Christmas in Edinburgh

We're in Scotland for the Christmas season, and we arrived in Edinburgh and got to spend a little time enjoying the Christmas markets and good weather.

One of the many rows of market stalls.

Edinburgh is really marketing themselves as a Christmas destination, and the whole enterprise is definitely a lot bigger than when I lived there six years ago. It's a little cheesy but certainly an enjoyable experience - it's hard not to enjoy a trip to Edinburgh.

Victoria Street.

Headquarters of the Bank of Scotland. Look at the sky! Hard to believe it's December in Scotland.

The Dome in its Christmas apparel.

Not much else to report - I hope you all have a merry Christmas!

New Zealand, Part 4

We have been back in Paris for two weeks now, and after our glorious time in the natural wonderland of New Zealand, I am starting to feel the crowds of people and the endless buildings of the city pressing in on me, making it hard to breathe. I yearn to see trees and hills and a distinct lack of people once more. Fortunately, we're travelling to Scotland next week to spend Christmas with Rory's family, so I can get my fill of hills and sheep and sparsely populated land.

I will wrap up our stories of New Zealand with my solo trip to Dunedin, which happened over three days while Rory was hard at work at the University of Canterbury. This trip was mildly significant in that it was the first time I'd ever been in a foreign country without any companions. I've travelled to many different countries--Thailand, Costa Rica, Italy, Belgium, Canada--but I'd never had to be self-reliant. Now I was all alone. I was going on an adventure!

So I eagerly anticipated my 6-hour bus ride to "The Edinburgh of the South", and in the spirit of exploration, I decided not to make any lodging reservations. With a backpack on my back, I walked from the Dunedin bus station to the center of town and found a youth hostel called Hogwartz. Admittedly, I had looked it up beforehand, checked the reviews, and found it on the map, but still! No reservation! I was living on the edge!

Hogwartz is a friendly, spacious, and sparkling hostel and I'd highly recommend it if you're ever in Dunedin. Although it's not particularly Harry Potter-esque, there were rooms labelled Gringotts, Dobby's Room, and 9 3/4. I stayed in a dorm with five other girls from France, Germany, and the US and enjoyed hearing their stories. The only downside to Hogwartz is that it's located on a very steep hill (much of Dunedin is unbearably hilly), so in the summer heat I was panting and sweating by the time I climbed back up to the hostel.

The world's steepest street is in Dunedin. Sorry, San Francisco.

Dunedin was settled primarily by Scottish settlers in the 1840s, hence the name, which comes from "Dùn Èideann", the Scottish Gaelic word for Edinburgh. In fact, Reverend Thomas Burns, the nephew of the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, was the spiritual leader of the new settlement and one of the founders of the university there. The settlers obviously wanted reminders of home because many of the streets have the same names as in Edinburgh, and the architectural style looks distinctly European.

The train station platform

Outside of the train station

Although there is a lot of nature to be explored around the Dunedin area and the Otago Peninsula (hiking, biking, wildlife tours, etc), it helps to have a car. Lacking one, I opted to stay closer to the city and take in two tours, a museum, and a concert while I was there. I first went to Larnach Castle & Gardens--New Zealand's only "castle". It is a gorgeously ornate and over-the-top estate situated on top of a hill overlooking the peninsula. It was built in 1871 by a fabulously wealthy man with a scandalous past, and it was interesting not only for the history of it but also just to enjoy the serene location.

New Zealand's only "castle"

Beautiful gardens surround the castle

The second tour I took was of the Olveston Historic Home, an upper class family's home that has been preserved just as it was in the early 20th century. It's a beautiful house with incredible art and furnishings, and it was fascinating to see how they lived back then. By the way, if you ever go to New Zealand, be sure to check out bookme.co.nz for really great discounts on a bunch of sightseeing activities. I got many tickets for things at half price.

The Otago Peninsula--viewed from the castle tower

The Otago Settlers Museum is also excellent--brand new and free! And finally, I enjoyed a performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and the Walton Cello Concerto by the New Zealand Symphony. Definitely not free, but a good concert nonetheless.

Despite the 12 hours on a bus, I really enjoyed my time in Dunedin, exploring on my own, following my whims, making new friends. All in all it was an excellent adventure.

New Zealand, part 3

We're back in Paris safe and sound now, but we still have a lot of pictures and New Zealand-related stories to share. Here are a few of them.

(See parts 1 and 2 of our journey to New Zealand, and Talia's writing.)

