Living the Traveler Kind of Life...

It always feels like it has been such a long time since I last blogged, but that's probably because there's so much that happens within a week's time that I could literally write for hours. So, where was I?... After leaving Como, we hopped on our next train to Verona, where we were met by yet another couch surfer. He was an athletic 37-year-old math and physics temp, and though he spoke very good English, he had a hard time understanding us. Nonetheless, he showed us around the cute city of Verona, the setting of Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet. (It also happens to be where some of the scenes from Letters to Juliet were filmed--mainly Juliet's balcony and the wall with all the letters stuffed in the cracks, which I was sad to find is purely fictional :/)

Since our couch surfer was into windsurfing, I had asked if he would be willing to take us with him one day to brush up on our skills. Bad idea. On our second day, we headed up to Lake Garda to go windsurfing. Sadly, it was super windy and freezing cold water (even though we wore wetsuits), that after only 20 minutes I was done. I'm not as good as I remember being... haha but afterward, Matteo (the couch surfer) took us to a cool German restaurant where we had HUGE pork legs and some of the best fries, which made it all my frustrations of trying to surf disappear. I'm realizing that a lot of wonderful experiences traveling have to do with food. It's probably one of my most favorite ways to experience a culture :D We finished off with some amazing tiramisu and headed home.

There are times in life when something suddenly happens that sort of pushes the pause button on the present your present state and forces you back into reality. The night after windsurfing was one of those times. After logging onto Facebook and reading some posts, I found out one of my closest friends from Point Loma passed away. Raegan Summer Pratt. I was shocked. I still am. It's difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that she's gone; it just doesn't seem real. A greater part of that probably has to do with me being here and not in California, and I have a feeling it's going to really hit me when I get back. Right now it feels like I'm in denial.

Raegan was the sort of person that really lived life to the fullest. And I know that can sound cheesy and redundant, but when I think about all the times we were together, I'm struck by how Raegan always seemed to live in the moment. If she wanted to do something, she did it. She didn't wait around. She seemed to thrive on spontaneity and doing things just because she could. I remember so many times just riding around in her mint blue mini cooper, singing at the top of our lungs, and driving anywhere we wanted to go. It didn't matter where, we just went. We laughed a lot, and we talked about things we couldn't talk about with anyone one else. We knew each other and we loved each other like sisters. Even talking about Raegan in the past tense feels strange because she still feels so alive to me. It's different than when my sister passed away. In a way I feel less sad because this time I have so many good memories, and I don't regret anything in our relationship. We were always real with each other and there's nothing I feel like either of us didn't get to say to each other...which is sort of a rare thing in a relationship I think. I feel like I could share so many stories about Raegan because there's so much I would love to tell... but I think I would need some time to do that, maybe once the reality has sunk in a little more... but I definitely will do that at some point.

After hearing the news, the next morning we left for Venice, and I felt in no mood to explore a new city. Thankfully we had booked a campground just outside Venice, so we spent the day doing laundry and resting, since I was so emotionally and physically drained. And then I got a bit more news... Mom and Dad were going to meet us in Paris! Even though I was excited, I felt an even heavier weight on my decision of whether I would stay with them only a day before heading home to Raegan's memorial service, or if I would skip the service to stay with them the whole time. I wish with all my heart I could have been in two places at once, and I'm still sad that I couldn't go to Raegan's service, but I wouldn't have missed being with my family in Paris for anything.

When we did finally explore Venice, it rained on us. But we trudged through the streets anyways and got lost. I liked Venice, but it was really touristy, and seemed to lose its charm with so many people crammed into the tiny streets looking through all the shop windows. I think I might like it better in the off season... Our second day, we took a boat to Murano and looked at all the glass shops and glass makers, and then to Burano, a cute little fisherman town with lots of colored houses. The last day, I got sick from eating raw salmon and spent most of the day in our hostel throwing up and feeling miserable. Thankfully, by the time we had to leave, I was feeling much better.

We took a cheap flight to Paris through Ryan Air, a sort of janky company, but totally worth it for the price, and finally got to the flat Mom and Dad rented out for the week at about one in the morning. I was so happy to see them! We were a little hungry so we went to the cafe across the street from the flat to get some food. It was a cool little nook that was decorated to look like a Swiss or German cottage, and they had the best French onion soup I've ever tasted! Which is saying a lot since I don't typically love onions.

