Paris Part Deux: I LOVE PARIS

I am listening to Frank Sinatra’s “I Love Paris” as I write this blog entry because that is exactly how I feel about Paris! I went on the all school Paris trip this past weekend. At first, I was a little weary about going because I had already been to Paris and although I found it enjoyable, I didn’t LOVE it. However, I decided to go anyway because Paris is a big place, there was a lot more to do, and I wanted to go to Versailles. This was one of the best decisions of my semester. We left from the train station at 8:45, I asked Mama for an early dinner so I could get one fabulous meal in before I left. Once I got to the station, I saw the mass of almost 50 students with three graduate students, two T.A.’s, and one professor who were leading the trip. I found my friend Lisa, who was my only close friend on the trip, and we found a group of four friends to room with. I didn’t know the other people very well but one of them was from West Seattle (therefore cool) and friends with two of my good friends at Whitman (Juliet and Joe).

I had just finished Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, so of course I had a much romanticized version of an overnight train in my head (both with excitement and comfort). In each train car, there were six beds, with three leveled bunks. I would guess the rooms were sixty-four square feet—maybe NYU dorm size? But they were clean, quiet, and came with water and blankets! I also had new friends to talk with and a wonderful Poroit mystery. However, I wanted to be fully energized for Paris—so I set my alarm for 9:00 (we were supposed to get in at 9:30, took an Ambien, and went to bed at 11:00. I slept like a baby and woke up promptly at 9:00 to learn we were still about two hours away. Oh well, that just meant a leisurely morning. We got off the train at 11:15 and wandered over to our hotel via the metro.

It was very nice staying in a hotel! Two weekends in a row (last weekend I was with my art history class in Venice)! Our hotel was very nice and modern—however they were renovating and changing the beds that day so our room wasn’t ready yet. The hotel was located near many metro stops and also about a twenty minute walk to the Moulin Rouge.

At 2:00, we met at the Louvre. Lisa and I decided to walk—but after getting lost in approximately five minutes we decided it would be a better idea to take the metro and then walk around—this was a very good choice. The admission price was included in our trip fee and we split into groups once we arrived. I was in a group of about fifteen other students with the T.A. (Sean) from my art history class and three graduate students from Syracuse. I was excited to be at the Louvre because I really could spend a whole week in that museum—and two hours last time was really just enough time to hit the masterpieces. To give you a sense of the immensity of the Louvre, if you spent five minutes on every piece of artwork, you would be there for 23 years. They have everything! Ancient roman sculptures, Renaissance masterpieces, Picasso and cubism, the best examples of neo-classicism, Egyptian tombs—it is fantastic! It was really nice to be with a relatively small group and with different (future) art historians because they were so passionate and informative about the works they talked about. When Kellan (one of the grad students) saw Wingless Victory, she squealed and said this is my absolute favorite sculpture last time I was here I just sat here for an hour and stared! Oh, I wish I had an hour again! Let me tell you about it…and then ranted on including an interesting fact about the right wing being fake and the hands and arms were missing because an Austrian found those parts while a Frenchman found the main body. It was also fun seeing in person Raphael’s and Leonardo’s paintings that we had just talked about in class especially with my classmates and T.A. I (of course) have a minor crush on my T.A. Really, because this is the first time (and probably only time) I will ever have a T.A. so it’s only fair that I have a crush on him. He also is very smart and helpful and his lectures during class are actually interesting (but he lectures rarely). We also make fun of our Professor which is always fun—do not get me wrong, Professor Nelson is fantastic, but also a little dramatic, eccentric, funny, and typical arrogant art historian (or typical professor). Anyway, I saw a lot more sculpture and antiquity this time and we spent about four hours in the museum.

For dinner, Lisa and my other friend Katie and I walked over to the Moulin Rouge which evidently is also the “red light” district. The Moulin Rouge was a little out of our price range (150 euro for a dinner and a show) but we saw it from the outside and took pictures of it! Then we went to an elegant café sandwiched between some gentleman’s clubs and had “big salads”. Oh they were delicious big salads! I got a huge salad bowl with a layer of potatoes sautéed in garlic, salmon, shrimp, corn, tomatoes, and oh yes, lettuce. It was the biggest probably unhealthiest salad I ever ate and it was fantastic! For dessert, we went to the pastry shop next door and I probably had the best éclair of my life—and it was only 1.50 Euro. We also had a nice time chatting it up with the pastry chef who spoke Italian. We walked back to the hotel and called it a night early (around midnight) and just watched television and read our books. It was nice because I got to watch CNN World because I haven’t watched the news in English for a very long time.

