December 9 (Day 8)
Goodbye Paris, I'm ready to go home.
As expected, when the airport started opening around 6am there were massive amounts of people, much confusion, and never-ending lines. I was directed to stand in a line to check in, but there were no people at the desk. I was told it would open at 6:30am. My line became quite long with lots of other people headed to the US all directed to the same line. At 7am, I gave up on my line and wandered around asking people where I should stand in line.
I was told that since my flight was at 10:30, I was not to stand in the only line that was actually staffed with people yet since they were working to get other people through the check in process that had earlier flights. I went to get some breakfast and then jumped in that line anyway because the line was nearly the size of the whole entire waiting area.
The man next to me in line had a 10:30 flight to New York and spoke English so we chatted about the crazy situation. All the check in lines did not have any signage and different staff had different things to say. There was only one board that listed all the departing flights and when my line moved past this board, my plane was supposed to take off at 10:40am. It was now around 9am and I looked at the size of the line still in front of me and hoped I'd make it on the plane. After check in, there was still security to get through.
Finally around 10am I made it to the front of the line and finally, finally checked my luggage, got a boarding pass and was informed that my plane was now boarding at 10:20am. I figured I had time as long as security was short.
At this point I'd been awake all night in the airport, stood in line for over 4 hours and was ready to get on the plane and fall asleep. After security, which wasn't too long of a line, I ran towards the gate as it was now 10:40 and I was hoping they were still boarding. The information at the gate told me the plane was boarding at 9:55 and I asked if I could board. The staff informed me that actually boarding wasn't until 11am. Well, at least I'm going to make my flight!
After the crowds on the outside end of security, the area back here felt nearly empty. Apparently they delayed all the flights today probably due to the crowds and the fact that no one would make their flight. I sat down to wait and willed myself to stay awake just a little longer so I wouldn't fall asleep at the gate and miss my flight. =)
Finally, we boarded around 11:30am, were bused far away to our plane, and I got on and went right to sleep. I have no idea what time we took off, but it seems that we took off at 12:20. I slept like a rock in my empty row for about 7 hours before I woke up feeling actually refreshed. My 9 hour flight felt short with all the sleeping I did and when we arrived in Houston everything in the Houston airport ran smoothly. =)
I was home by about 5pm. I think I might have to make up some commemorative tshirts that say "I survived the Paris snow storm of 2010." Apparently Paris doesn't get much snow and the 3-4 inches shut the city down. Well, I'm glad to be home and the bunnies were happy to see me.
Below you'll see some amusing photos from my airport stay. Also, some shots of the Eiffel Tower at night. While at the Eiffel Tower, I found a group of Jewish guys driving around in a Hanukkah van. I took a photo, you'll see.
If the slideshow above doesn't show up, Click on this link
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Choose Your Own Adventure
December 8 (Day 7)
Today is our final day in Paris. We fly to Marseille tonight, spend the night and then fly to our respective countries on the 9th. That's the plan anyway.
Well, plans change. Tonight I'm in the Paris airport and Mark just barely made it to Marseille. We both had crazy adventures. Let me go back to the beginning, though.
Yesterday I confirmed with our apartment owner that we could stay until noon. So we took it easy this morning, packed, and waked down to the bakery to get breakfast.
Around noon we said goodbye to the apt and headed into the rainy streets to take the metro to the airport. We would get there early, but that was fine. Snow was expected for the day and there might be a few delays.
We were greeted by armed guards at the airport keeping everyone out. It was snowing hard outside and the train station was cold, but we were kept at bay. No information was given in English of course, so we just had to wait it out.
It turns out that it was every airports nightmare.....a piece of unattended luggage locked down the airport for about 30 or so minutes. Thankfully it was just a scare and we were allowed to enter.
We picked up the luggage we stored in the airport (food and other things for Mark to take to Algeria) and checked in with Air France. So far everything was going smoothly.
The snow outside was piling up and after a bite to eat, we noticed our flight had been cancelled. Actually, no planes were leaving in the snow storm. Air France quickly booked us both on a 9p flight to Marseille and handed us 2 meal vouchers for our trouble. Wow, really? International airlines are much nicer than their american counter parts.
We settled down again to wait and then Mark got a call from his coworkers in Algeria. He was to take the train to Marseille instead.
So now the adventures begin. =) Its not quite "choose your own adventure," but its close.
We went to baggage claim and waited 20 minutes to tell air france we need our luggage back and get a permission slip to the baggage claim. Hordes of people were getting luggage as well, but we were lucky to spot 2 of our 3 bags. The 3rd was the action packer full of food and items for Mark in Algeria.
New adventure. After waiting over 30 minutes to no avail, I squeezed into the baggage services office to see what could be done. It was pure mayhem in here. There were 6 desks of personel to help and more than 50 passengers speaking. Some people were getting forms, others looked to be in a line, and more were clumped in a corner.
I waited in what I believed to be the line, but once I was at the front I had no idea what to do or where to go. I found a crazed Air France attendant and asked him where the line was. He looked at me and said, "normally only 12 people are allowed in at once and the line is outside. Why don't I just help you. Sit here."
Awesome. He told me no more luggage is being returned and they were going to send it on to my final destination. I was a bit dubious that they could send it to Marks camp in skikda, but he seemed positive. He asked me for all kinds of information I didn't have and we kinda got his form filled out.
We'll see what happens now. Hopefully they can get the luggage to Mark, but there is nothing else I can do. Of course I couldn't leave to get Mark or call him since I had no phone. We live in the communication age, but while abroad I'm so disconnected. So many times I needed a phone or internet.
Mark now missed the train his work had booked for him, so we went to the TGV office to buy a new ticket. The lines here were of course long and eventually Mark was able to get a ticket. The trains to Marseille from the airport were booked, so he had to get a transfer to Paris and then to a train from there.
Now we had to say a quick goodbye so he could dash off. =( I had such a good time while we were together both in Texas and in France. It was wonderful to have him back and I'm sad to see him go.
Mark took off to start his own adventure, and I started mine.
I spent some time walking around the airport through a few lines before finding out I could not check in for my Houston flight tomorrow and enter the terminal. I got some airport food and finally after some indecision decided to store my suitcase and head back to the city.
My city adventure was wonderful. Paris got probabably at least 3 inches of snow...more in some places and the snow was still sticking to the ground. I went straight for the Eiffel Tower with my camera and tripod and took the night photos I'd been too cold to get before. The snow turned everything magical and I took many photos.
I also must have looked like a local because many people came to me for directions to the metro. I was asked in spanish, english, and french. Also, with my tripod the annoying vendors walking around selling mini towers didn't bother me at all.
My adventure back to the airport was more interesting. First one of the metro connections I was going to take wasn't running, then when I got to the station to take the train to the airport, I found out there were no trains to the airport. I went to several stations along the line to confirm. I saw many others trying to get to the airport too.
Eventually I figured out how to get to a station that also had a bus to the airport. Now it was late at night and I waited in the cold with several other people to get on the bus to the airport. I made friends with a couple other English speakers and we commiserated over the airport delays, the lack of trains to the airport, and now the lack of bus. The bus lines had stopped too! Several security guards came out and started shutting down the train station. This did not bode well. But I was with other people going my way.
Eventually, through one security guy that spoke english and an employee of the train station, we found out that they were going to call taxis for us. There were at least 15 of us and only one taxi that was going to go back and forth. We stood and slowly froze while waiting for the taxi and getting frustrated with our lack of understanding French. Security did stay with us thankfully, but all 5 of them hopped in a van and waited in the heat. =P
The view was pretty. The sky became clear enough to see stars for the first time since we arrived and we were surrouned by snow covered trees decorated with lights, ornaments, and ice.
At 2am the train station employee went inside to get everyone coffee. This was probably the first time in my life I might have taken the coffee. But soon after the taxi came back and we squeezed in. I was with my new English speaking friend; both of us going to the airport, and the other people in the cab were French speaking and going to a hotel near the airport.
