Paris
(A little prolonged hiatus)

Well, I finally did discover Paris since I was grounded there for a little extra time due to the fact that my backpack with all of my clothes and shoes, and thus life, was still somewhere in information limbo. I was incredibly lucky that my cousin Alex could fork over his appartment and let me stay there as long as I wanted. I figured my bag would show up the next day since they had localised it the day after we landed in Paris.......welllll........No dice!

I waited in Paris instead of moving on 'cause I had the bare essentials: thong sandals, one pair of bobettes, one pair of shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and the wonderful t-shirt Air France gave me to somehow replace the 22Kg of wardrobe I had in my bag. At first it was fine, I was actually happy to get the little toiletry kit and it was all shits and giggles, but after 5 days in Paris, I was getting worried. It's not the fact that it was 5 days, but mostly because it had been 4 days that they had localised the bag in Nice (our connection from Corsica to Paris) and that they were waiting on a confirmation to send it to Paris.

Well while waiting, I was really happy to find out that some awesome quebeckers I had met in Carcassonne were now in Paris. Chantale and Simon (pic left) are planning on staying in France for a couple of years and they came to Paris to set up shop. So we checked out the town, walking everywhere, and having great fat lunches and suppers with mondo bread, cheese, apples and wine......classic, cheap, damn tasty, and makes you feel nice and relaxed (had supper across La Seine just looking at the Hunchback's backside......pic right). It was really sweet to meet up with them and actually check out more of Paris. There was a reason after all for the lost bag! It had to be the reason. Obviously I killed my boomerang feet walking with the thongs, but it was well worth it.

Simon and Chantale have been using CouchSurfing pretty much everywhere, and really meeting cool people. For now, they were staying with a french chick in the Red Light district (3ième arrondissement), really near the Louvre, Notre-Dame (pic left) and sweet pedestrian areas. We walked through the 5th, 6th, and 7th districts with St. Germain street and lots of nice trendy areas.We also went to check out the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in the east end 20ième. This is the high class cemetery and we saw the tombstones of Edith Piaf, Molière, La Fontaine, and that of the Lizard Queen himself (pic right). The cemetery was quite nice, and especially in the northern WWII sector where there were really cool sculptures (pic left ) and a little guy that was just irresistable .....mmmmmm......... (pic right)


Well, Chantale and Simon landed themselves some long term jobs in Paris so they were appartment shopping and seemed to be settling in nicely. They really kept me grounded and made me further realize how we can be well off and content with not much. We were all 3 feeling spoiled with our bread, cheese and wine, and easy life-style by the water. We kept on saying, "Ostie qu'on s'fait chier hein"......"les Francais sont chiens"......et "crisse que la vie est dur"........Obviously they were sarcastic, reflective comments, and the French people are so incredibly welcoming, sympathetic, and love interacting with quebeckers especially! I still have nothing but great memories, and experiences...........The only bump in the road is the loss of baggage, but hey!........gotta keep movin' so..........



Chamonix-Mont Blanc

I decided to pack my "things" (took me forever) after the 7th day in Paris waiting for a confirmation, and went staright to Chamonix (pronounce the "x") with a night train. I told Air France to send my bag directly to my friend Ursina's in Zürich. The ride was decent and pretty cheap, and I arrived pretty early in the crazy gorgeous scenery of the Alps and of course the pièce de resistance, Mont Blanc (pic left)(pic right of ice on the mountain). I couldn't really spend too much time in Chamonix since I had lost some time while in Paris, and I had to keep moving on to make it to Zürich for the 10th or 11th inorder to be in shape for Street Parade. I had also lost the opportunity to visit Zermatt and Interlaken in Switzerland. So, I met up with my contact for an appartment this fall, Alex, a quebecker that's been in Chamonix a couple of years now and was looking for a roomate. I could only meet him after he finished work so I hit the town to pass out CV's in sports shops. It was beautiful sunny day but it was still cold in the mountains. Good thing I bought some pants, shoes and a sweater before leaving Paris. Looking at this town, I can't wait to come back and hit those insane slopes.

