Wednesday, March 12, 2008

new blog, lots of blog

So i promised new blog and now that im sober here goes.

Patras-
I walk to the train station in Athens to take the train to Patras so I can take the ferry back to Italy. There a woman whom speaks neither greek or english keeps repeating Patras at me. She was Romanian decided to be my companion for the five hour train trip. She seemed really sad, and at two points started crying after telling me about her 3 year old daughter. I kept handing her little snacks, cheese, peanuts, and oranges. At the train switch in Kiato i handed her my knitting. of course she knew how to knit, she is romanian. I whip out a set of needles and some yarn and set her to work. We sat on the platform surrounded in a landscape of orange trees and knit together. At the station in Patras she disappeared. Patras had had a huge storm the night before and the electricity was still out in parts of the town. This included the grocery store i went to for dinner. There was most definatly a odor coming from the cheese case. The buisness class on the ferry, that is were the deck only passengers sleep, is on the 8th level and far from the real paying customers. I was one of three or four people in this giant room of airline seats. I picked out the best spot, behind the last row of seats where i couldnt be seen readily and went to sleep.

The train from Anacona to Bologna provided me with not only an outlet, but a conversation. The guy whose job it is to let the conductor know when it is safe to go, spoke great english. I told him about how my great aunts kid crashed a train. He told me his grandmother is 84 and owns a farm where there are no longer livestock, but that she is a woman that is a lot of power in a little package. He said i was the same.

In the train station in Bologna while waiting for the night train to Zurich i see a man embrodering. He doesnt seem able to tread the needle so i take it from him and tread it. I dont say please, he doesnt say thank you. There is no need.

Zurich was fantastic. A clean pretty city. I dropped in on a Stitch and Bitch this morning in a Starbucks. Both members that were there were ex-pats and talked about the language issue since german in this area has a spoken dialect and a written form that is different. I spent the day looking at churches. I seem to spend a lot of time in big fancy churches these days. Funny since i was raised in a belief system against this unnessisary fancyness.

Zurich, then a train ride to Munchen to my hostel. Munchen was a nice little city, full of hot dogs and bread rolls. I like both these things so no problem. I bought sock yarn. I am a sinner. The lord is my shepard i shall not want, until reinforcing yarn dyed in the matching jackard of the sock yarn gets involved. I dont need any more yarn. What really boogles the mind is the fact that i will spend nothing on food, i have been carrying around a tub of off brand Nutella and loaf of bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week now total cost 2 euro, but i can spend every crown i changed in prague and then go back to the atm and spend more on that last skein of yarn. I have a yarn problem. But this yarn was hand created at just this one store in Prague and nowhere else in the world. That makes it ok right.

Hellena was gone far out of her was to take the best care of me while staying with her in Prague. I could not ask for a better hostess. I want to bake her a chicken.

A man on the train gave me a postcard of a knitted condom.

1 comment:

ann said...

hey niece, sounds like you are having a blast, keep on trucking, and can you ever have too much yarn