Brian and I left Dartmouth/Stoke Fleming this afternoon and were very sad to see it go. We had a wonderful time there with amazing sites and excellent hosts. Before we left we took a self-guided tour of the local winery (Sharpham Vineyard) and did a wine and cheese tasting. All the wines were delicious; while at the local pub I always had their white. We weren't sure we'd be able to go since it is not near any town (closest is Totnes, but it's about 3 miles away) and no buses go anywhere near. But Anne and Mark drove us there and accompianed us on our excursion. We took the train back to London in the late evening and now I have to get up at about 5am to get to the airport for my flight to Genoa.
I have posted more pictures on the photobucket website in a folder called England. Here is a direct link:
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/alexandra_portolano/england/
Enjoy! And lets all hope I find where I am staying in Genoa tomorrow since it apparently takes 3 different buses to get there...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Dartmouth and Beyond
Tuesday we left Salisbury; we got to see the Magna Carta first though! It was basically just a piece of green paper with lots of old writing on it, but the church it was in was really nice. We got into Totnes -near Dartmouth- that afternoon and were picked up by Anne. She is the mother of a guy who stayed at my Dad's house last month. He is travelling around the whole world for about a year; he leaves for Fiji soon and I'm really jealous. We -Brian and I- have been staying at Anne's house for 4 days now with her and her son Mark. It has been tons of fun! She lives in Stoke Fleming, a small town outside of Dartmouth. On Wednesday Mark took us into Totnes and showed us around; it's a cool hippie town and we had lunch at a vegetarian cafe. Thursday Brian and I hiked into Dartmouth; it'sabout a 2 hour hike along the water and is absolutely beautiful. We spent the day relaxing in Dartmouth; it is a nice seaside town with lots of shopping. We had Devon Cream Tea at the Slopping Deck Resturant on the Butterwalk. The deck is literally slopping and from the outside you wonder how it is still standing. That night we went out for traditional fish and chips on the waterfront. I got the cod and it was quite tasty.
Today was a really lazy day; Brian and I just stayed in the house all day reading Calvin and Hobbes, drinking tea, and then watched Galaxy Quest. It was a nice break from all this relaxing I've been doing ;-) And then this evening Anne and Mark took us out to the local pub, The Green Dragon, where we hung out for a few hours. I have grown fond of the local wine and tomorrow Anne is going to take us to the vineyard where they give tours. Tomorrow afternoon we are taking the train back to London and on Sunday we both fly out. Brian flies back to the States and I fly to Genoa, Italy.
This whole place is incredibly beautiful; lots of rolling hills with cattle and rocky coastline. We have been on several short hikes with Anne and Mark showing us some of the beaches and woods. It has been a bit cold while we have been here, mostly because of the wind, but I can imagine how wonderful it must be to live here when it is warmer and be able to walk to fantastic beaches everyday. From here on will be hostels and the like so I am trying to make the most of the delicious homecooked meals Anne has been making us. More updates in Genoa probably!
Today was a really lazy day; Brian and I just stayed in the house all day reading Calvin and Hobbes, drinking tea, and then watched Galaxy Quest. It was a nice break from all this relaxing I've been doing ;-) And then this evening Anne and Mark took us out to the local pub, The Green Dragon, where we hung out for a few hours. I have grown fond of the local wine and tomorrow Anne is going to take us to the vineyard where they give tours. Tomorrow afternoon we are taking the train back to London and on Sunday we both fly out. Brian flies back to the States and I fly to Genoa, Italy.
This whole place is incredibly beautiful; lots of rolling hills with cattle and rocky coastline. We have been on several short hikes with Anne and Mark showing us some of the beaches and woods. It has been a bit cold while we have been here, mostly because of the wind, but I can imagine how wonderful it must be to live here when it is warmer and be able to walk to fantastic beaches everyday. From here on will be hostels and the like so I am trying to make the most of the delicious homecooked meals Anne has been making us. More updates in Genoa probably!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Salisbury
We left London yesterday and took the train to Salisbury fairly early in the morning. The tube was really delayed and crowded because someone was under a train at one of the stations (no idea how that happened or how it ended). Salisbury is a really pretty little town with cobblestone streets and lots of shops and a market in the morning. We first thing took the bus to Stonehenge, only a 20 minute drive. Stonehenge was really cool and even though you can't touch it you can get fairly close. It was also a nice day, breezy and sunny. They had an audioguide explaining what every stone was called and such, but it was kind of boring and more interesting to just sit and look at it.
