Travelling from Barcelona to Berlin was probably the most lengthy and intense travel experience I've had so far. I think it will best be relayed to you by the following timeline:
Saturday, April 30th
8:15PM - I say a sad farewell to my dear friend Dan Weller and head to a metro stop.
8:19 - I arrive at the metro stop and realize that I'm at a stop on the wrong line to get to the train station. I figure out how to get there via a series of transfers and then realize I'm at the wrong platform (train is going the wrong way). I leave to find the other entrance.
8:23 - realize that I've been going the wrong way down the street. I make the executive decision to fuck the metro and start booking it to the train station on foot. Train departs in 42 minutes and I'm not entirely sure where the station is or where to go once I find it.
8:40 - I arrive at the station after running out in front of a few buses and taxis. NBD.
8:44 - my backpack goes through security, but there are no metal detectors.... and I silently thank fate that I've been carrying my pocket knife in my pocket and not my pack
8:46 - I am directed back and forth by several train personnel regarding the location of my car. Apparently my assigned car, 80, simply didn't exist
8:55 - they realize that the cars are mislabeled, and I find my cabin
9:05 - train departs for Paris
Sunday, May 1st
9:03AM - train arrives at Paris Austerlitz
9:10 - I go to an SNCF ticket counter because the train I had planned on taking to Berlin was sold out and I had no idea how I was going to get out of Paris
9:20 - ticket window person is awesome and books me a ticket from Paris to Brussels to Liege to Koln. From there I will take the train to Berlin using my rail pass. This journey ends up being roughly half has expensive as it would have been if I had taken the train I'd originally planned on.
9:25 - I realize that my train is leaving out of Gare du Nord in 32 minutes and that I have no idea how long it will take me to get there from Austerlitz. Good thing I already spent almost a week in Paris and knew how the metro works.
9:50 - arrive at Gare du Nord with plenty of time
10:02 - train departs for Brussels right on time
10:55 - little boy sitting in front of me starts puking. Great.
11:20 - arrive in Brussels, buy some food, get on the next train
1:10 - arrive in Liege, which is a beautiful train station. It was a beautiful day, so I sat outside and ate a pear
2:20 - depart for Koln approx. 10 minutes late
3:29 - arrive in Koln. The train I was supposed to take to Berlin is right next to our train, but not on the same platform.... So I would have to walk all the way up the platform, over, and back down he other platform
3:32 - as I'm waiting to exit my train, I watch the train to Berlin leave.
3:45 - I find a Starbucks in the station and use the free wifi to let Jairo know that I will be later than anticipated
4:32 - another train to Berlin leaves, and this time I'm on it.
9:45 - arrive in Berlin Hauptbanhof
10:22PM - arrive at Jairo's house after 26 hours and 7 minutes of travelling.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A taste of Ithaca in Barcelona
With Dan Weller's arrival in Barcelona came an interesting realisation for me: the true strangeness of travelling alone for so long and seeing, literally, not a single face I recognised for weeks. Think about it: every day of our lives, we see the same people. Our families, our friends, our roommates and professors, our coworkers, neighbors, people on the street.... These are the constants in our everyday lives, and I went without that for longer than I probably ever have and ever will again. The constants in the last few weeks for me have been the young people at the hostel reception desks and the occasional roommates who stay longer than one night with me. I have had so many "single-serving friends" during this time that it actually feels normal now to say goodbye to someone, know that I will never see or hear from him/her again, and be okay with that.
Anyway! So Dan and I met up at our hostel on Friday morning and almost immediately left for the market I had been to the day before. We didn't buy anything that time, but we took a ton of pictures. For lunch, we went to a vegetarian buffet right next to the market. For €4.20, we got a bed of shredded lettuce, 3 pieces of falafel, and all-you-can-eat toppings, including tabbouleh salad, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumbers with dill, breaded and fried cauliflower, curried chickpeas, hot peppers, pickles, and more that I just can't remember. And it was all delicious.
Actually, now that I think about it, we did buy something at the market - a fruit salad that had melon, watermelon, kiwi, strawberry, orange, grape, pineapple, and dragonfruit. Yum.
After lunch, we went to what is, still to this date, the most incredible sight I've seen in 4 weeks: the Sagrada Familia. A cathedral designed by the Spanish architect Antonin Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia is actually still unfinished - but damn, is it beautiful inside. I can't describe it in words, so you'll have to wait until I can post my photos :-P
After we spent an adequate amount of time gawking over the Sagrada Familia, we then walked (hiked) halfway across the city to the Parc Guell, a park also designed by Gaudi. On the way there, we had some snacks (that we may have stolen off of some trees), and asked about 100 passers-by for directions. But we made it.... Very tired, yes, but certainly not hungry.
We briefly returned to our hostel and then went back out to find dinner and to see the "Magic Fountain," a beautiful yet touristy fountain full of lights that, for some reason, closed at 9pm. So, we were able to get a few photos in before the fountains literally shut down and everyone went away.
It was difficult to find a restaurant for dinner that would cater to a vegetarian and someone who is allergic to milk, gluten, soy, and basically everything delicious in life, but we were eventually able to find a sketchy place that had a slightly overpriced veggie paella. The first place we tried had allegedly run out of patatas bravas (ummm, who runs out of potatoes and hot sauce?), and a lot of the cheaper places were closing. So, veggie paella it was.
That night, we had THE WORST ROOMMATES EVAR. First they checked in around 1am, came into the room, turned on the main overhead light, and had a full conversation. Oh, this was only two of the roommates - the other nine (9) of us had been asleep. Then they left, and everyone tried to go back to sleep. Which would have been largely successful if the two hadn't come back at 4:37am (I know, because I woke up and looked at my watch) and repeated the same behavior as earlier. Eventually they went to sleep, and the next morning after Dan and I had gotten up way before everyone else to eat breakfast, the roommates' friend came in to wake them up (while everyone else in the room was still asleep), and they had another full conversation. It was absolutely ridiculous - everyone was pretty happy to be checking out that morning.
So! We started our day with buying an enormous bar of chocolate with hazelnuts in it that we split for a second breakfast. Then we went to the chocolate museum (time #2 for me). It was a very chocolate-filled morning. Next we went back to the market for lunch and ended up eating at the same place as yesterday - why pass up a good deal? This time we supplemented it with fruit juices, which were freaking awesome.
Next we went to the erotic art museum (again, a second for me, but in a different city this time). It was pretty good, but I liked the one in Paris better. After that we spent the rest of the day walking around, looking at craft vendors, walking along the pier, trying to find the gay nude beach we had read about online, looking for more fruit to steal, and just enjoying the city. I got sunburned, again. But overall, it was a great day. Until I almost missed my train, but that's another story.
So I said goodbye to Dan and headed off on an overnight train to Paris. It was so nice to finally be able to spend some time with someone I actually know and can talk about things back home with. For the most part, I've actually really enjoyed travelling alone.... but it was nice to not have to ask a stranger to take my picture, to be able to joke about things without being afraid of offending the other person, and to just finally be myself.
Anyway! So Dan and I met up at our hostel on Friday morning and almost immediately left for the market I had been to the day before. We didn't buy anything that time, but we took a ton of pictures. For lunch, we went to a vegetarian buffet right next to the market. For €4.20, we got a bed of shredded lettuce, 3 pieces of falafel, and all-you-can-eat toppings, including tabbouleh salad, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumbers with dill, breaded and fried cauliflower, curried chickpeas, hot peppers, pickles, and more that I just can't remember. And it was all delicious.
Actually, now that I think about it, we did buy something at the market - a fruit salad that had melon, watermelon, kiwi, strawberry, orange, grape, pineapple, and dragonfruit. Yum.
After lunch, we went to what is, still to this date, the most incredible sight I've seen in 4 weeks: the Sagrada Familia. A cathedral designed by the Spanish architect Antonin Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia is actually still unfinished - but damn, is it beautiful inside. I can't describe it in words, so you'll have to wait until I can post my photos :-P
After we spent an adequate amount of time gawking over the Sagrada Familia, we then walked (hiked) halfway across the city to the Parc Guell, a park also designed by Gaudi. On the way there, we had some snacks (that we may have stolen off of some trees), and asked about 100 passers-by for directions. But we made it.... Very tired, yes, but certainly not hungry.
We briefly returned to our hostel and then went back out to find dinner and to see the "Magic Fountain," a beautiful yet touristy fountain full of lights that, for some reason, closed at 9pm. So, we were able to get a few photos in before the fountains literally shut down and everyone went away.
It was difficult to find a restaurant for dinner that would cater to a vegetarian and someone who is allergic to milk, gluten, soy, and basically everything delicious in life, but we were eventually able to find a sketchy place that had a slightly overpriced veggie paella. The first place we tried had allegedly run out of patatas bravas (ummm, who runs out of potatoes and hot sauce?), and a lot of the cheaper places were closing. So, veggie paella it was.
That night, we had THE WORST ROOMMATES EVAR. First they checked in around 1am, came into the room, turned on the main overhead light, and had a full conversation. Oh, this was only two of the roommates - the other nine (9) of us had been asleep. Then they left, and everyone tried to go back to sleep. Which would have been largely successful if the two hadn't come back at 4:37am (I know, because I woke up and looked at my watch) and repeated the same behavior as earlier. Eventually they went to sleep, and the next morning after Dan and I had gotten up way before everyone else to eat breakfast, the roommates' friend came in to wake them up (while everyone else in the room was still asleep), and they had another full conversation. It was absolutely ridiculous - everyone was pretty happy to be checking out that morning.
So! We started our day with buying an enormous bar of chocolate with hazelnuts in it that we split for a second breakfast. Then we went to the chocolate museum (time #2 for me). It was a very chocolate-filled morning. Next we went back to the market for lunch and ended up eating at the same place as yesterday - why pass up a good deal? This time we supplemented it with fruit juices, which were freaking awesome.
Next we went to the erotic art museum (again, a second for me, but in a different city this time). It was pretty good, but I liked the one in Paris better. After that we spent the rest of the day walking around, looking at craft vendors, walking along the pier, trying to find the gay nude beach we had read about online, looking for more fruit to steal, and just enjoying the city. I got sunburned, again. But overall, it was a great day. Until I almost missed my train, but that's another story.
So I said goodbye to Dan and headed off on an overnight train to Paris. It was so nice to finally be able to spend some time with someone I actually know and can talk about things back home with. For the most part, I've actually really enjoyed travelling alone.... but it was nice to not have to ask a stranger to take my picture, to be able to joke about things without being afraid of offending the other person, and to just finally be myself.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Barcelona, part II
So the reason I chose to go to Barcelona in the first place was because I was meeting my dear friend Dan, who is studying in Sevilla, there for the weekend. The first two full days I spent in Barcelona, however, I was by myself. It was enough time to become oriented with the city, decide out what I wanted to do by myself, and figure out what to save for when Dan joined me.
