We took a night train from Prague to Krakow. The hostel we had in Krakow was amazing! A huge room, and actually a really nice bathroom. Probably the nicest bathroom any hostel has had. They were also really nice to us, and even set out breakfast an hour early because we had to leave before they usually serve it.
The public transportation to leave the actual city of Krakow into the suburbs was pretty funny, it was basically just a 15-passenger van. We took one of those to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz was incredibly moving and hard to describe on a blog. There were exhibits of hair and glasses and shoes, and everything the Nazis took from the people coming into the concentration camps. There was an intact gas chamber and crematorium. it was crazy.
we toured around there, and then to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This is the one that most pictures show. There are the train tracks coming through the middle, and the 'gate of death.' The men's barracks were old horse barns that they had shipped from germany because they ran out of wood. it was a very moving thing. the guide also showed us where the 'hospital' was.. and that is where Dr. Mengele did some of this experiments. They didn't have anything about him though.. that would have been interesting.
It is hard to really say much else.. it was really moving.
After that, we took a different van to a suburb of Krakow where there is the famous salt mine. This was really amazing. The last english tour had left, so we had to take one in Polish. It was only Cara and I and the guide, who knew about 5 words in English.. so that was a funny experience. The salt mine was really cool though.. there were insane carvings in there.
There was an army of gnomes carved out of the salt that was one of my favorites. Also, there was a huge chapel complete with a salt carving of the last supper, and several sacred heart salt sculptures. It was really awesome.
We only had one day in Krakow, which really wasn't enough.. it would have been good to have one more day to see the center of the city, which we never actually got to. oh well, next is Berlin!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Praha
This was my first experience on a night train. We got on the train in Zurich. I didn't like the night train, it was not very comfortable. I got what is called a "couchette", which basically means sleeping on a couch, but a couch where the cushions are made out of wood with a little bit of soft on the top.. not comfortable at all.
After we got to our hostel to drop off our bags and had lunch, we walked into the city.
They had a museum devoted to communism in the Czech Republic. It was pretty cool, and I liked the location: on top of a McDonalds, and right next to a casino. yeah, sure communism works....
Anywho, the museum was pretty cool, it had lots of old propaganda posters which made me laugh. They had a big statue of Stalin, and it was actually a pretty informative museum, I learned a lot about communism in the Czech.
We walked to Good King Applesauce, I mean... Wenceslas's square (so, it turns out he isn't a king at all... just a duke. very disappointing). It was a big shopping district, but it was also the place where some student lit himself on fire as a protest to being alive and not on fire... haha, okay that isn't really what he was protesting. We met up with Daniel, who was a foreign exchange student at Ballard my senior year, and he studies in Prague. Cara and I had lunch and chatted with him, but he had to go back to work. We then met up with Cara's friend Betka who had studied abroad at Miami and was Cara's suitemate. We walked with her to Charles Bridge (I think I have seen just about every world-famous bridge by now) and walked up to the castle. It was pretty cool, there was a sweet cathedral where Wenceslas is buried. There was a monastery close to the castle, and the monks there brew beer.. it was delicious!
We went to the Jewish quarter of Prague, where there were some boring museums, (but they do have cool pointer thingys to point at the torah, and they are just a long stick with a hand and pointing finger.) There were two really amazing things in the Jewish quarter.
One was a church where they had handwritten the names of all the Prague (or maybe all the Czech, i'm not sure) Jews who were killed in WWII. They actually had to rewrite them (the current one is the third time) due to damage from floods.
There was also a cemetery that was completely jam packed, because it was the only place you could bury Jews for around 200 years.
One of the most interesting things was a church that we went to, where just to the right and above the door there is a hanging arm. Legend has it that someone tried to steal the statue of Mary (a pretty famous one) that is on the altar, and his hand froze to it. The monk had to cut the arm off to get the statue back, and the monk hung the arm in the church to let thieves know.
There was also a famous astronomical clock there.. it was okay, some cool action things like a skeleton drinking when it chimed.
Thats it for Prague, Krakow is next!
After we got to our hostel to drop off our bags and had lunch, we walked into the city.
They had a museum devoted to communism in the Czech Republic. It was pretty cool, and I liked the location: on top of a McDonalds, and right next to a casino. yeah, sure communism works....
Anywho, the museum was pretty cool, it had lots of old propaganda posters which made me laugh. They had a big statue of Stalin, and it was actually a pretty informative museum, I learned a lot about communism in the Czech.
We walked to Good King Applesauce, I mean... Wenceslas's square (so, it turns out he isn't a king at all... just a duke. very disappointing). It was a big shopping district, but it was also the place where some student lit himself on fire as a protest to being alive and not on fire... haha, okay that isn't really what he was protesting. We met up with Daniel, who was a foreign exchange student at Ballard my senior year, and he studies in Prague. Cara and I had lunch and chatted with him, but he had to go back to work. We then met up with Cara's friend Betka who had studied abroad at Miami and was Cara's suitemate. We walked with her to Charles Bridge (I think I have seen just about every world-famous bridge by now) and walked up to the castle. It was pretty cool, there was a sweet cathedral where Wenceslas is buried. There was a monastery close to the castle, and the monks there brew beer.. it was delicious!
We went to the Jewish quarter of Prague, where there were some boring museums, (but they do have cool pointer thingys to point at the torah, and they are just a long stick with a hand and pointing finger.) There were two really amazing things in the Jewish quarter.
One was a church where they had handwritten the names of all the Prague (or maybe all the Czech, i'm not sure) Jews who were killed in WWII. They actually had to rewrite them (the current one is the third time) due to damage from floods.
There was also a cemetery that was completely jam packed, because it was the only place you could bury Jews for around 200 years.
One of the most interesting things was a church that we went to, where just to the right and above the door there is a hanging arm. Legend has it that someone tried to steal the statue of Mary (a pretty famous one) that is on the altar, and his hand froze to it. The monk had to cut the arm off to get the statue back, and the monk hung the arm in the church to let thieves know.
There was also a famous astronomical clock there.. it was okay, some cool action things like a skeleton drinking when it chimed.
Thats it for Prague, Krakow is next!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Interlaken
We went to this little town in Switzerland, and Cara went skydiving by the Alps. The scenery here was pretty beautiful. The hostel was in a basically residential area.
It was a pretty cool hostel, they had some fun things including a giant chess set (the pieces were 2-feet tall.) It was pretty fun to walk around Interlaken, but it was just a sleepy little town, and on Sunday it was basically dead. We got to eat some delicious Swiss chocolate, and for some reason they really like pickles on their sandwiches... wierd I know...
That was about it, there was a wood-carving museum, but we didn't go there. We ran into some people from Kansas while we were walking around, and they updated us on the happenings in the NCAA basketball tournament.. so that was pretty nice for me!
