First Time in London!

I arrived back in France safely last night after a week-long trip to England.  It was my first time in the UK.

We left Perpignan on Saturday morning and flew direct to London.  The airport in Perpignan is extremely small with a very limited number of flights.  Lucky for us, Ryanair, which is a budget airline that operates in Perpignan, flies direct to London.  I received my first passport stamps for both Perpignan and London!

After arriving in London Stansted, which actually isn't in London, we hopped on a train to get us into the city.  We stopped for lunch (I had a delicious duck stir fry) and we made our way to the hostel, Palmer's Lodge Swiss Cottage.  It's a unique place, situated in a historic building with a knight's armour hanging out by the staircase.  It was a perfect base for our three-night stay. We dropped off our things and promptly left to start exploring.  We took the Underground to Baker Street (famous for Sherlock Holmes) and started walking.  It's fun to explore a city's architecture and culture just by wandering around.   Eventually we decided to change pace and hopped on the tube to go see Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the London Eye.  These looked and felt like the "London experience" that I was expecting since they're some of the most photographed tourist sites in the world!

It was getting late, so we found some dinner and then met up with a friend.  We joined him for a birthday party and then went to a pub/ dance place for the night.  Getting back at 4AM, we took a quick but much-needed snooze before meeting up for brunch the next day.  Brunch at The Breakfast Club was delicious (I went with the "All American" option including eggs, potatoes, bacon, and pancakes). 

With full bellies, we continued our day with the British Museum, which houses the famous Rosetta Stone.  We only had time for a couple exhibits, including Ancient Rome, Egypt, and Japan.  That night, we decided to see the city from a different point of view, and met up with a free Jack the Ripper walking tour.  As the sun set, our guide led us through what was the dirtiest and most dangerous part of London (in the late 1800s), the Whitechapel district.  He explained the events that occurred during the murders by a man whose identity we can still only speculate.  Our guide explained the most likely culprits and the theories surrounding them.  

The gardens in bloom

The next morning woke us bright and early and we joined another walking tour, this time to learn about arguably the most famous area of London.  We saw the National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, the royal park, Churchill's bunker (or rather sat on top of it), Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, among other places.  We also witnessed the end of the changing of the guard that went to St James' Palace.  Our tour ended at a pub, where we grabbed a bite to eat.  I had my first fish n' chips.  We decided to go back to the National Gallery via Piccadilly Circus and see some of the art.  Sadly, many of the rooms were closed due to a strike, but we still saw many great works of art.  We had a little time left, so we went to see the iconic Tower Bridge and I enjoyed a creamy ice cream there.  It was our last night in London.  We grabbed a romantic dinner nearby the hostel and got to bed early since our bus for Manchester was leaving first thing in the morning.

The three days were a great introduction to London, but I feel like I barely scratched the surface of all that the city has to offer.  London is definitely a big city with a big city feel. 

Changing of the guards

The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum

Always being watched

National Gallery

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben (which is actually the bell inside the clocktower) and the iconic red telephone booth

Tower Bridge

With love from London...

Les Géants de Villefranche-sur-Conflent

On Easter Sunday, I wanted to do something special.  While searching online, I discovered that the cute town of Villefranche-sur-Conflent was having an Easter event involving paper maché giants!

We arrived with the 1 euro train from Perpignan around 9am and had some time to walk around before the event started.  We ambled from the train station up the river to the fortified village.  The village is surrounded by a large wall and part of the river with Fort Liberia overlooking it from the nearby hill.  We entered through the drawbridge and gate.  Walking around, we came upon a mushroom exposition.  It was exactly what it sounds like... a display of some mushrooms with a little explanation.  After that, we found ourselves in a chocolate shop then a cookie shop, sampling our way through the town.  We did some shopping and I got myself some cute new sandals.

We saw some individuals starting to set up their giants.  They were very tall hollow figures that someone could stand inside and lift up.  Then, they could dance too!   Around 10:30, the party was starting.  The giants were assembled and people were gathering with their instruments.  There were about four sets of giants, always with a man and a woman, accompanied by a band.  The bands were varied; most had a drummer and some funny horns that sounded slightly like a kazoo.  I noticed that some of the groups were speaking in Spanish or Catalan.  I believe this type of event may have evolved from a similar event in Spain.