Day 1 wasn't too eventful - I bought my train ticket to Paris (Berlin is my next stop, and I planned to take an overnight train to Paris and then a train from Paris to Cologne and then to Berlin from there). Afterwards I went to the tourist info center to get a very much-needed map of the city. I also picked up some brochures that I don't think I even looked at after I left the info office.
I checked the free map I had picked up to see where the contemporary art museum was and headed in that general direction. I figured that since I had failed at seeing contemporary art museums in Paris and in Nice, and had somehow succeeded at seeing art museums I didn't really care about, I should probably try and see the one in Barcelona.
After wandering around the city for a while, taking occasional breaks to sit on park benches and think about things, I did find the museum. It was very much a multi-media - focused museum, with many films and separate rooms specifically for showing them. I watched an entire 31-minute film called "Hydra Decapita," which I only elected to sit through because of it's name. I followed most of it, then fell asleep for the last five minutes and have no idea what to make of it. Oh well.
That night was the football (soccer) semifinal game between Barcelona and Madrid - a huge rivalry. I obviously don't know anything about football (American or otherwise), but I had planned a night in to catch up on blog posting and Skype, so I sat in the common area to do so.... and was caught more or less in the middle (okay, I was actually sitting at a table pretty far away from the TVs) of FCB Central. Not to spoil the surprise, but when Barcelona won the room went CRAZY! Eventually everyone went out to the bars to celebrate, but even as I was going to bed at midnight the streets were still full of people yelling and cars honking their horns in celebration. Pretty exciting!
The next day I decided I was going to see the Picasso museum. Again, I wasn't entirely sure where I was going, but a check-in with my map every so often kept me more or less on track.
Before I found the museum, I came across two big open markets ('mercats' in Spanish). The first was on La Rambla, and it is known as La Boqueteria. I don't remember the name of the other one, but they were both more or less the same and were both more or less awesome. Every kind of fruit, vegetable, olive, cheese, animal part, nut, or olive oil you could ever want was sold there, and all by local farms and businesses. I didn't buy anything on that day, but I certainly did the next two days!
As I was wandering the streets of Barcelona in an attempt to locate the Picasso museum, I turned a corner and found myself facing.... wait for it.... a chocolate museum. A real-life, honest-to-whomever chocolate museum. So, obviously I went in just to see how much tickets were and if it would be worth it to go in. For €3.65, I determined that this was something I needed to do.
1. My ticket was a bar of chocolate.
2. They had chocolate sculptures.
3. They had real-life chocolate sculptors working on new sculptures.
4. They also had a cafe at the end where you could buy coffee, tea, soda, etc.... and also some kind of hot chocolate drink that had basically the same consistency of fondue. Amazing.
After feeling pretty good about my discovery, I found the Picasso museum. I found it to also be a worthwhile visit - the museum holds about 1700 of Picasso's works, spanning from his early years all the way to his death, and included his paintings, ceramics, lithography, and a complete timeline of his life.
Unfortunately, most of the writing in the museum was either in Spanish or in Catalan (a Latin-derived language with heavy Spanish and French influences); the pieces that included descriptions in English seemed to be the really obvious ones, like "Two Women Sitting." Thanks. Couldn't have figured that out myself.
I changed hostels that night, since I couldn't get four consecutive nights in the hostel Dan and I had decided to book. One of my roommates was a nice Welsh guy named Garrett who was in Barcelona to escape the Royal Wedding craziness that was to occur the next morning. We both left to go find dinner at the same time, so we teamed up and found the probably one place within a mile of the hostel that was a) still open, b) cheap, and c) had enough food to feed two vegetarians. We split a plate of olives (day #2 of having olives for dinner) and both ordered "huevos e patatas fritas".... fried eggs and French fries. How incredibly Spanish. Did I also mention this was a sushi restaurant?
The food actually ended up being very good, so we left feeling satisfied enough to stop at a bar on the way back for another drink rather than going off to find a second dinner. I had a really delicious glass of red wine whose name I would have never remembered if I hadn't written it down. Hopefully Northside will have it!
Tomorrow: Dan arrives!
Day 1 wasn't too eventful - I bought my train ticket to Paris (Berlin is my next stop, and I planned to take an overnight train to Paris and then a train from Paris to Cologne and then to Berlin from there). Afterwards I went to the tourist info center to get a very much-needed map of the city. I also picked up some brochures that I don't think I even looked at after I left the info office.
I checked the free map I had picked up to see where the contemporary art museum was and headed in that general direction. I figured that since I had failed at seeing contemporary art museums in Paris and in Nice, and had somehow succeeded at seeing art museums I didn't really care about, I should probably try and see the one in Barcelona.
After wandering around the city for a while, taking occasional breaks to sit on park benches and think about things, I did find the museum. It was very much a multi-media - focused museum, with many films and separate rooms specifically for showing them. I watched an entire 31-minute film called "Hydra Decapita," which I only elected to sit through because of it's name. I followed most of it, then fell asleep for the last five minutes and have no idea what to make of it. Oh well.
That night was the football (soccer) semifinal game between Barcelona and Madrid - a huge rivalry. I obviously don't know anything about football (American or otherwise), but I had planned a night in to catch up on blog posting and Skype, so I sat in the common area to do so.... and was caught more or less in the middle (okay, I was actually sitting at a table pretty far away from the TVs) of FCB Central. Not to spoil the surprise, but when Barcelona won the room went CRAZY! Eventually everyone went out to the bars to celebrate, but even as I was going to bed at midnight the streets were still full of people yelling and cars honking their horns in celebration. Pretty exciting!
The next day I decided I was going to see the Picasso museum. Again, I wasn't entirely sure where I was going, but a check-in with my map every so often kept me more or less on track.
Before I found the museum, I came across two big open markets ('mercats' in Spanish). The first was on La Rambla, and it is known as La Boqueteria. I don't remember the name of the other one, but they were both more or less the same and were both more or less awesome. Every kind of fruit, vegetable, olive, cheese, animal part, nut, or olive oil you could ever want was sold there, and all by local farms and businesses. I didn't buy anything on that day, but I certainly did the next two days!
As I was wandering the streets of Barcelona in an attempt to locate the Picasso museum, I turned a corner and found myself facing.... wait for it.... a chocolate museum. A real-life, honest-to-whomever chocolate museum. So, obviously I went in just to see how much tickets were and if it would be worth it to go in. For €3.65, I determined that this was something I needed to do.
1. My ticket was a bar of chocolate.
2. They had chocolate sculptures.
3. They had real-life chocolate sculptors working on new sculptures.
4. They also had a cafe at the end where you could buy coffee, tea, soda, etc.... and also some kind of hot chocolate drink that had basically the same consistency of fondue. Amazing.
After feeling pretty good about my discovery, I found the Picasso museum. I found it to also be a worthwhile visit - the museum holds about 1700 of Picasso's works, spanning from his early years all the way to his death, and included his paintings, ceramics, lithography, and a complete timeline of his life.
Unfortunately, most of the writing in the museum was either in Spanish or in Catalan (a Latin-derived language with heavy Spanish and French influences); the pieces that included descriptions in English seemed to be the really obvious ones, like "Two Women Sitting." Thanks. Couldn't have figured that out myself.
I changed hostels that night, since I couldn't get four consecutive nights in the hostel Dan and I had decided to book. One of my roommates was a nice Welsh guy named Garrett who was in Barcelona to escape the Royal Wedding craziness that was to occur the next morning. We both left to go find dinner at the same time, so we teamed up and found the probably one place within a mile of the hostel that was a) still open, b) cheap, and c) had enough food to feed two vegetarians. We split a plate of olives (day #2 of having olives for dinner) and both ordered "huevos e patatas fritas".... fried eggs and French fries. How incredibly Spanish. Did I also mention this was a sushi restaurant?
The food actually ended up being very good, so we left feeling satisfied enough to stop at a bar on the way back for another drink rather than going off to find a second dinner. I had a really delicious glass of red wine whose name I would have never remembered if I hadn't written it down. Hopefully Northside will have it!
Tomorrow: Dan arrives!
Barcelona!
Barcelona, part 1
My trip out of Montpellier was actually somewhat notable. I had a connection in Figueres (a town in Spain that I'm pretty only exists to serve as a transfer point between French and Spanish regional trains), and a 10-minute delay coming out of Montpellier cut my 15-minute connection time down to 5 minutes. Luckily, due to the facts that the Figureres train station only has about 2 platforms and the train to Barcelona was literally about 20 feet away, I didn't have to spend the night in some tiny town in Spain.... Which is what I had feared would happen.
As I was getting ready to switch trains, I overheard two people, a guy and girl of about my age, talking about Barcelona. I found out that we were all making the same tight connection, and that the guy and I had been assigned to seats right next to each other on the train!
Over the next few hours, I found out that not only had we all been in Nice for the same period of time (stuck an extra day because of Easter Monday), but the guy and I had stayed in the same hostel and had just never run into each other. Upon arriving in Barcelona, we then realised that we were all going to the same metro stop and that our hostels were roughly about 2 blocks from each other. What are the chances?!
After checking into our respective hostels (at approximately 11:45pm), we decided it would only be appropriate to hit the town and experience Barcelona nightlife. We walked down La Rambla, the main pedestrian strip that serves as Barcelona's tourist center by day and bar scene by night. Not having yet eaten dinner, we found a restaurant still serving tapas and ordered a pitcher of sangria and some food (I ordered a plate of olives, which I promptly devoured).
Upon finally going our separate ways, we realised that we had never gotten each other's names. I guess it might have seemed a little out-of-the-ordinary at the time, but now that I'm looking back on that night, it makes me really think about the value of a name or a formal introduction. These two other travellers and I shared an almost instant bond, even though we never officially 'met' each other. Our conversation began with my asking if they were also going to Barcelona, continued with asking where each was from, and was kept alive by sharing our travel experiences.
And what's in a name, anyway? Our names are our most basic form of identity, yet I feel like I learned just as much about each of these individuals without knowing their names than I would have if I had introduced myself when we first met. Are names really a necessary part of our relationships with others? Perhaps if one had a name that had some sort of significance to me (say, the same name as a close relative, close friend, or a significant other), then I maybe would have thought of that person and linked their identities whenever I had to reference them by name. Would I think of these new friends differently? Would I remember them differently now? These are things I think about when I'm sitting on the train for hours on end.
By the way, their names were Joel and Cynthia, and they were both awesome.
Random sidebar - I'm currently on one of the five (5) trains I'll need to take to Berlin, and the little boy sitting in front of me is throwing up. I'm not sure if I'm more sorry for him or just grossed out, but either way.... Yay.