Saturday we went to Chartres and Versailles with our school. We took advantage of free breakfast and stocked up on delicious pastries, bread, and fruit for the train ride. Chartres is considered one of the greatest achievements in architecture and of the three great Gothic churches. Anyway, it was beautiful and also in the middle of nowhere—we got there via train. After Chartres, we went to Versailles! I was excited to see where the worst treaty of the 20th century was signed and overall bask in the history of Versailles. Versailles is just as ornate as expected and even much larger in person. We only had an hour before the palace closed so we stuck to the royal apartments, royal chapel, and the Hall of Mirrors. Of course the latter was my favorite room because it was covered with mirrors! I was excepting weird shaped mirrors with ornate frames, but instead the room is just covered with plain old mirrors. Mirrors were very rare in the late 18th century when the palace was built and Louis XIV even had to capture some Venetian mirror-makers to complete his project.

Lisa and I rushed to the train station because we wanted to see the lighting of the tomb of the unknown solider under the Triumphant Arch (Rick Steves suggested it). A few other people tagged along and we had a fun time booking it to central Paris to see it. We made it just 5 minutes late and saw most of the ceremony. Then Lisa and I and another girl in our program Anne started to walk to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures and see the pretty lights at the top of the hour. On the way there, we met two other American guys from Chicago. The first guy we met Alecks had such a strong Chicago accent I thought he couldn’t have been American (then I realized it was Chicago). We ended up hanging out with them which was great because they could take pictures and it was nice to be in a bigger group with guys in Paris at night. We ended up liking them and they (of course) loved us. Apparently, Alecks is interning at the International Criminal Court at The Hague in Holland and has not seen Americans for four months and we were a little refreshing. His friend was visiting him in Europe and they were traveling around with them for a week. We had a great time at the Eiffel Tower and took lots of pictures (of course).

Eiffel Tower with Blue and White Lights

Lisa and I are in the same photo class (that is how we met) so we just bring out the picture taking in each other. They invited us out to dinner and we went to a café and enjoyed French onion soup, wine, and crepes and brownies for dessert. We then went in pursuit to find a place to get drinks that was somewhat affordable. We went to famous Harry’s New York Bar by the French opera house. It was cool when we got there Harry’s had a great ambiance and the walls were all decorated with American colleges (even Whitman was there! But not Bates to Lisa’s dismay). We stayed there for a while soaking in the history with past frequenters including Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Jack Dempsey, Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, and even the Duke of Windsor (according to Wikipedia). George Gershwin also supposedly composed “An American in Paris” here and the “Bloody Mary” was also created here. But we soon learned we couldn’t really afford this joint (the cheapest thing was on the menu was 7 Euro). So we started heading back in the direction of our hotel. We found a little tavern, St. George’s that caught our eye because Taverns (especially since we are in Paris) equal more affordable beers and some English speaking. We got there and there was hardly anyone there but more affordable beer. We ordered a few rounds and were having a really nice time getting to know each other. They changed the music and put on Queen and we sat there singing to “Bohemian Rhapsody” while the other bar goers looked at us with interest and amusement (but not annoyance). I took a hilarious video during our impromptu jam session. As the night wore on, drinks kept being ordered, and the bartender, waitress, and manager started talking to us a lot. Before we knew it, we were getting free drinks, shots, and snacks. It was glorious. We stayed there until 2 am when bars close in Paris and started getting ready to leave. As the manager saw us doing this, he immediately raced over to the table and asked us what we were doing. We responded with our simple answer when he replied that we were being silly and that of course we should stay here while the bar closed and drink with them and the few remaining locals. So the shades went down, the door closed, but the music remained on! And the drinks kept coming! We also convinced them to make us some grilled cheese sandwiches which was very hard to explain given the chef only spoke French and Spanish—but I brought out my quite rusty Spanish and we ended up with delicious open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches. The night waned on until 4 am (I think) when we decided we should call it quits and get home. When the bill came, about half of our drinks/snacks weren’t on it and boys insisted on paying more just because they had such a good time. All in all, Lisa and I managed to spend 5 hours in a bar and only spent 10 Euro! Our hotel was very close by and the boys insisted on walking us home so we avoided getting a costly taxi. We walked home singing and laughing all the way when we ran into a young man playing the tuba at 4:30 am. Lisa immediately ran over to him and asked him what he was doing. We accosted him with a few pictures and then decided what we were seeing wasn’t real and went to bed. All in all an eventful, fun-filled night with new friends!

