Electrocuting pickles for Science!

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to electrocute a pickle or two in my grade 12 physics class the day before the Winter Break. Partially to entice the students into class that day, but mostly because it's cool. (And tangentially related to the content. Of course.)

Warning: Science Content ahead
The pickles glow yellow-orange because of the sodium chloride. I read a few years ago about a group who had soaked pickles in different kinds of salts, which caused them to glow different colours. I kept meaning to try it, but every year I forgot about it until a week or so beforehand, which wouldn't give me enough time. This year, however, I was on top of it.

Lester leapt in

I've been swing dancing, and specifically lindy hopping, for just over a decade. I went out regularly when I was in grad school, but then I got a real job and suddenly felt all kinds of guilty not spending all my time marking or planning exciting things for my students to do. After a while, I just got out of the habit of going out.

Part of my problem was that after the regular Wednesday nights at Barcode stopped, the scene sort of fractured. We tried to find a new "regular" night -- you can dance pretty much every night of the week in Toronto, but Wednesday was the night you could definitely expect to see more than a few people you knew. For the past few years when I have gone out, I didn't know if my lindy friends would be there. I didn't really know that many people anymore, "and nobody can ever be introduced in a ball-room."

Anyway, last year I didn't have any of that guilt hanging over me, and I went out a lot more. My natural shyness wore off as I started to see some "new" people more often, and I had old friends to introduce me. I didn't want to fall back into old, hermit-like habits when I went back to work this year, so I signed up for a choreography class with Bees' Knees Dance. It's been kicking my butt for the past few months.

All that build-up to say that we performed our first routine at Swing Out to Victory in Hamilton last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. I even attempted a victory roll.


Video credit: Arthur Lulu

In which PhysicsGirl gets medieval on your charleston

This time last year, all I had ready for my Hallowe'en costume was an un-hemmed, un-beribboned body and one sleeve. I was disappointed.

This year, however, the dress made its debut. It was a huge hit at school, despite the fact I only got to wear it for half a day due to an early closing. The back is challenging to do up by myself; fortunately I did have a tire-woman after all, in the shape of a girl sitting outside the bathroom who offered to tighten my laces for me. After a few hours of fielding the "who are you supposed to be?" question (can't I just be a chick in a medieval dress?), I started answering Christine de Pizan as being a sufficiently obscure response to stop them asking.

In which Physicsgirl is not chased by cheetahs...

I ran my second 5k race today: the Oasis ZooRun at (you guessed it) the Toronto Zoo. I'm all impressed with myself: I got up on time, ate a sufficient breakfast, left on time, made all of my transit connections, and even arrived at the Zoo a little earlier than I thought I would. And once again, I made it through the entire 5k without throwing up!

(Too bad I hadn't done any training since the Run for the Cure, two weeks ago. I'm less impressed with that. Never mind.)

Most impressive? My time: 26.21. Third in my age class, 16th woman, 87th overall out of about 1000 runners. Yeah, baby.

(Okay, so maybe I was third because all the serious runners were doing the 10k run. And now I'm obsessing about how well I would have done if I'd done my tempo and speed runs, but as I said, never mind.)

Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride...

So Sunday I ran my first 5k, a whole two weeks earlier than I originally planned (or trained for). One of my coworkers asked me about joining the The CIBC Run for the Cure with some other teachers -- geez, you coach the cross country team for a few years and start a running club and suddenly everyone thinks you're a runner.

Anyway, my favourite part of the run was discovering just how many pink things people are willing to clothe themselves in: I saw pink wigs, pink leis, pink boas, pink ties (and as I write that I realize that there was an opportunity missed!), pink shirts, pink bras (on the outside, naturally), and a pink superhero. I also liked the guy who wrote that he was running for "Boobs everywhere: I love them!"

Now, I had been training fairly diligently up until two weeks ago, when I stopped training quite so diligently. In fact, the most training I have

And so it ends... mostly.

Today is the last official day of my leave by my reckoning -- leaving out the fact that I've already received my first 100% pay for this year (and very nice that was!), plus the fact that I was required to go to school last Wednesday morning (and then on to the ACC for a rah-rah rally), tomorrow is when this lovely year of mostly waking up when I wanted to, doing what I wanted to, going where I wanted to... ends.

But the blog won't. First of all, I need to catch up on my tales of my trip. Plus the tales of my being a tourist in Toronto, which I have made a small start on. I will be adding those retroactively. I've also got some projects planned that I may document here.

