What Happens When You Switch the Genders?

Image from Wikipedia

A few months ago I had an idea. I wanted to take some classic works of literature and change the genders of all the characters to see how it changes the story.

So for the last few months I’ve been working my way through Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities doing just that.

I find it fascinating, the changes it makes to the story. All of a sudden, women are lawyers, doctors, carriage-drivers, and innkeepers. Some of the behavior that was attributed to female characters in the original is downright silly when attributed to male characters now, which highlights to me the silliness of accepting or expecting that behavior from women in the first place. Crowd scenes are suddenly populated with men and women, not just men.

I’m hitting some road bumps, though. I’m trying to decide what to do with historical figures such as the kings and queens, George Washington, and God. Changing the genders of the general population changes some of the history, of course, but part of me wants to keep the story in a realistic historic period. I’m not doing a simple search and replace of all the pronouns and calling it a day. I’m going through line by line, making decisions about changing genders or making certain terms gender neutral to be all inclusive rather than all female. Do I change the genders of the horses pulling the carriages? I’m changing some of the clothing references (but I like the idea of keeping women in trousers and frock coats) and removing facial hair for the most part.

I’d like to share this eventually. Maybe chapter-by-chapter here on my blog. But I still have a lot of work to do before I’m at that point. Hopefully in the next month or two I’ll be ready. Even if no one else is fascinated by this idea, I am and it’s keeping me going.

I know that this is still going to be a very white and very cis/straight and very British story. Here’s the thing, though. If you want to read a Black version, or a trans or gay version, or a version that takes place in India and Pakistan rather than London and Paris, or any other version, go ahead and write it. And share it with me and I’ll read it, too. We are limitless in our possibilities. (I downloaded a copy for free from Project Gutenberg. I’m not a copyright expert, though. It’s up to you to read the fine print when it comes to sharing it if you’re going to do something.)

There will be more to come on this.

Book Reviews: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and an Emmanuelle de Maupassant Short Story

After you've read something, please consider leaving a line or two on Goodreads and Amazon. The authors appreciate it!

Here are my reviews as they appear on Goodreads.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was swept up in this book from the moment I started it. I didn’t know that much about it but a trusted source recommended it. I jumped in with both feet and got lost in it. It’s sensual and romantic, then heartbreakingly depressing as the story moves from a love affair in a French town to the battlefields of World War I. The writing pulls you along and you struggle with the hero every step of the way.

Stephen Wraysford is the hero but he’s a bit of an anti-hero. He’s young and passionate. He’s weird and quiet. He loses his passion throughout the war but works hard to do his job, and job that would be difficult for most people to fathom performing unless they were there themselves. The author writes with such emotion and leads you to believe that he really was there on the battlefields and in the trenches. The dramatic tension is amped up by anyone who knows World War I history. The reader who knows which battles are coming up will be struck with a particular horror, knowing the ending before the characters do.

I had a problem with the end of the book that keeps me from giving it five stars. And I really wanted to give it five stars. Not the ending itself; I’m satisfied with how the plot tied itself up. But the last couple of paragraphs. The point-of-view changed to a character that I don’t feel deserved it.

For me, this was a summer read for lazy afternoons in the hot sun, but it’s definitely worth reading anytime. Love, war, and history, it will appeal to many.

Because Beards by Kacey Shea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of Emmanuelle de Maupassant's story in this anthology. Ms. de Maupassant story, "Highland Pursuits," is delightful. She injects so much personality into her characters and settings and I love her combination of erotica with playful humor. I love reading how much her characters enjoy each others' company. And the story, of course, has some very steamy, satisfying moments.

I fully plan to buy the book and read the entire anthology when it comes out because it features some of my favorite erotica authors.

View all my reviews

"Sweaty, Gross, and Super Hungry"

That's what I said to Mike one morning when he leaned in for a hug and a kiss before he left for work. I was in the midst of my run streak and had just returned from the great outdoors. It was the peak of Malian summer, sometime in April or May. Every morning I was sweaty, gross, and super hungry. Mike laughed that morning and suggested it as the title of my memoir when I eventually wrote about the run streak.

I started on Thanksgiving last year and ran at least one mile every day for 199 days, ending in mid-June. I ran in Mali -- in Bamako and Segou. I ran in Paris. I ran in Salzburg. I ran on the pedestrian path between the hotels and the airport in Munich. (Or was it Frankfurt? I don't remember now where our twenty-four hour layover was.) I ran in West Palm Beach and South Beach. I ran along Ocean Road in Narragansett. I ran by myself most days but with sometimes with Mike or other friends.

