Last day in Rome
We woke up the next day before our check out to once again pack our stuff and find that not everything fits in our backpacks; more clothes were to be put on, but not until later. We went downstairs and paid 3 euro for a delicious breakfast, which turned out to be French toast. This was especially a delight for me, because I hadn’t had this delectable treat in a long time.
Afterwards we found out we could leave our backpacks down below in a basement to be watched until our return. This pleased me because I didn’t relish the idea of walking about the Vatican with my entire life on my back, like I did with the Louvre. So excitedly we exited The Yellow to journey to the inner depths of the Vatican.
We took a subway (thank God) to the Vatican. We walked to the entrance and found that the “extremely long line” only took us fifteen minutes to get through and then we were in Saint Peter’s Basilica. This was a marvelous Church to be sure, all of the portions of the church dedicated to the various saints. The highlight however, was in the center of the Church there was the place were Saint Peter was buried. (If anyone has watched Angels and Demons outside the Basilica is where the crowds are gathered and then the guy who plays the young soon to be pope guy ends up playing a dramatic part where at this exact spot.) This was rather cool, and we saw the outside, and later went down underneath to see his actual stone tomb. Very exciting I must say, as when I was a child I always liked Peter the best out of all the apostles. (Maybe it was because I liked how he was always in trouble and forever asking questions.) I would say that was the most amazing thing that I saw. (If I ever put my pictures up on facebook, then you can see them Haha, later I will add links on my blog to them.)
In the actual underground passage where Peter was buried there were many Popes as well. Although, I am not Catholic and could not tell you who is the Pope right now, sad but true. So basically it was like a tourist from another country who had never studied American History before, who goes on a tour of all the President’s graves, just not as impactful as if they were an American. That is how it feels not to be catholic. It was a bit sad but we didn’t go to the top of the Basilica, the line was long and it cost some money that we didn’t feel like spending, one might think this is a poor excuse for not seeing a view, but alas thus is life, you don’t always take every opportunity to see every sight that is available to you. ☺
After this we decided to go see the Sistine Chapel, which I might add, was a price we were willing to pay. Although finding this proved harder then if might seem. For anyone who has not been to the Basilica the Sistine Chapel is not in the little area right there next to the Basilica it is about a ten-minute walk away. We headed in the right direction; however, we decided to follow a tourist group. Somehow we missed the Entrance to the Sistine Chapel and went about eight minutes past it until I asked a member of the group and not only did they not speak English, but they looked puzzled why I would ask them if I was going to the Sistine Chapel. So I ended up going to a gelato shop and asking where the Chapel was and the man pointed me in the general direction. Eventually we made it. Now I would like to say something at this point. Many of us purchased ISIC cards (International Student ID Cards), which are supposed to give you discounts to a lot of museums and random places. Nobody up until this point would give us discounts. (Luckily mine was used in Egypt and therefore it was just an extra bonus to bring on the trip and mattered not if helped me.) So therefore it was very joyous when they gave us a discount for our ISIC Cards, so it was exciting that they weren’t a complete and total failure.
So something else that I want to make everyone aware of, you cannot just walk into the Sistine Chapel, you have to walk through what seems like fifty exhibits of random artwork and artifacts. Including: Egyptian and Japanese art, and about fifty millions paintings of random scene of holy wars, maps, and apostles. So it took us almost a half hour to get to the actual Chapel. This included by passing some of the exhibits. Finally we made it to the Chapel. (Which by the way there was no line.) We entered into the chapel, and wow it was fabulous. It was a bit dark and there were over a hundred- one hundred and fifty people in there. Every so often you would see a tourist raise their camera and one of the guards who were mingling in the crowd would yell and I mean yell “NO PHOTO! NO PHOTO!” I found it ironic after ten minutes there was a loud announcement where the guards stood at the front saying “NO PHOTOS and SILENCE IS TO BE RESPECTED, THIS IS A HOLY PLACE.” Like I said before they yelled it. So I decided to be rebellious and took a picture of the ceiling oh God reaching out to touch Adams finger ☺ I do not regret this. Especially since four other strangers around me did the same thing.
Anyway it was quite amazing and I can see why the Pope used John Tetzel to sell indulgences to Peasants to fund this project, it turned out great results. We spent about twenty minutes staring at the masterpiece and then left. It was time to go to our new hotel. (By the way it takes forever to leave this is not a walk in walk out Chapel, the Vatican attempts to suck you in and make you stay there forever. I will not become a Catholic Statue!)
It was time to return to The Yellow and gather together my life. We took a subway back and collected our backpacks and I gave thirteen little tiny hard candies the chance to make their new home my coat pocket. WE walked three blocks and found the bus station, and thus our Rome adventure ended and our Ciampino adventure begun.
We got dropped off at the airport and wishing we could just go home, and not have to spend the night in this little off the way town, we called the Hotel to see if there was a shuttle coming. There was in fifty minutes. So we waited, and waited, I listening to Harry Potter Seven on my Ipod and about five minutes before they were supposed to come we went to the pick up spot. No shuttle to the Cappella Hotel. We waited ten more minutes, and I am telling you every sort of shuttle imagined came but not our shuttle. The anxiousness level of our group rose, and all we could think about was a comfortable bed waiting us.
However, during our wait the most curious thing happened. A truck drove into the parking lot, and it had two large speakers at the front. All of sudden a loud blare horn type noise, similar to a car alarm came belting out of the speakers. Hundreds of birds flew out of the tree, but the regular birds stood there ground and the tree still had several birds in it. The truck changed their tactic and turned to jungle noises, which were frightening enough for the birds, and to us as well (just kidding..sort of.) I cried, tears of mirth not sadness, because it was one of the funniest sights I have ever seen, and still the Capella shuttle did not come.
I made Phil and Kristen wait until twelve minutes past where the Hotel had said the shuttle would arrive, and then they decided to take a taxi. I was reluctant, especially when the prince would be twenty-five euro (ugh) but no one wanted to wait at this airport anymore so we got it.
Just like a watched pot never boils, and life doesn’t always go how you would expect, our taxi cab entered onto the highway just as the Cappella shuttle made its way to the airport. Annoyance is too tame of a word to describe how I felt, livid, possibly would be a good word. I was spending a good eight-euro to drive one way to a hotel, when I could have waited three more minutes to get a free shuttle ride to the same destination. Yet we were already one the highway and could not easily turn around. So I was stuck paying the eight-euro.
Although, we did make it to our hotel. After checking in we decided to walk around to see if we could find food. Nada. We found two little rinky-dink places, one being Chilean food (in Italy? What is that? Take about a culture gap.) There was nothing to be found and my blisters on my toes were about to claim their own area code in a second because they had grown so enormous and painful and I was limping back to the hotel. So we just had dinner in the hotel lobby. It was quite nice.
I had ravioli of sorts and Phil and Kristin had Pasta as well. It was a quite dinner, with live piano, until suddenly a bunch of High School Italians showed up. They started dancing and playing their own music, and took turns singing. One boy sounded like he could be on the Italian American Idol and we were all impressed. They danced well too, and it was great fun to watch. We never figured out quite why they were there, but it was fun watching them.
Afterwards we went up to our hotel room. Kristen and I both took turns running a bath, and it was glorious. My blisters met their demise and my feet felt better. Meanwhile we took turns watching Italian MTV watching Mumford and Sons’ “Little Lion Man” Music video, and Italian dubbed “Tru Blood.” Quite disturbing actually, not my favorite show, but what do you do when your options are limited.
We slept well but had to get up at five forty-five and caught our six thirty shuttle, which left a six forty, we had learned Italians are not on time like the Germans. Then made our way to the Ciampino Ryan Air Airport. It consisted of checking in, security, waiting, and plane ride, landing in Frankfurt-Hahn. Feeling relieved to be back in Germany, we took a bus from Hahn to the Frankfurt train station, and took about a four and a half our train (with some transfers) back to Regensburg.
We arrived greasy, hungry, and I was wearing splotched spectacles. Yet we arrived and the Jugenherberge or Youth Hostel never looked more inviting. We were home. At least our home away from home and I wanted nothing more then a hot meal, a shower, a fresh pair of contacts, and of course a nice warm bed. Travel week one was now just a memory.
This concludes Travel week one. Be sure to look for Travel week two: Ireland, Wales, and England. Soon to follow!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Chow Bella and Other stories...Being the Third and final Part of Week One Traveling Week Part I
First of all to the faithful who follow my blog, I apologize that I rarely update this and the fact that I have cliffhangered everyone to see if I had made it to Rome or not...I would hope the fact that I am writing to you now, and have been writing to you, is an indication that I made it alive. If this was called into question at any point...guess what I made it alive...so I hope you haven't been holding your breath otherwise you will not have made it out of this blogging experience alive.
Enough with the joking however and lets continue. We arrived in the Ciampino airport around 11:00 or so at night and then caught a late night bus and found ourselves after about a forty-five minute ride to be dropped off outside the metro station in Rome. We knew we were in trouble when we had no clue where to go, but the small panic grew inside me as the streets grew darker with every step and the line of homeless men shivering (I am sorry to say) under their cardboard boxes grew longer. We realized after about a two minute walk that we were going in the wrong direction and turned around to ask the bus driver where to go. We were ten feet from the driver, and it was if by some instinct the driver's direction alert went off and he took off fast then one could have thought possible for a luxury bus. So we were literally left in his dust and Phil decided he had found the right way to the hostel. Luckily for all of us God smiled down upon us and after about a five minute walk we found The Yellow our hostel. Later is was aparent how lucky we were to have found this place because the more we explored Rome the next day, the more clear it became that Rome is no small city. So I was thankful we had chosen a convient hostel location.
