It's Better in Beauvais

Okay, I know I haven't updated in a while, so here's a glimpse at what I've been up to.

Tuesday (29th) I was up bright and early to catch the train from Sahagun to Madrid. I arrived there at about noon, and spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the immense Prado Museum - quite good. After that I found my way to Madrid's airport and hung around like a vagrant until my super-red-eye flight at 5:45am. That brought me to Beauvais, France, where I am now.

So here I am, back in France and utterly at a loss for words as to how happy I am. I loved Spain, but France is still where my heart resides. I have an immense fondness for this country, and I'm sure over the course of the next month my blog will literally ooze with praise for all things French.

I'm staying here in Beauvais - which is about an hour north of Paris - with a friend I've made through CouchSurfing, Marianne. She's 7 months pregnant and lives with her new husband Thomas. They're both wonderful people, and have been completely welcoming, and played wonderful hosts.

Beauvais is the kind of place I'd like to live if I ever moved to France. It's not a huge town, but there's a ton of culture here! They have an amazing cathedral, and some really nice areas. Marianne and Thomas live right on the town's main plaza, and you can see the cathedral from their living room. I went and checked it out this afternoon, and it was just brilliant. It has the highest nave in all of France, only rivaled by a neighboring nave in actual size.

Through countless wars Beauvais has been shat upon by attacking forces, being ever re-built. It seems they have adopted the salamander as their symbol of fortitude, since I guess if you bake some earth to make a pot and it contained a live salamander it's said the creature will survive and find it's way out. I need to do some fact checking on that, but for now please assume that it is 100% true.

The amusing thing about the cathedral here is that it's only half built. I guess they just lost the desire to erect flying buttresses at some point, and so it only has one wing of the intended two. It does look a little off when you stare at it head on, but otherwise it is really a bit of architectural wonderment. Filled with incredible works of stained glass - which fill the area with a lulling blue light -, it also boasts a huge 190,000 piece mechanical clock which dates the age of the earth of all things. Really super.

So I'm here in Beauvais until Sunday, and then I will take the train into Paris. It's the first Sunday of the month, so many of the big museums are free. They'll be packed, but they'll be free, so I can't gripe. I'm staying with Rebekah's best friend, Jeanne, for a day or so (I guess however long I can get by on cooking for them! haha) and then I'll be CouchSurfing with others in Paris.

Last night Marianne made us a great pasta dinner, and a few of their friends joined us. We had a good time. She also introduced me to Whitney, a good friend of hers whom is also American. She reminds me a lot of my friend Hannah back home. Whitney came over again tonight and two other American CouchSurfers, Becky and Hannah, joined us. We had a lot of fun making crepes for dinner, both sweet and savory to round out the whole meal. It was a great time, and it's good to be around some fellow Americans.

Tomorrow my mission is to find some place to cheaply get my hair cut, and have my beard trimmed back enough that I can shave it, or have it completely shaved for me.

I bought some trendy French pants for a discount price at a local sporting goods store yesterday for less than 30 Euros. They're great, and much smaller than my pants I brought with me! That and the price makes them even better.

Oh, and I have legitimate proof that the French EAT horse. See the picture to the right of the "Chevalines" where they sell nothing but horse meat. Check out the look on that bust above the awning. Priceless. I'm going to try some before I leave. Yum - Flicka.

All in all, I'm so glad to be back in France. Last time I really felt so at home here, and I'm glad that feeling still exists. I don't care what anyone says about this place or their people - I'll take Beauvais (and to a greater but not as well rhymed extent, France) any day!

So, let me ask you... what do you think about Roman Villas???

Tuesday: The storm didn't last long and the power came back on. Yay. We had yummy Mexican food for lunch. Yayx2. It was nice all day, and then started to rain again. -(Yay).

Wednesday: Today though was a really awesome day. I got up and had some herba matte and my usual bread, then in an effort to not sit around all day Rebekah decided to organize a small daytrip to go check out some Roman Villas and Romanesque churches. (pretends he's his countryman Roman Polanski all rolled into one)

We headed out in the furganeta (misspelled Spanish for the kind of truck they have) and while we drove through rain and muddy roads I sat in the back reading my Europa Guide to see where I wanted to go in Greece and Italy. I also got carsick for the first time in my life. General queasiness, but I opened the window for some fresh air and felt almost immediately better. (Yay)^2

So we arrived at the museum for the first Roman Villa and it was closed! And it's been closed it seems since last summer. How odd. Things here in Spain move so slowly, regardless of how efficient the Romans themselves were!

So we carried on to San Pedro de Moarves where we found a church that wasn't bad, but slightly disappointing given we thought it was supposed to be much more wonderful. Realizing that it much be the next town, Moarves de Ojeda, we drove on and low and behold - wonderful Romanesque-ness! This church had a great arch and facade around the door - which was pretty groovy in and of itself - and inside was a great basin as well as several holy statuettes, including the widely adored St. Isidro. He's the man for farmers, let me tell you.