I ran on treadmills sometimes. I'd brought one with us to Mali to get me through running during the worst weather here -- the dust storms of winter followed shortly by the intense heat of summer. The treadmill shorted out the electricity in the entire downstairs of the house every time I plugged it in, and by the time someone was able to fix that problem, I'd already run through the worst weather outdoors. The dust storm days when my lungs hurt after ten minutes outside. Long runs in the May heat that I broke up by running two miles to the gym, running on the treadmill under a full-blast air conditioner, and running two miles home.

I learned that I can run one mile under almost any conditions. Bad weather, minor injuries, mild fevers, after too much cider and chèvre-stuffed galette for lunch at a Breton café in Paris. I learned that eventually one mile wasn't enough unless I was extremely tired or pressed for time and most days I was going out for at least two.

I was always hungry. Even the low-mileage days left me ravenous and I ate like crazy. Yet, I started to fit into clothes that hadn't fit me in a few months (a few years, even, after my winter hibernation in Rhode Island).

Until one injury stopped me. We were back in the U.S. I was eating like crazy because so many foods were available that we don't have in Mali. I was running every day but pain was causing me to slow down and limit myself to less than two miles. I could have run slowly through the injury, limiting myself to one ten-minute mile each day. But I'd planned to run a half marathon with some friends, friends who I hadn't seen since we'd run a half marathon together the previous year. I ended the streak so I could get some real rest. A week later I ran with my friends and came within ten minutes of my half marathon PR, which I was thrilled with considering the horrible two-hour nonstop downpour we ran through combined with still nursing the injury.

I belonged to a handful of run streak groups online. Some people congratulated me on knowing when to end the streak and concentrate on having fun with my friends instead. Others sniffed at my decision, saying they would have chosen to keep the streak alive and forego the half marathon. Whatever. I made the right choice for me at the time. (And the people who supported my decision are people I'm still in touch with regularly even though I'm not streaking any more.)

Even though I kept running regularly, I did not go back to streaking. Yet I was still in the U.S. eating as if I were still streaking and training for a half marathon. By the end of our vacation, some of those favorite clothes no longer fit.

Several months later, some of those clothes still don't fit and I know that all I have to do is commit to running one mile every day again if I want them to. Without even really thinking about it I recently found myself running every day for several days in a row -- a week, maybe 8 or 9 days, I didn't really pay attention. I felt healthy and strong again. I also felt like there's not enough food in Mali to keep me fed through another streak and we don't have plans to get to Europe or the U.S. any time soon.

But aside from the health, strength, and fitting into of favorite clothes, I also found I was extremely productive when I started every morning with a run, regardless of it being ten minutes or ten miles. I wrote my novel during those run streak days along with a number of other projects. (I'm thinking I should try to write off Strava Premium on my taxes because of my productivity during the streak.)

I'm going to take it one day at a time. I ran yesterday. I ran today. I'll probably run tomorrow but I'll make that decision in the morning.

Travel Photo Friday: Salzburg, Austria

From the archives...

In August 2007, Mike and I took a European vacation. He had studied in Salzburg and wanted to show me the region, so we spent a few days there. I loved it and would live there in a heartbeat.

Festung Hohensalzburg (Salzburg Fortress)

Festung Hohensalzburg (Salzburg Fortress)

Salzkammergut tour, Wolfgangsee

Year-round Easter egg store. (There's also a year-round Christmas store.)

Salzburg at night.

From Salzburg we took a bus to Berchtesgaden and admired the view from Eagle's Nest.

We left the region via train through Fuessen, where we saw Schloss Neuschwanstein.

Photo Friday is hosted by http://www.deliciousbaby.com/.

Travel Photo Friday: Krakaw and Zakopane, Poland

From the archives:

Wawel Castle, Krakow.

Town square, Krakow, early in the morning.

Wooden church, Zakopane.

Enjoying the smoked cheese that's sold on roadside carts in Zakopane.

My cousin's guest house in Zakopane.

Poland was the first stop on our European vacation in August 2007. We spent only one day in Krakow before traveling several hours by train to the mountain town of Zakopane, where my mom's family is from. Zakopane is in the Tatra mountains and there is wonderful skiing and hiking and delicious, hearty food. My cousins have a guest house (so if you're planning a trip, let me know!) steps away from some of the hiking trails. I can't wait to get back there some day so Muffin can run around in the mountains.

Photo Friday is hosted by DeliciousBaby.com.

Weekly SD Blog RoundUp!

Here it is! I'm taking my shot at hosting the roundup. It may not be as eloquent as some others, but hopefully I'll get all the information up accurately and efficiently. There's a lot of organization with this, keeping all those tabs and windows open! (And I'm keeping one eye on MLB scores. Red Sox play later tonight; Yankees already have a win.)

And all the while, I'm praying to Ganesh that the internet doesn't cut out and erase the whole post. Without further ado...

It's no April Fool's Day joke, I really did propose international bathrooms as the optional talking point this week. Quite a few of you took me up on that:

Nomads by Nature discussed the baseline we all set for ourselves. Has anyone gone lower than sharing the experience with chickens?

