covered in salt

at some point i hope to have time to actually write a legitimate blog and post all the adventures that have been filling my days thus far... now does not appear to be that time as this internet cafe is closing in just a few minutes.

 

my trip has taken a very different turn than anyone expected with the horrible events in haifa, and the israel-lebanon border right now.  it is hard to feel so disconnected, especially when this affects me so directly and so closely... it seems all i can do is try my best to stay in touch and updated on the situation, which is hard.  relying on the international herald tribune, and occassional internet access is a strange way to keep on top of such a rapidly developing major situation... my thoughts and concerns are there, i feel like im on the wrong side of the mediterranean right now...

 

which brings me to the title of this post... today we are in nice (in southern france) and went to the beach (which, as my mother warned me from her backpacking trip through europe in the 70's, is actually really rocky and not sand at all).  i swam a bit in the mediterranean, which was beautiful, etc etc.  as a kid from the midwest, all the time ive ever spent in my life swimming in non-swimming pool bodies of water has been in lakes... and thus, i learned the hard way that when one swims in a body of saltwater, it is best to take advantage of the showery things on the beach and rinse off said saltwater, instead of letting it airdry in the sun... while that sounds lovely, having dry salt caked all over your body is not the most pleasant of sensations.  but you live, you learn (yessss i love when i inadvertantly quote alanis morrisette)

 

ill try to give a quick rundown of whats been going on so far, but i fear this place is closing as we speak...

 

basics: started off in paris for 3 days, then went to lyon, then to marseille for a day, monaco for a day, and nice.  tomorrow we head to switzerland, where will will go to geneva, interlaken, and bern.  from switzerland, we're heading to luxembourg, then to amsterdam, brussles/bruges, dublin, and ending up in london.  as of right now i have a flight from london to tel aviv on august 5th... we'll see what the next few weeks hold. 

 

highlights: ive eaten some really ridiculous things.  the top of this country (france) is not so vegetarian friendly... the medeterranean coast, however, has been better... our "let's go" book directed us to a vegan buffet (YUMMMMMMMMMM and so needed) in marseille and tonight to an adorable little hole-in-the-wall vegan restaurant in nice, run solely by this one woman...who adam and i decided was named something like rosemary or margerie or alice.  today was actually a big food day (shocking).  we made a concerted effort to eat things that were uniquely nicoise (though we did not do nicoise salad, as i dont eat tuna, and it is gross) which resulted in a multi-stage lunch (suprised?)... the first stage involved some slimy quiche, an unidentifiable fried vegetable substance, and more fried.  i was not such a fan. and the one thing that we read to eat, this place did not have. its called socca, and was described fried chick pea paste... being unsatisfied with lunch number one, on our walk to our next destination, we saw a stand that was selling "socca" and went for it.  the best assessment i can make is that socca is somewhere between a giant potato latke and big flat falafel...thus we called it "falatke"  not bad. not good. just falatke... glad we tried it.  

speaking of foods im glad we tried, today included not one, not two... but five different flavors of gelato... ok, maybe a bit excessive, but if were supposed to try the local flavor, and there are 40+, we've gotta start somewhere?  really it was that one place had an absurd selection,a nd we got 2, and then on our way out, we saw another place with other flavors we wanted to try...and decided we wouldnt have the opportuntiy to necessarily try it ever again, so on the way back form the beach, ended up trying three more. mmm.

the most important part of that story was the flavor selections... toblerone, roche (I love when things are based off of actual candy bars/delicious t hings like nutella gelato the other day in paris, mmmmm), creme brulee, cassis (i dont actually know what it is, i think it may be black currant, which i also dont really know what that is, but i recall valerie recommending it), and... t the kicker... AVOCADO.  ladies and gentleman, my world will never be the same.  my lifelong dream of creating a dessert hybrid of avocado and chocoalte chip cookies has finally seen a light at the end of the tunnel... avocado gelato.  there is photo documentation.  a full description to come eventually, but it was one of the most bizarre things ive ever tasted... not great, not bad at all, totally weird... avocado. what?!?!

 

i have been doing things other than just eating weird stuff and worrying about haifa, but i think this cafe is actually already closed...and the guy just hasnt kicked us out yet... or the two asian guys who are here playing online poker (hi j), and overusing the word "retarded" in really inappropraite contexts.  i digress.

 

lots of museums, lots of culture, lots of beautiful cities and unbelievable views... lots of churches called "basilique notre dame"... literally, we're going to our 4th tomorrow, just because its hilarious that every city we've been to in france has a church called notre dame.  one has a famous clock, one has a famous statue on top, one has a famous hunchback, and one was not open when we went today, so i dont know whats famous about it...but i am amused that it exists.   monaco lost 1 point in my book for not having a church called notre dame, that we could find, but won lots of points for being beautiful, which clearly is all that actually matters in life.  ha, i jest.

 

ok.  this place is definitely closed, and if its not, it should be... im covered in salt and in need of a shower... but i hope this post finds you well.  thank you again for your emails and concern, keep israel/lebanon in your prayers if that's your thing, and on your radar regardless...

 

hope to update more soon, miss you guys

-amy