Happiness and sadness

It is a very strange combination. I feel happy and sad at the same time.
I am happy because I do what I love the most: I travel, I meet friends, and I make new friends. I get to know new places, eat new foods, see wonderful things, take amazing shots with my camera,  enjoy local atmosphere, feel new, refreshed and relaxed after hectic and stressful life in London.
All this made me feel that I don't want to come back to the life from before my journey. And - I also know that this journey is still happening, I don't have to rush, I have all the time in the world to enjoy it, and to get to my destination (even though I have a set up date of return to London)
This journey is about learning more about myself. To recognise my dreams, fears, goals. To find my way back to source.
In the Now is the Happiness. It is not awaiting me at the end of this journey, but it's now ;)

I feel sad, because nothing stays the same. All the things in the world are changing. I know I have to treasure this moments, like all moments from the past. But I also know that in "now" I am making my "tomorrow". And I want it to be as beautiful as it is now!

I spend amazing time during last week with my dear friend Tania, who always make me feel amazing and who with her personalty spreads love wherever she is - Thank you for being Tania!

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Also the reason for being here is my lovely dog, because she gave me extra reason to travel, to make better world for dogs (through my documentary). She is my companion and friend and I love her ;)

I feel sad, because I feel I am leaving some old part of me behind, which obviously I was very attached to. Old me I knew. But now I start to get to know new me.

And the journey is not finished yet!

Some of you my dear readers thought this blog would be only about how it is like to travel with your dog, full of information and tips. But as every journey, this has it's story. It's reasons. And I want to share mine here with You.

xxx   Keep reading   xxx

South France adventure :)

The amazing thing about travelling is that you meet a lot of new people. Making friends in different countries allows you to see their country in a way you would probably never had a chance to see. Or not even knew about certain amazing places. Few years ago I become friends with Tania, and now we are her guests. Yesterday she took us to see few amazing places around Aix en Provence.

Missouri on dog path in Aix en Provance

Meeting painted dog walker in Aix en Provence

We drove to 3 villages hiding their amazing secrets. The first one was called Fontaine du Vaucluse. It was famous from it's river which was coming out of nowhere! Well, almost. Obviously it was coming from underground, but no one ever found out where exactly from. To add to the mystery, few meters above place where the river has it's beginning there was super deep hole in the ground surrounded by cove shape cave. Apparently no one was able to measure depth of that hole. Water was crystal clear, and had dark blue colour, with black circle in the middle where the vertical tunnel was. Water was static, and kind of musty. Whats more, sometimes during the year level of that water rises dramatically few meters high and overflows huge rocks blocking the way between the cove and the river. River itself has almost fluorescent lime-emerald water colour. It looks almost unreal!

Fontaine du Vaucluse

The next place on our trip was Gordes. All streets in this place are cobbled and all houses are build with stones. There is special rules that if anything new is build, it has to be like everything else to match - absolutely brilliant idea! In this way this place will keep its unique atmosphere forever. Also,to live in tho splice must be amazing experience:)

Gordes - town build entirely from stones,  on top of the hill

After spending couple of hours in that place, walking up and down the streets, we headed to next place called Roussillion. It's is famous from it's absolutely stunning ochre colour peaks. This landscape looks little bit like Colorado Grand Canyon:) It was fun to walk around, and get dirty in yellow-orange sand, which make this landscape looks like alien orange planet :)

At the end of the adventure we went for well deserved ice-creams. Obvioulsy I decided to try something new and exciting. I choose to have local flavours which was lavender and something  which tasted like Amaretto, but was made not from almonds, but from local spice. As soon as I will find out what it was, I will update this information ;) Anyway - it was delicious!

ice-creams 

tricolour tired dog after visiting french "grand canyon"

Finished project - mosaic

OK, I know I haven't wrote much for last few day, but there was soooo much going on!
So, firstable - I worked hard, almost non stop to finished mosaic. It took longer than I thought, but mainly because it took few days to find desired colours of tiles, and then chop them to pieces. Then there was few days process of gluing them to the floor. The end effect was worth totally all the sweat ;)

Work was finished and it was time to move on. My next stop was Marseille...

Satisfaction

So, last few days I worked hard to make some progress with my project. I found out about myself, that when I am in the middle of hard wok which I truly enjoy doing, I just can't stop! And that's not all. Most important thing of all, is the absolutely amazing feeling of pure SATISFACTION, when I see my project growing! It's getting shapes with every hour and every day. I think with this speed, I am likely to finish tomorrow ;) Thank you to my lovely hosts who let me do it for them! They gave me space in their new build home and trusted that it will be something they will enjoy forever. Obviously I made project first so it wasn't total surprise ;)

mandala mosaic inspired with local flora

Satisfaction - is when I do what I love doing. And when I work this way, this is not work. Even though it is little bit repetitive (putting tiny tile after tiny tile) it's not the same, because overall picture is constantly changing. Mandala is getting it's shape and colours. If any work on earth was like that, and was bringing such a feeling to every workers, everyone would be happy!

