Last night in Paris! I am all packed up and ready to go in the morning. But first, the obligatory blog entry about my last few days!
Yesterday I definitely woke up after noon, with nothing whatsoever to do anyway. I played around on the computer, sent some emails, showered, and hung around until 18:30, when Maureen got tired of studying and decided it would be time for dinner. We walked up to Rue Mouffetard (definitely the coolest street in this arrondissement) and went to a little Italian place on a corner. It was super cute and the food was appropriately portioned, but the waitress was not incredibly nice and messed up our bill at the end of it all. C'était pas grave.
After dinner we completed the Italian illusion with gelato from down the street. They put it on the cone in the shape of a rose, which is pretty fantastic. They didn't have mint, so I got caramel and Nutella instead. I really do enjoy Nutella. I wonder if I can bring some back with me...
Maureen wanted to continue studying and I wanted to check out le Jardin du Luxembourg, so we parted ways and I made the 15 minute walk on part of the route I took Wednesday, when I'd passed the garden. It's apparently the largest public park in the 6th arrondissement, and people were everywhere in chairs and on benches. I wandered all throughout it, taking pictures of a giant gold head (Le Prophète; not anyone specific), the first version of the Statue of Liberty (a tiny version, with an American oak behind it as a memorial for September 11th), a version of Rome's Mouth of Truth, grass you can't lie on, and more. It was very calm and peaceful, and I actually sat down for half an hour and attempted to write. Though it pretty much failed, it was still quite fun, and I definitely plan on spending more time there next time I'm in the city.
I made it back for an earlier night than the one before, since this morning I had to wake up at 10:00. Maureen's final was from 10:15 until 10:30, and she planned on being back around 11:00 so we could go to the crêpe restaurant. While she made it back a little late, we still got there before 11:30. Maureen's roommates Noelle, Nikki and Kathy, plus their friend Laura, Maureen and I were the only ones in the restaurant, until an American family came in and sat down, but only after the mother had removed all of the knives from the table. We made our orders and got our drinks, and five minutes later the family walked out without saying anything to the waitress, who got pretty mad. She talked to us about it, and asked if that was normal in the US; we said no, not unless we hadn't gotten a table yet. Pretty ridiculous.
I got a crepe with strawberry ice cream, black cherries, whipped cream and pecans, and it was absolutely fantastic. The black cherries had been sitting in alcohol apparently, so they were a little strong, but it was still a delicious breakfast. I'm so excited for all the fun restaurants I know in Paris now! Maureen and I went back to the apartment for a few minutes afterward, to get ready for our long day in the city, before catching the bus to Centre Georges Pompidou, the modern art museum. We met Maureen's friend Kim in the plaza in front of it before heading in, since Kim was leaving for Greece this afternoon and Maureen leaves for home soon after Kim gets back. Though we plotted ways to get the European Union discount that adults from 18-25 receive (free tickets!), we ended up paying a reduced ticket price for the museums and exhibitions. I wish the US would do something where we get free museum tickets in Europe too! And do it in the next four years so I can enjoy it. Thanks, America.
The top floor had the Kandinsky exhibit I was so excited about, as well as a Calder exhibit. Kandinsky's works after 1911 are so much better than the ones beforehand, when he gave up trying to paint anything realistic and just decided to throw shapes, lines and color onto a canvas. I'm sure his artistic theories give rhyme and reason to his compositions and improvisations, but I cannot make any sense of them. My favorite is when the paintings were called Red Oval or Several Circles; why thank you, I had no idea what this was a painting of, and now I know.
Calder's wire sculptures were also great, with an entire circus and tons of sculpted people and animals. All of the figures were anatomically correct also; it made me laugh. The best were the sculptures of Heracles with the Nimean lion and Romulus and Remus with a wolf. The exhibit continued on the fourth level with old-fashioned looking toys, which would have been more amazing if they were moving like it seemed they could. They rest of that level was a huge exhibit called elles@centrepompidou, aka female artists and incredibly feminist setups. One of the first rooms was labeled "potentially offensive to certain viewers" and was full of sculptures of female genitalia and a few pornographic paintings and photographs. There were a few cool exhibits, including a room with woven mats hanging overhead casting shadows onto the floor, and a few strange ones, including a leather looking dress that had, when it was first displayed, been bleeding, raw meat. Sometimes I feel validated for being a vegetarian; today was one of those days.
The fourth level wiped us out, so we zipped through the fifth level of impressionist paintings, taking a little more time for Picasso and Matisse, before heading back to the first level (the second and third are a library). It had rained while we were inside, but thankfully cleared up, so we missed the worst. The fountain next to the Pompidou is one of my favorites, filled with strange looking sculptures that spit water, so we took a few pictures before walking to the area around Notre Dame for souvenir shopping. I made my close-to-final purchases for the trip, and we walked towards the Métro to the Longchamp store!
We arrived pretty quickly, but I was upset to realize that they were all out of the bag I wanted; they had the style I wanted in every color but orange, and orange bags in every style but mine. Maureen guessed they would have them at the Galleries Lafayettes, a huge department store that I had gone to on one of our last days in Paris during high school, so we walked the entire way there to see if they were out too. They were, in fact, not out, and I think I grabbed the last one of the bag I wanted! A successful trip for the only real souvenir I got myself in Paris. Thanks Granny <3
The Champs Elysses was a little farther than us at that point, but I only had one available Métro ticket left and that had to get us back to Maureen's apartment. We used her map to get us close, but at one point we walked in a circle before we finally got where we wanted to be. We took pictures of l'Arc de Triomphe from the middle of the street, thanks an island between crosswalks, then found the Métro so we could go back to Rue Mouffetard for a much needed dinner. We had not eaten since the crêpe restaurant; we were starving.
The little French restaurant had a great 14€ menu that we ordered from, which included an appetizer, entrée and dessert. I got chèvre chaud avec la salade, et saumon (salad with goat's cheese and salmon), while Maureen got soupe de l'oignon et steak-frites (french onion soup and steak with French fries). We both got Kir for a drink, though I knocked mine over after dropping bread into my salad and lost a quarter of it, and then we got chocolate mousse for dessert. Easily one of the better meals on my trip; I also enjoyed the linguini with clams and the amazing dessert wine in Rome.