In case you forgot the backstory, I was invited to the University of Canterbury by a former colleague to finish up a linguistics project we've had going for several years. It had stalled and delayed, but setting aside some time to work together intensely on the project was a fantastic idea. This arrangement meant that I was working at the university most of the time, with free weekends to travel, while Talia amused herself around Christchurch and other places.

You may have heard of Christchurch as being the location of a devastating series of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Around 185 people died, and the historic centre of the city lost over a third of its buildings. The effects of the earthquake still loom large in the city. The centre of the town was basically closed for over a year, while workers destroyed the damaged and dangerous buildings. Many of the eastern suburbs, built on marshland, underwent liquefaction and became uninhabitable. The consequent loss of homes, plus the influx of aid and construction workers, lead to a housing crisis. The city is still rebuilding, and even now there is construction all over the place.

The current state of the Christchurch Cathedral.

One of the first weekend trips we took was out to Akaroa, a beautiful seaside town on the Banks peninsula. Akaroa has a curious history - it was originally settled by French colonists. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, which established all of New Zealand as being under British sovereignty. A few weeks later, with news of the treaty not having reached Europe, a group of French colonists (and a few Germans) set sail for New Zealand, hoping to establish an outcrop of the French Empire. When they arrived, 5 months later(!), they learned the islands were now British. They decided to stay anyway, and form a little French village.

The local butcher's shop.

Today, the village is very proud of its French heritage, with the French tricolour flying all over the place. I think they also play up the French connection as a tourist attraction, a quaint little slice of France on the other side of the world. We actually heard a lot of French being spoken, too, but it was all from tourists. The main vestige of the French origins of the town is in the street names.

It's like we're back in Paris!

The Banks peninsula, where Akaroa is, was formed by a series of volcanoes, and has very dramatic hills right beside the sea, leading to a beautiful landscape. The gentle turquoise colour of the sea also adds a lot. It's easy to see why this is a popular holiday destination for Kiwis, and why so many people have second homes here!

The view from the top of the Akaroa lighthouse.

After our trip to Akaroa, Talia went to visit Dunedin, the south island's second largest city, often called "the Edinburgh of the South" for its strong Scottish connections. I'll let her write that post in the future.

Finally, we took a trip out to the west coast. This involves driving through the Southern Alps to emerge at the rainforested area on the other side. The mountains act as a rain trap, apparently, keeping the west coast very wet and the area east of the mountains relatively dry. Our first stop, in the foothills of the mountain range, was Castle Hill, a set of large limestone boulders arrayed around some hills, which from a distance resemble a ruined castle. The area of is of spiritual significance to the Maori, and apparently the Dalai Lama referred to it as the "spiritual centre of the universe".

Limestone rocks.

On our way through the mountains, we were lucky to spot a wild Kea. These endangered birds, unique to New Zealand's south island, are the world's only alpine parrot.

You can't see it in this picture, but it's actually perched atop an informative sign saying "Protect our Keas!" with information on their habitat and instructions not to feed or disturb them.

We finally reached the west coast, greeted by roaring waves (really really big waves) and a beautiful sunset.

Getting close as we are to the southern hemisphere summer solstice, this picture was taken at about 9:40pm.

The next day, we visited the Pancake Rocks, named because they look like stacks of pancakes. The ocean runs around and through these rocks, leading to some "blowholes" where water just bursts up into the air from a surging wave. It's really very spectacular.

No maple syrup, unfortunately.

 Later that day we made our way back to Christchurch. The rain prevented us from getting good pictures of the mountains, but I'm fairly sure they were still there.

The pictures we've shown here have been mainly of the landscape, but the people and culture of New Zealand are very agreeable too. They're very friendly and in no danger of taking themselves too seriously, which I think is by virtue of being rather a sparsely populated country, like Scotland. There also appears to be a lack of regard for traditional barriers like class and religion - people are people - that reminded me of some of the attributes I like about the USA. Still, it's not reducible down to simply attributes of other cultures; New Zealand culture is fiercely unique and it's clear that they are proud to be who they are, living in a beautiful country in the south Pacific.

New Zealand-inspired writing

The calm and peaceful atmosphere I found in New Zealand made it easy for me to write, something that I've always enjoyed doing but have put off for many years because my life felt too harried and busy. So it was wonderful to be surrounded by nature with my notebook in hand, being able to examine my thoughts and reflect on the world and my experiences therein. Below are two short products of my time spent in parks in Christchurch. 