Kelly at Well, That Was Different, offers some valuable tips for using third-world bathrooms, including how to help the kiddos use them.

Among other things, Small Bits comments on how easy it is to clean some of the bathrooms overseas. If I'm ever building my own house, I'd love a completely tiled bathroom with a drain in the floor so you can just hose it down for easy cleaning.

Germophobe Kate from Pulling Up Stakes shares a domestic bathroom adventure.

Liz of Nick and Liz Go Global discusses the facilities in Kabul.

Connie at Whale Ears and Other Wonderings once saw a truck piled high with toilets in Cairo.

Ogles and Observations shares some nice photos from the oldest restaurant in South America. Check out the final photo for the air freshening method used in the men's room.

Shannon at Cyberbones discusses composting toilets, among other things.

Sunny at Fabling looked high and low for a particular photo, but she couldn't find it. In "loo" of that, she did share another amusing anecdote.

Almost forgot Sadie Abroad! Sorry 'bout that.

In other news this week...

Digger from Life After Jerusalem has made the trip to Estonia and back.

Daring Adventure dares to write about the parking problems at FSI.

A new A-100 class started this week and one of the specialist classes had their flag day. Congratulations and good luck to everyone!

Phew!

If I missed anyone who requested to be included, please leave me a comment. I've been piecing this together throughout the day with spotty electricity and a little Muffin who likes to bang on keyboards rather than take naps. It can be distracting.

Daniela at Tuk & Tam is hosting next week with the theme "Best of" at post. Check out the calendar if you're interested in hosting.

Vacation

We were watching a movie a few nights ago and the New York City skyline panned across the screen. Mike said, "Won't it be weird to be in a real city?" It certainly will. 

We're leaving for Paris on Friday and I can't wait. Neither of us have been before. I can't wait to take a subway and wear urban, spring-time clothing instead of the year round shorts and t-shirts we wear here. I can't wait to see streets lined with modern stores and restaurants -- I'm sure I'll do something totally American like go to Starbucks and shop at the GAP. I can't wait to stay in a nice hotel. I can't wait to see lights at night and have the electricity stay on all the time.

I will probably miss the fresh tropical fruit. That may be the one thing that will be irreplaceable. But I'm sure lots of ice cream will help me forget.

It's been a long few weeks since we got back from Tanzania. And that vacation was fun but it wasn't relaxing. I wouldn't say we're homesick but we just need a break.

Peeps in Places; Us Going to Places

Check out National Geographic Traveler's Peeps in Places photo contest. If only I'd brought Peeps with me to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro!

I've got traveling on the brain because we're sort of being forced into some vacation time. A labyrinthine series of rules and regulations boils down to us taking vacation in May or losing certain travel perks. 

Well, if we have to, we have to. 

But where to go and what to do when we get there? I'm obsessed with NGT's Intelligent Travel blog, searching for answers:

Now through April 27, Alaska Airlines is offering 30% off its tickets from select airports. Each day, the airline will chose one airport that will offer the deal.
Gogo Inflight is offering 20% off internet use on Delta flights through April 30.

Folks in London and Stratford-upon-Avon are celebrating Shakespeare's birthday this week. Celebrations will include a free open day at the Globe Theatre.

Intrepid Travel is offering  20 percent off some of its most popular tours through April 20, like  The Road to Budapest, Colors of Morocco, and Majestic Peru.

Get the kids outside. Junior Ranger Day is April 25 and many National Parks are hosting events to celebrate. There's even an essay contest where junior rangers can enter to win $1,000.

Snakes on a plane! No, it's not another Samuel L. Jackson flop. Twelve pythons got loose on a Qantas flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne. Although only eight of the snakes were found, the plane is now back in service.

Fat tax? United Airlines just announced plans to start charging obese passengers for two seats on full flights.

Check out BrilliantTips for their top 11 pop culture memorials around the world.

Actually, I think we'll go to Paris. We've never been and why the hell not?

Krakow, Poland

Krakow was the first city of our European adventure, and we only had a few hours there before catching a train to Zakopane.

We left San Francisco on a Monday night and it was late Tuesday night by the time we arrived in Krakow. So I really didn't feel like I was on vacation, or have that magical "I'm in Europe" feeling until Wednesday morning when we woke up early to see the town. To get to the old town from our hotel we walked through part of a university campus that looked like it had been around for over a hundred years. I got the "I'm in Europe!" feeling and it didn't let go. Everything is just so old and so different.

It was so early that the markets and restaurants hadn't opened yet and the old town was a ghost town. It was great to walk around and take some pictures before the area got crowded. We were just in awe of everything. It was the first time in Poland for both of us, and we decided right away that we love it and wish we could spend several days in Krakow instead of just a few hours.