After dinner we went to the grocery store to get popcorn, since we'd decided to watch a movie while I packed, and I got a French reusable grocery bag! It is orange (obviously) with a lady bug on it, aka adorable. We came back to the apartment and I started packing clothes while Maureen showered, then organized souvenirs in my backpack while we started watching Bride Wars. Funniest movie ever, but it makes me afraid to ever try to get married. I have plenty of room in my duffel bag and backpack, since I'm checking my duffel bag with a suitcase filled with Maureen's books, instead of carrying on my duffel bag with just my backpack. This means I can have a purse on the plane! Not that it's necessary; I packed light for two weeks.
Tomorrow I'm waking up at 9:00 to shower and make sure everything is set before we leave for the Métro at 10:00. I'm catching the RER (a train to the Charles de Gaulle) from Châtelet, which will take me straight to Terminal 2, where I catch American Airlines flight 147 to Logan and hope my ride is there on time. It'll be nice to have a direct flight this time! It will also be the longest day ever, since when I arrive I'll think it's 21:30 but it will really be 15:30 and I'll have the entire rest of the day. If I can make it to 22:00 or 23:00 before I sleep, I will consider it a success; I just hope I wake up early on Monday, since I have my first day at Channel 5 Boston at 11:00!
I can't believe I'm leaving. This trip has been too amazing. It will be nice to be back though, where I can get a normally-priced Starbucks and send text messages!
Time to sleep; early morning tomorrow!
Love,
Sam
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Paris: Part III
Bonjour de la Ville-Lumière! We are back in Paris and my trip is slowly winding down. I've been doing pretty much everything I planned on, so hopefully for the next two days it will be the same!
Tuesday night when we landed at Beauvais it was after 22:30, so by the time the bus shuttle from the airport to Paris it was almost midnight. We didn't want to risk missing the Métro, and didn't want to take an hour to get home, so we caught a cab instead. It was awesome; we drove right down le Champs Elysses and saw l'Arc de Triomphe, la Tour Eiffel, Musée d'Orsay, and Notre Dame all in about a ten minute period. Pretty fantastic.
Yesterday morning was very slow; I didn't wake up until noon and was able to shower and do laundry before I went out into the city for my own adventure. Maureen had to study, so I Google-mapped my route and set out for an afternoon of sight-seeing and picture-taking. I started with Saint-Sulpice, and got moderately turned around on the way there, which led me to see the Pantheon; not too bad. I then went looking for a café that someone I work with had recommended, and got turned around again; that led me to find le Theatre Odéon, and made it easier to find the café, so I wouldn't say that was terrible either.
From there it was on to the Tuilieries, which was awesome to walk around. A lot of the statues were of figures from Greek mythology, which I took an entire class on in Spring 2008. It was fun to guess what the statues were before reading the plaques. Some random guy tried to talk to me, so I pretended I didn't understand French and headed back to the Louvre to take pictures of the pyramid. I went out on the wrong side and had to walk back around to cross the Seine again, since Saint-Chapelle and Notre Dame are both on l'Isle de la Cité. It was already 18:00 by this point, so I had to book it back for dinner, but I ended up getting lost somewhere between Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève. Effective use of bus maps got me back to Maureen's by 19:00, only half an hour late. She had made rice and vegetables, so we ate and got ready to go out for the last part of our evening: le Louvre!
Since the Louvre is discounted and open late on Wednesdays and Fridays, we were able to go for almost three hours and see the Mona Lisa (La Joconde is super tiny, but at least this time I was able to get closer than I was four years ago), the Venus de Milo, Napoleon III's apartments and various other exhibits. We made it into all of the sections of the museum (Denon, Sully, Richelieu) even if we didn't see everything. Definitely a good second visit.
Today we woke up with pancakes (aka amazing) and then set out for Musée d'Orsay, my favorite museum in Paris. It used to be a train station, so it's strangely organized, but we started at the top and made our way down. In the front of the museum are a lot of impressionist paintings by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Manet, Degas...etc, and there are random exhibits everywhere you turn. As you walk through the hallway on level three, there's an exhibit on shadowbox theater, and on level two there are seven or eight of the same bust, in various stages of creation, to show how sculptures are made. I guess you have to make do with the space you have when your building was originally a traffic center.
On each side of the museum are galleries of furniture, sculptures, and even more paintings, including the exhibit "Voir Italie et Mourir." We have no idea why there is an exhibit called "See Italy and Die," but it was pretty fitting considering our recent trip. There were a few drawings of places we'd seen, including the Pantheon in Rome and Piazza San Marco in Venice; very cool. We also went to the very end of the museum's main level and went up this random platform that allows you to look over the entire main entrance and get a good view of the clock that I love so much. It's really strange how I love cool looking clocks, but hate being early...
I had to make it back to the apartment by 16:00 to talk to Shannon, who is in Hong Kong, about the UGBC Comm budget, which we then submitted a full 24 hours early. Dinner was pasta at 18:00 so we could get to la Tour Eiffel and climb to the top! We took the equivalent of the B line for the Métro, which I think is awesome because it's called Étoile-Nation (Star Nation! But really it just runs from Étoile station to Nation station...say that five times fast) and ended up very close to the tower. The line was huge if we wanted to take the elevator all the way up, so for the second time in my life I climbed the 700 stairs to the second level before taking the mandatory elevator to la sommet. At least this time I wasn't conducting a physics experiment.
At the top you can get a 10€ glass of champagne, but we opted to just take pictures from every angle imaginable. I accidentally blocked someone's picture, but that was the most embarrassing thing that happened at the top of me; it seemed like someone had gotten sick before we got there, so at least I didn't have that problem. The observation deck is one level above a walled in room with distances from la Tour Eiffel to various countries, including two numbers for the US! Boston was not there, but New York/Washington were, as was Los Angeles! This amused me.
