Flukey Forte Dei Marmy

We caught the morning train to Genova from Nice at 10 and then connected to a train heading for Cinque Terre. When we arrived in Cinque Terre we hopped off and started looking for a place to stay. Well no luck and the hordes of tourists quickly made it appearant that we wern't staying here, so we headed to La Spezia. In La Spezia we got off and went to the tourist booth and got an accomodation book. We were just figuring out how to phone places without our now depleted phone card, when someone said "Hey are you guys from Canada?". We said yes and they said they could tell because of our MEC bags. Not a minute after that another couple of people showed up with MEC gear noticing the congregation of MEC equipment. It was pretty funny. We may not have sewed Canada flags to our backpacks but apparently MEC is just as good. They offered to take us to the place they were staying at. At 80 euro it was our most expensive hotel yet, but it was a really Nice B&B and came with a hearty breakfast, so to avoid the headache we went for it. We also found out that we had tried to come to Cinque Terre on a regional holiday which explained why there was NO accomodations whatsoever... We followed them in the train past miles and miles of marble quarries and storage yards. We passed through Carrara (where Carrara Marble comes from) and we found out that the new James Bond was being shot in the surrounding hills. We got off in Forte Dei Marm and they drove us to the B&B. We also went for dinner at the B&B owners restaurante in town. Very excellent food, complete with homemade pasta. We talked over dinner and wine and the couple was a Swiss premier league hockey player turned coach and an interior designer from Vancouver Island. Hans the Swiss hockey coach was thowing in the towel and moving back to Vancouver Island, so this was their last European vacation for a while. Pretty interesting. After dinner we went to back and went to bed in our best bed yet.

Then next morning we had a very good breakfast with fresh eggs from the chickens in the back. Don't let the chickens fool you, this house was brand new and pretty cool with in floor desert scenes. Then Hans dropped us off at the train station at around 9 so we could catch a train to Cinque Terre. Unfortunately the train wasn't running because of the holiday and another wasn't due for another hour and a half. So we caught the train to Pisa instead. The leaning tower wasn't on our list of things to see, but we had some time to kill so we went for it. It ended up costing us a little more than 2 hours, but that's ok, well worth it and it only cost us a couple of euro for a bus ticket. The tower was actually kinda neat but only because I had heard about how the builders had tried to correct the lean while building it, and it's actually quite pronounced, each level has a different amount of levelness to it. We also took some classic holding the tower up pictures and Cara put a spin on things by doing a pushing the tower over picture.

At this Cara realized she didn't have her passport because the lady at the hotel didn't give it back. But we didn't have a good idea of how to get to the house, so we decided to wait until the restaurant opened and see them there So we finally made our way to Cinque Terre.

We got off at one of the towns and then after a failed attempt to locate an internet cafe we hiked the 3km trail to Vernazza. We were told it was the most impressive hike and we weren't disappointed by the views. The crowds were a bit of a disappointment and we were constantly having to overtake slower hikers. Once in Vernazza we found some internet and booked ahead to Rome anticipating a late arrival. Originally we had planned to stay in Florence or nearby and see David, but it's highly reccomended to book tickets and when we tried this we found that it must be done by phone and the office closes at noon on Saturdays. After our 15 minute internet frenzy we grabbed a rock on the very crowded breakwater and ate the remainder of our food for a late lunch. Once our lunch was downed, we tried to negotiate the vertical maze that is Vernazza to the tiny train station, where we packed like sardines into a double decker. Again since it's a provincial holiday there were crazy crowds. Kinda like an Okanagan day really, because the province is so tiny. We made numerous train connections to pick up our luggage that we dropped at a station along the way and also to get off at the town we stayed in so that Cara could retrieve her pasport from the B&B lady who forgot to give it back. Cara had a minor freak out when she realized she didn't have it anymore, but all was well in the end. The connection to Florence had some especially interesting people aboard, complete with techno music and lots of tourist-trap salesmen making their way home.

Now we sit aboard a high speed train due to arrive in Rome at 11:30 pm. We hope we have no problems finding and sleeping in our hostel. We're disappointed we're missing David, but we hope to day trip from Venice once we get there.

