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.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
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.
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