Finally I made it to the airport, again. The place is dead with nothing open. I feel like a refugee as the staff hands me water and a blanket and I pass people sleeping in all corners on cardboard and in plastic bags to keep warm. Its not warm in the airport.
The ticket counters are all closed, but the staff is still there sleeping in their chairs. Only Air France has a working line, but I can't pick up my stored bag until 6am.
I found and internet terminal to see Marks email that he made it to Marseille and now I'm in my own corner typing away on my phone's little keyboard. I will go ahead and buy some wifi so I can send this off.
Mark's adventure will have to be another post since I can't figure out how to copy the text in.
It has been adventurous, but that's what makes life so interesting. I'm happy to share my stories with you.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Underground Paris
December 7 (Day 6)
It's our last full day here in Paris and we intend to make it a busy one. We made a tight schedule to hit the last of our must-dos before everything closed for the day.
First on our list was The Catacombs. Deep underground Paris, even under the metro lines, lie a series of tunnels containing a cemetery full of bones. The tunnels were originally Paris's mining tunnels, but when the government decided to close down the old abandoned tunnels, one man had the idea to use them as a burial ground. Somehow the idea stuck and later on in the 1800s, another man decided to actually turn the bone repository into a decorated series of tunnels. He directed workers to arrange the skulls and femur bones mostly in interesting patterns. Also any tombstones or other cemetery decorative objects were used in the arrangements. The tour was rather interesting.
The exit to The Catacombs left us on a different street than the entrance and across the street was a little tourist shop. I found an interesting postcard depicting several of the bones with a tombstone that said "Catacombs of Paris." I delighted the guy running the shop because he was able to tell me the story of how he took the photograph and created the postcard. I was delighted to hear his story. There is no tombstone with those words in the Catacombs, so he took many photos of various letters and then arranged them to form the words on the postcard. I think this postcard is now one of my favorite because I got to hear the story behind it. =)
We went back underground to the metro and emerged near the Paris Sewer Tour. And it was snowing! Well, it was snowing/sleeting and it was a mess. Thankfully the sewer tour was underground as well and we went down below to learn how the Paris sewers work. I know you are all laughing out there in internet-land, but this was one of the main attractions Paris had to offer us engineers. =) Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the tour. Though there was plenty of information, I wanted to know much more than was presented. But then what else would you expect from a civil engineer? The Paris sewer system is one-of-a-kind and consists of a series of tunnels through the city carrying not only all the wastewater, but the storm water too. This is a pretty foreign concept to me. Also, the tunnels have lines for both potable and non-potable water, and now even carry some of the electricity and other utility lines. I might have to pick up a book on the topic and learn more about the sewers.
When we emerged, it was still snowing, so we dashed back underground into the metro and found ourselves at the Musee des Artes et Metiers or the Science Museum. By now the weather was a mess of snow and rain mixed together and we stopped nearby to have lunch while watching the winter mix. The Science Museum turned out to be very similar to the Museo Galileo in Rome with a history of scientific instruments. First, though, we started with the temporary exhibit, Musee de Games!
In the games exhibit we found old gaming systems, consoles, and games displayed. We were amused to see consoles like the original Nintendo here on display. I told Mark that we have some old relics that could be donated to a museum now. The main room of the exhibit had about 50 screens connected to old consoles where we could sit and play old games. I had fun remembering the tricks to Nintendo's first Mario. There were also old Sonic the Hedgehog games, pong, atari games, pac-man, mario kart, and many many more. We sat and played games for quite a while before moving on. There was even a game cube here! Game Cube isn't even that old, is it? ;-)
If that wasn't enough, there was also a room of arcade games up for grabs including a sega hologram time traveling game. We had fun with this temporary exhibit.
The main parts of the museum had several different departments including, but not limited to, scientific instruments, transportation, construction, communication, mechanics, and energy. We saw a history in each department from the 1700s to now. There was even an original Ipod in the museum!! Ha! We stayed until closing time and then headed out into the rain.
We stopped our underground tour by visiting the Eiffel Tower next and going high into the air. First we viewed the tower from the Trocadero which is pretty much the best view of the tower. Too bad it was raining and I was sans tripod. I tried to take some photos though. We'll see how they come out. The top level of the tower was closed due to fog/rain/snow, but we could see pretty from from the 2nd level. We can now check off, "climb the Eiffel Tower" off our life to-do list. The dark made for some pretty views, but the rain and cold made the trip slightly less than perfect.
I think now we've just about done Paris. We hit all the big stuff and also some not-so-big stuff. For dinner tonight, we ate near our apartment at a yummy restaurant serving classic French dishes. We both had the menu which means we had appetizer, entree, and dessert. My pot de fer appetizer was rather odd. Basically it was cold, shredded beef, in a gel served by the slice. It was almost like eating gefilte fish with the gel, but with beef instead of fish. Mark's profiteroles with goat cheese were tasty. For dinner, I had the beef bourguignon, a classic French dish, and Mark had a duck roast. Dessert was of course the best and we had very very tasty profiteroles. These are pastry puffs filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce. The chocolate sauce was as rich as melted candy bars, and everything underneath was amazing. Mmmm, mmmm good.
We closed down this French Restaurant and were one of the last people to leave around 11pm. I'm still not used to eating so late, but I hope when I get back to Houston I can get back to my normal 6p dinner time. =)
Tomorrow we have the morning free and then we fly to Marseille. It's our last full day together and hopefully it'll be another relaxing day. From Marseille, Mark flies home to Algeria, and I fly home to Houston (both on Friday morning).
I'm trying something new with adding photos, so feel free to comment if this doesn't work on your rss reader/email/facebook, etc.
If you can't see the slideshow above, click on this link.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
It's our last full day here in Paris and we intend to make it a busy one. We made a tight schedule to hit the last of our must-dos before everything closed for the day.
First on our list was The Catacombs. Deep underground Paris, even under the metro lines, lie a series of tunnels containing a cemetery full of bones. The tunnels were originally Paris's mining tunnels, but when the government decided to close down the old abandoned tunnels, one man had the idea to use them as a burial ground. Somehow the idea stuck and later on in the 1800s, another man decided to actually turn the bone repository into a decorated series of tunnels. He directed workers to arrange the skulls and femur bones mostly in interesting patterns. Also any tombstones or other cemetery decorative objects were used in the arrangements. The tour was rather interesting.
The exit to The Catacombs left us on a different street than the entrance and across the street was a little tourist shop. I found an interesting postcard depicting several of the bones with a tombstone that said "Catacombs of Paris." I delighted the guy running the shop because he was able to tell me the story of how he took the photograph and created the postcard. I was delighted to hear his story. There is no tombstone with those words in the Catacombs, so he took many photos of various letters and then arranged them to form the words on the postcard. I think this postcard is now one of my favorite because I got to hear the story behind it. =)
We went back underground to the metro and emerged near the Paris Sewer Tour. And it was snowing! Well, it was snowing/sleeting and it was a mess. Thankfully the sewer tour was underground as well and we went down below to learn how the Paris sewers work. I know you are all laughing out there in internet-land, but this was one of the main attractions Paris had to offer us engineers. =) Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the tour. Though there was plenty of information, I wanted to know much more than was presented. But then what else would you expect from a civil engineer? The Paris sewer system is one-of-a-kind and consists of a series of tunnels through the city carrying not only all the wastewater, but the storm water too. This is a pretty foreign concept to me. Also, the tunnels have lines for both potable and non-potable water, and now even carry some of the electricity and other utility lines. I might have to pick up a book on the topic and learn more about the sewers.
When we emerged, it was still snowing, so we dashed back underground into the metro and found ourselves at the Musee des Artes et Metiers or the Science Museum. By now the weather was a mess of snow and rain mixed together and we stopped nearby to have lunch while watching the winter mix. The Science Museum turned out to be very similar to the Museo Galileo in Rome with a history of scientific instruments. First, though, we started with the temporary exhibit, Musee de Games!