Lisa and I woke up sometime before 9 and we were both hurting a little bit from last night. But we knew we had to start our last day in Paris. Our plan was to go to the Dome Church to see Napoleon’s tomb (my main request), Musee D’Orsay, Notre Dame, and maybe the Eiffel Tower again if we had time. We got to the Hotel des Invalides and set off looking for my beloved Napoleon. We took some pictures in the complex because it was beautiful (like every building in Paris). The guards were entertained by our extreme tourist tendencies and made gestures in the back and then got in a few pictures with me. We talked to them for a little bit and then asked them where Napoleon was. They then offered to take us there and then we wouldn’t have to pay admission—of course we accepted. The only condition was not speaking when we were around other guards because they could only take in family and our awful French gave our non-Frenchness up. The Dome Church (where Napo’s tomb is) was absolutely beautiful and it was so nice to be in the presence of the best thing that has happened to France. Our two new guard friends then asked us if we wanted to go up to the roof to see a wonderful view of Paris. We of course obliged and felt special as we walked through the restricted areas of the church. We climbed about a thousand steps to the roof of the church in a small, winding staircase that was very similar to the stairs at the Duomo in Florence. Once we got to the top though, it was worth it. We had an absolutely stunning view of Paris. Including of the Eiffel Tower! It was absolutely amazing and literally breathtaking. Then…it started to snow! It was an absolutely perfect moment and Lisa and I were just expressing our utter bliss with frantic picture taking, smiling, and laughing. The guards laughed at our giddiness but we didn’t care. Next, they asked us if we wanted to clime even hard to the Dome (of the Dome church). We said of course and went through an even steeper and narrower set of steps. Once we got up there, it was again worth it! We could touch the frescoes that covered the dome of the church and experienced what the artist had to do every day to get to the works. We were so high up it was scary and we could see all the people in the levels below. We took more photos but didn’t stay up there too long because we were scared of the heights. It took us about 15 minutes to climb back down. But it was quite an experience! I was on top of Napoleon!! So great for a Napoleon lover. We got the guards e-mail address and promised to send them our photos. Lisa summed it up pretty well, “Oh to be young and beautiful traveling in Europe.” That is exactly how we felt.

The picture that started it all...the guards who let us up to the roof!

With Napoleon's Tomb


View of Eiffel Tower from the Roof

View from the Roof

How Close We Were to the Frescoes

The Church We Just Climbed

Next, we went to Musee d’Orsay and it was fantastic again. This time I got to see the Picasso/Manet exhibit that was wonderfully done. And of course Lisa and I were in ecstasy in the Monet room on the 5th floor. We met up with our friends from last night at a café and walked to Notre Dame with them. The walk in the rain was nice but we only had time to spend about 15 minutes inside the church because before we knew it the day had gone and we had to rush back to our hotel and then to catch our overnight train back to Florence.

Paris was fabulous and I don’t foresee myself ever having as good as a trip as I did this time. It was a perfect balance of seeing tourist sites and being filled with historical informational and getting to know new people and having fun enjoying the night and Parisian culture.

Barack Obama Santa

Study Abroad is All About Learning Anyway….Mistakes I Made and Thing I Learned

This is not only my first trip in Europe, but it is pretty much the first time I have traveled around by myself (or without my parents). So, as my first trip, I am bound to make a few mistakes…or many mistakes. I started to write them down so I would learn from them.

First, I am very ashamed to admit this…I don’t want my parents to think they raised a silly, ignorant child but…it is my blog and I need to be honest. I didn’t bring a pair of sneakers. Okay, I know, I know. But I swear my black flats are so comfortable, I can walk in them everywhere! Not to mention they were practical because they matched with everything! Lies, my flats were already dying from walking around in Italy so much—American shoes (non-sneakers) are actually not made for walking as I am learning in Italy since about half of my shoes have died. I was in denial about the frail condition of my flats but once I got to London the truth came out. The soles of my flats were practically worn all the way down and there was a hole in the side of my shoe that I could stick a finger through. Absolutely no support. I had to throw them out on Day 2 in London and bought a replacement pair of black flats at Clarks.

Second, it is not smart to wear new shoes when traveling and walking a lot. My new black flats were cute and somewhat comfortable, and had a large sole with a lot of support. However, by Day 2 of wearing them (Day 4 in London) multiple blisters had accumulated on my feet around my toes and on the heel of my foot. I couldn’t walk without pain even if I covered them with band-aid. So what do I do? Buy another pair of shoes! At the airport in London, I went to Claire’s—yes, I went to Claire’s where I haven’t been since Middle School and actually bought something! I bought fake black uggs for fifteen pounds. Now, my felt like they were sitting in clouds of comfort. And they were warm too and went with everything! Too bad they were also cheap, not supportive, and not water resistant. Silly Sarah, this could easily be corrected if I would have just brought my sneakers! My reasoning of course for not bringing my sneakers was because it wouldn’t fit into my pack. I didn’t want to check any baggage (extra twenty euro) so I fit everything in my high school backpack. This is how I know I am related to Aunt Susan, I managed to fit in about four dresses—but I couldn’t fit in my lovely, practical, comfortable, perfect sneakers.

Third, well I meant to pack my Rick Steves’ Backpacking Across Europe but I either forgot or decided to just take Eragon because Rick Steves’ wouldn’t fit. The point of that was that I wish I would have researched the places I went more. When Sonia and I arrived in Italy, it was great! But also like, so what do we do now? We went to Big Ben, Parliamentary House, and Westminster Abbey—but then we had no idea what else to do. Thank god for cheap tourist booklets or we wouldn’t have known what to do! My excuse for this was that our trip was right after mid-terms (literally it was about 18 hours after my last mid-term), so I thought researching the trip would just be a way for me to procrastinate my studies. Silly Sarah again, you should always research so you can enjoy the place more (paraphrasing Rick Steves here). Fortunately, I learn quickly and bought a few travel guides while in England to read while traveling on planes and buses.

