Comedie Francais

remember in junior high when you had to read moliere, and it wasn't funny. (remember when i couldn't find the question mark on this french computer.) anyways. we'll come back to the moliere thing in a bit.

RECAP! after leaving ireland, i met up with harry in london town. we went to a very school show called skin and bones, which was architecture and fashion together at last! then to his flat, where his flat mates (one of whom had borrowed his key) didn't let us in, so we went and had curry and cold ones down the way. it was beautiful and hot, and i was happy.

that night at harry's was leggy-soup. or. a big big party. we hid in his room, drank champagne, and watched things like the 90 strangest crimes. it was good. outside the room was much loudness.

then. the next day. NATALYA ARRIVED!!! YAY!! things are good. she and i travel to tooting to pick up my luggage, and have lunch with harry. he teaches her about shaggy dog stories. we (less harry, who had much editing to do before monday) travel to trefalgar square where we meet up with melanie, justin, and his sister. it is still beautiful and hot. we are happy. we go to the portrait gallery. YAY! justin and his sister depart, natalya, mel and i head for patricks. the squat.

see patrick. get settled. buy crisps. plan on going out. get too tired. fall asleep on the floor of scott's (one of the squaters, a very polite fellow) floor, as there's a footie game on that has to be watched in the living room.

next day. emma comes to town. we (the ladies) meet her at paddington in the coral cafe, which is no longer the coral cafe. (and is certainly not, nor never was the choral cafe.) we go to primark. there is MADNESS! there are MANY PEOPLE, and even more STEALS OF DEALS! we do not change in the chagerooms, because of the ques, and instead try things on over our clothes in the middle of the store. risky business, but we all do rather well. i spend the least. YAY ME!

emma joins us for crisps at the squat. we change into our new clothes. emma goes to do her recording gig. mel, natalya and i take a bottle of wine and head for our pre-lord of the rings dinner. (the wine is because mel has learned that we can drink on the tube, and wants to. because we're dressed up and classy, and that is funny. we do not drink on the tube because it is fairly busy, and we feel awkward.) we find the restaurant in plenty of time, and sit in a park drinking the wine on the grass in the shade. it is lovely AND charming. we eat. we go see lord of the rings. it is funny. it is big. an orc growls at me from the edge of the row. i am scared, and don't want him to attack, so i growl back. yes. i bear my teeth at the orc. he attacks someone else. i win! we go to a pub (shakespear's head) and patrick joins us. back to the squat where we sleep in the living room as planned.

next day! mel leaves us early to fly off to venice. BYE MEL! WE MISS YOU! natalya and i pack up early and leave the squat. we walk the embankement a while, then do a fast run-through of the tate modern. good job, us! we meet emma at paddington. we train to bath.

BATH! bath is great. let's break it down quickly. this is running on.

hills. spa. teka. the cedar. (bristol.) bikes. canal path. swimming. curry. pie minister pies. pub quiz. fun!

we leave bath at 4:30am on the 16th. we bus to heathrow, then to stanstead. we fly to grenoble. we eat lunch. our waiter tells us he loves us. we see a lot of proper hobos all with dogs. one of them (the hobos, not the dogs) pees on a tree. we train to lyon. find our hotel. tada! lyon! hello! bonjour!

and that brings us to today. saturday. a proper lyon day! we learned, through our reading of maps and guide books from the hotel, that lyon is a major silk producer. cool!

this morning we figured out the metro (a good system here, too. edmonton, are you paying attention). we train to the centre of the older part of lyon. it is lovely. people are friendly. very. the opera is, indeed, sold out for tonight, so we decide to do something else. in the mean time, we track down a little silk workshop, and somehow end up in the middle of an elderly group tour. funny. we stand out. we learned about silkscreening (something i'd never thought of as being connected to silk... hey!) and about how they make the velour patterns in scarves. all very neat. and all in french. we are doing well! we are mostly keeping up!

then to la musee des beaux-arts. some really great stuff. we manage to see everything. again, we're very pleased with ourselves.

then. we eat a late lunch (holy cow, cheesiest pizza ever made...) and buy tickets to some dance show.

and here is where we come to moliere. the show was put on by la maison de danse. we were told it was dance with some theatre. we were lied to. it was not dance. there was no dance. it was terrible, terrible theatre. performed, i guess, by dancers. which means they were not actors. or singers... oh dear jesus. not singers. the play was some re-adapted thing by brecth. it was done all with those grotesque masks and obserd coustumes... you know the ones. like that potato-heads show that used to be on for kids, which i never wathced because i was scared of them. like that. and they shouted in silly voices, and it was bad. very very bad. after two hours (and no intermission) we finally left. it wasn't over... there was no end in sight... so we left. admitted defeat. and thus i have decided. that the french, or at least the french playwrights, are not funny. and we must be cautious and aware. because i will never have that 17 euro, or that two hours again. god, it was bad.

not to worry. we have another day in lyon. we have pushed back our leaving for munich to the 19th, as the only train leaves very ealry, and we wanted some more time here. especially now that it needs to redeem itself. oof.

and now. to bed!

shout outs:
mega congrats to travis for getting hired on for reals at parlee, and even more for getting into the department desired et al. you're awesome-mazing, and i'm super proud.

emma. sorry about all the changes in tense in this post. i know. i know. but i'm so tired!