My trip out of Montpellier was actually somewhat notable. I had a connection in Figueres (a town in Spain that I'm pretty only exists to serve as a transfer point between French and Spanish regional trains), and a 10-minute delay coming out of Montpellier cut my 15-minute connection time down to 5 minutes. Luckily, due to the facts that the Figureres train station only has about 2 platforms and the train to Barcelona was literally about 20 feet away, I didn't have to spend the night in some tiny town in Spain.... Which is what I had feared would happen.
As I was getting ready to switch trains, I overheard two people, a guy and girl of about my age, talking about Barcelona. I found out that we were all making the same tight connection, and that the guy and I had been assigned to seats right next to each other on the train!
Over the next few hours, I found out that not only had we all been in Nice for the same period of time (stuck an extra day because of Easter Monday), but the guy and I had stayed in the same hostel and had just never run into each other. Upon arriving in Barcelona, we then realised that we were all going to the same metro stop and that our hostels were roughly about 2 blocks from each other. What are the chances?!
After checking into our respective hostels (at approximately 11:45pm), we decided it would only be appropriate to hit the town and experience Barcelona nightlife. We walked down La Rambla, the main pedestrian strip that serves as Barcelona's tourist center by day and bar scene by night. Not having yet eaten dinner, we found a restaurant still serving tapas and ordered a pitcher of sangria and some food (I ordered a plate of olives, which I promptly devoured).
Upon finally going our separate ways, we realised that we had never gotten each other's names. I guess it might have seemed a little out-of-the-ordinary at the time, but now that I'm looking back on that night, it makes me really think about the value of a name or a formal introduction. These two other travellers and I shared an almost instant bond, even though we never officially 'met' each other. Our conversation began with my asking if they were also going to Barcelona, continued with asking where each was from, and was kept alive by sharing our travel experiences.
And what's in a name, anyway? Our names are our most basic form of identity, yet I feel like I learned just as much about each of these individuals without knowing their names than I would have if I had introduced myself when we first met. Are names really a necessary part of our relationships with others? Perhaps if one had a name that had some sort of significance to me (say, the same name as a close relative, close friend, or a significant other), then I maybe would have thought of that person and linked their identities whenever I had to reference them by name. Would I think of these new friends differently? Would I remember them differently now? These are things I think about when I'm sitting on the train for hours on end.
By the way, their names were Joel and Cynthia, and they were both awesome.
Random sidebar - I'm currently on one of the five (5) trains I'll need to take to Berlin, and the little boy sitting in front of me is throwing up. I'm not sure if I'm more sorry for him or just grossed out, but either way.... Yay.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Nice is.... Nice
Haha pun! Anyway, I'm sitting in the Montpellier train station for the last 45 minutes of my 4-hour connection. Yes, a trip from Nice to Barcelona, which should normally take around 8-9 hours, will take 13 today because the earlier Montpellier-Figueras train was sold out when I bought my ticket. Yay planning ahead far enough in advance so that I didn't find this out when I got here!
So, after 2 full days in the Cote d'Azur, I think I'm sufficiently sunburned enough to last me the rest of this trip and into most of the summer. Who knew that going to the beach at 4pm on a day in April when the high temperature is 65 would result in such discomfort?
Nice was very relaxing and not only free of herds of tourists, but also free of herds of tourist traps. This may have been because I was there on Easter Sunday and Monday, but still. Good choices.
On Monday I took advantage of the rail pass I had paid way too much money for and explored Monte Carlo (Monaco) and Cannes. Both were nice to walk around for the afternoon, but I'm glad it was only for that long. One, there wasn't a whole lot to do besides walk around, look in shops, and sit on the beach. Two, both cities are full of people who are ABSURDLY WEALTHY, making everything cost way more than it should (for example, a crepe with Nutella costs €7 in Monte Carlo). Luckily I packed a lunch!
Two of my roommates, Chinese girls studying in London, described Monaco as "very beautiful, lots of clear water, people are very rich, and many free toilets!" And they were right.
The hostel where I stayed was beautiful. My guidebook said it was supposed to have been the house that Napoleon gave to his mistress. This morning I actually paid money for the breakfast they had, since I was leaving fairly early and didn't want to have to search all over for a bakery like I did yesterday. I actually chose coffee to have with my breakfast over tea, hot chocolate, and orange juice! It wasn't as amazing as the cappuccinos I had been drinking in Italy every morning, but I actually enjoyed it.
Montpellier is a surprisingly beautiful city (not that I didn't think it was going to be nice, but I guess I had kind of assumed that it was just a city where a lot of trains happen to pass through, and not much else.... Kind of like Ventimiglia). Here's some irony: there was a group from Greenpeace doing petition gathering or something on this one really touristy street, and I actually kind of wanted to talk to them (as one can imagine, I haven't really had much opportunity lately for discussion on issues I really care about, besides travel). Out of the four (4) people who stopped me, not a single one spoke English! I tried to speak French with the first guy who stopped me, but he didn't seem interested once I said I was just traveling. Out of all the other groups on Florence, Rome, Venice, and others I saw who were doing similar things, out of all the creepy French and Italian men, out of all the homeless people I ran into, the ones who didn't try to talk to me after I said I only spoke a little French were the ones I actually really wanted to talk to!
Other than that, my afternoon hasn't been exciting. I spent too much money on too little gelato, but it was incredibly refreshing. I bought a ring from a French hippie. Now I'm sitting on the floor of the train station in front of the one outlet I found in the entire building. Yay!
The platform from which my train is departing was just announced - next post will be from Barcelona!
So, after 2 full days in the Cote d'Azur, I think I'm sufficiently sunburned enough to last me the rest of this trip and into most of the summer. Who knew that going to the beach at 4pm on a day in April when the high temperature is 65 would result in such discomfort?
Nice was very relaxing and not only free of herds of tourists, but also free of herds of tourist traps. This may have been because I was there on Easter Sunday and Monday, but still. Good choices.
On Monday I took advantage of the rail pass I had paid way too much money for and explored Monte Carlo (Monaco) and Cannes. Both were nice to walk around for the afternoon, but I'm glad it was only for that long. One, there wasn't a whole lot to do besides walk around, look in shops, and sit on the beach. Two, both cities are full of people who are ABSURDLY WEALTHY, making everything cost way more than it should (for example, a crepe with Nutella costs €7 in Monte Carlo). Luckily I packed a lunch!
Two of my roommates, Chinese girls studying in London, described Monaco as "very beautiful, lots of clear water, people are very rich, and many free toilets!" And they were right.
The hostel where I stayed was beautiful. My guidebook said it was supposed to have been the house that Napoleon gave to his mistress. This morning I actually paid money for the breakfast they had, since I was leaving fairly early and didn't want to have to search all over for a bakery like I did yesterday. I actually chose coffee to have with my breakfast over tea, hot chocolate, and orange juice! It wasn't as amazing as the cappuccinos I had been drinking in Italy every morning, but I actually enjoyed it.
Montpellier is a surprisingly beautiful city (not that I didn't think it was going to be nice, but I guess I had kind of assumed that it was just a city where a lot of trains happen to pass through, and not much else.... Kind of like Ventimiglia). Here's some irony: there was a group from Greenpeace doing petition gathering or something on this one really touristy street, and I actually kind of wanted to talk to them (as one can imagine, I haven't really had much opportunity lately for discussion on issues I really care about, besides travel). Out of the four (4) people who stopped me, not a single one spoke English! I tried to speak French with the first guy who stopped me, but he didn't seem interested once I said I was just traveling. Out of all the other groups on Florence, Rome, Venice, and others I saw who were doing similar things, out of all the creepy French and Italian men, out of all the homeless people I ran into, the ones who didn't try to talk to me after I said I only spoke a little French were the ones I actually really wanted to talk to!
Other than that, my afternoon hasn't been exciting. I spent too much money on too little gelato, but it was incredibly refreshing. I bought a ring from a French hippie. Now I'm sitting on the floor of the train station in front of the one outlet I found in the entire building. Yay!
The platform from which my train is departing was just announced - next post will be from Barcelona!
On the Train
Genova
Genova is a rather peculiar town.... Well, the part the train to Ventimiglia passes through, at least. To the south is a landscape that looks very much like most of northern Italy - multi-level brown and peach stucco buildings nestled among steep hills, connected by narrow roadways and clotheslines with garments dangling.
To the north, however, one can mistake the scenery for a New England port city. Huge cruise ships mixed among barges and cranes along a waterfront that extends for miles. Tirreno Power, a coal-fired power plant situated directly on the water, has enormous candy cane-striped smokestacks that could probably be seen for miles on a clear day.
The afternoon is misty and dark, further playing into the gloom of the landscape. Rain begins to fall at the next station, covering discharged passengers with thick droplets.
The most bizarre part of this polar landscape is a thin lagoon between the train tracks and the port. Separated by a shallow stone wall and dotted with regularly-spaced palm trees. The water in the lagoon is still and does not reflect the gray of the stormy sky. All around me is industry, yet this small strip of paradise provides relief from the dim monotony of the scene.
Genova is a rather peculiar town.... Well, the part the train to Ventimiglia passes through, at least. To the south is a landscape that looks very much like most of northern Italy - multi-level brown and peach stucco buildings nestled among steep hills, connected by narrow roadways and clotheslines with garments dangling.
To the north, however, one can mistake the scenery for a New England port city. Huge cruise ships mixed among barges and cranes along a waterfront that extends for miles. Tirreno Power, a coal-fired power plant situated directly on the water, has enormous candy cane-striped smokestacks that could probably be seen for miles on a clear day.
The afternoon is misty and dark, further playing into the gloom of the landscape. Rain begins to fall at the next station, covering discharged passengers with thick droplets.
The most bizarre part of this polar landscape is a thin lagoon between the train tracks and the port. Separated by a shallow stone wall and dotted with regularly-spaced palm trees. The water in the lagoon is still and does not reflect the gray of the stormy sky. All around me is industry, yet this small strip of paradise provides relief from the dim monotony of the scene.
A Day in Venice
Venice
I can sum up my trip to Venice with this one realization it helped me to have: if choosing which flavor of gelato to try for the second time in one day is the most difficult decision I will have to make in that day, then my life is pretty freaking awesome.
I stayed 2 nights in Venice in a cabin at a campground on the mainland about 15 minutes by bus to the island. Arriving at around 6:30pm, I only really had time to buy my train ticket to my next destination (Nice), grab a slice of pizza for dinner, and find my campground.
I had two roommates at Camping Rialto the first night: a girl from western Australia who had an awesome name that I just can't remember, and Mario, an engineer who works for CERN, and with whom I explored the city the next day.
I won't bore you, dear readers, with details of how many streets we walked, how many bridges we crossed, and how many times we got lost. I will tell you, however, that Venice is a truly beautiful city. Visit it before it goes underwater forever.