The giant couples started dancing and spinning along and the parade started.  Just as they started going, I noticed an old woman watching from the window.  Some others noticed as well, and a group of men decided to offer her a flower.  They lifted one up who presented a happy, yellow daisy, the man and old woman exchanged bisous (a kiss on each cheek), and the old woman started crying with tears of joy.  She was so touched by a simple act of kindness.  

The parade was moving on and everyone walked from one end of the village to the other (in about ten minutes), gathered for a few more minutes, and walked through the town again.  All in all, everyone was in a very festive mood.  They enjoyed the funny music and dancing.  I was enjoying it too!  After the festivities were done, we found a cafe to spend our afternoon in.  We spent a couple hours enjoying our paninis and sangria and sitting in the sun before returning home by train.  Even though it wasn't my typical Easter Sunday, it was fun to be somewhere festive and happy experiencing someone else's traditions.

Hello in there!

Villefranche giants getting ready for the day.

Making an effort to share a daisy with this woman.

Bisous. Thank you.

Then there's these tourists taking pictures up the giant's skirt...

Little man walking through town...

Musicians leading the way through town.

Catalan knight at your service.

Drummer boy

La Sanch Video

Here's a quick supplement to my post about the Sanch procession in Perpignan.  You can really feel the grimness excuded by the drums and the cloaked and masked men in this video.

La Sanch

The Friday before Easter or Good Friday, I witnessed a very unique tradition in Perpignan called La Sanch.  It seems to be a tradition dating from 1461 that is only maintained in a few towns and villages in this part of France.  

La Sanch means "the blood" in Catalan.  It was a long procession that was somber and quiet.  Men played drums and wore long robes with a tall pointy hat in black or red.  These robes made it impossible to identify the person, which supposedly was originally to hide the identity of criminals, penitents and executioners on their way to the gallows.  Others carried heavy images of Christ or the cross to reenact Christ's Passion.  Women wore black veils.  Some recited verses and some were silent.  Another unique part of the outfit was that some people walked the procession with bare feet to symbolize their connection to Christ. 

To learn more about La Sanch, its history, and its significance, visit this link:  http://www.anglophone-direct.com/La-procession-de-la-Sanch. 

It was a really unique procession, and many people arrived in Perpignan for the day to witness it.  It was a beautiful, warm day with people lining the streets and an eerie silence, broken by a bell, drums and chants as the procession took place. 

100th Post!

This post marks by 100th published post on this blog, Passport to Adventure!  Well it's big quite the adventure since starting the blog in 2011, and I want to say thank you to my loyal readers as well as those who simply pass by.  Originally created as a means to share my travels with family and friends back home, this blog has continued to be just that while also allowing me an outlet to record stories and some of my favorite pictures, just like a journal. Sometimes I share my thoughts on important topics, and other time I simply enjoy sharing a few pictures from a sunny day.

Now four years later, it's interesting to see the number of people who have visited my site: 7,570 visits as of today!  Wow!  Blogger can even give me some statistics who that is: the large majority of my audience is in the U.S., but I've also had visitors from France, Norway, Russia, Germany, the U.K., Poland, and Canada among others. 

My most visited and popular post is about Alesund and Mount Slogen.  This post has drawn people in even from various Google searches!  It includes my favorite photo, pictured below.  I love the picture because it's incredible and breathtaking, but also because of the wonderful story and journey that it took to reach that point in my life.  

 The photo was taken by my friend Brian on our long-weekend trip away from Oslo International Summer School.  We decided that we wanted to go hiking and experience the fjords of Norway.  We made a skeleton of a plan, and after a couple wrong turns, this was the unexpected result.  I remember standing on that rock, palms a little sweaty, legs on the verge of shaking, looking out over the blue fjord.  It was just the two of us on the top of that outcropping for a few minutes, and at that moment, nothing else mattered. 

