flu, electrical problems, and lousy orientation

In France I have somehow morphed into a damsel in distress!

It all began with my couchsurfing request. Last minute, desperate, so appreciative when Thibault said it was alright for me to stay on his couch for 2 days. I arrived Thursday afternoon (late, because my plane was delayed) in Paris and took the metro to Montmartre where Thibault's flat was located. Also the location that most of Amelie was shot in and around, so for those of you not already familiar - extremely picturesque!! It was cold and rainy and I was feeling exhausted already when I arrived, but I explored the city with Thibault's other couchsurfer Gaelo for a little while and it was as beautiful as I imagined it would be, maybe more so. It looks like every amazingly perfect photo and movie you've ever seen shot in Paris.

Next day, Halloween. Gaelo had the only spare key, so we agreed to meet at 5 o'clock and go to the Louvre. I wandered around Montmartre, explored the beautiful cemetary, spent a long brunch at a cafe.. Word of advice - if you're not feeling 100%, don't eat a croque monsieur and drink coffee and smoke cigarettes in the rain. By the time I got to the gorgeous old Shakespeare and Company bookstore, I kind of felt like I wanted to lie down and die. I perked up a little watching the british hipsters working there carving pumpkins and listening to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack.

I halfheartedly went sightseeing for a bit longer, finally ending up at Notre Dame, where I wandered in an appreciative daze for a while. Then when I finally sat down, with the big beautiful organ music and the murmur of tourist babble in many foreign languages enveloping me, I realized that I was really not well, and probably needed to lie down as soon as possible. So I sat for 2 hours in the cathedral, kind of floating in and out of consciousness, and it wasn't a wholly unpleasant experience.
When it was finally 5 o'clock, I met Gaelo, canceled our Louvre appt, went back to Thibault's were he was preparing a dinner party for his friends and crept into my bed with all my clothes on and passed out for hours, waking up from time to time to puke. What a scary halloween indeed!!

The next day, Thibault was leaving early to catch a flight, so I had to leave early with all my bags. I was weak and dehydrated and as I lugged my heavy bags across the city to the luggage lockers at Gare Montparnasse, I vowed to never travel again (or at least not bring any luggage).

Amused myself around Paris til 5 o'clock when I went to catch my train. Got on safe and sound, but then - disaster! After 10 minutes the train stopped and there were all sorts of announcements in French, of which I understood only completely non-vital words. Sitting next to me was a really sweet little 19 year old veterinary student named Yun, who thankfully translated that we were having electrical problems and would be delayed indefinitely.
Eventually after many hours it was clear that I would be missing my connecting coach from Le Mans to the tiny town of La Fleche where I was then going to be picked up by my wwoof host Joyce. Yun was more concerned than me, seemingly, and insisted I use his cell phone to call her. But of course, I look in my bag only to realize I misplaced it. How handy!! So Yun called his friend and had him look up the website and get her number, and then of course he let me call her, and she was already back from trying to pick me up at the station by then, and was really flustered. I ended up taking the train to the small city of Angers and spending the night in the Citotel L'Universe next to the train station, where Joyce would pick me up in the morning. Excitement!

Then of course I only had like an hour to explore Angers in the morning before I got picked up. It's an extremely beautiful city with an old chateau and a big cathedral and little windy cobblestone streets. So lovely. I glanced at the map in the hotel, and happily wandered off, nibbling a croissant and sipping a cafe creme and snapping photos. I thought I was looping in a large circle, but somewhere along the way I stopped paying attention for a few blocks, and after 40 minutes of walking I was totally and utterly lost. I stayed lost even after checking the map at a bus stop, and finally had to ask directions. I asked this incredibly beautiful man who looked like a more rugged frenchier version of Colin Farrell, with a pony tail, rolling a cigarette on the hood of his car. His response was a very concerned "oh la la" (for real!) when I said I was looking for the train station. He showed me on a map and it was ridiculously far. So, he offered to take me there. Now, I know you're not supposed to get in cars with strange hot french men in unfamiliar cities, but it seemed wiser than getting myself more lost, and I was secretly hoping he'd kidnap me anyways! hah. No such luck. He didn't really speak much English, but I gathered that he was a dentist originally from La Rochelle, which was a much more beautiful city on the Atlantic Coast. Why don't dentists look like him in New York? Anyways, I sadly did not get kidnapped, he just drove me to my destination and I was rescued for like the 80 billionth time this trip. What a wimp I'm becoming!