For one of the first times ever, I was able to find one of the restaurants that my guidebook (the usually-trustworthy Let's Go: Europe) recommended - a gelato place called Gelato Nico that faced the waterfront and had delicious mango and delicious bacio (chocolate with hazelnut pieces) flavors. I know firsthand. We went there twice in one afternoon. For €1.30 for a good-sized scoop, we almost couldn't pass it up.
Before you ask, I did ride in a gondola. Don't get too excited, though - the gondola rides that Venice is so famous for cost between €80-100 for 40 minutes. However, Venice has traghetti, gondola ferries, that cross the Grand Canal at several points throughout the city. They cost only €0.50 for about 2 minutes of intense canal-crossing fun (there are no traffic laws in the waters of Venice) and proved to be a much better option in the long run.
For my bartending and/or alcohol consuming friends, I have a new drink to share with you when I return. Be excited.
As per my last several posts, I'm on the train to my next destination currently - this time Nice, in the south of France, where I will spend Zombie Jesus Day (Easter) on a beach. Well, I hope so, anyway.... I haven't checked the weather in a few days, and the weather between Venice and Genova (where the train is currently stopped) hasn't been great. It's a nice day to be stuck in aisle seats on a train, but doesn't instill much confidence for the next few days.
My plan was to leave Nice on Monday and go somewhere for a few nights before Barcelona on Wednesday, but I forgot that Monday is a public holiday in Europe. So, as usual, I'm going to wing it and see how it goes!
I can sum up my trip to Venice with this one realization it helped me to have: if choosing which flavor of gelato to try for the second time in one day is the most difficult decision I will have to make in that day, then my life is pretty freaking awesome.
I stayed 2 nights in Venice in a cabin at a campground on the mainland about 15 minutes by bus to the island. Arriving at around 6:30pm, I only really had time to buy my train ticket to my next destination (Nice), grab a slice of pizza for dinner, and find my campground.
I had two roommates at Camping Rialto the first night: a girl from western Australia who had an awesome name that I just can't remember, and Mario, an engineer who works for CERN, and with whom I explored the city the next day.
I won't bore you, dear readers, with details of how many streets we walked, how many bridges we crossed, and how many times we got lost. I will tell you, however, that Venice is a truly beautiful city. Visit it before it goes underwater forever.
For one of the first times ever, I was able to find one of the restaurants that my guidebook (the usually-trustworthy Let's Go: Europe) recommended - a gelato place called Gelato Nico that faced the waterfront and had delicious mango and delicious bacio (chocolate with hazelnut pieces) flavors. I know firsthand. We went there twice in one afternoon. For €1.30 for a good-sized scoop, we almost couldn't pass it up.
Before you ask, I did ride in a gondola. Don't get too excited, though - the gondola rides that Venice is so famous for cost between €80-100 for 40 minutes. However, Venice has traghetti, gondola ferries, that cross the Grand Canal at several points throughout the city. They cost only €0.50 for about 2 minutes of intense canal-crossing fun (there are no traffic laws in the waters of Venice) and proved to be a much better option in the long run.
For my bartending and/or alcohol consuming friends, I have a new drink to share with you when I return. Be excited.
As per my last several posts, I'm on the train to my next destination currently - this time Nice, in the south of France, where I will spend Zombie Jesus Day (Easter) on a beach. Well, I hope so, anyway.... I haven't checked the weather in a few days, and the weather between Venice and Genova (where the train is currently stopped) hasn't been great. It's a nice day to be stuck in aisle seats on a train, but doesn't instill much confidence for the next few days.
My plan was to leave Nice on Monday and go somewhere for a few nights before Barcelona on Wednesday, but I forgot that Monday is a public holiday in Europe. So, as usual, I'm going to wing it and see how it goes!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sometimes, you just have to look at yourself in the mirror and say "When in Rome."
I've been in Rome since Monday afternoon (it's currently Wednesday morning here), so I'll paraphrase the past few days since I only have a short time:
-Night 1: I met other fellow travellers in my hostel and walked around the city with them shortly after I finished my leftover food from Florence (a loaf of bread ('ciabatta', but not like any ciabatta I know from the US) and a ball of mozzarella cheese which was YUMMY)). We walked to the Piazza del Popolo, a big square recommended to be the place to start a visit to Rome, and ate at a restaurant pretty close by. From there, we walked to the Spanish Steps, talked to a drunk homeless man for a while, got gelato, and walked to the Fontana di Trivi, a beautiful fountain carved out of an enormous piece of marble. All in all, a really enjoyable evening!
Day 1: Went to a bar across the street for breakfast (not a bar with alcohol.... they serve coffee drinks and pastries, and you eat standing up), which was delicious and cheap. Then, the people I met last night and I tried to go see the Vatican, but the line was literally several blocks long, and none of us really wanted to see it that badly. So, we saw the Pantheon, ate lunch at a restaurant recommended by a friend of one of the people I met, and then found the ruins of Rome, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. Photos soon, I hope!
After we left the Colosseum, we went off in search of a gelato place rumoured to be the best in Rome. And it was. Searching for about 10 minutes on the street where it was supposed to be yielded no results, so we decided to find another place. Turned a corner, found it almost instantly. The flavors of gelato they offered were so unique: I had their signature flavor, made with honey that surprisingly wasn't overpoweringly sweet. Other delicious flavors included whiskey, chocolate rum, pine nut, and many others.
The evening was fairly quiet: we cooked our own dinner in the hostel kitchen (pasta made with a ghetto sauce: tomato puree, onions and garlic sauteed in red wine, salt, and sugar) and sat around chatting with another traveller we met from Argentina. I tried (rather unsuccessfully) to book a hostel in Venice for Thursday and Friday nights, eventually giving up when the reception area closed at midnight.
Day 2: I just booked my hostel/campground (yay adventures!) in Venice, and I'm currently figuring out my itinerary for the day. I want to do a Pines of Rome tour, where I go to see the Borghese gardens, the catacombs, Janiculum Hill, and the Appian Way while listening to each movement of the piece while I'm there. I'll blog on how it works out :-)
-Night 1: I met other fellow travellers in my hostel and walked around the city with them shortly after I finished my leftover food from Florence (a loaf of bread ('ciabatta', but not like any ciabatta I know from the US) and a ball of mozzarella cheese which was YUMMY)). We walked to the Piazza del Popolo, a big square recommended to be the place to start a visit to Rome, and ate at a restaurant pretty close by. From there, we walked to the Spanish Steps, talked to a drunk homeless man for a while, got gelato, and walked to the Fontana di Trivi, a beautiful fountain carved out of an enormous piece of marble. All in all, a really enjoyable evening!
Day 1: Went to a bar across the street for breakfast (not a bar with alcohol.... they serve coffee drinks and pastries, and you eat standing up), which was delicious and cheap. Then, the people I met last night and I tried to go see the Vatican, but the line was literally several blocks long, and none of us really wanted to see it that badly. So, we saw the Pantheon, ate lunch at a restaurant recommended by a friend of one of the people I met, and then found the ruins of Rome, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. Photos soon, I hope!
After we left the Colosseum, we went off in search of a gelato place rumoured to be the best in Rome. And it was. Searching for about 10 minutes on the street where it was supposed to be yielded no results, so we decided to find another place. Turned a corner, found it almost instantly. The flavors of gelato they offered were so unique: I had their signature flavor, made with honey that surprisingly wasn't overpoweringly sweet. Other delicious flavors included whiskey, chocolate rum, pine nut, and many others.
The evening was fairly quiet: we cooked our own dinner in the hostel kitchen (pasta made with a ghetto sauce: tomato puree, onions and garlic sauteed in red wine, salt, and sugar) and sat around chatting with another traveller we met from Argentina. I tried (rather unsuccessfully) to book a hostel in Venice for Thursday and Friday nights, eventually giving up when the reception area closed at midnight.
Day 2: I just booked my hostel/campground (yay adventures!) in Venice, and I'm currently figuring out my itinerary for the day. I want to do a Pines of Rome tour, where I go to see the Borghese gardens, the catacombs, Janiculum Hill, and the Appian Way while listening to each movement of the piece while I'm there. I'll blog on how it works out :-)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Florence to Pisa to Rome!
18.04 entry
Phew.... I've been on the train to Rome for about an hour now, and I've finally got to blogging about today's events!
We woke up early this morning, as planned, and took the 9:50 train to Pisa. I bought a loaf of bread and a ball of mozzarella (in a bag filled with water) to eat for lunch.
Unfortunately, I only had enough time to see the Piazza del Duomo (where the Leaning Tower is) and the part of the city between the train station and there, but it seemed like a really cute city. I spent about an hour and a half there, then got back on the train to Florence to make it in time for my train to Rome. I was sad to say goodbye to my newest roommates, but hopefully I will meet people just as wonderful as they are everywhere I go.
Just like David, the Tower of Pisa was really, really cool to see in person. I was almost expecting to get there and either it had fallen over or it was actually straight, and everyone was like "jk! We fooled you for all these years!", but it wasn't. Additionally, it was also a really cool structure architecturally. I tried to take some photos of the actual building as well as the fact that it's very obviously leaning over.
Speaking of photos - I've taken roughly 1100 photos so far, which averages out to be about 100 per day. Sadly, I haven't been able to upload any of them yet since I've mostly been working from my iPod. But soon! I hope!
My train is set to arrive in Rome in about 20 minutes - another city, another adventure!
Phew.... I've been on the train to Rome for about an hour now, and I've finally got to blogging about today's events!
We woke up early this morning, as planned, and took the 9:50 train to Pisa. I bought a loaf of bread and a ball of mozzarella (in a bag filled with water) to eat for lunch.
Unfortunately, I only had enough time to see the Piazza del Duomo (where the Leaning Tower is) and the part of the city between the train station and there, but it seemed like a really cute city. I spent about an hour and a half there, then got back on the train to Florence to make it in time for my train to Rome. I was sad to say goodbye to my newest roommates, but hopefully I will meet people just as wonderful as they are everywhere I go.
Just like David, the Tower of Pisa was really, really cool to see in person. I was almost expecting to get there and either it had fallen over or it was actually straight, and everyone was like "jk! We fooled you for all these years!", but it wasn't. Additionally, it was also a really cool structure architecturally. I tried to take some photos of the actual building as well as the fact that it's very obviously leaning over.
Speaking of photos - I've taken roughly 1100 photos so far, which averages out to be about 100 per day. Sadly, I haven't been able to upload any of them yet since I've mostly been working from my iPod. But soon! I hope!
My train is set to arrive in Rome in about 20 minutes - another city, another adventure!
More from Florence!
17.04 entry
As planned, I woke up bright and early to get breakfast with my roommate, Kati. We had planned to go to one of the street markets in town, but the various websites I checked revealed that it was closed on Sundays.
We found a patisserie near the train station and had really delicious pastries - croissants filled with fruit (her's) and cream/custard (mine). It was a great start to the day.