In the games exhibit we found old gaming systems, consoles, and games displayed. We were amused to see consoles like the original Nintendo here on display. I told Mark that we have some old relics that could be donated to a museum now. The main room of the exhibit had about 50 screens connected to old consoles where we could sit and play old games. I had fun remembering the tricks to Nintendo's first Mario. There were also old Sonic the Hedgehog games, pong, atari games, pac-man, mario kart, and many many more. We sat and played games for quite a while before moving on. There was even a game cube here! Game Cube isn't even that old, is it? ;-)
If that wasn't enough, there was also a room of arcade games up for grabs including a sega hologram time traveling game. We had fun with this temporary exhibit.
The main parts of the museum had several different departments including, but not limited to, scientific instruments, transportation, construction, communication, mechanics, and energy. We saw a history in each department from the 1700s to now. There was even an original Ipod in the museum!! Ha! We stayed until closing time and then headed out into the rain.
We stopped our underground tour by visiting the Eiffel Tower next and going high into the air. First we viewed the tower from the Trocadero which is pretty much the best view of the tower. Too bad it was raining and I was sans tripod. I tried to take some photos though. We'll see how they come out. The top level of the tower was closed due to fog/rain/snow, but we could see pretty from from the 2nd level. We can now check off, "climb the Eiffel Tower" off our life to-do list. The dark made for some pretty views, but the rain and cold made the trip slightly less than perfect.
I think now we've just about done Paris. We hit all the big stuff and also some not-so-big stuff. For dinner tonight, we ate near our apartment at a yummy restaurant serving classic French dishes. We both had the menu which means we had appetizer, entree, and dessert. My pot de fer appetizer was rather odd. Basically it was cold, shredded beef, in a gel served by the slice. It was almost like eating gefilte fish with the gel, but with beef instead of fish. Mark's profiteroles with goat cheese were tasty. For dinner, I had the beef bourguignon, a classic French dish, and Mark had a duck roast. Dessert was of course the best and we had very very tasty profiteroles. These are pastry puffs filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce. The chocolate sauce was as rich as melted candy bars, and everything underneath was amazing. Mmmm, mmmm good.
We closed down this French Restaurant and were one of the last people to leave around 11pm. I'm still not used to eating so late, but I hope when I get back to Houston I can get back to my normal 6p dinner time. =)
Tomorrow we have the morning free and then we fly to Marseille. It's our last full day together and hopefully it'll be another relaxing day. From Marseille, Mark flies home to Algeria, and I fly home to Houston (both on Friday morning).
I'm trying something new with adding photos, so feel free to comment if this doesn't work on your rss reader/email/facebook, etc.
If you can't see the slideshow above, click on this link.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
December 6 (Day 5)
I think today was the laziest vacation day we've had in a long, long time. You know what....lazy vacations days are a superb way to spend a day on vacation. =)
The weather outside was cold and rainy/snowy, so we slept in very late, and didn't do anything until about 4pm. It was absolutely wonderful.
When we finally bundled up to hit the outside, most places that were even open on Monday (Monday is typically the day everything is closed) were already closing up. We started by strolling in the Latin Quarter and ducking inside a few of the many science fiction/comic book stores in the area. Yes, the do carry about the same things as the US ones do. Then, we jumped on the metro and headed to La Defense/La Grande Arch. This is more the business district of Paris and by the time we got there all the crowds were office drones heading home for the day. The Grand Arch was closed to visitors for unknown reasons, but the Christmas Market down below was in full swing. The view from the Arch down the Champs-Elysees was worth braving the cold winds to take photos.
The Christmas Markets here were much better than the ones on the Champs-Elysees. For one thing, there was more variety and more handmade items. We still didn't see a lot that we were interested in buying, but it was fun to window shop. We did hit the jackpot when we found a place selling Christmas decorations. Mark had been wanting lights for his room in Algeria, but we've been unable to find a shop that carries them. Thankfully, here we found some lights that would work perfectly.
Of course we also had to get a chocolate crepe and a tartiflette from 2 of the booths. We also picked up some roasted chestnuts to munch on while we listened to (of all things) a Peruvian band play. Neither one of us has had chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Jack frost was indeed nipping at our nose while we ate them, too. =)
In the Christmas spirit, we then headed towards Boulevard Haussmann where 2 big Paris department stores typically decorate their windows (much like I would believe New York City's department stores to do so). This turned into quite an amusing experience. The Printemps department store windows alternated between animated windows and non-animated windows. The animated ones featured flat, almost two dimensional, stuffed people dancing around with their limbs connected to strings much like a marionette puppet. I really can't even begin to describe the windows as none of them were Christmasy at all. In fact one featured ghosts chasing after people with spooky music.
The next department store over was full of lively windows. Here, the Galeries Lafayette windows were in a theme, Show Chaud Noel, basically meaning show music. The most hilarious windows were the two blaring Mama Mia songs (sung in French of course) with various dancing figures. One window was full of teddy bears in scuba gear singing Mama Mia while the other had dolls jumping out of a cake. There was a window with Mary Poppins singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in a French accent. Still more were Caberet, West Side Story, and the Rockettes.
After strolling through the streets of Paris, we found ourselves back at the Place Concorde where the huge ferris wheel and oblesik is located. Here I stopped to take more photos with the tripod since we had it with us. We also decided to hit up the Christmas Market booths we missed last time we were here. Of course we ate more tartiflette, too. Nice easy meal. =)
And by now it was late and time to head back to the apartment. All in all, a great day in Paris.
I'm trying something new with adding photos, so feel free to comment if this doesn't work on your rss reader/email/facebook, etc.
If the above slideshow doesn't work, click on this link.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
I think today was the laziest vacation day we've had in a long, long time. You know what....lazy vacations days are a superb way to spend a day on vacation. =)
The weather outside was cold and rainy/snowy, so we slept in very late, and didn't do anything until about 4pm. It was absolutely wonderful.
When we finally bundled up to hit the outside, most places that were even open on Monday (Monday is typically the day everything is closed) were already closing up. We started by strolling in the Latin Quarter and ducking inside a few of the many science fiction/comic book stores in the area. Yes, the do carry about the same things as the US ones do. Then, we jumped on the metro and headed to La Defense/La Grande Arch. This is more the business district of Paris and by the time we got there all the crowds were office drones heading home for the day. The Grand Arch was closed to visitors for unknown reasons, but the Christmas Market down below was in full swing. The view from the Arch down the Champs-Elysees was worth braving the cold winds to take photos.
The Christmas Markets here were much better than the ones on the Champs-Elysees. For one thing, there was more variety and more handmade items. We still didn't see a lot that we were interested in buying, but it was fun to window shop. We did hit the jackpot when we found a place selling Christmas decorations. Mark had been wanting lights for his room in Algeria, but we've been unable to find a shop that carries them. Thankfully, here we found some lights that would work perfectly.
Of course we also had to get a chocolate crepe and a tartiflette from 2 of the booths. We also picked up some roasted chestnuts to munch on while we listened to (of all things) a Peruvian band play. Neither one of us has had chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Jack frost was indeed nipping at our nose while we ate them, too. =)
In the Christmas spirit, we then headed towards Boulevard Haussmann where 2 big Paris department stores typically decorate their windows (much like I would believe New York City's department stores to do so). This turned into quite an amusing experience. The Printemps department store windows alternated between animated windows and non-animated windows. The animated ones featured flat, almost two dimensional, stuffed people dancing around with their limbs connected to strings much like a marionette puppet. I really can't even begin to describe the windows as none of them were Christmasy at all. In fact one featured ghosts chasing after people with spooky music.
The next department store over was full of lively windows. Here, the Galeries Lafayette windows were in a theme, Show Chaud Noel, basically meaning show music. The most hilarious windows were the two blaring Mama Mia songs (sung in French of course) with various dancing figures. One window was full of teddy bears in scuba gear singing Mama Mia while the other had dolls jumping out of a cake. There was a window with Mary Poppins singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in a French accent. Still more were Caberet, West Side Story, and the Rockettes.