Not your average university park

I'm sitting on a tree-shaded bench, staring at a barely moving, bog-like stream. The warm sun is streaking through the leaves, but its heat is tempered by a mild spring breeze. Bird song swirls around me like surround sound, and in the not-too-far-off distance, I can hear cars and construction equipment. In front of me are huge globe-like ground plants that look like Albert Einstein's hair with static electricity running through it. On the other side of the stream, bright green dinosaur-sized kale-shaped leaves hang on thick stalks over the water. Fern trees and pale pink rhododendrons round out the menagerie of unfamiliar plants. Apart from the blackbird hopping about inquisitively near the water, I am entirely, gloriously alone.

If I could block out the sounds of the construction crews, it would be easy to forget that I am on a university campus. In fact, I would surely be unaware that I am in the most populous city on New Zealand's south island. Rather, I would be quickly convinced that I had stumbled upon my own peculiar, quasi-tropical island, and I would feel as though the rest of the world never existed. New Zealand does that. It has a way of kindly but dramatically introducing you to the glories of God's earth and persuading you that none of your petty concerns really matter. Even with all the madness in the world today, I find an unflappable sense of calm and contentment here. The world keeps turning.

Roses were out in full bloom. I made a point to stop and smell them frequently. They were divine.

This side of the earth
I'm sitting on a park bench in Christchurch
feeling the sun and the warm spring breeze.
I'm surrounded by birdsong and roses
and the leaves that are dancing on trees.

How incredibly lucky I must be
to experience two springs in one year,
when back in my hometown of Paris
a cold gray winter is near.

But it's not just the seasons that changed
when I came to this side of the earth.
A calm and serenity found me,
helped my soul to a joyous rebirth.

Not so for the people of Paris right now
whose grief and anger are clear
at the act of hatred and violence
that sowed seeds of terror and fear.

I admit I'm relieved to be sitting here,
to feel safe and protected and free,
but I ache for my friends in the city
who don't have such a luxury.

Yet the news shows us flowers and candles,
Parisians lending each other a hand.
Fighting violence with love and compassion
and showing kindness to their fellow man.

Quelle surprise! I quietly think to myself
as Paris is known for being rigid and cold.
When people don't smile or even look at you,
treating strangers with love is quite bold.

But that's the norm in New Zealand it seems.
Here they're generous and friendly and kind.
Being surrounded by nature will do that to you,
clear your spirit, your heart, and your mind,

So with a clean slate I'll go back to Paris,
which has changed in both bad ways and good.
And I'll try to hold onto this calm I've found
when passing soldiers in my neighborhood.

I hope we will help and support one another
to rebuild and find peace once more,
since it's unity that will heal the world's ills:
At last a cause worth fighting for.

New Zealand, Part 2

See part 1 of our journey to New Zealand!

We have lots of pictures of our travels in New Zealand. I'll let them do most of the talking.

Our "base of operations" in New Zealand is Christchurch, the largest city on the south island. Before leaving on our trip up the east coast, we explored the city's botanic gardens.

A Californian redwood, with ivy climbing up it! These trees aren't native to New Zealand but they've been introduced.

A flower of some variety.

Coffee! As a former British colony, tea is very popular in New Zealand, but the most recent gourmet coffee revolution begin in nearby Australia, and there's a thriving coffee culture here. Excellent espresso abounds.

 We rented a car and drove north along the east coast to the seaside town of Kaikoura. This area is notable for being close to a mountain range, a large bay with lots of marine mammals, and several seal colonies.

This is a seal.

Talia and Rory. Not native to New Zealand.

There are some seals on the beach waaay in the distance.

A lot of the landscape reminded me of Scotland. And of Oregon, too. It was an interesting combination, with the sea, the beaches, the cliffs, the mountains. A lovely place to be. There is also a fairly large set of businesses that will take you out on whale-watching tours, or to swim with (wild!) dolphins or seals. But there is something more special (and cheaper) just up the road from Kaikoura. Close to a seal colony, there's a waterfall which leads to a large pool. The seal pups trek up from the beach and go to the pool to play and learn to swim.

Click the picture to see it bigger. It's a little blurry, but there are several baby seals playing in the water here.

A clearer picture of two of the seals.

Our next stop was Picton, a northerly village where you can catch a ferry to the north island. It's right by the Marlborough Sounds, a network of sunken valleys with lots of winding water paths. Very wild and great to explore. We took a little boat tour around the area, stopping at a few places.

Clouds! The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, which is thought to derive from a phrase meaning "land of the long white cloud".