When we got back to Salisbury we got a late lunch and Brian and I had a high tea. It was an amazing tea with 4 differnet finger sandwiches and delicious scones. Funny thing was we were in the resturant of a Best Western. Then we just walked around the town for a bit, took a nap, and then later went to a late dinner at Gastrobistro recommended by the owner of the Bed&Breakfast we are staying in. It was quite a good French place, although the portions were all pretty small. The best part was we had a coupon for a free glass of champagne per person and the house champagne was really good! All the wine in Europe has been good. Oh! Actually that reminds me: while we were in London we walked around Brick Alley (flea market type street) and found a guy making fresh mojitos on the street in front of a cafe. We stopped and had some and even though they were ridiculously expensive (£5 each) they were worth it. He ground up limes and fresh mint with a mortar and pestle for each drink individually. Then we sat and enjoyed them in the cafe, which was very chill and had a Moroccan theme.
Today we have been walking all around town looking for an internet place, and we finally found one at the library. We leave in a few hours for Dartmouth (southwest England) and are staying with the family of a friend. Apparently they should have really good fish and chips there since it's a fishing town so I'm looking forward to that. Maybe while I'm there I'll be able to post some pictures of Stonehenge.
When we got back to Salisbury we got a late lunch and Brian and I had a high tea. It was an amazing tea with 4 differnet finger sandwiches and delicious scones. Funny thing was we were in the resturant of a Best Western. Then we just walked around the town for a bit, took a nap, and then later went to a late dinner at Gastrobistro recommended by the owner of the Bed&Breakfast we are staying in. It was quite a good French place, although the portions were all pretty small. The best part was we had a coupon for a free glass of champagne per person and the house champagne was really good! All the wine in Europe has been good. Oh! Actually that reminds me: while we were in London we walked around Brick Alley (flea market type street) and found a guy making fresh mojitos on the street in front of a cafe. We stopped and had some and even though they were ridiculously expensive (£5 each) they were worth it. He ground up limes and fresh mint with a mortar and pestle for each drink individually. Then we sat and enjoyed them in the cafe, which was very chill and had a Moroccan theme.
Today we have been walking all around town looking for an internet place, and we finally found one at the library. We leave in a few hours for Dartmouth (southwest England) and are staying with the family of a friend. Apparently they should have really good fish and chips there since it's a fishing town so I'm looking forward to that. Maybe while I'm there I'll be able to post some pictures of Stonehenge.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
In London, with pictures!
I have finally posted and captioned my pictures of the trip so far. They can be found at:
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/alexandra_portolano/
All of them are captioned, and more will follow, but probably not for a few weeks.
London has been nice and relaxing so far. I have been here before and done most of the touristy stuff so I am mostly just hanging out at Brian's uncle's house. Yesterday Brian and his coworker Vinny came over from the US. Vinny will be here for a few days and Brian is staying for a little more than a week. Today we walked around downtown London, Trafalgar square area. We almost went on the London Eye, but it's really expensive ($31!!). We had lunch in Chinatown, but ended up not going to a very good place (avoid Cafe Hong Kong). We then saw the matinee fo Avenue Q, which we all thought was hilarious! It's been called Sesame Street for adults, but honestly it's really hard to describe. There are puppets though!
Not much else to report. We leave for Stonehenge in 2 days, so more news after that.
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn283/alexandra_portolano/
All of them are captioned, and more will follow, but probably not for a few weeks.
London has been nice and relaxing so far. I have been here before and done most of the touristy stuff so I am mostly just hanging out at Brian's uncle's house. Yesterday Brian and his coworker Vinny came over from the US. Vinny will be here for a few days and Brian is staying for a little more than a week. Today we walked around downtown London, Trafalgar square area. We almost went on the London Eye, but it's really expensive ($31!!). We had lunch in Chinatown, but ended up not going to a very good place (avoid Cafe Hong Kong). We then saw the matinee fo Avenue Q, which we all thought was hilarious! It's been called Sesame Street for adults, but honestly it's really hard to describe. There are puppets though!
Not much else to report. We leave for Stonehenge in 2 days, so more news after that.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Bye Bye Amsterdam
Today I must say goodbye to Amsterdam and leave for London. Mom left this morning to go back to the states. I was planning on walking around and windowshopping today, but it is pouring, so internet cafe it is! On Tuesday we went to the Rijksmuseum (pronounced rikes (like bikes) museum) and the VanGogh museum. I was completely blown away by the VanGogh museum; he only painted for 10 yrs of his life and created amazing works. The most impressive part for me is the variety of painting styles he did. Some were very true to life with smooth lines that looked like a pictures, then he did a lot of pointilism (lots of dots to make an image) and some others were crazy colors (green skies, etc.) with globs of paint making the picture literally 3D. My favorite painting of his was the famous yellow sunflowers.
http://z.about.com/d/painting/1/0/Q/T/1/SueBond-19VanGoghSunflowers.jpg
The Rijksmuseum was also very impressive, although only a small fraction of the museum was open. This place is almost as big as the Louvre, but they are doing major reconstruction this year so all of the famous works were moved into a few rooms and the rest closed off to the public. Honestly, I think it made the museum better. The Louvre was amazing, but completely exhausting the walk around. But here you got to see all the stuff you would come to see with minimal tourist collapsing. So many of the paintings here had such great detail in each face it was practically better than a photo. There were also a number of Rembrants and Vermeers (although not the Girl with the Pearl Earring). It was a little creepy to see the portaits painted of children because this was a time when children were just see as mini-adults who needed that pesky original sin beaten out of them. So all the children looked like sickly dwarves as painted.
