Paris Day Two/Three

Day Two: This day after making Andy and Rob about kill me, I decided to make an effort to make the day seem much more chill. Today we did not wake up until 11 and then didn't leave I don't think until about 1, but we grabbed some hotdogs (which were two hot dogs in a baguette and then covered in cheese!) and some crepes. Then we walked through the snow to a Metro stop to head out on the Commuter train to Versailles. We took even longer than we were going to in the first place because we decided to get a few pictures of Notre Dame in the snow. It was really stunning, but cold haha. I haven't been that cold since I've come to Europe and honestly I hope I don't feel that again until I'm in Chicago or Champaign next winter! When we arrived in Versailles we walked up to it and it too was stunning. The snow had stopped, but the whole palace was gilded and covered in snow. People were also making snowmen on the front lawn of the palace. We hurried inside after seeing the outside because it was cold. When we were inside it was not that warm, but at least we weren't freezing. Versailles was so impressive. It was enormous. It felt like the Louvre all over again, but this time we weren't allowed into half the rooms. This time, however, the artwork was the walls rather than on the walls. Some spots in the palace had paintings and busts, but for the most part we just looked at the high ceilings and the walls. I just can't imagine how much that place would cost by today's standards. I don't think it could. All the brick work, gilding, and intricate works of art on every crown molding. Huh, maybe that's why they call it crown molding, to look like a palace... or I could be thinking too much into it and it just means the top of the room. I really don't think I could describe the palace in enough detail to get the point across of how beautiful it was, so I'll leave it up to the pictures. I will mention one thing though. I believe I took a picture of this, but look at the fireplace. They had several of these and they were so large that to have a fire, a whole tree would have to be burnt. I guess that was no problem though because they had a forrest out behind the palace that we never got to walk around because there was snow.
On the way back we were in no rush, so we strolled along and looked in all the shops for souvenirs, but none of them were nice. As a side note, I'm not suprised the shops were expensive because there were only about three of them and the surrounding area was very beautiful/upscale which means souvenir shops should not even be there in my opinion. We saw a mini mall though and stopped by a football (soccer) shop for a minute. I was surprised because right next to it there was a Games Workshop shop and for those of you who don't know what that is, don't worry cause you're not missing anything, but it is basically an overpriced model shop that I used to buy models from. After the sports shop we grabbed a bite to eat from a chain store in France and I bought a quish which was pretty good, but not anything spectacular. Then we decided to stop by the McCafe and grab a cup of joe. I didn't get joe, but I did grab a macaroon. That was interesting, but way over priced. It was the size of a quarter, but cost one euro. Basically I just wanted to try it. Now I'm satisfied.
We didn't get back until dark, but that was fine and the train we went back on was practically empty, so we had a little party in our tired state. When we got back to the Eiffle tower area, we decided to go check out the Champ Elysees and then the Arc du Triomphe. That was also impressive, but after seeing so much, we were practically blasé. The other problem was that we had seen all these sites and didn't really know much about them at all. Sure they were historical in some sense, but we maybe knew one detail of what I'm sure were imensely long stories. After doing a quick photo shoot atop the Arc, we headed back down the Champ and enjoyed a little car show and shopping without buying. I say car show because we went into about 5 different car manufacturer's stores and most of the stores had just concept cars and one or two real cars. So I feel like I've been to a European car show without having to pay! We also stopped by Louis Vuitton and I now know I will never, ever even think about buying that brand because that's all it is. It is a brand. Sure they have quality stitching and quality materials, but I don't care what kind of cotton you use, you cannot charge 250 Euro for a t-shirt. I also got a picture of Michael Jordan's hand prints from the Nike Paris store. After that we decided it was time to eat since it was about 10. We didn't feel like searching for a real nice place to eat, so rather than paying 300 euros for a meal at a nice restaurant on the Champ, we actually found another place on the Champ that was serving pizza. It was pizza like I've never seen. It was real Italian, cooked over a wood fire and the artichoke was crisped, yet olive oily. Superb. After that we just called it a night and went back to the hostel. Rob didn't do much, but Andy and I had a couple of beers including the Desperado which was delicious. I think I mentioned it, but I'll mention it again just in case cause it is worth mentioning. Desperado is the best beer I've ever had. I don't think I'd like more than one in one sitting, but it is sweet with a bitter aftertaste. I don't know how to describe food well, so you'll all just have to try it. I'm going to search Friar Tucks when I get back [of course when I'm 21 :)]. Oh, that last part is so depressing. I can't even think about it. Going home and being 21. 21 is almost harder to take then 20. Honestly I feel like I've about hit the ages where it gets progressively worse! None of them are saying you are more like a kid, but I want to stay a kid. There are definitely good things about getting another number on your birthday cake though.... I just can't think of them!
Sunday morning openned to our final day in France. This day was meant to be filler and if we had something else to do we would do it this day, so this was relaxing. We started at 10 because we had to check out by then. When we walked out we searched for a local cafe to have breakfast. We found one after we watched a tour boat head through some locks in the river. I really didn't think I'd see locks in the middle of Paris, but they have them! I even have a video of the first lock. It almost didn't look like the boat would fit, but once it made it, we were done and headed off to breakfast. At the cafe I had omelette du fromage, which was actually omelette fromage to my disappointment. Darn Dexter's Lab for teaching me incorrect French. After breakfast we headed back to the Latin Quarter to round out our trip. We found an eiffle tower for Andy's mom and then got back into the metro and headed back to the hostel to grab our bags and go home (Madrid). The End.