Thats about it, on to Prague next!
It was a pretty cool hostel, they had some fun things including a giant chess set (the pieces were 2-feet tall.) It was pretty fun to walk around Interlaken, but it was just a sleepy little town, and on Sunday it was basically dead. We got to eat some delicious Swiss chocolate, and for some reason they really like pickles on their sandwiches... wierd I know...
That was about it, there was a wood-carving museum, but we didn't go there. We ran into some people from Kansas while we were walking around, and they updated us on the happenings in the NCAA basketball tournament.. so that was pretty nice for me!
Thats about it, on to Prague next!
Venice and waste of a day in Milan
Venice was fantastic. Since it had less "touristy" things to do, we got to spend lots of time wandering around the streets. This was really fabulous, they had tiny little streets with lots of shops, and just walking around the canals was lots of fun. I really liked all the water taxis that there were.. I think that would be a pretty fun job.
Saint Mark's square was the big tourist spot. There were soo many pigeons in the square, it was crazy! They were all over! The Doge's Palace, and the Museo Correr and a big cathedral (Saint Mark's) with lots of amazing mosaics were all on that square, and it was neat to go look through there. The prison was especially cool.
One really crazy thing happened. One afternoon while Cara and I were wandering the streets, we ran into two people who also are studying abroad at Leicester! It was crazy, we had no idea they were there, and we just saw them on the street! It was really funny. So, we hung out with them for awhile.
One really cool church was the Frari church. There was a famous sculpture by Donatello, and also a really cool tomb. The tomb was shaped like one side of a pyramid (so, I guess I could have just said a triangle...) and it had lots of cool statues and carvings in it. It is the tomb of Antonio Canova, but apparently only his heart is buried there.
The Rialto bridge was pretty cool, with neat shops all along it. The only bad thing was there was a big advertisement on one side of it, so that was a little disappointing.
We stayed at another "campsite" outside of Venice (much like in Rome) only this one was funnier, because the bathroom sink was in the shower. So, we had a shink for our time. haha. Also they had a "kitchen" where you could cook, but it was just an oven under a little awning outside.
Well, next we went to Milan.. but we didn't realize that you need to book tickets at least a few weeks in advance to see the Last Supper, which was the only reason we went to Milan. So, the day before we tried to book tickets.. we got to Milan, found out we couldn't see it.. and then we just walked around Milan and had a relaxing day. On to Interlaken, and the last two weeks of our holiday!
Saint Mark's square was the big tourist spot. There were soo many pigeons in the square, it was crazy! They were all over! The Doge's Palace, and the Museo Correr and a big cathedral (Saint Mark's) with lots of amazing mosaics were all on that square, and it was neat to go look through there. The prison was especially cool.
One really crazy thing happened. One afternoon while Cara and I were wandering the streets, we ran into two people who also are studying abroad at Leicester! It was crazy, we had no idea they were there, and we just saw them on the street! It was really funny. So, we hung out with them for awhile.
One really cool church was the Frari church. There was a famous sculpture by Donatello, and also a really cool tomb. The tomb was shaped like one side of a pyramid (so, I guess I could have just said a triangle...) and it had lots of cool statues and carvings in it. It is the tomb of Antonio Canova, but apparently only his heart is buried there.
The Rialto bridge was pretty cool, with neat shops all along it. The only bad thing was there was a big advertisement on one side of it, so that was a little disappointing.
We stayed at another "campsite" outside of Venice (much like in Rome) only this one was funnier, because the bathroom sink was in the shower. So, we had a shink for our time. haha. Also they had a "kitchen" where you could cook, but it was just an oven under a little awning outside.
Well, next we went to Milan.. but we didn't realize that you need to book tickets at least a few weeks in advance to see the Last Supper, which was the only reason we went to Milan. So, the day before we tried to book tickets.. we got to Milan, found out we couldn't see it.. and then we just walked around Milan and had a relaxing day. On to Interlaken, and the last two weeks of our holiday!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Naples/Pompeii
Well, Naples was horrible. But Pompeii was amazing!
Naples public transport was awful. The same route bus no matter which end point it is going to is labeled with one name. So we got on a bus labeled where we wanted to go, the right route number.. and it took us in the opposite direction! How frustrating! It ended up taking us way to long to get back to our hostel. And there was a garbage strike going on, so the city stunk, and there were stray dogs everywhere.. what a bummer.
but... Pompeii! wow. It was really cool. There were mosaics and art work still intact! After all these years!
I learned things too, I found out that a major earthquake had hit in 62 A.D. (just 17 years before the volcano.) So, Pompeii was actually still in the process of rebuilding when the volcano hit.
There is not much else you can say, it was amazing to walk around and see all the ruins. I also saw the plaster casts of the bodies they found. pretty crazy.
welp, off to Venice!
Naples public transport was awful. The same route bus no matter which end point it is going to is labeled with one name. So we got on a bus labeled where we wanted to go, the right route number.. and it took us in the opposite direction! How frustrating! It ended up taking us way to long to get back to our hostel. And there was a garbage strike going on, so the city stunk, and there were stray dogs everywhere.. what a bummer.
but... Pompeii! wow. It was really cool. There were mosaics and art work still intact! After all these years!
I learned things too, I found out that a major earthquake had hit in 62 A.D. (just 17 years before the volcano.) So, Pompeii was actually still in the process of rebuilding when the volcano hit.
There is not much else you can say, it was amazing to walk around and see all the ruins. I also saw the plaster casts of the bodies they found. pretty crazy.
welp, off to Venice!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Rome
Wow, what an amazing place.
First off, we stayed in a "campsite." This basically meant that we had half a caravan (aka mobile home) with a bathroom. It was actually not that bad, there was a little space heater in there, so it wasn't too cold.
The campsite had a bus that ran to the suburban metro line, so it only took about 40 minutes to get from our campsite to anywhere in Rome.
It is really hard to sum up Rome, it was amazing. We saw the colosseum on the first day. That was really amazing. The Roman Forum (foro Romano) was one of the best parts of Rome. This basically used to be the headquarters of the Roman empire. There were all sorts of ruins from famous, powerful old buildings, the oldest of which was Saturn's Temple, where 8 columns still stand (they were from about 500-600 B.C. We even saw the place where Julius Caesar was cremated. There is a big mound of dirt, and it is still covered in flowers that people bring.
Right by the forum, there is also the Mamertine Prison we went into, and Saints Peter and Paul were both said to have been imprisoned there.. pretty cool!
We went into the Capital Hill Museum, where the coolest thing there was a foot, and hand, and other remnants of the HUGE statue of Constantine that used to be somewhere...