I returned to my hostel to figure out my game plan for the day. I had planned on finding a supermarket, and packing a lunch, so I ventured off in search of such an establishment. One was found, but I had forgotten a bag to put my groceries in. On my way back to the hostel, I ran into one of my roommates who was standing in front of the hostel waiting for the other. Apparently there had been some good times enjoyed the previous night before that had led the one to end up in the hospital (almost definitely not related to the amount or type of beverage consumed, but rather what had been slipped in said beverages) and now we had no idea where she was. Eventually, we got in touch with her and she made it back in a taxi, better than the night before but still in no state to go out sightseeing.
My other roommate and I took off forth Uffizi Gallery, where we waited an hour and a half in line and burned through the museum in roughly 50 minutes. She is studying art history and probably found it more interesting than I did, as I believe I'm starting to experience a bit of museum overload. We were also absolutely starving by the time we got to the museum, so we wanted out ASAP to get something to eat.
After we left, we found another restaurant that had cheap pizza, and I ate another entire pizza.... This time, a pizza marinara with tomato sauce and garlic :-D
We then got gelato and went to Ponte Vecchio, a beautiful old bridge with shops along both sides. The gelato was delicious, even though we had both just eaten a giant pizza apiece.
Upon my return to the hostel, I met my five new roommates (the two girls had moved rooms that morning). Four of them were Notre Dame students studying in Spain, and the fifth was another WOOFer from the US. They were all so friendly and seemed so excited to make new friends in their hostel room! We all hung out together, drinking classy wine ('Bianco Mosso' and 'Rosso Mosso') and playing cards. The four girls from Spain were also traveling with others from their program, so they came to our room too.
At the end of the night, we all decided to go to Pisa the next morning. The train only takes an hour, and my train to Rome didn't leave until 2. Exciting!
As planned, I woke up bright and early to get breakfast with my roommate, Kati. We had planned to go to one of the street markets in town, but the various websites I checked revealed that it was closed on Sundays.
We found a patisserie near the train station and had really delicious pastries - croissants filled with fruit (her's) and cream/custard (mine). It was a great start to the day.
I returned to my hostel to figure out my game plan for the day. I had planned on finding a supermarket, and packing a lunch, so I ventured off in search of such an establishment. One was found, but I had forgotten a bag to put my groceries in. On my way back to the hostel, I ran into one of my roommates who was standing in front of the hostel waiting for the other. Apparently there had been some good times enjoyed the previous night before that had led the one to end up in the hospital (almost definitely not related to the amount or type of beverage consumed, but rather what had been slipped in said beverages) and now we had no idea where she was. Eventually, we got in touch with her and she made it back in a taxi, better than the night before but still in no state to go out sightseeing.
My other roommate and I took off forth Uffizi Gallery, where we waited an hour and a half in line and burned through the museum in roughly 50 minutes. She is studying art history and probably found it more interesting than I did, as I believe I'm starting to experience a bit of museum overload. We were also absolutely starving by the time we got to the museum, so we wanted out ASAP to get something to eat.
After we left, we found another restaurant that had cheap pizza, and I ate another entire pizza.... This time, a pizza marinara with tomato sauce and garlic :-D
We then got gelato and went to Ponte Vecchio, a beautiful old bridge with shops along both sides. The gelato was delicious, even though we had both just eaten a giant pizza apiece.
Upon my return to the hostel, I met my five new roommates (the two girls had moved rooms that morning). Four of them were Notre Dame students studying in Spain, and the fifth was another WOOFer from the US. They were all so friendly and seemed so excited to make new friends in their hostel room! We all hung out together, drinking classy wine ('Bianco Mosso' and 'Rosso Mosso') and playing cards. The four girls from Spain were also traveling with others from their program, so they came to our room too.
At the end of the night, we all decided to go to Pisa the next morning. The train only takes an hour, and my train to Rome didn't leave until 2. Exciting!
Sightseeing in Florence, Day 1
16.04 entry
The next morning, I woke up fairly early to make sure I had time to shower and check out on time. My roommates, who had been asleep when i got back last night, were packing up right as I was leaving, so I talked to them for a while. They were WOOFers (worldwide organic farmers) from Easton, CT and Baltimore - one has a brother that goes to Cornell! Small world!
Instead of shelling out €3 for breakfast in the restaurant, I elected to brave the market next door. This resulted in me buying a big block of pecorino cheese for about €2 and eating that throughout the day. Mmmm.
The weather started out sunny and warm for the day, with a high in the mid-60s. My first stop of the day was the Galleria dell'Accademia.
I had been hearing that even though there are replicas everywhere and that everyone has seen images, Michelangelo's "David" is definitely worth seeing. And it totally was. An added bonus was that admission to the Galleria dell'Accademia was free - apparently it was Cultural Education Week or something in Florence, so admission to all the national museums and monuments was free! Win!
After waiting in line for a relatively short period of time (especially when compared to the next day's escapade to the Uffizi Gallery), I spent a good portion of my visit in the Gallery of Ancient Musical Instruments. It was mostly string and keyboard instruments, but there was in display case that had a basset horn, five clarinets in Eb, and five clarinets in D. Yay!
So David was pretty sweet. Enormously tall, unblemished, exquisite detail, and pretty much just perfect in every way.
The rest of the museum was very similar to the other art galleries I'd been to in Paris, with Renaissance and medieval works with heavy religious influence. There was a painting that was a depiction of the Christian observance of Candlemas, and the quote on the accompanying card had written on it an old Tuscan saying about Candlemas. It read, "At Candlemas, whether there be snow or rains, sun or just a bit of sun, we are still mid winter and it is just the winter sun." Inspiring for sure.... Or not.
After my visit to David, I saw Il Duomo, a huge cathedral that is one of the main landmarks of Florence. I thought it was honestly far more impressive from the outside than in; the inside was a little dark and spooky.
I walked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo next, where I was hit on by not one but two Italian men of varied ages and tactics. Good times. The Piazzale Michelangelo offers a spectacular view of all of Florence, but it was also very touristy. There was a church just up the hill where I had read that you can come hear the monks chanting at 5:30, so I made it a point to go for that. In the meantime, I had about two hours to kill, so I had a cappuccino on the steps near the church. It was wonderful.
I checked into my next hostel early in the evening and met my two new roommates, Hadley and Carrie, who were from Hamilton College and Vassar, respectively. Yay New York state! We went to a pizzeria for dinner, and I had a giant pizza that I ate in its entirety. And I don't feel bad about eating all of it. We also split a litre of chianti that was only €10, which was a good decision.
In the morning: breakfast with my other roommate, Kati, and then to the Uffizi!
The next morning, I woke up fairly early to make sure I had time to shower and check out on time. My roommates, who had been asleep when i got back last night, were packing up right as I was leaving, so I talked to them for a while. They were WOOFers (worldwide organic farmers) from Easton, CT and Baltimore - one has a brother that goes to Cornell! Small world!
Instead of shelling out €3 for breakfast in the restaurant, I elected to brave the market next door. This resulted in me buying a big block of pecorino cheese for about €2 and eating that throughout the day. Mmmm.
The weather started out sunny and warm for the day, with a high in the mid-60s. My first stop of the day was the Galleria dell'Accademia.
I had been hearing that even though there are replicas everywhere and that everyone has seen images, Michelangelo's "David" is definitely worth seeing. And it totally was. An added bonus was that admission to the Galleria dell'Accademia was free - apparently it was Cultural Education Week or something in Florence, so admission to all the national museums and monuments was free! Win!
After waiting in line for a relatively short period of time (especially when compared to the next day's escapade to the Uffizi Gallery), I spent a good portion of my visit in the Gallery of Ancient Musical Instruments. It was mostly string and keyboard instruments, but there was in display case that had a basset horn, five clarinets in Eb, and five clarinets in D. Yay!
So David was pretty sweet. Enormously tall, unblemished, exquisite detail, and pretty much just perfect in every way.
The rest of the museum was very similar to the other art galleries I'd been to in Paris, with Renaissance and medieval works with heavy religious influence. There was a painting that was a depiction of the Christian observance of Candlemas, and the quote on the accompanying card had written on it an old Tuscan saying about Candlemas. It read, "At Candlemas, whether there be snow or rains, sun or just a bit of sun, we are still mid winter and it is just the winter sun." Inspiring for sure.... Or not.
After my visit to David, I saw Il Duomo, a huge cathedral that is one of the main landmarks of Florence. I thought it was honestly far more impressive from the outside than in; the inside was a little dark and spooky.
I walked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo next, where I was hit on by not one but two Italian men of varied ages and tactics. Good times. The Piazzale Michelangelo offers a spectacular view of all of Florence, but it was also very touristy. There was a church just up the hill where I had read that you can come hear the monks chanting at 5:30, so I made it a point to go for that. In the meantime, I had about two hours to kill, so I had a cappuccino on the steps near the church. It was wonderful.
I checked into my next hostel early in the evening and met my two new roommates, Hadley and Carrie, who were from Hamilton College and Vassar, respectively. Yay New York state! We went to a pizzeria for dinner, and I had a giant pizza that I ate in its entirety. And I don't feel bad about eating all of it. We also split a litre of chianti that was only €10, which was a good decision.
In the morning: breakfast with my other roommate, Kati, and then to the Uffizi!
Buongiorno, Firenze!
15.04 entry
The rest of my train trip to Florence was more or less uneventful - I slept for most of the night, until about 5:30 when the girls in my cabin started waking up and getting ready. They got off at Bologna, which is about an hour from Florence, so I had some peace and quiet for a little while.
My train arrived at Firenze SMN station about an hour and a half late, which I was totally fine with - I would have otherwise been wandering around Florence from 7am-3pm with my backpack and everything while waiting to check into my hostel.
The first thing I did when I got to the station was
buy my ticket to Rome for Monday. I had gotten screwed over the last two times I tried to use my rail pass for not booking far enough in advance, so I made sure to do that right away.
The second thing I did was buy a belt. Wearing the same two pairs of pants for the past week has made both pairs rather loose around the waist, and I figured this should be mitigated. I looked in the windows of very expensive-looking shops, when I turned my head and looked down an alley - and saw a street vendor selling just belts. No lie. When does that ever happen? Unfortunately, he was still setting up (it was before 10am at this point), so I walked around until I found a vendor that was indeed open. And I bought a huge, men's-sized belt. For €5.
After getting lost a number of times in the morning, I decided it would be a good idea to pick up a map. The tourist info office proved to be a good resource, giving me a free map with all the main sights (mostly churches and museums) on the back, and directions on how to use the local bus system.
Hopping on the next bus out of the train station, I easily found the ticket validation machine and proceeded to stare at it for a good 30 seconds. The directions were obviously written in Italian, of which I know roughly five words. So I gave up, figuring I could watch other passengers and learn from them.