After strolling through the streets of Paris, we found ourselves back at the Place Concorde where the huge ferris wheel and oblesik is located. Here I stopped to take more photos with the tripod since we had it with us. We also decided to hit up the Christmas Market booths we missed last time we were here. Of course we ate more tartiflette, too. Nice easy meal. =)
And by now it was late and time to head back to the apartment. All in all, a great day in Paris.
I'm trying something new with adding photos, so feel free to comment if this doesn't work on your rss reader/email/facebook, etc.
If the above slideshow doesn't work, click on this link.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Free Museum Day
December 5 (Day 4)
We had quite a few firsts today, but they were all at the end of the day, so you'll have to read all the way through. ;-)
Today, being the first Sunday of the month, is free museum day at most of the area museums. We started at the Orsay, then the Rodin, then the Pompidou. However, before we started our art history tour, we did some grocery shopping, and picked up some breakfast bread from a local bakery. Having an apartment in Paris is really the best way to vacation here.
Once we got a move on, we headed to the grand Musee d'Orsay. The Orsay picks up where the Louvre left off with art from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. For those of you who haven't been to Paris, the Orsay is built inside an old train station which actually worked out quite well. The center is filled with Conservative Art statues and the outer wings hold most of the paintings. We used our Rick Steves free audioguide tour to take us through, but got a little lost when the exhibits from the top floor were moved to the bottom floor for renovation. We did see a lot of art that was scandalous in it's time.
The Orsay was densely packed with people on free museum day, but we made it out in tact. We walked several blocks away to the Musee Rodin that houses mostly sculptures by Rodin. Many of the sculptures were outside in the garden area and we managed to walk around before it started to lightly rain. We made sure to see the famous Thinker sitting in a ring of triangular trees, high on his pedestal, contemplating his fate. Apparently there are 29 other authorized copies, a few of which were at the Rodin. We also saw the famous Gates to Hell and escaped the rain by going inside to see many smaller statues not in the garden.
By now it was well after 2pm and time to find some lunch. The tricky part was finding a place open on Sunday. We walked over to the Rue Cler and found a decent place. It was good to sit down and be warm, as well. We are trying hard to follow the French style of not eating dinner until after 8pm, so the only way we can hold out is with a late lunch.
After lunch we took the Metro to the right bank and east side of town to the Centre Pompidou, or the modern art museum to finish up our free museum tour. We were quite shocked to find the line for the museum to be 45 minutes long. For some reason they were only letting in a few people at a time. Luckily it wasn't raining and the chill was manageable. About 10 minutes from the beginning of the line we found out that we were not waiting in line for the museum.....we were waiting in line to get in a LIBRARY! Wow, now that is a first! A 45 minute line for the library...well this we had to see. (Luckily the library also connects to the museum.) The library was full of tables for microfiche, internet stations, and open tables for studying. The place was packed with people studying hard for their upcoming classes and finals on Monday. We didn't see anything particularly impressive about the library other than the large amount of study areas, so we shook our heads and moved on to the modern art. I certainly do commend the students who waited in line to get in the library.
We took the escalators on the outer part of the museum up to the 6th floor where we could stand inside in the heat and see the City of Lights lit up at night. The Eiffel Tower sparkled in the background, and several other key buildings were lit up in yellows and oranges. The main museum was 2 floors and covered everything from modern art of the 1800s-1900s to the crazy modern art of today. Today's modern art (as is most art) is about making a strong statement. We saw lots of feminist modern art and even pieces of furniture that claimed to be art. There were several films and various other media besides just sculpture and painting. I was impressed with the layout and the separate rooms for each artist or type of work. The second floor was more classical modern art including well known artists like Picasso and Dali.
We stayed at the museum until close and then had the hard task of finding a place to eat dinner on a Sunday night. Most places are closed. Luckily, we had a handy webpage to find such a spot and soon we were sitting down eating dinner. This restaurant was only serving one thing. Our server came by to tell us that we'd be having a salad followed by a steak with fries. Since no decisions had to be made the service was very fast and we were eating our salad before we knew it. The steak was very tasty and as soon as our plates were empty....the server came by with more steak to add to our plates! Wow, no free refills on drinks, but free refills on steak! This was a good place to come to. For dessert we both had a dense chocolate cake with real vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate sauce, and some whipped cream. Dinner was delish. When we got up, we were one of the last customers there. I can't believe we closed down a French restaurant. By now it was after 11 at night and we just finished dinner. I guess we are truly living the French way.
We strolled back to our apartment and made it home before midnight. I think we'll sleep in a bit tomorrow. Not much is open on Mondays, anyway. =) No photos again tonight. Wait patiently!
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
We had quite a few firsts today, but they were all at the end of the day, so you'll have to read all the way through. ;-)
Today, being the first Sunday of the month, is free museum day at most of the area museums. We started at the Orsay, then the Rodin, then the Pompidou. However, before we started our art history tour, we did some grocery shopping, and picked up some breakfast bread from a local bakery. Having an apartment in Paris is really the best way to vacation here.
Once we got a move on, we headed to the grand Musee d'Orsay. The Orsay picks up where the Louvre left off with art from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. For those of you who haven't been to Paris, the Orsay is built inside an old train station which actually worked out quite well. The center is filled with Conservative Art statues and the outer wings hold most of the paintings. We used our Rick Steves free audioguide tour to take us through, but got a little lost when the exhibits from the top floor were moved to the bottom floor for renovation. We did see a lot of art that was scandalous in it's time.
The Orsay was densely packed with people on free museum day, but we made it out in tact. We walked several blocks away to the Musee Rodin that houses mostly sculptures by Rodin. Many of the sculptures were outside in the garden area and we managed to walk around before it started to lightly rain. We made sure to see the famous Thinker sitting in a ring of triangular trees, high on his pedestal, contemplating his fate. Apparently there are 29 other authorized copies, a few of which were at the Rodin. We also saw the famous Gates to Hell and escaped the rain by going inside to see many smaller statues not in the garden.
By now it was well after 2pm and time to find some lunch. The tricky part was finding a place open on Sunday. We walked over to the Rue Cler and found a decent place. It was good to sit down and be warm, as well. We are trying hard to follow the French style of not eating dinner until after 8pm, so the only way we can hold out is with a late lunch.
After lunch we took the Metro to the right bank and east side of town to the Centre Pompidou, or the modern art museum to finish up our free museum tour. We were quite shocked to find the line for the museum to be 45 minutes long. For some reason they were only letting in a few people at a time. Luckily it wasn't raining and the chill was manageable. About 10 minutes from the beginning of the line we found out that we were not waiting in line for the museum.....we were waiting in line to get in a LIBRARY! Wow, now that is a first! A 45 minute line for the library...well this we had to see. (Luckily the library also connects to the museum.) The library was full of tables for microfiche, internet stations, and open tables for studying. The place was packed with people studying hard for their upcoming classes and finals on Monday. We didn't see anything particularly impressive about the library other than the large amount of study areas, so we shook our heads and moved on to the modern art. I certainly do commend the students who waited in line to get in the library.
We took the escalators on the outer part of the museum up to the 6th floor where we could stand inside in the heat and see the City of Lights lit up at night. The Eiffel Tower sparkled in the background, and several other key buildings were lit up in yellows and oranges. The main museum was 2 floors and covered everything from modern art of the 1800s-1900s to the crazy modern art of today. Today's modern art (as is most art) is about making a strong statement. We saw lots of feminist modern art and even pieces of furniture that claimed to be art. There were several films and various other media besides just sculpture and painting. I was impressed with the layout and the separate rooms for each artist or type of work. The second floor was more classical modern art including well known artists like Picasso and Dali.