Oh yeah, I might have forgotten to mention that somehow we were lucky enough to be in Florence and Rome during "Italian Culture Week," which for me meant Free Museum Week!! I saved at least 50 euros because almost all museums were free for that week! I love Italian Culture!
The Pantheon was pretty neat, we saw Raphael's Tomb, which makes it 2 now out of the 4 Ninja Turtles tombs I've seen on the trip.
Vatican City was pretty sweet. The longest wait we have had so far on the trip was for the Vatican museum (1.5 hours, which okay.. its not so bad.)
My favorite part of the Vatican museum was their Egyptian collection, it was pretty cool. The Raphael rooms were also pretty immense. And of course, there is the Sistine chapel, which.. as famous as it is, there were just too many people packed into there, that I couldn't just have a peaceful look up at it for too long.
St. Peter's Basilica did turn out to be my favorite of the chapel's I visited. (I know, there were sooo many!) There were too many amazing things there, but Michaelangelo's Pieta (of course behind bulletproof glass) did not disappoint me.
The pope's crypt under the basilica was pretty cool as well.
The Trevi fountain was one really neat thing, it is basically a huge fountain that is part of a building. It is hard to describe in words, so look for the pictures or wikipedia it.
By far the weirdest thing was the Capucin Crypt. Apparently in Rome it is okay and legal and perfectly kosher to dig up the bones of 4000 monks and make artwork with them. weird I know, but oh well..... as they say.. when in Rome.
Anyway, it was cool.. the artwork of the monk's bones.. I will post pictures of that soon, it was cool... and weird.
That is about it.. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later.... on to Naples!
First off, we stayed in a "campsite." This basically meant that we had half a caravan (aka mobile home) with a bathroom. It was actually not that bad, there was a little space heater in there, so it wasn't too cold.
The campsite had a bus that ran to the suburban metro line, so it only took about 40 minutes to get from our campsite to anywhere in Rome.
It is really hard to sum up Rome, it was amazing. We saw the colosseum on the first day. That was really amazing. The Roman Forum (foro Romano) was one of the best parts of Rome. This basically used to be the headquarters of the Roman empire. There were all sorts of ruins from famous, powerful old buildings, the oldest of which was Saturn's Temple, where 8 columns still stand (they were from about 500-600 B.C. We even saw the place where Julius Caesar was cremated. There is a big mound of dirt, and it is still covered in flowers that people bring.
Right by the forum, there is also the Mamertine Prison we went into, and Saints Peter and Paul were both said to have been imprisoned there.. pretty cool!
We went into the Capital Hill Museum, where the coolest thing there was a foot, and hand, and other remnants of the HUGE statue of Constantine that used to be somewhere...
Oh yeah, I might have forgotten to mention that somehow we were lucky enough to be in Florence and Rome during "Italian Culture Week," which for me meant Free Museum Week!! I saved at least 50 euros because almost all museums were free for that week! I love Italian Culture!
The Pantheon was pretty neat, we saw Raphael's Tomb, which makes it 2 now out of the 4 Ninja Turtles tombs I've seen on the trip.
Vatican City was pretty sweet. The longest wait we have had so far on the trip was for the Vatican museum (1.5 hours, which okay.. its not so bad.)
My favorite part of the Vatican museum was their Egyptian collection, it was pretty cool. The Raphael rooms were also pretty immense. And of course, there is the Sistine chapel, which.. as famous as it is, there were just too many people packed into there, that I couldn't just have a peaceful look up at it for too long.
St. Peter's Basilica did turn out to be my favorite of the chapel's I visited. (I know, there were sooo many!) There were too many amazing things there, but Michaelangelo's Pieta (of course behind bulletproof glass) did not disappoint me.
The pope's crypt under the basilica was pretty cool as well.
The Trevi fountain was one really neat thing, it is basically a huge fountain that is part of a building. It is hard to describe in words, so look for the pictures or wikipedia it.
By far the weirdest thing was the Capucin Crypt. Apparently in Rome it is okay and legal and perfectly kosher to dig up the bones of 4000 monks and make artwork with them. weird I know, but oh well..... as they say.. when in Rome.
Anyway, it was cool.. the artwork of the monk's bones.. I will post pictures of that soon, it was cool... and weird.
That is about it.. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later.... on to Naples!
Florence
After Bologna, we went to Florence. The hostel was very close to the train station, so that was really nice. Also, Florence was a great city because you could walk anywhere. We did not take a single bus or any form of transportation besides walking the whole time in Florence! Somehow we avoided all the lines everywhere in Florence, and I am still not quite sure how it happened. We walked by the Academia at about 10:15 in the morning just to see how the line was, and it didn't look to bad.. so Cara and I decided just to wait for 15 minutes and see how far we made it in the line. After 20 minutes we were already inside! It was kind of weird but they put David towards the beginning of the museum (you would think they would put it last, oh well.)
Obviously, this statue was great.
There were a few other famous ones there as well, the unifinished prisoner statues.. they were pretty cool.
We got lucky again somehow by walking to the Uffizi and going to make a reservation for the next day (our last day in Florence) and we got the last reservation available!
So the next day, we just got to walk right in the Uffizi, maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait in line, incredible! The Uffizi was alrite, the famous "birth of Venus" painting was there, it was okay... but she was at such an awkward angle, it looked like she should have fallen over.
The Duomo chapel wasn't that exciting.
However, the church Sante Croce was excellent. The tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo were in there.. that was pretty cool. Apparentely it took quite a while to get Galileo's body to be moved into the church. I guess that is what you get by telling the church that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
That was it for Florence, the hostel was pretty cool, the owner cooked us breakfast in the morning.
On the way to Rome, we stopped in Pisa to look at the tower, eat Pizza, and of course, take the required holding up the tower photo.
Obviously, this statue was great.
There were a few other famous ones there as well, the unifinished prisoner statues.. they were pretty cool.
We got lucky again somehow by walking to the Uffizi and going to make a reservation for the next day (our last day in Florence) and we got the last reservation available!
So the next day, we just got to walk right in the Uffizi, maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait in line, incredible! The Uffizi was alrite, the famous "birth of Venus" painting was there, it was okay... but she was at such an awkward angle, it looked like she should have fallen over.
The Duomo chapel wasn't that exciting.
However, the church Sante Croce was excellent. The tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo were in there.. that was pretty cool. Apparentely it took quite a while to get Galileo's body to be moved into the church. I guess that is what you get by telling the church that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
That was it for Florence, the hostel was pretty cool, the owner cooked us breakfast in the morning.
On the way to Rome, we stopped in Pisa to look at the tower, eat Pizza, and of course, take the required holding up the tower photo.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Week One
So.. here is the start of my 5-week vacation!!