So this blog hasn't heard the last of me.

Be afraid.

Run Away! Run Away!

Because I am slightly insane, I registered to run a 5K race October 16.  This one, in fact.  I actually registered a few weeks ago and have spent that time saying "Huh, I should, like, train or something."

Well today, I started.  Yay me!  I haven't done any running since the last time I coached cross country.  Which was two years ago.  So I need to start from the beginning, and I have several "learn to run" plans pulled from various magazines and websites.  They all pretty much start off with "walk some, jog some," gradually increasing the amount of running time, and I put a bunch of them together for the plan that I follow with my "learn to run" students.  This is the plan I will follow for the next month.

Or so I thought.

The problem with interval training is that I never pay enough attention to the time and so miss the running/walking changes.  To solve this, several years ago I  made some mp3s with the different running programs on them;  now I'll be walking quickly, listening to Great Big Sea's Ordinary Day, and then I'll hear me saying "Jog for 2 minutes!" at the right time.  Genius, no?  This morning I set off, mp3s loaded, expecting to hear a 1 minute walk/jog cycle.  I didn't.  I heard a 2 minute jog, 1 minute walk cycle.  Which was unexpected, but I went with it anyway.  Except that I don't know what program I'm following now.  Oh well.  At least I'm running.  And I will continue running, right?

Maybe we could get something to chase me.

Click here if you would like to pledge some money in my name.  It all goes to the Toronto Zoo.

Storm before the calm...

I've been very busy with summer school and catching up on North American tv, so I haven't been working on my pictures or updating my European blog posts. Aged P is impatient. However, summer school finishes next week, so I will try to get my Provence and Paris museum week pix up Real Soon, with the rest to follow In The Near Future.

Meanwhile, I've been casting about for something to do with the rest of the summer. With my unexpectedly depleted bank account, due to the fact that I apparently had a leetle too much fun in Paris, and frankly because I'm not really fond of the travelling part of travel, any "foreign" adventuring this summer must be somewhat curtailed. I've decided, though, that I will still go visit a great city, and it won't cost me a dime.

I'm going to play tourist in Toronto.

...Win Some

As I was unpacking and sorting out my European loot, including the gifts for my family, I was struck by how little there seemed to be. Honestly, I thought I bought more stuff than that! And my suitcase kept gaining weight! Who knew how heavy nothing could be?

Anyway, I believe I have mentioned my slight addiction to earrings, and how I was going to feed it during my travels. Well, I didn't limit myself only to earrings, I have to admit. But earrings I got.

Before I get to the jewellery haul, I'd like to comment on how the jewellery roll worked out. It was great, although the mesh strips were still too long, or at least the fabric supporting them was not stiff enough because they drooped and the earrings kept getting tangled up. Also, the stuff sticking out the sides wasn't actually a problem. Yay, me!

Lose Some...

Casualties of travel:

1. The big red friggin' heavy suitcase: Used to have one of those clips at the top that would let you attach another bag. That seemed to have not made the flight over to Amsterdam. My admittedly old plastic Canada luggage tag didn't survive the flight from Athens to London. Flying is not good for things sticking to your luggage!

2. The collapsible red bag: Got a small tear in the front pocket on the flight from Athens to London -- nothing serious; I think it can be patched. Got a much larger tear in the side mesh pocket that can't be repaired. And now, when I tried to collapse it, I couldn't get the zipper to catch.  Oops.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig...

So after all that wandering around, lugging heavy baggage, taking thousands of photos, eating far too much food, and having a generally wonderful time, I have somehow found myself right back where I started. Huh.

I'm home. Lucy, despite all fears to the contrary, has not forgotten me, but has been sticking to me like a furry,

Everything's comin' up roses, except my nightlife

Don't read this yet. Although it's in the past, I've only published it because I want to link to it in a future post. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.

Some really good stuff is going to go here about my last day in NYC. I meant to do the circle line tour of NY and missed it because I misread the schedule. There was a great deal of walking in less scenic parts of New York.

On my way there, I went to [name I can't remember] to buy macarons. I hadn't had any since leaving Paris, and I know that they have jumped the pond. (Not Payard, where my cousin worked, because that was uptown and this place was more-or-less on the way). The poor boy behind the counter didn't really know that much about them. No pictures, alas, because despite my best intentions they did not last. They were a bit chewy and possibly not completely fresh, but still very, very tasty.