Fourth, go somewhere you know you can enjoy/relax. You can usually do this anywhere, but with my case in Barcelona—not so much.

Fifth, pick your travel companion(s) carefully and communicate.

Good Things I did (I like balance):

First, bring a good book. I was reading the third installment (which was supposed to be the final installment—don’t get me started I am so upset and irritated) of Eragon: an epic fantasy tale about the struggle between an oppressive, power-hungry tyrant King Gallbatorix and the rebel forces of the Varden made up of humans, elves, dwarves, urgals, and Saphira (Eragon’s dragon). Basically, epic fantasy novel similar to Lord of the Rings. Eragon was a wonderful outlet when I was tired in my room or when I wanted the plane/bus/train to go faster.

Second, bring an ipod. Oh how I love my little green ipod shuffle. He was great when I wanted to drown out that loud person talking on his cell phone or a wonderful soundtrack while reading Eragon.

Third, I realized I am very capable of solving my own problems. Granted, the whole not bringing my tennis shoes (or trainers as the Brits call them) was pretty stupid but I didn’t just sit around and complain about it—I did something (maybe not the smartest thing) but a quick and relatively cheap solution. If I didn’t know where I was going, I would ask or find a map and figure it out myself. I am not just a problem-solver, but I am also very good at fulfilling my own needs. If I wanted to relax for a while, I would. If I wanted a chocolate crepe, I would ask a local or the hotel/hostel for a suggestion and then go get a chocolate crepe. These things may seem obvious too my readers—but then you obviously don’t know people from my study abroad program.

Fourth, WEAR A MONEY BELT!! Hooray, I finally swallowed my pride and embraced my money belt. Let me tell you the history of my relationship with a money belt. When I went to Turkey my senior year of high school (my first trip out of North America), our teachers highly encouraged the students to wear money belts to protect their money and documents. I refused to because they were nerdy. I heard lots of horror stories about getting robbed in Europe. So, on my last trip to the Tacoma Mall while I was buying a small inflatable pillow for traveling, the money belt section caught my eye. Then I saw a beautiful, silk, and most importantly RICK STEVES money belt. It felt so nice and looked so practical—and I could just hear Rick Steves voice and the voice of my high school teachers who I went to Turkey with telling me to buy it. Well, my money belt did not leave my neck after we left Dublin. I was constantly vigilant to the risk of getting robbed. You may have noticed why there was a bulge in the front of my stomach in many of my pictures in Dublin and Paris? Well, that is not unusual weight put on from Italy (that is spread pretty evenly, haha) that my money belt! And guess what, I didn’t get robbed once! Yay, me!

Fifth, experience the local culture and cuisine. I did a good job of not going to places with all Americans and where people from that city actually hung out (exception: halloween). Of course, it was also not hard for me to

By the way, if you haven’t noticed, I tend to regard Rick Steves as my travel prophet.

Barcelona

I just said to my roommate, “Barcelona will be quick to write because I was scared”. Sadly, this statement pretty much defines my time in Barcelona. We arrived on Thursday morning and weren’t leaving until Sunday afternoon so had plenty of time to relax and see the city. Unfortunately, every person I talked to prior to going to Barcelona told me they either were robbed, knew someone who was robbed, or just to watch out from getting robbed. Even my study abroad program sent out an e-mail saying to be careful about getting robbed ESPECIALLY IN BARCELONA. Really, they had to mention just one city and it was Barcelona? Even the workers at the hostel mentioned in the first night I was there. I overheard guys in the dorm next to me talking about how they got pick pocketed outside of a club the night before. What did all this lead to? Constant anxiety about being robbed. I lived with my money belt on and even slept with it. I didn’t take out my camera (not because I was so much worried about my camera getting stolen, well I was, but mainly about all my pictures from the trip thus far). I never took out more than 50 euro when I went out and only took one credit card if I took one at all. I always locked up my stuff in the locker the hostel provided. I even had trouble sleeping and nightmares about being stolen from. I am a pretty rational and logical person (I think like an economics major). And I know some may consider this an irrational fear—but let’s look at the evidence. Everyone I knew was robbed or knew someone who was robbed and people in my very hostel had been robbed! So my fear was pretty justified. And in the end it lead to the safe keeping of all of my possessions. 

Now to the trip. Our hostel was great despite the nine person mixed gender (ah, scary) dorm that was connected to another dorm with a half completed wall which made the place very loud. But you get what you paid for; it was only 45 Euro for the three nights I was there (plus another 2 euro for a blanket, and another 2 euro for a towel). It was in a great location, literally 50 meters from the sea. There was also free breakfast and free use of three computers with internet. I was a little tired and worn out by the time we got to Barcelona so I was mainly interested in eating good food, practicing my very rusty Spanish, and relaxing.