Empty Old Town

We walked down to Wawel Castle. You can walk around the grounds before the buildings open for tours, so we spent some time just walking and looking. There was mass going on at the cathedral so we didn't go in but we listened to the hymns from outside.


Cathedral at Wawel Castle

We didn't feel the need to do one of the organized tours of the castle. We did decide to do one of the touristy kids' attractions, though, the Dragon's Den. It's a deep spiral staircase into the center of the earth where it's said the dragon of Krakow resides. It was fun! When you get out on the other side you're at the bank of the river and there's a metal dragon sculpture that breathes fire.

We walked along the river for a few minutes. It was getting hot and humid so we decided to head back into town for lunch. The town square was packed with people! We couldn't have stopped for a photo if we wanted to, there were so many people around. We found a place for lunch, where Mike had pierogi, then went back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the train station.


Arch at Wawel Castle

At the train station we had an hour or so to wait for our train, but we noticed on the board that an earlier train to Zakopane was running late and just getting ready to leave. So we ran to the platform and hopped on, and we were on our way to another adventure!

Adventure may be an understatement. At the next stop, some drunk young men sat in our compartment and really started to bug us. They didn't have tickets, and the conductor didn't seem to care. They kept asking us for just 5 zloty or offering to trade books with them. We were unable to relax and enjoy the ride. Eventually we got up and left, finding a compartment to ourselves in another car and hoped they wouldn't look for us.


View from the train

They didn't find us, but the train trip only slightly improved. Taking the train from Krakow to Zakopane is a local joke. The trip takes over 4 hours, when the bus only takes 2. The train system hasn't been updated in a loooooong time. And neither have the trains themselves. It was hot and the windows only cracked open a few inches. And we were expecting more scenery, and occassionally a farm or small town would whiz by, but nothing really cool until the last hour of the trip when we could finally see the mountains. I got excited when I noticed all the trees had become pine trees.

Despite leaving over an hour earlier than we had planned, we arrived in Zakopane exactly an hour earlier than we were scheduled to. My cousin was picking us up at the station. We tried to call him, but couldn't find a pay phone that took coins; they were all calling cards only. So we sat and waited.

But Zakopane has to be its own post.

(Clicking on any photo will take you to the full size on flickr.)

Fuessen and Schloss Neuschwanstein

Fuessen is one of the few places where our trip overlapped with Helen's. (See previous posts of Helen's bicycle trip.) We only spent one night there, really just one afternoon when you figure that we spent the whole morning on trains, the night in the hotel room, and left early the next morning. Helen only spent one night there, too. The big difference between our 24 hours in tourist-ville is that Mike and I slogged up to Schloss Neuschwanstein and it appears Helen and crew did not.

We were exhausted by the time we got to Fuessen. But we had specifically requested a night there so we could see the castle and we were going to see the castle, dammit. The bus schedule was confusing and it appeared that busses only leave hourly from town to the castle. (But they leave the castle and go back to town every 15 minutes or so.) So we got a taxi, and the driver's advising us not to eat at any of the sushi restaurants in town made the price worth it. (We were ready for some non-Bavarian cuisine for dinner and he overheard us talking about sushi.) He let us off in a dirty, crowded, touristy ticket booth area. We had pre-purchased tickets so didn't have to stand in that line. We decided to walk the rest of the way up the mountain. We couldn't find the right path. We were getting bickery. Then I looked up and saw the castle peeking out from behind some trees, and all I could say was "Wow." It really is a fairy tale castle.

Schloss Neuschwanstein is the castle that was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. I don't know which came first, Disney using the castle's image, or the Disney-fication of the castle grounds. It's all tourists in khaki shorts and fanny packs standing in line, then taking busses up to the castle, then standing in a holding area, then going through turnstyles, then another holding area. And then you get about 20 minutes of a tour you can't hear because so many other tour groups are walking through the castle making noise.

But there's something about an insane king and a beautiful view that made the whole experience very satisfying. (I won't regurgitate the history; it's all here at Wikipedia.)

Helen's postcards from Fuessen:


(Clicking on images will take you to the full sizes on flickr.)

Back in the land of good showers

I don't know where to begin blogging about the trip. I can't type every word of every adventure we had. Since I'm still relishing our modern American conveniences that are a stark contrast to our final hotel of the trip, maybe a few words about our accomodations.

Aquarius Hotel, London. They do say right at the top of the website that it's "budget price." But I have to tell you, the community bathroom at our hostel in Edinburgh was better than the private bathroom we had in this hotel. The shower curtan smelled like BO and it stuck to you because the shower stall was so small. Also, hot water ran through the toilet tank and both the hot and cold taps in the sink, but not in the shower.