And I am happy :)

It is probably mixture of this beautiful place, in the middle of nature, loads of sunshine, delicious food, and most important - fantastic people. And my dog - who is the reason for my trip, and my partner in adventures:)

Thank you Universe! And thank you to Myself! That I decided to do it for ME :) 

Dogs in shops - France

I want to share with you incredible fact from France. Well, firstable, my presence and experience of France is not finished yet, but nonetheless I need to say it now before I "forget" ;) As we went shopping for tiles, I took my dog - and you know?? No one said anything inside the shop! Apparently here it's normal. You can't take your dog to food store, but anywhere else it's ok. Obviously priority have small "handbag" dogs, but still! This is great! I wish this was the same everywhere in the world :)

shopping with dog

it took us almost all day, but here they are: 4 of 7 colours ready to be used for mosaic

Extraordinary culinary experience

Since a week I've been eating delicious french food. Almost every day is something new. I remember the first day with my french host, when I saw big plate full of green salad (only salad) I thought, omg, I will starve to death :(  ha ha! nothing even close to that, and quite opposite! Yes, almost every day we eat loads of green salad, but apart from that there are other things. I think I got used to polish or english way of eating, where there are various things on one plate served to each person. Here, we eat starter first like fruit, then all kind of salad and then board of cheese with bread, plus water and wine. Quite often I try new veggies I never had a chance to eat before. So its culinary experience too! Tonight on my plate landed  an artichoke. I was terrified. I remembered eating it from an oily jar, and that it tested insipid. Bleah .. But I thought that I will try, because 1st. I am a guest, and I shouldn't whimper, and 2nd - maybe if it's fresh, it will be edible. And guess what - it was very interesting! It was steamed and quite nice with a sauce of vinegar and olive oil, and something else..  I was surprised that you eat only the base of each petal, dipped in sauce, and the base, without the flower. Okay - maybe lots of people know this already - but for me - it was extraordinary :)

Picture is borrowed from google images

Hot like in the oven

It's crazy that I've been craving so much for the sun, and now, where I am is so crazy hot, that I can't stand being in direct sun! But after living almost 9 years in UK, where sky is clouded 350 days in a year; suddenly being every day in over 30'C in the shade make me feel that all my insides are boiling!
Nevertheless, this morning just after 9am we went for a walk to nearby cascades. It was supposed to be 15-20 min walk, which happened to be 40...  but we finally got to the cascades. Lovely place only local people know about it. Missouri finally was in 7th heaven! She run up and down the stream and dive in toll grass.

This is her smiling face :)

and lovely cascades 

Day is almost done. I am so happy I left London behind. Being close to nature, with my dog, sun,  blue sky, beautiful weather, nice people around me - is that what I need, I like the way french people live. No rush. No anger. No cursing. Delicious food. Ripped sweet fruits, organic vegetables,  fantastic atmosphere ;) ...the only problem is; I have to admit, that I don't speak french :( I't feels so hard to remember words, and their pronunciation.... oh la la.. !

I arrived to live for a week with french family. I came across them during my search on Workaway website. I wanted to live with local people, breathe their normal life, help them out with their project, learn something new, experience unknown. Away from tourist route. I have designed a mosaic for their new house. Tomorrow we are going to get tiles and I can start braking and putting them together in a floral mandala. I hope it will be as beautiful as it is in my vision ;)

Midnight inspiration

It's past midnight and I already feel sleepy... but I want to share with you what I found just this evening, possibly, my future inspiration :) a website about female solo bike travellers. There are 2 who travel the world with their dogs. See - everything is possible if you believe in it :)

http://www.skalatitude.com/p/wow-women-on-wheels.html 

This is picture from a blog: www.happiness-around-the-world.com - good luck girl!

Also one more inspiration:

Nothing more, nothing less.
Good night dear readers!


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sunday roast in the sun

Yeah, it was baking hot!- It's been few days only and I already got a tan :) No wonder if you get walking around in this lovely weather. It was exciting to go around and enjoy beauty of french countryside, od Languedoc Rousillion.

There were hills, and vineyards on every "corner"

local beautiful fauna and flora

also, just by looking at the letter box you can tell, what this owner is into - wine making!

and yes, I did tried to learn some french as you can  see..

Also, As we got walking we came across this! Amazing! 

Such things should be installed on every corner in every city, London, Paris...  But what's great, this wasn't a large city, it was just a bigger village! I am not sure if you can see it on the picture, but from that round hole you can pick up a poo bag, and put it back in top bucket, (sorry not on the picture). At the end we had to look for a place to cool down, as Missouri just lied down on the side of the road and refused to keep walking in this heat. This summer is her first in her life, and so hot as well!!

We found a spot in Saint- Chinianais 

Good morning sunshine !

Good morning south France!!! It's beautiful sunshine, blue sky, and hot, hot, hot! That's what I needed! I hope my Missouri will handle heat as well as I do. But so far she is cooling on the cold tiles in our house.

