Postcard subgenre presentation

Dear Lisa,

I survived my sailing trip around the world and I am so glad to be home again. It was thrilling, but I encountered so many dangers that this was a once in a lifetime experience. I tried to write my own travel story like Captain Joshua Slocum did and I hope it will be published very soon.

En route I met two girls Lonneke and Rosalie and they were reading very interesting books; “In the merde of love”, “Talk to the snail” and “An Englishman amoureux”. The central theme in all books are the cultural differences between the British and the French. They told me that those books were also examples of travel stories and I was surprised to hear that. I presumed that my story about true survival on sea was the way a travel story ought to be, but there are different styles in the category travel writing I didn’t know about.

I think it is a wonderful idea for my next journey to write a witty story and to create a little humor, because that is something I wouldn’t normally do. I always thought that a travel story had to contain practical and accurate information that is useful to the reader and that the writer has to put in some anecdotes, quotations or a good dialogue to express the experiences. I have never thought of writing a comical story. From this new point of view I will start my next story with a lively and fun tone and add more comical events.

Love,
Julia

Postcard Barcelona

Dear Charlotte,

How are you? In a few weeks we will finally go to Barcelona. Are you excited to go as well? I read a very interesting article about Barcelona from Paul Goldberger. He is very enthusiastic about this city of charm. He mentions that Barcelona is a city where architecture and urbanism are one an that is what we are going to experience ourselves. So I have been thinking about the places and monuments and other sights of Barcelona.

I can’t wait to see some of the Gaudi architecture. I’m sure you’re pretty excited as well, because that’s the main reason to go there. The Sagrada Familia church was designed by Antoni Gaudi which I suppose you already knew, but did you know they never finished the project. Construction began in 1882 and it is scheduled to be completed in 2026. Unbelievable don’t you think? Another surprising fact of Gaudi is that he died because he was struck by a tram.

Besides all the Gaudi constructions there is more to see in Barcelona like the Arata Isozaki’s sport stadium and the Santiago Calatrava’s Communication Tower. They were both built for the Olympics in 1992.

We can also go to the nineteenth century section of the city calles L’Eixample. The designer, Ildefons Cerda, is not as celebrated as Gaudi, but it’s I think it's worth a visit. In this district the blocks are square, but they cut of parts of the blocks which gives weird shapes to the buildings. Sounds rather amusing don’t you think? I would love to go there during our trip.

Do you like art? I am fond of art so if you don’t mind I would love to go to at least one museum. The Picasso Museum and The Museum of Modern Art appear the most interesting to me.

I’m really looking forward going to Barcelona. I’m sure we will have a wonderful time and Like Paul Goldberger says: “The essential idea of Barcelona is that all of this beauty is to be used. This is not a city of charm; it has a deeper sort of grace, one that comes from understanding that the magnificence of the everyday is the most exalted thing of all.”

Love,
Julia

article: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/places-of-a-lifetime/barcelona.html

Postcard Cambridge

Dear Esmee,

I went to Cambridge last Christmas with a friend and we had such a great time that we might go again next year. We both wanted to improve our English so we thought Cambridge is probably the place to be to work on our language skills. After all, Cambridge is the university town of England.

We loved spending our evenings in The Eagle which is one of the larger pubs in Cambridge. In this pub they serve Green King beers, but I have no idea what that is, because I don’t like beer. As you know I prefer to drink wine.

One day we decided to take the train to Yorkshire to a friend of mine. We were waiting for the bus, but after one hour we were still waiting. Perhaps this had something to do with Christmas? We decided to walk to the train station, but it started to rain so we sheltered in a beautiful church. The priest gave us an umbrella which was very generous of him. So we continued our journey and when we arrived at the station, there were no trains either. No public transportation during the Christmas holidays, that makes sense! We went to the police station to call our friend that we couldn’t come so he joined us in The Eagle.

We had such a wonderful time, but I would like to give you one piece of advice: never go to England during the Christmas holiday!

Love,
Julia

Postcard from Holland

Dear Simone,

Remember the summer of 2002 when we worked on a campsite in France? All the innocent French and Dutch children who ignore the language barrier and try to communicate in all sort of ways? The funniest moment was when a Dutch girl tried to ask a French girl if she wanted to go for a swim in the pool. With hand gestures she showed her she wanted to swim and the French girl nodded in agreement. The Dutch girl wanted to go to the swimming pool immediately so she asked her if she wanted to swim right now and used the Dutch word; ‘nu’. The French girl is completely shocked by her strange proposal to swim naked in the pool. She doesn’t realize that the word: ‘nu’ means ‘naked’ in French. It is hilarious to see how different meaning of words can cause miscommunication.

