Sunshine and Light

Overload

So we’re sitting on the plane for the endless flight back, and I’m trying to re-absorb everything that’s happened in the last 8 days. And I’m typing it out while my knees are slammed up against the tray table of the person in front me. Lady, I’m 5’11”, neither one of us will be comfortable with you reclined. Especially not while the dude behind me fiddles with the tray.

Anyway…

A few (ok, many) years ago, I went rafting on the Upper Gauley River during dam release. 5 class 5 rapids. Crazy insane. When we were going down the river, I couldn’t focus on anything outside the immediate here & now. All I knew was that I had to do whatever the guide had me do, and all I could experience was the here and now. I had no idea what was coming up.

That’s sort of how I felt about this trip. Our guides were idea men, and they knew their stuff, but sometimes all we could do as passengers was hang on for the dear life and hope the plans materialized. That can be hard for a planner and a plotter like me. We had so many cool things happen along the way, but without really any clear vision of how the plan was going down. The good news: awesome flexibility meant good rides for Chris and all sorts of cool adventures. The bad news: A few times my heart was in my mouth thinking we weren’t going to make whatever scheduled thing was going on. But we did and all worked out well.

It was also…er…interesting…being the only woman in a group of 7 men. Sort of like getting to hang out in the locker room….for 8 days. The guys were all really nice, but I’ve threatened Chris that the next trip will be a perfume shopping excursion. During the course of the week we’ve discussed women, bikes, beer, drugs, and shit to an extent I could REALLY have done without. So ladies, if you’ve ever wondered what men are thinking… don’t. You really just don’t want to know.

The grocery list of awesome things that happened this trip which I will dissect as my brain settles in:
- AWESOME tour of Brugge with Paul, who was both knowledgeable and passionate about his city
- Riding a tandem bike through Brugge with Chris while paraphrasing Dave Chappelle. “I’m Chris Horner, Bitch!”
- Watching Ghent-Wevelgem on the Kimmelberg, and the subsequent walk we did while our fellow tourists watched the end of the race in the smoky bar at the top. The scenery was Beyoootiful.
-Paris-Roubaix – most of it. Until George Hincapie crashed. We drove down the last 5km of the course thanks to the VIP pass that Pee-wee, our fearless leader got.
- Nabbing Paris-Roubaix signs.
-Hanging out in a French house eating Belgian chocolate and a sand-weesh that I got from a lovely lady in nearby Geneche. Chris has gotten to hear me say “Sand-WEESH” for about 4 days now.
-Dinner on our last night was pretty awesome.
-Baan & Bernard at the Thai restaurant in Cysoing. We liked them so much that we came back a second night. Baan gave me a little rickshaw which I’m praying will make it home. It’s very delicate and wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.
-Bernard’s “Vietnamese Whiskey” poured straight from a bottle that had either two snakes or else a scorpion and a snake. Pick one. Wow, I think it put hair on my chest. I’m also pretty sure he brewed it up in their bathtub. Thank heavens I didn’t have to drive.
-Being able to do some basic French communications. Sometimes better than others for sure. The bad news is the majority of the translating fell to me, and I was sadly under-equipped. But when I succeeded in communicating, it was like winning the superbowl. When I failed, I felt like tucking my tail between my legs and catching the next flight out. Especially the few times we got snippy people.
-Mass at St Amand’s in Cobrieux. Beautiful church, even if I didn’t understand everything that was being said. The order or the Mass was the same, but certain aspects were done differently.
-The Eiffel tower at night. The hotel room by day. Ah, pre-spring in Paris.
-walking through Compiegne and Brugge with my husband. And remembering that we really love just hanging out. Sometimes our conflicting schedules make it hard to spend time together that doesn’t involve getting ready for the next day of work, or re-hashing that day’s travails. So I actually don’t regret waiting a year to take our honeymoon. Very worth it!

Labels: Travel

posted by MyHusbandRules @ 2:55 PM