We checked in The Yellow and discovered it was a bar along with a hostel...however we took our stuff upstairs to our 12 PERSON ROOM! This I will confide in you was the most terrifying I had cooked up into my mind. When staying in a co-ed room of six 3 vs 3 were good odds that you would survive or fend off an attacker 3 vs 9 are terrible odds and as I don't have six hands/did not have the Expendable team at my beck and call, I clutched my backpack strap tighter, pushed up my glasses which were quite dirty and falling off the bridge of my nose, and tucked a strand of greasy hair (gross) behind my ear and ascended the stairs. We were on the 7th floor or so and the music that was coming out of the bar fell quite after so many flights of stairs. We entered into our dark room after some difficulty with the lock and I breathed a small sigh of relief...okay big sigh of relief. There were two rooms in this twelve person room and our group tromped to the back past sleeping people to the empty beds that awaitd us and discovered that one girl was already there and that we might actually make it through the next three days alive. This was very exciting.
Oh yeah guess what we got abandoned! Phil left us promptly to find his friend who was living in Rome and for some reason he could only see her early that morning because her parents were coming to visit. So Kristen and I were quickly left and decided to go find some food so we went down the street, for as memory served there was a little pizza place down the street.
Luckily there was one two buildings away, and the man was very nice and served us pizza that late. However I made the miserable mistake of ordering pepperoni pizza, which means literal peppers and no meat! So tragic, the longer we stayed there the more creeped out we became. The man behind the counter was very nice but kept getting closer and then wanted a picture which we reluctantly gave, and this man who was like late thirties early forties gave me a kiss on the cheek! I definitely tried to pull away and I just was appalled...I didn't even keep the picture gross...so we left even though he had given us discount food.
Then Kristen and I went to bed exhausted and I not full from nasty pepper pizza (not good bell pepper but weird oily gross like zucchini pizza ugh!) I slept a bit fitfully and in the morning I looked over to see if phil made it and mistakenly thought he was in the top bunk and since no one was there I was slightly worried. It was a happy mistake however when I awoke for real that morning and he was on the bottom bunk.
We got up and walked around all day long, and I mean when we walked we walked! We decided to try and make a giant loop and only take a metro on the way back...not the best plan. My blistered doubled in size but you will soon see why. We started to walk down the main street and decided to get food, I found a fruit stand and got a nectarine while Phil and Kristen got some pizza (much better then the night before) we then wandered about slightly following a map and finally made our way to the trevi fountain.
I think I was the only one who was really excited about this, because (I am ashamed to say) I had watched the Lizzie Maguire movie when I was younger and remembered her facing backwards throwing a coin in the fountain...then two seconds later a famous Italian pop star mistakes her for another pop star and the romance and adventure begins. This being said, I know how to throw the coin in, and was laughed at by Phil when I wanted to throw a euro in, I could have thrown a penny but a euro seemed the most appropriate so I did, some call it a waste but others would agree with me, if you are going to travel half-way around the world you need to at least make an effort to do things as quality as possible on the budget you have.
Oh yes before I forget we got gelato before hand, this is gelato number one of the day. We then continued walking and went to the WC in Mcdonalds...thank God for american monopolies Mcdonalds has been our saving grace more then once. Then continued on wandering, in the hopeful direction of the Vatican. We stopped outside a hotel where a group of people had gathered, apparently the president of Italy was going to arrive but we waited for a good fifteen or twenty minutes and the most exciting thing to happen was extra secret service to arrive...so we left...another near miss of world famous icons (we have yet to see Orland Bloom who was rumored to be in Regensburg...I looked for him!) We didn't want to wait all day if we had so much to see.
Finally after what would seem like 3 hours since we had left The Yellow we made it to the Vatican. By this point it was mid-afternoon and every tourist guide who had special tickets to get to the front of lines told us we wouldn't make it, so after all the walking...we decided to do it the next day.
Then we went on the longest walking portion of my life. It was by the beautiful river and bridges but my feet were killing me! (I won't go into many details as many have told me I seem to point out the negatives of Europe...but as I believe it is my duty to inform everyone how I am feeling, then I am not always going to feel like the brightest orange in the bunch. I also have to be realistic and most of the time I was tired or have achy feet or my tummy was hungry! Haha and it is also more comical to tell you my atm card failed by being eaten then glossing over straight to the fact that I saw the arc de triumph six times haha) So as with each step the blisters grew bigger and my feet had a greater ache in them...I felt like I needed a bigger size of shoe seriously.
We eventually got to this bridge that would lead us to some lonely island place and it turned out to be lame except for it just crossed us over to the other side of the river, which we didn't cross over, but went mid way and got gelato for the 2nd time! I think it was called (the island that is) Isola Island. I don't remember.
We then go nearer to the Collesum and made our way to the archeological sights it was the ancient ruined city of rome and I loved it. Kristen and I also paid to see where Peter was in prison we paid seven euro to see a hole in the ground and a small stone chamber...we also saw the place were Peter had his head indented in the wall, idk it was a part of the wall with glass over it. So that would have been cool but that was the beginning and they spent the rest of the time taking us on tours that had stones talking about history and not good history but just so random hard to explain. Rocks would light up in different colors and just so not worth it for the second part... I would have paid to left haha. Luckily it was over. Then we made our way to the Colessum.
A picture is worth a thousand words and I would need quadruple that to properly describe that to you about how amazing the collesum was. Honestly it exceeded our expectation, we went inside and walked about and saw the different stories. It is just too incredible to explain honestly the coolest monument I have ever seen! It was so old and the stone and the vastness. The only way I could describe it is if suddenly you were dropped into a time two thousand years ago only to find yourself being able to talk to a living and star and you would stand and marvel at what you saw. (I don't know if the star metahpor works but) that is how I felt just like in awe.
We spent a while there and Kristen and I just sat and watched the sun set and it was glorious, one of my blisters popped which is gross but a relief all the same. It was just a good time to be had, and I really enjoyed every minute of it. I would go back in an instant.
We took a metro at sunset and made it back to the Yellow. We ate across the street at a little Italian place were we got 10% off because we were staying at the yellow. I was dumb and decided that I should get bruchetta and Carprese salad...lets just say I had a pluthera of tomatoes though I ate it all I had too many! Later Kristen and I split this amazing white chocolate and chocolate truffel gelato! Divine! Then we went back to the Yellow.
This is where we decided to do something that should have been cool but ended up being scary. Kristen and I were tired and wanted to go to bed...Phil had met friends from our 12 person room and downstairs who wanted to go to the Trevi fountain at night. I wanted to go but was tired and Kristen did not want to go but we decided to go anyway. So we walked as a group and partially got separated and finally halfway (it was more then 20 minutes fyi) we got gelato for the fourth time! Not as good, but we made it. The Trevi foundtain was not as cool at night, and after five minutes Kristen and I were tired and wanted to leave and everyone else wanted to be one with the night and so we decided to go back on our own. So Kristen and I decided to embark on the scariest journey of our lives. We got slightly lost and walked for ten minutes up this alley and the only person we saw was policeman and we were scared but finally after praying and directing we got ourselves part of the way back. We had a small mcdonalds break were I had the most delcious thing from mcdonals ever a cheeseburger with a oregono bun and mozzarella cheese. so good. Then we walked out and turned a corner and saw a man jump out of a car to relieve himself we shielded our eyes from the impending doom and then another man decided to do the same. There were cat calls and we were appalled and fled the scene. I thought for a moment of being in utter peril and then we walked past our hostel and coudln't find it and then we did an ah! Made if safe! To my bed Never again! Never again! Will I wander the streets with only one other girl! It's too much!
Anyway too much writing for one blog you will have to wait for part two!
Enough with the joking however and lets continue. We arrived in the Ciampino airport around 11:00 or so at night and then caught a late night bus and found ourselves after about a forty-five minute ride to be dropped off outside the metro station in Rome. We knew we were in trouble when we had no clue where to go, but the small panic grew inside me as the streets grew darker with every step and the line of homeless men shivering (I am sorry to say) under their cardboard boxes grew longer. We realized after about a two minute walk that we were going in the wrong direction and turned around to ask the bus driver where to go. We were ten feet from the driver, and it was if by some instinct the driver's direction alert went off and he took off fast then one could have thought possible for a luxury bus. So we were literally left in his dust and Phil decided he had found the right way to the hostel. Luckily for all of us God smiled down upon us and after about a five minute walk we found The Yellow our hostel. Later is was aparent how lucky we were to have found this place because the more we explored Rome the next day, the more clear it became that Rome is no small city. So I was thankful we had chosen a convient hostel location.
We checked in The Yellow and discovered it was a bar along with a hostel...however we took our stuff upstairs to our 12 PERSON ROOM! This I will confide in you was the most terrifying I had cooked up into my mind. When staying in a co-ed room of six 3 vs 3 were good odds that you would survive or fend off an attacker 3 vs 9 are terrible odds and as I don't have six hands/did not have the Expendable team at my beck and call, I clutched my backpack strap tighter, pushed up my glasses which were quite dirty and falling off the bridge of my nose, and tucked a strand of greasy hair (gross) behind my ear and ascended the stairs. We were on the 7th floor or so and the music that was coming out of the bar fell quite after so many flights of stairs. We entered into our dark room after some difficulty with the lock and I breathed a small sigh of relief...okay big sigh of relief. There were two rooms in this twelve person room and our group tromped to the back past sleeping people to the empty beds that awaitd us and discovered that one girl was already there and that we might actually make it through the next three days alive. This was very exciting.
Oh yeah guess what we got abandoned! Phil left us promptly to find his friend who was living in Rome and for some reason he could only see her early that morning because her parents were coming to visit. So Kristen and I were quickly left and decided to go find some food so we went down the street, for as memory served there was a little pizza place down the street.
