the bad, the good and the ugly

Good morning all you sleepyheads.

It's early afternoon, and I've had quite the adventure so far today. It all started out with 'note to self: you might want to turn off the alarm for six if you plan to sleep in until eight'.

After a breakfast of pumpernickel bread, strong cheese, ham, yogurt, fruit, three cups of coffee and a pastry, I was ready to face the day. I had some specific goals today, the first to go to Grote Markt to look closer at the Martinitoren. You can read more about it here, but since my hotel room looks out at the tower, and it marks the centre of the town, I decided to go look closer. It's old and kitschy and quite interesting to look at.

My second goal was to find some commemorative plaques that are on City Hall, and the Provincial building. These were important to me because they are thanking Canada for their part in liberating the city in 1945. While I was successful at finding those, I also wanted to go and look at the Liberation Wood, but this is where my day started to fall apart.

The problem with cities that are built around moats and canals and waterways is that nothing runs straight, everything runs the direction of the water. So when I think I'm going the right direction, so often I am completely lost. If I keep Martini Tower on one side for example, I can actually walk in a complete circle around it. And this means that if you get it on the wrong side you can take the long way around.

The really long way.

In fact, from the information station where I first started out (and yes, thank you, I did ask for directions), I made a mistake right out the door. An hour and a half later, I walked right by the plaque on the Provincial building. You remember, I took the picture of that before 10 this morning? Yes, THAT's the direction I should have gone. And while I don't begrudge the journey, for I certainly saw some lovely sights, getting lost frustrates me. It really does. At home, I tend to keep my directions straight because most of the malls give you a sense of direction (I mean, it's logical to think of Northgate being north, Southgate being south, West Edmonton Mall being West, is it not??). But here, the markets are all in the square, the streets all curve, and water gets in the way.

I decided that I will still go there, and will likely take the bus on Sunday after the conference. The lady at the information station was so helpful in spite of my not understanding which way to start out. I am a little anxious for home, and I think the sight of all those maple leaves would really cheer my soul--and be very pretty right now.

In the end, I realize that I needed to buy something to help me out, and so I did. I now have a cute little watch sized compass clipped to my jacket where I will always be able to look. Now hopefully, I'll at least start out the right way!

Back in the GroteMarkt, I was enjoying watching the market traffic. There is an unwritten code of traffic here, and it seems that pedestrians have the right of way if they don't slow things down, then bicycles then cars. But sometimes, if a tired tourist is gawking all around her, it's entirely possible to get run over in both directions. Not only that, apparently I had tired tourist written all over me since someone attempted to pickpocket me. I did lose about twenty euro, which is nothing, really. And I am fine. My wallet is attached to my belt, so while it came out, it didn't diasappear. And, it's not my only one, so I am quite safe and still rich enough.

So the good--I now own a compass, I am unlikely to forget it, and I finally found cocoa, which I had been asked to look for. This sounds like an easy task--head to any grocery store--except not every grocery store seems to carry it. I found it today at my fourth one. And lunch, well, I just picked up a sandwich at the grocery store. So it's all been fixed.

I have to go get ready for my conference now. I hope that I can overcome my natural shyness to get the most out of tonight, but I'm feeling a little battered and bruised today. Oh well, this too shall pass. After all, I'm here to learn, first and foremost, and new friends are the extra bonuses along the way.