We rode the elevator all the way down and then walked down the Champs de Mars to take pictures of ourselves jumping in front of the tower. They came out well enough, just very dark, and we effectively made fools of ourselves in front of a lot of people. There's a cool glass monument at the end with "peace" covering it in many languages; reminds me of the Holocaust Memorial at Government Center. We couldn't find cheap crêpes anywhere, so we took the Métro to Jussieu and walked down Rue Mouffetard to go back to the awesome Greek crêpe place for des crêpes sucrées! I got one with bananas and Nutella; so delicious. I wish the US had more crêpe places.
I just got back and will probably be up all night editing pictures and playing games. Tomorrow we don't have many plans, so I can wake up super late and not feel bad. Maureen wants to go to her Italian place on Rue Mouffetard for dinner, and I want to wander through the Luxembourg garden for a bit, so that should be it for the day. Saturday I'm going with Maureen and her roommates to a sit-down restaurant that serves crêpes, and apparently they are amazing with ice cream and other delicious things. Then we're going to the Centre Pompidou, l'Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame for souvenir shopping before dinner at a French restaurant. I have to pack, which I'm not looking forward to, and then my flight is at 13:30 on Sunday! I can't believe I only have two days left.
Only a few more posts to go! Until then,
Sam
Tuesday night when we landed at Beauvais it was after 22:30, so by the time the bus shuttle from the airport to Paris it was almost midnight. We didn't want to risk missing the Métro, and didn't want to take an hour to get home, so we caught a cab instead. It was awesome; we drove right down le Champs Elysses and saw l'Arc de Triomphe, la Tour Eiffel, Musée d'Orsay, and Notre Dame all in about a ten minute period. Pretty fantastic.
Yesterday morning was very slow; I didn't wake up until noon and was able to shower and do laundry before I went out into the city for my own adventure. Maureen had to study, so I Google-mapped my route and set out for an afternoon of sight-seeing and picture-taking. I started with Saint-Sulpice, and got moderately turned around on the way there, which led me to see the Pantheon; not too bad. I then went looking for a café that someone I work with had recommended, and got turned around again; that led me to find le Theatre Odéon, and made it easier to find the café, so I wouldn't say that was terrible either.
From there it was on to the Tuilieries, which was awesome to walk around. A lot of the statues were of figures from Greek mythology, which I took an entire class on in Spring 2008. It was fun to guess what the statues were before reading the plaques. Some random guy tried to talk to me, so I pretended I didn't understand French and headed back to the Louvre to take pictures of the pyramid. I went out on the wrong side and had to walk back around to cross the Seine again, since Saint-Chapelle and Notre Dame are both on l'Isle de la Cité. It was already 18:00 by this point, so I had to book it back for dinner, but I ended up getting lost somewhere between Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève. Effective use of bus maps got me back to Maureen's by 19:00, only half an hour late. She had made rice and vegetables, so we ate and got ready to go out for the last part of our evening: le Louvre!
Since the Louvre is discounted and open late on Wednesdays and Fridays, we were able to go for almost three hours and see the Mona Lisa (La Joconde is super tiny, but at least this time I was able to get closer than I was four years ago), the Venus de Milo, Napoleon III's apartments and various other exhibits. We made it into all of the sections of the museum (Denon, Sully, Richelieu) even if we didn't see everything. Definitely a good second visit.
Today we woke up with pancakes (aka amazing) and then set out for Musée d'Orsay, my favorite museum in Paris. It used to be a train station, so it's strangely organized, but we started at the top and made our way down. In the front of the museum are a lot of impressionist paintings by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Manet, Degas...etc, and there are random exhibits everywhere you turn. As you walk through the hallway on level three, there's an exhibit on shadowbox theater, and on level two there are seven or eight of the same bust, in various stages of creation, to show how sculptures are made. I guess you have to make do with the space you have when your building was originally a traffic center.
On each side of the museum are galleries of furniture, sculptures, and even more paintings, including the exhibit "Voir Italie et Mourir." We have no idea why there is an exhibit called "See Italy and Die," but it was pretty fitting considering our recent trip. There were a few drawings of places we'd seen, including the Pantheon in Rome and Piazza San Marco in Venice; very cool. We also went to the very end of the museum's main level and went up this random platform that allows you to look over the entire main entrance and get a good view of the clock that I love so much. It's really strange how I love cool looking clocks, but hate being early...
I had to make it back to the apartment by 16:00 to talk to Shannon, who is in Hong Kong, about the UGBC Comm budget, which we then submitted a full 24 hours early. Dinner was pasta at 18:00 so we could get to la Tour Eiffel and climb to the top! We took the equivalent of the B line for the Métro, which I think is awesome because it's called Étoile-Nation (Star Nation! But really it just runs from Étoile station to Nation station...say that five times fast) and ended up very close to the tower. The line was huge if we wanted to take the elevator all the way up, so for the second time in my life I climbed the 700 stairs to the second level before taking the mandatory elevator to la sommet. At least this time I wasn't conducting a physics experiment.
At the top you can get a 10€ glass of champagne, but we opted to just take pictures from every angle imaginable. I accidentally blocked someone's picture, but that was the most embarrassing thing that happened at the top of me; it seemed like someone had gotten sick before we got there, so at least I didn't have that problem. The observation deck is one level above a walled in room with distances from la Tour Eiffel to various countries, including two numbers for the US! Boston was not there, but New York/Washington were, as was Los Angeles! This amused me.
We rode the elevator all the way down and then walked down the Champs de Mars to take pictures of ourselves jumping in front of the tower. They came out well enough, just very dark, and we effectively made fools of ourselves in front of a lot of people. There's a cool glass monument at the end with "peace" covering it in many languages; reminds me of the Holocaust Memorial at Government Center. We couldn't find cheap crêpes anywhere, so we took the Métro to Jussieu and walked down Rue Mouffetard to go back to the awesome Greek crêpe place for des crêpes sucrées! I got one with bananas and Nutella; so delicious. I wish the US had more crêpe places.