Tuesday was a beautiful day so after the museums we strolled around Vondelpark for a while. We found that as you walk further into the park it becomes very beautiful (not like the entrance we had seen before). There are lots of walking and biking paths, benches, students tanning and playing tennis, and at the back a large childrens playground with a huge wading pool complete with fountain. We sat on a bench for a while and worked on the puzzles in the US Today (their crosswords are completely lame btw).
Wednesday was a lazy day since we had done all the touristy things we wanted to here. I slept in pretty late and then we just wandered around town along the canals. We went to the Alfred Cuyp street market which was much bigger than we thought it was. It stretched for about 3 blocks on both sides. It was a fun market and sold anything you could think to buy: fresh orange juice, bras, bike locks, toothpaste, fresh flowers, raw fish, etc. Mom got a nice pashmina (I bought one in Paris, they are very popular here) and we sampled some just-made french fries..mmmm..... At the end of the day we went to an Indonesian resturant (Amsterdam has tons of international food) and both had a mini-rice table. Basically it's an assortment of a bunch of different Indonesian dishes. It's good we got the mini because it was huge as it came. There were pickled vegetables, dried coconut with peanuts, a delicous shredded beef dish, chicken leg in spicy suace, a boiled egg in the same spicy sauce and chicken sate. We went there on suggestion of Brian's uncle who I am going to stay with while in London. I am hoping either today or tomorrow to get my pictures posted and captioned so some of these posts will make a little more sense!
http://z.about.com/d/painting/1/0/Q/T/1/SueBond-19VanGoghSunflowers.jpg
The Rijksmuseum was also very impressive, although only a small fraction of the museum was open. This place is almost as big as the Louvre, but they are doing major reconstruction this year so all of the famous works were moved into a few rooms and the rest closed off to the public. Honestly, I think it made the museum better. The Louvre was amazing, but completely exhausting the walk around. But here you got to see all the stuff you would come to see with minimal tourist collapsing. So many of the paintings here had such great detail in each face it was practically better than a photo. There were also a number of Rembrants and Vermeers (although not the Girl with the Pearl Earring). It was a little creepy to see the portaits painted of children because this was a time when children were just see as mini-adults who needed that pesky original sin beaten out of them. So all the children looked like sickly dwarves as painted.
Tuesday was a beautiful day so after the museums we strolled around Vondelpark for a while. We found that as you walk further into the park it becomes very beautiful (not like the entrance we had seen before). There are lots of walking and biking paths, benches, students tanning and playing tennis, and at the back a large childrens playground with a huge wading pool complete with fountain. We sat on a bench for a while and worked on the puzzles in the US Today (their crosswords are completely lame btw).
Wednesday was a lazy day since we had done all the touristy things we wanted to here. I slept in pretty late and then we just wandered around town along the canals. We went to the Alfred Cuyp street market which was much bigger than we thought it was. It stretched for about 3 blocks on both sides. It was a fun market and sold anything you could think to buy: fresh orange juice, bras, bike locks, toothpaste, fresh flowers, raw fish, etc. Mom got a nice pashmina (I bought one in Paris, they are very popular here) and we sampled some just-made french fries..mmmm..... At the end of the day we went to an Indonesian resturant (Amsterdam has tons of international food) and both had a mini-rice table. Basically it's an assortment of a bunch of different Indonesian dishes. It's good we got the mini because it was huge as it came. There were pickled vegetables, dried coconut with peanuts, a delicous shredded beef dish, chicken leg in spicy suace, a boiled egg in the same spicy sauce and chicken sate. We went there on suggestion of Brian's uncle who I am going to stay with while in London. I am hoping either today or tomorrow to get my pictures posted and captioned so some of these posts will make a little more sense!
Monday, June 16, 2008
I'm Already Running out of Titles...
Today I got another late start since I was awoken multiple times by Turkey fans celebrating outside (they won last night against the Czech Republic). I kinda wish the USA was involved in something similar to Euro08, our Superbowl doesn't nearly compare. We started with the Waterloopin flea market, which was mostly a lot of junk (as flea markets are), but fun to walk around and a few interesting trinkets to look at. It is in the heart of the Jewish section of Amsterdam so we saw some things related; notably the Jewish Resistance Fighters Memorial.
