Day 12 - Amsterdam
We woke up this morning as late as we possibly could without missing the free breakfast provided by our hotel (which probably wasn't all that free, considering the ridiculous price we paid for our room). After breakfasting and checking out of the hotel, we went to the train station (which was rather close to our hotel, definitely within walking distance, and not at all necessitating the taxi we paid for) so that we could reserve our sleeper car. Apparently, a lot of people like to go to Amsterdam - there was a wait of over an hour to even talk to the people at the ticket desk, which was rather frustrating considering that we weren't even buying a full-price ticket. We took a number and went exploring in the area near the train station instead of waiting. This area was rather touristy - there were a ridiculous number of souvenir shops selling all sorts of marijuana paraphernalia and "I AMsterdam" shirts (which is apparently their new, non-pot-related tourism slogan) - and it was crowded with throngs of tourists eager to prove that they had, in fact, been to Amsterdam by buying their very own overpriced T-shirt. After spending a few minutes in this district, we headed back to the train station to reserve our tickets. After that, we walked to the Anne Frank House in hopes of going in, but the line was so long and moving so slowly that we decided our time would better be spent elsewhere. And what better thing could we do than shop? We spent most of the rest of the day walking around the quieter part of Amsterdam, which is actually quite nice - with its own "meandering canals," as Katharina put it, and more bridges than Venice. There were a lot of cool stores that we wandered around, and Katharina and I bought the same Karl Lagerfeld jeans in different colors while Sharp bought a striped sweater. After we tired of shopping/exhausted our budgets, we decided to peoplewatch, and what better place to do this than a bar? So we went into a bar in Amsterdam and ordered three Cokes (we're probably the lamest people to ever Eurotrip to Amsterdam) and sat outside next to the canal and watched the people go by. There are some interesting people who go by in Amsterdam. After a couple hours, it came time for our night train back to Munich. We did that, with a nice German couple - definitely unmarried, probably teenagers, and definitely pregnant - in our car. And woke up in Munich the next morning (well, after waking up multiple times throughout the night - at least for me and Katharina - because the train stops and starts a lot). End of stint 1 :(
Day 13 - Osterhofen
After disembarking at the train station in Munich, we got on a train back to Osterhofen. We finally got back to the house in Osterhofen. We all showered because we felt disgusting. Katharina and Sharp proceeded to sleep ALL DAY LONG while I took placement exams and stuff. We ate pasta for dinner, watched Pimp My Ride with German subtitles, and then went to sleep.
Day 14 - Osterhofen
Today, we slept in late and then did laundry. Mid-afternoon we decided to take the bikes to town to pick up groceries for lunch. Gabrielle had some trouble with the bikes, so she stayed home to take more placement tests while Katharina and I rode to town. After procuring lunch, we returned back to the house, ate, and finished packing. We left for Munich and then hopped on a night train to Venice.
Day 15 - Venice
We arrived in Venice early enough to catch the sunrise. We walked out of the train station and were confronted with the grand-canal at sunrise. I believe that Venice is best seen early in the morning, as the sun's light reflects beautifully off the pastel colors of the canal's homes and the water. Also, it was before the hordes of people had come out (always a plus). Anyways, we then set to trying to figure out how to get to our convent. We checked out public transit (the water bus) but ultimately decided against it at the time. After some searching, we found the convent. We rang the doorbell and were received by the Abbess, who was dressed in traditional garb. The Abbess was very friendly and excited to see us, however she did not speak any English and we did not speak any Italian. Ultimately, however, we figured things out. I was put into a single room next to the girls' double. After putting our things away, we then went back out to explore Venice, this time taking public transportation. A tip to anyone trying to travel Europe on a budget: don't go to Venice. A one-way trip on the waterbus cost each of us 6.50 euro. Well, we bit the bullet, bought tickets, and hopped onto the waterbus (squeezed might be a more accurate term). We took it to the final stop - San Marco. The line was too long at Saint Mark's Basilica, so we went to the Doge Palace instead and took the secret itineraries tour. The secret itineraries tour basically revolved around showing us what the palace was like when Casanova made his famous and highly romanticized escape from their prison. We saw both his cells (the story goes that he dug a hole under his bed in his first cell and right as he was about to make his escape they moved him to another cell), the former libraries/scrivner rooms, the rooms of justice, and the former offices of Venetian rulers. After the tour, we were free to wander the palace, which we did by accident, as it was far harder to find the exit than it should have been. We walked across the Bridge of Sighs (called that because it was the last sight of freedom prisoners had when they were being transfered from the courts to the prisons, which were conveniently housed in the same building) in our attempts to get out. After finding our way out of the labyrinth, we meandered back to the convent, stopping at a wide variety of mask, glass, lace, fashion, and jewelry shops (scouting for our next day's purchases). We ate dinner at a little pasta place near our convent (not too bad, not too good), bought some gelato, and then went back to our convent for the night.
Day 16 - Venice
We ate breakfast (bread and hot chocolate) at the convent, served by the friendly Abbess (as always dressed in her traditional outfit). Again, we took the waterbus to San Marco, this time early enough to get a reasonable spot in line for Saint Mark's Basilica. Saint Mark's Basilica contained several beautiful mosaics, but the most unique was its altar - a huge, gold, gem-studded altar. Above the altar was a mosaic of Jesus, who appeared to be looking at you both when you stood under it and when you were looking at it from a distance. After Saint Mark's, we took another waterbus, this time to the island Burano - a smaller, quieter, less touristy area known for lace making with good shopping. We spent a relaxed midday there, ate lunch at a nondescript place, and shopped around. Gabrielle and I each made some purchases (Gabrielle a glass plate, I got gifts for my mother and John). We went back to Venice, wandered some more, visited a few paper shops (they may not sound interesting, but they were very cool). We also managed to find a type of Venetian mask that Gabrielle had not yet seen - the cyborg masks. They were actually pretty cool, and we all liked them, but they were quite expensive... oh well. We then ate dinner at a place next to a really nice restaurant (ours wasn't too bad either, we all enjoyed it, we also got to share a courtyard with the nice restaurant). From there we slowly made our way back to the convent, taking in Venice in the evening.
Day 17 - Venice/Florence
We awoke, ate breakfast consisting of the same foodstuffs as the day before, and left our things with the nuns while we went to Rialto - the largest bridge in Venice (it has stores on it, by this point, however, we were mostly tired of stores). On the bridge, Gabrielle was hit on/ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS by this Spanish guy - she maintains she was not flirting, I say she was being very friendly in that case. We then went to the food market nearby, where Katharina enthusiastically took in the terrible smells of fresh fish while Gabrielle and myself held our breath. Besides the fish, there was a huge selection of fresh fruit available as well. We bought some, ate it, and then picked up our stuff from the convent. We went to the train station and left for Florence. (Now that Sharp has become bored and has gone to play a video game, I will take over the blogging). Once we arrived in Florence, it was already late afternoon so we decided to head to our next convent. After taking a bus across the Arno (?) River, we arrived at Piazza del Carmine and Casa Santa Nome di Gesu. Of all the convents we have now stayed at (including the one in Rome), the one in Venice still seems to be Sharp's favorite. This is not to say that the convent in Florence was not nice - in fact, it was much bigger and more beautiful (architecturally) than Casa Caburlotto (Venice). It just lacked the constant presence of nuns that we had experienced in Venice. After dropping off our stuff, we decided to go for a quick dinner (we were all pretty exhausted) where I had excellent foccacia and the others good pizza. Having satiated our hunger and thirst, we returned to the convent, eager to sleep so we would have energy for the next day.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Onto Belgium
Day 8 - France/Belgium
We slept in rather late to catch up on the sleep we'd been missing so much of. After that, we decided that we didn't really have much of an interest in seeing Dunkirk, which was about an hour away by train, since we'd already seen a lot of WWII beaches, so we decided to head to Brussels early. We ate lunch in Lille before going to the train station. All we really saw of Lille was the hotel (which I don't even remember?) and the metro system, which was VERY clean and impressively well-organized, with a lot of clearly marked signs, something that a lot of other cities lack. I got a really good impression of the city just by their metro system (and by the fact that they had a statue of a demon baby riding a dinosaur in the middle of the city). We then took a train to Brussels and got there fairly early in the afternoon. We checked into our hostel and made our beds before going out for dinner, to a local pizzeria that was pretty good. We spent the rest of the night at the hostel, not doing much noteworthy. End of day 8.