I just got back and will probably be up all night editing pictures and playing games. Tomorrow we don't have many plans, so I can wake up super late and not feel bad. Maureen wants to go to her Italian place on Rue Mouffetard for dinner, and I want to wander through the Luxembourg garden for a bit, so that should be it for the day. Saturday I'm going with Maureen and her roommates to a sit-down restaurant that serves crêpes, and apparently they are amazing with ice cream and other delicious things. Then we're going to the Centre Pompidou, l'Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame for souvenir shopping before dinner at a French restaurant. I have to pack, which I'm not looking forward to, and then my flight is at 13:30 on Sunday! I can't believe I only have two days left.
Only a few more posts to go! Until then,
Sam
Friday, June 12, 2009
Roma: Part I
Buon giorno! Maureen and I have finally arrived in Italia, and so far our first half a day has been great. But of course, I have to finish up with what happened yesterday, as the first half of my Paris adventure concluded! I can't believe it's already been a week since I left.
Maureen and I woke up early to head to a café to get hot drinks with her European Judicial System class. We both had chocolate chaud and spoke with two of the boys in her class, a Canadian named Nick and an Austrian whose name I never caught. The topic once again turned to the differences in the way French citizens and American citizens view their nationality; any citizen in France is French, their family is French and they have always been French. Yet any citizen in America does not have direct ties to the country, unless they are Native American. Therefore, Americans must assert their heritage, by stating whether they are 20% Irish or 50% Italian, or a complete European mutt, like I am (British, Irish, Dutch, French, German). Nick has apparently found it convenient to sometimes be American and sometimes be Canadian, since his accent does not give away his location. I'll have to remember to try that in the future.
We went straight from the café to Sciences-Po for the actual class on the European Justice System, where I zoned out and worked on the UGBC Communication department budget for the 2009-2010 academic year. When that ended at 12:30 we had to go to a different Sciences-Po building for her French class, which was a language class so I could understand it. Grades were handed out, and then 3 students still have to give exposés to the class. The first was on l'alphabet Coreén (the Korean alphabet), and even though the entire point of the class was to enjoy French food, since every student had brought in cheese or crackers or fruit or a baguette or wine (yes, wine), the presenter decided it would be rude if people were eating while he was presenting. He had a good presentation though, and I learned my name in Hangul: ㅅㅏㅁ. He did not seem to have a problem eating and drinking while the next two exposés were given, on baseball and universal allocation.
After a stop to the computer lab to print information for our trip to Italy, we headed back to Maureen's apartment. She wrote out a postcard, and we headed to the post office to mail her one and my four! If you requested a postcard, it is on its way. If you have not requested a postcard yet and would like one, please donate $1 or 0.85€ to my Paypal account (link is on the right) and comment with your address ;)
I still had to pack for Italy, so after filling the other half of Maureen's suitcase, taking a shower, and eating a delicious dinner cooked by Mo (<3) we headed back into the city for another happy hour with Kim. We stopped at a place called Student Bar on Rue Mouffetard and had a great time with Sex on the Beach, a marguerita, a Pink Lady, something with banana and a B52 which was lit on fire. Before getting a table some random guy invited us to the downstairs, but we played it safe and got our own place to sit. The only things missing were glow sticks.
The night ended pretty much right after happy hour, since we had to leave the apartment by 5:30 this morning. It was hell. However, we made the 5:39 Métro, enjoyed endured the singing of drunken girls from clubs on the Champs Elysses, and were safe on our shuttle to Beauvais at 6:00. Everything was going according to plan until we actually got to BVA and our flight was delayed half an hour. What was even better was waiting in line behind a group of 5 or 6 people arguing with the girl at the desk, only to be told during our turn that we had to go to the Visa Check line. Eventually our bag was checked and we'd made it through security (the razor has still not been confiscated!), leaving us an hour to sit around in the terminal and wait for our gate to be announced. Maureen and I wandered through the duty free store, enjoyed the Calvin Klein summer fragrance, discussed the merits of Swatch watches, ate a muffin, played games, etc etc etc.
It was a long hour, but eventually our plane arrived and we moved outside to climb the stairs to our seats. I pretty much slept through the entire flight, missing the Alps that we apparently flew over, and landed in Rome Ciampino to weather that was about 10 degrees warmer. It was gorgeous. They packed everyone on the plane onto two shuttles buses, let us grab our bags from baggage claim, and then released us to the city without even checking our passports. It was super lame; I wanted a pretty stamp to prove I'd been to Rome!
We were luckily able to catch the 12:40 bus to the citta centro at Rome Termini (a bus station in the city center), and sat in traffic for about half an hour before we could head to our hotel. After a half hour walk wearing jeans and long sleeved shirts, we melted our way to Domus Caracalla. Maureen had us buzzed in, where we had to walk through the building, across the courtyard, and take the elevator in the second building to the top floor. The room is adorable, and we have both decided we will never come to Rome without staying here. There's a double bed, marble-esque floors, a cute bathroom with a shower head that rains down vertically, free WiFi, a TV, a wardrobe and a balcony with a table and two chairs for when they bring us breakfast in the door! It could not be better if we tried. Venice will be a step down, but at least we can take a few amazing showers in Rome before we have to share a common bathroom on Monday.
After a quick change and a call to Bank of America, we went off in search of a Deutsche Bank so I could withdraw money. Unfortunately, my debit card number has been compromised, so there's a hold on my account until I return to the States. Since I'm still in Europe, they gave me a number to call every time I want to use an ATM, and I had done so to give the instruction that I would be at an ATM in 20 minutes and the hold should be lifted momentarily then. When we finally found the Deutsche Bank, however, the ATM was "instructed" to return my card to me and tell me to call my bank. We had no idea what to do. We tried to use a pay phone at a Métro station to call Bank of America back, but the collect operator kept saying that all of the numbers we provided could not be reached. This is despite the fact that every time I call the number, an automated voice says twice that collect calls are accepted. We were both annoyed and upset, so we decided we had to head back to the hotel and call Bank of America again. Luckily, we decided to check the ATM one more time before we made the trek, and lo and behold Bank of America had just been ridiculously slow. Crisis averted.
