Blijdorp, Rotterdam

That was two days ago, beginning of the heatwave that's stuck for a good three days, today being the hottest of all. I don't want to move if I can help it xD Lazy as the lionesses I saw at the zoo.
It is not just a zoo, mind, as a sort park divided into the continents of the world.
About the closest you can get to any animal, basically, unless you have them in your own back yard. xD

I went with a friend of mine, Kim, who has this card thing that let go in for free because her study/job are linked to animals and animal care. Huzzah!
It was major fun :3



I have always known I was an animal lover, but I didn't know I loved quite that many animals xD
I seemed to have many many favourites, more so than even I could have told you beforehand.
Tigers, penguins, sea turtles, snakes, racoons and birds of prey, they all made me squeal.
Seeing as it was a really hot day, the animals were slower and lazier than usual, which meant that all those belonging to the cat family were sleeping, and all the others were hiding in the shades of big bushes and trees.






Me and Kim also attended this show called Free Flight (literally translated anyways). Birds of Prey and their natural living surroundings, habits and whatnot. Owls, vultures, ravens, aras and ibises, all zooming very close to our heads. Twas cool :3





Also, the Oceanarium continues to intrigue me. It consists of a huge tunnel underneath a big as hell basin of water, so you're walking under the sea turtles, sting rays and sharks, as it were. They are everywhere around you, doing what they do best: Swim and take no notice of the many hands trying to knock a hole in the glass of which the tunnel is made.

And as you walk on you arrive in a hall where you can go see a lab, where I found Nemo =D , and Dory as well xD





Little seahorses and a crab-like animal which looked suspiciously like an armoured stingray.

Monkeys, elephants, giraffes. It was all stunningly beautiful.
Ended a perfectly good day with a perfectly delicious sandwich with smoked salmon and something to drink, and as we walked out we bumped into Kim's best friend, so that she had someone to go home together with. :3



xxx
The Gypsy

Weekend.

August already?
What's up with time robbing me like that? xD

Tommie is still holding me company, but that's as much as company goes.
Haven't been online much, and thus haven't been in touch with anybody.
Sometimes having friends living mightily far away just stinks.
Not that I'd be allowed to spend that much time with them if they did live next door, mind...

Kept busy though. Mostly reading. Or rereading.

Saturday we went to a (free) concert in Hoek van Holland, which was a blast.
Specifically Kane was, about the only dutch band I actually like.
It lasted for hours on end, and ended in a show of fireworks which was stunningly pretty.


Sunday was even cooler, we went to something called Castlefest. A three-day-event (Friday + weekend) which mixes the medieval times with fantasy. And such an event is incomplete without performers and guests alike coming in crazy, scary, gothic,beautiful or accurate costumes.
That meant that there were devils, elves, witches and wizards, pirates, princesses, knights and so much more~ I even saw three Jack Sparrows there (One of whom was female. :3 )

I was dieing to buy a corset, but dad wouldn't lend me the money because he thought it was way too expensive (never mind the fact he knew I was going to pay it back). He reckoned I could have a tailor in Egypt make one "just like it." Yeah right.

There were bands playing, Celtic music as well as Scottish tunes, and some of the stuff sounded like we were in the middle of a Lord Of The Rings scene. Although I wouldn't know exactly, having never been able to watch a complete LotR movie up till this moment.

I want to go again next year, wearing a costume. (Although I'm torn which costume I like best, there were several things that looked really prettiful. -Amongst them a pirate costume, and elf one, and a sort of medieval-damsel-in-distress-dress - )



On the way home I actually got dad persuaded (gasp) to get take out at my all-time-favourite restaurant ever (faint): A Chinese-Indian one. Then we went home and I had the best take-out-dinner in two years.

Cheers,
xxx
The Gypsy.

Yo

Soooo. Not much happening.
I'm spending a lot of time reading.
Good books, too. Although I'm having to sneak around to read them.
Not everybody approves of me reading as much, but really, their problem, not mine.