I just read a very amusing article about Kathleen O'grady, a Canadian Journeywoman, who experienced something similar. After a long day of conferencing she decided to watch television in her hotel room. Behind the counter was a 17 year old boy and he wanted to know what a middle-aged Canadian woman had to do in Nijmegen, so he started to chat with her. After a small talk she asked him: ‘so had it been a busy night?’ He didn’t understand her well so she rephrased her sentence: ‘so have you been busy tonight?’ He still didn’t understand it so she tried it another time, very slowly and with fewer words: “where … you …. busy ….tonight?” After that he looked shocked and he turned pink and he answered:” I just started work and I have to work all the night." Kathleen has no idea what he is talking about, but when she is up in her room she realizes that the key words: you busy tonight must have had a different meaning to this boy. Turned down by a 17-year-old she gave Canada a new reputation.

It is really interesting and comical to see how people can interpret words in different ways, don’t you think?

Love,
Julia

http://www.journeywoman.com/girltalk/holland/dutch_boy_man1.html

Postcard from Sicily

Dear Britta,

How are you? I’m writing this postcard from Sicily. Here I am, on Mount Etna and I am literally freezing. I totally forgot that it is much colder when you’re high on a mountain than when you’re in a village at the bottom. I’m sitting here in a small restaurant to write this postcard and to warm myself up with a lovely cup of tea. If you want to climb mount Etna in shorts you really should reconsider your trip.

Etna is actually the largest active volcano in Europe with a circumference of 140 kilometres and it is 3329 meters high. Did you know that Mount Etna is in an almost constant state of eruption? It’s fascinating and it’s pretty scary if you’re standing here and see smoke coming out of one of it’s highest craters. The land on Sicily is very fertile, because of the volcanic eruptions and it supports the agriculture, vineyards and fruit cultivation.

These are very interesting facts of course, but that doesn’t stop me from freezing here. You must be laughing while reading this. Well, I have another funny story for you. A few days ago I went on a boat trip and the colours of the sea were so beautiful so it was very tempting to jump into the blue water. Heroic as I am I dove into the water and I yelled at my sister to do the same thing. I felt that somebody or something was touching my ass. I turned around but I didn’t see anything even though I felt there was something tickling my buttock. The tickling became worse and suddenly it started to hurt really badly. I realized there was a jellyfish attached to my butt and I started to scream and to knock it off. All people on the boat thought it was very amusing, but they have no idea how painful it is. So never jump into the water before you checked the safety of it.

Well, I am all warmed up now, so I will continue hiking on mount Etna. See you in a few days.

Love,
Julia

Postcard from Paris

Toute seule à Paris

Paris is not only a great destination for couples, but it is also the place to meet new people for solo travellers.

We all know Paris is “la ville d’amour” the city of love. But according to Karen Fawcett, an American travel journalist, it is a great destination for everyone. Paris is full of surprises and even worth visiting for solo travellers.

There are many ways to meet new people in Paris, like at a cybercafé or a regular café, in the park, etcetera. If you want a chat you shouldn’t be too shy to strike up a conversation. Go to a café, take a coffee and you would be surprised of the number of French singles who envy to speak English. You might even make new acquaintances.

Another way to meet new people is by popping into a wine bar. Sipping a lovely red wine and sharing the taste preferences are good ways to meet new singles.

Boat rides and strolling through parks are more structured ways of meeting people. There are many walking tours for Anglophone visitors. If you want to meet cultural people you should join up an English-language guided museum tour.

Are you a bookworm and do you want to meet someone who is just as fond of books as you are, you should go to The American Library or to Shakespeare and co. On Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons there are readings which are attractive to all sorts of people. It is definitely worth checking out!

If you are too afraid to encounter people and you’re not the kind of type heading off to Paris “tout seul” alone, it is always possible to start by chatting on the internet. And if you don’t, there is no need to worry. Paris is also worth visiting on your own.

So “allons-y à Paris” let’s go to Paris and enjoy the various delights of this city.

Julia

(used article: http://journeywoman.com/gfc/paris_solo.html)

Postcard from Sweden

Dear Jane,

I’m writing this digital postcard from a country where they say: hej hej. No, I didn’t forget to use my spell checker, it is Swedish for ‘hello’. We took the night boat to Göteborg and we had a prosperous trip. It doesn’t stop raining here in Sweden and I don’t mean a bit of drizzle, but it is raining cats and dogs.

We slept in a teepee tent for one night which was a lovely experience, but I won’t do it very soon again, because it is quite uncomfortable. The canoe trip was a disaster, because it rained and it rained (again) and there were also many high waves and lots of wind which made it impossible to go back to the shore. A very kind family invited us to stay in their son’s house. We really appreciated the invitation after all those wet days on the campsite.

We went to an auction and I wanted to buy a moose’s head, but Steph didn’t agree, because we didn’t have any space left in the car. I’m sure the auctioneer was disappointed, because who wants to buy a hideous head besides a tourist like me.

Well, tomorrow we will finally go back to Holland. Please, don’t tell me it is raining there too. I know you prefer a holiday without rain, so even though it’s a lovely country I strongly recommend you not to go to Sweden, it rains too much!

See you soon!

Julia