I had my first psychological downfall though while I was in the middle of this picturesque village. The 1st negative thoughts of my trip. I was surrounded by mountains, lakes, rivers, and thus hiking trails galore, and I couldn't enjoy any of them cause I had no gear, my feet were cut up, and I had my day bag heavy and full of crap. I sat on a bench in a square, and pondered what the hell I would do if my bag never showed. I can't buy another bag, jacket, clothes, (about 2 grands' worth) and just forget all the stuff I bought in Morocco (that was still in the bag). I just told myself to get to Zürich, and there I would be with some really good people, have a good time, and the bag should show up there since I'd be spending about a week there.

So then I met up with Alex, I checked out the appartment and he invited me to stay for the night, which was cool. He is a really good kid and it looks like I would have no problem living with'em but it'll only be in December, not October like I thought. I was too early for the job applications and they'll only take decisions by the earliest mid-November. So that means more travel time for me.......Maybe Greece for October if Kosta can get off his fat ass and come join me !!!!! Hey Spike ! Hey Spike ! Too bad for the appartment cause Alex will have to change places since he'll have no one to share the cost. Check out the view from the balcony (pic).


Zürich

The train ride through the Alps towards Lausanne was just amazing. Sliding on the edge of the mountains, looking so so far down below in the ravines of the incessant valleys. It was so fun being glued to the window and just staring at everything.......so green, lush, and little villages spurting randomly on the mountainside (pic).......all classically Swiss. So beautiful!

Then I arrived in Zürich without Ursina, or her freshly crowned husband, knowing (they just got married June 30th). I couldn't get through to them from France and I wanted to get movin' so I called them only from Zürich, left a message and beelined to their place. I had a great time on the way there. I put my bag down, and a bottle of wine I had broke without my knowledge. Of course, the only thing that was RUINED was my sleeveless hand woven shirt, that I bought in Morocco. Kind of a pisser, but holy shit was I ever happy to finally get to their place, and they were happily waiting for me.

These two are almost one of a kind. They are so cool, positive, smart, great, active, and incredibly welcoming people. They had MY room set up, with Ursina's laptop for whenever I needed. The room is usually her office but she offered it completely to me during my stay. They made me awesome suppers (swiss fondu no doubt......pic left), and great breakfasts (musli with yogurt), and payed for a lot of my stuff like food, and some transport since they want the guest to feel at home and have a good time, and they feel bad since things are so goddam expensive in Switzerland and Zurich. I actually read in the newspaper on the train ride over that Zurich was the 4th most expensive city in the world to live in......Oslo being 1st......but it nonetheless boast also being the city with the best quality of life in the world. An honour that it swaps with Vancouver almost every year.

It was also a nice surprise to find out Ursina has a little bun in the oven. She's 5 months gone, and is as cute as ever. These 2 are really something else. They are so into each other, and you can see so easily it's a respectful and shared lifestyle. That kid is gonna grow up in a friggin healthy (both psychologically and physically) environment. But...... because of the pregnancy, Ursina couldn't come out to the Street Parade. A bit of a bummer, but the baby's health is numero uno. Ursina still had a day off from her 2 week break, and we went to the picturesque city of Luzerne. It was pissing rain though. We saw the main sites: The bridge, Mt. Pilatus in the background, and the sleeping lion carved within the side of the mountain (pic right).

We also visited a pretty cool Glacier museum that was erected on top of rocks with huge glacial potholes, which 1st showed evidence that there were glaciers there during the last ice age. The best time we had was probably in the mirror fun house at the museum. I ran into myself a few times cause of course your visual perception is completely skewed. Super cool though. (pics) (Ursina is actually on my left in this pic) Then we had a sweet lunch (pic bottom left, and walked along the well known lake (pic bottom right) before heading back towards Zürich. We met Beda at his work place and took a boat for about an hour zigzagging across the lake of Zürich. We went to a festival with kiosks with good food and beer everywhere, and there was a fireworks competition on the edge of the lake. Pretty cool and relax. Oh I was kept active even though it rained a lot while I was here.