As it turned out, none of the other passengers validated their tickets upon boarding the bus. So I figured it was just one of those things where no one really does it and no one really cares.... Or so I thought.
A man in a navy jacket approached my seat and said something to me in Italian. When I looked at him very confusedly, he said in a deep and slow voice "Your ticket, please." I dug it out of my wallet and handed it over.
A minute later, he returned. "Your ticket is not validated. You need to have validated the ticket." I tried to stammer out a mix of "I'm sorry" in Italian and "I thought I had/I didn't know" in English.
"Now you must pay the fine. Is 50 euro."
I opened my wallet to show him that it was empty. A few more "mi dispiace"s ensued.
"You have bank card?" "Si." "We get off at next stop. You take money out of machine and pay the fine."
So, I ventured to an Italian ATM with this bus inspector, was written a ticket for my misconduct, and was sent on my way with verbal instructions on how to use the ticket validation machine.
So yeah. Not a good way to start off my time in Florence.
I found a park near my hostel and hung out reading there for a while, waiting to be able to check in. My hostel was a converted convent, which was just a little bit creepy - although, not as creepy as staying in a non-converted convent, I suppose.
There was a restaurant downstairs, so I bought a ticket for dinner. At around 7, I was pretty hungry so I went to see what was going on. The cook looked at my ticket and said "oh, it is not ready yet - the water the pasta still need to boil. Come back 8, maybe 20 minute before."
After wandering around for an hour or so (I found another park and caught up on my written travel journal), I went back for THE MOST DELICIOUS DINNER EVER. Well, maybe I just thought it was because I had eaten nothing but cheese and baguette while in Paris, but still - it was amazing. Tortellini stuffed with cheese and some kind of green vegetable (they told me it was spinach, but it tasted more like broccoli) with a tomato sauce that tasted so fresh I could hardly believe it.
At dinner I sat between a boy named Simon from Denmark and a group of three girls from Quebec. I talked with both parties for a long time, and then we all went out for gelato after dinner.
So, I've had gelato in the US. It's pretty good. I like it at least as much as ice cream, and I really like ice cream.
I could probably eat gelato for every meal of my life and not get sick of it.
First of all, it's absolutely delicious. Fresh and creamy, usually homemade (the good kinds anyway, and there are tricks to tell which are the good kinds), and absolutely amazing.
Second, the variety. Every kind of fruit, chocolate, nut, cream flavor you could ever imagine. So freaking good.
By the way, I had a chocolate hazelnut flavor called Bachio and a creamy vanilla-y flavor whose name I can't remember. But they were wonderful.
A lovely ending to my not-so-lovely start in Florence :-)
The rest of my train trip to Florence was more or less uneventful - I slept for most of the night, until about 5:30 when the girls in my cabin started waking up and getting ready. They got off at Bologna, which is about an hour from Florence, so I had some peace and quiet for a little while.
My train arrived at Firenze SMN station about an hour and a half late, which I was totally fine with - I would have otherwise been wandering around Florence from 7am-3pm with my backpack and everything while waiting to check into my hostel.
The first thing I did when I got to the station was
buy my ticket to Rome for Monday. I had gotten screwed over the last two times I tried to use my rail pass for not booking far enough in advance, so I made sure to do that right away.
The second thing I did was buy a belt. Wearing the same two pairs of pants for the past week has made both pairs rather loose around the waist, and I figured this should be mitigated. I looked in the windows of very expensive-looking shops, when I turned my head and looked down an alley - and saw a street vendor selling just belts. No lie. When does that ever happen? Unfortunately, he was still setting up (it was before 10am at this point), so I walked around until I found a vendor that was indeed open. And I bought a huge, men's-sized belt. For €5.
After getting lost a number of times in the morning, I decided it would be a good idea to pick up a map. The tourist info office proved to be a good resource, giving me a free map with all the main sights (mostly churches and museums) on the back, and directions on how to use the local bus system.
Hopping on the next bus out of the train station, I easily found the ticket validation machine and proceeded to stare at it for a good 30 seconds. The directions were obviously written in Italian, of which I know roughly five words. So I gave up, figuring I could watch other passengers and learn from them.
As it turned out, none of the other passengers validated their tickets upon boarding the bus. So I figured it was just one of those things where no one really does it and no one really cares.... Or so I thought.
A man in a navy jacket approached my seat and said something to me in Italian. When I looked at him very confusedly, he said in a deep and slow voice "Your ticket, please." I dug it out of my wallet and handed it over.
A minute later, he returned. "Your ticket is not validated. You need to have validated the ticket." I tried to stammer out a mix of "I'm sorry" in Italian and "I thought I had/I didn't know" in English.
"Now you must pay the fine. Is 50 euro."
I opened my wallet to show him that it was empty. A few more "mi dispiace"s ensued.
"You have bank card?" "Si." "We get off at next stop. You take money out of machine and pay the fine."
So, I ventured to an Italian ATM with this bus inspector, was written a ticket for my misconduct, and was sent on my way with verbal instructions on how to use the ticket validation machine.
So yeah. Not a good way to start off my time in Florence.
I found a park near my hostel and hung out reading there for a while, waiting to be able to check in. My hostel was a converted convent, which was just a little bit creepy - although, not as creepy as staying in a non-converted convent, I suppose.
There was a restaurant downstairs, so I bought a ticket for dinner. At around 7, I was pretty hungry so I went to see what was going on. The cook looked at my ticket and said "oh, it is not ready yet - the water the pasta still need to boil. Come back 8, maybe 20 minute before."
After wandering around for an hour or so (I found another park and caught up on my written travel journal), I went back for THE MOST DELICIOUS DINNER EVER. Well, maybe I just thought it was because I had eaten nothing but cheese and baguette while in Paris, but still - it was amazing. Tortellini stuffed with cheese and some kind of green vegetable (they told me it was spinach, but it tasted more like broccoli) with a tomato sauce that tasted so fresh I could hardly believe it.
At dinner I sat between a boy named Simon from Denmark and a group of three girls from Quebec. I talked with both parties for a long time, and then we all went out for gelato after dinner.
So, I've had gelato in the US. It's pretty good. I like it at least as much as ice cream, and I really like ice cream.
I could probably eat gelato for every meal of my life and not get sick of it.
First of all, it's absolutely delicious. Fresh and creamy, usually homemade (the good kinds anyway, and there are tricks to tell which are the good kinds), and absolutely amazing.
Second, the variety. Every kind of fruit, chocolate, nut, cream flavor you could ever imagine. So freaking good.
By the way, I had a chocolate hazelnut flavor called Bachio and a creamy vanilla-y flavor whose name I can't remember. But they were wonderful.
A lovely ending to my not-so-lovely start in Florence :-)
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Au revoir, Paris.
14.04 entry
I am writing this entry on the train to Florence, surrounded by seven high-school aged Italian girls who are going home from a school trip to Paris. I know absolutely no Italian other than "si", "non", "mi scusi", and "non mangio la carne", but earlier they were arguing with one of the train employees about what seemed to be the size of the couchette car and the number of people that were to fit in it with all their luggage, and it turns out I was right! So, we'll see how well the next week or so goes.
This morning after breakfast I met my new roommates, who were from London. They were very nice, so I added them to my collection of world contacts.
After I checked out of my hostel I went to see la Musee de l'Erotisme - an educational and highly entertaining collection of artwork. I took plenty of photos and will be happy to show them on request.
After my cultural enlightenment for the day, I bought the day's rations at various markets on the street where my hostel was: a baguette, a crepe avec sucre, and an apple (note: those weren't the only things I ate today, but rather the only food things I bought). I annihilated the crepe in minutes, and I hiked up to Sacre Coeur one last time. Sitting on the hill and eating my apple, I reflected on how much about the city I had come to learn in just four short days.
On my way out of Montmartre, I left behind one of the tshirts I had brought that I definitely wasn't going to wear and shouldn't have packed in the first place, and a book that one if my roommates had left behind. There are a lot of homeless people in Paris, so I was hoping that one of the children who had stopped me and asked for money or food would find it.
I got to Gare de Bercy several hours early, so I wandered around Paris one last time for a while. I found the Bastille and got super, super lost on my way back - but still managed to get there over an hour before my train left.
As I mentioned earlier, I was put in a cabin with a hoard of teenaged Italian girls, who all ended up being very sweet. True, they kept me awake later than I would have liked, but I wasn't terribly perturbed.
Sleeping on the train was an interesting experience. Instead of being rocked back and forth with the motion of the train, you're rocked from head to toe. Very odd indeed.
Florence in the morning!
I am writing this entry on the train to Florence, surrounded by seven high-school aged Italian girls who are going home from a school trip to Paris. I know absolutely no Italian other than "si", "non", "mi scusi", and "non mangio la carne", but earlier they were arguing with one of the train employees about what seemed to be the size of the couchette car and the number of people that were to fit in it with all their luggage, and it turns out I was right! So, we'll see how well the next week or so goes.
This morning after breakfast I met my new roommates, who were from London. They were very nice, so I added them to my collection of world contacts.
After I checked out of my hostel I went to see la Musee de l'Erotisme - an educational and highly entertaining collection of artwork. I took plenty of photos and will be happy to show them on request.
After my cultural enlightenment for the day, I bought the day's rations at various markets on the street where my hostel was: a baguette, a crepe avec sucre, and an apple (note: those weren't the only things I ate today, but rather the only food things I bought). I annihilated the crepe in minutes, and I hiked up to Sacre Coeur one last time. Sitting on the hill and eating my apple, I reflected on how much about the city I had come to learn in just four short days.
On my way out of Montmartre, I left behind one of the tshirts I had brought that I definitely wasn't going to wear and shouldn't have packed in the first place, and a book that one if my roommates had left behind. There are a lot of homeless people in Paris, so I was hoping that one of the children who had stopped me and asked for money or food would find it.
I got to Gare de Bercy several hours early, so I wandered around Paris one last time for a while. I found the Bastille and got super, super lost on my way back - but still managed to get there over an hour before my train left.
As I mentioned earlier, I was put in a cabin with a hoard of teenaged Italian girls, who all ended up being very sweet. True, they kept me awake later than I would have liked, but I wasn't terribly perturbed.
Sleeping on the train was an interesting experience. Instead of being rocked back and forth with the motion of the train, you're rocked from head to toe. Very odd indeed.
Florence in the morning!
Paris - part III
13.04 entry
This morning, I woke up and had breakfast with my hostel roommates and exchanged contact info - so begins my collection of worldly connections!
Today was my museum day. I took the Metro to l'Arc de Triomphe and circumnavigated it while trying to figure out how to get across the 400 lanes of traffic between the metro stop and the actual monument. By the time I actually found the entrance (there's a path below the roadway - who would have thought?), I just wanted to get on with my day. Which was good because admission was something like 10€, and I was already planning on blowing the day's budget on seeing Musee d'Orsay and the Louvre. Which I promptly did.