Not So Nice Nice

We arrived in Nice around 5pm and made the short walk to our highly recommended hostel in Nice. We checked in and there was a happy mistakes so we got a private room with an ensuite bath for the same price. Then we went out to grab some food at the grocer. We were adventurous and grabed a pre rosted chicken that was to be heated in the microwave (since our room also had a microwave and fridge). We also grabbed the usual cheese, bread, yogurt, fruit and granola. We dropped the stuff in the fridge and made our way down the main boulevard towards the beaches of Nice. We were surprised at how big and busy a city Nice is; it seemed even larger and more congested to me than Madrid or Paris. We walked past lots of neon and clothing stores and even a few casinos. When we arrived at the beach it was mostly pebbles but it did afford some nice views. We caught a pretty decent sunset and saw a little bit of the night life. Then we headed back to the hotel for a late dinner. We also took advantage of the free WiFi and looked ahead in our trip. Still no accomodations in Cique Terre and now we've phoned or e-mail a dozen places. So we decided to meander along the cost and if nothing is available in Cinque Terre then we would stop in La Spezia (half hour down the rails) or got to Florence or Rome where there was sure to be something available. With a 10:05 train in mind we got a good nights rest.

A Narative of Nimes

We arrived in Nimes and immediately went to the very small information desk. The receiptionist spoke very little english so for the most part we comunicated in French. She directed us to the tourist information office on the other side of the old town. We walked and it took us about 10 or 15 minutes, again showing us that our definition of a city block is much too big and that our roads are much too wide in European standards. It's refreshing to walk everywhere. Once at the office, we were handed a pamphlet with all the accomodations in Nimes listed. We went budget 2 star and got a great location for 54 euro a night.

We got unpacked and decided to hit the local pizza place for 20% coupon, so we decided to give it a shot. It was kinda like Boston Pizza. After which we hitsome dinner. Our hotel gave us a the Roman Arena for some sunset viewing. Then to bed with an early start in mind to see the Pont du Guard first thing the next morning.

We woke up early, but later than planned, on Wenesday and rushed out of the hotel and to the bus stop, where it was hurry up and wait as our bus didn't leave for another 10 minutes. When we got the the Pont du Guard we were the only ones there and I managed to get in some decent really late sunrise pictures. The bridge is magnificent and maybe its just the engineer in me, but I was in awe. The bridge or 'pont' really isn't a bridge but rather an aqueduct, but those clever Romans threw in a bridge for good measure. It was built specifically to supply water to Nimes around 100AD. Awesome. The only disappointment we suffered was that to get up top you needed to be in a tour group and individual access isn't granted until July. Oh well. We hiked all around the aqueduct and then needed to stop because we skipped breakfast. So we ducked into a cafe back on the side of the highway. Apprehensive at first at the 12.50 euro lunch special, we did it anyway because it was really the only thing that looked good. It turned out to give our splurge in Seville a run for it's money and if money is considered it beat it. Green salad with a mustard dressing and a morrocan stewed meat with couscous and dessert and a half bottle of wine. Great value and it was so good. Good thing we skipped breakfast. Then we hiked around some more and headed back to town.

Back in Nimes we went to the Arena and bought an all inclusive pass for the sights in Nimes. We only stayed a few minutes though because we started getting apprehensive about not having accomodations in Vernazza and didn't figure out trains yet either. Back at the hotel we had a stressful time and in the end decided that due to trains mostly and neither one of us wanting to arrive in Cinque Terre with no accomodations at 11pm we decided to spend another flex day and break up the trip by staying in Nice. We are starting to worry that our flex days are dwindling fast, but if need be we can cut some stops like Salzburg out.

Back to the Arena where we had to suck up to the admission guy cause apparantly our tickets only are good for one admission. With our free audio guides we barely got it done in an hour before it closed. Very interesting. Built in 140AD it is the best preserved Roman Arena in the world. That because it's been in constant use over the years. After Rome fell the people bricked up the arches and used it as a fortress. It served as fortress for a thousand years and after that people lived in it. A little city formed inside and not until around 1900 did the residents get given the boot. The arches were cleared of the bricks and it was restored to it's near original state, although I think it might have been neat to see an Arena fortress. Now it's still in service and bull fights can be seen in the Arena. Nimes is one of the few french cities to have bull figths and the only one in the world to have them inside a Roman Arena. After the Arena we hit a supermarket and bought dinner, breakfast and lunch.

With Nice in mind we didn't need to get an early start but I got up extra early to g sunrise pictures around nice. I got back to the hotel around 8 and then we both got up to see the rest of the historic sites of Nimes. We saw the Tour Magna where Cara got to confront her fear of heights again. We alsoet some took in a 3D movie at the mini pantheon (our first 3D, but straining on the eyes). Then we hit the park for a picnic. Then off to the train station to discover our train was 27 minutes later than when we looked online the night before, making our 35 minute connection much tighter in Marseilles, but with a bit of running we made it with a few minutes to spare. Now we are on our way to Nice due to arrive at 5pm. We're both excited to get to see Nice, albeit quick.