Luckily there was one two buildings away, and the man was very nice and served us pizza that late. However I made the miserable mistake of ordering pepperoni pizza, which means literal peppers and no meat! So tragic, the longer we stayed there the more creeped out we became. The man behind the counter was very nice but kept getting closer and then wanted a picture which we reluctantly gave, and this man who was like late thirties early forties gave me a kiss on the cheek! I definitely tried to pull away and I just was appalled...I didn't even keep the picture gross...so we left even though he had given us discount food.
Then Kristen and I went to bed exhausted and I not full from nasty pepper pizza (not good bell pepper but weird oily gross like zucchini pizza ugh!) I slept a bit fitfully and in the morning I looked over to see if phil made it and mistakenly thought he was in the top bunk and since no one was there I was slightly worried. It was a happy mistake however when I awoke for real that morning and he was on the bottom bunk.
We got up and walked around all day long, and I mean when we walked we walked! We decided to try and make a giant loop and only take a metro on the way back...not the best plan. My blistered doubled in size but you will soon see why. We started to walk down the main street and decided to get food, I found a fruit stand and got a nectarine while Phil and Kristen got some pizza (much better then the night before) we then wandered about slightly following a map and finally made our way to the trevi fountain.
I think I was the only one who was really excited about this, because (I am ashamed to say) I had watched the Lizzie Maguire movie when I was younger and remembered her facing backwards throwing a coin in the fountain...then two seconds later a famous Italian pop star mistakes her for another pop star and the romance and adventure begins. This being said, I know how to throw the coin in, and was laughed at by Phil when I wanted to throw a euro in, I could have thrown a penny but a euro seemed the most appropriate so I did, some call it a waste but others would agree with me, if you are going to travel half-way around the world you need to at least make an effort to do things as quality as possible on the budget you have.
Oh yes before I forget we got gelato before hand, this is gelato number one of the day. We then continued walking and went to the WC in Mcdonalds...thank God for american monopolies Mcdonalds has been our saving grace more then once. Then continued on wandering, in the hopeful direction of the Vatican. We stopped outside a hotel where a group of people had gathered, apparently the president of Italy was going to arrive but we waited for a good fifteen or twenty minutes and the most exciting thing to happen was extra secret service to arrive...so we left...another near miss of world famous icons (we have yet to see Orland Bloom who was rumored to be in Regensburg...I looked for him!) We didn't want to wait all day if we had so much to see.
Finally after what would seem like 3 hours since we had left The Yellow we made it to the Vatican. By this point it was mid-afternoon and every tourist guide who had special tickets to get to the front of lines told us we wouldn't make it, so after all the walking...we decided to do it the next day.
Then we went on the longest walking portion of my life. It was by the beautiful river and bridges but my feet were killing me! (I won't go into many details as many have told me I seem to point out the negatives of Europe...but as I believe it is my duty to inform everyone how I am feeling, then I am not always going to feel like the brightest orange in the bunch. I also have to be realistic and most of the time I was tired or have achy feet or my tummy was hungry! Haha and it is also more comical to tell you my atm card failed by being eaten then glossing over straight to the fact that I saw the arc de triumph six times haha) So as with each step the blisters grew bigger and my feet had a greater ache in them...I felt like I needed a bigger size of shoe seriously.
We eventually got to this bridge that would lead us to some lonely island place and it turned out to be lame except for it just crossed us over to the other side of the river, which we didn't cross over, but went mid way and got gelato for the 2nd time! I think it was called (the island that is) Isola Island. I don't remember.
We then go nearer to the Collesum and made our way to the archeological sights it was the ancient ruined city of rome and I loved it. Kristen and I also paid to see where Peter was in prison we paid seven euro to see a hole in the ground and a small stone chamber...we also saw the place were Peter had his head indented in the wall, idk it was a part of the wall with glass over it. So that would have been cool but that was the beginning and they spent the rest of the time taking us on tours that had stones talking about history and not good history but just so random hard to explain. Rocks would light up in different colors and just so not worth it for the second part... I would have paid to left haha. Luckily it was over. Then we made our way to the Colessum.
A picture is worth a thousand words and I would need quadruple that to properly describe that to you about how amazing the collesum was. Honestly it exceeded our expectation, we went inside and walked about and saw the different stories. It is just too incredible to explain honestly the coolest monument I have ever seen! It was so old and the stone and the vastness. The only way I could describe it is if suddenly you were dropped into a time two thousand years ago only to find yourself being able to talk to a living and star and you would stand and marvel at what you saw. (I don't know if the star metahpor works but) that is how I felt just like in awe.
We spent a while there and Kristen and I just sat and watched the sun set and it was glorious, one of my blisters popped which is gross but a relief all the same. It was just a good time to be had, and I really enjoyed every minute of it. I would go back in an instant.
We took a metro at sunset and made it back to the Yellow. We ate across the street at a little Italian place were we got 10% off because we were staying at the yellow. I was dumb and decided that I should get bruchetta and Carprese salad...lets just say I had a pluthera of tomatoes though I ate it all I had too many! Later Kristen and I split this amazing white chocolate and chocolate truffel gelato! Divine! Then we went back to the Yellow.
This is where we decided to do something that should have been cool but ended up being scary. Kristen and I were tired and wanted to go to bed...Phil had met friends from our 12 person room and downstairs who wanted to go to the Trevi fountain at night. I wanted to go but was tired and Kristen did not want to go but we decided to go anyway. So we walked as a group and partially got separated and finally halfway (it was more then 20 minutes fyi) we got gelato for the fourth time! Not as good, but we made it. The Trevi foundtain was not as cool at night, and after five minutes Kristen and I were tired and wanted to leave and everyone else wanted to be one with the night and so we decided to go back on our own. So Kristen and I decided to embark on the scariest journey of our lives. We got slightly lost and walked for ten minutes up this alley and the only person we saw was policeman and we were scared but finally after praying and directing we got ourselves part of the way back. We had a small mcdonalds break were I had the most delcious thing from mcdonals ever a cheeseburger with a oregono bun and mozzarella cheese. so good. Then we walked out and turned a corner and saw a man jump out of a car to relieve himself we shielded our eyes from the impending doom and then another man decided to do the same. There were cat calls and we were appalled and fled the scene. I thought for a moment of being in utter peril and then we walked past our hostel and coudln't find it and then we did an ah! Made if safe! To my bed Never again! Never again! Will I wander the streets with only one other girl! It's too much!
Anyway too much writing for one blog you will have to wait for part two!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Being the Second Part of Paris Through Spectacles: The Trials and Triumphs in the City of Love
Paris Continued
The next morning we woke up and decided to go on the free walking tour of Paris. At first I wasn’t excited because walking meant more blisters then I could afford to have, but in reality I was excited to do something free. We met in the lobby with a group of twenty or so other students/people near our age and had a meet with our tour guide. His name was Hally (hal-ee) and he was from Canada. He helped us onto the metro as a group, which we had already become pros at doing and we went to the archangel of Saint Michael’s fountain I believe and waited for the tour to get started.
We walked everywhere, our group stayed with Halley and he showed us Notre Dame, the river, a cursed place where these knights unjustly died, a bridge of faces, we had a brief 2,000 year history of Paris, we saw the outside of the Louvre, the beginning of the Champs Elysees, the obelisk again, After that we continued on and saw the Eiffel tower, and then ended in the big and little palaces. Overall all it was a whirlwind tour and though we learned many things…. most have been forgotten or a least the names of some of the things we saw.
Phil, Kristen and I decided we wanted to get some French onion soup so we started walking back to the Champs Elysees and one of our roommates that came on our tour saw us, so we invited Diego along because he was by himself. This Turned out to be a good thing because it balanced out our group and allowed Phil to talk to a boy for once. Diego was quite nice and was very ready to offer to take our pictures if need be. We walked back up the Champ Elysees and saw the Arc de Triumph once again, and turned down the street to where my card had been destroyed and found the little café where the soup was served. It was ten euro for a bowl of soup so Kristen and I split it and Diego and Phil each got themselves some crepes. It was a bit pricey but hey one has to get French onion soup when one is in France.
We then set off on a journey to go to see the inside of Notre Dame. It was a short metro ride away and we then went inside. It was very dark inside and you would think that when you visit the site where the Hunchback story was set there would be a little more too it. Something I learned about touring is that the famous places aren’t always the best or most beautiful places to see. Sometimes it baffles you to realize why anyone would consider the site you are at the “must see” place of the city. However, the Cathedral was still grand and I wanted to go up to the top but you had to have exact change and only twenty people could go up every ten minutes and there were at least a hundred in line. So I opted to not go and will probably have to return to Paris at least one more time in my life.
We then set about to go to the famous little white church on the hill that overlooks Paris. This was near the Moulin Rouge and we climbed many stairs to see the city. It is quite a big city Paris and it was nice to see it from afar. This was also the hill were the movie Amelie was filmed which I had happened to see this summer so it was kinda nice to have watched it before going there. We were hungry once again when we went there and went back to the Champs Elysees to buy Phil a coat and to eat. We ate at Quik Stop fast food restaurant and had a European burger, which wasn’t too bad, and actual French French fries. Haha so that was quite funny but we continued on and made our way back up the Champ Elysees and then we went back to our hostel for a little bit. I tried to call bank of America collected and that failed miserably and then finally emailed my Mom to have her sort it out because I was fed up with everything.
After washing my hands of the whole credit card disaster we decided to go back to the Eiffel tower once again, but this time I wanted to go up at night. I would decide to go up to the Eiffel tower when there was a bomb threat, the tower was closed for a bit and I got in line and the man next to me go interviewed for the International Press about the bomb scare, so I was so close to being famous yet so far away. I eventually made my way up there and looked out and saw the city at night. Paris is a city of the night, it can be dreary during the day if the sun isn’t shining but at night things seem so much more romantic and looking out over the city I had one of those “your up on the Eiffel tower at night” moments it was spectacular. I spent a half hour or so going up there and then went back down where the others were waiting for me, but I really enjoyed my experience.