We had the rest of the afternoon to wander and find a place for dinner, so we headed to the Coliseum and the Arco di Costantino. The Coliseum was fantastic, but it was too expensive to go inside. The Palatino, an archaeological site, is nearby, so we walked around the perimeter of that to see the forum before walking back to the hotel the long way in search of a good restaurant. We were back at Domus Caracalla before we found one, so we continued to walk back the way we'd come in from Termini earlier to stop at any good place we found. We ended up at Hostaria del Buongustaio, or the house of the connoisseur. We shared fried calamari and shrimp, and I got spaghetti with clams while Maureen got veal and potatoes. Thank god for carbs! With the bread and the wine, Italy definitely has the best food so far. We were even given some dessert wine that tasted delicious, but our real dessert was of course gelato. I may not be Italian, but I sure enjoy the food.
We made it back to the hotel for showers and relaxation; one of the owners asked why girls as young as ourselves were back so early! Hopefully tomorrow we'll be out later, since we have so much to see: the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, Palazzo Chigi, Piazzo del Popolo, Piazza Navona, Castel San Angelo, and anything else along the way. We're taking a hop-on, hop-off bus tour all day, which should get us everywhere, and when it ends around 20:00 we'll get dinner and call it a night! Sunday we head to Venice in the afternoon, but we have to check out of the guest house around noon and we don't know what we'll have time for in the morning. We shall have to see! I'm hoping for more gelato.
Something we get to look forward to at the Vatican: strict dress code! No cell phones, no smoking, no hats, no shirts with profanity, no shoulders or cleavage or even knees. In this heat, it might be difficult.
It's time to post pictures and this entry, since we have breakfast coming at 9:30 and our bus to catch!
Arrivederci per il momento,
Sam
Maureen and I woke up early to head to a café to get hot drinks with her European Judicial System class. We both had chocolate chaud and spoke with two of the boys in her class, a Canadian named Nick and an Austrian whose name I never caught. The topic once again turned to the differences in the way French citizens and American citizens view their nationality; any citizen in France is French, their family is French and they have always been French. Yet any citizen in America does not have direct ties to the country, unless they are Native American. Therefore, Americans must assert their heritage, by stating whether they are 20% Irish or 50% Italian, or a complete European mutt, like I am (British, Irish, Dutch, French, German). Nick has apparently found it convenient to sometimes be American and sometimes be Canadian, since his accent does not give away his location. I'll have to remember to try that in the future.
We went straight from the café to Sciences-Po for the actual class on the European Justice System, where I zoned out and worked on the UGBC Communication department budget for the 2009-2010 academic year. When that ended at 12:30 we had to go to a different Sciences-Po building for her French class, which was a language class so I could understand it. Grades were handed out, and then 3 students still have to give exposés to the class. The first was on l'alphabet Coreén (the Korean alphabet), and even though the entire point of the class was to enjoy French food, since every student had brought in cheese or crackers or fruit or a baguette or wine (yes, wine), the presenter decided it would be rude if people were eating while he was presenting. He had a good presentation though, and I learned my name in Hangul: ㅅㅏㅁ. He did not seem to have a problem eating and drinking while the next two exposés were given, on baseball and universal allocation.
After a stop to the computer lab to print information for our trip to Italy, we headed back to Maureen's apartment. She wrote out a postcard, and we headed to the post office to mail her one and my four! If you requested a postcard, it is on its way. If you have not requested a postcard yet and would like one, please donate $1 or 0.85€ to my Paypal account (link is on the right) and comment with your address ;)
I still had to pack for Italy, so after filling the other half of Maureen's suitcase, taking a shower, and eating a delicious dinner cooked by Mo (<3) we headed back into the city for another happy hour with Kim. We stopped at a place called Student Bar on Rue Mouffetard and had a great time with Sex on the Beach, a marguerita, a Pink Lady, something with banana and a B52 which was lit on fire. Before getting a table some random guy invited us to the downstairs, but we played it safe and got our own place to sit. The only things missing were glow sticks.
The night ended pretty much right after happy hour, since we had to leave the apartment by 5:30 this morning. It was hell. However, we made the 5:39 Métro, enjoyed endured the singing of drunken girls from clubs on the Champs Elysses, and were safe on our shuttle to Beauvais at 6:00. Everything was going according to plan until we actually got to BVA and our flight was delayed half an hour. What was even better was waiting in line behind a group of 5 or 6 people arguing with the girl at the desk, only to be told during our turn that we had to go to the Visa Check line. Eventually our bag was checked and we'd made it through security (the razor has still not been confiscated!), leaving us an hour to sit around in the terminal and wait for our gate to be announced. Maureen and I wandered through the duty free store, enjoyed the Calvin Klein summer fragrance, discussed the merits of Swatch watches, ate a muffin, played games, etc etc etc.
It was a long hour, but eventually our plane arrived and we moved outside to climb the stairs to our seats. I pretty much slept through the entire flight, missing the Alps that we apparently flew over, and landed in Rome Ciampino to weather that was about 10 degrees warmer. It was gorgeous. They packed everyone on the plane onto two shuttles buses, let us grab our bags from baggage claim, and then released us to the city without even checking our passports. It was super lame; I wanted a pretty stamp to prove I'd been to Rome!
We were luckily able to catch the 12:40 bus to the citta centro at Rome Termini (a bus station in the city center), and sat in traffic for about half an hour before we could head to our hotel. After a half hour walk wearing jeans and long sleeved shirts, we melted our way to Domus Caracalla. Maureen had us buzzed in, where we had to walk through the building, across the courtyard, and take the elevator in the second building to the top floor. The room is adorable, and we have both decided we will never come to Rome without staying here. There's a double bed, marble-esque floors, a cute bathroom with a shower head that rains down vertically, free WiFi, a TV, a wardrobe and a balcony with a table and two chairs for when they bring us breakfast in the door! It could not be better if we tried. Venice will be a step down, but at least we can take a few amazing showers in Rome before we have to share a common bathroom on Monday.