Day 9 - Belgium
We got up rather early to go to a flea market that we thought would be interesting. After eating the free breakfast and getting lost for a while, we ended up at the flea market, which was like a massive garage sale. They were selling everything from fabric and clothes to chandeliers to chairs and plates. There was a lot of really cool stuff, although we would find very little use for it, probably. After the flea market, we were hungry for some real Belgian cooking, so we went to get fries (a Belgian specialty!) with sauces: tartare for Gabrielle, curry-ketchup for Katharina, and American for Sharp. We had still not had our fill of Belgian cuisine, so we went to a restaurant for a true Belgian waffle (gafle or something, in French). But there was yet another Belgian classic - chocolate, obviously - that we hadn't sampled. We quickly rectified this with a visit to Chocopolis, a homemade chocolate store with all kinds of gourmet chocolate that we enjoyed exploring, sampling, and eating. With our stomachs finally full of the essence of Belgium, we walked to the Grand Place, which was a masterpiece of architecture. Rebuilt after Louis XIV bombed the city in 1695, the guildhouses that make up the square are gorgeous and very intricate. At Katharina's urging, we then went into the Museum of the City of Brussels, located in one of those buildings, which is a synopsis of the history of the city. Brussels does not appear to have a very interesting history, but there were some cool pieces of art in the museum. We also got to see the many costumes of Mannekin-Pis, a 400-year-old statue of a small boy urinating, sometimes costumed, that has become a Brussels landmark. Pretty much every country has donated costumes for the statue - there are over 800 in total - which are really cool, often consisting of native dress and, in the case of the Ukraine, even a mustache. Inspired, we left the museum to go see the real Mannekin-Pis, which was interesting, although rather smaller than we had all expected. After this, we were all tired, so we took our flea market/chocolate store purchases back to the hostel, where we napped for a couple of hours. Once we woke up, we were hungry, so we went for dinner to a really good Thai/Vietnamese place near the Grand Place. After contemplating and rejecting the idea of exploring the nightlife, we decided instead to come back to the hostel, where we now sit writing this blog.
Day 10 - Brussels/Bruge
This morning was not the best as far as noteworthy experiences are concerned. Because Mom suggested that I was being too bossy with where we were going/seeing, I acquiesced to Gabrielle's request to go to mini-Europe - "bleh" is all I have to say. Basically, you pay 12 euro to go see miniaturized models of famous buildings in Europe. While we did see the P&O Ferry that took us across the English Channel to Dover, it certainly wasn't worth the 12 euro we payed - whatever, I wanted to prevent the mutiny Mom foresaw. After leaving mini-Europe resentful (at least, I was), we decided to have Belgian fries for lunch before leaving Brussels. (FYI, I didn't know that fries originated in Belgium - they are just called French fries because the people who made them SPOKE French. So suck it, France). We found some - they were delicious. Sharp goes for the traditional ketchup, Gabrielle enjoys tartare sauce, while I stick with the very very good curry-ketchup. Then we picked up our stuff from the hostel to get on a train to Brugge. Upon arriving in Brugge, we had to walk approximately 20 minutes to our hostel called the "Passage." This was the first "legit" hostel we stayed at, given that there were 6 beds in one room. Turns out, we would forego the traditional hostel experience because our roomies never showed. After dropping off our stuff, we went to explore Brugge. It didn't take us long to realize that we really liked this town. First off, it is VERY walkable. It is small enough that you are never more than 10 minutes from the city centre. And the Grand Place (city centre) was quite beautiful - in fact, very beautiful, medieval architecture defines this city. A canal meanders throughout the town - altogether, it is a very pleasant place (We'll be back). After arriving at the Grand Place, Gabrielle had to run back to the hostel. In the mean time, Sharp and I sampled the fries of one of two rivaling fries places - they have been rivals since 1898 (personally, I think the fry place on the right is the best). After meeting back up with Gabrielle, we went in search of an ancient candy store run by a 91+ year old woman. We found it, tucked away in a little street next to the Jerusalem Church. I bought what looked like a licorice stick, along with anise drops. The other two bought an assortment of candy as well. However, as we proceeded back to the main street, I took a lick of my licorice stick. It wasn't licorice. Perhaps I should have been more weary of my candy choice when the woman pointed to her stomach when describing the stick to me. I made Gabrielle and Sharp lick it (it was bitter and turned your mouth brown) and we were all prepared for the effects of this possible laxative. Fortunately, we were all fine...I have tried to get used to the taste. But alas, I can't - it tastes like paint remover. And, in all honesty, it could be paint remover. After going to the ancient candy store, we went back to the center of town looking for a place to eat. Surprise, surprise - the city that is so incredibly beautiful is also incredibly expensive. After meandering around, finding a park full of metal horse figures (Sharp actually looked in the butt of one of the horses and found a note written by another Euro-trip traveler - no worries, we took a picture of it and put it back into the horses butt), we also found a reasonable place to eat. We then went back to the hostel, having dessert (real Belgian waffles) in the restaurant downstairs, and turned in fairly early.