From l'Arc de Triomphe I walked down the Champs Élysées, which is actually a lot like Fifth Ave in New York. I went into an H&M, partially out of curiosity and partially out of interest in buying something more fashionable than the 2 pairs of pants and 6 shirts I had brought with me. No such luck there, but I was shocked (for some reason) to discover that the men's section is TWICE the size of the women's section. Crazy!
On the bridge in front of the Grand Palais, I saw a group of protestors who were petitioning the French government to protect a French-Vietnamese blogger who is being imprisoned in Vietnam for his views on Vietnamese democracy. At least, that's what I was able to gather from the flyer they were handing out. Anyway, it was really interesting to see how the French police handle acts of protest - with riot shields and by sending twice as many troops as protestors to the scene. Good times!
The line for Musee d'Orsay was a little ridiculous, but it actually moved fairly quickly. There was an American couple standing behind me in the beginning who didn't make it past the second turn of the line. The woman's parting monologue went something like this:
"Okay, I think that, like, we should just go home and get tickets in advance for tomorrow. I can take our coats to that tailor and you can, like, go to the grocery store and pick up some diet Coke." Classy.
Musee d'Orsay had a special Mahler exhibit, which was obviously fabulous. It featured his Fourth Symphony, which I didn't know terribly well.... until now. They had the manuscript laid out so that it was surrounding the room, and a recording of the London Symphony was playing in the background. As the recording went on, each page of the manuscript lit up so that you could follow along. Not that anyone did. Except for me. Thirty-five or however many minutes of score study in Musee d'Orsay.... Mmmmm. It was great, until LITERALLY three pages before the end, an announcement blared over the loudspeaker to beware of pickpockets. In five languages. So, sadly, I missed the end of the symphony. Such is my life.
The rest of the museum was pretty sweet, too. They had an unfortunately small Van Gough collection, but they had some of his works I had never seen before. I also saw some Monet and Renoir, and an exhibit featuring faces done in pastels. 2 1/2 hours later, I felt like I had gotten my fill of that museum.
And then there was the Louvre. I knew not to expect to see the whole thing, but I don't think I was quite ready for the sheer magnitude, as well as the exceedingly inefficient layout of the museum.
My experience at the Louvre began with my pocket knife being confiscated. Damn.
Highlights of the Louvre:
-saw the Mona Lisa.... I guess it was worth it? I don't know, all the replicas are pretty good, plus it was MOBBED by people. I think I might have taken more photos of the crowds than I did of the actual painting.
-also saw the Venus de Milo, Horses of Marly, the Captive, and other famous things
-the one famous thing I saw that I thought was the most interesting was actually the one thing that wasn't mobbed by tourists (maybe that's why I liked it so much?) - the Code of Hammurabi. My camera battery lasted just long enough to take an adequate number of photos of that, and then it pretty promptly died. C'est la vie.
-ugly baby Jesuses. This is a concept that was introduced to me by my dear friend Olivia, and I unfortunately can't describe its origins as well as she can. Basically, a lot of Renaissace artists painted nativity scenes that feature baby Jesuses that are horrifyingly ugly. I took plenty of pictures, don't worry.
After a full day (6 hours!) of museum wandering, I headed back to my hostel to eat the rest of the cheese I've been accumulating. I stopped at a bakery on my way back to get a baguette and a chocolate pastry, which were both delicious. I also bought a carrot at the market and ate the last of the bananas I bought the other day. Also, a single-serve bottle of wine I bought last night for €1.49. Win.
After my yummy, yummy dinner, I booked my hostels in Barcelona! I'll be there from the 27th-29th, leaving on the 30th for Berlin :-)
Tomorrow is my last day in Paris, then off to Florence!
This morning, I woke up and had breakfast with my hostel roommates and exchanged contact info - so begins my collection of worldly connections!
Today was my museum day. I took the Metro to l'Arc de Triomphe and circumnavigated it while trying to figure out how to get across the 400 lanes of traffic between the metro stop and the actual monument. By the time I actually found the entrance (there's a path below the roadway - who would have thought?), I just wanted to get on with my day. Which was good because admission was something like 10€, and I was already planning on blowing the day's budget on seeing Musee d'Orsay and the Louvre. Which I promptly did.
From l'Arc de Triomphe I walked down the Champs Élysées, which is actually a lot like Fifth Ave in New York. I went into an H&M, partially out of curiosity and partially out of interest in buying something more fashionable than the 2 pairs of pants and 6 shirts I had brought with me. No such luck there, but I was shocked (for some reason) to discover that the men's section is TWICE the size of the women's section. Crazy!
On the bridge in front of the Grand Palais, I saw a group of protestors who were petitioning the French government to protect a French-Vietnamese blogger who is being imprisoned in Vietnam for his views on Vietnamese democracy. At least, that's what I was able to gather from the flyer they were handing out. Anyway, it was really interesting to see how the French police handle acts of protest - with riot shields and by sending twice as many troops as protestors to the scene. Good times!
The line for Musee d'Orsay was a little ridiculous, but it actually moved fairly quickly. There was an American couple standing behind me in the beginning who didn't make it past the second turn of the line. The woman's parting monologue went something like this:
"Okay, I think that, like, we should just go home and get tickets in advance for tomorrow. I can take our coats to that tailor and you can, like, go to the grocery store and pick up some diet Coke." Classy.
Musee d'Orsay had a special Mahler exhibit, which was obviously fabulous. It featured his Fourth Symphony, which I didn't know terribly well.... until now. They had the manuscript laid out so that it was surrounding the room, and a recording of the London Symphony was playing in the background. As the recording went on, each page of the manuscript lit up so that you could follow along. Not that anyone did. Except for me. Thirty-five or however many minutes of score study in Musee d'Orsay.... Mmmmm. It was great, until LITERALLY three pages before the end, an announcement blared over the loudspeaker to beware of pickpockets. In five languages. So, sadly, I missed the end of the symphony. Such is my life.
The rest of the museum was pretty sweet, too. They had an unfortunately small Van Gough collection, but they had some of his works I had never seen before. I also saw some Monet and Renoir, and an exhibit featuring faces done in pastels. 2 1/2 hours later, I felt like I had gotten my fill of that museum.
And then there was the Louvre. I knew not to expect to see the whole thing, but I don't think I was quite ready for the sheer magnitude, as well as the exceedingly inefficient layout of the museum.
My experience at the Louvre began with my pocket knife being confiscated. Damn.
Highlights of the Louvre:
-saw the Mona Lisa.... I guess it was worth it? I don't know, all the replicas are pretty good, plus it was MOBBED by people. I think I might have taken more photos of the crowds than I did of the actual painting.
-also saw the Venus de Milo, Horses of Marly, the Captive, and other famous things
-the one famous thing I saw that I thought was the most interesting was actually the one thing that wasn't mobbed by tourists (maybe that's why I liked it so much?) - the Code of Hammurabi. My camera battery lasted just long enough to take an adequate number of photos of that, and then it pretty promptly died. C'est la vie.
-ugly baby Jesuses. This is a concept that was introduced to me by my dear friend Olivia, and I unfortunately can't describe its origins as well as she can. Basically, a lot of Renaissace artists painted nativity scenes that feature baby Jesuses that are horrifyingly ugly. I took plenty of pictures, don't worry.
After a full day (6 hours!) of museum wandering, I headed back to my hostel to eat the rest of the cheese I've been accumulating. I stopped at a bakery on my way back to get a baguette and a chocolate pastry, which were both delicious. I also bought a carrot at the market and ate the last of the bananas I bought the other day. Also, a single-serve bottle of wine I bought last night for €1.49. Win.
After my yummy, yummy dinner, I booked my hostels in Barcelona! I'll be there from the 27th-29th, leaving on the 30th for Berlin :-)
Tomorrow is my last day in Paris, then off to Florence!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Paris, Part II!
Today (Day 3 in Paris) wasn't too thrilling, so you can probably skip most of this post.... highlights:
-saw the Moulin Rouge!
-saw a million sex shops - Ithaca has nothing on them
-booked my train ticket and 3 nights in Florence!
Other things:
I had lunch at Sacre Coeur again - I bought another baguette and took the rest of my cheese from last night, along with a banana and a jar of Nutella. And it was delicious.
I've decided I'm going to make it a point to look for interesting European graffiti and take pictures of it. So far I haven't been very successful, but I got a couple of good ones today. That's a lie; I only found one good one. Better luck tomorrow, perhaps.
My hostel roommate (from Argentina) and I have a new roommate who just arrived. She's from Japan but is studying Economics in the UK.
Like I said.... not an especially thrilling day.
Tomorrow: the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, possibly Balzac's house if time? Excited! :-D
-saw the Moulin Rouge!
-saw a million sex shops - Ithaca has nothing on them
-booked my train ticket and 3 nights in Florence!
Other things:
I had lunch at Sacre Coeur again - I bought another baguette and took the rest of my cheese from last night, along with a banana and a jar of Nutella. And it was delicious.
I've decided I'm going to make it a point to look for interesting European graffiti and take pictures of it. So far I haven't been very successful, but I got a couple of good ones today. That's a lie; I only found one good one. Better luck tomorrow, perhaps.
My hostel roommate (from Argentina) and I have a new roommate who just arrived. She's from Japan but is studying Economics in the UK.
Like I said.... not an especially thrilling day.
Tomorrow: the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, possibly Balzac's house if time? Excited! :-D
Monday, April 11, 2011
Paris! Part I
I am finally in Paris! In the interest of catching up on my posts, I'm going to combine the past 2 days.
Yesterday I left London at around noon:30. I took the Eurostar, which was hella expensive (note: next time, book before getting to the train station). The Eurostar goes through the Chunnel, which was...awesome? I mean, it's cool to think that you're travelling underneath all that water, but it's not like you see it. Or anything, for that matter. Also, they don't announce that you're going through the Chunnel, so you just sit there after going through, like, five other tunnels from St Pancras Station, and then all of a sudden, BAM! you're in La France.
The French countryside we travelled through was beautiful! And the best part was that we passed by about a hundred wind turbines! Yay!! I was pretty excited.
After I arrived in Paris, I found my hostel almost without problem (I did miss my stop on the Metro and had to get off and go back one stop, but it was my first time on it and I didn't know any better!) So I checked in and hung out in my sunny room for a while, doing laundry and figuring out what to do for the next few days.
Eventually I decided to head out and do some exploring, so I found a bakery, bought a baguette, and wandered around until I found Sacre Coeur. There is a huge staircase in front of the cathedral with a slope alongside it that overlook the entire city, so I sat on the slope and ate my baguette. A French man sat down next to me and started up a conversation, which was nice if not a wee bit creepy. Things to note: French men will think you're interested in them even if you pay the slightest bit of attention.