Little penguins! Yes, that's the actual name of this species, also known as "blue penguins" and "fairy penguins". These guys are only found in Australia and New Zealand. The ones in this picture are inside of a nesting box on a nature reserve.

A carved pouwhenua, similar to a totem pole, erected at the site of Captain Cook's first landing on New Zealand. Cook was one of the first Europeans to visit New Zealand. This pouwhenua depicts Kupe, the mythical Maori hero who discovered New Zealand, and a giant octopus.

After Picton, we headed southwest, passing through a national park.

Lake Rotoiti.

Us at Lake Rotoiti.

The Maruia Falls

 Continuing over and through a high mountain pass (where we experienced rain and hail), we came to Hanmer Springs, a popular holiday destination noted for its skiing (in winter, of course) and its hot springs.

Hanmer Springs! Talia called this "ridiculously picturesque".

We saw this happy little tree in the forest near Hanmer Springs.

A male chaffinch. Not native to New Zealand, but fairly widespread (and friendly).

On the way out of Hanmer Springs you pass this beautiful turquoise river. If you like, you can do bungee jumping here too!

Then, back to Christchurch. Such a beautiful country! We've only scratched the surface here. There's so much of the south island we haven't even seen, not to mention the north island. There's a lot to explore here, and we don't have time for it all. Still, everything so far has been amazing, so it's hard to complain!

New Zealand, Part 1

First, a word about Paris. It seems our trip to New Zealand came at a fortuitous time. Whether it was divine intervention or random circumstance, for some reason we were not meant to be in Paris at the time of the terrorist attacks. I am infinitely grateful for this fact, but it was still heart-wrenching and frightening to learn that several of the attacks took place very close to our home. When the attack locations were published, I instantly recognized two of the streets as ones I often travel on. In fact, I walked past the Bataclan concert venue just over a week ago when buying a suitcase for our trip. And we have friends who go to work every day very near the attack sites. It's a decent, relatively safe neighborhood populated by hard-working Parisians, and now terrorists have shattered any feelings of safety and security that once existed. It was our home, is our home, and this tragedy has changed it forever.

New Zealand, however, is the perfect antidote to violence and hatred. In what has to be one of the most beautiful, serene, and majestic countries in the world, it seems impossible not to be kind and loving to each other. I want to tell you about all of the amazing things we've seen in only five and a half days, but I'll start at the beginning of our journey and take you there in shorter instalments. It hasn't been the smoothest ride.

Mon, Nov 9 - Wed, Nov 11
We left in the evening, flying from Paris to Dubai overnight on Emirates Airlines. Emirates is a nice airline. They give you a hot towel at the start of every flight, they feed you frequently (you can choose one of their many types of special meals if you have dietary restrictions), and they have hundreds of movies and shows for you to watch. So it was a fine, sleepless 6-hour flight, then we arrived in Dubai (a very blingy and commercial airport), and a little while later we headed to Bangkok on a 5.5 hour flight. Again, no sleep for Talia. I don't do well with sleeping on planes, unfortunately. Next we had a one-hour "break" in Bangkok while they refuelled the plane and we were herded through security in the airport. Then we hopped back on the newly cleaned plane and flew to Sydney. This time it was an 8-hour flight. By this point, I was sore, exhausted, and really not looking forward to an even longer flight. Rory successfully slept for a good portion of this one so as to align his body with New Zealand time. I, however, did not. Finally we made it to Sydney and I'm practically bounding off the plane. It's only two more hours to Christchurch! I'm nearly done! I'll survive! Hallelujah! We got back on the plane for the last time. And then something unfortunate happened.

Sleepless in Bangkok, attempting to smile

Food poisoning. I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that I quickly realized I had a serious problem. I suspect the culprit came from one of my Emirates gluten-free meals; my hunch is that it was a salad with tuna on top. Future gluten-free Emirates travellers, beware. I spent most of the flight in agony in the tiny lavatory, and once we arrived in Christchurch, for the next two days I alternated between being miserable in bed and being miserable in the bathroom. This was my first experience with food poisoning, and I have to say, I'd rather not try it again.

By Friday, I was well enough to get out of the house a bit, and Rory and I had initially planned to spend the weekend travelling, so I didn't want to waylay those plans with my illness. Not yet feeling completely better, we rented a car and began to make our way up the east coast of the south island. It was a mostly wonderful journey with breathtaking scenery and experiences. But you can read all about that in Part 2.