The break started with Friday afternoon getting on a coach to London and meeting Emily Raney!!! We met her for supper that first night. Saturday the three of us met up again, and we walked through Hyde Park. There was some cool stuff, including a Princess Diana memorial playground, (which was mostly just a big pirate ship, was she a pirate? i hope so.) or maybe it was a huge conspiracy and the pirates who killed her also had a laugh and built her a memorial of a pirate ship... i think that is the most likely story.)
We went on a little walking tour with Emily's class, and that was alrite. We walked by Shakespear's Globe Theatre.. that was really cool. Cara and I split off from their group and went to the Tate Modern Art Museum.. wow, talk about dumb. I just can't call something art when all it is is a canvas painted gray. that is not art.
We saw some people protesting Scientology.. that was pretty cool, we also saw them the last time we were in London. they wear the Guy Fawkes (from V for Vendetta) masks.
Sunday morning, Emily, Cara and I went to church at the Westminster abbey. Wow that place is huge!! it was pretty cool, but it was a very short service (it was just communion?), there were some readings and liturgy and stuff, but no sermon and not very long (weird Catholics.)
The rest of Sunday was very cold, and Cara and I just wandered around London trying to stay warm and visit places.
Monday morning Cara and I went to the airport and flew to Barcelona to meet up with her family.
Barcelona was a really neat place, with lots of little side streets full of funky little shops. We went to a park that has the longest park bench in the world! It was decorated with some neat mosaic stuff. We also went to the Picasso Museum. That was pretty cool, and it was fun to see how he went through phases in paintings, for instance, he went through a phase where all his paintings were ridiculously blue, and then there was a red phase after that. The only thing I didn't like was some stuff he did pretty late in his life. it was pretty bad, and I think I could have made better paintings (okay.. obviously not.. but still.. not the best paintings)
After Barcelona, all of Cara's family and Cara and I drove to Monaco. Monaco was ridiculously beautiful. There are lots of small, winding roads, it is right on the coast of the Mediterranean. The hotel was super nice, with amazing views.
We went to the Monte Carlo casino (from all the James Bond films) and that was amazing. This casino was decorated amazingly with huge paintings and cool statues. Of course, I got a martini inside the casino (i didn't dare ask for it shaken, not stirred though).
Cara and I went to the beach, but it was very cold, and laying on the beach is not much fun when you have to wear jeans and a sweatshirt to be comfortable.
The next day, Cara's mother and Cara and I walked around Monaco. We went up to the Palace, and saw Prince Rainier III's personal collection of Napoleon memorabilia. There was some cool stuff in there, including a pipe where the bowl was in the shape of Napoleon's head. There was a sword in there that was a gift from some Russian czar, and the hilt was completely encrusted with diamonds! it was beautiful, but wow.. so many diamonds...
We also walked into a really cool cathedral in Monaco (the one where Grace Kelly and the Prince got married) and it was a very ornate cathedral. The graves of many princes and princesses (including Grace Kelly and Rainier) were around the front of the cathedral.
After Monaco, Cara and I went on a train from Nice to Bologna where we met Anna Maria (a coworker of my dad's.) She took very good care of us and took us on a couple tours of the city of Bologna, which was a very cool city. There are still two very tall towers remaining from long ago, and one is leaning a lot! It was pretty crappy weather in Bologna, but that is okay because you can walk for 38 kilometres around the city while staying under these great arches that cover that much of the sidewalks!
One interesting thing we walked by is a very nice shoestore where they hand make these great shoes, and Arnold the Govenator and Danny DeVito used to come there twice a year to get shoes.
Anna Maria's sister cooked us a delicious lasagne one night (they make there lasagne with a white sauce, not red, and it is amazing!) The other night, Anna Maria took us to a favorite restaurant of her's, and it was also very delicious.
Tuesday morning Cara and I got on a train to Florence, where we are now!
Wow, I am caught up! yahoo! Hopefully I will be able to blog again soon, i love you all!
The break started with Friday afternoon getting on a coach to London and meeting Emily Raney!!! We met her for supper that first night. Saturday the three of us met up again, and we walked through Hyde Park. There was some cool stuff, including a Princess Diana memorial playground, (which was mostly just a big pirate ship, was she a pirate? i hope so.) or maybe it was a huge conspiracy and the pirates who killed her also had a laugh and built her a memorial of a pirate ship... i think that is the most likely story.)
We went on a little walking tour with Emily's class, and that was alrite. We walked by Shakespear's Globe Theatre.. that was really cool. Cara and I split off from their group and went to the Tate Modern Art Museum.. wow, talk about dumb. I just can't call something art when all it is is a canvas painted gray. that is not art.
We saw some people protesting Scientology.. that was pretty cool, we also saw them the last time we were in London. they wear the Guy Fawkes (from V for Vendetta) masks.
Sunday morning, Emily, Cara and I went to church at the Westminster abbey. Wow that place is huge!! it was pretty cool, but it was a very short service (it was just communion?), there were some readings and liturgy and stuff, but no sermon and not very long (weird Catholics.)
The rest of Sunday was very cold, and Cara and I just wandered around London trying to stay warm and visit places.
Monday morning Cara and I went to the airport and flew to Barcelona to meet up with her family.
Barcelona was a really neat place, with lots of little side streets full of funky little shops. We went to a park that has the longest park bench in the world! It was decorated with some neat mosaic stuff. We also went to the Picasso Museum. That was pretty cool, and it was fun to see how he went through phases in paintings, for instance, he went through a phase where all his paintings were ridiculously blue, and then there was a red phase after that. The only thing I didn't like was some stuff he did pretty late in his life. it was pretty bad, and I think I could have made better paintings (okay.. obviously not.. but still.. not the best paintings)
After Barcelona, all of Cara's family and Cara and I drove to Monaco. Monaco was ridiculously beautiful. There are lots of small, winding roads, it is right on the coast of the Mediterranean. The hotel was super nice, with amazing views.
We went to the Monte Carlo casino (from all the James Bond films) and that was amazing. This casino was decorated amazingly with huge paintings and cool statues. Of course, I got a martini inside the casino (i didn't dare ask for it shaken, not stirred though).
Cara and I went to the beach, but it was very cold, and laying on the beach is not much fun when you have to wear jeans and a sweatshirt to be comfortable.
The next day, Cara's mother and Cara and I walked around Monaco. We went up to the Palace, and saw Prince Rainier III's personal collection of Napoleon memorabilia. There was some cool stuff in there, including a pipe where the bowl was in the shape of Napoleon's head. There was a sword in there that was a gift from some Russian czar, and the hilt was completely encrusted with diamonds! it was beautiful, but wow.. so many diamonds...
We also walked into a really cool cathedral in Monaco (the one where Grace Kelly and the Prince got married) and it was a very ornate cathedral. The graves of many princes and princesses (including Grace Kelly and Rainier) were around the front of the cathedral.
