First you must know where I come from

Wait a minute.

I don't want to go to Cannes yet, I think it is first important to let you know where I was staying first. Plus that is the order my pictures are in, and Asher has more Cannes pictures than I do and I think his camera is still packed.

Our friends we stayed with live in the village of Gilette (pronounced like the razor company). I am not exactly sure how old the town is, but I can tell you this, when they were remodeling the house they found a coin from 1579 wedged between the beams and when we were walking to the nearby town of Claves, there was a plaque above a meadow describing that in Roman times it was used as a community garden of sorts.

Saying it is old is an understatement.

This picture was taken from the balcony of our friends house. You get a good view of the village, the village square and the ruins of castle Gilette. The castle is one of 3 destroyed monuments in the area. (The others are the Fortress of Nice and the Trophy of the Alps, the later I also explored.) They were destroyed by Louis the 14th, who had decided that once he won the territory from Italy that he would destroy the monuments in case the territory (piedmont) would ever fall back in Italian hands, which it did. (Our friend Fabrizio is a walking wikipedia and makes a really great tour guide.)


There is a small business area including this patisserie that was hard to deal with because we were so close, and they would start baking baguettes at 3 a.m. I wanted to break the doors down and eat all of the bread in sight, but contained myself.

We spent two relaxing days here, walking around and exploring the castle and the two bars there. There aren't a lot of tourists. They do have a tourism office, but it is never open. I heard that was on purpose.

Gilette is a half hour to 45 minute drive from Nice down a windy mountain road. There is public transportation, but often times a ride down the mountain from a fellow villager is the most reliable. (Merci Francoise!) There are 3 buses down the mountain, but coming back up the buses are few and far between.

Nice is 45 minutes to an hour from Cannes, depending on traffic.

Next stop Cannes. I mean it this time.

I am back

Did you know that the flight path of all LAX to LHR flights goes directly over my parents house? I didn't, but when we flew over the Leech Lake Indian Reservation and Hibbing, I wanted to turn to the guy next to me and say we were flying over my home town, but decided against the dorkiness of it.

I do have a way of putting my foot into my mouth.

Did you also know that all gluten free meals on airplanes involve fish? Airplanes and fish do not mix. They are polar opposites. (Feh!)

As I am working on keeping you all updated to my week abroad, I will also be starting a flickr page with all of the pictures I will not be posting online, because there are so many.

Pictured is the approach to Nice over the Mediterranean Sea.

I will be posting the pictures as I blog and you can see all of the photos that are missing by going to my flickr photo stream click and go.

Next stop Cannes.

back home tomorrow. Boo.
I promise to give the full details when I get back. Maybe not tomorrow night. This weekend for sure with illustrations

today we are spending a relaxing day in Gilette, the mountain town where we are staying. There was a castle here, but it was ordered to be destroyed by Louis the 14th. The ruins sit high above the town. The house we are staying in is 400 years old. I have pictures.

today i was in 3 countries. I had a gelato in Italy, did the Gran Prix route after the race was over and saw a monument to Augustus Ceasar in France.Not bad for a day.

Did I see Brad Pitt? No.
I did see Dita Von Tease. Who is a famous burlesque dancer. Asher said I should say hi, but I was too shy.

I just got back from cannes. Yes, I know it is 2:30 in the morning here. I have not gotten used to the time change. I wish I could post pictures from my iPod but alas you will have to wait. I have some great pictures, including one of me going up the red carpet to see a film in the Gran Palais.

I am here. I wish i could have kept you updated en route. I would have told you that there was an Elvis impersonator on the plane and that heathrow is like a mall. I don't have too many characters left so I will post this now and write more later.

thanks

Thank you for all of the well wishes on my journey.

I am very glad to get out of here with all of the earthquakes happening lately.

I will try to keep you posted, but it all depends on how accessible the internet is.

love you!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I would like to say Happy Mother's day to all of you moms out there. I would like to take a moment to tell you some of the things I have learned from the moms in my life.

Grandma Magoo- The best advocate you have for you is you. No one else will be an advocate for you.
Gaga-Always think happy thoughts, and always have a good moisturizer.
Mandu- It is possible to have a broken foot, an active toddler and still get employee of the month.

And finally from my mom I learned- If you love someone let them know, to be supportive of the ones you love and if you are out in public it is always best to be friendly. I also learned a new language, that only my mom and my sisters speak.

six of one......

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

today

My computer is back from the spa. I am very happy. Trying to post from my ipod proved a bit harder than I thought. Not a lot of free wireless in Los Angeles. I hope Europe will be a bit more liberal with free internet.

Today I tried an amazing and strange thing, Green Lemonade, from M Cafe De Chaya. You might remember me talking about that place before. You know the macrobiotic place around the corner from Pink's. I thought that it was green lemonade because it was infused with green tea, but no it was infused with........KALE JUICE. Weird huh? It was actually pretty good and a great way to get in your greens. If only I knew what to do to make kale juice.

I have been preparing for my trip. Less than two weeks, I can't believe it. I am slowly planning what to bring. I am not sure if I will be able to get into any of the events, so I am not sure how fancy I should get.

The rest of this weekend I am helping Asher with his one sheets and prepping him to go.

it looks like my computer will be at the spa for 3 to 5 days. I am now posting from my iPod. It seems to work pretty well. If only my fingers were smaller.

computer

I am dropping off my computer today to get fixed. I am not sure how long it will be in the shop.

It will be fixed for free, which is nice for a change.

Some of us were joking about how your expenses expand to meet your income. For example, you get a raise and your tv breaks.

That is just the way it is I guess.

I will try keeping you posted still. I really want to try to post from my ipod, which I will be doing while I am away.

week

This was a really hard week. Wondering if I would be laid off, if I would be able to still take a trip of a lifetime, if I wasn't laid off , which of my friends would go?

People I really liked working with are gone, like they disappeared into thin air. Layoffs are a strange thing, there is no closure process. People are just gone.

I tried to take the impending doom the best that I could by doing the following:

I had my first Karaoke experience (pictured) at a local Korean Karaoke house called Feel. It is one of several karaoke houses in Koreatown. Read more about Koreatown here . I love places like Feel, there are several in the area, because it's you in a room with your closest friends, singing away WITH NO STAGE. Think the karaoke scene in "Lost in Translation".

I have always been too shy to sign the karaoke, but I figured hey, why not? I sang Oasis' "Wonderwall", "Sweet Caroline" by Mr. Neil Diamond and back up on "Twist and Shout" I thought it best to start with the classics that everyone will sing along, so they could drown me out. Next I'll try the hard stuff.

Karaoke is good for stress.

I also attended a comedy/music show put together by Asher and some friends. I'll save that for another post, as this post is getting a bit long in the tooth.

What is your favorite song to sing at Karaoke? You know where to email me at.