though.  My friend Joanna's family has a very nice trailer, I hear.

4) I will be planning a second trip in August too, but I haven't gotten it written in stone yet.  I have ideas though.

So yes, I have SO MUCH to look forward to.  I'm excited!  Goodbye to April 2012.  You were a rather crappy month with too much work, too little play, too much drama, too much sadness and I won't miss you one bit.  :) 

Rich.

I went for a really good run in the cemetery this evening, and then ordered a pizza for dinner.  Talk about dividing out, as we call it in the math business.

Anyway, after I ate my pizza, my plans were to pretty much chill at home, do some housework, do some laundry, and read.

I got a text from my work spouse (i.e. my BFF from work who lives about a 20 minute walk from me).  Apparently she had a nap and dreamed that I was caught up on marking and she was not.  This made her feel jealous and stressed out.  Seriously, this is what teachers dream about.

I texted her back saying that I had just watched an episode of Park and Recreation that made me think of her.  Tom told April that she didn't care about anything, and April responded "Yes I do.  I care about Andy, Champion, Leslie's campaign, and sleep."  My work spouse loves sleep so that was the correlation.

We kept texting her back and forth until I decided to pick up the phone and call her.  We chatted until she said "my husband says that you should just come over and drink some wine."

"Oh, but I was going to do laundry."  This is one thing about me... I don't like changing plans and I often say stupid things like "Oh, but I was going to do laundry" when someone invites me to do something better.

"I'll come pick you and your laundry up.  Be there in ten minutes."

So I spent my night laughing, crying, drinking wine, doing laundry in a big new swanky machine, and watching the first Sex and the City movie with one of the best friends that I have.  I didn't know it, but I really needed this night.

I spent another evening earlier this month watching SATC episodes with my friend.  I feel that I need to re-watch the series now that I'm in my thirties.  I love the series because it highlights the importance of friendship, and friendships are such important and pivotal relationships in anyone's lives.  I realize that I am very blessed with so many great friends.

There is a scene in the first SATC movie when Carrie is heartbroken because Big left her at the altar.  Her friends take her to Mexico, but heartbroken Carrie can't get out of bed.  At one point, Samantha comes to her bedside and starts feeding her oatmeal.  My friend said "this scene always gets to me", and both of us started to cry.  I think I was particularly affected because, I have been Carrie, and my friend was Samantha, and she took me out for pancakes after I'd had one hour of sleep and looked just like Carrie does in that scene.  And I thought where would I be without friends like that in my life?  That is the beauty of the SATC series/movies; they make you so thankful for your friends.

Anyway, I came away from this evening feeling very rich that I have a friend down the street that is so very close to me.

Also, I've had a good couple of days because I've been booking lots of fun stuff for the coming week and beyond.  April was a month of work, and May should be more of a month of fun and I daresay that I need it.  In addition, I started the ball on my summer planning by buying tickets to see Feist at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, so I feel good knowing that fun times are afoot.  I need fun. And friends.  And I have both.

I am rich.

I'm looking for something that can't be found on the main drag.

Things I'm digging today:

1) Being able to leave work early enough to get to a favourite pub way before it's busy and having a great catch-up session with a good friend.  Often, this place is too busy to get a seat, but I'll let you in on a secret: Wednesday, 4:15 pm.

2) I'm currently listening to the new Rufus Wainwright album, Out of the Game, on heavy rotation.  I enjoy it a lot.  Reviews have said it's a throwback to his earlier pop sensibilities and is one of his most accessible albums.  I agree.  I really like it.  I listened a lot to Rufus in university.  His album Poses was a staple while Becca T and I would be studying.  Just listening to his voice on this new album brings me back to happy times, and I like it a lot.

The title track is a favourite, and I think the video with Helena Bonham Carter is pretty cool.  Even cooler, Rufus is doing a free show for Luminato in June.  On top of that, a bunch of musicians are going to be playing his songs before his plays, so it's going to be a Rufus-tastic evening.  And, he's moved to one of my favourite Toronto neighbourhoods, the Annex, so maybe one day I'll run into him on the street.



3) The first book that I downloaded for my Kobo was Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.

It's a woman's memoir about hiking a crazy trail that stretches from Southern California to Washington state.  It's very well written and interesting.  She starts this hike as a way to find herself after some negative events in her life (her mother's death, her divorce), and is a bit unprepared for the demands of long-distance hiking on such a challenging trail.  Some of the things that happen to her on the trail have caused me to gasp aloud while reading.

