canoe trip

I just got back (10 minutes ago) from a canoe trip.
Two days and one night of total luxury. We camped on a deserted beach, in an empire of our own, and burned magical tree carcasses. It was the best bonfire I've ever seen, against an amazing sunset.
This morning when I stepped from my tent, "wow" escaped from my lips. The sun was out, and the beach, the lake, and the hills turning slowly to red with cold, were so beautiful.

There were six of us, and every one packed a dessert course. I don't think I've ever eaten so much on a trip, and I've definitely never drank and smoked so much on a trip. Yesterday was sunny and warm, today was misty, windy and cool, but for a September canoe trip that was really great.

I had an odd moment this morning standing on the beach. A little happy, wearing tights and a lifejacket (among other things), about to paddle off into the misty headwind, with a rice krispie square in one hand and a bottle of scotch in the other, for keeping warm of course.

After the 3-hour drive back, I'm a lot less water-logged. Time to go shake sand out of everywhere, shower, take some Vitamin I, and slump into bed.

blather

yay, i heard Felicity Huffman won an Emmy. She totally rocks and totally deserves it.
Besides, she's married to William H. Macy. How awesome would it be to be one of their kids?

to anyone who's reading this...

be you in korea, switzerland, north york, spain, los angeles, vancouver or ireland

I'm going to bed smiling tonight...

awakenings

i slept 9.5 hours last night. sweet surrender.
I've had a near perfect return from my trip. today was pretty gratifying.

Last night my most amazing friend Janius picked me up from the airport and we had Guyanese roti in Mile End. I almost fell asleep over the hot sauce as she recounted what may turn out to be a most profound turn of events.

I come home now, having had a pint with my coworker, and understand that I am surrounded by truly amazing people. Who conribute the most extraordinary perspectives to my life. I could not get better extensions to my being from any custom-fitted artificial limb.

24 hours and counting after touchdown, and I have yet to feel trip hangover. Let's hope the equanimity lasts.

maple leaf lounge

i'm in toronto, awaiting my connection to montreal. My sister scored me a sweet pass to Air Canada's first class lounge here at Pearson. I knocked back - i mean sipped - a Grand Marnier before I realized they didn't allow liquor near the computers. gives safe computing a whole new meaning. so here I am, blogging jet-lagged and tipsy, with swiss water still in my hair.

On my transatlantic flight from Zurich this morning, I had a window seat with no one beside me. sweetness indeed, I lay right down and slept. Apparently we flew right over Paris and London but it was completely overcast. oh well.
The flight was full of blond half-Swiss children. Adorable and well-behaved, of course. Someday these spawn will unite and... make everyone come to consensus on global issues. These sleeper cells of Helvetic half-breeds may be the US's only hope at this point.

I had 2 days in Zurich, Thursday and Friday. I basically ran around on bike and refreshed my favourite memories in my favourite spots. It's so the same as when i left it 4 years ago. The interesting is that you forget the detail. you remember the simple dimensions of objects and your memory jettisons the fill-in.

Yesterday Matt & Helen took me walking in the mountains around Lucerne. Really nice. We ended up having dinner on the river in Lucerne, which was so great due to the starlight quality of the lights reflecting in the river. Plus the mountains loom dramatically over Lucerne, so it's a stunning setting to start with.

- swims: 5. (kilchberg, limmat, limmat, zurisee, Vierwaldstaettersee)
- modes of transportation: (plane), bicycle, citybike, sbahn, train, tram, citybus, postbus, boat, funicular, and freakin' scary alpine elevator (straight up in midair)
- cows spotted: lots.
- weddings passed by in adorable hill chapels overlooking stunning lake & mountain vistas: 1
- amount of chocolate I'm packing: not telling

morning on the ZueriSee

My hair is slowly drying in the sun. I just went for a morning dive into the ZueriSee (Lake of Zurich) with Matt. It was the most beautiful moment this whole week, which has been full of them.

The sun rose this morning directly opposite us in Kilchberg. The sky is blue, so blue. The mountains rise in tiers of hazy shadows at at the south end of the lake. To the north, Zurich sits still like a jewel. Everything here is green and blue, and blue and green.

In the guest bedroom where I'm sleeping, I woke up this morning to see that there is a vineyard just there, just across the train tracks, below, the yellow and white and blue houses that look over the lake.

I arrived last night, on a Swiss flight. As soon as I landed, I felt at home, at peace. It's been 4 years since I spent 3 months here at a summer job, the best 3 months of my life. It'll probably be hard to leave. Matt met me at the airport, the darling. We had a few minutes at Zurich HB, so this is what happened: fototeddy.

first i bathe, then nap, then the Lindt chocolate factory, then i bike to zuerich. and swim again in time for lunch. yippee!

prague prague prague

3 days of girl talk is a luxury.

On Tuesday, late afternoon, Yvonne & I were having cappuccinos at a cafe on the river's edge, looking at the most gorgeous East bank and water, lit up by the sun. Total contentment.

An hour earlier I went into a baroque church and almost got suffocated by the statuary. Every one of those saints and near-naked biblical characters seems to be clamouring for your attention. There were literally 3 on each pillar, twice life-sized, reaching down to snare you with their meaty marble fingers. Frightening.

