I have moved further into the Rhône-Alps region and planted myself in what I assume would be considered the foothills of those enormous and somewhat daunting peaks. My village of choice, Annecy has the best of both worlds: slow flowing rivers crisscross the old town leaving old buildings to open right on the water and after losing yourself in the very medieval-feeling alleyways you exit back out into the sunlight right smackdab on the edge of a lake. You're at the head of a valley and further on to either side mountains rise, their tops covered in pure, untouched snow. I chose to take advantage of the fine, sunny weather we've been having (currently no freakish storms) and took myself on a little hike up around the hills on the lake. Yes, me, the self-proclaimed city ... read more

Note to self: Look at train ticket after purchase to determine if indeed it isa train ticket. Sheesh! Left the Toulouse hostel (the one way in the bum-stink, to use my previous words) right when the sun, a bright, blood red-orange, peeked over the rooftops. Ah, that makes it all worth it. :) Took a train to Bordeaux where I got to witness myself, circa ten years ago. A mother set her young daughter on the train, waving at her through the window until the cars started to move and even then chasing them a little way down the platform. The girl blushed in classic embarrassment as the train pulled out and us fellow travelers smiled knowingly and perhaps just a bit patronizingly since we've all been in her position. Then she proceeded to explore the ... read more

"There are years that ask questions and there are years that answer." -Zora Neal Hurston I had thought this would be the latter kind, but I'm discovering that clarity is elusive and doubt sets in like a fungus: always beneath the surface, ready with new tendrils. I can't say what exactly has me locked in this self-reflection mode but it's a difficult trap to spring. Maybe it's the fact that what my trip is and what I had expected it to be do not coincide; that change comes so unexpectedly that any reaction feels dreadfully belated; or that what I had hoped to find here, knowing in my heart I wouldn't, is indeed absent or fleeting. This is not a post about a place I've been to see. This is catharsis. I recently met someone on ... read more

Adios to Barcelona and Bonjour encore to France! I am leaving the Catalans behind and I think we will both be content with ourselves and I can only hope my French hasn´t completely disappeared. Keep all your fingers crossed!! Barcelona is definitely an interesting city. I can´t quite decide what I think about it: it´s charms are hidden but once you make the effort to find them, you´re blown away. Not by the sheer "amazingness" of it all, but just because it was nothing like you expected and still you can´t help appeciating it for what it is. Like I mentioned before, it´s mostly architecture that makes you whip out your camera here rather than fantastic views or famous works of art. The city got a facelift in recent years (recent being the last 100) and ... read more

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now ushering in the second month of the new year and all that it holds in ways of travelling. I haven´t quite hit the two month exactly but it´s coming around the corner and I feel a resurgence of energetic spirit and can I just say it? I´m hella excited!!! Thus far my February has been cold and grey but fun nonetheless. I spent a day at the coldest beach I´ve ever seen, nearly drove myself off a mountain, navigated through a snowstorm on back country roads in the dark, and crossed the border into the much-more-foreign land of Spain. All in a week´s work! But I suppose that is getting a little ahead of myself. I will backtrack. After my disappointing, or rather anticlimactic experience in Provence, I chose to ... read more