Went to the Shake Shack for lunch.
[pic]

Tour of East Village & bought my earrings.
[pic]

On my way back to the hotel, I went through Soho to take more pictures of Green St. & cast-iron architecture. Saw a couple digging through a box of what I thought were fake flowers, but turned out to be real roses that someone was just throwing away! The woman was saying "Oh, we can't take them all. We should leave some for other people." The man just started threading roses in her hair. I grabbed a few for myself; I figured I could enjoy them for the evening and leave them as a gift for whoever cleans my room when I leave tomorrow.
[pic]
More stuff about getting back to the hotel. "You look like you need the bathroom more, because you are carrying roses and someone carrying roses shouldn't look that unhappy."

I hope to be going out dancing tonight. The reason I planned to stay in New York until tomorrow was Frim Fram on Thursdays. Unfortunately, I seem to have picked up some kind of... how shall I put this delicately... intestinal bug that is making life unpleasant. Not a great way to end this trip, I must say.

I won't think of that. I'll think of roses instead.
[pic]

Well, this is not entirely what I expected...

So it turns out that I get motion sick.

I knew that already, of course. When I was little, we had a boat and sailed to the Thousand Islands every summer. I loved most of that journey, but the waves outside Kingston were huge and I recall spending much time violently wishing I were somewhere else while being dosed with copious amounts of Gravol.

It hasn't really come up lately. My nausea takes the form of hideous headaches. It's why I avoid roller coasters. It didn't occur to me that it would be a problem on this smoothly moving boat sorry, ship.  Guess what?

I didn't really notice it until Wednesday afternoon. It got much worse after I drank a glass of wine at the Commodore's welcome party and I wound up having to leave the dinner table halfway through the first formal night.  Fortunately, there are magic pills.  Magic, expensive pills.

I spent most of yesterday at the spa and napping. And eating. I'm feeling a bit better now, and really starting to enjoy myself. I'm finished working on the Venice photos, but the internet is so slow (and expensive!) that I'm not going to have enough time to upload them until I get on dry land. Stay tuned.

Photo Albums Galore

Aged P has brought it to my attention that the regular Joe on the street can't see all my photo albums at once on Picasa. This is as it should be because I've made all my albums unlisted (which means that they are unsearchable, but anyone can see them if they click on the link from my web page). However, it might a bit annoying for you, dear reader, who is dying to look at my pictures. There's no work-around from the Picasa side, so I'll post links to every photo album here and put it up on the sidebar (with my itinerary post).

Note: As I post this, some albums might only have a few photos them, and some might be completely empty. This is because I haven't worked through the photos yet. Or haven't gone there yet. All of the Paris albums are incomplete, for instance. I've put (Inc) in the ones that aren't finished yet. I'll let you know when all the photos are ready to go.

Here we go (click on each image to go to the album):

NYC October 2009	Florida 2010
Amsterdam 2010	Paris 2010: Ça m'amuse beaucoup! (Inc)
Paris 2010: La Vie en Rose (Inc)	Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture! (Inc)
Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours (Inc)	Chartres 2010
Loire Valley 2010	Versailles 2010
Mont St-Michel 2010	Brussels/Mons 2010
Giverny 2010 (Inc)	Provence 2010 (Inc)
Venice 2010	Minoan Lines cruise 2010 (Inc)
Athens 2010 (Inc)	Delphi 2010 (Inc)
London 2010 (Inc)	Oxford 2010 (Inc)
Bath 2010 (Inc)	Salisbury 2010 (Inc)
QM2 2010 (Inc)	NYC June 2010 (Inc)

It was bound to happen at some point...

I'm spending my last evening in Oxford in bed, feeling miserable because I've come down with a nasty cold. My head feels like it's full of cotton and my nose is running away from home. There is a lot of tea, but not enough milk and sugar. I'm off to Bath tomorrow, providentially. Perhaps the waters there will fix me right up.

I'm working on my Venice pictures and they will be ready for prime time Real Soon Now. However, I learned to punt yesterday and I have some video to capture the event. Not that you can really tell I'm in a punt unless I tell you.

From Oxford 2010

And now, it's...