Busy Barcelona

Our last night in Seville was informative, uneventful, but still a good time. After making use of the internet, the two Australian girls that we had met the night before came back from sight seeing. They were also going to leave Seville (for Cordoba) the next day, but due to a tight budget and no Eurail pass they were taking the bus, we flew through Cordoba at 260 kph. We got to talking and discussed our trips and plans. They were on a full years travel and had been gone since January. They had been to Egypt, Morroco, Portugal and Spain and hoped that they might make it as far as Italy, South America, Canada and Alaska. Ambitious plans, luckily they were of Italian descent and planned to spend significant time in Italy with family. We talked well into the night and took advantage of the seemingly free homemade wine from the hostel. The hostel was empty after all the weekend warriors of Spain had left, and nearly everything is closed Sundays so it was a quiet night.

We awoke early Monday planning to catch the 7:15 train to Madrid and connecting on the 10:15 to Barcelona. But due to all the shops being closed and us not wanting to make the 20 minute trip to the train station we didn't reserve tickets the day before. As a result we didn't make it out until the 8:30. So we arrived a little later than expected, but still had plenty of time to find a hostel. Although the Barcelona Mar hostel has over 200 beds it's a well organized place with some interesting 8 bed welded metal bunks. Unfortunately our room was the access to 4 other private rooms, but luckily it's the shoulder season and we were only woke by a couple late comers and our 8 person bunk was only sleeping 2. After finding a place to stay we went to check out the crazy and crowded sights of Las Ramblas. Human statues, acrobat acts, open air markets, it has it all. We also checked out the harbour, the columbus memorial and the Gothic church of Bacelona. The Cathedral I found nice and spacious but in serious disrepair. If you wanted to spend some Euro though, this was the right place. You could sponsor a brick, light an LED candle for a few hours, buy a real one and light it yourself, climb to the top story, illuminate a crypt for a few minutes; you name it there was a coin box or someone to take your euros personally. We tooks some photos and went out to the square, where we got our first view of the heavily scafolded front of the church. That was disappointing. We then moved on for another walk down Las Ramblas and ducked into a corner store for something to make for dinner. We cooked a quick meal, had some showers and then went to bed with another early morning ahead.

Tuesday we awoke early, cleared our room and headed for the metro. So far I have been really impressed by the metros in Europe and this was no exception. We arrived and borded our 1960's train in the 1920's station with no problems. Right now we are just crossing the border into France and some Police are coming around to check passports. This old train and bump tracks seems to only go 100 km/h but we should be arriving in Nimes within a few hours anyway the whole trip taking about 5 1/2.

Stormy Sevilla

Thursday we got a late start but still managed to see a lot more of Madrid. We checked out some of Madrid's amazing green spaces. One striking thing about Spain is all the plazas and parks, especially in the old centers. We also checked out the Royal Palace, which was pretty cool too. We also made our way over to the train station which is a magnificent building in itself and bought our tickets for the next day's trip to Sevilla. After another day's walking around we stopped for dinner right accross the street from our hotel. After a few misses we finally caught a break. The waiter wasn't very friendly again, but the food was good and at a decent price. We ordered a couple things we didn't know and they turned out to be french fries with some egg and some kind of meat and a plate of huge prawns. After that we went home and got some sleep.

Friday we woke up early and cleared out of our room. We then made our way to the train station with our bags and locked them up for the decent price of 3 euro. We then went right accross the stree to the Museo Reina Sofia, which is the Museum of Modern art of Madrid. Completely oblivious, we showed up at a very excellent time. The Picasso collection from Paris was on display and the Madrid Museum also has an excellent Picasso Collection, so combined it was Picasso heaven and they also have some excellent Salvador Dali pieces, as well as Diego Rivera. So we had three very well spent hours there and then it was aboard the Spanish High Speed AVE train so Sevilla. Our first truly high speed train and we were excited. I clocked our speed with my bluetooth gps at just over 260 kph. The german trains will be even faster.