I realized that I had one aspect missing in my adventures. It was a very un-Claxton trip in that I didn’t eat great food. I find many times that my favorite trips are described by the food I ate and then what happened in between. This is definitely not the case with this trip. I guess it happens when you don’t have enough time or money. I was determined change this in Barcelona! I consulted my guide book and sought out the best yet affordable food in town and also the local cuisine. I enjoyed wonderful paella. I went to the oldest restaurant in Barcelona which was a fabulous Catalan restaurant and enjoyed their specialty spinach enchiladas and fish. I also enjoyed eating tapas for lunch especially croquettas.

My Spanish has gone from awful to horrendous. I realized I would start speaking Spanish and end up speaking Italian. They are just too similar! I did not realize how quickly my Spanish would go when I got here but I would constantly try to think of words in Spanish and the Italian ones were the only words that would come. I also didn’t realize how much I missed speaking Italian. It was so nice when I ran into Italian tourists in Dublin and spoke Italian with them. They were even from Florence! I was desperate to speak Italian in France because I speak absolutely no french—only bonjour, merci, and hoh-hah-hoh-hah (i.e. the French laugh). I definitely wished my roommate was with me when I was here—she is fluent in Spanish.

On the first night, I ended up having dinner with ten native Barcelonans. How did I get myself into this? Well, Sonia’s sister met a guy in Costa Rica who lived here and they stayed in contact via facebook when he learned we were visiting he invited us to meet up with him. Little did we know, but he invited us to his friend’s birthday dinner. So here we are two American girls, both pretty much speaking no Spanish and ten male Barcelonans. Dinner was pretty fun the guys were all crazy and loud and singing. The one next to me was really cute and spoke English very well! It was definitely nice to meet the locals.

The next day was Halloween and during the day we saw some of the sights, mostly Gaudi architecture. It rained all day and I lacked proper footwear so that was no fun. However, it had finally stopped raining by nightfall. Halloween was a bust in Europe. I dressed up like a devil i.e. wore a red outfit and could take off my devil horns and be normal if I needed to. Sonia dressed up like a cat… i.e. wearing a black dress and cat ears with cat makeup. Then we hit the town and found only other Americans dressed up. Oh well, so we hung out with Americans. We went to this really cool bar though that was like a big tree. It sounds weird (I wish I took pictures but alas I didn’t have my camera because I didn’t want to get stolen). But it was really cool, probably because it reminded me of Lord of the Rings.

My absolute favorite day was the next day (Saturday). Sonia decided to go to the Dali museum which was about a two hour train ride away and I wasn’t really interested in because I am picky about my artwork. I went to the beach (without money of course because everyone gets robbed near the water) and read Eragon and put my toes in the sand. It was fantastic and probably the first time I was relaxed since before mid-terms. And then I ate some delicious food.

On Saturday night, we took it easy but went to one of the nighttime tourist attractions: the Ice Bar. Yes, very touristy but whatever. It was a bar made completely out of ice! When you arrived, you were outfitted with a winter coat and gloves. The cups were even made completely of ice! And there was a beautiful ice sculpture of Gaudi’s Sagrada Famiglia. One thing I regretted about Barcelona was not having one big, crazy night out. After all, Spain is known for their nightlife with discos not starting until 2 and people not going to bed until 5. However, I was tired and poor after a week of traveling and was perfectly happy sleeping eight hours.

When Sunday rolled around, I was ready to come home! I definitely missed Mama Fiama’s cooking and hanging out with Alti. I also became homesick for real home when I was in Barcelona and I thought it would help to come back to Florence for a while. On my flight back, there were about fifteen people from my program including my roommate! What a pleasant surprise. Also, just to tell you how small Europe/Florence is (to American students that is). We met two groups of students studying abroad in Florence while in Barcelona and I have run into them three or four times since I have been back (about two weeks).

Anyway, I am so incredibly lucky to get to travel so many places. I have traveled more in two weeks than people have in their entire life! I really am so fortunate! Thank you parents and Whitman!

Also if you want to see more pictures, you can view all my pictures from my semester at http://picasaweb.google.com/demingsc

Real Gaudi Sagrada Famiglia

With Ice Sagrada Famiglia at the Ice Bar

 

The Beach Next to our Hostel!