Our room was a cupboard under the stairs, but the sound of people walking up and down all night didn't bother us at all. We couldn't even hear the footsteps, due to the train tracks that ran right outside our window. We slept from about midnight to 5:30 a.m., when the trains weren't running. Except for one night when they were working on the tracks during that time. The room had a tv with 5 English-speaking channels, which seemed downright luxurious.

The complementary breakfast was coffee, tea, Tang, and stacks of toast (freshly toasted when they saw you enter the dining room!) with an oddly large assortment of jams. Everything about this hotel was so cheap, but they had, like, 7 different jam choices for the toast. Between my hot cereal and rice cakes, my breakfasts there were on par with the rest of the trip. Mike's were disappointing after all the meat and cheese platters placed before him in Poland and Austria.

The best thing about this hotel is that it's walking distance from an Underground station and along two of the lines that take you straight into the center of London, and one of those lines also takes you directly to Heathrow airport and Kings Cross train station.

Budget Backpackers, Edinburgh. It's a hostel, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. The ratio of working bathrooms to beds was quite low, at least in our building. We were in a building of private suites, with 3 bedrooms around one bathroom. But that bathroom had the sink, toilet, and shower all in one room, so if someone was using one thing there, no one could use the others.

Also, there were very few working washers and dryers, and the dryers sucked. We really, really needed to do laundry by the time we got to Edinburgh and just resigned ourselves to waiting for the dryers all night long. We still ended up with damp clothes, but thankfully sunny weather the next day so we could hang the clothes in the room and everything dried out nicely, eventually.

The building itself was surprisingly quiet, but due to festival season there was a lot of street noise. Also, due to the terrible U.S.-sterling conversion rate right now, it wasn't as "budget" as we would have liked it to be. But it was centrally located in the heart of the old city, so you couldn't beat the ease of getting around to the sights.

They supply linens for the beds, but no towels! We ended up using our pillowcases to pat ourselves dry, then supplement with my hair dryer. Not terrible, once you get the hang of it. At least the showers were hot. And we had a private room with a lock on the door so we could keep our stuff strewn about with no worries.

There's a bus that runs between the airport and Waverly train station. You can walk from the train station to the hostel.

EuroPark, Fuessen, Germany. We only stayed one night here and it was a clean room with a decent shower. We were tired, though, and wanted a quiet night in of drinking wine and watching tv, but there was no tv. So we decided to enjoy the view for a bit. But the view of the river and forests couldn't be seen very well over the tall concrete balcony wall. Mike dragged the coffee table out onto the balcony and put a chair on top of it so he could enjoy the view.

We only got a few bites of breakfast. We were very politely trampled by a huge group of Japanese tourists, and the food started to disappear before we could reach it, then all these hotel people started asking our room number, and we decided to high-tail it out of there before we were told the breakfast wouldn't be free because we were very obviously not with the tour group. We checked out and rushed to the train station before they could catch us.

It's close to the train station but hard to find at first, so it's a good idea to take a taxi there and get your bearings straight, then easy to walk to the town center.

Hofwirt Hotel, Salzburg. Our guidebook and a few websites gave the decor at this hotel a bad review, but they've recently renovated. So the dark, heavy, wooden, 70s style has been replaced by uber-modern white, clean, cold, almost sterile decor. The room was neat and clean and had a good bathroom.

There was a computer with free internet in the lobby. The continental breakfast was pretty extensive. We watched The Simpsons dubbed in German every night before bed.

A bit of a walk from the train station, so a taxi is recommended. But so close to everything you want to see in Salzburg, you can walk everywhere.

Chopin Hotel, Krakow. This another where we stayed for only one night. We checked in around 10 pm, had a kind of gross dinner in the restaurant, then woke up early to a decent continental breakfast and checked out.

It's not quite as close to the old town as they'd like you to think it is, and there's some construction going on which made the walk a smidge longer, but it's still a pleasant walk. It's walking distance from the train station, but you need a bus or taxi from the airport.

I've saved the best for last! Kois Pension, Zakopane, Poland. Of course we're a smidge partial to this place because it's owned by my cousins, but take a look at the picture! There's no denying this was the most charming and most comfortable place we stayed. You can see by the comments page that they treat all their guests like family.

It's a bed and breakfast just outside the city center. A bus or taxi is necessary for transportation to and from the city center, where the train station is. Once you're in the city center, there's a lot to walk around and see. Some hiking trails in the Tatra Mountains are a short walk away from the house.

Beautiful mountain views from the rooms. We can't wait to go back!

All the photos...

are now up. Here on flickr. Now I feel nearly as sick as Mike did yesterday. Between jetlag and germs, we're both struggling to stay awake until it's dark enough to go to bed.


Overlooking Edinburgh
(Clicking on the photo will take you to flickr.)

Bavaria Photos

I've put up the album for the Bavaria region, which includes Salzburg, Austria, and Berchtesgadin and Fuessen, Germany. We are smiling and laughing so much in going over these photos and remembering the trip. We spent the last week in the UK, and Poland, Austria, and Germany feel like ages ago.