After a quick change and a call to Bank of America, we went off in search of a Deutsche Bank so I could withdraw money. Unfortunately, my debit card number has been compromised, so there's a hold on my account until I return to the States. Since I'm still in Europe, they gave me a number to call every time I want to use an ATM, and I had done so to give the instruction that I would be at an ATM in 20 minutes and the hold should be lifted momentarily then. When we finally found the Deutsche Bank, however, the ATM was "instructed" to return my card to me and tell me to call my bank. We had no idea what to do. We tried to use a pay phone at a Métro station to call Bank of America back, but the collect operator kept saying that all of the numbers we provided could not be reached. This is despite the fact that every time I call the number, an automated voice says twice that collect calls are accepted. We were both annoyed and upset, so we decided we had to head back to the hotel and call Bank of America again. Luckily, we decided to check the ATM one more time before we made the trek, and lo and behold Bank of America had just been ridiculously slow. Crisis averted.
We had the rest of the afternoon to wander and find a place for dinner, so we headed to the Coliseum and the Arco di Costantino. The Coliseum was fantastic, but it was too expensive to go inside. The Palatino, an archaeological site, is nearby, so we walked around the perimeter of that to see the forum before walking back to the hotel the long way in search of a good restaurant. We were back at Domus Caracalla before we found one, so we continued to walk back the way we'd come in from Termini earlier to stop at any good place we found. We ended up at Hostaria del Buongustaio, or the house of the connoisseur. We shared fried calamari and shrimp, and I got spaghetti with clams while Maureen got veal and potatoes. Thank god for carbs! With the bread and the wine, Italy definitely has the best food so far. We were even given some dessert wine that tasted delicious, but our real dessert was of course gelato. I may not be Italian, but I sure enjoy the food.
We made it back to the hotel for showers and relaxation; one of the owners asked why girls as young as ourselves were back so early! Hopefully tomorrow we'll be out later, since we have so much to see: the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, Palazzo Chigi, Piazzo del Popolo, Piazza Navona, Castel San Angelo, and anything else along the way. We're taking a hop-on, hop-off bus tour all day, which should get us everywhere, and when it ends around 20:00 we'll get dinner and call it a night! Sunday we head to Venice in the afternoon, but we have to check out of the guest house around noon and we don't know what we'll have time for in the morning. We shall have to see! I'm hoping for more gelato.
Something we get to look forward to at the Vatican: strict dress code! No cell phones, no smoking, no hats, no shirts with profanity, no shoulders or cleavage or even knees. In this heat, it might be difficult.
It's time to post pictures and this entry, since we have breakfast coming at 9:30 and our bus to catch!
Arrivederci per il momento,
Sam
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Paris: Part II
Today has been another slow day before I leave this country for a warmer, less rainy destination. Fun fact: it has rained, more or less, every day since I have arrived in Europe. From my overnight connection in London, which required an umbrella; to my first exploration after getting off the plane, which included a lot of ducking under awnings; to today, which absolutely poured for about an hour; I clearly brought terrible weather to Europe.
This morning I was able to sleep in a bit, since Maureen had a fully French class and didn't think I'd be interested in it, so she came back around noon and woke me up. After I got ready for the day, we went to a supermarché to get pizza to cook for lunch. Remind me to go back there and buy a super cute, super cheap orange shopping bag with a lady bug on it. After coming back to make our lunch, we headed to a mall so Maureen could get a book for our trip au Italie. The first bookstore, similar to an FYE, was expensive, but had hilariously named French versions of American shows; House M.D. becomes Dr. House, which isn't as cool, and One Tree Hill becomes Les Frères Scott (The Brothers Scott). Oh well.
The second bookstore we went to, directly across from the first, was more like a Waldenbooks. Apparently Twilight is just as popular here, but the nuances of titles that deal with the phases of moon must not go over well, since they were renamed as "Fascination" and "Révelation" and the like. Patty said it best: "I like that Twilight has become Fascination...it makes Edward's stalkerish behavior sound even creepier." True statement.
Since nothing was found at either bookstore, we left the mall and headed back to Maureen's apartment to grab her camera before catching a bus near l'Isle de la Cité. We crossed the Seine and I realized we must be close to Notre Dame de Paris, when I looked to my right and it was RIGHT THERE. I have no idea how I missed a giant church prior to that moment, but ok. The bookstore we went to was AWESOME. It had all types of books, new and used, and it was eclectic looking with shelves everywhere and books stacked on every surface. I have a few titles that I'm going to have to look up when I get back to Boston; I must hit up the Public Library and get a card!
Our entire plan for the day had been to hit up la Maison Europeéne de la Photographie, which is free on Wednesdays. We had a bit of time to spare, so we first found a department store that sells Longchamps so I could check the price of a bag I want to buy, given my budget holds up. Having killed time, we walked back to the museum. Maureen had done a presentation on Henri Cartier-Bresson, who had an exhibit there, so we checked it out. My favorite of the 4 or 5 exhibits was definitely Gérard Uféras, who took photos of dancers backstage at various operas and ballets. I plan to Google image search for a few of them and potentially turn them into posters for next year.
For dinner we went to a place called Breakfast in America, which is a little diner in Paris where I could get pancakes for dinner. I don't know what is more exciting: having had them earlier today, or knowing I can have the rest for breakfast tomorrow! The people in the diner were a mix of British girls who knew the waitresses and French couples who clearly like cheeseburgers. It was a great dinner, but then we had to run back to the Métro in the rain, which was starting to really come down after having drizzled all day. By the time we got back to Maureen's apartment, it was completely pouring.
We've since spent the rest of the night in, so Maureen could Skype with her mom and I could attend to more pictures. Tomorrow will be an early day, since Maureen has two classes and I'm going to go to both of them. One is in English and her classmates are getting hot drinks beforehand, meaning a 09:30 departure time, and the other is a French language class and will end in a wine and cheese party, évidemment. We then have to go to the post office so I can send the postcards I'm writing, and then pack for Italy! This may include laundry and eating in, but perhaps other things as well. Then it's bed at 23:00 so we can wake up at 05:00 and catch the bus to Beauvais for our flight to Rome! I am so ready to channel Robert Langdon and hit up the Path of Illumination (I'm only half kidding).