After Monaco, Cara and I went on a train from Nice to Bologna where we met Anna Maria (a coworker of my dad's.) She took very good care of us and took us on a couple tours of the city of Bologna, which was a very cool city. There are still two very tall towers remaining from long ago, and one is leaning a lot! It was pretty crappy weather in Bologna, but that is okay because you can walk for 38 kilometres around the city while staying under these great arches that cover that much of the sidewalks!
One interesting thing we walked by is a very nice shoestore where they hand make these great shoes, and Arnold the Govenator and Danny DeVito used to come there twice a year to get shoes.
Anna Maria's sister cooked us a delicious lasagne one night (they make there lasagne with a white sauce, not red, and it is amazing!) The other night, Anna Maria took us to a favorite restaurant of her's, and it was also very delicious.
Tuesday morning Cara and I got on a train to Florence, where we are now!
Wow, I am caught up! yahoo! Hopefully I will be able to blog again soon, i love you all!
Scotland and Ireland
Well, I am sitting here at my hostel in Florence, taking a little break, and catching up on some blogs. I am now in week 2 of the 5-week spring break. I will hopefully be able to catch everyone up with some quick blogs.
So the trip to Scotland was organized by the school, so there were about 40 kids (mostly from Leicester.) This was okay, because I got to stay in the hostel with people I knew, but I much prefer smaller group traveling than the big groups. We got into Edinburgh and had a little walking tour, seeing some interesting things including author's houses, and heard a story about the man who Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was based on. There was a huge castle in Edinburgh that we unfortunately did not get to visit because we arrived too late. We went to the White Elephant, where JK Rowling started writing the Harry Potter books.
That night, cara and I actually ate haggis!! I was expecting something horrible... but it actually wasn't too bad, kind of like meatloaf.
The next day, we drove up through the highlands (wow.. beautiful) and I learned a lot about the history of the Scottish Highlanders. I also saw the train line that is the Hogwarts express train from the movies. We made it to Loch Ness, and I jumped in... but sadly the monster didn't come get me.. and I didn't even see it. that was sad, but i'm glad i got to jump in loch ness. (even though the water was freezing.. about 40 degrees fahrenheit! yikes!)
We stayed in Inverness which was okay.. and then the next day we drove back down, stopping at Urqhuart castle, which was mostly ruined, but a couple walls were still up. I also learned about how historically inaccurate Braveheart was... thanks a lot mel gibson...
One of the best things, we drove by and saw the castle that is every castle (except the one at the end of the film, on the island) in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The next weekend, cara and i got up super early to leave for Dublin. Most of our time in Dublin was wandering around looking at things. There is a weird monument (just a really tall single spire) right in the center of O'Connell street(a very main street). We went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. That was really sweet.. I dont remember when it was done, but it was very very ornate and colorful. There was also a really cool exhibit talking about how it was made.
There was a really cool Viking museum that talked about the Viking inhabitation of Dublin, and I learned a lot about Viking culture and that was pretty neat. I also saw a Viking longboat that was made exactly like one they dug up in Denmark, and then they actually sailed this boat over to Dublin. It was really cool.
The Guinness Store house was awesome, a huge museum where you could see much of the history of Guinness and its brewing. There is also a cool observatory at the top where there is a great view of the whole city, and they gave you a free pint of Guinness, and wow was that fresh Guinness delicious!!
oh yeah.. also there was an Archaeological museum, and we saw some bodies that had been mummified in bogs.. that was pretty sweet.
That was about it for Ireland and Scotland.. i'm sure i forgot some stuff.. just ask me about it later!
So the trip to Scotland was organized by the school, so there were about 40 kids (mostly from Leicester.) This was okay, because I got to stay in the hostel with people I knew, but I much prefer smaller group traveling than the big groups. We got into Edinburgh and had a little walking tour, seeing some interesting things including author's houses, and heard a story about the man who Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was based on. There was a huge castle in Edinburgh that we unfortunately did not get to visit because we arrived too late. We went to the White Elephant, where JK Rowling started writing the Harry Potter books.
That night, cara and I actually ate haggis!! I was expecting something horrible... but it actually wasn't too bad, kind of like meatloaf.
The next day, we drove up through the highlands (wow.. beautiful) and I learned a lot about the history of the Scottish Highlanders. I also saw the train line that is the Hogwarts express train from the movies. We made it to Loch Ness, and I jumped in... but sadly the monster didn't come get me.. and I didn't even see it. that was sad, but i'm glad i got to jump in loch ness. (even though the water was freezing.. about 40 degrees fahrenheit! yikes!)
We stayed in Inverness which was okay.. and then the next day we drove back down, stopping at Urqhuart castle, which was mostly ruined, but a couple walls were still up. I also learned about how historically inaccurate Braveheart was... thanks a lot mel gibson...
One of the best things, we drove by and saw the castle that is every castle (except the one at the end of the film, on the island) in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The next weekend, cara and i got up super early to leave for Dublin. Most of our time in Dublin was wandering around looking at things. There is a weird monument (just a really tall single spire) right in the center of O'Connell street(a very main street). We went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. That was really sweet.. I dont remember when it was done, but it was very very ornate and colorful. There was also a really cool exhibit talking about how it was made.
There was a really cool Viking museum that talked about the Viking inhabitation of Dublin, and I learned a lot about Viking culture and that was pretty neat. I also saw a Viking longboat that was made exactly like one they dug up in Denmark, and then they actually sailed this boat over to Dublin. It was really cool.
The Guinness Store house was awesome, a huge museum where you could see much of the history of Guinness and its brewing. There is also a cool observatory at the top where there is a great view of the whole city, and they gave you a free pint of Guinness, and wow was that fresh Guinness delicious!!
oh yeah.. also there was an Archaeological museum, and we saw some bodies that had been mummified in bogs.. that was pretty sweet.
That was about it for Ireland and Scotland.. i'm sure i forgot some stuff.. just ask me about it later!
Monday, February 4, 2008
School has started!
Well, as you can tell, it has been quite a while since I made a post, and I am very sorry about that, but now I am feeling much more settled into school, and classes have just started their third week. Classes and classwork are VERY different from in America. There are no assignments, no quizzes, and not even many exams. There is one exam at the end, and for some classes an essay. My geology class, in fact, has only one 3000 word essay as the only assessment, not even an exam! The only regular "assignments" are suggested readings for you to do. Seriously, that is it! It is crazy how much free time they have here. Students normally go out 2-3 nights during the week! And Saturday night is a night when almost everyone stays in and has quiet nights, very backwards! This is partly because of all the free time, and also partly because on the weekends it is very expensive to go out, while it is cheaper during the week.