Notice there are lots of photos of me eating. We both actually lost some weight, despite all the cheeses and sausages and desserts.

Time to really start preparing for the trip

One week from yesterday we'll be leaving San Francisco, one week from today we'll be landing in Krakow, and one week from tomorrow we'll be venturing out for our first tourist morning in Poland. I checked the weather forecast for Krakow and Zakopane and it looks like it might be chilly and rainy. No worries. I already wrote down my waterproof jacket and warm woolly under-jacket on my list of things to pack.

Weeks ago, after we made all the arrangements with the travel agent, we sort of put the trip on the back burner for a bit. Now it's time to bring it to the front.

We interviewed a pet-sitter to stay with the cats. She loved Grendel and Grendel loved her back. She tried to love Ellie and she remained calm when Ellie tried to bite her. The cats will be cozy at home and having someone pop in every other day to feed and water them is a lot cheaper than boarding them. She's also been a vet's assistant and volunteers for wildlife rescue, so she knows animals well.

I bought a travel backpack and I've been meaning to do a test pack to see how much fits in it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

This morning I bought lots of cat food and kitty litter, plus Advantage flea control and a new toy for the cats. I also bought a bunch of small, details-type stuff at Target. I can't decide what to do about shampoo and conditioner. Do I bring full-size bottles of my favorite brand to last me the whole trip? Or do I bring a handful of travel-size bottles and toss and buy new as I go along? I freaked out a little at Target thinking about potentially dingy hotel rooms and sleeping and eating on trains and bought mini-packs of Chlorox wipes, hand sanitizer, and antiseptic wetnaps. I think I tossed some Shout stain-remover cloths in the basket, too. This is all stuff I rarely use at home, let alone travel with. And none of it was on my list except the wetnaps. Rats! I forgot toothpaste. I'll be making at least one more trip to Target once I decide on the shampoo situation, so toothpaste goes on the list for next time.

My next task for the near future is looking up the luggage and checked-baggage restrictions for our airlines. I should probably do that before I test pack.

Bicycling: Heidelberg then crossing to Switzerland

July 21. Helen's group bikes from Worms to Heidelberg, arriving there around noon time. Meals at the hostels seem to be getting tiresome--"Desserts are a thing of the past except when we buy our own pastries in a bakery." And I think those lost desserts might include fruit. Although, they did get a lot of hot chocolate at breakfast that morning. I guess not every sweet treat is gone.

Helen and one friend spent the afternoon walking around Heidelberg, along the river and up a "steep, steep hill" to the castle. An American on a bicycle rode up next to them saying "Heil Hitler! Where the hell is the American Express?" mistaking them for Germans before they had the chance to say they weren't. Helen's friend also received a letter from her aunt that day from England. "She said that things were bad & a great deal of tension."

They made it back to the hostel just in time for dinner, which included string beans, apparently a big event. "This is about the first place we have a vegetable in Germany other than potatoes & lettuce."

The next morning the group crossed the border into Switzerland. The scenery didn't change much, but the food situation seems to have improved. Lunch included the usual bread, cheese, and cold meat but also tomatoes, plums, peaches, and pastries. The afternoon ride to the hostel in Maulbronn was tiresome and mostly uphill. Once at the hostel, a swimming pond awaited them, but otherwise some "very crude" accomodations. Straw mattresses and no blankets. But good food, and wine tonight, in a small, quaint town.

July 23. Spent the morning in Maulbronn. They had breakfast at a tavern then decided to look at an old monastary in town. A group had just arrived for an organized tour and Helen and friends got mixed up with that group. The tour guide locked the door behind them so they decided to just follow along.

Then they hit the road for their next destination. An uphill ride, 90 km to Freudenstadt. At the hostel that night, they met up with some young German women. One of them was Hitler Youth and gave Helen's friend her name and address so they could send her some American stamps when they got home. She emphasized that Germany's army was for peace.

The next day's bike ride was mostly downhill, very refreshing after the day before. They met up with some Hitler Boys on bikes, who rode along with them for awhile, and eventually a "contingent of the German army from motor car to motor cycle brigade, tanks, & kitchen." I'm not sure what she means by kitchen. And there's no other mention of riding with these military people. Nothing on the thoughts or impressions of what's going on around them as they take this innocent bike trip. Very matter-of-fact. Anyway, eventually Helen's group stopped for lunch. They lost the "brigade" but later in the day the boys on bicycles met up with them again and they sang German songs.

They stopped at a hostel in Freiburg that night and had spaghetti for dinner.

After all the hills of the last few days, they decide to take a train to the next city, Augsburg.

See all posts of Helen's trip.