Our first museum of the day was a complete bust: the Amsterdam Hermitage. It has rotating exhibits from the Hermitage in St.Petersburg, so maybe we just caught a bad exhibit...but it's a tiny museum and costs 7 euro. Right now they just have a bunch of 19th century pictures of St.Petersburg. If I were Rick Steves this place would go under "major disappointments". But the rest of the day was really nice. We also took a tour of Rembrant's house. He lived there for 30ish years before being kicked out because he couldn't pay the mortgage (sound farmiliar?). We also took a tour of a house from a rich family of the 19th century who (when the owner died) left the house and all its possessions to Amsterdam to be a fully furnished museum. The wealth in the house was overwhelming including a 275 piece serving set for a party of 24 people.
Tonight we took a canal city boat cruise, which showed a lot of parts of the city that we had not seen before, mainly the bay which goes to North Amsterdam. It was interesting to see the more industrial side to this town. Although we both got a little seasick out there and prefered the parts in the canals. We finished off the day at a nice little Italian place and I (of course) ordered their homemade tiramisu. It was a good choice.
That's all for today, a little shorter than normal, but I'm trying to just pay for 30 mins of internet instead of the full hour. And quick news from home: I'm an aunt! Tania had her baby 2 days ago and both are doing just fine and went home yesterday.
Our first museum of the day was a complete bust: the Amsterdam Hermitage. It has rotating exhibits from the Hermitage in St.Petersburg, so maybe we just caught a bad exhibit...but it's a tiny museum and costs 7 euro. Right now they just have a bunch of 19th century pictures of St.Petersburg. If I were Rick Steves this place would go under "major disappointments". But the rest of the day was really nice. We also took a tour of Rembrant's house. He lived there for 30ish years before being kicked out because he couldn't pay the mortgage (sound farmiliar?). We also took a tour of a house from a rich family of the 19th century who (when the owner died) left the house and all its possessions to Amsterdam to be a fully furnished museum. The wealth in the house was overwhelming including a 275 piece serving set for a party of 24 people.
Tonight we took a canal city boat cruise, which showed a lot of parts of the city that we had not seen before, mainly the bay which goes to North Amsterdam. It was interesting to see the more industrial side to this town. Although we both got a little seasick out there and prefered the parts in the canals. We finished off the day at a nice little Italian place and I (of course) ordered their homemade tiramisu. It was a good choice.
That's all for today, a little shorter than normal, but I'm trying to just pay for 30 mins of internet instead of the full hour. And quick news from home: I'm an aunt! Tania had her baby 2 days ago and both are doing just fine and went home yesterday.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Amsterdam Part 2
Amsterdam so far has been a blast. Yesterday we started with a walk around the Jordaan, which is beautiful. But it's more than just that...it's that no where in the Jordaan is NOT beautiful. I am very jealous of the people that get to live there. Brick streets, tons of cafes, canals lined with trees, bikers with Holland football (i.e. soccar) flags. Holland won against France two nights ago securing their place in the Euro08 semi-finals, so there was cheering and partying outside our hotel until about 4am. It's hard to blame them, everyone here likes to see the French get smashed. We walked around the Jordaan looking at the old houses (marked by engraved stone plaques above the door with the year it was built) for about 3 hours, but it didn't seem that long. The first place we went to in the Jordaan was the Noorder Market, which has stands selling cheese, meats, vegetables, flowers, purses, second-hand clothes, candy, etc. It was tons of fun to walk around in. It would be wonderful to be able to live here and do my shopping here weekly. We then went to the Anne Frank house and toured the secret annex and saw momentos of her life and videos of those close to her. It was an incredibly depressing museum, but I am glad I went. The hardest part was watching a video of her father (Otto, the only surving member of the 8 people who hid for 2 years in the secret annex) talking about when he realized his two daughters were dead (he did not positively find out until months after he was released from his concentration camp and went back to Amsterdam).
That afternoon we walked around the Old City of Amsterdam and saw DeWaag castle, which used to be the cities gates. There is a statue on the walls of St.Nicholas, who is Amsterdam's patron saint. Along the walk we got to see some of Amsterdam's skinniest houses. The skinniest is 6 1/2 ft. wide. Because canal space was so expensive and taxes were determined by the width of your house Amsterdam is filled with toothpick-wide, 5 story houses. It is very interesting to see, especially because of the interesting roofing designs they do here (when I post pictures you'll see what I mean). While walking around we met some little Dutch girls (probably 11 or 12) who had set up a nail painting stand and asking .5 euro for a nail painting. They were too cute to pass up, so now my nails are light blue and sparkly. Our last stop was the infamous red light district. Being Saturday night it was quite lively, not just with young guys, but plenty of tourists and families. It's actually a pretty fun place to just walk around and (literally) windowshop. There were lots of girls in windows to be seen, mostly dressed in bra and panties. Sorry guys, but no pictures from here. There are big, burly guys (sometimes seen, sometimes not) standing by the windows making sure you don't take pictures of the prostitutes.