Bonne nuit à tous!
Sam
This morning I was able to sleep in a bit, since Maureen had a fully French class and didn't think I'd be interested in it, so she came back around noon and woke me up. After I got ready for the day, we went to a supermarché to get pizza to cook for lunch. Remind me to go back there and buy a super cute, super cheap orange shopping bag with a lady bug on it. After coming back to make our lunch, we headed to a mall so Maureen could get a book for our trip au Italie. The first bookstore, similar to an FYE, was expensive, but had hilariously named French versions of American shows; House M.D. becomes Dr. House, which isn't as cool, and One Tree Hill becomes Les Frères Scott (The Brothers Scott). Oh well.
The second bookstore we went to, directly across from the first, was more like a Waldenbooks. Apparently Twilight is just as popular here, but the nuances of titles that deal with the phases of moon must not go over well, since they were renamed as "Fascination" and "Révelation" and the like. Patty said it best: "I like that Twilight has become Fascination...it makes Edward's stalkerish behavior sound even creepier." True statement.
Since nothing was found at either bookstore, we left the mall and headed back to Maureen's apartment to grab her camera before catching a bus near l'Isle de la Cité. We crossed the Seine and I realized we must be close to Notre Dame de Paris, when I looked to my right and it was RIGHT THERE. I have no idea how I missed a giant church prior to that moment, but ok. The bookstore we went to was AWESOME. It had all types of books, new and used, and it was eclectic looking with shelves everywhere and books stacked on every surface. I have a few titles that I'm going to have to look up when I get back to Boston; I must hit up the Public Library and get a card!
Our entire plan for the day had been to hit up la Maison Europeéne de la Photographie, which is free on Wednesdays. We had a bit of time to spare, so we first found a department store that sells Longchamps so I could check the price of a bag I want to buy, given my budget holds up. Having killed time, we walked back to the museum. Maureen had done a presentation on Henri Cartier-Bresson, who had an exhibit there, so we checked it out. My favorite of the 4 or 5 exhibits was definitely Gérard Uféras, who took photos of dancers backstage at various operas and ballets. I plan to Google image search for a few of them and potentially turn them into posters for next year.
For dinner we went to a place called Breakfast in America, which is a little diner in Paris where I could get pancakes for dinner. I don't know what is more exciting: having had them earlier today, or knowing I can have the rest for breakfast tomorrow! The people in the diner were a mix of British girls who knew the waitresses and French couples who clearly like cheeseburgers. It was a great dinner, but then we had to run back to the Métro in the rain, which was starting to really come down after having drizzled all day. By the time we got back to Maureen's apartment, it was completely pouring.
We've since spent the rest of the night in, so Maureen could Skype with her mom and I could attend to more pictures. Tomorrow will be an early day, since Maureen has two classes and I'm going to go to both of them. One is in English and her classmates are getting hot drinks beforehand, meaning a 09:30 departure time, and the other is a French language class and will end in a wine and cheese party, évidemment. We then have to go to the post office so I can send the postcards I'm writing, and then pack for Italy! This may include laundry and eating in, but perhaps other things as well. Then it's bed at 23:00 so we can wake up at 05:00 and catch the bus to Beauvais for our flight to Rome! I am so ready to channel Robert Langdon and hit up the Path of Illumination (I'm only half kidding).
Bonne nuit à tous!
Sam
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Paris: Part I
I made it! I am now in Paris, and I am pretty much exhausted from all the walking I've been doing in the past few days. The Million Dollar Stairs seem like a step stool now.
Maureen met me at the Gare de L'est, and we managed to get myself a Métro ticket for the day. Apparently a 3-day pass is more than 3 times the price of a day pass, which is funny, but not useful to my budget. We waited in line behind this guy who bought about 6 Navigo passes (like a Charlie Card), and then some ladies cut in front of us because they "thought we were with him." A likely story.
Fun things about the French Métro:
On our way to Maureen's apartment, we went to the Longchamps store so Maureen could buy a tote-bag sized purse. They are so much cheaper here than they are in the US! I want to try to buy an orange one before I leave, but we'll see. Maybe at a duty free area in the airport. As we were crossing near the Tuilieries and seeing la Tour Eiffel in the background, we met a few of the BC girls who are also studying at Sciences-Po, including Sarah, from my Greek Philosophy class! It was crazy to see them in such a large city.
When we got to Maureen's apartment, I was able to shower and wash a few of my clothes, including my sweater! The apartment is really cute; apparently the family that lived here is sort of heading to the US, but it's completely furnished and all of the girls have their own rooms. I met Noelle first, then Cathy, then Nicole. I took French with Nicole back in freshman year, which is funny. Clearly she went further with it than I did.
I went to class at Sciences-Po with Maureen after, called Minorities, Politics and Society. It focuses on those issues in Great Britain, France and America, and I got to listen to a student presentation (in English; the whole class was, thank goodness), on Ali-G and what his ability to make fun of certain cultures might mean. It was really interesting, as was the discussion after, and I definitely didn't regret those two hours.
We headed back to the apartment afterward to change, because the same class we'd just gone to was going out for drinks at 18:30. We got crêpes (oeuf et fromage!) at a little Greek place on Rue Mouffetard, and ate them on the way to the Metro so we could get to DeLaVille on time. I got a Kir fraise (wine and a bit of champagne and some strawberry flavoring) and talked with Maureen and her class. They all seemed pretty nice, and had interesting things to say about the dynamic between French students and American students, and about racist mortgage scams that were going on recently, and where we were all from and the like. Love classy conversations with classy drinks.