Day 11 - Bruge/Amsterdam
Okay. Today is best described by the amount of calories we consumed. And let's just say, we doubled caloric intake recommended by the surgeon general. The day began with a trip to a bakery where Sharp had a sweet roll and an eclair, Gabrielle a croissant, and I a roll. But we were still hungry and went in search of a famous pancake restaurant - alas, they were closed. So, instead, we found a place where we ate a little raspberry and lemon tart. After breakfast, we sought out the church which houses one of the only Michelangelo statues NOT in Italy (a family in Brugge bought it back a couple hundred years ago and gave it to the church, which was quite beautiful). It depicts the Madonna and Child and, of course, is done exquisitely. Close to the church is another highly recommended candy store called Zuchero, one that makes its own candy in several different flavors. Sharp and Gabrielle fell in love with it and the flavors so, naturally, we sampled and they purchased. Then, seeing as Brugge is very much a place for shopping (it reminds me of Greenwhich in Connecticut in that it is old but really nice/expensive), we went shopping. Of course, all we could afford was in H&M, and Gabrielle found some interesting things. After shopping, we had lunch (which wasn't too bad for us - I had soup, Gabrielle pesto pasta, and Sharp a Croque Monsieur). Then we visited the Basilica of the Holy Blood (a chapel in Brugge that houses a relic brought back to Brugge during the Crusades - it is a vial said to contain drops of Christ's blood). It is only brought out to be worshipped at certain times (obviously, it is very valuable to the Church). We, at first, were in the wrong chapel - we soon found it though. Both Sharp and I went (one at a time) and prayed over the vial. Supposedly, the blood turns from solid to liquid every time a person places his/her hand on it. The priest who watches over the vial wipes it every time a person goes to pray over it with a white cloth. All in all, it was a very cool experience - for all of us. However, we still hadn't satiated our desire for candy so we went back to Zuchero (not really, we wanted to go see the live demonstration of how they make the candy) and, naturally, sampled more candy. Now, thoroughly sick and our train to Amsterdam imminent, we decided to be suicidal and get one more batch of fries (our last Belgian fries). After that, our stomachs were truly barking at us. To make matters worse, I forgot the exact time of our train (I thought it was 10 minutes later than it actually was). So, we had to run to our hostel and get our stuff and go on to the train station. Sharp and Gabrielle were sure we wouldn't make it...and, justifiably, we were really far away and had no time. With our packs on, we turned a 20 minute walk into a miserable 12 minute run/walk. We arrived at the train station at 4:21 (the train was at 4:20). We ran to the platform and the conductor saw me and laughed. He kept the doors open a split second longer and we were all able to get on. We stepped on and the doors shut 2 seconds later. WE MADE IT THOUGH!!!!! Exhausted, hot, and probably smelly, we settled down for a 3 1/2 hour journey to Amsterdam. We got to Amsterdam around 9:30, found our hotel (2 stars - we didn't want to stay in a hostel - sketchy sketchy), and were hungry again. We went to a pizza place, which was quite good, and I had a salad to try to compensate for that day's intake of trash. Seeing that we were only staying one night in Amsterdam, we decided to brave the Red Light district after dinner - it was mayhem. Note: turn off your flash on your camera. I was taking a picture of Gabrielle and my camera flashed. The prostitute behind the window got really angry and motioned to stop taking pictures (she wasn't attractive at all - not sure why she thought I wanted to take a picture of her). Anyways, I sped away with Sharp and Gabrielle. Sharp maintains that the hookers didn't really seem like people. What was more entertaining than the hooker shops though were the "party boats" that kept passing on the canal. They were filled with drunk, high people dancing (ridiculously) to techno music - it was hilarious to see these people just act absurd. Next to the red light district (which is only a street/block - I was unimpressed) is a Church, which I find ironic. After walking the red light district (trying to prevent pickpocketers all the while), we went back to the hotel and crashed. Amsterdam is kind of terrible at night...Sharp isn't a fan and I'm not really, especially not at night.
We slept in rather late to catch up on the sleep we'd been missing so much of. After that, we decided that we didn't really have much of an interest in seeing Dunkirk, which was about an hour away by train, since we'd already seen a lot of WWII beaches, so we decided to head to Brussels early. We ate lunch in Lille before going to the train station. All we really saw of Lille was the hotel (which I don't even remember?) and the metro system, which was VERY clean and impressively well-organized, with a lot of clearly marked signs, something that a lot of other cities lack. I got a really good impression of the city just by their metro system (and by the fact that they had a statue of a demon baby riding a dinosaur in the middle of the city). We then took a train to Brussels and got there fairly early in the afternoon. We checked into our hostel and made our beds before going out for dinner, to a local pizzeria that was pretty good. We spent the rest of the night at the hostel, not doing much noteworthy. End of day 8.
Day 9 - Belgium
We got up rather early to go to a flea market that we thought would be interesting. After eating the free breakfast and getting lost for a while, we ended up at the flea market, which was like a massive garage sale. They were selling everything from fabric and clothes to chandeliers to chairs and plates. There was a lot of really cool stuff, although we would find very little use for it, probably. After the flea market, we were hungry for some real Belgian cooking, so we went to get fries (a Belgian specialty!) with sauces: tartare for Gabrielle, curry-ketchup for Katharina, and American for Sharp. We had still not had our fill of Belgian cuisine, so we went to a restaurant for a true Belgian waffle (gafle or something, in French). But there was yet another Belgian classic - chocolate, obviously - that we hadn't sampled. We quickly rectified this with a visit to Chocopolis, a homemade chocolate store with all kinds of gourmet chocolate that we enjoyed exploring, sampling, and eating. With our stomachs finally full of the essence of Belgium, we walked to the Grand Place, which was a masterpiece of architecture. Rebuilt after Louis XIV bombed the city in 1695, the guildhouses that make up the square are gorgeous and very intricate. At Katharina's urging, we then went into the Museum of the City of Brussels, located in one of those buildings, which is a synopsis of the history of the city. Brussels does not appear to have a very interesting history, but there were some cool pieces of art in the museum. We also got to see the many costumes of Mannekin-Pis, a 400-year-old statue of a small boy urinating, sometimes costumed, that has become a Brussels landmark. Pretty much every country has donated costumes for the statue - there are over 800 in total - which are really cool, often consisting of native dress and, in the case of the Ukraine, even a mustache. Inspired, we left the museum to go see the real Mannekin-Pis, which was interesting, although rather smaller than we had all expected. After this, we were all tired, so we took our flea market/chocolate store purchases back to the hostel, where we napped for a couple of hours. Once we woke up, we were hungry, so we went for dinner to a really good Thai/Vietnamese place near the Grand Place. After contemplating and rejecting the idea of exploring the nightlife, we decided instead to come back to the hostel, where we now sit writing this blog.
Day 10 - Brussels/Bruge
This morning was not the best as far as noteworthy experiences are concerned. Because Mom suggested that I was being too bossy with where we were going/seeing, I acquiesced to Gabrielle's request to go to mini-Europe - "bleh" is all I have to say. Basically, you pay 12 euro to go see miniaturized models of famous buildings in Europe. While we did see the P&O Ferry that took us across the English Channel to Dover, it certainly wasn't worth the 12 euro we payed - whatever, I wanted to prevent the mutiny Mom foresaw. After leaving mini-Europe resentful (at least, I was), we decided to have Belgian fries for lunch before leaving Brussels. (FYI, I didn't know that fries originated in Belgium - they are just called French fries because the people who made them SPOKE French. So suck it, France). We found some - they were delicious. Sharp goes for the traditional ketchup, Gabrielle enjoys tartare sauce, while I stick with the very very good curry-ketchup. Then we picked up our stuff from the hostel to get on a train to Brugge. Upon arriving in Brugge, we had to walk approximately 20 minutes to our hostel called the "Passage." This was the first "legit" hostel we stayed at, given that there were 6 beds in one room. Turns out, we would forego the traditional hostel experience because our roomies never showed. After dropping off our stuff, we went to explore Brugge. It didn't take us long to realize that we really liked this town. First off, it is VERY walkable. It is small enough that you are never more than 10 minutes from the city centre. And the Grand Place (city centre) was quite beautiful - in fact, very beautiful, medieval architecture defines this city. A canal meanders throughout the town - altogether, it is a very pleasant place (We'll be back). After arriving at the Grand Place, Gabrielle had to run back to the hostel. In the mean time, Sharp and I sampled the fries of one of two rivaling fries places - they have been rivals since 1898 (personally, I think the fry place on the right is the best). After meeting back up with Gabrielle, we went in search of an ancient candy store run by a 91+ year old woman. We found it, tucked away in a little street next to the Jerusalem Church. I bought what looked like a licorice stick, along with anise drops. The other two bought an assortment of candy as well. However, as we proceeded back to the main street, I took a lick of my licorice stick. It wasn't licorice. Perhaps I should have been more weary of my candy choice when the woman pointed to her stomach when describing the stick to me. I made Gabrielle and Sharp lick it (it was bitter and turned your mouth brown) and we were all prepared for the effects of this possible laxative. Fortunately, we were all fine...I have tried to get used to the taste. But alas, I can't - it tastes like paint remover. And, in all honesty, it could be paint remover. After going to the ancient candy store, we went back to the center of town looking for a place to eat. Surprise, surprise - the city that is so incredibly beautiful is also incredibly expensive. After meandering around, finding a park full of metal horse figures (Sharp actually looked in the butt of one of the horses and found a note written by another Euro-trip traveler - no worries, we took a picture of it and put it back into the horses butt), we also found a reasonable place to eat. We then went back to the hostel, having dessert (real Belgian waffles) in the restaurant downstairs, and turned in fairly early.