Mom and I spent the next day riding around on a double decker bus (very touristy, I know), but it's a great way to get a feel for a city and to learn a bit of history. We had lunch like the Parisians do, sitting elbow to elbow, facing the street so we could people watch. In Europe, people openly watch you, but even more so in Paris. Cafes are filled to the max with people sitting side-by-side facing the street. It's great! Free entertainment :)

We spent some time riding bikes as a family, through Paris, and also in Versailles where we did a bike tour through the gardens and walked through the palace, which was kind of disappointing. There were so many people stopping to take pictures of Marie Antoniette's bed chamber that the traffic of people walking through the palace was backed up into the previous three rooms. Kind of ridiculous!  I actually thought the Opera in Paris was much more beautiful. Mom and I took full advantage of the photographic opportunity and had our own little photo shoot haha. I needed some girl time! And Paris is full of great places to shop, so of course we spent a few days doing that. Paris is such a cool city, probably my favorite one so far. Even though there are so many people, it's has this charming feel, with the beautiful gothic architecture, the cafe lined streets, and the sparkling Eiffel Tower. And in nearly every grassy area you see the locals hanging out with their friends sipping wine and having picnics. They also love to hang out along the river for sunset. It seemed like community is a big thing in Paris, and I wish LA was more like that. People don't seem to live life revolving around their jobs. They definitely work, but they take time to be with each other and enjoy life at the same time.

I was sad to see Mom and Dad leave, and on our last day Colton and I went to Giverny, a nearby little town where Claude Monet lived and painted. I thought it was a little overrated. The gardens were beautiful, but very small, and there were WAY too many people there. So what did I do? I took an early train back and did a bit more shopping! :) I spent the last hanging out on the lawn around the Louvre and watching the sunset. It would have been perfect if I wasn't missing my parents already and if I hadn't been creeped on by some guy walking by, staring me down. Some people...

Anyway, our next stop was Bayeux, a quaint town in Normandy, one of the only villages that was left undamaged by the D-Day Invasion. Our first night, we walked through the town and then checked out one of the war museums and the British cemetery. Someone had told me once before that the French aren't very fond of Americans, probably back when Bush was president, but I've found it to be the exact opposite here. Everywhere we've been so far, the French have been very friendly to us. I think a lot of it is because they remember how Americans helped free France from Nazi control. Reading about D-Day in the museum and seeing the graves of the soldiers made me think a lot. One, I think it's amazing how complete strangers can fight for the cause of another person, another country that is suffering. All you need is a common goal, a common belief, and it won't matter who you're fighting alongside, as long as you're fighting the same enemy. It also made me think about the war in the Middle East. Unlike WWII, where there was a clear and present evil to be fought against, sometimes I'm not so sure we know what we are fighting against, or even for, in this war. How do we know we've made any progress? Yeah, Suddam and Osama are dead, but how do we know when the fighting has been worth it? I don't know...

I was really moved as I walked through the British cemetery. The standard white headstones were ingrained with the soldiers name, date of birth and death, age, and a message chosen by the soldier's loved ones. They said things like, "Safe in the arms of Jesus," "Known by God," and something like "Greater love hath no man than this, that he shall lay his life down for his friends." That last one really hit me. I felt the reality of how much had been sacrificed by those who fought in the war, and those who knew someone who did. And I felt grateful for their sacrifice, for their lives. Because of them, my world is different today, and I'm thankful for what they fought for. There lives are a gift to me and to the generations to come.

 We spent a day riding on bikes to the D-Day beaches, which stretched out for miles and were almost completely vacant. It's crazy to imagine what took place on those sandy shores almost 60 some years ago. It looks so peaceful and calm today, you would never think so many people lost their lives there.

After Bayeux, we stopped in Rennes for a couple days, where we literally did nothing. We didn't think there was much to see, so after spending a day at Mont St. Michel, which was a cool castle looking monastery on a super tiny island crowded with tourists, we hung out in our hotel room. In Nantes, we stayed with couchsurfers, who were awesome. They were our age and they were super hospitable. One night we got invited to the girl's mom's house for dinner, where we ate homemade galettes, basically salty crepes. And they showed us around the city, including a cool museum where they have lifesize mechanical animals, like an elephant the size of a house that walks and sprays water out of its trunk and that you can ride on. I didn't particularly love Nantes, but meeting our couchsurfers made it worth it.