We stayed at the museum until close and then had the hard task of finding a place to eat dinner on a Sunday night. Most places are closed. Luckily, we had a handy webpage to find such a spot and soon we were sitting down eating dinner. This restaurant was only serving one thing. Our server came by to tell us that we'd be having a salad followed by a steak with fries. Since no decisions had to be made the service was very fast and we were eating our salad before we knew it. The steak was very tasty and as soon as our plates were empty....the server came by with more steak to add to our plates! Wow, no free refills on drinks, but free refills on steak! This was a good place to come to. For dessert we both had a dense chocolate cake with real vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate sauce, and some whipped cream. Dinner was delish. When we got up, we were one of the last customers there. I can't believe we closed down a French restaurant. By now it was after 11 at night and we just finished dinner. I guess we are truly living the French way.
We strolled back to our apartment and made it home before midnight. I think we'll sleep in a bit tomorrow. Not much is open on Mondays, anyway. =) No photos again tonight. Wait patiently!
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Smiling, happy, flowers everywhere
December 4 (Day 3)
Versailles today. Versailles is about a 30-40 minutes RER ride away from our apartment, and we had no trouble getting there. The train station is a few minutes walk from the Chateau and on the way it started lightly snowing. The ground outside the Paris city limits is definitely more snow-covered, but now it was actually snowing as well.
We hurried into the Versailles palace to start our audio tour. We decided the snow was much better viewed from inside. Even the inside was cool enough to keep our coats on, but that made viewing nicer as we didn't have to carry around the coats.
Versailles has a very large estate all built for King Louie, XIV. After the palace, we could have done a 40-minute walk in the Gardens and then gone to see the Trianon Palaces. Honestly, I don't even know if those were open. Once the snow started falling heavily, we were happy with viewing the Gardens from inside. A few people ventured out, but they looked pretty cold.
The palace is of course filled with art and seemed to be a good addition to our art tours in Italy. We found some familiar names and saw many familiar styles. One main point of interest was the Hall of Mirrors. Apparently everyone wrote home about this hall once they came to one of the King's parties. The long hall was lined with mirrors, still rare in those days, to reflect the view of the gardens seen through the long windows on the opposite wall. In addition to sculptures and art, countless chandeliers dangled from the ceiling on long wires in an almost Hogwarts-like fashion. Another point of interest were the crown jewels. The crowns were very tiny.
The oddest part about the whole experience was that there was some sort of special exhibition going on of modern Japanese art. Instead of dedicating a room to this bright, colorful Japanese art, the curators spread out the sculptures into many of the Palace's rooms. There was a very stark contrast from the Greek statues to the smiling Japanese cartoon characters! At the end of our tour, there was one room that showed anime on a tv screen and had one room length sculpture of smiling, happy flowers. The floor was completely covered in smiling, happy flower carpet, too. The one classical painting in the room stood out like a sore thumb.
At this point, our only choice was to exit the Palace to the outdoors with it's wind and snow. Brrr. One of our neighboring tourists put it best as he turned to take a peak at the gardens in the distance and said, sarcastically, "The garden is great. Let's go now." We've been laughing at that one for days now. =) Perhaps we will come back during the warmer months and see what all the people are raving about.
The ground was now snowy and we tried our best to keep our tennis shoes dry. We high-tailed it to the village and picked the first place we saw for lunch. It turned out to be a creperie and we each had yummy, savory crepes. With the hot chocolate, there wasn't any room for a sweet crepe as well. But, as you'll read, we got to that later.
In the summer, most people spend the whole day at Versailles, but we were back in downtown Paris with plenty of time to go see the Lourve. The Lourve is a Paris must-see with it's glass pyramid entrance, the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo. Here, I definitely had the feeling of picking up where our Vatican Tour left off. The Rick Steves audio tour covered the must-see wing of the Lourve very well. We stayed until closing, covering the main wing, plus some extra exhibits. The Mona Lisa especially was an excellent place to people watch. The Lourve was more packed than I would have imagined for the winter, but since it was a Saturday it made sense.
At several points we were able to look out into the courtyard and see the area covered in snow. I'm glad I took pictures from inside, because, by the time we exited the glass pyramid in the dark, most of the snow had already melted away or had turned into slush from all the people walking on it. I was able to find several places to place my camera and take some night photos.
The weather didn't seem to be as biting cold as it had been earlier today or even last night, so we took a stroll from the Lourve to the Champs-Elysees. The park between the Lourve and the Concorde was dark and icy, so we slipped our way through very carefully. Then we arrived at the Concorde and the giant ferris wheel hording the space. We couldn't figure out why people would want to ride a ferris wheel in the winter, but then we saw that the "cars" were all enclosed. Ah, a good idea.
The area was like a fair and there were vendors selling all kinds of goodies. We stopped and had some chocolate-banana crepes. As we continued to walk up the Champs-Elysees, we bumped into the Christmas Markets lining both sides of the street! Perfect. Of course all the melting snow turned the whole area into one giant mud puddle, but no one cared. The place was packed as we strided from booth to booth marveling at all the sausages, cheeses, scarves, hats, gloves, crepes, more crepes, chocolate, and other foods. There were a few booths with more hand-made crafts, but by far most of the booths either sold fair-type food or gloves/hats/scarves.
The absolute BEST part of the evening, however, occurred when we were halfway up the street and heard Christmas music for the first time. We looked up and, there, hanging from a zipline was Santa and his reindeer! He flew back and forth on the wire and told us all kinds of stuff in French. Actually, french santa kinda sounds like yogi bear. =) He gave us a French Ho Ho Ho, and turned off his lights to stay up there for the next show. Totally awesome!
We made it up one side of the street by the time we were done. We'll have to save the other side for another night. We ate tartiflette (a ham and cheese scalloped potatoes) and Mark had some hot wine. With the crepe, we pretty much snacked our way through dinner.
Paris does gear up for Christmas, but as the guide books say, with only about 10% of the holiday cheer the US usually shows. I expected to be bombarded with more music and lights and santa hats. We will hit up the other side of the street another time. I think there might be an ice skating rink over there as well.
Well, I'm tired and I haven't even uploaded any photos yet. You will just have to wait for photos.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Versailles today. Versailles is about a 30-40 minutes RER ride away from our apartment, and we had no trouble getting there. The train station is a few minutes walk from the Chateau and on the way it started lightly snowing. The ground outside the Paris city limits is definitely more snow-covered, but now it was actually snowing as well.
We hurried into the Versailles palace to start our audio tour. We decided the snow was much better viewed from inside. Even the inside was cool enough to keep our coats on, but that made viewing nicer as we didn't have to carry around the coats.
Versailles has a very large estate all built for King Louie, XIV. After the palace, we could have done a 40-minute walk in the Gardens and then gone to see the Trianon Palaces. Honestly, I don't even know if those were open. Once the snow started falling heavily, we were happy with viewing the Gardens from inside. A few people ventured out, but they looked pretty cold.
The palace is of course filled with art and seemed to be a good addition to our art tours in Italy. We found some familiar names and saw many familiar styles. One main point of interest was the Hall of Mirrors. Apparently everyone wrote home about this hall once they came to one of the King's parties. The long hall was lined with mirrors, still rare in those days, to reflect the view of the gardens seen through the long windows on the opposite wall. In addition to sculptures and art, countless chandeliers dangled from the ceiling on long wires in an almost Hogwarts-like fashion. Another point of interest were the crown jewels. The crowns were very tiny.
The oddest part about the whole experience was that there was some sort of special exhibition going on of modern Japanese art. Instead of dedicating a room to this bright, colorful Japanese art, the curators spread out the sculptures into many of the Palace's rooms. There was a very stark contrast from the Greek statues to the smiling Japanese cartoon characters! At the end of our tour, there was one room that showed anime on a tv screen and had one room length sculpture of smiling, happy flowers. The floor was completely covered in smiling, happy flower carpet, too. The one classical painting in the room stood out like a sore thumb.