Paris Day One

So, this has been a long time but I'm going to start writing from about where I stopped. The problem is now I have to write what I did last weekend (I went to Loyola). Anyway, let's pick back up with the story. I have since changed what I thought, but I thought Rob was going to hate me forever for what I did, but more on that later. We arrived in Paris an hour after the flight, which was nice to see the country side. Once we were in the city, I became a little bit worried about our decision to go to Paris. I finally fully realized that I did not know any French. Well, I knew about three words, but wow that scared me trying to get around in France. We couldn't even find the metro at first. We were walking around, asking the people that we knew were on our flight, but they didn't know anything either. After asking for directions we found our stop, but apparently the directions were awful because we got off the metro about a mile away from the hostel. We got there and decided just to try some beer in the club downstairs. We were really tired, so that was all we could really do, and we had to get up early to see Paris. Oh yeah, we also went to mcdonalds that night, so I am now up to four countries that I have eaten mcdonalds in. Woo woo! Actually it may be 5, I don't remember if I ate mickyd's in Denmark or not. Anyways, we finally were able to settle down. The next morning we got up and decided to start as early as we could, which was about 10. That was fine because that allowed us to have breakfast and then a late lunch. First we went to Notre Dame. I was not extremely impressed at first, but the inside was spectacular. I liked exploring that Church much more than any other church I have gone to. The best part was the gigantic stained glass windows that were sparkling and shining throughout the entire church. Rather than heading over to the Latin quarter, we decided to go up into the tower of Notre Dame. Usually it costs 7 euro, which seems steep, but we ended up buying a two day pass for most of the museums in Paris. That may have been a bad decision because then we tried to go do everything possible. In two days. The first day I was like a slave driver, which I sort of regret, taking Rob and Andy to eight major spots in one day. After Notre Dame we went to Sainte Chapelle which I don't think anyone has heard of. It's on the same island as Notre Dame and is also a church. Honestly I don't even know the history of it. We basically went to see it because we were there and we could. I don't regret that though because this was an interesting looking church with the best stained glass window I have ever seen. I believe there is a picture on picasa, but I have sinced realized after last weekend (Loyola) that no pictures can describe what I've seen. The pictures are now mainly so that I can remember. Next we went to the Latin Quarter and looked around. Basically it was just a bunch of touristy shops and restaurants. However, we did end up going to a restaurant and it was amazing! I loved all the food I had there. I just wish I had that kind of food in Spain. Spain food is good, but not nearly the same as it is in France. Oh, I almost forgot in between Notre Dame and S.C., we grabbed some nutella crepes, which were also amazing! That warmed me up and it was sooooo good. After all this traveling all I want to do is cook. Hopefully I'll actually become a good cook after all the experiences I've had here. In the Latin Quarter we had a three course meal with escargot, lamb and chocolate mousse. Mmmm, that was delicious. After that relaxing meal we headed over to the Orsay Museum which was amazing. We saw so many beautiful, paintings that were really well known including ones by Monet, Manet, and Van Gogh. I absolutely