Seriously, you walk in and you want to jump back. These cathedrals
are like jungles, with vines hanging from the canopy ready to snatch
you up.

We were going to go to the opera (the Opera!) at the gorgeous State Opera house. Madama Butterfly. But we decided just to enjoy the evening instead.
The Mucha museum was inspiring but disappointing in terms of quantity of materials.
The Jewish quarter was wonderful, and so quiet. Again, we sat out at a cafe and ate Czech food - I had sour potato gnocchi with bits of ham.

I've definitely got Stendhal syndrome from all the architectural splendour. St.Petersburg had the big pieces, Prague has the sheer density and variety.

We finished the visit yesterday at Bila Hora, the site of the 1620 battle that crushed Czech independence and cultural identity for 300 years. They've kept it free from the encroaching suburbs, a small hillock in a farmer's field on the crest of a hill. The site was mournful and powerful: a simple rough stone pyramid within about 8 trees. The Star castle stood on the next field over. You could almost hear the men hacking each other to death. It was a beautiful, chilling moment, with the golden sun lighting the Sepetember fields. You could feel how important this site, this moment was, to the Czech psyche.

blue skies over Prague

The weather has been unbeatable. Blue skies, warm sun, 28 but not hot. I'm so glad I'm taking this trip now, while it's still summer.
Prague is gorgeous. Like all those romantic German cities thrown together into one bustling, time-testifying working metropolis.
Cobblestones absolutely everywhere. Layers and layers of architecture: romanesque, gothic, renaissance, baroque. I have never seen so much Renaissance architecture outside of Italy.
I'm here visiting my friend Yvonne, a Czech-Canadian friend of mine from McGill. It is so good to see her, one of those people I have such a natural connection with. Today we walked everywhere, and sat at a cafe in the old town hall square for dinner al fresco.
Afterwards we went up to the rooftops to get a look at Prague in the golden evening light. Looking down into the square, Yvonne pointed out how 15 years ago, when she was first there, the only thing you saw was people queueing to buy bananas. Now it is absolutely thronged with tourists, worse than the crowds I've seen in Florence and Venice. Much worse. It's pretty much intolerable. And can you imagine the change for the Czechs?
Prague is now littered with restaurants, where before it was virtually void of them -- you could not go out to eat under Communist times.

On another note, there's some sort of commercial British connection going on in Prague. Of course EasyJet flies here so Prague is second only to Riga for the dubious honour of hosting the sex-touring Stag parties of raucously drunk Britons. But dammit, there's a Tesco's! and Debenham's AND Marks & Spencers. What is going on? Did British capital alone rebuild the tourist industry in Prague?

Most moving sight of the day: Alfonse Mucha, one of my favourite artists, contributed a stained glass window to St.Vitus' cathedral, the massive gothic centrepiece of the Prague Castle (and palace). This cathedral is what gothic is all about: sunlight from the upper windows bathing the entire nave in daylight. A miracle in action.
Anyway, the window. A Crayola box of Art Nouveau: vivid purples and greens and crimsons and golden yellows, depicting a dozen scenes. Every single scene a moving, character filled moment of drama where age and agony and religion are etched on the faces of the players. A colourful fantasy of deep moving humanity. Unbelievable.

deutschland 2.0

back in frankfurt. we flew over zurich to get here. so excited to go back to CH that im glad it´s last -- ill only leave it if i have to. heck, maybe i wont leave it.
prague in... 1.5 hrs. gotta go catch my flight.
never mind, pushed back another 15 mins.
anyway, i got frisked by security here an hour ago. like a massage only too short and vertical. Better than in the US though, because she wasnt wearing gloves. that always makes me feel doubly dirty: dirty to them and dirty from every earlier person the woman has frisked with those gloves. you´re only supposed to use a condom once, dammit.
no idea what to expect in prague. i love being linguistically bewildered. i can already figure out castle, church, cemetary etc and the genetive from looking at a map. road morphology yippee. damn excl mrk doesnt work.

provence

had an unbelievably picturesque 24 hrs in provence with sarah. shelives in the country which mwans not in a major city but close enogh to hear the neighbour´s kids giggle.
went swimming in the sea, had a picnic, had breakfast in the harbour of Cassis, saw a provencale parade {parade= and wine festival. and boat around les calanques

deutshcland

german kids whine really cute.
german airport internet keyboards suck.

blue skies over London

i got to london on an earlier direct flight, ambushed my sister @ heathrow & scared the bejesus out of her, and we had breakfast. yum. yay.
heathrow was an ordeal. beauiful gorgeous sunny day in London thogh. what happened?
möre later.

stand down

I'm not going to Vancouver. Not going to law school, this year anyway.
Tonight I leave for Marseille, then Prague, then Zurich.

Have you ever spent time with somebody as a form of gluttony? Where every moment makes you feel alive, makes you happy and sparkly, but you are aware that in the end it will be bad for you, that the time you are spending is your own to lose, and in the end it will break your heart.

it sucks to be addicted to people you can never keep in your life.