Once again, I'm taking a "break" from repacking the damn suitcase to post something. I've just had a whirlwind five days in London, where I've been drinking lots of tea, getting kind of frustrated with the Underground (but mostly with the Aboveground), and seeing not nearly enough of the sites. I've been to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Tate Britain and National Galleries, the British and Sherlock Holmes Museums, St. Paul's, Notting Hill, Soho, the theatre district, the Tower of London, and the Westminster, London, Millenium, and Tower Bridges. I saw the Lion King at the Lyceum, Macbeth at the Globe, creepy Jack the Ripper photos and locations in Whitechapel, and fancy tea and scones at the Goring. I'm bushed and a little footsore, and already planning to come back -- and stay in a slightly

Planes, trains, ferries, and buses...

I'm sitting in my extremely charming hotel room in Delphi (when you come to Delphi, and you must come at least once because the scenery is terrific and the ruins and museum are impressive, you must stay at the Hotel Varonos because it's fantastic -- my room is quite basic but really lovely, with welcome wine, a fridge, and a terrace looking out over the Pleisto River Gorge with a view of the Gulf of Corinth at Itea, and Yannis has been absolutely wonderful. Say γεία σου from me when you come. Because you're coming to Delphi.) keeping an eagle-eye on the ash cloud. I called Aged P yesterday to wish her a happy birthday and she nearly gave me a heart-attack when she told me Heathrow was closed.

In which Physicsgirl puts her math degrees to practical use...

I'm in Athens, having too lovely a time to worry about putting up pictures, although I'm taking many. I heard Athena's owl hooting near the Acropolis today. And my math degrees, through which I learned most of the Greek alphabet, have been very useful in reading Greek street signs.

I spent most of the ferry ride working on my Venice pictures, so those should go up soonish. I've planned a little breathing room in Delphi as well.

I just noticed that I'm down to just over 28 days left of this adventure. The first month and a half has flown by. I'm still having a fabulous time; I miss my kitty cat, but I don't really want to go home yet.

That'll be $300 for the idiot tax...

Hi.  I'm Physicsgirl, and I'm an idiot. (Hi, Physicsgirl!)

Anyone who has talked to me about this trip will know that I've been relying on www.tripadvisor.com for many ideas.  Almost everyone on those forums said to avoid taking the train overnight from Paris to Venice.  The couchettes are very cramped (especially the 6-berth ones) with not enough space for luggage, and there are lots of thieves.  I read many stories of people who lost cameras and money.

I was determined, however.  I hate flying, I like trains, and it would be travel plus lodging all in one.  I'd managed to find a fairly inexpensive 2-person berth, which should alleviate the crowding problem somewhat, and I bought a special travel safe to keep my valuables safe, so I felt pretty good.

A mighty wind is blowing...

So, last night, we were concerned about the possibility of rain, and the guides had contingency plans all set out for us. I woke up this morning to a howling outside my windows. The rain is nothing; I could definitely bike in this rain.  The wind, on the other hand, is quite strong.  Blow us into the Rhône strong. As in, it's too dangerous to bike this morning.  Jenn (the other guide) said "Yes, the wind is disconcerting."  Understatement!  So we're being stuffed into a van and taken to Arles.

Hopefully the wind will have calmed down enough by this afternoon.

30 k + 40 k = a lot of biking

Yesterday, I was flying down a winding road next to a deep gorge in Provence and I thought: This is amazing. I saw wild poppies blooming by the side of the road. Wow, I thought. I saw olive trees and vineyards aplenty. Suddenly the fact that my cell phone will not be able to charge anymore and that my Palm Zire has suddenly given up the ghost didn't worry me as much anymore.

10 things I hate about Paris*

*From the movie 10 Things I Hate About You

1. I hate your hard water that makes my hair all crunchy and my tea kind of icky. 
2. I hate that there are all too many beautiful places that nonetheless smell like pee.
3. I hate that you are so expensive. I never got used to paying nearly $7 for a cup of coffee.  Although one does pay exactly what it says on the tag or menu because tax is included.
4. I hate  how much of my French I've lost, and how understanding everyone has been of my grammatical and vocabulary mistakes.
5. I hate your fabulous bread, tempting me at every turn.  Ditto chocolate.  And crepes.  And cheese.  And...
6. I hate that I am now addicted to macarons.  Oh, you delicate confectionary temptresses!
7. I hate the Paris "look" that I could never quite capture, and that no matter how often I practised, I could never quite tie my scarf with the same élan as the Parisian women.  They must give special lessons at the lycée.
8. I hate the café culture I have acquired such a taste for, making it near impossible to go back to work in July.
9. I hate how the waiters don't hover over you as you eat and actually wait for you to finish one course before bringing you the next.  And that they don't put smiley faces on the bill to get a bigger tip, because it's included.
10. I hate the efficiency of the labyrinthian metro.  And how it's quiet because of the rubber wheels.  And that some of the stations are downright beautiful.
11. I hate that I'm leaving so soon.