So now I am living at La Bresnadiere, a beautiful tiny farm in Fougere, in the Loire Valley. Along with Virginia, the other wwoofer, I cut back like 8 bramble patches and cleared 5 wheelbarrows full of donkey poo from Poppy the donkey's big pasture. Virginia is leaving tomorrow, and it'll be hard to follow in her footsteps because she's reeeeally wonderful. Smart and sweet and helpful and Joyce has totally bonded with her. It's always a little awkward to be the unfavored new wwoofer. But, I think I'll like it here! Sooner or later, I have to figure out what happens next. Where do I go? What do I do? Damned if I know.

Couchsurfing in Oslo

I really love Bergen! What a beautiful city. I had such a great time staying at Helge's place. The first night I stayed there, I met him when he was done with school, and it was pouring rain and totally miserable out. So we went to his apartment and I unloaded all my sopping wet bags and he brewed some jasmine tea and we sat there in his cozy living room drinking tea and listening to his fabulous record collection. I couldn't have asked for a better evening after such a long and cold wet day of traveling!

He was busy most of the time I was there, but he gave me his spare cell phone and my own set of keys to his flat! So for two days I felt like an independent woman for the first time in a long time. It was a really nice feeling. I also found the big Fretex, Norwegian Salvation Army store, and had a good time feeling right at home shopping for second hand stuff. Found an old leather Nike shoulder bag for $5 that actually seemed like quite a practical purchase because my canvas tote bag was simply not drying after all that frickin rain I put it through. And also cheap embroidered leather hightop sneakers, just because I was feeling so boring with the same 3 outfits for 2 months straight!!

On Friday afternoon, I met up with the lovely Vilde (Anders' daughter) and we drank Chili Kakao (which is really rich cocoa with a ton of chili powder dumped in it) at Vågen (which is an adorable little cafe). Then my good fortune continued, and after wandering the pleasantly dry streets of Bergen for a little while, she invited me over to her place for dinner, with her brother and his friends. So now I've finally met the entire Braanaas family, and I must say, they're all extraordinarily lovely!

I took the train on Saturday from Bergen to Oslo, the same one I'd taken in August the opposite direction. We passed through the same mountains, but this time they were covered in like 3 feet of snow!! It was seriously a winter wonderland. We stopped at all these tiny little mountain villages, and passengers got off the train with their cross country skis, and I got jealous all over again and decided I wanted to be a rugged mountain woman (this from the warm comfort of my cushy train seat, of course).

So right now I'm in Oslo, staying with two really sweet gay boys I found on couchsurfing.com. Medwin is Filippino and his boyfriend Mihai is from Romania. As soon as I arrived on Saturday night, they took me out to a dinner party at their friends house! Fortunately I was warned of this in advance, so I was able to obtain a good bottle of Argentinian wine from Helge to bring them! The friends were a Norwegian-Russian gay couple who'd just recently gotten married and were so happy and sweet and wonderful. We even ate leftover wedding cake for dessert! I should've taken photos but I honestly forgot to. (This is why I don't call myself a photographer)
It was such a fun giggle-filled evening. They were all so welcoming to this stranger who'd just plopped down among them.

On Sunday, Mihai accompanied me around the city for the day. We went to Vigeland Park to see some really strange (and in my opinion, ugly) sculptures. It was perfect weather, so we also went to the Royal Palace, but we couldn't go inside because the flag was raised, which meant the King was there. The King actually lives there, and you can wander around his front yard. Isn't that funny? I'm not used to living Kings, I guess. Hah! We attempted to go to the Munch Museum because one of the guidebooks lied and said it was free after October 1st, when in fact it was like $12, which we didn't feel like spending. So instead we went to the National Gallery, which is most definitely free, and has a whole room full of Munch paintings, including The Scream, which I am not actually a huge fan of anyways (gasp! sacrilege!). But there were a ton of other paintings from various Norwegian artists, and many of them were extraordinarily beautiful, and the museum itself was really nice.
We ended our touristy day by walking along the waterfront to the famous Opera House. I think it's my favorite thing I've seen in Oslo, and I was surprised by how much I loved it, because I'm not even really a fan of weird modern architecture. But oh my god, it's so cool!! It's this strange low white building with incredible textures, and the side of it goes right on down plunging into the sea, and you can walk all over the slanted side and the roof! They have a gorgeous lighting arrangement at night.