loved the archictecture of the inside too. It was modern mixed with the old art, but perfect. Very well proportioned, which is my philosophy on art and arcitecture. After spending about an hour or two (which was probably too short even though the Orsay Museum was small) we tried to high tail it over to Napolean's tomb. Really we only wanted to go there because he supposedly has a tomb in which you have to bow down/over to see his tomb. We did get to see the outside, but I can't say I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see the inside since we did so much anyway that day. Oh, and then we went to the Louvre. By this time we were real tired. Like our second wind came at midday so we were on fumes. However, we decided to try it and I again was not disappointed, sort of. The problem was that there was really only one thing to do. We admired the cool pyramids outside, but I never saw the upsidedown pyramid. That was the only thing that reminded me of The Divinci Code. Well that and sort of the Mona Lisa, but that must be the most over rated painting ever. I was expecting this phenomenal painting, but it was miniture, like 3 feet by 2 feet. Also, everyone was crowded around it taking pictures and for what? It was not as good as any of the famous paintings in Orsay. Also, the rest of the paintings were not that impressive. The Louvre is huge, and yet all we found was the mona lisa and venus de milo. Pretty unspectacular for how many works of art were there. After the Louvre (which we only explored half of two wings in a speed walk, so you could spend a week there) we went to the Eiffle Tour to finish off a fun, amazing, crazy day. We went there at 9 or so, met a guy from Cork, Ireland (he didn't know you Matt) and then we went up to the top. It was cold in Paris, so nighttime at the top was a little too cold for me. However, I still got some pics and pondered life while gazing out upon Paris laid out before me. Something we never got to do was go downtown, or the new downtown. Paris has it's old town, where everyone is, but then there are a few city blocks that are about a mile or two from the Siene river that have skyscrapers and all just off on their own, but I'm glad no one ruined the old part of town with that. When we returned to the bottom, we decided to haggle with a bunch of well, I don't know where they were from, I guess they were African. These guys were crazy. I can't believe that they spoke so many languages. They honestly probably spoke English, French, Spanish, German, at least one asian tongue and their native language. We had the most fun with one guy who practically followed us all the way to the metro to get us to buy some towers. The whole thing was fun and we ended up buying 2 for 10 which was actually a great deal considering he started at 20 for one. In the stores we found them for 15 a piece. And that was just one day.

Paris 1

What an eventful weekend.  I feel like I need another vacation from that vacation.  We decided to purchase museum passes, but in order to make them worth our while, we had to visit about a million museums in two days (or about 8 if you want to count).  While it seemed like a good idea at the time, I think I became a little too overzealous.  I kinda pushed the three of us to exhaustion on the first day.  Partly out of my desire to get the most out of Paris and the museum pass, and partly because it was just so exciting to be able to see so many amazing things.  A word to the warning, there is actually so much I have to say about three days that I will end up splitting this post into two parts.  The pictures are already on the sister website if you should decide to look at those first (although I have yet to write comments and do not know when I will get around to that).