After I got back to my hostel I met a guy who had just graduated from law school in California. We chatted for a while, and then we met up with these two guys from Chile. They kicked our asses in foosball (they call it "taka-taka"), but we had a great time.
----
The next morning I enjoyed my free hostel breakfast, which included croissants (with peach jam - mmmm), and juice/tea/coffee/etc. I checked out and went to find my other hostel, which was surprisingly easy to find thanks to Google maps on my iPod. After checking in, I hopped on the metro and headed downtown to do some sightseeing.
I started with les Jardins du Luxembourg, which were beautiful! Apparently you're not supposed to walk on the grass except for in one designated spot, a rule I promptly broke when I took some close-up photos of flowers and one of the statues. At least I'll have some pretty photos to show!
On my way to Notre Dame I stopped and got a crepe with Nutella. And it was delicious.
Notre Dame was really spectacular. I'm obviously not the church-y type, but I took a zillion pictures of the architecture and the stained glass windows. My favorite part was the souvenir coin stations at the end....yeah. There was one in Sacre Coeur as well. Good times.
I wandered around the back of the cathedral grounds and found the Holocaust memorial across the street. It was closed, but I've heard that it's worth seeing. Now that I know where it is, I might go out of my way to come back.
After leaving Notre Dame, I walked along the Seine all the way to the Eiffel Tower. It was quite a walk (about 3 miles, not including the side trips I took across a few bridges), but I saw a lot of Paris I probably wouldn't have bothered to look for. Example: the AirFrance main building, the Obelisk, etc.
The Eiffel Tower was so much more amazing in person than in any photos I've seen. I found this little park that had hardly any tourists, and I just sat on a bench and looked up at it for probably about 20 minutes. I eventually made my way to the more touristy parts, where I again took a ton of photos. There was a couple that was trying (and failing quite miserably) to take their picture in front of the tower; I offered to help them in French, and they gladly accepted. They spoke in English to each other, and I found out that they were from San Francisco. They were super nice, and they took my picture in front of the tower. Yay!
The rest of my day wasn't terribly exciting.... I met a nice girl from Toronto at my hostel and talked to her for a while while I ate my dinner of the rest of last night's baguette and some Camembert cheese I bought at the market. It was SO CHEAP! Also, wine is ridiculously cheap - if you find the cheap red wine from France, it's almost always cheaper than soda, juice, water, or just about any other beverage. Anyway, on our way up to the rooms we ran into a girl from Barcelona who is taking a French course here; she was really nice as well. All in all, a very packed yet excellent day.
Yesterday I left London at around noon:30. I took the Eurostar, which was hella expensive (note: next time, book before getting to the train station). The Eurostar goes through the Chunnel, which was...awesome? I mean, it's cool to think that you're travelling underneath all that water, but it's not like you see it. Or anything, for that matter. Also, they don't announce that you're going through the Chunnel, so you just sit there after going through, like, five other tunnels from St Pancras Station, and then all of a sudden, BAM! you're in La France.
The French countryside we travelled through was beautiful! And the best part was that we passed by about a hundred wind turbines! Yay!! I was pretty excited.
After I arrived in Paris, I found my hostel almost without problem (I did miss my stop on the Metro and had to get off and go back one stop, but it was my first time on it and I didn't know any better!) So I checked in and hung out in my sunny room for a while, doing laundry and figuring out what to do for the next few days.
Eventually I decided to head out and do some exploring, so I found a bakery, bought a baguette, and wandered around until I found Sacre Coeur. There is a huge staircase in front of the cathedral with a slope alongside it that overlook the entire city, so I sat on the slope and ate my baguette. A French man sat down next to me and started up a conversation, which was nice if not a wee bit creepy. Things to note: French men will think you're interested in them even if you pay the slightest bit of attention.
After I got back to my hostel I met a guy who had just graduated from law school in California. We chatted for a while, and then we met up with these two guys from Chile. They kicked our asses in foosball (they call it "taka-taka"), but we had a great time.
----
The next morning I enjoyed my free hostel breakfast, which included croissants (with peach jam - mmmm), and juice/tea/coffee/etc. I checked out and went to find my other hostel, which was surprisingly easy to find thanks to Google maps on my iPod. After checking in, I hopped on the metro and headed downtown to do some sightseeing.
I started with les Jardins du Luxembourg, which were beautiful! Apparently you're not supposed to walk on the grass except for in one designated spot, a rule I promptly broke when I took some close-up photos of flowers and one of the statues. At least I'll have some pretty photos to show!
On my way to Notre Dame I stopped and got a crepe with Nutella. And it was delicious.
Notre Dame was really spectacular. I'm obviously not the church-y type, but I took a zillion pictures of the architecture and the stained glass windows. My favorite part was the souvenir coin stations at the end....yeah. There was one in Sacre Coeur as well. Good times.
I wandered around the back of the cathedral grounds and found the Holocaust memorial across the street. It was closed, but I've heard that it's worth seeing. Now that I know where it is, I might go out of my way to come back.
After leaving Notre Dame, I walked along the Seine all the way to the Eiffel Tower. It was quite a walk (about 3 miles, not including the side trips I took across a few bridges), but I saw a lot of Paris I probably wouldn't have bothered to look for. Example: the AirFrance main building, the Obelisk, etc.
The Eiffel Tower was so much more amazing in person than in any photos I've seen. I found this little park that had hardly any tourists, and I just sat on a bench and looked up at it for probably about 20 minutes. I eventually made my way to the more touristy parts, where I again took a ton of photos. There was a couple that was trying (and failing quite miserably) to take their picture in front of the tower; I offered to help them in French, and they gladly accepted. They spoke in English to each other, and I found out that they were from San Francisco. They were super nice, and they took my picture in front of the tower. Yay!
The rest of my day wasn't terribly exciting.... I met a nice girl from Toronto at my hostel and talked to her for a while while I ate my dinner of the rest of last night's baguette and some Camembert cheese I bought at the market. It was SO CHEAP! Also, wine is ridiculously cheap - if you find the cheap red wine from France, it's almost always cheaper than soda, juice, water, or just about any other beverage. Anyway, on our way up to the rooms we ran into a girl from Barcelona who is taking a French course here; she was really nice as well. All in all, a very packed yet excellent day.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Day 2 (written on Day 3)
Today started out by watching Top Gear in the hostel lounge while eating breakfast (jealous, Adam?). I was happy to get an early start to Camden Town, where I was going to meet Dr Fonder, because I got to experience a beautiful London morning.
I bought a cheap pay-as-you-go cell phone (which, at the time of this posting, I still haven't been able to activate), and wandered around for a while before meeting up with Dr Fonder.
After we met up (read: after he found me), we took the Tube downtown to sightsee. This was my first time in London, so we made sure to see EVERYTHING. I could go on and on about everything we saw, but that would take pages to type and hours of your time. Just wait for the photos... Whenever I can get them up.
After we had dinner at Wagamama's, an Asian noodle place chain, he went to see Fidelio at the Royal Opera House and I went to see a performance of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro overture, Schubert 8, and Beethoven 5 at St Martin-in-the-Fields. It was a great performance, and I was so happy that I went.
Tomorrow: Paris!
I bought a cheap pay-as-you-go cell phone (which, at the time of this posting, I still haven't been able to activate), and wandered around for a while before meeting up with Dr Fonder.
After we met up (read: after he found me), we took the Tube downtown to sightsee. This was my first time in London, so we made sure to see EVERYTHING. I could go on and on about everything we saw, but that would take pages to type and hours of your time. Just wait for the photos... Whenever I can get them up.
After we had dinner at Wagamama's, an Asian noodle place chain, he went to see Fidelio at the Royal Opera House and I went to see a performance of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro overture, Schubert 8, and Beethoven 5 at St Martin-in-the-Fields. It was a great performance, and I was so happy that I went.
Tomorrow: Paris!
Day 1!
After many, many hours in JFK airport, I have finally arrived in London! My flight ended up leaving about 5 hours late due a "hydraulic leak", so we disembarked and reboarded before finally leaving at around 3:15am EST (8:15am BST). We arrived just before 3pm BST, so after going through customs I finally left Heathrow airport at around 4pm.
My first time on the Tube was nothing but memorable: a rowdy, most likely drunken crowd of young men wearing black suits in varying stages of formality boarded just after I did at the terminal. The one who sat down next to me told me that they were rugby players from Amsterdam, so of course I thought it was hilarious (and immediately thought of my rugby-playing friends!). They got off at the stop just before mine, so I spent a good hour with them, talking about New York and rugby and travelling and such. They asked me if I'd come visit them in Amsterdam... we'll see about that!
My hostel is very nice - as soon as I arrived, I took a nap. Yay.
Tomorrow: meeting up with Dr Fonder!
My first time on the Tube was nothing but memorable: a rowdy, most likely drunken crowd of young men wearing black suits in varying stages of formality boarded just after I did at the terminal. The one who sat down next to me told me that they were rugby players from Amsterdam, so of course I thought it was hilarious (and immediately thought of my rugby-playing friends!). They got off at the stop just before mine, so I spent a good hour with them, talking about New York and rugby and travelling and such. They asked me if I'd come visit them in Amsterdam... we'll see about that!
My hostel is very nice - as soon as I arrived, I took a nap. Yay.
Tomorrow: meeting up with Dr Fonder!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
March 24th, 2011
Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above,
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.~Ralph Vaughan Williams, "The Vagabond," Songs of Travel
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So I'm not a terribly creative writer. I'm pretty good at writing research papersand memos and poems.... and that's about it. So hopefully you'll read this blogover the next 7-8 weeks and not get bored with it. Also, hopefully I won't getbored with writing it.
Additionally, this is the first blog I've had since I had a... wait.... what werethose things called that we all had when we were in middle school? Was itLivejournal, or is that much more recent? Anyway, I had some kind of pre-blogera blog, and it was probably whiny and I would probably hate myself if I readit now.____
So, if you've gotten this far and you're wondering why you should read thisblog, I'll tell you!
In 2 weeks, I'll be leaving for a 5-week-long backpacking trip around Europe.Pretty freaking awesome, right? When I tell people that, they usually say stufflike "OMG THAT'S AWESOME" or "OMG SO JEALOUS" or 'OMG I WISH I WASGOING WITH YOU." So, for all those people - you can! Sort of. By reading myaccount of my trip through this hopefully-not-horrifically-boring-blog.
Updates will be made as major planning for my trip progresses, and they willdefinitely occur more frequently when I'm actually travelling. And then maybea week or so of debriefing. We'll see.
For now, peace out. And word up to Insomnia Cookies for paying me to sit here,answer an average of one phone call every 30 minutes, and begin to entertain theworld with my eloquent writing.
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PS - It totally was Livejournal. I requested my username through an old email addressI used to have and looked up my account. And I was right, I do hate myself a little bitfor the things I wrote on it.
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