Today we got up and first went to the Flower Market, which as one can guess has tons of tulips as well as other flowers and bulbs. In addition to flowers they have lots of cannibis starter kits, which go for about 6 euros. Mom and I decided customs probably wouldn't take it as a light-hearted joke to take them back into the States. Just for reference, here in Amsterdam anything that says "Coffeeshop" means they have weed and are legal to sell it. We went from there to a nice Sunday art market in the Spui area. There was good art abounding, but usually at a pretty high price. We then proceeded to Begijnhof, which has been around since....I think the 16th century? Now I can't remember...anyways, a long time! It was originally established as a place for devout Catholic women who did not want to live in a convent so couldn't be nuns, but wanted to live away from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam life. It is now a general sanctuary and only houses women. The place is basically a bunch of houses in a square with a courtyard in the middle and 2 churches (one catholic, one protestant). There are some really nice gardens in the inside. We then had some lunch at a little cafe and I got to try a Danish classic, croquettes. They are hard to describe, but are kind of like the Dutch version of a hot pocket. They have a crispy fried outside, and inside a paste (kind of like mashed potato, but not potato) and pieces of beef. They were pretty good. I mostly enjoyed the cafe because I got to sit next to the owners cat who was napping in a seat near the window.
From there we went to a church across the canal that we had been looking at all during lunch. It wasn't on the map and not in the guidebooks, but it was open to tourists and had free audio guides in English. It was the most beautiful church I have ever seen. And I am including Notre Dame in Paris and all the churches I saw in Spain and Italy. It was called St. Fransicus Xaverius and I have no idea why it is not mentioned in both guidebooks we have, but if you ever come here it is well worth a look around. The architecture is gorgeous with tall vaulted ceilings and paintings along all of it, there are sculptures all around with incredible emotion sculpted on each face, and beautiful stained glass (although not as impressive as that stained glass church in Paris). On the way back to the hotel we picked up some food at the market for a picnic dinner tonight at Vondelpark. When we looked at the map of Vondelpark later we found we really hadn't walked far enough into it to see the pretty parts. The baguette we got was still warm when we bought it. I will definintely miss the fresh bread when I leave Europe. That's all for now, sorry these posts are so long, but I have a lot to tell and I'm sure you can just skim it ;)
That afternoon we walked around the Old City of Amsterdam and saw DeWaag castle, which used to be the cities gates. There is a statue on the walls of St.Nicholas, who is Amsterdam's patron saint. Along the walk we got to see some of Amsterdam's skinniest houses. The skinniest is 6 1/2 ft. wide. Because canal space was so expensive and taxes were determined by the width of your house Amsterdam is filled with toothpick-wide, 5 story houses. It is very interesting to see, especially because of the interesting roofing designs they do here (when I post pictures you'll see what I mean). While walking around we met some little Dutch girls (probably 11 or 12) who had set up a nail painting stand and asking .5 euro for a nail painting. They were too cute to pass up, so now my nails are light blue and sparkly. Our last stop was the infamous red light district. Being Saturday night it was quite lively, not just with young guys, but plenty of tourists and families. It's actually a pretty fun place to just walk around and (literally) windowshop. There were lots of girls in windows to be seen, mostly dressed in bra and panties. Sorry guys, but no pictures from here. There are big, burly guys (sometimes seen, sometimes not) standing by the windows making sure you don't take pictures of the prostitutes.
Today we got up and first went to the Flower Market, which as one can guess has tons of tulips as well as other flowers and bulbs. In addition to flowers they have lots of cannibis starter kits, which go for about 6 euros. Mom and I decided customs probably wouldn't take it as a light-hearted joke to take them back into the States. Just for reference, here in Amsterdam anything that says "Coffeeshop" means they have weed and are legal to sell it. We went from there to a nice Sunday art market in the Spui area. There was good art abounding, but usually at a pretty high price. We then proceeded to Begijnhof, which has been around since....I think the 16th century? Now I can't remember...anyways, a long time! It was originally established as a place for devout Catholic women who did not want to live in a convent so couldn't be nuns, but wanted to live away from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam life. It is now a general sanctuary and only houses women. The place is basically a bunch of houses in a square with a courtyard in the middle and 2 churches (one catholic, one protestant). There are some really nice gardens in the inside. We then had some lunch at a little cafe and I got to try a Danish classic, croquettes. They are hard to describe, but are kind of like the Dutch version of a hot pocket. They have a crispy fried outside, and inside a paste (kind of like mashed potato, but not potato) and pieces of beef. They were pretty good. I mostly enjoyed the cafe because I got to sit next to the owners cat who was napping in a seat near the window.