At this point, our only choice was to exit the Palace to the outdoors with it's wind and snow. Brrr. One of our neighboring tourists put it best as he turned to take a peak at the gardens in the distance and said, sarcastically, "The garden is great. Let's go now." We've been laughing at that one for days now. =) Perhaps we will come back during the warmer months and see what all the people are raving about.
The ground was now snowy and we tried our best to keep our tennis shoes dry. We high-tailed it to the village and picked the first place we saw for lunch. It turned out to be a creperie and we each had yummy, savory crepes. With the hot chocolate, there wasn't any room for a sweet crepe as well. But, as you'll read, we got to that later.
In the summer, most people spend the whole day at Versailles, but we were back in downtown Paris with plenty of time to go see the Lourve. The Lourve is a Paris must-see with it's glass pyramid entrance, the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo. Here, I definitely had the feeling of picking up where our Vatican Tour left off. The Rick Steves audio tour covered the must-see wing of the Lourve very well. We stayed until closing, covering the main wing, plus some extra exhibits. The Mona Lisa especially was an excellent place to people watch. The Lourve was more packed than I would have imagined for the winter, but since it was a Saturday it made sense.
At several points we were able to look out into the courtyard and see the area covered in snow. I'm glad I took pictures from inside, because, by the time we exited the glass pyramid in the dark, most of the snow had already melted away or had turned into slush from all the people walking on it. I was able to find several places to place my camera and take some night photos.
The weather didn't seem to be as biting cold as it had been earlier today or even last night, so we took a stroll from the Lourve to the Champs-Elysees. The park between the Lourve and the Concorde was dark and icy, so we slipped our way through very carefully. Then we arrived at the Concorde and the giant ferris wheel hording the space. We couldn't figure out why people would want to ride a ferris wheel in the winter, but then we saw that the "cars" were all enclosed. Ah, a good idea.
The area was like a fair and there were vendors selling all kinds of goodies. We stopped and had some chocolate-banana crepes. As we continued to walk up the Champs-Elysees, we bumped into the Christmas Markets lining both sides of the street! Perfect. Of course all the melting snow turned the whole area into one giant mud puddle, but no one cared. The place was packed as we strided from booth to booth marveling at all the sausages, cheeses, scarves, hats, gloves, crepes, more crepes, chocolate, and other foods. There were a few booths with more hand-made crafts, but by far most of the booths either sold fair-type food or gloves/hats/scarves.
The absolute BEST part of the evening, however, occurred when we were halfway up the street and heard Christmas music for the first time. We looked up and, there, hanging from a zipline was Santa and his reindeer! He flew back and forth on the wire and told us all kinds of stuff in French. Actually, french santa kinda sounds like yogi bear. =) He gave us a French Ho Ho Ho, and turned off his lights to stay up there for the next show. Totally awesome!
We made it up one side of the street by the time we were done. We'll have to save the other side for another night. We ate tartiflette (a ham and cheese scalloped potatoes) and Mark had some hot wine. With the crepe, we pretty much snacked our way through dinner.
Paris does gear up for Christmas, but as the guide books say, with only about 10% of the holiday cheer the US usually shows. I expected to be bombarded with more music and lights and santa hats. We will hit up the other side of the street another time. I think there might be an ice skating rink over there as well.
Well, I'm tired and I haven't even uploaded any photos yet. You will just have to wait for photos.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Friday, December 3, 2010
Paris Icons
December 3 (Day 2)
Like a typical Parisan living in the Latin Quarter, we slept in, and started our day closer to mid-morning. We thought we had a problem with our hot water heater, but it turns out that it just can't handle 2 showers at once. At least there's not a problem with it. =)
We decided to start the day off with Rick Steves' historical Paris walk that circles around the Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter and the area on the Seine. We are within walking distance of the Notre Dame, so that was a good starting place. They already have their 20 metre high Christimas Tree up in front. We toured the inside, noting especially that one of the prayer areas had been turned into a radio station to air Notre Dame Radio. Usually, it would be possible to climb up one of the towers as well, but this was closed due to snow. There isn't any snow at all in the Paris central area, but I guess there was some lingering up in the tower.
We soon figured out that juggling an iphone audioguide, a camera, hat, gloves, neck warmer, and headphones were just too much. In order to use the touch screen on the iphone, we had to take our finger out of our gloves. Unfortunately we had to do this often to pause the tour to walk around. Alas, we finally gave up on following the tour. Perhaps in warmer weather sometime when there is less to carry around. Instead, we decided to go warm up inside a cafe for lunch.
We found a corner cafe that served crepes and we de-bundled to sit inside. There were some people sitting outside with steaming food, but we wanted the luxury of taking off our gloves and coat. The crepes and paninis were delicious and we even had a nutella crepe for dessert.
After lunch we saw the line for the Sainte-Chapelle was much shorter than before lunch so we headed over. The chapel, of course, was under renovation, but we could still see a good portion of the interior and stained glass walls.
The nearby metro station proved to be a labyrinth of underground passages, but somehow we made it to the Arc Triomphe, a Paris landmark and also final lap location of Le Tour de France. We were able to spend a lot of time here as the climb to the top also included 2-3 floors of exhibits inside. In fact we could even go up to the top, see some views, then come back down to warm up and do it all over again. The off season is much less crowded than I would imagine it to be in the summer. There were still tourists, but we never felt crowded.
The view from the top of the Arc is really magnificent. A giant round-about surrounds the Arc and this is the only round-about where the cars in the circle are supposed to yield to the cars entering. We watched from above and vowed never to drive here. There were some near impossible traffic maneuvers with cars, motorcycles, and bikes too. Yikes! Many avenues extend straight out from the Arc and towards various parts of the city. The main street is of course the Champ-Elysees, or the high-end shopping district. When the sky went dark (around 5p) the trees along the street were lit up in draped lights for the holidays. We didn't stay long enough to see the Eiffel Tower light up.
In order to stay out long enough for the dinner hour to start, we strolled along the Champ-Elysees and marveled at all the car dealerships and shops. The Peugeot dealership was full of futuristic cars, lots of moving lights and displays, and of course rocking music. Mostly we came in to warm up, but as we moved to the back we were very impressed with all the Peugeot branded items from miniature cars to hand saws, to salt and pepper grinders. We stopped in Mercedes-Benz to warm up and then also Toyota. The Toyota shop was not rocking, but they were full of all their new hyrbid cars available in Europe include a car that was mounted to the wall to look as if it was driving up the wall.
They had lots of heat and wifi, so we stayed here to figure out what our dinner plans were. After Toyota, we took the metro to the Notre-Dame to see the church and tree lit up at night. This was well worth the stop. Then we found an Asian place in the Latin Quarter to eat a tasty dinner. We each had a starter, main course, and dessert. Mark's adventure included a soup, stuffed boneless chicken wings (tasted like chicken meatloaf with peanuts), and a coconut cake dessert. The coconut cake came wrapped in leaves and was not very cake-like. Tasted good though. My adventure included rather standard egg rolls, a pork kebob with vermicelli, and then a warm banana tapioca-like dessert.
Tomorrow our plan is to head to Versailles. The forecast calls for rain/snow and a high of 3 degrees C. Actually that is pretty much the forecast for the rest of our stay. We had a cold, but dry day today. The wind chill had to have been below freezing.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Like a typical Parisan living in the Latin Quarter, we slept in, and started our day closer to mid-morning. We thought we had a problem with our hot water heater, but it turns out that it just can't handle 2 showers at once. At least there's not a problem with it. =)
We decided to start the day off with Rick Steves' historical Paris walk that circles around the Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter and the area on the Seine. We are within walking distance of the Notre Dame, so that was a good starting place. They already have their 20 metre high Christimas Tree up in front. We toured the inside, noting especially that one of the prayer areas had been turned into a radio station to air Notre Dame Radio. Usually, it would be possible to climb up one of the towers as well, but this was closed due to snow. There isn't any snow at all in the Paris central area, but I guess there was some lingering up in the tower.