All is forgiven, Paris!  I'll be back!

There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it, and you received return for whatever you brought to it." -- Ernest Hemmingway, "A Moveable Feast"

Off to Provence!

Spring is like a perhaps hand*

So after I wrote that last post, I took myself outside (then back in again to get my trench because it got a lot colder all of a sudden) and walked south, doing pretty much the same route I took my first day in Paris.

And I felt less blue.

So kiss me and smile for me...

Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman. -- John Berger

I'm feeling a bit blue, today. It's my last day in Paris. My train leaves for Avignon at 7:46 tomorrow morning, but I've been putting off packing. I'm trying to eat the rest of my food, although I might be gifting quite a bit of stuff to Darlene and the next tenants. I've made my last pot of tea.

Whereas I owe it to Photoshop...

I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers. -- Claude Monet

I went on a bike trip to Giverny yesterday. The gardens were beautiful, and it was fun trying to take pictures as Monet would have framed them. I will put up my pictures some time in the very near future, I promise, but in the meantime I decided to have a little fun with photo-enhancement software...

Here's the original photo:

In which Physicsgirl meets Pepé le Pew*

*without the smelly skunk part

At Pousse au Crime last night:

I'm dancing with some friends to French (and a few English) pop songs -- not swing dancing, but freestyle, as it were. In a circle, as one does. There are a lot of people in the bar. Suddenly, there is a guy in front of me. He has taken me by the hands and is dancing between me and the people I came with, effectively cutting me from the herd. It was very neatly done. Sheep dogs could learn something from him.

   So what do you do in Paris?

   Right now, I'm dancing.

   That's great!

(I look over at Darlene, who is watching this with a look of "Do you need help?" mixed with much amusement. I'm also pretty amused. He's trying to move me away now, but with the number of people in the bar, he doesn't get far.)

   Actually, I'm dancing with my friends. Over there.

   That's okay.

(I try to gently let go and turn back to my friends. He persists and I spend the next few minutes keeping his hands away from my hips. He says something I don't quite catch because it's loud and he's speaking rather quickly.)

   I'm sorry, my French is so-so. What did you say?

   You speak English? (in English)

   Yes, but I do speak French. I just didn't get what you said... (in French)

   Where are you from? (in English)

   Canada.

   I don't care. No, where are you from?**

Et c'est fini. I couldn't possibly continue dancing with someone who didn't believe I'm Canadian! (Maybe I should get that flag after all!) Plus, you know, effective as the hands-on approach was, I like a little conversation before. I'm funny that way.



**I'm pretty sure he just misunderstood me. But wow, not shy these Frenchmen.

Il me reste qu'une semaine...

... and I feel like there is so much more I want to do here. Two days are given over to not being in Paris, and one is needed for packing, so really there are only 4 Paris days left. One month wasn't enough. Must. Chill. Frantically.

Plus I'm out of Nutella and I don't think I can finish a whole jar in a week.

Yeah, who am I kidding?

Look! New posts!

I've put up posts and pictures of my trip to the Loire Valley and my trip to Mont St-Michel. The pictures from my week of the museum pass, including the rest of the Loire Valley pix, will take a bit longer to go through. I'll let you know when they are up.

There are a few other posts about daily life and the exciting thing that happened on top of l'Arc de Triomphe sprinkled in as well.

My Mont St-Michel pictures are here:

Mont St-Michel 2010

In which Physicsgirl finds heaven...

I had read about the magical macaron in my guidebooks and on the Girls' Guide to Paris website, and I confess I couldn't see what the big deal was. I knew it was nothing like the North American macaroon, a dense, chewy concoction of coconut and meringue (which I rather like, but YMMV). A Parisian macaron is basically two flavoured almond meringue cookies sandwiched together by a flavoured cream or jam -- kind of an upscale, lighter Oreo. Little did I know...

It turns out that last week was just a warm-up...