Classes are going fine, fairly boring, but at times they are interesting. And it will be interesting to see how the learning goes when I don't have regular assignments and quizzes to help me know how well I am learning the material.
People on my floor are very nice, and there are always people sitting out in the living room-ish area we have on our floor.
The food in the dorms is pretty terrible. There is always some greasy meat thing, some fried potato variety, some overcook vegetables, and some dessert. Oh well, it could be worse. The weather is also pretty bad. It gets quite windy and cold, with gross drizzle/rainish stuff quite a lot. But it is actually a little better than I was expecting, and I would much rather be in this weather than the cold Iowa is going through right now!!
That is mostly it for updates from the first two weeks, this Sunday Cara and I are going to go to London for the Chinese New Year. Apparently they have quite a big celebration there. We have also started planning our 5 week spring break out, so that is pretty exciting to be looking into all the places we are going to go visit.
I think that is it for now, I will write a new blog after the Chinese New Year celebration. I hope everyone has a great week, and I love you all!
Classes are going fine, fairly boring, but at times they are interesting. And it will be interesting to see how the learning goes when I don't have regular assignments and quizzes to help me know how well I am learning the material.
People on my floor are very nice, and there are always people sitting out in the living room-ish area we have on our floor.
The food in the dorms is pretty terrible. There is always some greasy meat thing, some fried potato variety, some overcook vegetables, and some dessert. Oh well, it could be worse. The weather is also pretty bad. It gets quite windy and cold, with gross drizzle/rainish stuff quite a lot. But it is actually a little better than I was expecting, and I would much rather be in this weather than the cold Iowa is going through right now!!
That is mostly it for updates from the first two weeks, this Sunday Cara and I are going to go to London for the Chinese New Year. Apparently they have quite a big celebration there. We have also started planning our 5 week spring break out, so that is pretty exciting to be looking into all the places we are going to go visit.
I think that is it for now, I will write a new blog after the Chinese New Year celebration. I hope everyone has a great week, and I love you all!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Hamburg
Hey guys! Here is my update from my time in Hamburg!
Ooops, one really cool thing I forgot to include. Monday evening (about 5 pm) we had just gotten back to the Franke's house, and we heard a reallllllly loud crash. It sounded like a huge thunder crack that is very, very close! The crazy thing is, we found out the next day, it had actually been a 500 pound bomb from WWII. As Wolfgang told us, they occasionally find bombs buried that had not exploded during the bombings, and sometimes (like in this case) they cannot disarm them because there is too much corrosion and weathering. So, they drive the bombs (very carefully) to a little island and blow them up. This one just happened to be way more powerful than they had originally thought, and many people close to the island actually had their windows broken!!
Welp, we are in Leicester now, and we are still very busy, so I will update you all on that very soon! Love you all
Wolfgang picked us up at the train station in the morning. Cara and I were very tired, so we got to nap in the afternoon while Wolfgang and Barbara were at work. At night, Barbara cooked a delicious meal, including scalloped potatoes which I actually liked! They were really good!
The next day, Wolfgang and Barbara took us on a tour of
On Sunday Wolfgang, Nora (Jasper’s sister), Cara and I went to the tropical aquarium in
On Monday, Barbara and Wolfgang had to go back to work so Cara and I had our own adventure in Hamburg. We went to the immigration museum in Hamburg and learned some things about where Cara's family came from, that was pretty cool. We then walked around in the city until we were tired and headed back. We then had a quick supper and left to go meet Nora and Marika (Jasper's girlfriend, who goes to school in Hamburg.) We met Nora and went to a billiards hall where Marika met us a little bit later.
Tuesday Cara and I went into Hamburg again. This time we finally found some spaghetti eis! This is ice cream that has been put through a playdoh-type cutter to make it look like spaghetti and has strawberry sauce and white chocolate shavings on top, so it looks just like spaghetti, but is ice cream!!! This is about the best stuff ever! Tuesday night we had a nice supper with Wolfgang and Barbara and then packed up for school.Ooops, one really cool thing I forgot to include. Monday evening (about 5 pm) we had just gotten back to the Franke's house, and we heard a reallllllly loud crash. It sounded like a huge thunder crack that is very, very close! The crazy thing is, we found out the next day, it had actually been a 500 pound bomb from WWII. As Wolfgang told us, they occasionally find bombs buried that had not exploded during the bombings, and sometimes (like in this case) they cannot disarm them because there is too much corrosion and weathering. So, they drive the bombs (very carefully) to a little island and blow them up. This one just happened to be way more powerful than they had originally thought, and many people close to the island actually had their windows broken!!
Welp, we are in Leicester now, and we are still very busy, so I will update you all on that very soon! Love you all
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Catching up
Hello everyone! First off, I am sorry that you haven't heard from me in so long, but the days have been busy and the internet has been hard to find at times. So, I will use this blog to catch up on those days that have passed since I have written. So, this will be quite long but also quite enjoyable!
On the 6th we went to the Picasso museum and the Holocaust museum. The Picasso museum was pretty neat, he did a lot of sculptures and different sculpture like creations as well as paintings. I am very glad we decided to go to the Holocaust museum in Paris. I learned a lot of things, the biggest was I didn't know that in the part of France that wasn't occupied by Germany during World War II, the Vichy government actually helped the Nazis gather up the Jews and ship them out. There were lots of really moving pictures and individual stories as well.
In the night time, we went out for cocktails with Jasper, and then to an Irish pub. It was good to see Jasper and also hear some nice live bagpipe music (in the Irish pub.)
On the 7th, we got up early to climb Notre Dame. This was really great, except that it was quite windy. The gargoyles were my favorite part, and there were two of them that were my favorites. The first was one who was sticking his tongue out, and the second was one who seemed to be chewing on a chicken or duck or something. After this, we walked to the Opera Garnier, which is the Opera that the opera house from Phantom of the Opera is based on. This was a really neat opera house, but we couldn't go into the auditorium because there was a rehearsal! how stupid.
The 8th was the day to leave for Mannheim. We went to Rue Cler, and picked up things for a picnic. Everything was great, except for the cheese. I love munster cheese in America, so I decided to go for that, but in France this is disgusting! We wrapped this cheese in two ziploc bags just so we wouldn't smell it! I think this was one of the most disgusting thing I've ever smelled, and it tasted just as terrible!
We got on a bus for Mannheim, and 8 hours later we were there! We missed Kiran by about 10 minutes at the bus station, and wound up staying in a smelly hotel. gross.
The next day, we met up with Kiran and went into Mannheim. We first went to this museum of science and technology, which was pretty amazing. There was a really huge generator from 1920 that was pretty intriguing. Kiran and I took pictures by it to send to our Power Systems professor. My favorite part was the Biotechnic exhibit which showed how this in nature are engineered to work in modern day systems. One great example was showing a swimming penguin next to a streamlined jet. They had a remarkably similar shape.