Bicycling: Bacharach, Mainz, Frankfurt, Worms

July 17. The ride from Bacharach to Mainz had some ups and downs, both literally and figuratively. It started raining and Helen's raincape got caught in the bicycle gears, causing her to take "a spill." There were some hard, long hills, but the road followed the Rhein and the scenery was nice. At one village she had trouble changing her money and had to go to 3 different banks. Her lunch was the "best meal yet," though: rump steak, potatoes, lettuce, and peaches.


Hostel Pass.

The next day they went on toward Frankfurt. They stopped in a little village along the way for a drink, "a quaint little village with narrow crooked streets with the usual odor." I wonder what the usual odor is? Garbage? Animals? Or something nice like baking bread? By noon they were at the Frankfurt hostel, which seems downright luxurious. Large, big enough to sleep 900 people. The 4 girls got a room with 5 beds in it. And it had hot water. They took advantage of their great accomodations and spent the afternoon washing up and taking naps.

After dinner the evening was spent singing and dancing with the other young people at the hostel. "Fast twirling German waltzes which I did with a boy from Sudetan. I got so dizzy he had to hold me up -- embarrassed no end."

Helen and friends spent a full day in Frankfurt doing some sight-seeing. At this point in the journal I think the entries are from Helen's friend. (My detective skills tell me this since Helen suddenly becomes a third person character.) In Frankfurt they saw Goethe's house, some churches, and the Emperor's Hall, where they had to put on felt slippers to keep their shoes from damaging the highly polished floor.

Back at the hostel that night, they met up with others in their group who were a day behind on their bicycles. Another night of singing and dancing.

July 20. They left Frankfurt and headed to Worms. They had a pretty good lunch on the road, it included fruit and pastries, and stopped at a farmhouse for glasses of milk. The hostel in Worms was in the basement of a school. Doesn't seem to be as great as the Frankfurt hostel, but good enough for washing up and napping before going out to explore the town.

They met "a nice young fellow who offered to escort us around." He told them a little bit about current events in town. He was discontent and had not been able to eat meat for 3 weeks. He was allowed only 1/4 pound of butter a week. (I don't know if that's just for him--which seems like plenty--or for a family.) "He was quite certain that Germany would take Danzig & that there would be war." He also said something that they think got mixed up in translation: Everyone had "me foot on war." Eventually they had to leave him and hurry back for their own dinner, which I notice didn't include meat: soup, eggs, potatoes, and salad.

Next stop, Heidelberg.


Back of hostel pass, with stamps from the various hostels she stayed at.

See all posts of Helen's trip.

(Clicking on photos will take you to larger views flickr.)

gluten-free travel snacks

Packing for Europe includes me needing to bring some food. There will be delicious pastries and breads that I'll have to pass by. There will be flour hidden secretly in sauces and sausages. I have restaurant cards in Polish and German for giving to waiters to explain what gluten-free means. The breakfasts at our hotels will likely include some fruit or yogurt or cheese. But I'll need snacks, and I don't want every meal to be a chore. So I've been test-tasting some convenient foods to bring along.

Recently I ordered some stuff from gluten-free.com. First up, Glutino Breakfast Bars in cranberry. At first I didn't like these. I had been eating crackers with garlic cheese when the UPS guy delivered my gluten-free goodies, and I tore into the box and ate one of these bars right away. Mixing with the taste of the garlic cheese was not good. I had an awful taste in my mouth. I chased it with one of the Glutino organic chocolate and peanut bars and that made the taste in my mouth even worse. I was totally turned off by both bars, and very disappointed.

The next day, with a more hospitable pallate, I decided to give them both another try. I had my usual first few cups of coffee. Then I wanted a snack before heading out to the grocery store. I figured this sort of mimicked my coffee and light breakfast before going out for a few hours of sight-seeing. Even if the bars tasted terrible, would they be filling enough to sustain me for a few hours? I ate one of the cranberry bars. It tasted better, but not delicious. There's not a huge amount of cranberry flavor in the filling. But whatever they use for the outside is very heavy with something cinnamonny. (Maybe to cover up something less-tasty?) Several hours later, after grocery shopping, I noticed that I wasn't hungry. Yay! I got properly hungry at lunch time. As a pre-lunch snack I ate a chocolate-peanut bar. It still tasted awful. The chocolate is low-quality and I just didn't taste any peanuts. I tasted plastic.

The taste of the cranberry cereal bars grew on me, and I ordered another box plus the same kind in different flavors to bring with me. A couple bars, some fruit, some yogurt, not a bad breakfast or lunch.