Day 11 - Bruge/Amsterdam
Okay. Today is best described by the amount of calories we consumed. And let's just say, we doubled caloric intake recommended by the surgeon general. The day began with a trip to a bakery where Sharp had a sweet roll and an eclair, Gabrielle a croissant, and I a roll. But we were still hungry and went in search of a famous pancake restaurant - alas, they were closed. So, instead, we found a place where we ate a little raspberry and lemon tart. After breakfast, we sought out the church which houses one of the only Michelangelo statues NOT in Italy (a family in Brugge bought it back a couple hundred years ago and gave it to the church, which was quite beautiful). It depicts the Madonna and Child and, of course, is done exquisitely. Close to the church is another highly recommended candy store called Zuchero, one that makes its own candy in several different flavors. Sharp and Gabrielle fell in love with it and the flavors so, naturally, we sampled and they purchased. Then, seeing as Brugge is very much a place for shopping (it reminds me of Greenwhich in Connecticut in that it is old but really nice/expensive), we went shopping. Of course, all we could afford was in H&M, and Gabrielle found some interesting things. After shopping, we had lunch (which wasn't too bad for us - I had soup, Gabrielle pesto pasta, and Sharp a Croque Monsieur). Then we visited the Basilica of the Holy Blood (a chapel in Brugge that houses a relic brought back to Brugge during the Crusades - it is a vial said to contain drops of Christ's blood). It is only brought out to be worshipped at certain times (obviously, it is very valuable to the Church). We, at first, were in the wrong chapel - we soon found it though. Both Sharp and I went (one at a time) and prayed over the vial. Supposedly, the blood turns from solid to liquid every time a person places his/her hand on it. The priest who watches over the vial wipes it every time a person goes to pray over it with a white cloth. All in all, it was a very cool experience - for all of us. However, we still hadn't satiated our desire for candy so we went back to Zuchero (not really, we wanted to go see the live demonstration of how they make the candy) and, naturally, sampled more candy. Now, thoroughly sick and our train to Amsterdam imminent, we decided to be suicidal and get one more batch of fries (our last Belgian fries). After that, our stomachs were truly barking at us. To make matters worse, I forgot the exact time of our train (I thought it was 10 minutes later than it actually was). So, we had to run to our hostel and get our stuff and go on to the train station. Sharp and Gabrielle were sure we wouldn't make it...and, justifiably, we were really far away and had no time. With our packs on, we turned a 20 minute walk into a miserable 12 minute run/walk. We arrived at the train station at 4:21 (the train was at 4:20). We ran to the platform and the conductor saw me and laughed. He kept the doors open a split second longer and we were all able to get on. We stepped on and the doors shut 2 seconds later. WE MADE IT THOUGH!!!!! Exhausted, hot, and probably smelly, we settled down for a 3 1/2 hour journey to Amsterdam. We got to Amsterdam around 9:30, found our hotel (2 stars - we didn't want to stay in a hostel - sketchy sketchy), and were hungry again. We went to a pizza place, which was quite good, and I had a salad to try to compensate for that day's intake of trash. Seeing that we were only staying one night in Amsterdam, we decided to brave the Red Light district after dinner - it was mayhem. Note: turn off your flash on your camera. I was taking a picture of Gabrielle and my camera flashed. The prostitute behind the window got really angry and motioned to stop taking pictures (she wasn't attractive at all - not sure why she thought I wanted to take a picture of her). Anyways, I sped away with Sharp and Gabrielle. Sharp maintains that the hookers didn't really seem like people. What was more entertaining than the hooker shops though were the "party boats" that kept passing on the canal. They were filled with drunk, high people dancing (ridiculously) to techno music - it was hilarious to see these people just act absurd. Next to the red light district (which is only a street/block - I was unimpressed) is a Church, which I find ironic. After walking the red light district (trying to prevent pickpocketers all the while), we went back to the hotel and crashed. Amsterdam is kind of terrible at night...Sharp isn't a fan and I'm not really, especially not at night.
More France
Day 6 (in France)
We woke up early, excited to go to England. We left the hotel early and in a good mood (despite the fact that it was overcast, cold, and raining - perhaps a reflection of the city itself?) to walk to the ferry docks. Two hours later, dripping wet, and miserable...we were still walking to the ferry docks. After asking quite a few people for directions, which failed to get us there, and finding a colony of homeless people living near some harbor, we surreptitiously followed two people with suitcases to the ferries. We finally bought tickets, went through passport control (stamps on our passport!! finally!!), and got on the ferry. It was REALLY nice - like a mini cruise ship. They had stores with absurd amounts of liquor, 50-kg packages of Toblerone, facewash that smells like pineapples, and anything else that you could possibly need or want, along with lots of food that was better than normal cruise ship food. We got to England with about two hours to spare before going back to the ferry (yes, we did spend more time going to England than we spent in England). We marvelled briefly at the white cliffs of Dover before going to Dover Castle. The castle was really cool - definitely a good use of our time. Parts of the castle were built as early as the 1200s, and there was even a church (and lighthouse from the 1st century A.D.)from Roman times that we got to see. There were also medieval tunnels open for exploration that were built as escape routes, along with secret war tunnels built during WWII (since the castle was used then too - but we didn't go into the latter, lacking time). After this, we ran back to the ferry station, only to find that we had missed our ferry. Fortunately, there was another one half an hour later that we were able to get on. Once we got back to Calais (where it was overcast and raining, again) we packed and went to the train station. Absolutely thrilled to be leaving Calais, we got on a train to Paris, where we spent the night in a really out-of-the-way hotel that we didn't get to until 1 AM thanks to the late trains we'd had to take. End of day 6.