We then walked around Mannheim, and saw the schloss that houses the university. At night, Cara and I went to a pub with Kiran and his friend Brad.
Next day Kiran and Cara and I went to Heidelberg. There was this really amazing huge castle, or schloss as they say. It had been sacked twice by the French (why do they ruin everything?) but was still mostly standing. This castle was so cool, and it made me very excited for the rest of the castles I will see on my adventure!
The 11th, we got up at 2am to get on the train for Hamburg. At 10am, we got into Hamburg and Jasper's father Wolfgang picked us up and we went to his house.
That is all for now! I hope you enjoyed the update, and I will tell you about Hamburg very soon!
I love you all!
On the 6th we went to the Picasso museum and the Holocaust museum. The Picasso museum was pretty neat, he did a lot of sculptures and different sculpture like creations as well as paintings. I am very glad we decided to go to the Holocaust museum in Paris. I learned a lot of things, the biggest was I didn't know that in the part of France that wasn't occupied by Germany during World War II, the Vichy government actually helped the Nazis gather up the Jews and ship them out. There were lots of really moving pictures and individual stories as well.
In the night time, we went out for cocktails with Jasper, and then to an Irish pub. It was good to see Jasper and also hear some nice live bagpipe music (in the Irish pub.)
On the 7th, we got up early to climb Notre Dame. This was really great, except that it was quite windy. The gargoyles were my favorite part, and there were two of them that were my favorites. The first was one who was sticking his tongue out, and the second was one who seemed to be chewing on a chicken or duck or something. After this, we walked to the Opera Garnier, which is the Opera that the opera house from Phantom of the Opera is based on. This was a really neat opera house, but we couldn't go into the auditorium because there was a rehearsal! how stupid.
The 8th was the day to leave for Mannheim. We went to Rue Cler, and picked up things for a picnic. Everything was great, except for the cheese. I love munster cheese in America, so I decided to go for that, but in France this is disgusting! We wrapped this cheese in two ziploc bags just so we wouldn't smell it! I think this was one of the most disgusting thing I've ever smelled, and it tasted just as terrible!
We got on a bus for Mannheim, and 8 hours later we were there! We missed Kiran by about 10 minutes at the bus station, and wound up staying in a smelly hotel. gross.
The next day, we met up with Kiran and went into Mannheim. We first went to this museum of science and technology, which was pretty amazing. There was a really huge generator from 1920 that was pretty intriguing. Kiran and I took pictures by it to send to our Power Systems professor. My favorite part was the Biotechnic exhibit which showed how this in nature are engineered to work in modern day systems. One great example was showing a swimming penguin next to a streamlined jet. They had a remarkably similar shape.
We then walked around Mannheim, and saw the schloss that houses the university. At night, Cara and I went to a pub with Kiran and his friend Brad.
Next day Kiran and Cara and I went to Heidelberg. There was this really amazing huge castle, or schloss as they say. It had been sacked twice by the French (why do they ruin everything?) but was still mostly standing. This castle was so cool, and it made me very excited for the rest of the castles I will see on my adventure!
The 11th, we got up at 2am to get on the train for Hamburg. At 10am, we got into Hamburg and Jasper's father Wolfgang picked us up and we went to his house.
That is all for now! I hope you enjoyed the update, and I will tell you about Hamburg very soon!
I love you all!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Versailles
The start of the day had many ups and downs. When I woke up, my throat hurt really bad. After getting up and showering, it was feeling a little better (but still hurting.) Then things started looking very much up as it was sunny and feeling a little bit warm as we walked out of the hotel. Unfortunately, when we got off the train at Versailles it had turned from semi-sunny and warmish to windy, cloudy, and really cold.
We started by getting lunch at a little cafe in the town. I had a panini poulet (chicken panini.) After lunch we walked up to the chateau. Really huge is the only way I can think to describe it now, although I know this doesn't do it justice. We wandered around the state apartments and royal apartments. I was surprised at how small the king's bed was. If I was the king, I would have a huge bed. The queen's bedroom was pretty neat (19 royal children had been born there.) Also, we saw the door where Marie Antoinette escaped the rioters during the revolution.
I was highly disappointed by one thing. There was one room (I think it was a ballroom) with huge mirrors and lots of statues, all leading up to a throne. There were statues and other things on each step leading up to this elaborate throne. EXCEPT, WHEN WE GOT CLOSER, IT WAS FAKE!!!!!!!! the statues and the throne were made of wood! A thin sheet(maybe 3/4 of an inch) of wood painted to look like a statue or throne, with a wooden frame holding it up. HOW STUPID. The French couldn't even remake the throne? so it looked close to real??? dumb.
The gardens were huge. They didn't do too much for me though, as it was soooo cold. It would have been neat to be there in the spring or summer and walk around and enjoy them.
Thats all for day (well, yesterday, I am still a day behind. oh well.)
Love you guys!
We started by getting lunch at a little cafe in the town. I had a panini poulet (chicken panini.) After lunch we walked up to the chateau. Really huge is the only way I can think to describe it now, although I know this doesn't do it justice. We wandered around the state apartments and royal apartments. I was surprised at how small the king's bed was. If I was the king, I would have a huge bed. The queen's bedroom was pretty neat (19 royal children had been born there.) Also, we saw the door where Marie Antoinette escaped the rioters during the revolution.
I was highly disappointed by one thing. There was one room (I think it was a ballroom) with huge mirrors and lots of statues, all leading up to a throne. There were statues and other things on each step leading up to this elaborate throne. EXCEPT, WHEN WE GOT CLOSER, IT WAS FAKE!!!!!!!! the statues and the throne were made of wood! A thin sheet(maybe 3/4 of an inch) of wood painted to look like a statue or throne, with a wooden frame holding it up. HOW STUPID. The French couldn't even remake the throne? so it looked close to real??? dumb.
The gardens were huge. They didn't do too much for me though, as it was soooo cold. It would have been neat to be there in the spring or summer and walk around and enjoy them.
Thats all for day (well, yesterday, I am still a day behind. oh well.)
Love you guys!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Lots of Art day
Foolishly, we planned all the major art museums for one day. It seemed like a smart plan when it was only supposed to rain one day, so we thought it would be good to have a bunch of long, inside things for that day.
As it turns out, it rained early in the morning, and again for about 2 minutes in the evening. I never thought I would ever be that indifferent about that many famous works of art. After seeing all the paintings and statues in the Louvre, and the Orsay, it was just too many. They all look basically the same. I don't understand why the Mona Lisa, or the Venus De Milo are so famous? they look so much like the other paintings and statues??? oh well, I guess that is why I am going to be an engineering, and not an artist, or art critic. The Egyptian stuff in the Louvre was my (and Cara's) favorite (or favourite, I better get used to how the British will spell it.) I liked the huge sphinx the best. Maybe someday I will have a giant sphinx by my house.