This book reminds me of my one true camping/hiking experience and I don't know how people can hike for months on end.  After two days, I felt so grubby and smelly; I can't imagine how weeks of intense physical exertion without proper bathing would feel.  There were a couple places in the book where she almost ran out of water, and I remember being at the end of a long day of hiking and being really thirsty while waiting the 30 minutes for the water treatment pills to work, like she has to do while being extremely dehydrated.  However, I did not wake up to frogs covering my body, like the author did.  I think that's definitely the most memorable incident in the book for me.

Anyway, I am going to finish this book tonight, and I highly recommend it.  Also, Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is another very entertaining crazy hiking memoir, but on the other side of the US (the Appalachian Trail).  I might just have to re-read it.

I'm at a payphone trying to call home.

This weekend I had a lot of plans on the go, but enough downtime to relax a little too.  It made me feel a little bit more like myself than I have in a long time.  I like a good balance of busy and relaxing.

On Saturday night, I went to see the movie "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" at the TIFF Lightbox.  The Lightbox is the fairly new headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival.  I'd only been there once before to see the Tim Burton exhibition in the fall.  This was my first time seeing a movie there, and it was a very nice experience.

The film was a documentary about the world's premiere sushi chef.  The way making sushi was set to music in the movie was beautiful.  It was also interesting watching a man so dedicated to his craft, and watching the dynamics he had with his son who worked with him.  I'd recommend this film.



I also went to the baptism of a friend's daughter.  The reception afterwards was a bit amazing.  She'd spent three days baking cookies, cupcakes, cake pops, and a beautiful cake.  I wanted to try everything but got full fast.

I also bought a Kobo to replace my dead Kindle.  I set it up tonight, and I have to say I don't like it as much as I liked my Kindle.  The Kindle worked much more seamlessly.  I decided to move to Kobo so I could download library books onto it.  The Kindle isn't compatible with public libraries in Canada.  However, I can still replace my old Kindle at a reduced price, and I might do it, just because I liked it better.  My mom, for some odd reason, seems to think I should have both kinds.  Maybe once I get used to my Kobo, I won't miss my Kindle as much and won't bother replacing it.  But seeing my empty red Kindle cover, with the very nice light, makes me think that I should foot the $65 and replace it.   I'm still looking forward to downloading books for free from the library, hence I'm keeping my Kobo too.

It's weird how I really started missing having an E-reader.  I'm so over reading big books on the subway and they take up so much room in my bag! 

I also got addicted to the new Maroon 5 song this weekend.  Oh, how I love my guilty pop pleasures.  I used to hate Maroon 5 with a passion, but I really do like this new song.  I think it's 'cuz I really feel the lyrics and like the swearing in it. 

Well, that was my weekend.  Hope you all have a good Monday!

The Great Escape

With the release of the new record "Adventures in Your Own Backyard" yesterday, it seems like everyone's been talking about Patrick Watson.  And by everyone, I mean my pal Matt from Wpg, my blog buddy/Patrick Watson fan Siobhan, Kathleen Edwards in my Twitter feed, and even my mother.  (She saw them on TV and figured they were the type of band I'd like... she is right.)

Today I thought about Patrick Watson and how I've never seen them.  I knew that they were playing in Toronto sometime this spring and all my sources tell me that they are an amazing live band.  I looked to see if there were any more tickets left, and all that was left were a few single seats in the balcony of the venue.

This made me think that perhaps I should take myself on a nice concert date.  There really is no point in looking for a concert buddy when at best, s/he'll be sitting behind me.  The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go, so I got my ticket tonight.  It's an aisle seat, so I'll only have to sit beside one stranger.

I haven't been to a concert by myself in a long time.  I think the last time was a few summers ago, when I saw Neko Case at Massey Hall.  It was a situation similar to this.  By the time I realized I wanted to go, there were only single seats left, so I figured why not take advantage? I did, and I had a really good time.  It was Neko Case, after all.

I know I've dropped into some various free shows on my own in the past.  I remember when I was in university, Blue Rodeo was playing a free lunchtime show somewhere downtown.  I also had a paper due that day at 5 pm.  I stayed up all night writing, took a break to see Blue Rodeo, came home, finished the paper, and handed it in an hour before the deadline.