This is where we stay

So we are in... ? Actually I am not sure yet exactly where?! Well, it all started with visiting website "workaway" where I found our hosts. We will stay here for a week, and I will help them to build their house. I have to admit, that when yesterday I was arriving to Beziers I was feeling sick of being nervous. (I even left my beautiful hat in TGV train out of this.. )That maybe it's some kind of dodgy thing, marocans wanting to kidnap me for sale in faraway lands? :P
Well - nothing bad happened. I was greeted by nice lady, who took as on the way home to another village for a local fete. It was amazing!! Omg! It was in this kind of atrium, a square inside of a building, (one of those you get in south Europe), where was set up small stage, on which was playing local jazz band. There was some food and wine. Local people chatting and having loads of fun! Warm night and stars above us. What else did we need ;)

Greeting for those travelling with dogs! And everyone else who read this blog!!! 

Last minute in Paris

So, we check out of our room in the hotel and are almost ready to head south the France. It's been raining this morning and air is heavy with low pressure. I think I need coffee or something else to keep me going. Missouri feels sleepy too, or maybe she is still tired after yesterday's marathon around tourist attractions.
Hotel Le Canal we stayed in was quite nice, obviously dog friendly and situated near Basin de la Vilette, part of a canal. There was plenty of space (as for Paris) to walk a dog, nice promenade along the canal and moored boats. It's like kind of french little venice. The hotel has been refurbished recently and made in movies theme, nice french atmosphere.

Rotonde de la Vilette

Nearby Casino (french supermarket) supplied me with french baguettes and cheese every morning for budget breakfast. Also, there is not far to go for a metro, the nearest is Riquet, just round the corner.

Taste of Paris

It was very busy day. Missouri bravely walked around the town with me, calmly letting me take picture of her on the background of famous buildings. To make things easy, we travelled by metro, even though, according to french law - dogs bigger than 45cm (not sure whether length or high) are not allowed on public transport! Hence, most Parisiennes I've met today, were walking small size dogs. I managed to get few interviews, pictures and movies. I had problem on only one station, but as I walked to next metro station ( to try my luck), I found another entrance, where I was helped with very friendly staff!!! They not mentioned my dog even once, and for about 10 minutes talked to me how to get to my destination and what tickets are the best for me! Amazing :)

My destination was Cemeteries for dogs, which lies in Paris suburbs, just after Pont de Clichy. The oldest grave I found was from 19th century! There were graves of dogs, cats, birds, and a horse! And even one famous dog - Rin Tin Tin!!!

Missouri's favorite dog - that statue was so real, that she was convinced for few minutes that he was real!! lol

Later we found out that BigBus company is dog friendly! Good stuff! :) With no problem I bought ticket for myself for all day, hop on- hop off. Missouri got in for free. We changed few times and we never had any problems. So I definitely recommend!
It's easy and convenient way of travel from one to the other point of attraction in Paris. I thought we might just walk around all the main attraction, but it's too much for 2 legs and 4 paws...

together at the Louvre

Big Bus

On the go

Last night we left London and board the ferry to Hook of  Holland. Missouri spent night in onboard kennel. I felt so sorry for my lovely girl to be locked out behind the bars, but she managed quite well. Also - I was able to see her on channel 6 in my tv inside my cabin! Thank you Stena Line!

Still - I couldn't sleep. To much strange noises, worry about my doggie, rocking waves, engine... And today I am soo tired!

waiting for passport control in Holland

Still, as soon as we arrived to Paris - yeah, we took train from Amsterdam to Paris - we went to see Sacre Cour and Moulin Rouge ( I think I didn't quite realised that this is in Paris Red Light District! Lucky I teamed up few streets before, with fellow polish people who were heading the same direction. And at least I had someone to take picture of me and Missouri ;)

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For those of you who are wondering why we didn't take the simple route London Paris? - answer is simple: Eurostar doesn't allow any dogs on board, except guide dogs ;( Which is stupid in my opinion. For anyone who doesn't have a car it's pain in the a*s. Instead of 2 hours easy and much cheaper journey, It took me about 20 hours ...

Never give up - 3 simple rules in life

Only 2 days now left for my trip. And all I can write today is that:

And the most important which keeps me going is the 3rd one, and obviously the number 1 ;)

Almost ready!

I still have 3 days to go, but I am almost completely packed and ready to go! I'm glad I started early, and that my friend came over to make sure I won't take too much :) There is one thing I am still very much considering; and quite actually can't stop thinking about it!! Shall I, or shall I not - quickly sell my camcorder and buy GoPro for my trip?? ... I already know I will have a problem to do filming from camcorder. When I do it from hand - it's always shaky.. On the tripod, quality of a film is great - but how to manage a dog and a super light, tall tripod?? when dog keep mowing around my feet, distracted by other people, dogs, pigeons, flies, cars, noise etc.. I already came to the decision NOT to take my tripod. I even start using my iPhone to do some filming (It actually came out pretty good)

Can anyone give me advice?

This is how Missouri takes travelling in the London Underground - sleeping all the way through