Maureen had been texting her friend Kim because we were in her neighborhood and she wanted to go to happy hour. While Maureen and I go to Italy, Kim has finals, and while Maureen has finals, Kim goes to Greece, so clearly Maureen had to see her. We went to this little bar and sat outside ordering drinks with American names, like Tequila Sunrise (me) and Blue Lagoon (Maureen) and Long Island Iced Tea (Kim), then more Kir. The bartender made fun of our ability to say the names of the drinks, and kissed us all on the cheek before we left to go to the next bar, where the rest of the girls were!
The next bar was called The Frog, and since it was student night, I had to show my BC ID, explain that I'm from the United States, and get my hand stamped with a little frog. As I'm typing this, I keep thinking there's a spider on my hand and freaking out. Before we could go in, we watched the bouncer catch a guy who was trying to leave with a beer in his pocket. Awesome. We saw Sarah again, and Maureen's friends Katie and Jen, plus some other girls and a friend of theirs, Matt. Maureen and I didn't drink, and instead left after a bit to catch the Métro with Kim. I am now in sweatpants and my Street Team T-shirt, thanking the heavens that my semester is done as I listen to Maureen's roommates freak out over exams and papers due.
Tomorrow Maureen has class at 10:00, and I have to call Bank of America as soon as I wake up so they don't place a hold on my card, and then later I guess we'll window shop, hunt for postcards and go to a photography museum. Thursday we have to get ready for Rome (and hopefully send those postcards; comment with your address if you want one, but I might ask you for 0.50€ later!), and then wake up EARLY Friday morning to catch a bus to Beauvais Airport before our flight leaves at 9:00 for Rome Ciampino. We spend 2.5 days there, 2.5 days in Venice with Walter and the rest of the Practicing Mortality class, and then come back to Paris for final museum trips, shopping days, a scaling of la Tour Eiffel and lots of crepes and Kir.
Bonsoir mes amis,
Sam(bam)
Maureen met me at the Gare de L'est, and we managed to get myself a Métro ticket for the day. Apparently a 3-day pass is more than 3 times the price of a day pass, which is funny, but not useful to my budget. We waited in line behind this guy who bought about 6 Navigo passes (like a Charlie Card), and then some ladies cut in front of us because they "thought we were with him." A likely story.
Fun things about the French Métro:
- in a 6-foot-long area, there might be 2 seats, set up as individual chairs; the French like their personal space
- the doors open before the train stops moving
- there are signs with the time of the next train!
- the advertisements are funny, like ones for a movie Les Beaux Grosses, which seems like the French version of Superbad (but more awkward and less crude), and a Hannah Montana poster where Miley Cyrus' eyes are clearly Photoshopped green
- it's still better than the T
On our way to Maureen's apartment, we went to the Longchamps store so Maureen could buy a tote-bag sized purse. They are so much cheaper here than they are in the US! I want to try to buy an orange one before I leave, but we'll see. Maybe at a duty free area in the airport. As we were crossing near the Tuilieries and seeing la Tour Eiffel in the background, we met a few of the BC girls who are also studying at Sciences-Po, including Sarah, from my Greek Philosophy class! It was crazy to see them in such a large city.
When we got to Maureen's apartment, I was able to shower and wash a few of my clothes, including my sweater! The apartment is really cute; apparently the family that lived here is sort of heading to the US, but it's completely furnished and all of the girls have their own rooms. I met Noelle first, then Cathy, then Nicole. I took French with Nicole back in freshman year, which is funny. Clearly she went further with it than I did.
I went to class at Sciences-Po with Maureen after, called Minorities, Politics and Society. It focuses on those issues in Great Britain, France and America, and I got to listen to a student presentation (in English; the whole class was, thank goodness), on Ali-G and what his ability to make fun of certain cultures might mean. It was really interesting, as was the discussion after, and I definitely didn't regret those two hours.
We headed back to the apartment afterward to change, because the same class we'd just gone to was going out for drinks at 18:30. We got crêpes (oeuf et fromage!) at a little Greek place on Rue Mouffetard, and ate them on the way to the Metro so we could get to DeLaVille on time. I got a Kir fraise (wine and a bit of champagne and some strawberry flavoring) and talked with Maureen and her class. They all seemed pretty nice, and had interesting things to say about the dynamic between French students and American students, and about racist mortgage scams that were going on recently, and where we were all from and the like. Love classy conversations with classy drinks.
Maureen had been texting her friend Kim because we were in her neighborhood and she wanted to go to happy hour. While Maureen and I go to Italy, Kim has finals, and while Maureen has finals, Kim goes to Greece, so clearly Maureen had to see her. We went to this little bar and sat outside ordering drinks with American names, like Tequila Sunrise (me) and Blue Lagoon (Maureen) and Long Island Iced Tea (Kim), then more Kir. The bartender made fun of our ability to say the names of the drinks, and kissed us all on the cheek before we left to go to the next bar, where the rest of the girls were!
The next bar was called The Frog, and since it was student night, I had to show my BC ID, explain that I'm from the United States, and get my hand stamped with a little frog. As I'm typing this, I keep thinking there's a spider on my hand and freaking out. Before we could go in, we watched the bouncer catch a guy who was trying to leave with a beer in his pocket. Awesome. We saw Sarah again, and Maureen's friends Katie and Jen, plus some other girls and a friend of theirs, Matt. Maureen and I didn't drink, and instead left after a bit to catch the Métro with Kim. I am now in sweatpants and my Street Team T-shirt, thanking the heavens that my semester is done as I listen to Maureen's roommates freak out over exams and papers due.
Tomorrow Maureen has class at 10:00, and I have to call Bank of America as soon as I wake up so they don't place a hold on my card, and then later I guess we'll window shop, hunt for postcards and go to a photography museum. Thursday we have to get ready for Rome (and hopefully send those postcards; comment with your address if you want one, but I might ask you for 0.50€ later!), and then wake up EARLY Friday morning to catch a bus to Beauvais Airport before our flight leaves at 9:00 for Rome Ciampino. We spend 2.5 days there, 2.5 days in Venice with Walter and the rest of the Practicing Mortality class, and then come back to Paris for final museum trips, shopping days, a scaling of la Tour Eiffel and lots of crepes and Kir.
Bonsoir mes amis,
Sam(bam)
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