We then went back to our room and went to bed, waiting to see what the day would bring.
We awoke once again to find ourselves in the Saint Christopher’s Youth hostel in Paris. It’s interesting to wake up and find yourself in the City of love. However today was the day we were to depart, that meant gathering our bed sheets and packing our backpacks that would be permanently attached to our backs throughout the entire day. That is a stress in itself as my backpack often is stuff to the brim and sits uncomfortably on my shoulders. Yet we persisted onwards and found ourselves checking out and walking up the road, with a quick stop into a pastierre, which means bakery in French. I bought a croissant for breakfast and a pain de chocolate which is basically a chocolate croissant along with an interesting green glazed cake which turned out to be a sort of strawberry shortcake, not quite as good as I have had in the past but it was still quite good for being French.
We had also brought Diego along because he wanted to see the Louvre as well. We used the metro once again to get to our destination. We popped out from underground and after walking a short distance entered into the Louvre and saw the glass pyramid dome that encased the entrance to the museum. I felt for a moment that I might see Nicholas Cage wandering about or a thief trying to scale through the glass pyramid in search of the Holy Grail (for those of you who have seen the Di Vinci Code.) We had to wait about a half hour to get through security but finally we made it. One trial we have experience through this trip is the promise of the various discounts with our ISIC cards that we all bought. However the Louvre failed to recognize our cards and we entered without the student discount, which was a bit of a damper to my spirits. Yet we proceeded anyway.
Long story short, the Louvre is huge and the Mona Lisa is small. Since we are young we always consider the Mona Lisa to be a huge amazing portrait. Yet it is just an average size average looking women in a frame, behind bulletproof glass. I have just never seen the appeal to the Mona Lisa; I know that there are books, theories, and studies of the concept behind the masterpiece, which tell us about the genius behind Di Vinci. Yet I was unimpressed, this entire experience has shown me that there are greater more aesthetically pleasing works of art then the famous ones. Yet through all that there is still something to be said when gazing at the Mona Lisa, the fact that I was standing there looking at something that is awe inspiring to so many was a bit surreal.
There were many other works of art in the museum, including the headless angle, and the armless Greek statue, which is so famous. (Remember in Hercules how Hercules throws a discus and knocks off her arms?) I thought that was cool to see. We walked about seeing the various time periods and artwork, and after about two and a half hours we all agreed it was time to go. I am not a museum person so it was quite a stretch for me to even be in a museum for more then an hour, so it was really a sort of a feat for me to last that long. So for all those out there who would chastise me for shortchanging the Louvre, let me tell you if one spent a solid minute looking at each display it would take about nine months. So in the time it would take me to give birth to a child is the time it would take to look and read every exhibition in the Louvre. So I thought I did a fairly decent job of giving the Louvre an overview.
After we exited the Louvre we set about to find some food, which we did by gracing McDonald’s presence. I cannot begin to tell you how good a cheeseburger tastes after you have been dining solely on bread and cheese and mouthfuls of water, even in Germany we usually just dine on various pork dishes. So tasting beef once again was a good thing. We stayed for a good forty-five minutes resting our legs and talking to Diego. Once we were through we said goodbye to Diego as he was off to Versailles and we had to catch another Ryan air flight.
Phil wanted to go see the grand Arch, which we hadn’t seen yet so we took our second to last metro and entered a very different looking Paris. We had been used to seeing artistic buildings and beauty in each building we passed. So when we entered up from the Metro we saw the arc. This arc was nothing but modern day metal. Nothing fancy or ornate, we had entered the business district, which was just plain marble, and I felt like I was in a forlorn city in the United States, so we took some quick pictures and left immediately as we didn’t want our experience of France to remain in the beauty of it, instead of the industrial sell out this area of town has become.
We boarded our last metro and headed to the Ryan Air bus stop that would take us to our third airplane ride to Ciampino Rome. We had about an hour to spare however, and went to a small restaurant and ordered Crème Burlee; Kristen had a weird olive cake and juice and didn’t like it. However, Phil and I quite enjoyed our Crème Burlee and it was fun sliding our spoons on the top of the custard and listening to the melted sugar top crackle. I had never had crème Burlee before and was very pleased by my first experience.
The next bit is boring and we spent an hour and a half on a bus to get back to Beauvais and finally after about three hours we were sitting on our Ryan Air flight heading to our last stop on our whirl Wind journey. My slightly bitter experience with France was over. But to be just there were many moments that made up for the trials I had gone through. So overall I would give Paris a B, somewhere to see but you won’t find me readily willing to go back, although I do want to return to Franc to see Versailles and Normandy and I heard the South of France is quite amazing as well. So I bid Adieu to Paris and looked forward to being greeted as Bella in Rome.
The next morning we woke up and decided to go on the free walking tour of Paris. At first I wasn’t excited because walking meant more blisters then I could afford to have, but in reality I was excited to do something free. We met in the lobby with a group of twenty or so other students/people near our age and had a meet with our tour guide. His name was Hally (hal-ee) and he was from Canada. He helped us onto the metro as a group, which we had already become pros at doing and we went to the archangel of Saint Michael’s fountain I believe and waited for the tour to get started.
We walked everywhere, our group stayed with Halley and he showed us Notre Dame, the river, a cursed place where these knights unjustly died, a bridge of faces, we had a brief 2,000 year history of Paris, we saw the outside of the Louvre, the beginning of the Champs Elysees, the obelisk again, After that we continued on and saw the Eiffel tower, and then ended in the big and little palaces. Overall all it was a whirlwind tour and though we learned many things…. most have been forgotten or a least the names of some of the things we saw.
Phil, Kristen and I decided we wanted to get some French onion soup so we started walking back to the Champs Elysees and one of our roommates that came on our tour saw us, so we invited Diego along because he was by himself. This Turned out to be a good thing because it balanced out our group and allowed Phil to talk to a boy for once. Diego was quite nice and was very ready to offer to take our pictures if need be. We walked back up the Champ Elysees and saw the Arc de Triumph once again, and turned down the street to where my card had been destroyed and found the little café where the soup was served. It was ten euro for a bowl of soup so Kristen and I split it and Diego and Phil each got themselves some crepes. It was a bit pricey but hey one has to get French onion soup when one is in France.
We then set off on a journey to go to see the inside of Notre Dame. It was a short metro ride away and we then went inside. It was very dark inside and you would think that when you visit the site where the Hunchback story was set there would be a little more too it. Something I learned about touring is that the famous places aren’t always the best or most beautiful places to see. Sometimes it baffles you to realize why anyone would consider the site you are at the “must see” place of the city. However, the Cathedral was still grand and I wanted to go up to the top but you had to have exact change and only twenty people could go up every ten minutes and there were at least a hundred in line. So I opted to not go and will probably have to return to Paris at least one more time in my life.
We then set about to go to the famous little white church on the hill that overlooks Paris. This was near the Moulin Rouge and we climbed many stairs to see the city. It is quite a big city Paris and it was nice to see it from afar. This was also the hill were the movie Amelie was filmed which I had happened to see this summer so it was kinda nice to have watched it before going there. We were hungry once again when we went there and went back to the Champs Elysees to buy Phil a coat and to eat. We ate at Quik Stop fast food restaurant and had a European burger, which wasn’t too bad, and actual French French fries. Haha so that was quite funny but we continued on and made our way back up the Champ Elysees and then we went back to our hostel for a little bit. I tried to call bank of America collected and that failed miserably and then finally emailed my Mom to have her sort it out because I was fed up with everything.
After washing my hands of the whole credit card disaster we decided to go back to the Eiffel tower once again, but this time I wanted to go up at night. I would decide to go up to the Eiffel tower when there was a bomb threat, the tower was closed for a bit and I got in line and the man next to me go interviewed for the International Press about the bomb scare, so I was so close to being famous yet so far away. I eventually made my way up there and looked out and saw the city at night. Paris is a city of the night, it can be dreary during the day if the sun isn’t shining but at night things seem so much more romantic and looking out over the city I had one of those “your up on the Eiffel tower at night” moments it was spectacular. I spent a half hour or so going up there and then went back down where the others were waiting for me, but I really enjoyed my experience.
We then went back to our room and went to bed, waiting to see what the day would bring.
We awoke once again to find ourselves in the Saint Christopher’s Youth hostel in Paris. It’s interesting to wake up and find yourself in the City of love. However today was the day we were to depart, that meant gathering our bed sheets and packing our backpacks that would be permanently attached to our backs throughout the entire day. That is a stress in itself as my backpack often is stuff to the brim and sits uncomfortably on my shoulders. Yet we persisted onwards and found ourselves checking out and walking up the road, with a quick stop into a pastierre, which means bakery in French. I bought a croissant for breakfast and a pain de chocolate which is basically a chocolate croissant along with an interesting green glazed cake which turned out to be a sort of strawberry shortcake, not quite as good as I have had in the past but it was still quite good for being French.
We had also brought Diego along because he wanted to see the Louvre as well. We used the metro once again to get to our destination. We popped out from underground and after walking a short distance entered into the Louvre and saw the glass pyramid dome that encased the entrance to the museum. I felt for a moment that I might see Nicholas Cage wandering about or a thief trying to scale through the glass pyramid in search of the Holy Grail (for those of you who have seen the Di Vinci Code.) We had to wait about a half hour to get through security but finally we made it. One trial we have experience through this trip is the promise of the various discounts with our ISIC cards that we all bought. However the Louvre failed to recognize our cards and we entered without the student discount, which was a bit of a damper to my spirits. Yet we proceeded anyway.