After two and a half hours we arrived in Sevilla. We went dirrectly through the drizzling rain to a hostel we had booked online a few days prior. Even though they told us that the previous tenants broke a bed, we suspect they just overbooked. So the sent us off to a different, lower class hostel, for the same price. Hmmm, so WiFi here and 6 person dorms instead of 4. We do have an ensuit bath, but it's also the bath for the other room on our floor, so good luck sleeping in. Still not as bad as our Hostel in Paris, so we grudgingly agreed. After which we went to the very impressive cathedral here. Build in the 11th century and remodled up until the 18th it's a pretty cool blend of Gothic and Muslim styles. We walked around a little more of Seville and then stopped in for tapas at a place mentioned in the Lonely Planet. We were apprehensive at first because it was deserted, but not 10 minutes after we sat down it was packed. Finally a real tapa experience and all for under 15 euro. Back to the hostel for some sleep. Our roomates came in shortly after we went to bed so that was good.

Saturday we woke up and had breakfast at the hostel (not sure if I really like warm whole milk on my cereal). We decided to explore Alcazar. Also built around the 913 AD as a Muslim fortress and later inhabited and remodled extensively by Spanish Catholic Kings it is truly a mishmash of styles. Very cool and it has some extensive gardens as well. We finally took advantage of an audio guide and it was worth it, since we really didn't know too much about the palace. After that we strolled around a bit and bought some food at the grocery store and stopped in at another place in the lonely planet for a bite. A very busy place it was just was were were looking for decent cheap food. Looking at the piles of sandwiches we picked 3 bought a cervesa and a glass of Sangria and handed the guy 8 euros. Then we grabbed a seat and watched the crazy orderly disorder. After that we dropped our groceries off at the hostel and hung out with some people from BC. Kat and Bret who live in Apex right now. Bret is well traveled, so we picked up some tips from him for various places along our way. Kat we found out is actually from Vernon and gradded from VSS in 97. She's good friends with Carrie Nadeau (spelling?) and also knows Liam Parfitt. Small world, thats only a couple degrees of seperation. After that we went for a look at the cathedral at night and then on to a planned slurge. Another recommendation by the lonely planet Al Medina serves Moroccan food. We can't fit Morocco in on this trip but we can eat some of the food. A gourmet dinner, but we maxed our buget for the day, so off to bed.

Sunday our roomates made it in around 8am. It's quite common in Spain to party well past sunrise. And we kinda expected it because our roomates were napping all the previouse afternoon. Oh well, we were just about to get up anyway. Today we went to check out the Plaza d'Espagna, with a quick stop off to see the inside of the cathedral (open all day Sundays and free too). The Plaza is a very cool plaza with a large semi circular building and extensive surrounding gardens. After which we went in search of a baguette, but we found none as most things are closed today. So we made do with free wonder bread from the hostel. A quick update to the blog and then off to explore more of Sevilla. Tomorrow we are headed to Barcelona for a night because due to train connections we couldn't make it all the way to Nimes.

The Madrid Maze

We awoke Tuesday morning and packed up our things and cleared out of our room at the Celtic Hotel. We had already decided to leave our bags at the train station in lockers while we did some last minute sight seeing. So we took the metro to the station and locked up our bags and then walked to a nearby park. It was a beautiful park and very well maintained. Cara was particularily excited that she could decifer the latin names of most of the plants and trees. We hung around and took some photos of the plants and then walked off towards the Pantheon, where France buries all their more important people, like Voltaire and Rousseau. It was cool from the outside and appearantly from the inside too, but we didn't have much time and there was an admission fee. So we got back on the metro and headed for the Eiffel Tower, this time with the intent of going up. We got there and waited with the hordes of tourists. We had already decided to climb the stairs because it was cheaper and we don't mind exercise and because Cara was not in the least bit interested in going to the top (she is terrified of heights). The climb was much shorter and easier than we though and soon we were taking in the great views of Paris. It really is a beautiful city and romance was in the air so I completed my belated proposal. Despite my best efforts not to draw too much attention to myself some bystanders figured it out and were soon clapping and cheering. After relishing the moment for a bit we made a hasty decent and Cara had a much easier time of it because she said she kept getting distracted by her glittering finger which prevented her from looking over the edge. After we got down we rushed to the metro in order to get to the train station in time to catch our overnight train to Madrid.

Once onboard our overnight train we settled in and watched a couple movies on one of my many "gadgets". Then we were off to try and get some sleep in our chairs. We had thought the overnight train would be great and would save time and money, but even refusing the sleeper cabins and going for seats it was still 90 euro. The sleep wasn't great amid the foot odor and constant gearing of the train. I hope all high speed trains aren't like that. This train seemed to get up to a max speed of 200 km/h.