The Land of the Kiwi

Sometimes I feel very cosmopolitan. There's of course the whole being-married-to-a-Scottish-guy thing and the living-in-Paris thing which add to that feeling. Right now I'm living this crazy fantastical life in which I don't have to earn money and can experience on a daily basis the most popular tourist destination in the world. On Tuesday morning at my yoga class, after sharing my reason for moving to France, I was high-fived by a professional singer from Los Angeles who is in Paris shooting a music video. Is this even real?

Indeed, to make me seem even more sophisticated and well-traveled, Rory and I will be on an airplane to New Zealand four hours from now. Apparently it's not enough to live in vacation-land; we still have to take vacations too. But we're not just going for a holiday. Rory was invited by a colleague at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch to finish working on a linguistics project they had started together at Ohio State. So we'll be spending three weeks on the south island, Rory working for two of those weeks, and the rest of the time will be spent touring the countryside and being engulfed in the natural beauty of the other Land Down Under.

After nearly three months in Paris, I'm really looking forward to being surrounded by hills and sheep and very few people. And hearing English when I walk out the door will be nice too, even if it is a funny-sounding English. I've heard that New Zealand is like the Scotland of the southern hemisphere (sheep and funny accents), so it should be a lovely change of pace from the busy streets of Paris.

We'll take photos and share our travel stories soon, but in the meantime, here are some pretty pictures I took of Paris.

I stumbled upon a magical little neighborhood on a hill.

A carved pumpkin! How rare!

A very friendly neighborhood feline

Roses at Square Severine

Beautiful foliage at Square Severine

Kids playing at Le Square Edouard Vaillant

This is a memorial for the Jewish children from this neighborhood who were deported by the Nazis.

Vroooom!

La Toussaint

Yesterday (November 1) was La Toussaint, the French name for All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows). Despite France being a secular country, this Catholic holy day is also a national public holiday. (Yeah, French secularism is weird, and feels less consistent than American secularism, but that's probably just a matter of perspective. It's quite rare to see French politicians talk of their personal relationship with God, for instance.)

Most people from Anglophone cultures will know All Saints' Day as "the day after Halloween". After all, Hallowe'en is a contraction of All Hallow's Eve(ning), in other words, "the evening before All Saints' Day". However, Halloween celebrations as we know them in Anglophone cultures were quite missing on Saturday night!

Although the tradition of "trick or treating" is often regarded as being American in origin, it actually finds its roots in Scotland. Still practised today, children will go "guising", that is, going around the neighbourhood in disguise. They knock on the door of a neighbour, are invited inside, and have to perform a "piece" to get their reward (fruit, nuts, and sweets). The piece can be a joke, a riddle, a poem, a song, or some other performance. Apparently this practice in turn can be traced to traditions around the celtic pagan festival Samhain, the traditional harvest festival.

Okay, back to France. So, we didn't get to dress up, or give (or receive) any sweets, but instead, we got a public holiday with excellent weather! Yesterday was also the first Sunday of the month, which, as you may recall, means that many museums are open for free. We took advantage of this and visited the Musée du Moyen Âge (Museum of the Middle Ages).

Wow, the middle ages were pretty grim. Here's a statue of a martyred saint.

Yep, still pretty grim.

There was also some Roman artefacts, like this statue of Emperor Julian the Apostate.

Luckily, the middle ages weren't all doom and gloom. They had unicorns too.

And bunnies!

And books with pictures. Or maybe this is a colouring book?

After the museum, we visited Grom, an Italian ice cream shop. They have a variety of sorbets (milk-free, of course), and all of their cones are gluten-free. This is a winning combination for a happy Talia.

Apple and lemon sorbet!

We also visited the Panthéon, a huge mausoleum which houses the bodies of many of France's most famous men. (Yes, men. There is the body of exactly one woman in there: Marie Curie. However, two more women - Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion, both heroes of the French resistance during WWII - were added recently. Their bodies were not physically moved into the Panthéon (at the request of their families), but their names are listed among the others.)

Voltaire's tomb.

We also spent some time cycling around in the sun - the weather was really fantastic! (Unlike today, which is grey, cloudy, and barely more than 10C (50F).) Unfortunately, the camera battery ran out, so no pictures. But it was very pleasant.

So, while we may have missed out on the candy explosion of Hallowe'en in the USA, or more traditional Hallowe'en activities in the UK like apple dooking, a day of free museums, ice cream, and relaxing in the gentle sun definitely makes up for it. More of this, please!