Thursday was quite exciting.  We ended up passing the airport on the metro and had to return the opposite direction, but we found it alright.  Then we found out there is an airport supplement that was not liked, but unavoidable.  Next we waited in line for about 45 min to an hour to get our passes, all the while fretting that our bags would not fit into the very strict requirements for luggage on a Ryanair flight.  The reason we had to wait so long was that many people don't bother to weigh their luggage or make sure it fits into the dimensions of the carry on luggage and then the line has to wait for the trouble makers to sort out how to fit two suitcases in one and make it fit under the weight limits.  The next two hours seemed to fly by as we ate a quick lunch, and got a gag line for the entire trip.  Rob asked the lady at the register cuanto vale, which literally means how OK.  However, it is also used as a way to say, cuanto cuesto, or how much does this cost. (how cost) When the lady didn't understand, Rob decided to say very slowly and deliberately cuanto... vale... Then the lady understood, but it was funny because we are the people who never understand Spanish, not the other way around.  Next we had a scare as we saw boarding was in 30 min and we hadn't gone through security yet.  We practically ran through security (where you do not have to remove your shoes) and then realized the plane had not even arrived.  However, the plane ended up landing on time.

The flight there was definitely something to remember.  We were all getting kind of nervous and excited at the same time.  This was my first time to France and I think Rob's too, but none of us knew French.  Rob and Andy had little phrase books, but I didn't know what that would do for me.  Instead of worrying, we got absorbed in either movies or music.  That is until the plane got rowdy.  The thing that you have to understand is that Ryanair does not get the most respect from its passengers.  Basically Ryanair is a school bus with wings.  On our way there there was almost no one on the plane and this group of six guys that were having a party.  Hanging over each other's seats, laughing and mixing duty free alcohol with drinks on board.  That seems like an expensive habit, but at the same time, quite an experience.  After there was a break in the selling of food by the stewardesses, we had some sort of bell ring that was like bingo, not just one chime, but a sequence.  Anyway, apparently this signifies plane lottery.  The stewardesses fill the aisle and begin selling scratch off cards for 2 E.  I didn't want to play, but in the spirit of the trip, I indulged and I have to admit it was fun while it lasted and that group of guys definitely made the trip fun.  Oh, and I didn't win, but it was fun nonetheless.  Landing went fine, but it was COLD in France.  Maybe it's because I'm spoiled in Madrid, but I was none too happy while walking outside.  The first day it was alright, but the next I had to wear the heavy coat, which also did not keep me that warm.  I cannot complain that much though, because now I can say I have been in Paris when it snowed and I got to see the Palace of Versailles in the snow.  It was quite beautiful.  Back to the story, Ryanair, being cheap as it is, flies into an airport an hour north of Paris and man is it bad.  Beauvais is even worse than Willard (Champaign's airport) and Willard takes about two flights a day.  I actually didn't notice how bad the airport was until I got back for the return flight, but I think this is quite a lot of nonsense to read and therefore I will continue later with the hostel and some of the sights (including the metro, for now I feel as though I should become a connoisseur of metros after Madrid's lofty claim of being the one the world longs for).

One more thing

The weather here has been awful. Awful for Madrid that is. It has been somewhat windy and my teacher says it has rained more in the past week than it has in ten years. It's not that Madrid is a desert, it just never rains. Also, my friend Matt's blog stated that in Ireland you walk five feet and see five people smoking. I think that is most of Europe. Spanish people would love it if they invented the smoking helmet like a beer helmet. I'm sure if there was a hands free smoking device on the market Europe would go mad for it.

Livin' the life

This has got to be quick I'm sorry to say because I'm going to Paris in about 20 min. Well, I'm heading for the airport that is. We had some issues getting the flight booked, but it's all straightened out. Now I'll just know that a cheap flight with a low budget airline is not all it's cracked up to be. Last night I was able to book a round trip flight to Vienna for 100 dollars. That's pretty amazing I'd say. It's nothing fancy, but it isn't ryanair or easy jet.
Once I get back I'll write all sorts of things about Paris and explain how (hopefully) amazing the trip was. I'm not sure exactly what we are doing, just that we are going to arrive around 8 or 830 about an hour north of Paris then take a bus for another 1.5 hours to get to our hostel. As far as the things we are doing in Paris, I don't know. Obviously we are going to hit the big spots and then see where we go from there.
Funny thing about right now. The magic is starting to wear off. I always knew it, but I'm not sure that I've been able to convince myself that once you are in one place long enough (and this has only been a month) life can become boring and more of a hassle than fun. Life is what you make of it.