evidently, the grand canyon is indeed grand. it's grander than a mouse, and grander than a house, it's grand indeed, yes... yes it is. some might say that it's grander than, say, three chocolate bars. i'm not so sure i'd go quite that far, but it most certainly is grand. we had a splendid lunch consisting of bagels and cream cheese. we ate it whilst sitting upon a small stone wall, overlooking the canyon. it was a grand lunch spot indeed. not as grand as the grand canyon though, it's mighty grand. (it is, the name tells me so.)
the sunset wasn't so grand. and not knowing quite what we are doing, where we are going, or what we'll see, is rather perturbing, and in it's own special way, not so grand also. but at least the grand canyon is grand.
so there i was, walking along through this canyon today. turning a corner, i came across this man standing atop a small knolly hilly thingy, holding in his hands a pair of divining rods. he called me over to demonstrate his rods and explain his findings. the rods, it seems, apparently, were defying the wind and moving together, in my eyues, rather abitrarily, to indicate that the rock he was holding them above, apparently, according to the man standing on the knolly hilly thingy with his divining rods, that the rock was surrounded in some special, extraordinary force. i smiled, and nodded uncomfortably. evidently, he was looking for a vortex. i told him inside my head that i hadn't seen one today. i was especially careful to note which direction he headed off in to continue his vortexual search, and i thusly turned abruptly in the opposite direction and at a brisk pace, put myself at some distance to the man that was standing on the knolyl hilly thingy with his divining rods. then i saw lots of prickly cactuses that the people in the south west don't appear to call cacti in their plural form, and it's a rare site to see just one, so well, yes, or something. how ya'll folks doin today?
i was inthe canyon looking for rock drawings, picto..., pleto..., plurto... somehting-or-others. there were lots. hardly exciting though. nevermind.
tomorrow we head south to quartzsite. i'm not sure if they have internet in quartzsite. bit perturbing really...
i think we got lost and ended up on the moon. it's weird here. no green, just... well, rock and dirt and hills and huge freeways with too many lanes. it's very odd. arrived in LA the other day, spent a night there in santa monica, then got a rental the next day and drove out to Laughlan, Nevada. From here we're planning on heading south towards Tuscon, Arizona. But, we'll see what sounds interesting as we go...
london is big. and it looks like i'll have to stay in a hostel tonight. but flying to usa tomorrow, so looking forward to that. it gets dark here very early, but at least it didn't rain today.
i bought a ticket to austria, because i wanted to travel. i had no real intentions, no agenda, and no plan. one hundred and two days, eleven countries, and NZ$4,356 later, i am back in cardiff. i travelled on buses, planes, trains, ferries, bikes, a vw combi, cars, trams, cablecars, a dinghy, and by foot, and now have thirty two stamps in my passport. i met countless people, hitched with fourteen different people (including three different people that spoke only about three or six words of english, one greek policeman, and even an australian couple!), collected forty seven email addresses, and took three hundred and sixty two photos. I visited forty five towns, slept in thirty of them, using fourteen hostels, one alpine hut, four houses, three motels, four private rooms, three guesthouses, two camping grounds, and one carpark. i've had some absolutely amazing times, been reduced to tears several times, and subsequently, i have an infinite number of stories to tell... and can only hope that the next journey isn't too far off...
after so many days in a non-englsish speaking countries, ou train your ear to listen for people speaking english, and parallel to that, to block out much of the other noise around you. Subsequently, having arrived back in the UK, my head is not coping with the noise on the streets. Voices talking at you from every angle, invading my quiet world that I've created. It's like having voices in your head, overlapping each other, outtalking each other, and generally driving you slowly insane. I figure I'll get used to it again shortly, and just stop listening to everyone when I'm out and about.
From Alpe d'Huez I hitched down to grenoble, caught a train to avignon, via vallence, and stayed two nights. I then took the short train trip through to nimes, a town with a collection of roman ruins, including a huge gladiatorial theatre, a square house with columns from a once vast forum, and, just outside of town, the massive pont du gard, a three tiered aqueduct over the rhone. But i didn't see that, but it sounds lovely, doesn't it? nimes also has an airport, from whcih i flew to london two days ago, hitched from the airport into the city, and caught a bus from victoria station direct back to cardiff. In a couple of days I head for Exmouth to meet a girl i worked with on the island, and then, to london heathrow on the 18th to fly to Los Angeles.
Now I am hungry though. I'm going to go make toast. mmmmmm toast. i like toast..
bonne année!! was a surreal night spent in english pubs in the french alpes... very peculiar being surrounded by hundreds of english peoples but knowing where you are... another reminder how great it is to be speaking english with the ability to go almost anywhere and be understood... bliss. or is it just laziness? meh.
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