Le petit Louvre

Hello everyone!
For this post, I will be writing about my adventures in Paris, France.

I arrived at the Paris-Beuvais airport, which is about an hour north of Paris. There was a shuttle that takes you to and from the city for 15 euros each way, so it's a good airport to fly if you're trying to save a lot of money. I bought my round trip tickets once I arrived, and i'm glad I did since on the way back I was cutting it close on time and the lines were getting really long, even at 5 am when I left.

I loved Paris. I stayed with a host from couchsurfing, and they had a very very small apartment- it was so small, the whole floor had to share a toilet (there were maybe 5 apartments). I would say the room was 15x15 ft. I got to try fresh french bread (amazing), bought a 2 liter bottle of Evian for less than a euro, and did a lot of sightseeing/riding the metro.

I think that was one of my favorite parts of traveling- to ride on public transportation. I forgot to mention it in my Rome entry, but Rome only has 2 subway lines. They do have many buses that can take you everywhere though.

Anyway- i'd heard that in Paris, you are no more than 800 ft from a metro station. I didn't measure, but it was a lifesaver to see a metro station while thinking you were lost. They were very common and the lines were easy to follow. On the first day I went to the catacombs- I did plan on being a super tourist and go everywhere. However, I was not aware that the following day would be a national holiday, and the catacombs would be closed. So, I spent waiting in line- for 4 HOURS. Why did I wait so long? Well, at hour 2 I thought it would only take another hour, and by the 3rd hour I was really close anyway, so I stuck it out and went in. The catacombs are a series of underground tunnels in Paris, about 2 miles in length. They only let 100 people in at a time, so wait time can be very long. Some other fellow 'mericans were standing in line behind me, and were kind enough to hold my spot for me while I went to the bathroom and got something to eat. I should mention the situation of how/what I got to eat. Firstly, my french is terrible. It was easy to get by in Italy because spanish ~ italian. Almost. But they're very similar. French however is a bit more difficult for me. In writing, I can understand some of it, but when someone speaks to me in french, they usually get a blank stare from me. I was trying to order some sort of sandwich/bread at a bakery, and after multiple attempts in french to order it, the kind cashier just switched over to english. I guess it's the standard go-to language for non-french speakers.

So back to the catacombs- in the 1700s, the Parisian cemeteries started overfilling with bodies, so they dug up the older bodies and put them in the catacombs. There are millions of human remains there, and it was a little eerie passing by them. It was also a crime to touch any of the human remains.

Fun stuff. After the first few thousand skeletons, I got used to them. It was pretty cool and i'm glad I stuck it out. There actually some other fellow 'mericans who were leaving the next day, a dad was offering 50 euros for two people to give up their spot in line. They were later in line, but not sure if they made it in. When I entered, there was an hour left before they closed the catacombs, so I made it a bit before the cut off. After the catacombs, it was already later in the day. I made a bee line to the Eiffel tower. To be honest, I thought it would just be another big landmark and I didn't know why people made such a huge deal about it. When I got to the metro stop, big EIFFEL TOWER signs were up at the metro station so no one would miss Paris' main icon. When I got there, I was greeted by this:

This tower is absolutely huge. You don't really know what it is until you see it in person. I was take aback at how huge and a feat of engineering it was. I'd learned that when it was first put up, they wanted to take it down after the world fair was over. Persistance paid off and it's now one of the modern marvels of the world.

There was some construction going on as you can see here, they were working on building a glass platform on one of the levels. It's scheduled to be complete in 2013.

I also went to the Arc de Triumph. Little known fact: you have to actually pay to go underneath it, i think it was 10 euros. For about ten minutes, I was trying to figure out how to cross the street to get to it.  Doesn't work that way; there's an underground tunnel to get there. Afterwards I went to the Moulin Rouge, it was just like that movie, except more realistic.

PROTIP: around a lot of these tourist attractions if you get hungry but don't want to spend a ton of money on food, wander off for a few streets and you'll usually find a grocery store. I found local and typical food for a LOT less than if i'd eaten out. I can also take whatever food and enjoy it near whatever monument. A typical grocery meal in Paris cost about 3 euros with a drink.

That night, just for the hell of it, I went to go see the eiffel tower at night:

The next day I had to stay with another host. Luckily, the host worked in a hotel VERY close to the eiffel tower- about a 10 min walk. It was awesome, since it was so close to everything. The host was very kind and told me the best places to go. My previous host was very helpful as well, and let me know what stops I had to get off on for what attraction. He lived a few steps away from a meto station, so I was surprised to only walk a few steps and arrive at the hotel. Under the metro (think the El layout) there was some sort of market that day. The sold food, clothes, iphone accessories, but no souvenirs.

That day, I went to the Louvre. My goodness, I had never overdosed on art before. There was art about everything, from every period, from pretty much everyone. The main attraction there was the Mona Lisa. Here's how the crowds lined up to see it:

and here she is:

As I mentioned before, that day was a national holiday. I forget what it was, but it had to do with Mary's (mother of Jesus) birthday. I went to Notre Dame and was surprised then had an enlightenment as to why they were having mass in the middle of the week, along with a religious procession.

Afterwards, I went to the Sacre Cour (Sacred Heart). I didn't go all the way up because at that point, I was really tired from walking around all day.

