What to Bring and What to Leave at Home

Ok, I am now back in Derby. Safe, sound, wearing clean socks and freshly showered. I now (finally!) have time to write up some posts about my travels ... this is gonna take awhile.

I did take some pictures to show what I have been lugging around on my back for the last 3 weeks. I think it is pretty impressive.

This is what it all looked like before I unpacked it.

This is what it looks like unpacked.  I dont think it is clear from my picture but my entire bed is covered.

After staying with Jenns family in Italy for a week and eating well at the hostel in Paris, I wanted to eat a real meal when I got home, not fish n chips.  I made myself this lovely meal:

Paris: Part Deux

In the morning we planned to meet Benji, the grad student from MSU we had met the day before, at the pyramids of the Louvre.  We chose this location sticktly because it sounded awesome to meet somebody "under the big glass pyramid at 10 sharp." As had become our custom, Jenn and I forgot that the trains only come out to our hostel every 10 minutes and it takes another 15 to get to the "Pyramids" metro stop.

We had already done a solid amount of exploring in the Louvre, we just wanted to stop by and pick up gifts at the gift shop in the basement.  Jenn ended up getting a children's book on Leonardo DaVinci for her friend Emily and then waited for me to confirm that she should get a copy for herself.  I found a really cool book that has lesson plans for all levels of students on the art that is in the Louvre (Mom, this is what I got for you.)

I forgot my sun glasses

We walked out of the Louvre, past the Pyramid, through the original Arc Du Triomphe, and through the Tuileries.  Though it looks like the world "Toulips" it actually means "Tiles."  There used to be a tile factory on the site of the Tuileries Gardens but the queen didnt like seeing the workers in the factory from her window (in the building that is now the Louvre) ... so she had it torn down and there is a park there now.  Just across the river from this park is the Musee d'Orsay.  If you dont know everything about every bit of art, this is the place to go.  The pieces of art you know are all here (but it is closed on Mondays, so we couldnt go)

We walked along the river and back across a bridge to what was once the city center.  This is where the guilletine use to be, this is where Marie Antiounette lost her head.  Horses used to refuse to go into this square because it reaked of death.  Now there is the hotel that the winner of the Tour d'France stays at for 3 days.

If you look straight west from the Pyramids at the Louvre you can see straight to the Arc Du Triomphe.  The original arc is in that line of sight, as is the Tuileries, as is the old town center, as is the Champ d'Elysee.  Aparently this marvel of touristic city planning was a complete accident, but it was very convenient for us because we were planning on climbing the Arc.

From France - Paris

There are something like 400 steps up the Arc Du Triomphe.  They all wind up in giant spiral staircase in the legs of the monument.  When you get to the top you can see Paris from its heart (according to our tour guide, "Spike," the soul is on the other side of town).  The Arc is in the center of an 8 lane round about, which you will recognise from a certain National Lampoon movie starring Chevy Chase.  There are 14 roads that merge into this round about and there is an accident there every 30 minutes.  It is the most dangerous roundabout in Europe and no insurance company will cover a crash there (you have been warned)

Our only other real goal for the day was to climb Notre Dame (its full name is Notre Dame De Paris and means "Our Lady of Paris").  Benji wasnt interested in climbing so we parted ways here and Jenn and I waited in line for an hour to climb up.  For being students we got a discount as we had on every other notable building and monument we had climbed in the past 3 weeks.  The view was nice but not the best.  What was really interesting about Notre Dame was watching Jenn freak out about seeing the Gargoyles from the Disney Hunchback movie.

We climbed down and were mobbed by beggars asking if we spoke english.  Their big ploy is to ask if you speak english then hand you a note that gives you a sob story and asks you for money.  There has got to be a more efficient way to get money from tourists, the entire time I sat in that square (a good 45 minutes) I only saw one person stop and read the note.  I did get to practice other languages while I waited though.  As far as they know I speak Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, and French but not English.

For another hour Jenn and I walked to the tourist shops to find nick-nacks.  I really needed to find a french flag.  I decided to get a flag from every country I went to because it was cheap, compact, and I couldnt think of anything I really wanted that I could get consistently in every country (I did get myself things though: Absynth, a Carnival Mask, a classy lighter from Spain,  and a Germany Football scarf)

When we got back to our room were were starving and the australians we had met the night before were just debating getting out of bed ... at 8 pm.  We all went to the bar/restaurant in the basement and ordered the only real food they had: Nachos and Burgers.  I ordered mine Aussie style, with an egg on top.  I have since become obsessed with this burger and have made it 3 times since getting back to Derby two days ago!