After a bit of rest we arrived in Madrid and and navigated the metro to the hotel that we had e-mailed a few days earlier and that I thought I had confirmed the night before. Well appearantly I didn't confirm because they needed to move us accross the street and that one doesn't have an elevator, so they wanted me to reconfirm that no elevator was ok. I didn't check my email since then, so there was a bit of hassle, but they still had rooms and everything worked out. The room is very nice, much nicer than most hotels I've stayed in. At 67 euro it's a bit of a splurge.

Madrid's City center is even more compact than Paris and walking everywhere is no problem at all. Paris is a nicer city to look at but I Madrid is nicer to walk in, despite the confusing, tiny, narrow and often unmarked streets, but it all adds to the character. Everything is so compact and the Plaza's and Parks are awesome. We walked around and hit the two major plaza's and saw some cool buildings too. Then we went our for Tapas. Disappointing and expensive. I think we walked into the wrong place and the waitress was quite surly and didn't enjoy our bad Spanish. After a small bit we went back to the hotel where we had some cervezas that we bought earlier (a 6 pack for 1.90 euros!!!).

In addition to that, Cara slipped and fell in the tiny tub shower yesterday and bruised her arm pretty badly... It's now Thursday and we're getting a late start as we catch up on sleep lost on the train and take advantage of the hotels free wi-fi. We stay in Madrid for another night and then go to the Moorish city off Seville for the weekend.

Vive la Paris

We arrived in Paris late Saturday night, in one of the more sketchy train stations in Paris. We were pretty lost as to where to look for a hotel. The welcome centers that would normally be available if you were arriving from most major cities are not at this train station, as we arrived via a small town connection on the North West Coast of France. We phoned about four places in the Loney planet book but after exhausting our Euro change and having to get some more we settled on one. It was a huge hostle appearanty very popular with the high school crowd. They stuck us in a room with an older couple though so that was great. The location was great too (2 blocks from the Louvre). The first night we went to the Louvre and took some night time photos, which was awesome and stopped at a little restaurant for some food, which was good, but not really Parisian.

The next morning we took part in the free breakfast and cleared out of our room. We dropped our bags at the front desk and went looking for more comfortable and private accomodations. After walking around for a bit and visitng the Louvre's gardens/park and after buying a phone card and discovering 2 broken pay phones, we found what we were looking for in a pdf guide I downloaded before we left Canada, all the Lonely Planet accomodations were full, Hotel Celtic. On our cross town trek we saw Pont Neuf and Luxemburg Gardents. The hotel is cozy and cheap, nothing fancy, the staff don't speak very much English, but that's fine by me. After we accomplished our mission we familiarized ourselves with the Subway and went to Notre Dame (awesome). There was a bit too much to buy inside Notre Dame for me (candles, confessions, souvenirs and you could also help one of the many shoeless women outside find their kidnapped brother). Then we went our for a real Parisian dinner. It was awesome and came in 3 courses. For the main I had the beef (medium I would call a canadian rare, not complaining) and Cara had the fish. It was all very deliciouse and I went for the 3 cheese desert, which of course is just 3 pieces of chese. Confident in our Metro skills we went to the Eiffel Tower for some more night time photo opps. It started to rain pretty hard though, so we paked up after about 20 minutes.

Today we got up early and went straight to the Louvre, this time with the intention of going inside, whoa... We lined up before they opened and high tailed it to the Mona Lisa which was good, because no sooner had we seen her than seemingly hundred of poeple showed up. We toured the rest of the paintings in the Denon wing and then went to meet Cara's friend Manon for lunch out in La Defence (Paris' Wall Street). We were treated to an excellent lunch and had some good conversation, which included some excellent tips for our next stop Madrid. Then we went back for more Louvre. After they kicked us out we again hoped the metro to the Arc de Triomphe. Too cheap to pay 9 euro to go to the top, we viewed it from the ground. After an extreemely long walking day, we headed back to hotel and went to the supermarket and got some bagettes and cheese and some other other typically french food, for a hotel dinner and also some food for the train to Madrid tomorrow. The train doesn't leave till 7pm so we are going to get in a lot more sight seeing before we leave. So far Paris has been great and I'm impressed at how beautiful, compact and easily navigatable the city is. Definately excited that we will be returning in July, as the weather, thus far, has not been great.