Autumn in Paris

I know why everyone talks about springtime in Paris and not fall—its freezing cold! Well, I didn’t mention how cold Dublin and London, Paris was a little better but still cold. We flew into the Beauvais Airport “in Paris” which actually meant about an hour bus ride from central Paris. We got in very late in Paris at 10:00 pm and I was little weary about finding our hotel in the dark in a city I have never been to also when I speak no French. Good thing I make friends easily and am competent with a map! I sat at a window on the bus but then moved when two old French women wanted to sit next to each other (I am constantly breaking American stereotypes and am nice). So then I sat next to a young man who was cute in a Ken Jennings sort of way (if you don’t understand the reference—you don’t deserve to get it). We didn’t talk until about halfway through the ride but he was very nice and he was in Dublin running the marathon. He was German but living in Paris working for an “American tourism company”. He was instantly charmed by me (I don’t really know why but it seems to happen a lot in Europe). After we got off the bus, we walked to the metro with him and he told us some information about the Paris metro and took the metro together for a few stops before I had to get off. I learned that he was actually working for EURODISNEY aka the happiest place on earth and he gave me his e-mail address so I could meet up with him when I come back to Paris on November 21-23 (we are having dinner this Saturday). There was only one functioning ticket machine at the metro station so the line to buy tickets was out the door (literally) and took us about twenty minutes. Once we were on the metro, we were practically to our hotel. Our hotel, the “Perfect Hotel” (its name) was fine—small and right next to a metro stop. We went to bed early because we had a large task in front of us: doing Paris in a day.

The day began at 08:00, Sonia got up showered, did her hair, make up, and got dressed. Me, in my typical, non-Parisian way, woke up 15 minutes before we left, brushed my teeth, and ate our free breakfast (which consisted of a baguette and coffee). We took the metro to the Louvre and were there by 9:00. It was a Wednesday morning in off-season October and I couldn’t believe the line at the Louvre!!! We had to wait almost TEN MINUTES to buy tickets. It was appalling. Actually, the line was shorter at the Louvre then at the metro station. We headed straight up to what we came for the Renaissance Masterpieces (I hate that word but I’ll use it here) of the 16th and 17th Centuries. We wanted to see Leonardo’s great works before it got too crazy. I skipped the Masaccio, Giotto religious paintings (been there, done that in Florence) and went straight to Leonardo. Oh Leonardo. I saw many paintings I had studied that previous week in my art history class. Including the beautiful Virgin Mary with St. Anne, I had seen the cartoon in the National Gallery of London just a few days prior and now I was seeing the painting! I then saw Da Vinci’s Madonna on the Rocks when I immediately exclaimed I knew where the Mona Lisa was! I have seen The Da Vinci Code over three times. We turned around toward the most famous painting in the world: The Mona Lisa. I guess I had the typical reaction: it’s so small! Really, it’s probably 20 inches by 30 inches and the barrier around the painting and then the huge crowd around the barrier only makes looking at it more dramatic yet anti-climatic. But then you see that smile, and just don’t know what to think. I stood there for probably fifteen minutes—the first five spent at looking at the Mona Lisa and the last ten spent at looking and taking pictures of the crowd. It is fascinating watching people who are staring at something else. I took a few pictures but I didn’t get any really good ones.

The rest of the Louvre was pretty much my Introductory to Art History class during my freshman year at Whitman. I saw Gericault’s The Raft of the Medusa, Ingres’ The Apotheosis of Homer, Jacques Louise David’s (my favorite) Oath of the Horatti, Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, ect. I only saw one portrait of Napoleon and missed David’s Bonaparte Crossing the St. Bernard Pass, but I will see this when I come back to the Louvre! As you all may or may not know, I am a big fan of Napoleon (I kind of love him and think he is the best thing to happen to France). We stayed in the Louvre only until about noon when the crowds started to gather. We basically had to skip antiquity (anything pre-Renaissance) and modernity (everything after the 18th century) to do this, but the Louvre is a big place and you need to make sacrifices.

Next, we had to recharge so we headed over to Notre Dame area to see the church and to eat of course. Lunch today was the only half decent meal I had in Paris. I had a warm goat cheese salad with bread and tomatoes. Sonia and I also shared some french fries (duh, we had to we are in France)! And we finished the meal with a chocolate crepe, yummy! Then we went to Notre Dame and it was an absolutely beautiful church and it was nice not to have to pay to go into a church! (Referring to the 12 pounds at Westminster Abbey and 3-5 euro at every church in Florence—don’t get me wrong I know the church needs money for restoration and maintenance, but I think it should be done on a donation only basis). We walked around the Gothic Quarter for a while and then decided to go to Musee D’Orsay—generally considered to be the second most famous museum in Paris.

Musee D’Orsay was fabulous! The ticket wait was double the Louvre (a whole twenty minutes) but it was definitely worth it. I was glad I skipped “modern” art at the Louvre because I saw the best collection of impressionism here! Here is just a sample of some of the artists whose works I viewed: Cezanne, Courbet, Degas, Delacroix, Gaudi, Gauguin, Ingres, Manet, Matisse, Millet, Monet, Munch, Renoir, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Whistler. My favorites were Degas, Renoir, Monet, and Van Gogh. I grew up with Degas and Renoir copies in our living and dining room and I remember studying Van Gogh and Monet when I was in third grade. Again, in my down time I would sit and look at the beautiful paintings, but also at the people looking at the paintings. Here are some funny pictures I took in the museum.  