The Orsay was another cool museum (probably would have been a lot cooler if I hadn't gone to it directly after the Louvre.) There was a room full of Van Gogh paintings that were really neat. Also, a room full of Monets (you would have really liked that one Lynnea.) They also had more Rodin statues (of course with ridiculously large feet, legs, and hands.) One other really cool thing about the Orsay was a model of Paris they had built in the basement but had clear floors above it. That was neat to walk above it and look down on the little model of the city.
The Orangerie (where Monet's huge water lily paintings are) was next. The huge water lilies of Monet took, i think, 14 years to finish. WOW. they were pretty cool, and HUGE. There were two large oval-shaped rooms that held them, and it was neat as the painting went from sunrise to sunset of the lilies. There was also the personal painting collection of some guy, including some Picasso's. This was a little disappointing, as I found out that the Picasso paintings he had were from Picasso's time painting realism, not his weird other paintings.
As we were walking towards our Metro station, it was 6 o'clock, and we were walking towards the Eiffel tower. That was really cool as it was lit up, and started the glittering bright lights! so cool!
Well, thats all for day (well, yesterday, I am a day behind.) Hopefully I will get caught up tomorrow),
love you all!
As it turns out, it rained early in the morning, and again for about 2 minutes in the evening. I never thought I would ever be that indifferent about that many famous works of art. After seeing all the paintings and statues in the Louvre, and the Orsay, it was just too many. They all look basically the same. I don't understand why the Mona Lisa, or the Venus De Milo are so famous? they look so much like the other paintings and statues??? oh well, I guess that is why I am going to be an engineering, and not an artist, or art critic. The Egyptian stuff in the Louvre was my (and Cara's) favorite (or favourite, I better get used to how the British will spell it.) I liked the huge sphinx the best. Maybe someday I will have a giant sphinx by my house.
The Orsay was another cool museum (probably would have been a lot cooler if I hadn't gone to it directly after the Louvre.) There was a room full of Van Gogh paintings that were really neat. Also, a room full of Monets (you would have really liked that one Lynnea.) They also had more Rodin statues (of course with ridiculously large feet, legs, and hands.) One other really cool thing about the Orsay was a model of Paris they had built in the basement but had clear floors above it. That was neat to walk above it and look down on the little model of the city.
The Orangerie (where Monet's huge water lily paintings are) was next. The huge water lilies of Monet took, i think, 14 years to finish. WOW. they were pretty cool, and HUGE. There were two large oval-shaped rooms that held them, and it was neat as the painting went from sunrise to sunset of the lilies. There was also the personal painting collection of some guy, including some Picasso's. This was a little disappointing, as I found out that the Picasso paintings he had were from Picasso's time painting realism, not his weird other paintings.
As we were walking towards our Metro station, it was 6 o'clock, and we were walking towards the Eiffel tower. That was really cool as it was lit up, and started the glittering bright lights! so cool!
Well, thats all for day (well, yesterday, I am a day behind.) Hopefully I will get caught up tomorrow),
love you all!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Days two and three
Day two:
we went the Eiffel tower, pretty amazing. The coolest part was at night when we were leaving the lights were on, and that looked pretty neat. After the Eiffel tower, we went to Napoleon's tomb. That wasn't as cool as I had hoped for. just a box. oh well.
The army museum was pretty neat, lots of cool guns and bombs and such. They had a lot of old uniforms, and my favorite was the old french helmet (it had a chicken on the top.) After that, we went to the Rodin and saw the thinker, and Balzak. Rodin made some pretty neat statues, but all the people had legs, feet, and hands that were waaay to big proportionately to the rest of their bodies. We also walked down Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed up the Arc and looked out over the city, that was a pretty neat sight.
We went out for supper with Jasper and his girlfriend in a little African cafe, that was pretty neat, except they played banjo and country music. how annoying.
Day three:
We went to Notre Dame, which was amazing, my favorite thing so far. We will climb to the top tomorrow, but the inside was really great. There were lots of big, really cool stained-glass windows. I like those alot.
The Cluny museum was pretty cool, lots of old religious things (altars, relic holders, etc.) There were a lot of really small, very intricately designed things. We also walked to this delicious little ice cream store in the Ile. St. Louis. They had these neat double-headed ice cream cones.
Thats all for today, tomorrow we will climb Notre Dame, and go to the Louvre, and the Orsay!
we went the Eiffel tower, pretty amazing. The coolest part was at night when we were leaving the lights were on, and that looked pretty neat. After the Eiffel tower, we went to Napoleon's tomb. That wasn't as cool as I had hoped for. just a box. oh well.
The army museum was pretty neat, lots of cool guns and bombs and such. They had a lot of old uniforms, and my favorite was the old french helmet (it had a chicken on the top.) After that, we went to the Rodin and saw the thinker, and Balzak. Rodin made some pretty neat statues, but all the people had legs, feet, and hands that were waaay to big proportionately to the rest of their bodies. We also walked down Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed up the Arc and looked out over the city, that was a pretty neat sight.
We went out for supper with Jasper and his girlfriend in a little African cafe, that was pretty neat, except they played banjo and country music. how annoying.
Day three:
We went to Notre Dame, which was amazing, my favorite thing so far. We will climb to the top tomorrow, but the inside was really great. There were lots of big, really cool stained-glass windows. I like those alot.
The Cluny museum was pretty cool, lots of old religious things (altars, relic holders, etc.) There were a lot of really small, very intricately designed things. We also walked to this delicious little ice cream store in the Ile. St. Louis. They had these neat double-headed ice cream cones.
Thats all for today, tomorrow we will climb Notre Dame, and go to the Louvre, and the Orsay!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
In Paris!
I arrived in Paris at 7:40 Paris time and after a plane ride where I could not sleep I was rather exhausted! However, I was not too tired to haul Cara's 52 pound suitcase up 7 flights of steep old spiral staircase and then right back down those 7 flights after a slight change of plans with Jasper. Luckily, Jasper carried mine so that I didn't have to take both Cara and my suitcases on those stairs. The metro system in Paris is amazing! We successfully made it from the CDG airport to Jasper's apartment, and then to our hotel without one wrong move! Welp, I am exhausted, and we have a long day tomorrow seeing La Tour Eiffel, Napolean's Tomb, the Arc de Triomphe and hopefully see the thinker in the Rodin!
Hope you all are doing well and enjoying Iowa weather!
Hope you all are doing well and enjoying Iowa weather!
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