That night we went to the Moulin Rouge.  We couldnt get in because we didnt want to pay 150 euro a head to watch a Can-Can.  On the way we got lost trying to find the Metro station to take us to the Red Light District and accidentally walked through a bunch of riot police ... oops.

Overall, Paris was pretty fun.

Paris

Note: I will be adding the rest of the blog posts I have neglected to write about the other cities I have traveled to in the near future, I have been so tired each night I havent had time to write them up.  Also, my memory card reader on my computer is being stupid, so there will be no pictures until I am back in England.

Wow, for neglecting to book our hostel for Paris until the night before, we got a good one.  There is a bar and an internet cafe on the ground floor (because in Europe the 1st floor is the 2nd floor and the 1st floor is the ground floor ... confused yet?  I live on the 4th floor ....)  There is also interent in every room, though I have to be honest I havent tired it in the toilet.

We got into Paris on Saturday morning after spending another night in the airport. I must be getting used to sleeping on the cold hard ground because I managed to get 6 hours of sleep plus another 2 on the plane.  Our flight left Rome at 6:45 am and got in just after 9 am.  When we arrived at the airport we bought breakfast and hopped on a bus to take us to central Paris.  The really cool part was that once we got to Paris we had to take 2 metro lines to actually get to our hostel and our changing station was ... THE LOUVRE!!!

Once we checked into our hostel and got all showered and pretty, Jenn and I decided to walk around a bit before we passed out.  We managed to find the Opera House, the Arc Du Triumph, and the Eiffel Tower (to be honest, you cant miss it).  When we got to the Tower to we took some pictures and decided to go back to the hostel, grab a burger (which tasted like meatloaf) at the bar, and go to bed early.

This morning we, and by "we" I mean "I", got up a bit late and went down to the bar for the free breakfast.  I dont really like eating breakfast, so I just drank a lot of orange juice and grabbed a pamphlet for a free walking tour while Jenn checked her email.  It was about 10:30am by the time we decided to actually get moving and get to the free tour on the other side of town.  Somehow we made it.

The walking tour was really very good.  The girl who gave the tour was an aussie who is living in Paris for no other reason than she wanted to live in Paris.  She had a lot of cool stories about the monuments (she called Pont Neuf "the worlds first facebook" because of the 300 faces carved in the side) and kept pointing out where movies and tv shows had been shot, especially the Davinci  Code and the Borne Identity.  We saw most of the tourist spots on the tour.

We made a friend on the tour, his name is Benji and he is from MSU.  After the tour he came with us to the Louvre (which you can get in free if you are under 25 ... there is no need to buy a museum pass) and the Eiffel Tower.  At the Louvre we kind of rushed through.  We saw the Mona Lisa, we walked right up to it, and the Venus De Milo.  We also saw the entire Egyptian section, though I wasnt terribly interested in that.  I took pictures of some paintings with interesting musical instruments in them ... which I had seen at the instrument museum in Milan.

When we were waiting in line for the Eiffel Tower we started talking to an Aussie behind us named Sam.  Well, to be more accurate, she started talking at us and we decided that she was interesting.  The climb and trip up was pretty standard, it was a great view and it took hours and hours.  The best story of the day is Sam talked to a street salesman (one of the guys who tries to sell you random POS souvenires and wont go away until you tell them to F'Off) until he walked away

After we climbed down the tower Sam left us to meet some friends and Benji, Jenn, and I decided to grab dinner.  Jenn and I have made a pact to eat McDonald's in every country once, so we walked across town to the Louvre and at in the McDonald's there.  Afterwards, is was late and dark so we bought beer and walked the Champs-Elysees starting at the Louvre and ending at the Arc De Triomphe.

At this point we realised that the Metro was going to close in 5 minutes and we had no other way to get back to our hostels ... so we booked it.  We ran like Kenyans, people confused us for kenyans.  We ended up in one of the most confusing subway station I have ever seen.  There werent ticket machines for our connecting line and I was out of tickets so I did a running slide underneath the barrier (which got a round of applause from a group of French people walking by) and we caught our train.  

Tomorrow we are going to see the Notre Dame Cathedral and other things.