This evening, I am meeting up with my friend Jørgen, who I met through his internship with the Woodstock Film Festival back in 2003 when I was working there. I'll be crashing his couch for the next couple of days. So excited for our reunion! Less excited to carry my bag all over the city once again, but hey, maybe I am getting super strong in the process (or just destroying my back, either one..).

I'm so rugged

Well I had a slightly tiring but not so bad day today.

I left Ytre Lygra after lunch. Erik loaded me up with enough freshly baked bread to last me like 5 days, which is so so perfect. I baked it myself, with raisins and cinnamon and cardamom. It's quite delicious.

The last bus from Lygra leaves at 1:05pm. I left the house at like 12:45 and walked the 5 mins up to the bus stop and sat there waiting. By 1:25, still no bus. I started panicking. Decided I had most definitely waited at the wrong bus stop (there are many that seem to not be in use). I'd had a really lovely goodbye from Erik, and I didn't feel like going back and being like "Umm, I waited at the wrong bus stop and now you have to ruin the rest of your workday by driving me somewhere far away to another bus terminal".

So I sat there weighing my options for a while, and decided I was gonna be tough and independent and think outside the box or whatever. I put my massively heavy backpack on my back and pulled up my hood and started walking in the direction of civilization. I walked for like 3 kilometers without seeing any cars at all. All the houses were dark and empty looking. Everyone appeared to be at work. The rain was pouring down nonstop, combined with wind so it was going horizontal and completely soaking me. I was getting more and more cranky, but still trying to be brave. Couldn't accept defeat and go crawling back to Erik's.

Finally I came to this boathouse on the side of the road with a car parked outside. There was a dude putting on full waterproof gear from his trunk. I went up to him and apologetically told him I'd missed my bus and was looking for a way to get to Knarvik or any other nearby town. He was this sweet little old man with huge glasses who barely spoke a word of English, but I finally got across what I was trying to say, and he asked me to wait in the car with his wife while he bailed out his boat. His wife spoke literally no English, so we sat there smiling at each other in silence, and shared some of the organic snackpack that Annette packed for me with apricots and chocolate and coconut and raisins. When the old man got back to the car, he was on his cell phone. I don't know who he'd called, but he'd found out that there had been a 2 hour bus strike, which is how I missed my bus! It had never actually showed! But they were soon to be running again, according to his source. He offered to drive me all the way to the bus station in Knarvik!! I don't think he was heading there, because his wife had to make a phone call seemingly telling someone they'd be late because they were driving some crazy soaking wet tourist to Knarvik. Hah!

Anyways, it took like 30 minutes to get to Knarvik, and I was just so extraordinarily happy that I wasn't walking in the rain. I guess it could have turned out really terrible. But it didn't. When I got to Knarvik I thanked the guy like 4oo times and he seemed quite pleased that he'd been helpful. I only had to wait like 10 minutes for the next expressbuss to Bergen, and it only cost about $6!! So I saved money and had a nice human experience and maybe gave the old couple a little story to tell people later about a half drowned New Yorker they rescued from a bus strike. :)

Now I am in Bergen and I am still cold and wet. I left my huge pack in a luggage locker in the train station and went to the Norwegian Salvation Army store (Frotek) looking for a cool sweater. Was too wet to comfortably try them on. Now I'm in the library drying off and obviously using the internet. In an hour I have to go meet the guy whose couch I am crashing on for the next couple of nights. He is a friend of Erik and Annette's who I haven't met before, but he sounds wonderful. All of their friends have been extraordinarily sweet, so I'm sure he will be as well. I bought some organic coffee to bring to him. I'm meeting him at some strange hippie cafe with lots of free strange books to read. Sounds like a perfect meeting spot!