From Portsmouth to Paris

Portsmouth turned out to be not all that interesting of a city. It is steeped in Naval history though, which is kinda cool. Especially because England is a Historic Naval Superpower. On Thursday me and cara took the ferry across to Portsmouth and walked around the Historic Dock Yard. We saw the HMS Warrior which is the first all Iron ship build in the UK, the funny thing is, is that it has sails, which makes sense when you think about it I suppose, but it was weird at first. We also learned about the Battle of Trafalger which is the most pivotal battle in British Naval History and we saw the flag ship of that battle, the HMS Victory. Unfortunately we cheaped out and didn't pay the 20$ admission price and just saw it from the outside. We did however see the original main sail from that ship which was used in the battle of Trafalger. Since the Victory sustained major damage in the battle, it was pretty beat up. Largest textile historic artiface, coooool..... That night Caleigh and Tom took us to a neat pub down by the warf called The Mermaid, food was good and reasonably priced. Cara had the fish and chips, which were some of the best I've every tried.

Friday we took the train to Brighton. It was really windy, but there were still tones of crazy Brits out there on the beach. There is a fair on a pier there which is kinda novel. The big attraction in Brighton is the Lanes though. A long time ago there used to be a bunch of fishing cottages crammed together in the center of town and the lanes that run inbetween are, in some places, not more than 4 feet wide. Anyways shops have moved in now and it's a cool place to buy jewelery or clothes (or just window shop as we did). After that we went to the museum in town, which wasn't special but interesting nonetheless.

Saturday morning we got up early to catch the ferry to Caen, France. The ferry was due to leave at 7:00, and we arrived at the station at 6:45 although we tried to get there earlier. Although it propably wouldn't have helped, because they cut off walk on passengers 45min before departure (huh???). So we waited for 2 hours and caught the next one, not in the greatest of moods because the first ferry was a fast ferry (3.5h) and the other was a slow ferry (7h). We arrived in Caen (Normandy) debating whether we shouldn't just spend the night and see all the WWII memorials and see the D-day beaches as well. Cara and I were both kinda fixated on getting to Paris though, so we hoped a train and transfered in Lisieux and are currently waiting with bated breath for Paris. Having no accomodations booked adds to the anticipation.

Safe and Sound

Flight was ok, got about 3 hours rest (Cara none) and the landing was quite smooth (good job British Airways). And terminal 5 even managed to get us our baggage! So then we went in search of a way to meet Caleigh and Tom in Chichester. Walked up to an information booth and bought some tube/national rail tickets for 22£ each. Kinda expensive for us, but not a bad price if you're a Londoner. We managed to navigate the London underground without incident (although the route was pretty simple), except we did miss a train by about 30 seconds that cost us half an hour and put us deeper into rush hour. We arrived in Chichester and met Caleigh and Tom, and then Tom took us out for our first meal in the UK; Rusty Cutter Beefeater retaurant..... ok. Food was good though, if a bit expensive. Most things on the menu were about 9£ and up to 25£ for a steak. So it is true I guess, that even though you're spending double you just have to pretend the prices are Canadian and put on a smile, haha. Scandinavia should be worse though I think. Anyway, so we're safe and sound and we plan on heading down to the warf today in Portsmouth for a walk around and find a bank machine. Then in the next few days we take a ferry to mainland france and from there a train to Paris!

Not a Great Start

The morning proved to be quite trying. After realizing last night that I didn't have our greyhound tickets where I thought they were, I had a bad sleep and woke up to phone greyhound right when they opened (6:30). After some less than polite dude told me that greyhound does not replace lost tickets and theat replacement tickets would run us about 150$. I drove back to Salmon Arm and rooted through just about every conceivable place I could think of. No tickets, they must have gotten droped in the recycling by accident (which I took out last week). Back to Vernon, grabbed our bags and made a lightning fast stop at Vinny's (thanks again Vin). Then off to Furmanek Jewlers where Cara got her forestry ring sized and a new battery for my watch (thanks Ryan). Meanwhile I booked it to the Greyhound station where I put on a good performance about not receiving the tickets in the mail. It worked and they replaced my tickets but it took a while and we only had a few minutes to spare once we were onboard. Uneventfull trip to Vancouver. Got off the Greyhound to find our bags completly soaked from a leaky side panel. Not very awesome. I did my best to wipe off my bag. Then off on a 55$ cab ride. Ouch!! Should have taken the city bus and sky train or phoned a friend, but someone had told me it was only about 25$. Oh well. Once at the airport I slipped everything not soaked in a waterproof compression sack and checked our bags. We just had a bite to eat and now we wait for our plane that is about an hour delayed, so far....