Addendum

Here are the actual faces of my wonderful hosts in Uppsala. Aren't they cute?

Idol

- Hi, I'm Diana.
- I'm Eric.

.........
[bla bla bla]
.........

- Wait, what's your last name?
- Ford.
- Eric Ford? Oh my God, I read all your papers!

[embarrassed smile from Eric]

Later on, frisbee game on Skye with Eric, Alex and Peter.

Uppsalalalala

I'm in love with a city! Pretty yet modern Uppsala overflows with greenery, old beautiful buildings and a happening "downtown". Camille and Kimmo have been impeccable hosts (oh, those crepes!).
Here they are.



Thank you Kimmo for trying to keep me up and drinking all night :-) Cam, it was great seeing you, friends like you don't come by very often. Oh, why are my best friends all in cities other than mine? Thankfully, Agnes always comes to the rescue. Please don't move to France, Ag. Actually, people who know you at the duty free at Trudeau were asking me if you live in Paris now (???) ...
And of course, my darling, my one and only, he knows who he is.

While visiting a market in Stockholm, we found these (wasabi flavored rice puffs) among other sample baskets:



The Vasa, a ship that sank near Stockholm in the 1600's, shortly after being launched. Why is it loved by Swedes and tourists alike? Because despite its one fatal flaw, the Vasa was one of the largest warships at the time, and an incredible piece of engineering. It sank because there was not enough ballast in her belly to counterbalance the weight of the huge guns and cannons on the upper decks. Since it was top-heavy, any small breeze could make it lean on its side to the point of taking water through the gunholes, and eventually (quite quickly) sinking.



This one's for Aaron, who should perhaps start reading this blog. Give him a hint, Francis (if you still read it...). Walking to Camille's workplace, we encountered some high-road bandits. We had to make way for some, for fear of being speared alive on those hard little horns.



A view of the Uppsala cathedral, with a bit of surrounding ambience.



And finally... One wheel, two wheels, three wheels, ten thousand wheels! The bike "parking lot" near the train station. Not exactly unique in Uppsala.



In Uppsala, we have both gone to a party and left from the party while there was still light outside. Cheers to the north!

Long weekend

And a glorious weekend it was. Lots of hiking and some cold cold water canoeing/kayaking in Mauricie National Park. With wonderful company and great weather, we made the best of those three days, topped with a victorious return to Montreal, involving blasting Beatles songs and singing along at the top of our lungs. Below, the camping.

Lights... drumroll... sparkle!

Magic... music... movement... magnificence. My first time. Tonight I joined the ever-growing crowd of awestruck Cirque du Soleil spectators. If you've attempted a front flip over your crouching partner, springing from and attempting to land on a tight rope, missed, and "barely" caught yourself by the hands, would you get right back up and try it again? If you were sprung from a see saw, flipping backwards and attempting to land with your feet on the shoulders of a man standing on the shoulders of another man, and failed three times, would you try it a fourth? If you were performing one-handed acrobatics on the back of a chair below which 9 others are piled up, would you be able to do it under the scrutiny of the audience, the lights and the clapping, without any safety device?

They would. They do. They don't give up. They are made of sheer strength, concentration and especially perseverence. The circus is out to inspire and the Cirque du Soleil in particular has yet to fail in this mission.

Tonight they painted a grin on my face that lasted throughout the show and for some time afterward. I felt like a six-year-old child again. I gasped and exclaimed. I cannot remember the last time I was in such a sustained state of awe.

There are still some tickets left since Kooza runs until the third week of June, so if you can, make time to watch a perfomance.

Learning grace at 24

Tap tap tap tap ... If I don't tap my heels very loudly, no one in my flamenco class will notice that I am entirely out of rythm. Yes, I thought 24 was a good age to learn to be graceful. I bravely wore a 2'' heel for about 5 out of 10 flamenco classes. I tripped only twice. I never fell. There is good reason to feel pride. But did I learn grace? This is an important question that the author prefers to leave to future work.

What I did learn is how to play drums with my feet. I got a chance to tap my heels in and out of rythm for 1.5 hours every week. You try this at home and see what happens. I didn't. I prefer to say "Beluuuuuugah! Beluuuuuuugah! Ppppffffffbbbbttttt! Ppppffffffffbbbbttttt!" as many times in a row as necessary to either get sick of it or get kicked out, whichever comes first. Feel free to take guesses.

Well, besides the tapping, I have also acquired a pair of shoes which fit wonderfully compared to other shoes I've tried. They are classy and have a thin strap with LOTS of holes. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to look for shoes in dance stores until now.

I hoped that by the end of the class I could look and perform something like this




Perhaps, if I stick to it, one day there will be such a picture of me posted.

Monologue

Hey, listen, I think Diana is coming... You hear the "vrsht, vrsht" of the snow as she plows through?

Hey look! There she is, in the light blue suit! Did you see those moves? And I think I'm going to buy myself a suit in that color...