Day 7 - D-Day
Getting to the D-Day beaches turned out to be quite a fiasco - however, it proved to be well worth the trouble (at least for me - Katharina - and Sharp). As we have already mentioned, we weren't supposed to go to the D-Day beaches - we were supposed to stay a second night in Calais. However, due to my intent desire to go to the Normandy beaches, I convinced Gabrielle (Sharp was more than willing) to leave crappy-Calais and head to Bayeux. On a side note, for all of those who are wondering why we went to Calais in the first place, it was not my fault...well, it was not intentional. When we decided to move the "France-excursion" before the "Italy-excursion," I didn't think about when exactly D-Day was - turns out it is June 6th, which was when we were trying to make reservations. After about an hour of discovering that the hostels in Caen, Rouen, Cherbourg, and Bayeux were all BOOKED, Sharp looked up the date of D-Day and sure enough, that was the reason for our bad luck booking a place to stay. So, basically, the only thing on the coast that was available on the dates we wanted was Calais (surprise, surprise - it is never booked). So after a night in a Parisian hostel (it was nice, just out of the way), we woke up at 5:15 to catch a train to Bayeux, which was the first town liberated during Operation Overlord. During our layover in Caen (our first train to Caen was delayed for 20 minutes due to cows standing in the tracks so we missed our first connection to Bayeux), we met a 23-year-old boy, who was a member of the AirForce (currently stationed in England). His name was Frank and, like us, he spontaneously decided that he wanted to see the D-Day beaches. We got to talking and turns out, he was a quite friendly and entertaining guy. He hadn't booked any tours (I had tried but the particular tour I had contacted never got back to me) so the four of us arrived in Bayeux with no idea how to get to the beaches. Fortunately, about 100 meters from the train station, there was an advertisement for an afternoon tour of the D-Day beaches - I went ahead to talk to the owner (a VERY excited and enthusiastic Frenchman, who gave all of us - including Frank - a student discount), who confirmed the availability of a minibus (8 people, 1 English speaking guide) for 1:00 pm. Since we arrived in Bayeux at 11:30, we had about an hour to kill so we went and ate very good pizza next to Bayeux's Notre Dame. After quickly surveying the church, we rushed back to the excited Frenchman, who had repeated SEVERAL times the necessity of being back by 12:30. We didn't leave until 1:00 :). Anyways, once the tour started, it was really incredible. Our English-speaking tour guide wasn't really English-speaking but that was okay. We could still understand him. Our first stop was in Arromanches, which houses the D-Day museum. The museum itself was quite spectacular - it had all the original uniforms, medals, guns, gas masks, binoculars, etc. from D-Day as well as the original models for the amphibious invasion made by the generals themselves. Frank was quite taken with the beach the museum was situated on and hopped around with his camera and ultimately had Sharp take his picture (let me also note that Frank drank 3 beers on an empty stomach to kill time in Bayeux - he really was an interesting, very friendly character). After the museum in Arromanches, we headed to several German bunkers situated on a cliff overlooking the coast. They were well preserved and these enormous guns that could shoot up to 10 miles away. But these bunkers were nothing compared to the bunkers we saw at the very end at Ponte du Huc - but more on that later. After seeing the preserved German bunkers, we visited the American cemetery. It was a moving place - the layout of the cemetery is very dignified. As you walk between the tombstones (a mixture of uniformly white marble crosses or Stars of David), you become immersed in a sea of white - over 9,000 Americans are buried there - and you feel the gravity of the D-Day invasion. The chapel at the end of the cemetery, though small, has a mosaic ceiling depicting the ascension of soldiers dying on the beach into heaven with the help of angels. Really, there is no way to describe the feeling you have walking through the cemetery other than the fact that it was really amazing to be there. After the cemetery, we finally visited a beach - Omaha beach to be exact. We weren't there for long but it was enough to get the picture. Our guide told us that Omaha was the bloodiest of the 5 beaches (Gold, Omaha, Sword, Juno, Utah) and that it was in the first onslaught that the most men were killed by the German guns. You aren't allowed to take anything from the beaches but, alas, we are law breakers. Sharp took a rock, and I took a shell for Chris. It was after the beach that we came to the last and, arguably, the coolest part of our tour: Ponte du Hoc (note: had we not done this tour, we would have MAYBE seen the beach only - the buses don't run to all the other places so the minibus was quite a find). It was here that the American Rangers scaled a 250 foot cliff to take out 5 German guns - a lot of the Rangers were lost (100 out of the 250 remained to fight another day) but they were successful at taking out the German guns (which were actually hidden). But what really makes Ponte du Hoc amazing is the fact that it has not been modified since 1944. All along the coast, the farmers reclaimed the shelled areas for agricultural purposes. However, Ponte du Hoc was left alone - as a result, massive craters exist along the cliff edge. Huge pieces of bunker lay 150 feet away from where they originally were. Wire, mortar, and cement are scattered along the cliff, along with the massive holes in the ground. Frank found this to be the "most awesome" of the destinations, as did we- he ran in and out of the craters and we, again, took his picture for him. We stayed at Ponte du Hoc for awhile, just to take in this battlefield. It was pretty spectacular - in the space of 5 hours, we got the Normandy beach/D-Day experience we wanted. And up until now, it remains Sharp's (and to a degree, my) favorite thing we've done. After the tour, we hoped on a train to Lille and crashed in our hostel there - we'd been up for quite some time at this point. Great great day.
We woke up early, excited to go to England. We left the hotel early and in a good mood (despite the fact that it was overcast, cold, and raining - perhaps a reflection of the city itself?) to walk to the ferry docks. Two hours later, dripping wet, and miserable...we were still walking to the ferry docks. After asking quite a few people for directions, which failed to get us there, and finding a colony of homeless people living near some harbor, we surreptitiously followed two people with suitcases to the ferries. We finally bought tickets, went through passport control (stamps on our passport!! finally!!), and got on the ferry. It was REALLY nice - like a mini cruise ship. They had stores with absurd amounts of liquor, 50-kg packages of Toblerone, facewash that smells like pineapples, and anything else that you could possibly need or want, along with lots of food that was better than normal cruise ship food. We got to England with about two hours to spare before going back to the ferry (yes, we did spend more time going to England than we spent in England). We marvelled briefly at the white cliffs of Dover before going to Dover Castle. The castle was really cool - definitely a good use of our time. Parts of the castle were built as early as the 1200s, and there was even a church (and lighthouse from the 1st century A.D.)from Roman times that we got to see. There were also medieval tunnels open for exploration that were built as escape routes, along with secret war tunnels built during WWII (since the castle was used then too - but we didn't go into the latter, lacking time). After this, we ran back to the ferry station, only to find that we had missed our ferry. Fortunately, there was another one half an hour later that we were able to get on. Once we got back to Calais (where it was overcast and raining, again) we packed and went to the train station. Absolutely thrilled to be leaving Calais, we got on a train to Paris, where we spent the night in a really out-of-the-way hotel that we didn't get to until 1 AM thanks to the late trains we'd had to take. End of day 6.
Day 7 - D-Day
Getting to the D-Day beaches turned out to be quite a fiasco - however, it proved to be well worth the trouble (at least for me - Katharina - and Sharp). As we have already mentioned, we weren't supposed to go to the D-Day beaches - we were supposed to stay a second night in Calais. However, due to my intent desire to go to the Normandy beaches, I convinced Gabrielle (Sharp was more than willing) to leave crappy-Calais and head to Bayeux. On a side note, for all of those who are wondering why we went to Calais in the first place, it was not my fault...well, it was not intentional. When we decided to move the "France-excursion" before the "Italy-excursion," I didn't think about when exactly D-Day was - turns out it is June 6th, which was when we were trying to make reservations. After about an hour of discovering that the hostels in Caen, Rouen, Cherbourg, and Bayeux were all BOOKED, Sharp looked up the date of D-Day and sure enough, that was the reason for our bad luck booking a place to stay. So, basically, the only thing on the coast that was available on the dates we wanted was Calais (surprise, surprise - it is never booked). So after a night in a Parisian hostel (it was nice, just out of the way), we woke up at 5:15 to catch a train to Bayeux, which was the first town liberated during Operation Overlord. During our layover in Caen (our first train to Caen was delayed for 20 minutes due to cows standing in the tracks so we missed our first connection to Bayeux), we met a 23-year-old boy, who was a member of the AirForce (currently stationed in England). His name was Frank and, like us, he spontaneously decided that he wanted to see the D-Day beaches. We got to talking and turns out, he was a quite friendly and entertaining guy. He hadn't booked any tours (I had tried but the particular tour I had contacted never got back to me) so the four of us arrived in Bayeux with no idea how to get to the beaches. Fortunately, about 100 meters from the train station, there was an advertisement for an afternoon tour of the D-Day beaches - I went ahead to talk to the owner (a VERY excited and enthusiastic Frenchman, who gave all of us - including Frank - a student discount), who confirmed the availability of a minibus (8 people, 1 English speaking guide) for 1:00 pm. Since we arrived in Bayeux at 11:30, we had about an hour to kill so we went and ate very good pizza next to Bayeux's Notre Dame. After quickly surveying the church, we rushed back to the excited Frenchman, who had repeated SEVERAL times the necessity of being back by 12:30. We didn't leave until 1:00 :). Anyways, once the tour started, it was really incredible. Our English-speaking tour guide wasn't really English-speaking but that was okay. We could still understand him. Our first stop was in Arromanches, which houses the D-Day museum. The museum itself was quite spectacular - it