I went to get a new haircut a couple of days ago.
I'm also getting lots of exceedingly positive remarks, which are making me feel temporarily good-looking. The only negative remarks I got are from the males in this household, who by default prefer long hair, no matter how awful it looks.
Personally, I'm glad I took it off. And that's more important then what anybody else says, isn't it?
(Yes, so, compliments allowed, negative remarks not allowed. Capisce?)

Yesterday we spent at my aunt's. We hadn't seen her for two years, and the last time she was pretty morose. Now, however, she was perfectly cheerful, and mum said she had her old sister back. So that's good.
Sadly, they got rid of their dog: Kwik. Kwik and I used to be awesome buddies, and I really missed him yesterday. But they just couldn't take care of him anymore, and he's with people who really want him now, so I s'pose it's all for the best.

I want to buy lots of things myself, and go out and whatnot, but no monies means no expenses unless they be presents~
My birthday isn't any time soon, so I'mma have to sit this out~

xxx
The Gypsy

Three-week-guest.

I am having a guest over, he's called Tommie.
He's sharing my attic, food and drink, because the rest of the house aren't being very hospitable. They'd rather not have him lounge in the sitting room downstairs the whole time, and thus I just spend a lot of time upstairs in the attic.

Seeing as the attic's big enough for the two of us, the only explanation to him demanding we share my bed as well is that he's just plain cuddly.. and loves the attention.
And I'm a softie. Plus, admittedly, I fell for his charms from his pictures, before I even met him. He's adorable. *nod*
Right now he's begging I get off, so I'll just upload the first picture I saw of him and let you judge, savvy?
Later!





xxx
The Gypsy

Birthday weekend.

That's right.
Bro's birthday was Saturday, Dad's Sunday.
Both weren't on speaking terms, and thus it was up to me, mum and sis to put in the effort to let things go semi-smoothly. Pretty tiring, that.
But they're all still breathing and such, so I guess we can't complain..
They're still deciding where we're going out for their birthdays, if we're going at all.
In three weeks time sis will also be having her birthday.
I'm just going to stay out of the arguments about where to go or not completely. *nods*

The sad thing is that I still don't have a job, so I can't even give proper presents.
And along with that, I'm still doing nothing more productive then reading books.
Which is quite alright and everything, but I don't specifically want to stay cooped up here for the rest of the summer just because my aunt and cousin left.
There's this pet store that I left my number at, but they're not calling up all that quickly. I really really really hope they don't forget about it though.

But... My uncle's coming in a bit, so I might as well get going,

Cheers,
xxx
The Gypsy.

Hurray!!!

So, okay.. Cheerfulness. Lots of it.
Finally =D
For several reasons, too!

1. France was awesome. I mean, read my last entry.

2. Two days after we came back, and the muscle ache ebbed away, my cousin and aunt went back to Egypt, and I got my attic back. (Yay for anti-hospitality!)

3. I get more me-time now they are gone. Well, I suppose that comes with my own place. (Place being attic. Der.)

4. I chatted/phoned with good friends I've missed talking to. Be it those couple of days of France and such, or much earlier, say, when my aunt and cousin came here. (I know, sounds silly listing that here, but hey. It makes me happy right now.)

5. I actually finished two books in three days. Haven't had time for that in a long while. Good books, too.

6. (Sort of saving the best for last.) I got my fourth year results. I PASSED! Like, with high marks, not just.. passes!
Geez. That felt like a weight lifted off my chest. A heavy weight. A really heavy weight.

Right now, I don't want to be thinking of stuff that always worries me. I just want to enjoy the good things happening just now. I can always worry again later. This is a living-in-the-moment period for me. Rawr.

xxx
The Gypsy.

Vive La France!

Cause that's where we were. Just in case I was missed.
We went there on a day tour (or more like, a 30-hour tour), with a bus that picked us up from Den Haag Friday night, and dropped us off in Bercy (Paris) at 6:35 in the morning.