Long story short, the Louvre is huge and the Mona Lisa is small. Since we are young we always consider the Mona Lisa to be a huge amazing portrait. Yet it is just an average size average looking women in a frame, behind bulletproof glass. I have just never seen the appeal to the Mona Lisa; I know that there are books, theories, and studies of the concept behind the masterpiece, which tell us about the genius behind Di Vinci. Yet I was unimpressed, this entire experience has shown me that there are greater more aesthetically pleasing works of art then the famous ones. Yet through all that there is still something to be said when gazing at the Mona Lisa, the fact that I was standing there looking at something that is awe inspiring to so many was a bit surreal.
There were many other works of art in the museum, including the headless angle, and the armless Greek statue, which is so famous. (Remember in Hercules how Hercules throws a discus and knocks off her arms?) I thought that was cool to see. We walked about seeing the various time periods and artwork, and after about two and a half hours we all agreed it was time to go. I am not a museum person so it was quite a stretch for me to even be in a museum for more then an hour, so it was really a sort of a feat for me to last that long. So for all those out there who would chastise me for shortchanging the Louvre, let me tell you if one spent a solid minute looking at each display it would take about nine months. So in the time it would take me to give birth to a child is the time it would take to look and read every exhibition in the Louvre. So I thought I did a fairly decent job of giving the Louvre an overview.
After we exited the Louvre we set about to find some food, which we did by gracing McDonald’s presence. I cannot begin to tell you how good a cheeseburger tastes after you have been dining solely on bread and cheese and mouthfuls of water, even in Germany we usually just dine on various pork dishes. So tasting beef once again was a good thing. We stayed for a good forty-five minutes resting our legs and talking to Diego. Once we were through we said goodbye to Diego as he was off to Versailles and we had to catch another Ryan air flight.
Phil wanted to go see the grand Arch, which we hadn’t seen yet so we took our second to last metro and entered a very different looking Paris. We had been used to seeing artistic buildings and beauty in each building we passed. So when we entered up from the Metro we saw the arc. This arc was nothing but modern day metal. Nothing fancy or ornate, we had entered the business district, which was just plain marble, and I felt like I was in a forlorn city in the United States, so we took some quick pictures and left immediately as we didn’t want our experience of France to remain in the beauty of it, instead of the industrial sell out this area of town has become.
We boarded our last metro and headed to the Ryan Air bus stop that would take us to our third airplane ride to Ciampino Rome. We had about an hour to spare however, and went to a small restaurant and ordered Crème Burlee; Kristen had a weird olive cake and juice and didn’t like it. However, Phil and I quite enjoyed our Crème Burlee and it was fun sliding our spoons on the top of the custard and listening to the melted sugar top crackle. I had never had crème Burlee before and was very pleased by my first experience.
The next bit is boring and we spent an hour and a half on a bus to get back to Beauvais and finally after about three hours we were sitting on our Ryan Air flight heading to our last stop on our whirl Wind journey. My slightly bitter experience with France was over. But to be just there were many moments that made up for the trials I had gone through. So overall I would give Paris a B, somewhere to see but you won’t find me readily willing to go back, although I do want to return to Franc to see Versailles and Normandy and I heard the South of France is quite amazing as well. So I bid Adieu to Paris and looked forward to being greeted as Bella in Rome.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Paris Through Spectacles: The Trials and Triumphs in the City of Love
Part II- Paris through Spectales, concerning the events of tragic and triumphant importance in the so called City of Love.
What can one say about what is supposed to be the most romantic city in the world? What can one say about all the beautiful sights one may see or not see? If you haven't caught onto my slightly sarcastic title let me just preface my experience by saying at times it was less then desirable.
It all started with the plane ride. It was delayed...an hour and half...it was promised to be for two hours and possibly three but we were all delighted when it was only an hour and a half...I don't remember it...I was alseep because when you only have four hours of sleep and are rapidly approaching the City of Love, well it seems necessary to be conscious for it.
This is where the trials begin on this airplane. I decided to put my contacts in, which seems reasonable that I wouldn't want to go about Paris looking like a lost librarian, I was already arriving quite unfashionable and limping slightly because I had developed some nasty blisters on my pinky toes. Then the unthinkable happened between putting my contact in and exiting the plane, one of my contacts decided to stow aboard and continue the journey back to Spain in order to spend more quality time in the country and teach me how to properly portray the sights that I saw in my blog. In other words I was half blind, and eventually totally blind because my other eye could not take the pressure of being the only one gifted with sight. So I entered into the Beauvis airport without my keen ability to see, which I think is an important sense to have when traveling. However it was going to be paris through spectacles because that is all I could do, for one eye blind would not suffice, and would strained eye would be less then pleasant. I was not about to decrease my vision any more by permantely wrecking my vision and having two differeing degrees of vision if I could help it.
Therefore I hobbled off of the plane and within a few moment we had purchased bus tickets to get to the city center of Paris and were on our merry way. I chose this bus to put my other contact away, and put in my ear buds and feel asleep to sound of fireflies and i'm sad to say Rhianna soothing my ears. I woke up with about a half hour left of the trip to find that Kristen had befriended a Parisian man, who had spent the past hour showing her on a map how to get around the metro and showing her which sights should not be missed. This was a great relief for Paris was the city I had fretted the most about and thought I would have the most likely chance of dying and being one eye blind I thought the risk to be even greater then before.
We exited the bus having already purchased train tickets for the journey home and then made our way to find the metro. We found it with relative ease which turned out to be a blessing, and after making our way down we eventually found the ticket booth, it was here I tried to speak French for the first and only time of our trip asking the lady in broken french if she could speak english. She responded no but it was obvious that she could. We purchased all day metro tickets for three days and then set about to go to a destination. After looking at the map our first stop was decided to be the Arc de triumph, which can be seen in many movies, including one of my parent's favorite and I enjoy it as well; Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart. An excellent movie if one ever wishes to see it.
We crowded on and off the metro and made our way up, and behold as we rose out of the paved earth we saw it rising in front of us, quite triumphant but slightly dimmed by the gray overcast sky that seemed to permanently linger like the smell of burnt in the kitchen after neglecting the oven for too long. Yet it was a triumphant sight to behold. We however, focused on another necessity being food, we walked down the Champs Elyees which is a famous street full of shopping, and turned down the side street. We popped into the first bakery we saw and immediately bought bagettes and I a bagette and a pain de chocolate or what is similar to a chocolate crossiant. This enjoyment of pasterying was not to last however, for I stupidly decided I need cash and promptly went to an atm and tried to withdraw money. However, upon selecting an amount the machine read: "At the request of the branch we are withholding your card." Seriously? Yes...it was a very serious matter, no card was returned and I was printed out a receipt saying my card was taken and to see the branch.
So I marched inside, and asked a lady if she spoke English, she said no, and after several minutes she got someone who did. This lady was not much better but she understood and told me to come back at four because she had to call to open the atm. Four it was to be then, and I left a bit hopeful that my card would return to me and this disaster would only be a minor setback.
It was a downcast and distressed mentality that I once again glimpsed the triumphant arc and we made our way underground to cross the roundabout that circled the monument. We got there and saw the eternal flame and the engravings of names and triumphs that the French had achieved. I tried to focus on the positive but my spirits were dampened and quite rightly so, for I had come to the fashion capitol of the world and was near to broke.
We set off walking and after a time made our way to the Eiffel tower it was a good hour of wandering running into random things like a statue of George Washington, yes the American president. We finally glimpsed the Eiffel tower and walked briskly towards it. Yes there it stood, and my first emotion was disappointment, this was it? This huge iron thing was the symbol of love...when I think of love I think of a warm beach and a tropical sunset with waves lapping gently against the sand. Not a cold iron monument only intended to stand for eleven years. The hype it has gotten rendered it to be quite disappointing. Never the less we pressed onward and soon were standing underneath the enourmous tower staring upwards, it was less pleasent up close. That and the mirads of scammers swarming underneath the tower, selling cheaply made eiffel towers and trying to get quadruple it's worth. I ended up buy 10 mini keychain effiel towers for 2 euros because I was sure someone would want one. We took the regular pictures that now fill my camera and set off in the opposite direction.
About fifty meters from the base three jamician men came up to us and said: "hakuna matata" and grabbed our pointer fingers and looped them through some thread they then started to briskly rap thread around more thread and within a minute all three of us were looking down at our wrists to see a handmade bracelet set upon our wrists. Halfway through the process I had said, "You are going to want money for this huh?" The man responded "You are very wise." After bartering and telling the man a sad tale of my debit card being eaten by the atm machine Kristen and I got our bracelets for two euro instead of five, and Phil was not as lucky and paid 2.75 euro. All in all we were delightfully scammed and I made the man take a picture with me so I could always remember this event.
After this we back on the metro and changed lines many times to find ourselves close to St. Christopher's famous hostel. This was quite a nice little hostel where we found beds with drapes and slept six to a room, it was kristen, phil, and I and three other guys. Yet they were all friendly so it was fine.
It was almost four by this time so we set about to go back to the bank. We once again saw the arch de triumph and I walked inside the bank and waited. She was helping someone but had my card, after fifteen minutes or so she asked for my id, saw that it was me and then called my bank, they refused to let her give me the card, and she said "I'm zorry! Ze bank vill not give you ze card, it vil be destroyed." As upset as I was, I copied down a bit of my information from the card and left, trying to console myself that at least it was going to be destroyed. With that I walked off a bit of my frustration and had a delicious crepe and decided to enjoy myself inspite of being put at a set back.
We continued to walk down the Champs Elysees and ended up towards the middle to a round about that in the center there were glorious fountains, and something that was familar to me, but did not belong in native france. An obelisk from Luxor Egypt. I had seen it's sister only a few months before in Egypt and had heard the story of the exchange egypt had with France, Egypt giving france a 3,000 BC obelisk and france in the 1800's giving them a brand new clock which never worked, a poor deal to egypt. I was not happy to see that they had covered the tip with Gold, whereas in egypt they leave them bare. Although it was great to see a landmark I had become so familar with.
