Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Legacy of Sugar Dog Disco

Day Three
The next morning was nice- we spent some time exploring the boat and hung out on the sun deck, relaxing. I, for some reason, made a joke to Jake about how I would dive into the ocean, catch a fish in my teeth and fly out of the ocean back onto the boat with ease (it was early, don't judge me) and we then proceeded to compose Sugar Dog Disco's first single entitled "Sushi on the Sundeck." Lyrics have been completed, and soon we will have our first demo for the general public. Just wait. You will pee with happiness. After our great composition, we went to the gift shop and looked for some information on campsites in Cherbourg, France. This is the name of the town we were going to be docking in. There were some really cool ones, and we decided that we would camp there a week before traveling to Paris and onward to Rome. We also found it both convenient and wise to acquire a French dictionary and immediately began studying.


Farm in Cherbourg, France

We docked in Cherbourg, France around 4:30PM- an hour ahead of Irish time. It was pouring, and our other foot passenger friends (the douche from NH, a couple from Canada, our French pal, and another Frenchman) were all headed towards Paris. For two reasons 1. we did not have the available funds and 2. we weren't fans of our present company, we chose to continue on to the campsite and spend the week in Cherbourg. We discovered that the campsite was actually 3.5km outside of Cherbourg in a small town called Tourlaville. The walk was a bit rainy, but quite pleasant as we passed farms and fields aplenty. Upon arriving at the campsite we discovered that it had closed on September 3o. Shit. We did, however, have info on another site just up the road so we continued. Low and behold…A rape van pizza van! I had mentioned my love for this pizza to Jake & co. upon returning from France the first time. Starving, wet, and freezing we decided to order one for dinner (also upon discovering that this next campsite was actually just a trailer park). I completed the order FULLY IN FRENCH with ease and 10 minutes later we were returning to our first stop. We pitched the tent under shelter of the reservation office and began eating our marvelous ham pizza and bottle of rose wine.


Rape Van Pizza and a bottle of wine...Mmmm!

Day Four
Sleeping. Was. Awful. The wind howled all night, and the rain blew against the tent viciously. Jake and I both slept an hour an a time before finally calling it quits at 6am. We packed up the tent and got ready to head out when I saw the shadow of a wolf against a trash can. Scratch that, now I see the actual animal and it is not a wolf but an ENORMOUS doberman without a collar. I freeze. I had been prepared for murderers or homeless people but NOT huge dogs that could eat my face! I grab Jake's arm and point as a second large dog runs past the entrance of the camp. We are both silent and frozen in step until we then see a man holding two leashes walk by. I have never in my life gone from such terror to such relief in such a short period of time. We continued to pack quietly for the next half hour and set out toward Cherbourg. By 8:30AM it was STILL pitch black, and I was half convinced that the sun had burnt out overnight…I mean…how would we know? We are in the middle of freaking Tourlaville with no access to internet, newspapers, telephones…something like that could happen and we would never know!


8:30AM in Cherbourg...still dark as night!

Luckily the sun rose as we reached the Harbour just in time to create a beautiful rainbow over the town. As we reached the train station, we saw our French pal waiting outside. Exchanging smiles and nods, Jake and I entered the station and proceeded to the ticket counter where I AGAIN ordered our "billet pour Paris" with French eloquence. Proud of myself, and with adventure still pulsing through my veins, Jake and I decided to "see the town." We followed the rainbow a bit, were ambushed by pigeons, and watched the sunrise fully before finally boarding the train to Paris.


Rainbow over Cherbourg, France

We arrive to Paris having had no chance to figure out where we are staying. Since we were obviously unable to stay the week in Cherbourg, we thought perhaps we would stay a week in a hostel in Paris. Awesome, right? Well, first we would need to FIND a hostel. We ask around, and again...as in Dublin...no one had any idea where or what a hostel was. Instead, we decided to start checking prices of hotels. One reason I LOVE Paris is that almost every hotel has their prices listed in the doorways. It saves the uncomfortable asking of prices and helps you narrow down quickly. After a few duds, we found ourselves checking into the EST Hotel right down the road from the Holiday Inn where I stayed last year. Keep in mind, folks, we found our way there solely based on my wonderful memory. I somehow remembered exactly where my hotel had been! Simple marvelous. After checking in, stressing out, and some wandering we went and enjoyed a crepe (ordered in French by Jacob!) and a delicious pizza (also ordered in French by Jacob!) at a nearby restaurant called "Maya."


Yes, more French pizza...

Curled up in bed, and intimidated by what the future may, bring we Skype-d with Karen and Joe about a potential plan. Things had been so non-stop that we weren't really sure we would ever figure out how to actually slow it down and enjoy all the traveling we were doing. Thankfully, the level heads of the group were able to help us form an idea. We then decided that we would stick out Paris for a few days and take a bus to Rome on Wednesday. While it was still an intimidating plan, tried our best to realize that having this plan would make things easier. Finally relaxed, we hit the hay and prepared for another long day.

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