We soon figured out that juggling an iphone audioguide, a camera, hat, gloves, neck warmer, and headphones were just too much. In order to use the touch screen on the iphone, we had to take our finger out of our gloves. Unfortunately we had to do this often to pause the tour to walk around. Alas, we finally gave up on following the tour. Perhaps in warmer weather sometime when there is less to carry around. Instead, we decided to go warm up inside a cafe for lunch.
We found a corner cafe that served crepes and we de-bundled to sit inside. There were some people sitting outside with steaming food, but we wanted the luxury of taking off our gloves and coat. The crepes and paninis were delicious and we even had a nutella crepe for dessert.
After lunch we saw the line for the Sainte-Chapelle was much shorter than before lunch so we headed over. The chapel, of course, was under renovation, but we could still see a good portion of the interior and stained glass walls.
The nearby metro station proved to be a labyrinth of underground passages, but somehow we made it to the Arc Triomphe, a Paris landmark and also final lap location of Le Tour de France. We were able to spend a lot of time here as the climb to the top also included 2-3 floors of exhibits inside. In fact we could even go up to the top, see some views, then come back down to warm up and do it all over again. The off season is much less crowded than I would imagine it to be in the summer. There were still tourists, but we never felt crowded.
The view from the top of the Arc is really magnificent. A giant round-about surrounds the Arc and this is the only round-about where the cars in the circle are supposed to yield to the cars entering. We watched from above and vowed never to drive here. There were some near impossible traffic maneuvers with cars, motorcycles, and bikes too. Yikes! Many avenues extend straight out from the Arc and towards various parts of the city. The main street is of course the Champ-Elysees, or the high-end shopping district. When the sky went dark (around 5p) the trees along the street were lit up in draped lights for the holidays. We didn't stay long enough to see the Eiffel Tower light up.
In order to stay out long enough for the dinner hour to start, we strolled along the Champ-Elysees and marveled at all the car dealerships and shops. The Peugeot dealership was full of futuristic cars, lots of moving lights and displays, and of course rocking music. Mostly we came in to warm up, but as we moved to the back we were very impressed with all the Peugeot branded items from miniature cars to hand saws, to salt and pepper grinders. We stopped in Mercedes-Benz to warm up and then also Toyota. The Toyota shop was not rocking, but they were full of all their new hyrbid cars available in Europe include a car that was mounted to the wall to look as if it was driving up the wall.
They had lots of heat and wifi, so we stayed here to figure out what our dinner plans were. After Toyota, we took the metro to the Notre-Dame to see the church and tree lit up at night. This was well worth the stop. Then we found an Asian place in the Latin Quarter to eat a tasty dinner. We each had a starter, main course, and dessert. Mark's adventure included a soup, stuffed boneless chicken wings (tasted like chicken meatloaf with peanuts), and a coconut cake dessert. The coconut cake came wrapped in leaves and was not very cake-like. Tasted good though. My adventure included rather standard egg rolls, a pork kebob with vermicelli, and then a warm banana tapioca-like dessert.
Tomorrow our plan is to head to Versailles. The forecast calls for rain/snow and a high of 3 degrees C. Actually that is pretty much the forecast for the rest of our stay. We had a cold, but dry day today. The wind chill had to have been below freezing.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
The Paris Souvenir
December 2 (Day 1)
We woke from our much needed nap around 6pm starving. Here on the other side of the world, they don't start dinner until at least after 7:30, so we had to fill some time before heading out to eat.
The outside air hit us like a blow to the face. Brrrr. It certainly is not hot here. We used the metro to find ourselves in a neighborhood near the Eiffel Tower and had a lovely dinner in a little place recommended by our guide book. We were both adventurous with our food choices and were not disappointed. We had an interesting appetizer that was basically an egg cooked in a very dark sauce. For dinner I had what ended up being a sausage patty the consistency of a black bean burger on a bed of warm apples. Mark had the daily special of a meat cooked in a cream sauce with rice.
After dinner we strolled over to the Eiffel Tower to get our first glimpse of the Paris landmark. I have to say that it looks rather out of place in the city and really more resembles a giant Eiffel Tower souvenir that was just placed down randomly. We'll have to go back during the day. It was a little too chilly to be patient for any decent night photos, so after some failed attempts we moved. After a little metro mix-up, we made it back to the apt around midnight. It was a good first day in Paris.
PS: The flight was not very interesting except for the snowy landing, so I'll just skip over that part of our trip.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
We woke from our much needed nap around 6pm starving. Here on the other side of the world, they don't start dinner until at least after 7:30, so we had to fill some time before heading out to eat.
The outside air hit us like a blow to the face. Brrrr. It certainly is not hot here. We used the metro to find ourselves in a neighborhood near the Eiffel Tower and had a lovely dinner in a little place recommended by our guide book. We were both adventurous with our food choices and were not disappointed. We had an interesting appetizer that was basically an egg cooked in a very dark sauce. For dinner I had what ended up being a sausage patty the consistency of a black bean burger on a bed of warm apples. Mark had the daily special of a meat cooked in a cream sauce with rice.
After dinner we strolled over to the Eiffel Tower to get our first glimpse of the Paris landmark. I have to say that it looks rather out of place in the city and really more resembles a giant Eiffel Tower souvenir that was just placed down randomly. We'll have to go back during the day. It was a little too chilly to be patient for any decent night photos, so after some failed attempts we moved. After a little metro mix-up, we made it back to the apt around midnight. It was a good first day in Paris.
PS: The flight was not very interesting except for the snowy landing, so I'll just skip over that part of our trip.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Thursday, December 2, 2010
It's not hot here.
December 1/2, Day 1
We made it to our apartment in Paris. Of course we did what we were not supposed to do and promptly got under the covers and slept the day away. Oh well. It helped that it is very cold. The heater wasn't on in the apartment, but we went to sleep anyway. When we woke up freezing and saw it was 54 inside we went and found the heater.
The plane was a bit delayed getting in to Paris and they moved us from a gate to a spot away from the airport. This isn't a prop plane, it's a huge international plane! But, we had to walk down the exterior walkway and into a waiting bus to get to the terminal. Thank goodness we didn't have to make a connection! The pilot told us to bundle up because it's not too hot outside. Haha, that was the understatement of the year since it was cold, windy, and snowy outside at -7C.
We stored our action packer full of food (for Mark in Algeria) at the airport and had no trouble taking the RER into the city center and then walking the 3 minutes to our apartment. The apartment is in the Latin Quarter and is very cozy. We have a 275 square foot studio for the week. It is plenty of room for the two of us.
It's now dinner time and our last meal was breakfast on the plane, so we should head out into the cold and find some grub. We will email more later.
Happy December,
=) Joanna
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
We made it to our apartment in Paris. Of course we did what we were not supposed to do and promptly got under the covers and slept the day away. Oh well. It helped that it is very cold. The heater wasn't on in the apartment, but we went to sleep anyway. When we woke up freezing and saw it was 54 inside we went and found the heater.
The plane was a bit delayed getting in to Paris and they moved us from a gate to a spot away from the airport. This isn't a prop plane, it's a huge international plane! But, we had to walk down the exterior walkway and into a waiting bus to get to the terminal. Thank goodness we didn't have to make a connection! The pilot told us to bundle up because it's not too hot outside. Haha, that was the understatement of the year since it was cold, windy, and snowy outside at -7C.
We stored our action packer full of food (for Mark in Algeria) at the airport and had no trouble taking the RER into the city center and then walking the 3 minutes to our apartment. The apartment is in the Latin Quarter and is very cozy. We have a 275 square foot studio for the week. It is plenty of room for the two of us.
It's now dinner time and our last meal was breakfast on the plane, so we should head out into the cold and find some grub. We will email more later.