After this experience we caught a bus and went to a metro station which we took a brief pitstop to The Moulin Rouge, it was the movie that drew us there. Sure enough there was a small theatre with teh words moulin rouge illuminated on the side and a lit up windmill. It was a quick trip and then we took a metro which led us back to our hostel. There I tried several times to call the states, and each time the numbers did not go through, I had even crammed myself into a sketchy phone booth and talked to several phone operator. Alas I did the last thing possible, emailed my parents and had them deal with the situation.
That night we went to a cafe and I had the best pesto I have ever had in my life. It was delicious and creamy, Kristen and I were also forced to watch Phil eat Es Cargo, or Snails. He even had a fancy little snail holder and fork that let him slurp out the nasty little creatures. We wondered if they were from a farm and they found them in the back of the restaurant. Either way they looked quite unpleasant.
My feet were aching and we made our way back to the Effiel tower to see it at night. It was lit up and suddenly I could see why people think it is lovely, for a dull dingy tower in the day, glows softly at night, like it holds a promise, or is a symbol of light in the dark. Then something incredible happened. It started to sparkles, thousand of LED lights started to twinkle all over the tower and we stood in awe and wonder. A lady grabbed my elbow and I instinctively grabbed my purse but all she said was "Have you ever seen anything like it?" I agreed that no, I had not. I found out she was from Texas and after exchanging a few pleasantries she bid us adeu and left. The twinkling lasted five minutes and then subsided, we found out later it twinkles every night at the top of the hour to five after starting at nine.
After staring a bit more we returned to our hostel and went to bed the day still fresh in our minds.
As I have already written a vast amount I will take a break and continue on in the near future, for nobody wants to read a ten page blog!
To be continued in part b of Paris through Spectacles, a three part series in the adventures of travel week one. (Check back soon for the second half of this trip!)
i
What can one say about what is supposed to be the most romantic city in the world? What can one say about all the beautiful sights one may see or not see? If you haven't caught onto my slightly sarcastic title let me just preface my experience by saying at times it was less then desirable.
It all started with the plane ride. It was delayed...an hour and half...it was promised to be for two hours and possibly three but we were all delighted when it was only an hour and a half...I don't remember it...I was alseep because when you only have four hours of sleep and are rapidly approaching the City of Love, well it seems necessary to be conscious for it.
This is where the trials begin on this airplane. I decided to put my contacts in, which seems reasonable that I wouldn't want to go about Paris looking like a lost librarian, I was already arriving quite unfashionable and limping slightly because I had developed some nasty blisters on my pinky toes. Then the unthinkable happened between putting my contact in and exiting the plane, one of my contacts decided to stow aboard and continue the journey back to Spain in order to spend more quality time in the country and teach me how to properly portray the sights that I saw in my blog. In other words I was half blind, and eventually totally blind because my other eye could not take the pressure of being the only one gifted with sight. So I entered into the Beauvis airport without my keen ability to see, which I think is an important sense to have when traveling. However it was going to be paris through spectacles because that is all I could do, for one eye blind would not suffice, and would strained eye would be less then pleasant. I was not about to decrease my vision any more by permantely wrecking my vision and having two differeing degrees of vision if I could help it.
Therefore I hobbled off of the plane and within a few moment we had purchased bus tickets to get to the city center of Paris and were on our merry way. I chose this bus to put my other contact away, and put in my ear buds and feel asleep to sound of fireflies and i'm sad to say Rhianna soothing my ears. I woke up with about a half hour left of the trip to find that Kristen had befriended a Parisian man, who had spent the past hour showing her on a map how to get around the metro and showing her which sights should not be missed. This was a great relief for Paris was the city I had fretted the most about and thought I would have the most likely chance of dying and being one eye blind I thought the risk to be even greater then before.
We exited the bus having already purchased train tickets for the journey home and then made our way to find the metro. We found it with relative ease which turned out to be a blessing, and after making our way down we eventually found the ticket booth, it was here I tried to speak French for the first and only time of our trip asking the lady in broken french if she could speak english. She responded no but it was obvious that she could. We purchased all day metro tickets for three days and then set about to go to a destination. After looking at the map our first stop was decided to be the Arc de triumph, which can be seen in many movies, including one of my parent's favorite and I enjoy it as well; Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart. An excellent movie if one ever wishes to see it.
We crowded on and off the metro and made our way up, and behold as we rose out of the paved earth we saw it rising in front of us, quite triumphant but slightly dimmed by the gray overcast sky that seemed to permanently linger like the smell of burnt in the kitchen after neglecting the oven for too long. Yet it was a triumphant sight to behold. We however, focused on another necessity being food, we walked down the Champs Elyees which is a famous street full of shopping, and turned down the side street. We popped into the first bakery we saw and immediately bought bagettes and I a bagette and a pain de chocolate or what is similar to a chocolate crossiant. This enjoyment of pasterying was not to last however, for I stupidly decided I need cash and promptly went to an atm and tried to withdraw money. However, upon selecting an amount the machine read: "At the request of the branch we are withholding your card." Seriously? Yes...it was a very serious matter, no card was returned and I was printed out a receipt saying my card was taken and to see the branch.
So I marched inside, and asked a lady if she spoke English, she said no, and after several minutes she got someone who did. This lady was not much better but she understood and told me to come back at four because she had to call to open the atm. Four it was to be then, and I left a bit hopeful that my card would return to me and this disaster would only be a minor setback.
It was a downcast and distressed mentality that I once again glimpsed the triumphant arc and we made our way underground to cross the roundabout that circled the monument. We got there and saw the eternal flame and the engravings of names and triumphs that the French had achieved. I tried to focus on the positive but my spirits were dampened and quite rightly so, for I had come to the fashion capitol of the world and was near to broke.
We set off walking and after a time made our way to the Eiffel tower it was a good hour of wandering running into random things like a statue of George Washington, yes the American president. We finally glimpsed the Eiffel tower and walked briskly towards it. Yes there it stood, and my first emotion was disappointment, this was it? This huge iron thing was the symbol of love...when I think of love I think of a warm beach and a tropical sunset with waves lapping gently against the sand. Not a cold iron monument only intended to stand for eleven years. The hype it has gotten rendered it to be quite disappointing. Never the less we pressed onward and soon were standing underneath the enourmous tower staring upwards, it was less pleasent up close. That and the mirads of scammers swarming underneath the tower, selling cheaply made eiffel towers and trying to get quadruple it's worth. I ended up buy 10 mini keychain effiel towers for 2 euros because I was sure someone would want one. We took the regular pictures that now fill my camera and set off in the opposite direction.
About fifty meters from the base three jamician men came up to us and said: "hakuna matata" and grabbed our pointer fingers and looped them through some thread they then started to briskly rap thread around more thread and within a minute all three of us were looking down at our wrists to see a handmade bracelet set upon our wrists. Halfway through the process I had said, "You are going to want money for this huh?" The man responded "You are very wise." After bartering and telling the man a sad tale of my debit card being eaten by the atm machine Kristen and I got our bracelets for two euro instead of five, and Phil was not as lucky and paid 2.75 euro. All in all we were delightfully scammed and I made the man take a picture with me so I could always remember this event.
After this we back on the metro and changed lines many times to find ourselves close to St. Christopher's famous hostel. This was quite a nice little hostel where we found beds with drapes and slept six to a room, it was kristen, phil, and I and three other guys. Yet they were all friendly so it was fine.
It was almost four by this time so we set about to go back to the bank. We once again saw the arch de triumph and I walked inside the bank and waited. She was helping someone but had my card, after fifteen minutes or so she asked for my id, saw that it was me and then called my bank, they refused to let her give me the card, and she said "I'm zorry! Ze bank vill not give you ze card, it vil be destroyed." As upset as I was, I copied down a bit of my information from the card and left, trying to console myself that at least it was going to be destroyed. With that I walked off a bit of my frustration and had a delicious crepe and decided to enjoy myself inspite of being put at a set back.
We continued to walk down the Champs Elysees and ended up towards the middle to a round about that in the center there were glorious fountains, and something that was familar to me, but did not belong in native france. An obelisk from Luxor Egypt. I had seen it's sister only a few months before in Egypt and had heard the story of the exchange egypt had with France, Egypt giving france a 3,000 BC obelisk and france in the 1800's giving them a brand new clock which never worked, a poor deal to egypt. I was not happy to see that they had covered the tip with Gold, whereas in egypt they leave them bare. Although it was great to see a landmark I had become so familar with.
After this experience we caught a bus and went to a metro station which we took a brief pitstop to The Moulin Rouge, it was the movie that drew us there. Sure enough there was a small theatre with teh words moulin rouge illuminated on the side and a lit up windmill. It was a quick trip and then we took a metro which led us back to our hostel. There I tried several times to call the states, and each time the numbers did not go through, I had even crammed myself into a sketchy phone booth and talked to several phone operator. Alas I did the last thing possible, emailed my parents and had them deal with the situation.
That night we went to a cafe and I had the best pesto I have ever had in my life. It was delicious and creamy, Kristen and I were also forced to watch Phil eat Es Cargo, or Snails. He even had a fancy little snail holder and fork that let him slurp out the nasty little creatures. We wondered if they were from a farm and they found them in the back of the restaurant. Either way they looked quite unpleasant.
