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 :-)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
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!
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