Then we stayed in Tours for two nights, with another couchsurfer our age, and had a blast! He invited us to a musical festival that was taking place that week and featured mainly electronic music, but also some folksy bands and metal bands. We met so many cool friendly French people, and we had a great time hanging out with our couch surfer. It was my first experience of going to an electronic music concert where everyone smashes into each other while the dj mixes his music and people are jumping off stage left and right to crowd surf. I didn't necessarily enjoy the pushing and shoving, but the music was good and I had fun dancing around like an idiot. The second night, we didn't like any of the bands that were playing at the end of the night, so there was a little are where a radio dj was playing some oldies, and we spent an our just dancing around like crazies, just the three of us for the most part. It was definitely a night a will remember for life. haha

It was then time to move onto our HelpX, where we would be working at a chateaux in the Loire Valley. As I am writing this, we are actually getting ready to leave tomorrow. We've been here for two weeks, and it has been quite the experience! We've been working with two other HelpXers, a guy from Canada, and a girl from Denmark, doing a lot of weeding and any other kind of yard work. The weather's been rainy and gloomy most of the time, even though it's June, which has sort of put a damper on things. Our host is an interesting character, and the main reason for our frustrations here. He's a forty-something British chap, who is very uptight about manners though he himself doesn't demonstrate common courtesies and can be very rude, he has moodswings constantly so it's like we have to walk on eggshells whenever we're around him (or as Colton likes to say, he has 10 vaginas), and he's anal about the stupidest things. He likes to swear a lot and uses sarcasm to get his feeling across, and he bad mouths everyone and everything. But he's perfect of course. Ha, he's actually easy to talk to and we've had some stimulating dinner conversations, including anything and everything not "PC" (politically correct), but other than keeping him company, it feels like he thinks we're all idiots and a pain in his ass. Never mind the work we're doing for him! I'm starting to understand that conflicting personalities is just a part of life and sometimes people just don't click. That, and everyone is different, so when one person is chill about one thing, another person could be completely insane.

But our experience hasn't been all bad here. Luckily, he has made an effort to take us on adventures, so we aren't left in this little village to be bored the whole time, though we've hung out at the local bar/super market/internet point/restaurant several times after work with some of the locals who don't really speak English. We've gotten to go with him to the grocery store too where we bought our own snacks since he doesn't offer any and was amazed when I asked about having some. (You have to ask for everything you get out of the fridge btw, no helping yourself!) Last weekend we he dropped us off in Tours, which was really nice of him, so we could hang out there for a night. We stayed at the same couchsurfers and hung out in the town. The next day he took us to a nearby village where they had a market, (more like a shit sale), which we didn't spend much time at. We bought some cider and walked on home in the sunshine while we sang Disney songs to entertain ourselves.

Working outside with the weather being so crummy has been affecting my allergies, and this week it developed into a head cold, so I was feeling pretty miserable for a few days. Finally yesterday I got to go to a pharmacy to buy some drugs, and now I'm feeling much better! Even though we're supposed to work 6 hours a day, we've had several days where our work got cut short due to rain or to us being really tired because of the weather. We watch a movie almost every night if we have time, which has been really nice because I missed movies. We did see a French film when we were in Bayeux, but it was very French, if you know what I mean. I don't know if it was good or not, it was in French ha. For the most part, us HelpXers have been getting along. It's nice having other people to socialize with and work with, and it makes the time go by a lot faster. I can hardly believe we've already spent two weeks here! I feel like Colton and I could write a book about all the people we've met and all the crazy random experiences we've had along the way. Traveling may not always be fun and glamorous, but it's definitely worth it for the stories you get to tell later...

Tomorrow all of us will be heading to Futuroscope, some sort of future themed park, which I have a feeling could be interesting. After that, the Canadian is heading to Paris, and the Danish girl is coming with us! Her name is Sidsel (pronounced Cecile), and her plans to go to Italy for a HelpX got cancelled last minute, so she decided to tag along with us for a week or so while we travel through the South of France. I'm looking forward to traveling again and NOT working. HelpXing has been a great experience, but I'm over working and having to deal with crazy people! haha I just want to relax and enjoy the sunny beaches of southern France for a couple days before heading to Spain. And I'm so so excited for Spain! Mom will be meeting me in Barcelona after about a week in Spain and I cannot wait to travel with her! It's such a rare thing to be able to travel alone with my mom and I'm going to soak in every moment of it :)