I knew that I wanted to see Mont St-Michel. It's a UNESCO world heritage site, and more importantly, it plays a role in the 1940's espionage novel Assignment in Brittany by Helen MacInnes. The scene where the hero is saved from discovery by the dangerous Nazi being sucked into the quicksand near the mount left quite an impression.

In which our intrepid heroine gets to see a bit more of Brittany than she expected...

It was supposed to be a very simple plan: train from Paris to Rennes at 2 pm, bus from Rennes to Mont St-Michel at 4:40 pm, check-in at 6ish, dinner at around 7, wander off to see the village at around 9 pm, take spectacular photos of the mount lit up at night around 10 - 11 or so, then back to the hotel to sleep the sleep of the just.

Something Robert Burns said springs to mind all of a sudden...

Statistics

In the last 10 days...

Number stairs climbed: About 2100*
Number of "great views of the city"**(Paris or otherwise): 10
Number of museums/churches/monuments visited: 20***
Number of times I thought I was going to fall to my death: 4****
Number of times I did fall to my death: 0
Holes worn through the sole of a boot: 1
Minutes spent waiting in line: 60 (40 of those at Notre Dame, 15 at Versailles)
Kilometres walked: Lots (sorry, lost my pedometer in Amsterdam)
Number of pictures taken: ~ 1290*****

*Chartres: 300, Notre Dame: 400, Arc de Triomphe: 284 (+60ish to get to and from the underground passage), Panthéon: 300 (aprox - can't find the exact number), Louvre: 150(est.), other museums/monuments: 350 (est.), Parc des Buttes-Chaumont & 19th: 250 (est.)
**"Great view" usually means from a very high place. That you must climb many stairs to see. Except at the Pompidou Centre, where there are escalators.
***Chartres Cathedral, Chenonceau, Cheverny, Chambord, Versailles, le Grand Trianon, le Petit Trianon & l'Hameau de la Reine, Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Notre Dame Bell Tower, Crypte Archéologique, Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle, l'Arc de Triomphe, l'Orangerie, Hôtel des Invalides & Eglise du Dôme (Napoleon's Tomb), Musée Rodin, Panthéon, Musée des Arts et Métiers, Pampidou Centre.  I did pop briefly into Notre Dame itself, so that should be 21.
****Three of those times were at Chartres.
*****Yeah, it's going to take a little while to put those up.  Fortunately, there's a longish train ride on Monday and Tuesday.  Of course, there will be many more photos by Tuesday...

It's not the fall...

Spoiler (mostly for Aged P who will have completed that sentence in her head and begun, well, not quite panicking but panicking's slightly less anxious cousin): yes, somebody fell from l'Arc de Triomphe, no, it wasn't me, no, I didn't see it, although it must have happened right after I left, and happily (?), they got off with a concussion and broken ankles.

Once upon a time...

Note: I had decided not to try and catch up before posting recent ramblings...  And I had this post all written when some gremlin didn't save it.  I'll try to redo it, but it's a week later as I type this and I may not remember all the witty things I wrote before.

I have seen how the other half lived, and let's just say it's good to be king.  Until an unruly mob drags you from your bed...

Yesterday, I took a bus trip to the Loire Valley with Paris Vision. Well, a minivan trip: it turns out only six people registered.  Four of us were in the van when the guide said "We are just waiting for two more."  We looked at each other in some dismay; it would be kind of squishy with two more people in the van.  I said: "I hate to seem uncharitable, but I hope they don't show up on time."  Fortunately, they didn't and we were very comfortable.  So comfortable, in fact, that about 15 minutes after we left, almost everyone was asleep.  It was very early.

I don't think it translates to "boîte pour les nuls..."

I watch far too much TV, as a rule, but here I look at it as cultural research. Anthropology, if you will.  What I've noticed:

I'm getting there...

I'm posting my write-ups under the dates they happened, so you may not have noticed that I've put up two posts about my first day in Amsterdam, which are here and here.  The next day is coming, I swear.  There is a very amusing story involving clogs.  I bet you can't wait.

Edited: I have been making sure my photos are up-to-date as of yesterday.  I've been adding to my various albums.  Unfortunately, Picasa won't let me start an album in the middle, so here is what you have to do:  Click on the album title under the picture, then find that photo again in the album (you may have to scroll down a bit), click on the photo again.  Then you can navigate forward and backward through the album from the new point.  (Or you could just click on the first picture to go through all the pictures in the album.)  Either way, it's a pain.