I've only been to one bar-type show by myself.  This was again during my university days, but I distinctly remember it was during one of the summers where I stayed in Toronto and worked for the provincial government.  The Weakerthans announced a surprise show at the Rivoli, one of my favourite small venues, and there was NO WAY I was going to miss that. Becca T, my fellow Weakerthans super-fan, was back in Ottawa for the summer.   Since it was a really last minute announcement, all my friends who remained in the city were unavailable, but that wasn't going to stop me.  It was enjoyable, and I noticed a lot of people there alone and I didn't feel uncomfortable.  In fact, since this was before smartphones, I noticed a few people who pulled out books to read in between sets.

So yah, I guess with this Patrick Watson show, I'm re-entering the world of solo concert-going.  However, I usually have no problem finding a buddy, so I don't think it will be a common occurrence, but it's nice to know that I can do it if there's something I don't want to miss out on.  And, hey, you can definitely cash in on single tickets to good shows at the last minute.  I think there's a bit of freedom and empowerment that comes from being able to do something like this on your own, and I'm rather looking forward to it.

How do you guys feel about going to things on your own?

You can't keep the darkness out.

I am waiting for this month to be over.  I'm consumed with work.  Last week, it was preparing for a student council event - a fasting-for-charity school sleepover event.  It's my third time organizing this thing and supervising for the duration (i.e. 33 hour workday).  That means that I spent my Friday night hanging out with teenagers.  My Saturday morning from about 1:30 am to 2:30 am was spent acting as a prison warden trying to get them to sleep.  I took off my shoes and my keys and walked around the kids silently, so they didn't know where I was, and would point and "SHHH!" a lot.  Finally they fell asleep, and then I got to sleep on my air mattress for a few hours.

Now that that's over, I have a week in which I'll be furiously working on report cards, and then the last week of April will be spent working on an application for an environmental award.  I hope I'll be able to exhale in May.

I'm also feeling overwhelmed in the rest of my life too.  I felt ready for my 10K before Paris, but I haven't been having good runs since then.  However, I have four weeks left, and that's plenty of time to get myself physically and mentally ready for it. 

Also when it comes to looking forward to May, I'm going to see Rose Cousins at the beginning of the month.  She's a singer/songwriter from Halifax, and I knew of her because she sings on Joel Plaskett's masterpiece "Three".  I just got her album "We Have Made a Spark" today, and I love it.  It's beautiful and dark.  I love all of the songs on the album.  It's very relevant to things that have gone on in my life.  I just wish that I'd gotten it earlier.

Check out the song below.  It's amazing how beautiful she sounds in what I assume is her backyard, and that black dog is cute too.



I feel like March and April have been rather dark months for me.  I know that I haven't been quite myself.  I can feel it in interactions with other people, and just my overall struggles in getting motivated to do anything.  I've been doing a lot of emailing back and forth with people, and I feel like I actually have some things (concerts, etc) to look forward to in May and June.  I hope that those months are less dark, and that I get back to being me.

Let It Go

Now that I'm done posting about Paris, I guess I have to get back to my usual material: music, life, books, you know, that stuff.

This song is my current anthem.  OK, I just found it today, but I've decided it's my springtime anthem.  I didn't need much time to make this declaration, obvs.



I love Dragonette for a couple of reasons.  Their ubiquitous song "Hello" (with Martin Solveig), blasted from an advertising bus, greeted me last March when Becca T and I alighted our bus from the airport to a rainy Placa Cataluyna.  That song will always be my Barcelona hello.



My second reason for loving Dragonette is that before she was in Dragonette, lead singer Martina Sorbara was a singer-songwriter playing the Toronto/Ontario scene.  I was in my early twenties, and I first caught her as an opener for Hawksley Workman at Call the Office in London, Ontario.  I remember that my crew and I all loved her, and after that I made a point of seeing her when she was playing bar shows in Toronto.  I listened a lot to her album A Cure for Bad Deeds back in my university days.  Some of her songs helped me out with my early-twenties boy problems, which in retrospect, were pieces of cake.



Years ago when I first came across the electronic band Dragonette and found out it was Martina singing, I was pretty happy that she'd found a new place.  Apparently, Dragonette is quite popular in Europe, no?