I've also been trying hot cereals. I can tolerate oatmeal most of the time. Being on the road is not when I want to chance the 1 time out of 10 I might not tolerate it. So I ordered Alti Plano Quinoa Hot Cereal, the variety pack. I'd tried their chocolate cereal several years ago and didn't like it, but that was before I'd started eating quinoa regularly, and I think it's a taste that takes some getting used to. The variety pack comes with orange spice, chai spice, and apple spice flavors. They definitely overpower you with spice flavors to cover up the fact that you're eating quinoa, not the oatmeal you grew up with as a kid. They taste okay and they are filling. At the hotels that offer a cold breakfast, I'll be able have hot cereal (since they'll have hot water or milk for tea and coffee) and sometimes that comforting hot cereal mentality is what gets you going in the morning.

I'm mostly worried about Poland and Austria. From what I've heard the UK is pretty gluten-free friendly, plus I know the language. I fear that for the first 2 weeks of the trip I'll be living on coffee and my cereal bars until I get into the UK and can read the menus and labels.

How am I going to get all this stuff to Europe? I'm going to stash bars and packets in my backpack, my day pack, and my purse and pray they don't get too crushed.

The Bicycling Begins

Not much has gone on with my travel plans recently. I bought a backpack and we interviewed a cat-sitter. So let's get back to Helen, shall we?

Insert wavy lines that indicate flashback here.

After several days on the cruise ship Helen and gang disembarked in Rotterdam. "Every one here rides around on bicycles and cute little motorcycles. Never in my life saw so many bikes." Helen's group didn't actually get their bikes here, though. They spent a night in a Rotterdam hostel then took the train to Arnheim, then to Cleve, where they got their bikes and had to assemble them before going on the first ride. July 12 -- "Had our first picnic lunch and our first ride on our new bikes." They have lots of picnic lunches throughout their trip and it's evident that they get bored of the breads and cheeses. At the hostel in Cleve, "Met and talked with an old German man who spoke Engl. He spoke of Germany as a porcupine which would prick anyone who bothered it."

Below, postcards from the hostel in Arnhem. The outside and the dining room.

Train rides and bike rides through Germany for several days. Cologne, Bad Godesburg, Bacharach (by steamboat, the notes say), Mainz. One of the lunch entries on the road indicates bread, meat and cheese (again), but with pastries. Unfortunately there was no fruit in the entire village. Later that afternoon they got a special treat--glasses of cold milk. At the hostel in Bad Godesburg there were many Hitler Youth. The girls sang songs and then the boys marched up singing a different song. They all pitched in the help with the dishes after dinner. The next morning, Helen and gang were awoken early by a bugle. They looked out the window to see the Hitler Youth doing an early morning workout on the lawn. Then everyone had breakfast and a Norwegian fellow who spoke English led Helen's group out of town.

The journal is actually entries from both Helen and another friend on the trip. I'm not able to tell all the entries from each other, but they have similar voices. Neither of them gets into the politics of the simmering pre-war going on all around them. It's all observations of actual daily life details, like the Hitler Youth waking up early for a workout. I find it fascinating.

bicycling in europe

bicycling in europe
Originally uploaded by girl_in_bleue

I've been able to photograph some of the contents of my grandmother's journal. Bit by bit I'll add more photos and posts about her adventures. To the right is the photo from the Providence Sun newspaper. "On Bicycle Is Miss Helen E. Gould" -- that's my grandmother. Click on the photo to see it enlarged and go to the rest of them on flickr.

"They are going bicycling in Europe"

My last post reminded me that I've been meaning to go through my grandmother's European travel journal to see if our trips overlap anywhere.

In the summer of 1939 my grandmother and some friends bicycled through Europe. (Yeah, that's right, 1939. They arrived at the end of June and left at the end of August. On September 1st they were on the cruise ship heading back to New York.) They biked through a good portion of Germany. Our trips will only overlap in Munich, Fussen, and then London. They also covered Holland and Switzerland.

I've always loved going through the journal, and a few years before she died my grandmother gave me all the photos, typed pages, letters, postcards, ticket stubs, receipts from a sporting goods store in Fussen, all the momentos that were stuck to those old-school sticky page photo albums. I carefully peeled them off the sticky album pages and organized them and mounted them on archival acid-free paper and placed them in sleeves, then a sturdy 3-ring binder. I still love going through the journal. Looking at the pictures, reading about what she did every day. Helen must be where I get my minutiea-cataloging habits from. Every day lists the mileage, what they ate at each stop, the conditions of the hostels. I love the details.

Helen went with a group of friends in some sort of organized tour. In 1939 Rhode Island, this was pretty big news apparently, and there's a picture of them, Helen on her bicycle, in the newspaper with the headline "They are going bicycling in Europe." They started on a cruise ship from New York to Holland. Helen's journal includes the telegrams that friends and family members sent her to receive on the ship, wishing her good luck and bon voyage and all that. How exciting! Shore to ship telegrams! (No one sends telegrams anymore. You have to check your email. Which seems a lot less exciting than having a porter hand you a telegram.)

Upon arrival in Holland they received their bicycles and were on their way.