had all the original uniforms, medals, guns, gas masks, binoculars, etc. from D-Day as well as the original models for the amphibious invasion made by the generals themselves. Frank was quite taken with the beach the museum was situated on and hopped around with his camera and ultimately had Sharp take his picture (let me also note that Frank drank 3 beers on an empty stomach to kill time in Bayeux - he really was an interesting, very friendly character). After the museum in Arromanches, we headed to several German bunkers situated on a cliff overlooking the coast. They were well preserved and these enormous guns that could shoot up to 10 miles away. But these bunkers were nothing compared to the bunkers we saw at the very end at Ponte du Huc - but more on that later. After seeing the preserved German bunkers, we visited the American cemetery. It was a moving place - the layout of the cemetery is very dignified. As you walk between the tombstones (a mixture of uniformly white marble crosses or Stars of David), you become immersed in a sea of white - over 9,000 Americans are buried there - and you feel the gravity of the D-Day invasion. The chapel at the end of the cemetery, though small, has a mosaic ceiling depicting the ascension of soldiers dying on the beach into heaven with the help of angels. Really, there is no way to describe the feeling you have walking through the cemetery other than the fact that it was really amazing to be there. After the cemetery, we finally visited a beach - Omaha beach to be exact. We weren't there for long but it was enough to get the picture. Our guide told us that Omaha was the bloodiest of the 5 beaches (Gold, Omaha, Sword, Juno, Utah) and that it was in the first onslaught that the most men were killed by the German guns. You aren't allowed to take anything from the beaches but, alas, we are law breakers. Sharp took a rock, and I took a shell for Chris. It was after the beach that we came to the last and, arguably, the coolest part of our tour: Ponte du Hoc (note: had we not done this tour, we would have MAYBE seen the beach only - the buses don't run to all the other places so the minibus was quite a find). It was here that the American Rangers scaled a 250 foot cliff to take out 5 German guns - a lot of the Rangers were lost (100 out of the 250 remained to fight another day) but they were successful at taking out the German guns (which were actually hidden). But what really makes Ponte du Hoc amazing is the fact that it has not been modified since 1944. All along the coast, the farmers reclaimed the shelled areas for agricultural purposes. However, Ponte du Hoc was left alone - as a result, massive craters exist along the cliff edge. Huge pieces of bunker lay 150 feet away from where they originally were. Wire, mortar, and cement are scattered along the cliff, along with the massive holes in the ground. Frank found this to be the "most awesome" of the destinations, as did we- he ran in and out of the craters and we, again, took his picture for him. We stayed at Ponte du Hoc for awhile, just to take in this battlefield. It was pretty spectacular - in the space of 5 hours, we got the Normandy beach/D-Day experience we wanted. And up until now, it remains Sharp's (and to a degree, my) favorite thing we've done. After the tour, we hoped on a train to Lille and crashed in our hostel there - we'd been up for quite some time at this point. Great great day.
More France
Day 5 (in France)
We did not make it to the Surrender Museum today, which, in retrospect, is quite disappointing (except to Katharina). Anyhowzer, we woke up, ate a refreshing (free) breakfast and headed off, again taking the bus (this time legally...). With hopes high, we got on our train to Calais, excited about the prospect of seeing the D-Day beaches. Upon arrival, we immediately headed to the Office of Tourism to figure out how exactly we were to get there. You would think that a town 80 miles from the Normandy beaches would have some form of transportation to the beaches. You would be wrong. And we were scheduled to stay in said town for 2 nights. Determined not to waste the day in Calais, we found a brochure about a trip to Canterbury via Dover (conveniently located right across the English Channel). We then explored the little town of Calais, which was completely destroyed in World War 2, pretty much robbing it of any notable history or interesting thing to do. We went to a Turkish restaurant and a Creperie that had like 25 types of Crepes. We then went to bed, only to discover Calais comes alive then (read: the 15 people who actually live there start yelling at each other in one of the run-down bars across from our hotel). Nevertheless, we managed to get some sleep.
We did not make it to the Surrender Museum today, which, in retrospect, is quite disappointing (except to Katharina). Anyhowzer, we woke up, ate a refreshing (free) breakfast and headed off, again taking the bus (this time legally...). With hopes high, we got on our train to Calais, excited about the prospect of seeing the D-Day beaches. Upon arrival, we immediately headed to the Office of Tourism to figure out how exactly we were to get there. You would think that a town 80 miles from the Normandy beaches would have some form of transportation to the beaches. You would be wrong. And we were scheduled to stay in said town for 2 nights. Determined not to waste the day in Calais, we found a brochure about a trip to Canterbury via Dover (conveniently located right across the English Channel). We then explored the little town of Calais, which was completely destroyed in World War 2, pretty much robbing it of any notable history or interesting thing to do. We went to a Turkish restaurant and a Creperie that had like 25 types of Crepes. We then went to bed, only to discover Calais comes alive then (read: the 15 people who actually live there start yelling at each other in one of the run-down bars across from our hotel). Nevertheless, we managed to get some sleep.
Photos
Hey, here are 30 of about 200 pictures we're going to upload. Check back for more later.
http://s568.photobucket.com/albums/ss129/SharpMcGivaren/
http://s568.photobucket.com/albums/ss129/SharpMcGivaren/
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Paris Das Day 3-6
Ahh, yes. France. We have now been in France for 4 full days and only now have I found the time to detail our adventures. We are currently in Reims and, given that the other two travelers (Gabrielle and Sharp) are away playing trivia games (and setting records on Monster Mash, Poker, and almost "Castle Bandits"), I have taken it upon myself to monopolize Sharp's computer and tell of das adventure. Upon arriving in Paris after a night train from Munich (which I found quite comfortable, though the others found less than pleasant), we had to search out our Hotel called the Hotel Maubeuge. Due to my insanely amazing map reading skills (not even kidding - I was pleasantly surprised with my ability to use a map), we found it with very little trouble. And to our pleasant surprise, the two-star we had booked at a price hostels go for in Paris, we had a private room with a modest shower on the top floor with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It was no 4 star hotel but it was an amazing deal for the price we paid. Upon leaving our things at the hotel (we could not yet check-in because we were too early), we decided to take a stab at the metro to get to Notre Dame. Again, to our surprise, the metro was pretty easy to use (when Gabrielle was doing the map reading and correcting Katharina - true story, mom). However, it was also quite expensive - 1,60 euro per ticket and oftentimes the tickets malfunctioned (for which we did get replacements). After 2 subway stops, we made it to Notre Dame which sits on a small island in the Seine...I was on the lookout for the Lorelei, the siren whom Heinrich Heine wrote about in a famous German poem. Alas, I could not find her. However, we did find Notre Dame, which was absolutely incredible. There was a small line but fast moving and we got into the church after about five minutes. Really, there is nothing I can say to describe the awesome, vast, and inspiring aura of the interior of the church. We happened to enter the church just before mass began. We had the pleasure of being scooted aside by security as the priests entered in white and red robes. As we walked around the church and behind the altar, seeing people in confession, several "mini" chapels, and incredibly beautiful stain-glass windows, we were all the while surrounded with the constant sound of the Catholic priests singing Latin prayers. Sharp seemed to be quite taken with the whole experience, as was I. As is customary in Catholic churches, I also lit a candle for my Oma as did Sharp for his loved ones. And really, how often are you able to light a candle in Notre Dame? All in all, the church was spectacular, particularly the stained glass. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. After leaving Notre Dame, we went to have lunch in a small cafe and then went back to the hotel to check-in and rest. We then went to Musee D'Orsay, finding it closed (sadly), but then happened upon the Tuileries Gardens where we sunbathed for a good hour or so. By this point, we were quite hungry so we went to explore the Latin quarter, where supposedly all the students hang out. We did see some students from the high schools in that area but what was more interesting was the Pantheon, where Victor Hugo and Voltaire were buried. Though we were not allowed inside the Pantheon, the huge structure is incredible in and of itself...also, there was a protest going on outside the Pantheon. Sharp considered joining the protest, as did Gabrielle. I have learned to just ignore them, as they have a tendency to do ridiculous things on the street. Let me mention a few in an aside: 1) They like to play follow-the-leader, where they copy my exact movements and words and follow me in a line without regards to how ridiculous it looks to others 2) They like chanting "left. left. left right left." and marching in line. 3) They also enjoy speaking in FAKE German accents...and speak in it so much that they forget how to speak in normal English. They have to think about it before actually uttering regular English words. It is QUITE annoying, given that their idea of German is adding "Das" in front of everything. For example, this is a conversation they have A LOT: "Das gut." and then the other responds, "Das very gut" - they say that about EVERYTHING. Including getting lost in the metro or other completely not-good situations. They are four, I swear. Okay, back to the Latin Quarter. We found a traditional French restaurant, which Gabrielle and I absolutely loved. Gabrielle loved the mayonnaise-aoili sauce so much that she talked endlessly about how good it was. She would bathe in that sauce if she could. Completely true. I had incredible pate and artichoke hearts. Sharp, on the other hand, will come home 20 pounds lighter given that he is incapable of finding food that he can eat. At this particular restaurant, he got a steak that was completely charred - rather unfortunate for him, ja? After dinner in the Latin quarter, we went back to the hotel and crashed. End of Day 1.