After the visit here we went on to a monestary that was tucked away off on a side road behind a bunch of poplars. Things were shut down while we were there so we were unable to check out the cloister - a map on the information board showed it to be a huge part, but sadly it was closed off - but we did wander around freely and alone for about a half an hour checking out the things we could see.

Next on our adventure we came to Herrera de Pisuerga where we thought we'd try and find some lunch. Parking the car and wandering around town in the drizzle, we found a pub, The Convent Garden - great decor, awful green lighting - and had a drink. Leaving town we accidentally came upon a restaurant called El Roble, which means "The Oak." We waited several moments for a server to clear a table, and had one of the best Menu del Dias I think I've had yet. Pallella with rabbit and a variety of seafood, followed by stewed rabbit, and a baked apple for dessert. The wine was excellent as well, and all for only 10.50 Euros!

We left Herrera and drove past where I left Carrion de los Condes while walking the Camino. It's odd seeing these places - also drove past some familiar locations on the way up to Oviedo and IKEA - now that I'm not a pilgrim anymore. It's almost surreal. Past Carrion, and just before Ledigos is this location where an ancient Roman Villa was discovered and protected. It's now open for tours, and for 2 Euros (if you're a senior or a student, 3 if you're not) you can walk along scaffolding above the ruins and marvel at the mosaics, underground heating system, baths, and former wall structures of a once grand mansion. Seeing it was truly remarkable. The mosaics were often huge wall to wall themed and extremely intricate designs. Each tile used, while only being about the size of a human finger nail, was brightly colored - red, blue, yellow, black, and white - and we were told that the color was completely natural; no pigment or paints were used on the works. I guess the materials were brought from multiple locations where they were able to excavate stones in these amazingly vibrant colors.

So that was damned spiffy. There was a certain energy, or vibe if you will, that you could feel walking around the place. I definitely got a very strong impression of the former inhabitants walking around on these beautiful floors. It was a little eerie.

After this stop we headed back to Moratinos, which it turns out, also according to the villa tour guide, is built around an original Roman road that runs across Palencia. "Cool-o Dool-o," as Rebekah would say.

It rained some more after we got back, and it'll probably continue to rain. But after a day like today, who cares. Here's to Roman Villas!

PS: I've finally planned the rest of my itinerary. Check it out in one of the boxes to the right.

When it rains it pours, but thankfully not on my bed

So the past weekend has been interesting enough.

The night before last we were sent off to bed with the rolling booms and bright flashes of a thunder storm. Not much rain to speak of, but loud enough to scare the dog between the two beds where she could cower next to sleeping people.

Since the storms began though the Internet has mysteriously vanished, though last night it came back and hasn't left since. Very odd.

Anyhow, so yesterday was fair enough, and then it started to rain. Just lightly at first, nothing really to worry about. Checking the house there didn't seem to be any problems, and the rain doesn't seem to be bearing down any harder. Well, as weather goes, precisely what you don't want to happen is often what comes to be. It did start raining harder, and then we started to notice water spots on the ceiling in the salon, the room across the hall from mine. The the dripping began when it started raining harder. Water dripping, and eventually beginning to pour as the puddles upstairs accumulated. Various buckets and pans and containers are now arranged around the salon to catch the falling water, though much of it hit the floor by time we'd realized the dripping had gotten out of hand.

Later I would realize that water spots were starting to form on my ceiling as well. Thankfully there was no dripping.

We had dinner last night, and were sitting around talking, and decide to go in and check the progress of the rain, add more buckets to catch water in the salon, and found that water had been seeping through the light fixture and along the ceiling of my room, resulting in a shorted out chandelier. Turning it on now blows the electricity in the whole house, so I resorted to only using my flashlight. Still, no water dripping near my bed, though I moved it around just for the sake of being safe rather than sorry, in addition to gathering up my belongings and putting them in a safe place.

The leaking ceilings and weather have dampened, no pun intended, everyone's mood to a certain extent I think, though we're resolved to remain cheery. Rebekah, who at one point was flooded by bad childhood memories of living near a levy and experiencing similar, though I'm sure far worse, living conditions, became temporarily overwhelmed by it all.

We opened one, two, three, bottles of wine and enjoyed a nice lentil salad for dinner. For most of the evening we sat around snacking on chips and talking about varied subjects from food to furniture destroyed by drunken friends, wildly entertaining accounts from Paddy's days in London, and how we all make a difference to someone at some point in our lives, be it good or bad. It was a splendid evening, and I don't think I could have enjoyed it more.

Today the sun seems to be coming back out, despite the paper's forecast for thunderstorms over the next three days. Rebekah and I went into Sahagun to get some groceries and run a couple errands, then back home Paddy had made a delicious lunch of bangers and mash with peas. Tonight we're making liver for dinner, and I've started a corn/black bean salsa that we'll save for tomorrow. I've really been Jonesing for Mexican food. Which leads me to comment on the coincidence that one of Rebekah's friends State-side sent a care package filled with Mexican spices and the like. The coincidence was more so that this friend is named Eric and the package arrived on St. Eric's day.

I'm leaving for Paris next week, and am going to be traveling by train through France, Italy, and Greece. If anyone has any suggested "must-sees" be sure to let me know.