JulieMartineau

Ah, youthful adventures! I spent one week in March of 1990 in London, with then-best buddy Katie. What a week! There were 3 plays in the East End in our package, and we spent the rest of the week seeing the sights. We had great luck with the weather. I would go back any time!

The ancient city of Thebes… I thrill just to think of it!! Such history is written there that it must be possible to just drink it in by standing there.

Ah, was it exquisite! We went to Cochem around the end of September, we were probably the only non-German visitors around! It was simply fantastic!

I spent a year in Bogota in 1993-1994. I lived with a host family and worked as a volunteer at a hospital, and later in a national park. It was intense, it was fun, and it changed me forever.

This antique fountain was donated to the city by Mr. Peter Simons, a local businessman. Mister Simons found the fountain in the basement of an antiques shop in Paris, bought it, had it refurbished, transported by boat to Québec City and installed on the rond-point in front of the National Assembly.

It is beautiful! Check out http://fontainedetourny.ca/en/00.html for more details.

Québec City’s 400th anniversary kicks off December 31, 2007! There are over 80 events planned over 10 months in the city! Check out www.MyQuebec2008.com for details!

I got married in this church, on June 21st, 1997!

10 years, 2 daughters, and still going strong!!

March 1990 – the weather was unseasonably warm, but we were definitely not going to complain! London was lovely.

Visiting the Tower felt eerie. I love going to historic sites. My own home town, Québec City, will celebrate a mere 400 years of existence in 2008… The Tower itself is older than my home city!

There was a crumbling piece of wall on the Tower grounds that had actually seen Julius Ceasar pass by… I could only stare, mesmerized, for a few long moments.

I have to admit visiting the torture chambers were mostly what made the visit “eerie”.

At the Tower, I felt horror, awe, reverence, small, and tall, all at once. This place definitely holds a special spot in my travel memories!

It was the first time I was travelling far out of my comfort zone. During a year of volunteer work in Colombia, I left with a group from the Universidad de los Andes for a week in the Macarena park, best known for Cano Cristales, the river with the colourful algea.

We went to a completely different area of the park, which is the largest in Colombia, and hiked up Cano Santo Domingo all the way up to the fall (salto) at its source.

Was it the fact that I was travelling with about 25 complete strangers and fast befriending a few? Was it the gruelling 3-hour walk to the river, followed by another 2 gruelling hours hiking against the current? Was it that neither of the 2 young men I was hiking with knew any more than I did that such an awesome sight was our destination? Was it the sheer fun and exhilaration of finding companions where I least expected it?

When Simon stopped suddenly at a bend in the river, I almost heard his jaw hit the stones on which we were hiking. His hand shot out toward me and he just hissed “Julie – Julie!”

I joined him as fast as I could, looked up… and there it was.

We actually ran to the wall behind the 200-foot-tall fall.

I will try to get the picture downloaded soon.