You've already seen my first day walk, but I've been walking around a lot since I got here.  I explored Ile de la Cité a bit more:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

the Latin Quarter:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

and Montmartre:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

  I've also been on a great bike tour:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

  (These are all in the same album, so you could just click once to see the whole thing.)

I've also experienced some culture: I went to the Musée National du Moyen Age (dit Cluny):

Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

and to Chartres Cathedral:

Chartres 2010

This coming week is museum week.  I've got me a pass and I'm gonna use it.  I have a feeling I'll be a little museumed out by next Sunday.

It says "breakfast" so it must be healthy...

The French don't really do cereal.  It's a North American import, I think, and what is in the cereal aisle heavily favours chocolate-flavoured sugar bombs.  Calvin would be pleased.

They also have these:


Cookies for breakfast.  Awesome.

(I do keep turning the packages around to see the English side.  Which isn't there. It's as bizarre as being in the States.)

It's just my size...

It's a bit ironic that a girl who isn't big on wine finds herself in grape country.  I usually can't drink a whole bottle before it turns from oxidation, so I was thinking I'd have to do all my wine-drinking in restaurants.  Never fear: French practicality to the rescue!

Ahem

As I expected, it's taking me a while to write up some of my rambles, but I've put up photos with pithy commentary for you to enjoy.

My Amsterdam pictures are here:

Amsterdam 2010

Pictures of my Paris apartment and other daily life are here:

Paris 2010: La Vie en Rose

I took a walk down to the Seine and to get chocolate the afternoon of my first full day in Paris:

Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

Some pix of funny things are here:

Paris 2010: Ça m'amuse beaucoup!

I'll be adding to these albums as the month goes on.

RIP Crazy

We interrupt the regular blog for a sad announcement.

I got to Paris this evening and checked my email.  There was one waiting from my cat-sitter saying that my pretty, sweet, furry, six-toed, elderly kitty Crazy had died.  She was 17, which is a very good age, and after the big scare last September, the vet said she probably only had two or three months left.  She managed a few more than that, and I hope they were good ones. 

It was not entirely unexpected, although I hoped it wouldn't happen while I was away. To tell the truth, it doesn't really feel real yet. It will be a bit of a sad homecoming in June.

I hope my other girl, Lucy, will be okay. She and Crazy never really hit it off, but I hope she won't be too lonely when the cat-sitter isn't there. And that she comes out of hiding to get some cuddles. Well, I doubt she'll allow cuddles. Quick pets on the head, then.

She was a fine cat, a very fine cat indeed. I hope her kitty-cat soul finds lots of tea to drink.

Think of all the beauty...

Instead of the quick hour-long nap I intended, I wound up sleeping for three and a half hours, so I decided to do the Rijksmuseum the next day and walked over to the Jordaan, which is a funky little neighbourhood near the Anne Frank Huis. I spent the first part of my walk learning how not to get run over by cyclists.

Here's the thing: there are no stop signs in downtown Amsterdam. A few major intersections have lights, but mostly you count on common sense to

That's more like it: First morning and barely a hitch... sort of...

Note: Not every photo I took will be posted in the blog. To see them all, click on the link to my photo albums.

Tuesday morning: I got off the plane, and despite being one of the last off, managed to be one of the first at the customs gate.  I presented my passport, was asked how long I was staying, stamped, and passed through in a matter of minutes.  I was ready for a bit more of an inquisition. But no "how will you be returning?"  No "how do you intend to support yourself while you're here?"  Just a "you need a visa to stay more than 90 days.  Have a good visit."  To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed. I'd practiced and everything! Getting my luggage was also really quick; my bag was the fifth one off the plane.  Wow! If the rest went this smoothly, I'd be walking around Amsterdam in about an hour...

My next bit of fun was finding the ticket machines to catch the train from Schiphol airport to Amsterdam Centraal.  I knew, from reading

Oh, that was very nearly not a good start...

I'm here! Hello, Amsterdam. Thank you for not raining yet.

So, Aged P drove me to the airport yesterday, and after we left I realized that I'd forgotten to do several important things, like empty the rest of the tea from the pot and toss the veggies and milk that won't keep from the fridge -- oh, yay, something to look forward to when I get home! However, I couldn't worry too much about it because I WAS ON MY WAY!

Having checked in online, I got through the dropping off the bag process very quickly, although my suitcase seemed to have gained a kilo on the way to the airport. The very nice lady behind the counter said "Well, we can't

...And she's off!