ANYWAY, the point of this is that I love their new single a lot.  I think I've been listening to too much histrionic stuff lately, like my dear Hawksley Workman.  I love him, but man, that dude's got some good bitter music for when it's needed.  Usually I listen to his happy stuff, but I dug deep into his catalogue, and found some pretty great stuff where he's heartbroken and loses his shit.  Love it, but I gotta wean myself off of it a bit.  I should listen more to his songs about autumn and motorcycles instead of the sad stuff.

In addition, having the words "let it go" running through my head is good advice.  I realize that I'm being really HARD ON MYSELF lately, and I need to you know, just let my criticisms go and give myself a big metaphorical hug.   Maybe even do a Stuart Smalley daily affirmation as needed.



One nice thing that helps me when I'm being hard on myself is to read some random posts from my blog archives.  It's funny, but when I read my old posts, I find myself really like myself, and thinking "hey, I'm cheering for that girl."  Whoever thought that would be a benefit to years of blogging?

But, yah, awesome song by Dragonette.  Think I'll be listening to it on repeat as I'm training for my two May runs.  I can't believe that my 10K is in one month and four days.  I will live through it.

I am reading the Hunger Games right now.  I'm hooked.  It's a great book.  I see why all the kids at school are carrying it around.  I think I'll go back to reading it now.  I should do a book review post soon since I've been reading lots of interesting stuff.

Last Day in Paris

After my very enjoyable day in Bruges, I was left with one more day in Paris.

Becca T and I woke up early and dragged ourselves for a run in the Bois de Vincennes. It was really nice. It was the only run I did all trip, but that's okay. I think I got a lot of exercise from the wandering around I did, plus the fact I climbed a lot of stairs every day (Metro, to Becca's flat).

After the run, I had my fave lunch of baguette, brie, and Orangina Light. Becca had work meetings in the afternoon, so I decided to do my last sight-seeing of the trip. I went out to Malmaison, which is Josephine Bonaparte's chateau. It's all the way out in the suburbs, so I had to take the line #1 all the way to the end (La Grande Arche), then take about a 30 minute bus ride to the chateau.

I was interested in Malmasion because I read an excellent series of books on Josephine Bonaparte a few years ago: The Josephine B. Trilogy by Sandra Gulland. If you enjoy historical fiction, I highly recommend this series. Anyway, when I was looking through my guidebook to figure out something to do on the last day, I came across Malmaison and decided it would be the perfect thing to do. The book described it as "small but extremely pleasant" and I completely agree.

The chateau was completely restored and had lots of Josephine/Napoleon memorabilia. I think my favourite things to look at were the little vanity cases of each of the Bonapartes. It was interesting seeing old fashioned scissors, toothbrushes, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't get good pictures of them. Anyway, the chateau was restored very nicely, and it was interesting walking through the rooms and imagining what life was like when the house was lived in by the Emporer and Empress. It was no Versailles, but very pleasant.

The front of the chateau:



Here's the dining room:

A portrait of the Empress in Napoleon's bedroom:

Napoleon's bedroom:

Josephine's bedroom:

Me in a mirror.

The famous portrait of Napoleon crossing the alps. Oh so humble.

After I left the chateau, I did hit up the gift shop. I bought my dad a Napoleon pen and mini note-pad. I knew he'd adored them. For myself, I got a Josephine pillbox to go with my Marie Anoinette pillbox from Versailles. Apparently I have started a collection of pillboxes of my favourite French Queens/Empresses. Becca T though this collection was hilarious, and joked we'd be fighting over them in the nursing home. (Becca T and I have a long-running joke that we will resume our university roommate-hood when we move into a nursing home and much hilarity will ensue. I look forward to my sunset year.)

After I left the chateau, I took a quick look at the modern Grande Arche. Definitely the most modern thing I've seen in Paris. I know people who are big fans, but I'm meh about it.

After that, I headed back to Central Paris. I browsed at some shops in the Marais, and then walked back to Notre Dame. I had plans to go to the famous English bookshop across from Notre Dame called Shakespeare & Company, but I decided why not go inside Notre Dame, even though I'd been there years before? It turned out that I was there in time for Mass, and I decided that it would an interesting thing to experience, so I stayed.

I then met up with Becca T for dinner. We chose a cute little French restaurant with a nice Prixe Fixe. Then, we brought a bottle of wine to the Seine, and spent some time talking and drinking.