From there we went to a church across the canal that we had been looking at all during lunch. It wasn't on the map and not in the guidebooks, but it was open to tourists and had free audio guides in English. It was the most beautiful church I have ever seen. And I am including Notre Dame in Paris and all the churches I saw in Spain and Italy. It was called St. Fransicus Xaverius and I have no idea why it is not mentioned in both guidebooks we have, but if you ever come here it is well worth a look around. The architecture is gorgeous with tall vaulted ceilings and paintings along all of it, there are sculptures all around with incredible emotion sculpted on each face, and beautiful stained glass (although not as impressive as that stained glass church in Paris). On the way back to the hotel we picked up some food at the market for a picnic dinner tonight at Vondelpark. When we looked at the map of Vondelpark later we found we really hadn't walked far enough into it to see the pretty parts. The baguette we got was still warm when we bought it. I will definintely miss the fresh bread when I leave Europe. That's all for now, sorry these posts are so long, but I have a lot to tell and I'm sure you can just skim it ;)
Friday, June 13, 2008
On to Amsterdam
I am now in Amsterdam at an internet cafe (so much cheaper here than in Paris) while Mom takes a short nap. We had to catch the train here at 6:25am so we were pretty beat, but I was able to just sleep on the train. We had lunch at a nice little Irish pub (in the Netherlands, of course) and have begun to attempt to navigate the tram system. I can't say much about Amsterdam at the moment since we really haven't done anything here yet. The only thing I can say is that here, bikes rule. They have their own lanes that are right next to the side walk and the tram rails, and not well designated against the sidewalk. But if you are in their way they will ring their bell at you and then precede to run you over. They are very nice, but not about to swerve just to miss a measly pedestrian.
let's see, where did I leave off in Paris? The last day of our museum pass we went back to the Louvre and saw the unwrapped mummy and Napoleon III's apartments that we had missed before. That doesnt sound like much, but the time it takes to navigate the Louvre it probably took almost an hour and a half. To get to the Louvre we started at the Arc d'Triomphe (this time we went up to the top) and walked all the way down (2 miles) down Champs deElysees, which is a big boulevard of cafes and ritzy shopping. The view from on top of the Arc was good (there are 12 identical streets that flourish out from the arc in the shape of a star), but having been to the top of Notre Dame it was not quite as impressive. The walk down the street was nice, and I picked up a baguette Parisian (baguette with ham and butter). You get to see some classic Paris fashion. In case any of you are interested the current Paris fashion for women seems to be skinny jeans (with either high heels or funky flats), big buttons, wide belts, trench coat dresses, and lots of layering. For men very dark and well tailored suits with somewhat pointy shoes.
On Thursday we went to Chateau Versailles, which at first looked like it wouldnt be very nice since it was raining during the hour train ride there (the train was a double decker). But the rain was not bad during the walk there and actually completely cleared up by the time our tour of the inside of the palace was over. Imagining people actually living there is kind of diffucult. Every corner of every wall is filled with decadence and huge portraits. The Hall of Mirrors was beautiful, but (as Amanda pointed out) the mirrors themselves are actually kind of dingy. But you can see the magnificance of the place none-the-less. What really blew me away were the outdoor gardens; not only are they enormous, but beautiful everywhere. There are 300 remaining fountains of the 1500 that used to be there under Louis XIV. My favorite fountain is one showing Apollo and Diana as children around there mother (Laytolla I think...?) surrounded by peasants being turned into frogs and lizards. Apparently the peasants were shunning the mother because she was unwed with children (who were fathered by Zues) so Zues turned them all into frogs and lizards. Since Louis XIV was the "sun god" a lot of the palace is centered around Apollo.
Versailles pretty much took up a whole day (that and a trip to the laundrymat). Then it was not so early to bed and very early to rise to catch the train here to Amsterdam. We are planning on going to Anne Frank's house tonight. More updates later!
let's see, where did I leave off in Paris? The last day of our museum pass we went back to the Louvre and saw the unwrapped mummy and Napoleon III's apartments that we had missed before. That doesnt sound like much, but the time it takes to navigate the Louvre it probably took almost an hour and a half. To get to the Louvre we started at the Arc d'Triomphe (this time we went up to the top) and walked all the way down (2 miles) down Champs deElysees, which is a big boulevard of cafes and ritzy shopping. The view from on top of the Arc was good (there are 12 identical streets that flourish out from the arc in the shape of a star), but having been to the top of Notre Dame it was not quite as impressive. The walk down the street was nice, and I picked up a baguette Parisian (baguette with ham and butter). You get to see some classic Paris fashion. In case any of you are interested the current Paris fashion for women seems to be skinny jeans (with either high heels or funky flats), big buttons, wide belts, trench coat dresses, and lots of layering. For men very dark and well tailored suits with somewhat pointy shoes.