Day 2.
This was not the greatest day for Sharp, but for me and Gabrielle it was nice. We went to the Louvre in the morning and by some odd chance, got separated from Sharp. One second we were standing in front of the Victory of Stand...(I cant remember the name - I'll look it up) and the next second Sharp was gone. We left him inadvertently to explore the rest of the Louvre. We thought we might see him at the exit, but alas, we couldn't find him there (unfortunately, there was more than one exit so we probably missed each other). Gabrielle rejected my idea to intercom Sharp so we decided to go back through the Louvre again in search of Sharp. On the way, we saw a lot of pretty incredible pieces of art. In addition to the staples - the Mona Lisa, the Wedding Feast at Cana, and Venus de Milo - there were other paintings from the Renaissance and from the Egyptians, etc etc that were pretty spectacular to look at. However, after going back through the Louvre for another 2 hours, we still could not find Sharp. We went to a place about 15 minutes from the Louvre to get a lunch of bread and cheese and picnicked by the Seine River. Upon finishing we headed back to the hotel, where we found Sharp who had been waiting for the last two and a half hours. We were tired so we crashed until around 6, when Sharp's rumbling stomach (as he had not yet eaten that day) prevented further sleep. Deciding to also visit the Eiffel Tower, we left in that direction. Sharp ate enough for two, but other than that the meal was not noteworthy. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower, where we surprised by its immense and dramatic appearance. Discovering that the line to ride the elevator up compared in length to the Eiffel Tower's height, we decided to pay for the less expensive walk up. 1665 steps later, we reached the second level. Then we took the elevator to the third level (there were no steps available or we would have done that). The sight was unbelievable (as were the number of awkward couples making out). We could see most of Paris (I think). Anyhowzer, we got a good view of the Paris skyline at night, staying until 12:00 am (closing time). We found out we were ~5000 km from NYC. Then we left. And then went to sleep. Ze end of Day 2.
Day 3
We overslept, as usual. When we finally woke up, we got on a train to Versailles. Actually, we got on a train to somewhere else and then switched to the right train to Versailles. The palace was absolutely enormous, encompassing more than it would be possible to see in our half-day's visit. The front was plated in gold and was a masterpiece of baroque architecture (according to Dr. Lamar, anyway), and the inside was ridiculously elaborate. For example, Louis XIV had three beds? The portraiture was also interesting. There were a lot of pictures that looked normal and then just had Louis XIV's portrait in the middle - like, a scientist looking at a globe with the King of France staring down at him approvingly from a portrait on the painting's wall. We also looked at his gardens after going through his chambers, which were also enormous and done in weird labyrinths and patterned bushes, and we sunbathed here too. After Versailles, we got lunch in the 6th Arrondissement, buying baguettes, cheese, and fruit to have for lunch (and the leftovers for dinner). Then we went back to the room and slept until about 8. Then we went to Montmartre. We walked up the really steep hill to see the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, which was very interesting. In addition to having a great view, the cathedral itself was gorgeous, although the architecture was a bit different (more simple) than we had become accustomed to seeing, since it wasn't built until the late 19th century. After visiting the church, we walked around a little of the area. It seemed like a popular area for youth in particular. We snacked on some crepes that we bought at the bottom of the hill before going through some souvenir shops (although Katharina wouldn't let us stay for very long because apparently we needed to sleep). After buying a few small souvenirs, we went back to the hotel, packed, and went to sleep. End of day 3.
Day 4
That's today. We didn't oversleep, actually. We woke up on time and finished packing in time to leave the hotel around 9 to go to the Galeries Lafayette for a bit of shopping. After a rather convoluted ride on the metro (on four different trains?) we ended up exactly where we wanted to be, at this massive department store. We shopped for about an hour, with Katharina buying a toga/dress and Gabrielle buying a cardigan, before heading back to our hotel. We picked up our luggage, grabbed lunch at a cute bakery near our hotel, and went to the train station. We rode the 45 minute train to Reims without a hitch, although the conductor never came around to check our tickets (which we found odd), and managed to find our way to our hostel despite their VERY imprecise directions (in part thanks to the public buses, which are probably not actually free, although we never figured out where we could buy a ticket...). The hostel we're staying in is very nice; it's actually some sort of community center in addition to being a hostel. We have a private room with three beds and our own bathroom. After leaving our stuff at the hotel, we headed out to explore Notre Dame de Reims, the cathedral here (Notre Dame just means Our Lady; lots of cities have their own Notre Dame). It was a gorgeous cathedral, with original Gothic architecture from the 1200s. It was much less crowded than any of the other cathedrals we had been to, and the interior was also (interestingly) more bare. The notable point was definitely the stained glass windows, ranging from original medieval depictions of Biblical stories to redone, more modern striped glass to Chagall's modern Biblical stories in stained glass, featured in the very back of the cathedral. We spent about an hour in here admiring the cathedral. Afterwards we were very hungry, so we went to a bakery for dinner and dessert (FYI, mille feuilles is a fantastic dessert). After that, we came back to the hostel to plan our next days. We're about to go to sleep after we post this, so presumably this will be the end of day 4. Tomorrow we plan on going to the Surrender Museum, which celebrates the German surrender at the end of WWII, and then hopping our train to Calais, which leaves around 10:15.
Please note that, as Gabrielle and Sharp began to write the blog entries, they begin to get MUCH smaller. Also note that German is a surprisingly easy language to speak; just add "das" to any English word and you will have its German translation. It's proven fact; ask any German authority.
Day 2.