I've caught up to this post now.

Sunday morning, I was on the Metro out to CDG at 10 am to catch my flight to Montreal. I had a two hour stop-over in Montreal, and then it was back to Toronto. It was a nice flight overall. I read over half of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, so I felt that my time in transit was time well spent.

At the airport, my good pals Paola and Fea picked me up which was so sweet. My previous ride bailed on me, and I didn't have it in me to take a cab or transit. It's so nice to be met after a trip by good friends with a welcome back sign. Awww. It made my return to Toronto seem way less sad.

And that's it for my series of post on my much-needed March Break in Paris. I'm still struggling at getting back to real life here. However, I do have some ideas for my summer trips, and as soon as they are for-sure, I'll let you guys know. This just might be the summer where I finish Canada... and by that I mean visit the two provinces that I've not been to yet.

Au revoir!

In Bruges.

My Friday in Paris was spent mostly out of Paris. I wanted another day trip so I could explore more of France. While I was researching day trips from Paris, I came across a bus trip to Bruges. Why not add another country to the list of ones that I have visited? Also, I remember Bruges mostly from the movie In Bruges, which I remember being rather amusing.

The bus left Paris at 7:15 am which meant that I had to be up quite early. Luckily, the place where I caught the bus was on the same Metro line as Becca's place so it wasn't a long trip.

I was surprised about how many other people went on the tour with me. There were English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French people, so the information was given in four languages. The drive to Bruges was about four hours. We had a rest stop at a service station on the way. Foreign service stations are always fun.

When we got to Bruges, we had about an hour walking tour, and then the rest of the time was free.

I enjoyed the walking tour. Thankfully, we broke up into language groups so it didn't take as long. Buses aren't allowed in the city centre of Bruges, so it was a short walk from the the coach park to the centre.

Here is the first picture I took as we walked into the city centre.


We walked through a beautiful park called Minnewaterpark. Then we entered a square of land with trees and daffodils surrounded by a convent called Le Beguinage. It was beautiful... I wish I could have really taken a picture that showed its beauty. It's one of the places in which I've felt the most peace.

The heart on this house made me smile.

Here's the belfry of Bruges. I learned that belfries were built in Northern France and Belgium as ways for cities to show off their wealth. Guess Bruges was doing OK.


We kept walking. Bruges is referred to as the Venice of the North, and has many canals. (Interestingly, I read the same of St. Petersburg in the novel on Catherine the Great that I just finished. Guess I'll have to go to the real Venice, and then St. Petersburg to make my own judgement.)

I took lots of canal pictures.

Here's a picture of the tower of the Eglise de Notre Dame. Hey - that's the third Notre Dame of the trip! Well done me.


Here's the square in the centre of the city.

This is where the walking tour ended, and I was keen for lunch. Bruges is seriously the most delicious-smelling city I've ever smelled. I was really hungry by this time, so I picked a modern looking cafe for mussels, frites, and beer.

This is probably the most delicious beer I've ever had in my life.

I enjoy mussels, and I've had some good ones in my day. I had some good ones when I traveled to the Maritimes. Let me tell you, those have NOTHING on Belgian mussels. These mussels were HUGE, and served in a delicious white wine sauce with celery and onions. SO YUMMY. There were seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten, and I couldn't finish them even though I tried my best.

Not pictured: delicious frites with mayonnaise.


I walked around a bit more, and even though I was stuffed, I really wanted to eat a waffle in Belgium. Oh, it was good.


I considered doing a canal tour, but they didn't really have a set time when the boats left, and I kept just missing them. I did some shopping instead. I bought some chocolates for some friends and my 'rents, and also a lace bookmark for my aunt. (Bruges is known for its lace, and we all know about Belgian chocolate.)

When I was done shopping, it was sunny out, so I took more pictures.


What a beautiful city. The swan is Bruges' symbol, and there were many of them there. Made a Stratford-born girl like myself feel quite at home. In the movie, Colin Farrell plays a hitman who made a mistake, so his boss (Ralph Fiennes) has to have him killed. The boss feels badly, so he decides to send the doomed hitman to the place where he would want to spend his last days: Bruges. Colin Farrell's character hates Bruges and keeps complaining about.

After my day trip to Bruges, I completely agree with the boss. Bruges is a great city.

Next vacay post: last day in Paris.