On Thursday we went to Chateau Versailles, which at first looked like it wouldnt be very nice since it was raining during the hour train ride there (the train was a double decker). But the rain was not bad during the walk there and actually completely cleared up by the time our tour of the inside of the palace was over. Imagining people actually living there is kind of diffucult. Every corner of every wall is filled with decadence and huge portraits. The Hall of Mirrors was beautiful, but (as Amanda pointed out) the mirrors themselves are actually kind of dingy. But you can see the magnificance of the place none-the-less. What really blew me away were the outdoor gardens; not only are they enormous, but beautiful everywhere. There are 300 remaining fountains of the 1500 that used to be there under Louis XIV. My favorite fountain is one showing Apollo and Diana as children around there mother (Laytolla I think...?) surrounded by peasants being turned into frogs and lizards. Apparently the peasants were shunning the mother because she was unwed with children (who were fathered by Zues) so Zues turned them all into frogs and lizards. Since Louis XIV was the "sun god" a lot of the palace is centered around Apollo.
Versailles pretty much took up a whole day (that and a trip to the laundrymat). Then it was not so early to bed and very early to rise to catch the train here to Amsterdam. We are planning on going to Anne Frank's house tonight. More updates later!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
An Amerian in Paris continued
Now I'm typing on our hotel's American keyboard, which should make this whole process go a lot smoother. The last two days have been filled with museum goings. Our museum pass expires tomorrow, so we are craming in as much as we can. Yesterday was almost entirely dedicated to the Louvre. We saw as many of the big highlights as we could before collapsing from exhaustion. We did see the Mona Lisa, although it is constantly surrounded by tons of people and is behind a big pane of (probably bulletproof) glass. There were also some Boticelli frescos and some really pretty Rafaels. We passed several artists in the hallways reproducing famous works, all of them were very good painters. We also of course made our way to Venus d'Milo, again amongst a crowd. There is so much art and history in the Louvre you begin to barely acknowledge it; "oh look, another amazing painting from centuries ago, lets move on". That was when it was time to leave. We rushed through the Eygpt halls before having lunch in the international food court. I got some awesome Marakesh (sp?) food. We have not yet seen the Tuilleres gardens, but are going to go back to the Louvre tomorrow night since it is open late then.
While leaving the Louvre we did our good travellers deed of the vacation and helped a woman from Tampa navigate the metro system. I have to say the Parisian metro is excellent; the trains are clean, sometimes air conditioned, and maps are everywhere. It costs about one euro per train ride no matter the distance. That afternoon we switched hotels (some big screwup in the Marriot system) to a place more in the Paris suburbs. We are on the 12th floor and have a great view. Even though we are further away from everything, its a nice chance to see a different side of Paris.
Today was again jam-packed as mom let me sleep in late. We started at the Musee Rodin and saw many of his famous sculptures. notably, The Thinker, Balzac, The Kiss, and The Gates of Hell. Although The Thinker is the most famous, my favorite was The Kiss. I think it shows much more emotion and is a beautiful piece of art. We then made a brief stop at Hotel d'Invalides to see Napolean the first's tomb. Talk about compensating for something...his stone coffin is probably about 15 ft. high at least underneath an enormous painted dome. From there we walked to Musee d'Orsay which is the premiere museum for impressionist paintings. We saw VanGogh's Starry Night, many classic Monet's, Whistler's Mother, several ballerinas by Degas, and other Renoir's and Manet's. We only did the highlights since we got there later in the afternoon and even though they are 'open' until 6pm, they kick you out at 5:30. We then metroed to Sacre Coer, a beautiful "white wedding cake" church that was currently having mass. The inside is very nice with incredible mosaics all over the walls, but honestly the view of Paris was my favorite. It is on top of an enormous hill (some of which we climbed) and has a great panoramic of the city. Lastly, we walked to Moulin Rouge (needed a picture for dad), which took way longer as we got lost in some Paris backstreets. On the plus side we got to see lots of cool open air cafes and markets selling fresh fish, fruits and vegetables. 8 hours later we got back to the hotel and had steak frites (again) at a nearby cafe. It's almost 10:30 now and I am ready to pass out. Thursday we plan to visit Versailles, so news on that to come!
While leaving the Louvre we did our good travellers deed of the vacation and helped a woman from Tampa navigate the metro system. I have to say the Parisian metro is excellent; the trains are clean, sometimes air conditioned, and maps are everywhere. It costs about one euro per train ride no matter the distance. That afternoon we switched hotels (some big screwup in the Marriot system) to a place more in the Paris suburbs. We are on the 12th floor and have a great view. Even though we are further away from everything, its a nice chance to see a different side of Paris.