On Saturday, August 12th, it was go time, and Beda took the relief for Street Parade like a pro, and man I hit the best festival I've been to so far. Of course we got dressed up (pics left + right), obviously I had to use his clothes, and we hit the Parade (pic right). Ursina's sister Marian also came alomg to join in the dancing festivities. It's such a nice scene cause almost 600,000 people get together to listen to electronic music and follow love mobiles around the Parade route dancing. The route follows the lake, and there are also stationary stages on the side of the road. There are about 30 love mobiles, each with about 40 people aboard dancing, each with their own Dj, and humassive sound systems pumping out great tunes that engulf everything around them. You can follow the mobiles or stand on the side of the road and watch and listen to the various parties go by you every 5 minutes. Of course there are some freaks (like a completely naked guy with nothing but a blue wig, and a chick giving a super sexy dance in her g-string as she only shows her ass from 3 floors up within a hotel balcony), but they add to the atmosphere, and the best part is just that, the atmosphere. The whole city, even the older generation just enjoys it for what it is, and are curious to see all the action. It draws so much tourist spending, just like the Gay Pride in montreal. With all those people (pic left), and drugs and booze, there's never any trouble; just good vibes all around! Even the train station is used as a huge hall to host some free music sets until midnight (pic right). Also what was cool is that it stopped raining and was actually sunny most of the afternoon, just enough time for the parade and then it rained again. There are many good pics on snapfish, go check it out!

And then, later on, there are of course afterparties everywhere, and when in Rome.........huh, HUH!! So I paid the 50 francs to go to a slammin' party (Moving-City) with multiple floors and rooms, and open areas, and of course a crazy Dj lineup (Dj Rush, Chris Liebing, and Adam Beyer). I made it until 6am, and that's just because the beats were so sick. I went alone since Beda had had his dose already for the day, but I made many super cool Swiss German buddies at the party......Really good time!!!!

On the Tuesday, it was finally sunny in Zurich so I checked out the town. It is worth the whole quality of life designation. Everything is so clean and open, and welcoming, especially for a relatively big city. The whole public transport system is amazingly well organized, and so practical that almost everyone uses it. It's expensive for tourists but atleast all of the Swiss are doing their part for reducing green house gases, and they prove that if you have a good public transport system, people will use it. It is a scenic town also (pic left) with all of the clock towers, canals, lake, classic swiss architecture, and funky unique additions to museums......This is outside of the Kunsthaus museum. It looks like a box that is made from mirror walls (pic left); kinda nice already...... but then you step inside and voila (pic right). You can leisurely take a number 2, watch the traffic go by and not have a care in the world...........I find it so neat. I want one!!!!


And what did I get after 2 weeks (14 days almost to the exact hour) of calling and hassle and getting the runaround? That's right, my friggin' backpack from a courier (pic); intact, with everything in it, and perfect timing 'cause I planned to leave for Germany the next day. Câlisse il y'était temps!!!!

So Ursina and Beda helped me out incredibly and got my feet back under me. Ursina really gave me the "keep on going, and don't give up" talk which is all I needed. I just needed a fellow traveller, good friend, and someone with a liberal mind to give me a little kick in the ass. And Beda is like a big brother to everyone he knows, and I wasn't an exception. They both really took good care of me, and I appreciate it so much!! I extremely adore Ursina and Beda, and there's no reason why they shouldn't get anything but good vibes and experiences throughout their life 'cause they're such good and positive people themselves. This picture just tells it all. We went to the top of Zürich, hiking in their back yard, to get up the tower just in time for the remnance of the sunset.

Next stop Frankfurt to meet up with Claudia, then Catou + Matt, my sweetie Androu, and then Matt in Potsdam.........hot damn I got some good friends!

Tschüß......................(bye in German)