Transportation Woes

This short three day trip with Harry has been full of unlucky transportation issues. On Monday morning we arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time to spare, and checked into our flight to Nice. We went through security, got something to eat and proceeded to wait for the gat to be called for our flight. Instead, it said the flight had been cancelled on the screen! We went to customer services and were informed that the captain was 'sick' and that we had been rebokked on a flight leaving an hour and a bit later. To make matters worse, the later flight was delayed by over an hour due to congestion at Heathrow. When we finally arrived in Nice it was 3:00, and it was too late to really take advantage of the daylight. The whole day was wasted.

Yesterday, in part because the book 'Perfume' is based there, we decided to go to Grasse, the perfume capital of the world. We arrived via train without any problems in the early afternoon, and spent a leisurly afternoon in Grasse with the intention of catching the 4:50 train back to Nice. When we arrived in the terminal we saw that it said 'supprime' next to the train time. We didn't realize this meant cancelled, but since there was a train twenty minutes later, we didn't worry. We waited in the cafe to avoid the cold. When the 5:10 train didn't come we went to ticket counter and were informed that it was also cancelled and that we should have taken a substitute bus that had already left! We had to wait another hour until the next substitute bus came, because the 6:00 train was also cancelled! We only got back into Nice at 8:00. Thank you unreliable French rail system!

Cellphone Music

I've noticed in France that people - usually young Arabs or blacks - seem to play loud music from their cellphones on public transportation. I think this is extremely antisocial and very irritating. I don't want to listen to horrible French rap, and don't think most other people do as well. No other country that I've been to has this tradition. Unlike other strange social practices, such as Nordic Walking, cellphone music playing is disruptive and thoughtless to others. I hope this is restricted to the Nice area, because I am going to Paris tomorrow, and hope that this antisocial behavior will stop.

Future Plans

I will be leaving London a week from Monday to go on more adventures which I will outline below. This is mostly a list for reference purposes, so it will be quite boring.

On Saturday, Harry will arrive from Montreal for a short two-day visit before we both depart for Nice on Monday the 17th. We will stay in Nice for three days and then meet our parents in Paris on the 20th. On the 23rd, we will be going on a tour of Morocco that finishes on the 30th of December, at which point we will fly back to Paris. We will stay a bit longer in Paris, and then on the 1st of January, I will be meeting my friend Johan in Paris, where we will stay for another few days. On January 6th, I will fly to Lisbon, and travel around Portugal and Southern Spain until January 17th, at which point I will return to London to pick up the remainder of my luggage. On January 20th, I will be back in Canada!

Edinburgh & Brussels

In the past two months I have visited both Edinburgh and Brussels, and will present my thoughts on both cities.

Edinburgh: I went here in mid-October, and it was nice that it wasn't too cold. Overall, Edinburgh is a lovely city. I visited the castle, which was very interesting, especially the history of the crown jewels. I also saw the art museum which was fantastic. Edinburgh, has a very Gothic feel, with all the buildings being gray and old (at least in the center). I tried to buy a map of county Angus at map shop that I stumbled across, but they didn't have it in stock. I would love to go back for a few more days, especially to climb up the mountain and visit Crichton Castle.

Brussels: I went two weekends ago to visit Stuart, who is studying at the French language university in Brussels. I took the Eurostar, which despite its price, was extremely convenient. I had the luck of finding an abandoned first-class kit in the departures lounge before leaving, and so I was able to enjoy wine on the trip over. Brussels is a nice city in the centre, but many historical buildings have sadly been torn down, and surrounding areas are quite ugly. Due to the short days (and late departures from Stuart's), I did not really get to see much of Brussels, although I had a good look of the old town at night. Nevertheless, I got a good feel for the city. I'd go back, but beond what I did (visited two museums, the atomium and gone on a walking tour), the only thing I would really want to do upon any return would be to visit the art museum. Nevertheless, if anything, I had a lot of fun hanging out with Stuart, and the prices were a refreshing change to London's.