This was not the greatest day for Sharp, but for me and Gabrielle it was nice. We went to the Louvre in the morning and by some odd chance, got separated from Sharp. One second we were standing in front of the Victory of Stand...(I cant remember the name - I'll look it up) and the next second Sharp was gone. We left him inadvertently to explore the rest of the Louvre. We thought we might see him at the exit, but alas, we couldn't find him there (unfortunately, there was more than one exit so we probably missed each other). Gabrielle rejected my idea to intercom Sharp so we decided to go back through the Louvre again in search of Sharp. On the way, we saw a lot of pretty incredible pieces of art. In addition to the staples - the Mona Lisa, the Wedding Feast at Cana, and Venus de Milo - there were other paintings from the Renaissance and from the Egyptians, etc etc that were pretty spectacular to look at. However, after going back through the Louvre for another 2 hours, we still could not find Sharp. We went to a place about 15 minutes from the Louvre to get a lunch of bread and cheese and picnicked by the Seine River. Upon finishing we headed back to the hotel, where we found Sharp who had been waiting for the last two and a half hours. We were tired so we crashed until around 6, when Sharp's rumbling stomach (as he had not yet eaten that day) prevented further sleep. Deciding to also visit the Eiffel Tower, we left in that direction. Sharp ate enough for two, but other than that the meal was not noteworthy. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower, where we surprised by its immense and dramatic appearance. Discovering that the line to ride the elevator up compared in length to the Eiffel Tower's height, we decided to pay for the less expensive walk up. 1665 steps later, we reached the second level. Then we took the elevator to the third level (there were no steps available or we would have done that). The sight was unbelievable (as were the number of awkward couples making out). We could see most of Paris (I think). Anyhowzer, we got a good view of the Paris skyline at night, staying until 12:00 am (closing time). We found out we were ~5000 km from NYC. Then we left. And then went to sleep. Ze end of Day 2.
Day 3
We overslept, as usual. When we finally woke up, we got on a train to Versailles. Actually, we got on a train to somewhere else and then switched to the right train to Versailles. The palace was absolutely enormous, encompassing more than it would be possible to see in our half-day's visit. The front was plated in gold and was a masterpiece of baroque architecture (according to Dr. Lamar, anyway), and the inside was ridiculously elaborate. For example, Louis XIV had three beds? The portraiture was also interesting. There were a lot of pictures that looked normal and then just had Louis XIV's portrait in the middle - like, a scientist looking at a globe with the King of France staring down at him approvingly from a portrait on the painting's wall. We also looked at his gardens after going through his chambers, which were also enormous and done in weird labyrinths and patterned bushes, and we sunbathed here too. After Versailles, we got lunch in the 6th Arrondissement, buying baguettes, cheese, and fruit to have for lunch (and the leftovers for dinner). Then we went back to the room and slept until about 8. Then we went to Montmartre. We walked up the really steep hill to see the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, which was very interesting. In addition to having a great view, the cathedral itself was gorgeous, although the architecture was a bit different (more simple) than we had become accustomed to seeing, since it wasn't built until the late 19th century. After visiting the church, we walked around a little of the area. It seemed like a popular area for youth in particular. We snacked on some crepes that we bought at the bottom of the hill before going through some souvenir shops (although Katharina wouldn't let us stay for very long because apparently we needed to sleep). After buying a few small souvenirs, we went back to the hotel, packed, and went to sleep. End of day 3.
Day 4
That's today. We didn't oversleep, actually. We woke up on time and finished packing in time to leave the hotel around 9 to go to the Galeries Lafayette for a bit of shopping. After a rather convoluted ride on the metro (on four different trains?) we ended up exactly where we wanted to be, at this massive department store. We shopped for about an hour, with Katharina buying a toga/dress and Gabrielle buying a cardigan, before heading back to our hotel. We picked up our luggage, grabbed lunch at a cute bakery near our hotel, and went to the train station. We rode the 45 minute train to Reims without a hitch, although the conductor never came around to check our tickets (which we found odd), and managed to find our way to our hostel despite their VERY imprecise directions (in part thanks to the public buses, which are probably not actually free, although we never figured out where we could buy a ticket...). The hostel we're staying in is very nice; it's actually some sort of community center in addition to being a hostel. We have a private room with three beds and our own bathroom. After leaving our stuff at the hotel, we headed out to explore Notre Dame de Reims, the cathedral here (Notre Dame just means Our Lady; lots of cities have their own Notre Dame). It was a gorgeous cathedral, with original Gothic architecture from the 1200s. It was much less crowded than any of the other cathedrals we had been to, and the interior was also (interestingly) more bare. The notable point was definitely the stained glass windows, ranging from original medieval depictions of Biblical stories to redone, more modern striped glass to Chagall's modern Biblical stories in stained glass, featured in the very back of the cathedral. We spent about an hour in here admiring the cathedral. Afterwards we were very hungry, so we went to a bakery for dinner and dessert (FYI, mille feuilles is a fantastic dessert). After that, we came back to the hostel to plan our next days. We're about to go to sleep after we post this, so presumably this will be the end of day 4. Tomorrow we plan on going to the Surrender Museum, which celebrates the German surrender at the end of WWII, and then hopping our train to Calais, which leaves around 10:15.
Please note that, as Gabrielle and Sharp began to write the blog entries, they begin to get MUCH smaller. Also note that German is a surprisingly easy language to speak; just add "das" to any English word and you will have its German translation. It's proven fact; ask any German authority.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Munich Day 2
After saying gut bai to Osterhofen, we continued our adventure in Munich. Upon arriving we had all day to kill, as we were scheduled to take a night train to Paris. So naturally, we headed out onto the town without a map and little idea of where we were going. It did not take long for us to get mildly lost, which was quite fun. We found a nice little bakery, which brought the American spirit to Gabrielle and myself by "Rickrolling" us (adults & other noobs, don't worry about this cultural reference). Yes, the radio played Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" while we were in there. Anyhowzer, we ventured bravely on from there, as the streets were empty (it was Pentecost). The residential area was absolutely beautiful, the houses gorgeous, the architecture exquisite, etc. etc. Oh, mom, you'd love the gardens they had. Amazing (but nothing compared to yours, of course). I wish I had my camera at the time, I'll have to take pictures later for you. We saw a church, which was gilded heavily with gold. Compared to churches I've seen in America it was amazing. Then we walked back toward the train station (perhaps) when we came across Marienplatz, a kind of open air square with little food places (we ate at Hofbrauhaus - a traditional, famous Bavarian brewery and restaurant - I tried the food, it was a little rough, but the meat wasn't bad, I liked Dr. Hahn's knodel better than theirs). We then happened upon the Glockenspiel - a set of rotating, dancing, and music playing figurines in the top of an old church - very gut. We went to the Alte Peter - a famous Bavarian church which was in the middle of mass, incense and all. Then we walked along the Isar, the river that surrounds Munich (I saw some very lovely town houses there that overlooked the water, note to self, consider retirement home here). We followed the Isar into the English gardens where we sunbathed and watched the surfers ride the raves of the Eisbach. We walked up Maximillien Strasse, a famous street in Munich, once again experiencing some grand sights. Now I get to talk about my favorite sight in Germany - Theatinerkirche, a breathtaking, Rococo-influenced white cathedral. The details of the stone were, well, impressive to say the least. Cherubs, stone ivy, and intricate details lined the walls. I lit a candle there for my loved ones, a common practice in Catholic churches. Then we went back to the train station and waited for our night train. We got on said night train and met our roomies. Not much to say about that other than it got us to Paris and provided us a place to sleep (Katharina slept well, Gabrielle and I did not, but that's alright). The beds were small. We made it to Paris. Ciao - Sharp with significant help from Katharina, but what else is new?
N.B. - Gabrielle will post tomorrow, as it is now 1:18 am. Sorry for the long post, Munich was packed with action and we were energetic and stupid. Also pictures are coming soonish.
N.B. - Gabrielle will post tomorrow, as it is now 1:18 am. Sorry for the long post, Munich was packed with action and we were energetic and stupid. Also pictures are coming soonish.
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