My feet were aching and we made our way back to the Effiel tower to see it at night. It was lit up and suddenly I could see why people think it is lovely, for a dull dingy tower in the day, glows softly at night, like it holds a promise, or is a symbol of light in the dark. Then something incredible happened. It started to sparkles, thousand of LED lights started to twinkle all over the tower and we stood in awe and wonder. A lady grabbed my elbow and I instinctively grabbed my purse but all she said was "Have you ever seen anything like it?" I agreed that no, I had not. I found out she was from Texas and after exchanging a few pleasantries she bid us adeu and left. The twinkling lasted five minutes and then subsided, we found out later it twinkles every night at the top of the hour to five after starting at nine.
After staring a bit more we returned to our hostel and went to bed the day still fresh in our minds.
As I have already written a vast amount I will take a break and continue on in the near future, for nobody wants to read a ten page blog!
To be continued in part b of Paris through Spectacles, a three part series in the adventures of travel week one. (Check back soon for the second half of this trip!)
i
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The brief and curious encounter with Spain
Hey y'all I know its been awhile since I have written, but now I am going to embark on a three part blog series on my first travel week. Whilst abroad on my travel week I have journeyed to three of the most tourist and sought out cities in the world: Barcelona, Paris, and Rome.
Therefore for the first part of my journey I will be reminiscing on my very brief 36 hr visit to spain so here goes part I.
Concerning Spain,
What can I say? Where to begin? Ah yes? Every journey has a beginning, this being Regensburg. My fellow travelers set out with me, Phil and Kristen. Seven days, three countries, no real plan, sounds like every young adult European trip ever ventured. We started our Saturday by waking up early and going to the train station and catching a train to Munich. We chatted excitedly of what our adventures would bring us, not knowing how much transportation was really involved and while on the train we realized that we didn't even know what Barcelona had to offer, except a church and possibly a beach. However this did not daunt us like it would many a traveler we were ready to face what the future beheld.
We had about a half hour transition in the Munich station and then went on several small trains, the last taking us to the Memmigan airport. Now I have to back up and explain something about Ryan Air. First off Ryan Air is an inexpensive airline that gets you to one place and back by the barest means as possible. That means no boarding order, plastic seats, and airports an hour and a half from major cities. This means that if you are flying out of Munich you really have to go an hour out of the way to Memmigan airport which is similar to someone saying you are flying out of Portland but in reality you are flying out of Salem...for those who live in Oregon I hope that holds some significance to what we were up against.
To resume the journey, we were on our last train when we noticed four American students who were complaining loudly that they were late to the airport already, and one of the guys made the comment: "Maybe they will be delayed because the wing fell off." These Americans turned out to be studying abroad in London and they attended Biola in California. We made friends with one of the girls and she happened to know a girl that Phil knows from camp...so small world. Anyway we only had a half hour before their flight left and like 2 hours for ours, we noticed that at one of the stops a boy tried to get off of the train and couldn't figure out how to open it. Therefore when he finally wrenched the doors open the train was already starting to move away from the station, and he took a leap and landed on his feet to promptly faceplant. When realising this boy stood up and acted as if he didn't fall straight on his face, and that he was of the chunky persausion, it was a hilarity to the upmost. To sum it up:
Chunky kid stuck on the train-he figures out how to open the door-he therefore jumps out of the train-face plants-tries to walk away as if it is no big deal-roars of laughter from the train compartments. The train however stopped for about five minutes to figure out if someone died, which luckily he wasn't hurt. This prompted one of our new American acquaintances to retort once again: "We were already late and that was before the kid jumped out of the train." If I had more time this kid and I would have been the best of friends, for his hilarity made a great highlight for my trip.
In short I will save you details, they were late for their flight but it got delayed by an hour so they made it. Ryan air airport, 2 hour late, I got frisked for having change in my pocket by security, we also almost boarded a plane to Reus, but when entering they turned us around because there was no sign and no one stopped us at the gate to double check, but made it through to the right flight, went on an uncomfortable journey with plastic seats, and landed with a great thump. Imagine flipping a pancake, the splat at the end could be likened to that of our landing. Yet with a trumpeted sound, yes they play a trumpet recording when you land if they land on time, and everyone applauded more from the gratitude to being alive then for smooth landing, but when you spend 14.99 euro to fly, you will get a pancake like effect of a flight.
We took a bus to Girona which was acutally were our hotel was. The cutest little Spanish city. Full of side alleys that reminded one of what you would think Italy is all about but really belongs to Spain. (pictures will follow on facebook in a few days if you are curious.) Our first meal I am ashamed to admit was dominoes for nothing else presented itself and being fed braut and schnitzel the past three weeks pizza was a welcomed treat. Our hotel room had the best bed ever, and it was nice to sleep in peace, although this did not last for we woke up at seven to catch a train to Barcelona. Which we did and it was great except that when we reached the train station, we realized we didn't know where anything was and purchased a map. A trip to a youth hostel information desk prompted us to take a bus which we did and found ourselves at the water front.
This is where I am ashamed to admit I don't know anything even after journeying to Barcelona about anything I saw so therefore Wikipedia the names I went to, but we went to this fountain thing, which I couldn't find the name of which was cool, then we walked along the harbor and went to the beach, we didn't stay long but the 35 minutes of glorious beach was amazing, I even let my feet soak in the Mediterranean, which was great because I have seen the other side of this sea, in Alexandria, but as I was extremely sick that time my desire to tough the sea was less. So for a brief time I felt like I was on the Santa Monica beach, and not in Spain which is poor because Spain is so much better. However we had to continue on and walk around the city, when I mean walk, I mean walk...the first day I got blisters, which proved to be a theme for the whole trip. We walked and looked, and walked and looked, got lost several times, and then we found a church to go into then another church, then we walked by a famous artistic house with glorious windows....i still don't know any of the names, we kinda just winged the whole thing! However if you go to this website you can find out briefly what we might have saw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona#Historical_buildings_and_monuments ....lame I know but what do you do? I just thought Barcelona was a beach town but never the less it proved to be a city.
We finished our time at the church of: Sagrada Família which is a famous roman catholic church. We didn't go in however because it was twelve euros to go in, and I have a problem paying to go inside a functioning church, it doesn't seem right. Therefore we popped onto a metro and back on a train and went back to Girona.
If you want my suggestion go to Girona instead of Barcelona, it is quaint and I would say the nicest city we stayed in the entire trip. It was great to walk around and see the many little bridges lining the river, and all the late night dining facilities. We dined on pasta and enjoyed the night air and topped it off with some Gelato. If I haven't mentioned before Gelato is my favorite thing over here, it is nice to eat it alot, espcially since you can get in for a euro usually instead of 3.68 in the USA. I would rather go to Coldstone, then pay for meager gelato it is not right.
Anyway we had a great night walking around and then I forgot my debit card, and wanted some money out of my atm and spotted a Deutche bank and walked back to my hotel for the card and returned only to find out my card wasn't working, then I called my bank and they said it was fine, but then I cut out and could never reconnect, so I figured all was well.
Four am came too early but check out went smooth and we arrived at the airport with time to spare and boarder our flight to continue onto the land of the French. I will speak more of it later, but all in all, I would have liked more time in spain and some research on what I was saying therefore if I am vague on the details it is because I was unaware of what I was really seeing. Regardless I would return to Girona and even barecelona with more emphasis on the beach! So this ends part I part II will be even more epic I promise, for it all starts with the plane ride.
Therefore for the first part of my journey I will be reminiscing on my very brief 36 hr visit to spain so here goes part I.
Concerning Spain,
What can I say? Where to begin? Ah yes? Every journey has a beginning, this being Regensburg. My fellow travelers set out with me, Phil and Kristen. Seven days, three countries, no real plan, sounds like every young adult European trip ever ventured. We started our Saturday by waking up early and going to the train station and catching a train to Munich. We chatted excitedly of what our adventures would bring us, not knowing how much transportation was really involved and while on the train we realized that we didn't even know what Barcelona had to offer, except a church and possibly a beach. However this did not daunt us like it would many a traveler we were ready to face what the future beheld.
We had about a half hour transition in the Munich station and then went on several small trains, the last taking us to the Memmigan airport. Now I have to back up and explain something about Ryan Air. First off Ryan Air is an inexpensive airline that gets you to one place and back by the barest means as possible. That means no boarding order, plastic seats, and airports an hour and a half from major cities. This means that if you are flying out of Munich you really have to go an hour out of the way to Memmigan airport which is similar to someone saying you are flying out of Portland but in reality you are flying out of Salem...for those who live in Oregon I hope that holds some significance to what we were up against.
To resume the journey, we were on our last train when we noticed four American students who were complaining loudly that they were late to the airport already, and one of the guys made the comment: "Maybe they will be delayed because the wing fell off." These Americans turned out to be studying abroad in London and they attended Biola in California. We made friends with one of the girls and she happened to know a girl that Phil knows from camp...so small world. Anyway we only had a half hour before their flight left and like 2 hours for ours, we noticed that at one of the stops a boy tried to get off of the train and couldn't figure out how to open it. Therefore when he finally wrenched the doors open the train was already starting to move away from the station, and he took a leap and landed on his feet to promptly faceplant. When realising this boy stood up and acted as if he didn't fall straight on his face, and that he was of the chunky persausion, it was a hilarity to the upmost. To sum it up:
Chunky kid stuck on the train-he figures out how to open the door-he therefore jumps out of the train-face plants-tries to walk away as if it is no big deal-roars of laughter from the train compartments. The train however stopped for about five minutes to figure out if someone died, which luckily he wasn't hurt. This prompted one of our new American acquaintances to retort once again: "We were already late and that was before the kid jumped out of the train." If I had more time this kid and I would have been the best of friends, for his hilarity made a great highlight for my trip.