Today was again jam-packed as mom let me sleep in late. We started at the Musee Rodin and saw many of his famous sculptures. notably, The Thinker, Balzac, The Kiss, and The Gates of Hell. Although The Thinker is the most famous, my favorite was The Kiss. I think it shows much more emotion and is a beautiful piece of art. We then made a brief stop at Hotel d'Invalides to see Napolean the first's tomb. Talk about compensating for something...his stone coffin is probably about 15 ft. high at least underneath an enormous painted dome. From there we walked to Musee d'Orsay which is the premiere museum for impressionist paintings. We saw VanGogh's Starry Night, many classic Monet's, Whistler's Mother, several ballerinas by Degas, and other Renoir's and Manet's. We only did the highlights since we got there later in the afternoon and even though they are 'open' until 6pm, they kick you out at 5:30. We then metroed to Sacre Coer, a beautiful "white wedding cake" church that was currently having mass. The inside is very nice with incredible mosaics all over the walls, but honestly the view of Paris was my favorite. It is on top of an enormous hill (some of which we climbed) and has a great panoramic of the city. Lastly, we walked to Moulin Rouge (needed a picture for dad), which took way longer as we got lost in some Paris backstreets. On the plus side we got to see lots of cool open air cafes and markets selling fresh fish, fruits and vegetables. 8 hours later we got back to the hotel and had steak frites (again) at a nearby cafe. It's almost 10:30 now and I am ready to pass out. Thursday we plan to visit Versailles, so news on that to come!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Ah...Paris...
OK, first post, very exciting. Made less exciting by needing to use a keyboard in Paris, which is not the same as ours and thus difficult for me to use. So if I speel something wrong, lets blame it on the keyboard and not my lack of knowledge of the French language. My mom and I left for NYC on June 4th and spent 2 days there seeing some shows (The 39 Steps and Legally Blonde: the Musical). Both were a lot of fun. On Thursday we both left for Paris; my flight went through Iceland, hers was direct. We managed to meet up in the airport and make our way to the hotel. We are staying at a really nice hotel very close to the Eifel Tower (we can actually see it from our window) and on a fun street filled with shops and cafes. That first night we walked along Paris streets, got some steak and frites, and saw the tower by day. The Eifel tower is much more impressive in person than you might think from pictures.
Next day we slept in very late, but finally got out and did the Murais walk. We walked through the Jewish district (and got a great kosher veggie pizza) and toured the Picasso Museum. Along the way we stopped into a few mansions of leaders passed. That night we went out for dessert at a local cafe (crepes for me) and saw the Eifel tower by night with its glittering night show on the half hour. It did rain in the afternoon, but not enough to make us go inside.
Today we started at Notre Dame, which is so large it takes over an entire block almost. The detailing on the outside stone is beautiful and the interior has some impressive paintings. There is even one intresting statue inside showing a dying man with a cloaked skeleton over him. Kinda spooky at 8 feet tall. The line to climb the tower was about an hour, but completely worth it. The view of Paris from the top was breathtaking and the gargoyles were a lot of fun to see up close. We met an American family from SanFrancisco in line and went to lunch with them. In the afternoon we saw Saint Chapelle church, which has the most amazing stained glass windows I have ever seen (and I say that after seeing NotreDame). The we went to Le Conciergerie, the prison where Marie Antoinette was held for over 2 months before her execution. I am now on the hunt for some gelato as it is a really nice and sunny day.
I will work on posting some pictures later, but my internet time is about to run out. More postings to come soon! We leave for Amsterdam on Friday.
Next day we slept in very late, but finally got out and did the Murais walk. We walked through the Jewish district (and got a great kosher veggie pizza) and toured the Picasso Museum. Along the way we stopped into a few mansions of leaders passed. That night we went out for dessert at a local cafe (crepes for me) and saw the Eifel tower by night with its glittering night show on the half hour. It did rain in the afternoon, but not enough to make us go inside.
Today we started at Notre Dame, which is so large it takes over an entire block almost. The detailing on the outside stone is beautiful and the interior has some impressive paintings. There is even one intresting statue inside showing a dying man with a cloaked skeleton over him. Kinda spooky at 8 feet tall. The line to climb the tower was about an hour, but completely worth it. The view of Paris from the top was breathtaking and the gargoyles were a lot of fun to see up close. We met an American family from SanFrancisco in line and went to lunch with them. In the afternoon we saw Saint Chapelle church, which has the most amazing stained glass windows I have ever seen (and I say that after seeing NotreDame). The we went to Le Conciergerie, the prison where Marie Antoinette was held for over 2 months before her execution. I am now on the hunt for some gelato as it is a really nice and sunny day.
I will work on posting some pictures later, but my internet time is about to run out. More postings to come soon! We leave for Amsterdam on Friday.
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