Spoiler: Lots of pictures ahead. xD

Sleep drunk, shivering in the cold wind, we were trying to orientate ourselves. Looking back, those first ten minutes were hilarious, we were just dazedly standing there. xD
We found a metro station quite near, and went there to ask about. The lady (Sonya) was really nice and helpful, and told us we better get a day card for the metro, instead of getting a ticket at every stop. Everyone under 25 (four of us seven) also got a special Saturday-price, so it wasn't half as pricey as dad had expected it to be. (He wanted to cruise Paris on foot. Right now, looking back at it, that is simply laughable. All our muscles are aching horribly and we didn't even walk all over the place.. Or well, we did, but not .. oh well, you get it. Or not xD)

At 07:00 we were at the Louvre, and the first thing I did was look for the glass pyramid, wondering whether Mary was really buried. (Stupid Dan Brown putting ideas in my head D; )




We walked all the way down the Tuilleries, pretty sight, lots of fountains, and with our back to the Louvre, we could look out and see Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe and Cleopatra's "needle" (an Egyptian Obelisk)... Just from afar, that is.
Then we walked up close to the Obelisk, then looked for the nearest Metro station.



Took us a while to find the Metro, but really, I have to admit that that network is just as complete in France (Or Paris anyways) as the bicycle network is in Holland~


We got out in Montmartre (funnily enough the neighbourhood our french novel was about when I last took French -three terms ago-) and just walked there, through Place de Tertre, full of painters, sketchers and other artists... Someone stopped me, and then proceeded to cut out the profile of my face into black paper within one minute. Absolutely brilliant.

Then we asked for directions, and walked up to the Sacre Coeur... From up there, you could just give your back to that amazing building and look over all of Paris... Every tower, building, dome and museum could be pointed out. Plus, it was sunny, so the whole city looked like it was shimmering~
The Sacre Coeur on the inside was absolutely stunning. I usually like the way churches look on the inside, but this was just beyond good-looking. It's an absolute shame I wasn't allowed to take pictures there, the whole ceiling had lovely paintings on it, and it was all so.. warm.
Something that might have added a bit to it's magic was that when me and sis stepped inside, a second later the choir started singing. Right before we left it, they stopped. Coincidental timing, but spiffing all the same...


We went down, and took the Metro, heading for Tour Eiffel. I hadn't quite gotten the idea that we were actually going up there, and I was irked like crazy because dad kept urging us to hurry up everywhere. We had to switch Metros anyways, so I got them persuaded to go and see Arc de Triomphe as we got off one line to get on the next (it was a three minute walk from the station)...


And back down, to Tour Eiffel...


Only to find it so friggin' packed with tourists it wasn't even funny anymore..



The queue in front of the ticket booth must have been longer than 2kms (that's about 1,3 miles), and it wasn't going fast at all. I was actually quite content not going up, which would have meant wasting I don't know how many valuable hours to see Paris from up high, like how we saw it from the Sacre Coeur, only more... centric.



So we just took a crapload of pictures and wandered around a bit.
Whilst I was posing for a picture I hear a "mmmmwah" sound next to my ear, and before I know it this stranger kisses me on the cheek.
So what, you ask? It's Paris, after all, city of love.
Well, this stranger was wearing a clown's nose and pilot headgear D; So yeah.
xD Got a picture with him anyways.


Then we went to the most important place (to me, anyways. I'd been yearning to see it for years now) : The Notre Dame. Truth be told, I hadn't imagined it quite so impressive, beautiful and big as it turned out to be. I am thinking of getting a few of those statues, a pillar or two and some plated glass for my own future home. I'd build my own mini-Notre Dame 8D
In there, we /were/ allowed to take pictures. Or we did take pictures, at any rate. There weren't any "Forbidden to use camera" posters anywhere.









After that we took it slow, walked a long way, ate something, took the metro and went back to Bercy. We sat at a cute little cafe until it was almost time for us to leave, tired and numb, but entirely content.

Not a lot of sleep on the way back, I couldn't. Every part of my body had started aching (and still is, at that, two days later. Only far, far less.) and the view was interesting.
Came home, took a shower, and slept like a rock for the first time in... a year? (the sleep, not the shower D;)
Bloody awesome xD.

Oh. Yes.
An extraordinary amount of Harry Potter posters in France.
Practically every Metro-station-wall.
Couldn't resist taking a picture. (Or five)




xxx
The Gypsy