In short I will save you details, they were late for their flight but it got delayed by an hour so they made it. Ryan air airport, 2 hour late, I got frisked for having change in my pocket by security, we also almost boarded a plane to Reus, but when entering they turned us around because there was no sign and no one stopped us at the gate to double check, but made it through to the right flight, went on an uncomfortable journey with plastic seats, and landed with a great thump. Imagine flipping a pancake, the splat at the end could be likened to that of our landing. Yet with a trumpeted sound, yes they play a trumpet recording when you land if they land on time, and everyone applauded more from the gratitude to being alive then for smooth landing, but when you spend 14.99 euro to fly, you will get a pancake like effect of a flight.
We took a bus to Girona which was acutally were our hotel was. The cutest little Spanish city. Full of side alleys that reminded one of what you would think Italy is all about but really belongs to Spain. (pictures will follow on facebook in a few days if you are curious.) Our first meal I am ashamed to admit was dominoes for nothing else presented itself and being fed braut and schnitzel the past three weeks pizza was a welcomed treat. Our hotel room had the best bed ever, and it was nice to sleep in peace, although this did not last for we woke up at seven to catch a train to Barcelona. Which we did and it was great except that when we reached the train station, we realized we didn't know where anything was and purchased a map. A trip to a youth hostel information desk prompted us to take a bus which we did and found ourselves at the water front.
This is where I am ashamed to admit I don't know anything even after journeying to Barcelona about anything I saw so therefore Wikipedia the names I went to, but we went to this fountain thing, which I couldn't find the name of which was cool, then we walked along the harbor and went to the beach, we didn't stay long but the 35 minutes of glorious beach was amazing, I even let my feet soak in the Mediterranean, which was great because I have seen the other side of this sea, in Alexandria, but as I was extremely sick that time my desire to tough the sea was less. So for a brief time I felt like I was on the Santa Monica beach, and not in Spain which is poor because Spain is so much better. However we had to continue on and walk around the city, when I mean walk, I mean walk...the first day I got blisters, which proved to be a theme for the whole trip. We walked and looked, and walked and looked, got lost several times, and then we found a church to go into then another church, then we walked by a famous artistic house with glorious windows....i still don't know any of the names, we kinda just winged the whole thing! However if you go to this website you can find out briefly what we might have saw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona#Historical_buildings_and_monuments ....lame I know but what do you do? I just thought Barcelona was a beach town but never the less it proved to be a city.
We finished our time at the church of: Sagrada Família which is a famous roman catholic church. We didn't go in however because it was twelve euros to go in, and I have a problem paying to go inside a functioning church, it doesn't seem right. Therefore we popped onto a metro and back on a train and went back to Girona.
If you want my suggestion go to Girona instead of Barcelona, it is quaint and I would say the nicest city we stayed in the entire trip. It was great to walk around and see the many little bridges lining the river, and all the late night dining facilities. We dined on pasta and enjoyed the night air and topped it off with some Gelato. If I haven't mentioned before Gelato is my favorite thing over here, it is nice to eat it alot, espcially since you can get in for a euro usually instead of 3.68 in the USA. I would rather go to Coldstone, then pay for meager gelato it is not right.
Anyway we had a great night walking around and then I forgot my debit card, and wanted some money out of my atm and spotted a Deutche bank and walked back to my hotel for the card and returned only to find out my card wasn't working, then I called my bank and they said it was fine, but then I cut out and could never reconnect, so I figured all was well.
Four am came too early but check out went smooth and we arrived at the airport with time to spare and boarder our flight to continue onto the land of the French. I will speak more of it later, but all in all, I would have liked more time in spain and some research on what I was saying therefore if I am vague on the details it is because I was unaware of what I was really seeing. Regardless I would return to Girona and even barecelona with more emphasis on the beach! So this ends part I part II will be even more epic I promise, for it all starts with the plane ride.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Augh
Hey Guys sorry I haven't done this in awhile and I am still not updating it now....
However I am about to go to Spain, Paris, and Italy and then I will update you on my life.
A quick update I went to Wiemar a week ago and saw the concentration camp at Buchenwald it was very impacting, we also took a boat ride on thursday to Walhalla (google it if you want to know what it is!)
It's been crazy and exciting and lots of homework...but my bus leaves in 15 so I will update you all later!
~Kacey
However I am about to go to Spain, Paris, and Italy and then I will update you on my life.
A quick update I went to Wiemar a week ago and saw the concentration camp at Buchenwald it was very impacting, we also took a boat ride on thursday to Walhalla (google it if you want to know what it is!)
It's been crazy and exciting and lots of homework...but my bus leaves in 15 so I will update you all later!
~Kacey
Friday, September 10, 2010
Ahh Regensberg and other things
Europe! Germany! I am here! I can honestly say that I never imagined myself living in a German city for three months, especially such a quaint and picturesque city such as Regensburg. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself so far. Being here is incredible, because I wake up and can take a ten-minute walk from the hostel and be in the center of a city over a thousand years old. This is a new experience for me, because I live in a small town of eight thousands which, I would estimate is less then a hundred and fifty years old. Not in the same time period as Regensberg.
Today we went on a walking tour of the churches, buildings, and bridges of the Regensberg. I was astonished to see so much history in this place, from the towers that guarded the city to the smooth cobbled stone steps that caused many of our groups to stumble. I have never experienced a city like this before. We wandered and crossed the old stone city bridge and entered into the city. Our class saw a variety of different shops and old houses, all different styles and bright colors.
The first church we went to was a prominent protestant church in the city. I liked the inside it was not as ornate as the church in Munich, but it was still amazing. I liked looking around and even signed the book where many had left prayers to God, mainly in German, but some in Chinese as well. It was different then any of the catholic churches, for it didn’t have paintings of Mary, and I didn’t feel like it was quite as ornate. I was still nice to be able to go into a protestant church though because it was unique to see a different sort of church.
The Church of Saint Peter was incredible. I was taken back by how intricate the gothic design was on the outside. The gargoyles reminded me of what I would imagine Notre Dame Church looks like. Yet the inside was my favorite part. I loved the intricate stained glass windows and the paintings and structure of the church. The ceiling seemed as though it was a hundred feet high or something of the sort, I am not very good measuring distances. It was a fascinating church to be in.
One fact that stood out to me about the church and Regensberg was the story about three martyrs. They stood up to the SS because the Americans were threatening to bomb Regensberg if they didn’t surrender the Nazi’s. So these men went to the SS and asked them to surrender to spare the city, and were martyred in the process. I think it is very honorable to lay down your life for your people and your city. The Church had a few tombs that you could go visit underneath and I believe one of them was buried there, along with some of the past bishops. It was very silent in the tombs and the amount of reverence by the people was apparent in how they studied and observed the tombs.
I thought that this experience was a good introduction to the city that we are going to live in. Wendell Berry talks about making the place that you are dwelling in somewhere you care for. In turn this place becomes your own and then you care even more about how you are impacting your place, and in turn it makes a greater impact on you. This is an idea that I am going to incorporate into this trip. My goal is that when I leave Regensberg, I am going to leave a small part of myself here. So that in the future when I hopefully return, for at least a visit, a part of me is going to feel like I am coming home. This is something that I have begun practicing in my life not just in Germany, but in other aspects of my life, I can say I left a little bit of me on the shores of a Nubian village in Aswan Egypt, and on top of a small mountain on the outskirts of San Diego in Ramona California. I think that in order to truly enjoy an experience and get something out of it, you have to be able to put yourself out there to be changed and molded by the experience that is going to encompass you. So far I have really enjoyed my time here!
Today we went on a walking tour of the churches, buildings, and bridges of the Regensberg. I was astonished to see so much history in this place, from the towers that guarded the city to the smooth cobbled stone steps that caused many of our groups to stumble. I have never experienced a city like this before. We wandered and crossed the old stone city bridge and entered into the city. Our class saw a variety of different shops and old houses, all different styles and bright colors.
The first church we went to was a prominent protestant church in the city. I liked the inside it was not as ornate as the church in Munich, but it was still amazing. I liked looking around and even signed the book where many had left prayers to God, mainly in German, but some in Chinese as well. It was different then any of the catholic churches, for it didn’t have paintings of Mary, and I didn’t feel like it was quite as ornate. I was still nice to be able to go into a protestant church though because it was unique to see a different sort of church.
The Church of Saint Peter was incredible. I was taken back by how intricate the gothic design was on the outside. The gargoyles reminded me of what I would imagine Notre Dame Church looks like. Yet the inside was my favorite part. I loved the intricate stained glass windows and the paintings and structure of the church. The ceiling seemed as though it was a hundred feet high or something of the sort, I am not very good measuring distances. It was a fascinating church to be in.
One fact that stood out to me about the church and Regensberg was the story about three martyrs. They stood up to the SS because the Americans were threatening to bomb Regensberg if they didn’t surrender the Nazi’s. So these men went to the SS and asked them to surrender to spare the city, and were martyred in the process. I think it is very honorable to lay down your life for your people and your city. The Church had a few tombs that you could go visit underneath and I believe one of them was buried there, along with some of the past bishops. It was very silent in the tombs and the amount of reverence by the people was apparent in how they studied and observed the tombs.
I thought that this experience was a good introduction to the city that we are going to live in. Wendell Berry talks about making the place that you are dwelling in somewhere you care for. In turn this place becomes your own and then you care even more about how you are impacting your place, and in turn it makes a greater impact on you. This is an idea that I am going to incorporate into this trip. My goal is that when I leave Regensberg, I am going to leave a small part of myself here. So that in the future when I hopefully return, for at least a visit, a part of me is going to feel like I am coming home. This is something that I have begun practicing in my life not just in Germany, but in other aspects of my life, I can say I left a little bit of me on the shores of a Nubian village in Aswan Egypt, and on top of a small mountain on the outskirts of San Diego in Ramona California. I think that in order to truly enjoy an experience and get something out of it, you have to be able to put yourself out there to be changed and molded by the experience that is going to encompass you. So far I have really enjoyed my time here!
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