Jamie Chong

It’s been a long ten days. Sarah and I received our car okay in Montpellier. We picked up some groceries at the Super Marche then started our drive towards Pisa. We got to just past Nice then camped in the car for the night. The next day in Pisa was brief. We parked the car and spent 3 or 4 hours at the tower. If you really think about it, this tourist trap really isn’t that interesting. It’s just a building established on a weak foundation that has sunk a bit on one side. The result is a failed construction project that has created a tourism based economy for Pisa. Every person takes the same picture: the one where it looks like you’re pushing the tower back up. Some tourists show some creativness – they lay on their backs and use their feet to push the tower up. Then there’s the guided tours. 30 sheep follow some old lady around while she holds a pink umbrella up in the air. They’re even all tagged with a red piece of tape so they know which herd they belong to. As you can tell I’m getting a little tired of all the crowded tourist destinations. In the last 10 days we’ve been to Pisa, Rome, San Gimignano, Florence, Torino, Paris, as well as a few other lower key destinations. The ones I’ve listed however are all crowded with a million other people taking countless photos of the same thing. I suppose I fit right in, but often I was asking myself why I was even taking a photo of some building I couldn’t name on a street I couldn’t remember. When I get home there will be no significant story to tell about the photo.

Okay. I’ve finished my depressing little commentary on the tourism phenomenon. There have of course been many fun times. Recently Sarah and I visited the Louvre, Paris’ most famous museum. We spent most of our time looking at paintings. Let me tell you, the Mona Lisa is garbage compared to some of the other messed up renaissance paintings I saw. There were scenes of old school people eating fruit and frolicing in the meadow. The catch was that some of the people were half man, half goat. Fascinating stuff. I also like the paintings of outdoor areas. They give you an idea of what the land looked like before modern man turned it into a concrete paradise. In Florence we saw the statue of David. The guy made me feel powerless. I think that pictures nor words can describe what it’s like to be standing beneath such a magnificent piece of art. The view from the Eiffel Tower is impressive, but the vastness of the structure itself is even more striking especially when it’s all lit up at night. On our drive from Florence to Paris (90€ in tolls by the way) we spent a night in Torino with a kid I used to coach, Lorenzo. He and his girlfriend Isadora gave us a great tour of Turin. They both knew so much about the history of their city; I was impressed. They even treated us to the best gelato I’ve ever had.

Tomorrow we train to Valence to be with Team Canada at YWC. Then Sarah and I will spend two nights in London before we fly home! I miss you guys and a part of me can’t wait to be home. See you all very soon!

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