Nearby there was a chocolate shop:

Awesome. After that, I meant to visit the famous cemetery where The Who singer was buried, bur I fell asleep and missed the stop on the metro. I went back to my host's place and took a nap until late evening. However, I forgot that it was a national holiday so most of the restaurants were closed. So, I went out for chinese food.

That night I went to go see the eiffel tower again because I could. It was great, they had a light show, but I missed it at the times it was scheduled. After I long touristy day, I went to sleep and got ready for my next adventure in Barcelona.

Until next time!

New Year

Hello!
So I promised to make a post long ago about my travels after leaving Lüneburg. I have finally graduated, so I have no excuse to not write about it! Sorry for the delay.

Let me begin with beautiful Italy:
I arrived in Pisa on a friday, after moving out earlier in the day from Lüneburg. Thankfully I had a place to keep my stuff while I was away with my friend Tricia. Almost immediately after driving up with her boyfriend Olli, he dropped me off at the Hamburg train station and had a quick lunch with Tricia there since she works nearby. I left from the Lübeck airport airport using Ryanair. Overall, Ryanair was a pretty good way to travel from one location to another, aside from my mishap in Poland.
Anyway, I arrived in Pisa and met my host from couchsurfing there. He didn't speak any english, but we managed to communicate with me speaking spanish, interesting experience. It was very easy to get around in Rome since the languages are very similar when you speak in basic terms like: "how much is this?" or "Where is the bathroom". Italian is a beautiful language, I think that's what made my experience in Italy a lot smoother and more wonderful. I should mention the interesting thing that happened once I got off the airplane was that there was a German shepherd sitting off to the side as the passengers came out. He immediately jumped up and starting sniffing people. It didn't hit me until I went by that the dog was sniffing for drugs. That was a creative way of catching anyone that carried drugs.

My host lived about 5 min walking distance from the airport. We spent the night talking about all sorts of things, one of them was how he feels Italy wants to be a more politically progressive state, but since the Vatican is right at the center of it, they're pretty much pinned down by it. It was an observation that never really hit me, but it made so much sense. He made me some pasta and bought some wine for the occasion; honestly it was some of the best wine i'd ever had. But he said that it was ok, there was better available. I'm not shocked to hear that from a country that's best known for its wine.

The next morning I was able to explore Pisa. There were of course the main attractions, the plaza that has the leaning tower:






As you can see, there were people posing with the tower, and I thought it was a little ridiculous. Nothing screamed "tourist" liks a stupid pose like that. As you can tell, i'm not a fan. So, I just took a picture with a normal pose in front of the tower. Funny enough, the people that took the picture for me were also American tourists, they were in Pisa along with a basketball team from the University of Tennesse I believe.

I'm already pretty tan there from just walking there a few hours. It was very sunny and beautiful in Pisa. I had a Calzone while there, the food is on a different and delicious level there too. I mainly walked around in Pisa and did some sightseeing. I also had gelato, very fitting since it was really hot as well. Really hot, I have no idea why I wore black. 

While walking around, I ran into this mural:

I forget the artist, but it was quite a surprise running into it.

Later on I caught a train that went from Pisa to Rome, the ticket was about 19 euros, it was relatively cheap. I arrived late in the day to Rome so I had to do my sightseeing the next day. Rome was different than any city i'd ever been in. It's so old, that the old parts of it have been covered up with the new metropolitan parts of Rome. It's also really big, if you've ever been to Houston, it's kind of like that in terms that it's expanded, but it's still easy to walk around. On my first day, I saw the colosseum, circo maximo, some old roman ruins (not overrun by cats! I saw very few stray cats). It was amazing to walk through ruins that had stood for thousands of years.

I stayed in a camping area about an hour away from the center of the city. It was 10 euros/night, but I also slept in a tent, which wasn't a big deal. Safety wasn't an issue either, I felt rather safe walking around, while taking the necessary precautions of course.

The other awesome thing about Rome is that they have water fountains everywhere- so I didn't spend anything on bottled water. I just carried my trusty nalgene along with me.

I walked along pretty much the old center of Rome, and I ran into a museum that was dedicated to Italian immigrants. Some of the things they had on display would be unbelievable today:

It's sad to think that there was such a big wave of active hostility towards immigrants. Moving along though, I also went to the trevi fountain, HUGE tourist crowd there, it was difficult to find someone to take a picture and get in front of the fountain, but I managed it:

Walking around Rome was tiring, but also inspiring; to think other greats lived and worked in this same city was just mind-blowing. For lunch, I went into a restaurant and had some lasagna, although it was great, they charged extra for the bread and do not include tip, so if you plan to sit down somewhere, be prepared to pay a little more for a meal.

The next day I went to the Vatican, which also had huge crowds. I sent my mom a post card from the Vatican City and she got it a few days after I arrived in the US. Unfortunately both the vatican and the colosseum had intimidating lines, so I didn't even try to get into either. In every city, I get a map so I can map a walking route. I was killing time to catch my next flight, and I almost missed a huge landmark: the pantheon! Quite embarrassing, but I did managed to see it. There were so many people inside, but it is still considered a place of worship, so the workers kept shushing everyone very often.

I was in Rome for about 3 days, I left in the late afternoon to catch my flight to Paris, which i'll write about in the next segment.