Me with Degas' Ballerinas

Sonia with Whistler's Grandma

Also in our dining room

After this museum, it was about 5:00, i.e. nap time. Yes, Paris in a day yet still time for a nap. We went back to the hotel slept for an hour or so and then headed to the Champs d'Elysses, the Triumphant Arch, and the Eiffel Tower for sight seeing and pictures. Then we had dinner in a café near the Eiffel Tower and walked around for a bit until we called it a night (didn’t experience the Parisian night life—we had an early flight in the morning).

I liked Paris—I think we did a great job with the short time we had. If you are wondering why we spent such a short time here it is because I didn’t want to come to Paris because I was already going with the school and I make negative presumptions about French people (no offense cousins). I also know no French. But my friend Sonia wanted to go. So we compromised and decided to only go for a day…hmm I did not really think this one through. Because I forgot about the expenses it cost to GET TO Paris rather than how much we were saving by not staying in Paris. In retrospect, I wish we would have decided not to go at all or go for at least two full days—but as you can see it turned out fine as we hit most of the major Parisian sites in just one day!

At the Triumphant Arch

At the Eiffel Tower

Dublin (Dublino to the Italians)

Sunday morning at the crack of dawn (no time to waste) an old English cab to where we were staying. The tube line was down so we had to resort to a taxi—good thing in London that is just as entertaining! And then we took a train to the airport. This is one of the first things I have learned about traveling. Budget airlines are budget for a reason and in this particular case it is because Ryan Air doesn’t fly into Heathrow (about 15 minutes on the tube to central London) it flew out of Stansted (about an hour train ride from central London). The train ride also cost about 24 pounds round trip—which is about $50 doubling our transportation fare. Our plane was about an hour late but I was perfectly content finishing my London journal entry, reading Eragon, and listening to my ipod. We flew Ryan Air again and accidentally purchased priority boarding tickets so we seated the plane first. I got the aisle in the first row and no one sat in the middle seat next to me! The flight was uneventful and it was remarkably easy getting to the center of Dublin (our cheapest of the trip—six euro one way).

After the bus ride it was a short 15 minute walk to our hostel and David (my portable electronic map) assisted us so we didn’t get lost. We settled into Barnacles right in the heart of Temple Bar, a famous cultural district of Dublin. From as far as I can see, the only reason they called Temple Bar area famous for its culture is because it was filled with traditional Irish pubs. Barnacles is the second hostel I have ever stayed at and the first without a private room. We had a 4-person female dorm with two bunk beds. The hostel was huge—three floors, a big kitchen and dining room, and a living room with non-functioning computers. The hostel was not to capacity but filled with probably 30 young people. Our room was clean with locks for our luggage and clean sheets (oh the simple pleasures of life). The staff was somewhat helpful and there was lots of tourist information in the front room.

We went sightseeing the first day and saw Dublin Castle, Chris Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Trinity College. However, the highlight of my day was our nighttime festivities (as it should be in Ireland). After seeing a brochure in our hostel, I convinced Sonia to go on the “Literary Pub Crawl”. Finally a combination of being a nerd and yet also a social butterfly. The pub crawl was led by two Dublin actors who performed scenes and passages from the works of Dublin’s best writers including Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, Brendan Behan, William Butler Yeats, and James Joyce (unfortunately no Brom Stoker). We went to pubs and places where the stories were set or just places they were known to frequent. We went to one pub that is a scene in Joyce’s Ulysses and also Trinity College where most of the writers were affiliated. There were about twenty people—I indubitably being the youngest. We went to four pubs and I drank four pints. We befriended a nice couple from Wisconsin who were visiting Ireland on vacation. I mention this because the husband was an Associate Dean at Indiana University of Law…hmm he got to take time off to visit Europe…and he doesn’t even have a daughter studying abroad there. Isn’t that the same title as my mother? Oh yes, yes it is. Okay, that is really not fair I know my mother and father would come and visit me if she could but I can still be bitter about it. Anyway, after that we went to the Temple Bar and it was absolutely crazy and packed with people. Sonia and I met some Irish people and this woman and man who insisted I was Greek. I just gave in. We also saw students from our program in Syracuse University at the bar. There were also students from Syracuse staying at our hostel. I can’t get away from them. Europe is a small place—or maybe Americans just travel to the same places?

Monday came around and we learned it was a bank holiday and also the Dublin Marathon. Consequently, the buses weren’t running and hardly anything was open. I decided to Kilmainham Gaol which is an old prison erected in the 18th century and used until 1924. I am very interested in prisons and frequent tours with the Whitman College Prison Research Group in the Walla Walla area so I thought it would be interesting to see a historical prison. It is probably most famous for being the execution site of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion which vindicated the leaders as martyred patriots and basically turned Irish public sentiment against English Rule. Okay, enough with the history lesson. The tour was fabulous—I would highly recommend it. Our tour guide was fantastic, very informative, but included great personal anecdotes (just like I do when I give tours of Whitman ) about the prisoners and the place. It gave the prison a more human feel so you could actually imagine people staying in these cold, dark, tiny cells. It was also very spooky as the prison is made of grey stone filled with tiny cells with no windows and iron doors with iron bars. It would be a great place for a haunted house! No wonder the prison has been used in several movies including The Boondock Saints, The Italian Job (1969), In the Name of the Father ( 1993), and Michael Collins (1996).