It just goes to show that some of the most wonderful moments in life are the least expected.  With that, I urge all you, my readers, to take risks once in a while, find a new adventure, or simply look at the beauty in your life.  It's all around. 

Thank you,
Danielle

Saturday in Ceret

Last Saturday, I spent a wonderful day touring around Ceret and the Pyrenees mountains.

The director of the Maison de l'Europe in Perpignan, where I volunteer, decided to take an Italian girl doing an internship at the Maison and myself on an excursion to see his town and then to explore the Pyrenees and the French - Spanish border.

The Canigou mountain from Ceret

Beautiful blooms

 

We arrived late morning (after some local bus troubles) by means of the regional 1 euro bus (perfect!) and immediately set off on our adventure.  Ceret is known for a few things: its big and diverse Saturday market, its modern art museum, rugby, and cherries.  The director, our guide for the day, loved sharing everything with us as we walked through town.  He showed us where the old city lines were.  We went to the mediatheque which was basically a combination of a fancy library and an art gallery, where they were unveiling the opening to some very cool exhibitions, one in photography and the other in 3D art that was a mix of glass mosaics and metal.  We saw a separate exhibition on 100 years of rugby photography at another stop.  At each place, our guide seemed to know someone, so we met the mayor and the finance guy for the town among many others.

Giovanna and I in Ceret

Giant loofas at the market!

Ceret Saturday market

Showing off Picasso's signature on this fountain in Ceret

Pi (pronounced pee) - k (pronounced ka) - sceau (bucket - pronounced so) = Picasso!! Isn't that clever!!

After two hours of walking, admiring, and meeting people, we were welcomed into our guide's house for a quick refreshment before going to meet his family at a restaurant for a late lunch.  I had a Catalan dish, that was basically an assortment of cured meats, cheeses, and pan à la tomate.  It was customary to take a piece of bread, rub it with a raw garlic clove, then rub it with a tomato, and top it with meat.  It was really quite delicious.  I finished the meal with a delicious fondant au caramel and a taster of sweet Banyuls wine. 

After a wonderful meal, we hopped in the car for the second half of our adventure.  We followed a route into the mountains along the Via Domitia.  The Via Domitia was the first Roman road, and it stretched all the way from Italy to Spain.  You can still find traces of it in the Pyrenees between France and Spain.  That's pretty incredible!  Fun fact: the University of Perpignan is named after this route.  Also in this area, we followed a small winding road, which happened to by Napoleon's road where he cross the Pyrenees on his way to Portugal.  Apparently, he never made it though as there was an unfortunate incident in Madrid where many people attempted an uprising and it turned into complete bloodshed.  But for us, it was beautiful views and strong winds that tried to knock us off our feet at each stop.

Following the Via Domitia

As we followed these routes, we came upon a great fortress designed by Vauban, like many of the fortifications in this area.  The fortress is in the shape of a star, and it seems like it's out of a fairy tale with his gate and moat.  We walked around it and admired the views, being able to see both France and Spain in one view.  Just below this fortress, we explored the border town of Perthus, which is divided right down the middle (longways) between France and Spain.  The town itself wasn't particularly beautiful and we were told that it doesn't have such a nice reputation now (i.e. trafficking and other bad stuff), but it was fun hearing about our guide's experiences there as a teenager and how he'd always go to a certain cafe with his friends on payday and such. 

View from the fortress

Finally, our last stop was to check out the end of the Via Domitia where it changed name to the Via Augusta for those continuing into Spain.  At this point, we also learned about the system of "bornes" which mark the border.  They are large columns each with a number ranging from 1 to 602 to physically show where the border lies.  They were designated in the Treaty of the Pyrenees marking the end of the war between the two countries, and to this day, they cannot be removed or altered in any way by either country.

"In memory of all the men and women who in time of fascism took these paths towards liberty" (Or something like that - it's in Catalan!)

Borne #567

Our incredible guide and friend, Jean-Marie

At that point, we were exhausted and it was time to head home.  So we followed the route back down from the mountains, and saw a beautiful sunset on our way back to Perpignan.  It was a very full day, and it was clear how passionate and excited the director was to show us everything.  I'm very thankful to be able to have experiences like this.