ETD: 5:55 pm

Next stop: Amsterdam!

This is how I roll...

I have a problem.  It's not a full-blown addiction, yet, but I know it's only a matter of time.  My name is PhysicsGirl, and I like pretty, shiny things.

Earrings, mostly.  Some women have a shoe thing; I have an earring thing.  Ever since I finally talked Aged P into letting me get my ears pierced at age thirteen, I've been collecting dangly ear baubles.  I have decided that my major souvenirs from this trip will be earrings.  Which means I have another problem.

Better finished than perfect

Back at the dawn of the history of my 4 over 5 (so, um, five years ago), I thought "wouldn't it be neat if I, having spent some time in Paris and other parts of Europe, didn't have to fly home with all my carefully considered purchases but could sail home across the Atlantic, as they did in the olden days?"  It turns out you can, on the Queen Mary 2. 


Part of the fun of the voyage on a transatlantic liner is that you get to dress up for the occasion.  There are

Ada Lovelace Day: Caroline Herschel probably didn't have to worry about the pronunciation...

In honour of Ada Lovelace Day, which you can read about here, I've pledged to blog about a woman in science.  In keeping with the theme of this blog,  I'll tell you that one of the sights I hope to see in Bath is the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, former home of Caroline and William Herschel.  William Herschel was the guy who discovered a planet he called "George's Star," but which later became known as Uranus, thereby ensuring grief for future science teachers.

His sister, Caroline (1750-1848), was a medal-winning astronomer in her own right, as well as a lovely singer.  She was the first woman to officially discover a comet (she discovered a grand total of 8) and did a lot of the grunt calculations for her brother.  She even got paid as his assistant when William was appointed King's Astronomer (which in my uneducated opinion was pretty good for that time).

You can read about her on MacTutor here.  I like the idea of Gauss visiting her in her old age, because "when you hear the name Gauss, you must bow."


I leave you with a link to a poem by Adrienne Rich.  Happy Ada Lovelace Day, everybody!

7 Days Was All She Wrote...

About this time next week, I'll be stepping off a plane to the cheerful sounds of someone saying "Goedenmorgen" and "Let op de afstap!" (or whatever the Dutch is for "Watch your step!") I'd like to say I'm practically ready to go, but the truth is there is still rather a lot that needs to be done.

Many things have been taken care of: Aged P and I had a successful Skype trial. I have almost everything I need for the trip, including tickets. I have been practising tying scarfs à la française. I've fixed the major issues with The Dress... but...

Two weeks to go...

I've put travel stops on my cable/internet and newspaper.  I decided to save money and not put my mail on hold, since the housemates can put it in a basket for me.  I've arranged for top-up medical insurance and some more fun things to do.  I have been spending some serious quality time with guidebooks and downloading all sorts of free walking guides.



I have acquired a global sim card, a quad-band cell phone (that works only occasionally -- obviously I need to exchange it), some euros, pounds, and US dollars.  I exchanged my old Visa card for a chip-and-pin.  I have started acquiring mailing addresses for postcards.  I'm tweaking the Dress as we speak; it should be completely finished by tonight.  Finally!

All I have to now is mend a bunch of clothing and plan out what I'm taking with me, as well as make an organizer for my earrings.

I'm starting to freak out.  I'm sure there is something major I have forgotten.

They know me so well...

My favourite piece of advice from the Girls' Guide to Paris: pack a collapsible suitcase.  Done!

Doing my homework: Another movie marathon

Once again, I ask your help, good people.  I'm planning another movie marathon, or a series of marathons, based on my upcoming European adventure. I'm specifically looking for movies that give a sense of the place.  If a movie is set in, say, Athens, and really gives a sense of being in Athens, I'd like to know about it.  I will take foreign movie suggestions, obviously.

Here, again, are the cities/locations I will be visiting: Amsterdam, Paris, Cycling tour of Provence starting at Avignon, Venice, Athens, Delphi, London, Oxford, Bath, Salisbury & Stonehenge, Queen Mary 2, New York.

Currently on deck

• Paris: Paris, Je T'Aime, Amélie, Charade, Before Sunset
• QM2: An Affair to Remember -- please don't suggest Titanic or A Night to Remember; they aren't exactly inspiring :)
• Provence: A Year in Provence
• Bath: Persuasion, Northanger Abbey
• NYC: New York, I Love You (if I can get a hold of it)

Suggestions?