Next, a little less gloomy we went to the Guinness Storehouse. Now I am not a big fan of Guinness (or beer in general), but I’m in Dublin! The Guinness Storehouse is massive! 7 stories! It is similar museum but also had the vibe of a cult devoted to the Guinness. The museum included the history of Mr. Guinness himself, the ingredients and process of beer making, as well as the following advertising. My favorite section was the advertising which includes the origins of Tookie the Toucan, vintage advertisements, large graphics and prints, and screens showing old and contemporary television commercials. Why are beer advertisements always so good? The product really sells itself. With your ticket to the storehouse comes a free print of Guinness (hooray) you can either learn how to pour the “perfect pint” or get a drink at the sky bar on the 7th floor. I of course chose how to learn how to pour the perfect pint! I love the interactive stuff. So in case you are wondering here are the directions to pour a perfect Guinness pint (and if they don’t do this the next time you order a Guinness you can yell at them and tell them their ruining it and ask for another one):

1) Angle the glass at a 45 degree angel and tilt the tap forward and fill the glass up ¾ of the way.
2) Sit the glass down and let it settle for two minutes
3) Hold the glass vertically and pull the tap away from you and fill it it up far enough so the foam goes over the top.
Volia! Perfect Guinness Beer!

We stayed there for lunch and I had the tradition Irish beef stew—it was delicious and reminded me of beef stew in my childhood before I became a vegetarian. I also managed to finish a quarter of my Guinness over lunch! Good job me!

On the way back to the hostel, I decided to check my e-mail as I am completely addicted to the Internet and the Internet café RIGHT next to our hostel was just too tempting. I checked my e-mail and found something unusual (well other than the fact that my mom FINALLY emailed me back), I had two e-mails from my uncle Peter (to be exact…my dad’s youngest sister Jane’s husband). I read the first one and learned that my cousin was studying abroad in London and that they were visiting her in London at the same time I was there! I googled their hotel and found it was only a short one kilometer away! I called the hotel from a pay phone (my cell phone decided not to work in Ireland) and said I would meet them there in an hour. My family was staying at the fabulous Shelbourne hotel—where JFK and Grace Kelly stayed when they visited Ireland. It was absolutely beautiful and a stark contrast from the hostel I was staying at. We stayed at the hotel because all the local places were either closed or the ones that were open were packed and I was perfectly fine staying at the elegant hotel (the doormen wore top hats). It was so nice to see my family again and so unexpected! My uncle and aunt has just flown in from London from Connecticut that morning so were expectantly a little jet lagged but that did not stop the flow of conversation. It was nice talking to my cousin too because I haven’t seen her in I don’t even know how long. We compared our experiences and I was glad I decided to come to Italy. My aunt was as charming as ever and my travel partner absolutely adored her. They filled me in on the wedding of my cousin Anna which was the Saturday before and showed me pictures of my family including my Dad and Andrew who represented the Seattle clan at the wedding. They had wonderful things to say about my elder brother Andrew and it was nice to hear them talk about him because I felt like I was with him again! We talked, ate, and drank for a while but called it a night around ten.

Tuesday was our last day in Ireland but we weren’t leaving until the evening. Sonia and I both really wanted to see the countryside so we signed up for a bus tour of the Southern Coast and the Powerscourt Gardens. We rode a double decker bus for 90 minutes down the coast of Ireland then had a two hour stop at the beautiful powerscourt gardens then returned via a different route that took about an hour. The ride was great our tour guide was very pleasant—he was informative, funny, and sang a lot. I met some people from Connecticut on the bus (one was even from West Hartford and went to the same high school as my dad). The gardens were absolutely beautiful and I took about 150 pictures to prove it. It was nice to relax and enjoy nature. It had been a long time since I had seen green.

Dublin was great. I didn’t like it as much as London but I enjoyed it. There were absolutely no street signs anywhere which made it frustrating to get around but at least the streets were straight. I was also surprised about the strange language barrier that occurred in Dublin, particularly in Dublin bars. Seriously, I could not understand the majority of Dubliners I talked too especially when they had been drinking and their accents were just exaggerated. Also, I never knew this but the “Irish” language is trying to be preserved in Dublin and all the signs are in English as well as Irish. What I mean by the Irish language is what I think we would call Gaelic. The tour guide on our bus tour said it was in order to preserve their culture—which starts with the language which about 25% of Irish Citizens claim to speak.

Actors from the Literary Pub Crawl

Kilmainham Gaol

Learning how to pour the Perfect Pint

Advertisement Section at Guinness

My Cousin Nora and I at the Shelbourne Hotel

*Also, sorry for all the typos and misspellings on the last post--I fixed them!