End of weekend

As predicted, I was sick over the Easter weekend. Didn’t (couldn’t) get out of bed until 2:30pm on Good Friday. Saturday was a blur. Easter Sunday – thank goodness for cold and flu tablets, they allowed me to enjoy nasi lemak at my mum’s. Monday, I felt somewhat better but still very tired, so had a long nap during the day (does a four hour nap still count as a nap?). Today I am feel better again but still have an annoying cough. It feels like I have a giant blob of phlegm lodged in my chest that presses up against bits it shouldn’t when I lie down, so I start coughing. (Sorry, too much information, I’m sure.) Today is a university holiday so I am sitting here listening to REM, having just eaten a holiday breakfast (two pieces of fruit toast slathered with organic butter). One good thing about being sick: Paco slept with me the whole time. There’s something very comforting about having a warm furry little creature pressed up against you when you’re feeling like death warmed up. Especially when the little furry creature makes little sighs and moans in his sleep, and occasionally opens his big brown eyes to make sure you’re okay. Anyway, I should be fine in time to go back to work tomorrow.

The weekend wasn’t a complete loss, however, because we now have a bit of itinerary for our European trip in July. We even booked some hotels.

Roughly:
Monday 30 June – Friday 5 July: England (I’m sure it’s very nerdish of me, but besides London, I really want to visit either Oxford or Cambridge. Haven’t decided which, yet.)
Saturday 6 July – Thursday 10 July: France (Paris, Nice)
Friday 11 July – Friday 18 July: Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Groningen, plus the tiny town where M was born. Den Haag?)
Saturday 19 July – Saturday 26 July: Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt)

I’m particularly excited about the French leg of the trip, because a) it will be very very very cool to see Paris, and b) we have bought tickets to see REM! Their Accelerate Tour! In Nice! On 9 July! (All those exclamation marks? I am a Michael Stipe fanboi. From waaaaaaay back. Has an Australian Tour even been announced yet? No matter, I get to see them in France. WOOOOOOOT!)

Having said that, I am also quite nervous about going to La Belle France, because French is one language I have always had a mental block with. The only thing I can say in French, je ne parle pas Français (I don’t speak French), isn’t very helpful. (No, vouslez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir doesn’t count.)

I am really looking forward to this trip.

(Would it be very daggy to go and visit the set of The Bill?
It should be fun to ride a bike around Amsterdam.
The Berlin Wall Memorial (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer) will be interesting to visit.
I wonder if I can find some of the places in Paris described in the Maigret novels…)

9 Comments

Penny 25 March 2008

Oh Con – I do hope you will improve soon. It’s miserable having all that gunk. Get M to do percussive massage on your back – it might help loosen things up. And inhalations are also good for that.

I’m jelly of your trip! It sounds great. I would be a nerd with you and visit Oxford or Cambridge. Especially if it included visiting the Bodlian library. *heh* So many museums and galleries I want to see in London too.

My folks loved Berlin. We lived in Germany for a year – a little town called Bad Nauheim which is near Frankfurt. Love to go back now. We did a short tour of the Netherlands while we were there. For a strange reason it felt quite familiar. I think it’s because we have so many Dutch folk around here so things seemed less foreign than Germany. Weird.

Je parle un peu de Francais 🙂 I did 5 years at school. Many eons ago.

snail 25 March 2008

Hmmm having been to both Oxford and Cambridge…ummm…both are really nice. I think I saw a double rainbow in Cambridge and I liked the bookshops there more than Oxford. Forgotten the name of the big one though. On the other hand, Oxford was also great and has the Bodleian. I did a guided tour of the Bodleian and wish I could have taken the extended tour as it includes the Radcliffe Camera and underground.

CW 25 March 2008

Hmm. The Bodleian. Hmm…

peta 25 March 2008

On our trip to Europe in 2001, we had a few days in France and found the locals very friendly on the whole. Je parle français un petit peu. Tres petit peu. Providing we made some attempt at a greeting, they were very happy to show their superiority in multilingualism and spoke very good English with us.

Only in Calais did we encounter someone less than helpful – perhaps she was stressed by all the touristes asking questions when the trains rolled in from England.

You must go to the Palace of Versaille – day trip by train from Paris – take your ALIA card – I managed to get a discount because I was a Bibliothécaire. My husband got a discount because he was a teacher. Librarian was interpreted as book shop owner.

jl 25 March 2008

OMG! You’re going to Nice! I’m so envious. I loooove that part of the world. I reckon you should go to Cambridge – am biased tho’ because the Hub was born there. 🙂 Looks like it will be an awesome trip.

Fiona 25 March 2008

Bien! 😀

Do not worry too much about France. I can read some French ok but my speaking isn’t so great. As long as you can say “Je voudrais [insert want here] merci” they appreciate the effort, as Peta says.

Germany and Nederland, it is no problem to just speak English but I’m sure you’ll want to try out your Dutch 🙂 Berlin rocks btw – I absolutely love it. It’s gritty and arty and you can’t turn a corner without bumping into a piece of history.

Hope you feel better soon!

Tom 26 March 2008

Oxbridge: the Bodleian surely swings it. You could do both though, the distances are not like Australia.

More importantly: I may be in London in early July. I could give you the patented Goodfellow London Tour if you like.

TB 27 March 2008

Hi Con,
Hope you are feeling oK, better..
My brother-in-laws rellies live in Den Haag, love the houses.
Your trip sounds fantastic.
TB

John 28 March 2008

Try Maigret Traversees de Paris by Michel Carly published by Omnibus in Paris (ISBN 2-258-06226-8).
Have a good trip