Happy December,
=) Joanna
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunscreen in the air
9/22/10 (Day 21)
Last day already? Time sure does fly when you are having fun. This 3 week vacation has been our longest yet. It's hard to remember that a couple weeks ago we were in a blizzard on the top of the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland, or that we were touring a chocolate factory, or even riding along the Grand Canal in Venice.
After a very long day yesterday we slept in until about 10am this morning. The Hotel Eden bed in Cannes was extremely comfortable. We didn't do much today, but headed out of the hotel in search of lunch. Mark really wanted a burger before going back to Algeria, so he found a place in Cannes that, from the photos online, had good burgers. Once in front of the burger place, we saw the disappointing sign that they were closed for September. Noooooooo. =( It did look like they had good burgers. They had a Mexican burger, a Hawaiian burger, and even a Manhattan XXL burger. Alas, we had to move on.
Walking along the coastline of Cannes, smelling sunscreen and sea air, we looked for a place that sold burgers. By the time we had pretty much sunk down to the level of finding the McDonald's in the area, we came across a place that advertised cheese burgers. We took a chance here and ended up with some pretty decent, almost American burgers with fries.
We wandered back along the coast and found the performance center where they must hold the Cannes Film Festival Awards. Outside on the sidewalk were rows of hand prints in cement of famous stars of the 80s. Richard Gere has very small hands. We also passed several cutout figures of movie characters like Spiderman, Hans Solo, Austin Powers, and Jack Sparrow. We did not put our heads in the slots, though. =)
We did see a couple free beaches, but for the most part, the beach was lined with private beaches with corresponding restaurants where you would rent a lounge chair and umbrella for several euros.
The beach is gorgeous with deep blue water and fine sand. We watched a guy build a giant caricature of a man in the sand, and imagined where all the sailboats might be going.
Eventually, we made our way back towards the hotel, stopping at a grocery store along the way for some snacks and extra food for Mark to take to Algeria. We picked up our bags and waited at the train station for our 3pm train to Marseille. That should put us in Marseille around 5p with plenty of time for dinner and splitting up our luggage to go two different ways.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Last day already? Time sure does fly when you are having fun. This 3 week vacation has been our longest yet. It's hard to remember that a couple weeks ago we were in a blizzard on the top of the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland, or that we were touring a chocolate factory, or even riding along the Grand Canal in Venice.
After a very long day yesterday we slept in until about 10am this morning. The Hotel Eden bed in Cannes was extremely comfortable. We didn't do much today, but headed out of the hotel in search of lunch. Mark really wanted a burger before going back to Algeria, so he found a place in Cannes that, from the photos online, had good burgers. Once in front of the burger place, we saw the disappointing sign that they were closed for September. Noooooooo. =( It did look like they had good burgers. They had a Mexican burger, a Hawaiian burger, and even a Manhattan XXL burger. Alas, we had to move on.
Walking along the coastline of Cannes, smelling sunscreen and sea air, we looked for a place that sold burgers. By the time we had pretty much sunk down to the level of finding the McDonald's in the area, we came across a place that advertised cheese burgers. We took a chance here and ended up with some pretty decent, almost American burgers with fries.
We wandered back along the coast and found the performance center where they must hold the Cannes Film Festival Awards. Outside on the sidewalk were rows of hand prints in cement of famous stars of the 80s. Richard Gere has very small hands. We also passed several cutout figures of movie characters like Spiderman, Hans Solo, Austin Powers, and Jack Sparrow. We did not put our heads in the slots, though. =)
We did see a couple free beaches, but for the most part, the beach was lined with private beaches with corresponding restaurants where you would rent a lounge chair and umbrella for several euros.
The beach is gorgeous with deep blue water and fine sand. We watched a guy build a giant caricature of a man in the sand, and imagined where all the sailboats might be going.
Eventually, we made our way back towards the hotel, stopping at a grocery store along the way for some snacks and extra food for Mark to take to Algeria. We picked up our bags and waited at the train station for our 3pm train to Marseille. That should put us in Marseille around 5p with plenty of time for dinner and splitting up our luggage to go two different ways.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Leaning right
9/21/10 (Day 20)
Today our vacation is starting to wind down as we will leave Italy and head back towards France and the final destination of Marseille. In Marseille, Mark and I will part ways. =( But, today is still in Italy.
We woke up way too early this morning so that we could catch a 6:10am train to Pisa. The train ride was only about an hour and soon we were at our destination. We stored our luggage at the train station and then walked for 20 minutes towards the Piazza Duomo where the Leaning Tower of Pisa stands.
On the way we stopped for some breakfast and soon were in line for our 9:00am trip to the top of the tower. I've seen many pictures of the tower and I know that it really does lean. However, seeing it in person is a whole other story. It really does lean! I could sit outside that tower and just stare at the engineering marvel that it leans without falling down. I see the columns, only 18 of which are the originals, and can't quite fathom how the columns on the long side can survive under tension. The columns on the short side are longer to try and counter-act the lean.
Anyway, the climb to the top was highly controlled. Only a limited amount of people are allowed up at a time and for only a 30 minutes interval. We were led up where we could stand and take photos, and then we were led back down again. On the climb up, I could tell when we spiraled around the tower as sometimes I felt the lean towards the outside wall, and sometimes the inside wall. The first 3 levels lean the most as those are the original levels that were built and then sunk into the ground. It is impressive to stand on the lower levels and look out the window at the much straighter landscape.
Towards the top, a couple levels were under restoration, however, we were able to view the bell level and then stand on the upper-most level. Here, on the top, we felt as if we were on a disc leaning towards the side. They had added some drainage grooves along the roof so the water had somewhere to go other than down the stairs.
The best part of the whole trip was when we heard an announcement in about 6 different languages warning us that the bells were about to sound. Then, they did, and the booming was impressive.
Back at the bottom, we took our required tourist photos both holding the tower up and knocking it down. It was fun to sit and watch all the tourists pose with the tower doing various things with it. At one point there was a whole line of people standing on columns posing in various leaning formations.
We also purchased tickets to the other 5 attractions in the piazza. We viewed the Monumental Cemetery first where we saw various tomb monuments in the walls and on the floor of a sort of cloister type building. Here we saw a statue of Fibonacci. We also saw some artists restoring the frescoes. We went inside the Duomo, or dome. Here we not only enjoyed the decor, but we were also treated to a demonstration of the amazing echo effect inside. When standing on the right spot, a note sung will echo for several moments allowing one person to sing a chord with themselves. That was worth coming for. The larger church next door was decorated more lavishly than the Duomo and we toured the various areas inside.
By now it was time for lunch, so we headed outside of the piazza and found a trattoria that we could sit down and eat a long lunch. Mark had a tuna fish pizza ordered by accident. It must have not been translated right on the menu, but it was still tasty. I had some amazing tortellini in a cream sauce. The Italians know how to make amazing cream sauce!
We had a little more time before our train, so we quickly strolled through the Museo that held most of the original sculptures and artwork copied in the church and duomo. Then we sat marveling at the tower again before leaving. We found our last Italian gelateria for this vacation and savored every minute of our treat. Eating 1-2 gelatos a day every day has been quite nice.
Our train left Pisa at 3p. We had a change of trains in Genoa, then in Ventimiglia on the border between Italy and France. Actually, the hardest trains to schedule were the ones today that would take us along the Italian and French coastlines from Pisa to Marseille. After Ventimiglia, we'll change trains in Monaco and then finally arrive in Cannes for the night.
Cannes is a very high-end town. We arrived at 10:19pm and saw many fancy dressed people still out walking the streets. All the high-end shops were closed, but we certainly were not anywhere near a sketchy area of France.
Hotel Eden, our stop for the night, turned out to be a fairly fancy hotel, too, with a spa and everything. The reception was open and we soon found ourselves on the 7th floor looking out across the lights of Cannes. The room was nice with a large bed, bathroom, and free wifi. We dropped our stuff and headed out to find some food. After wandering around finding only bars open, we spotted a sandwich place that was still serving. I had a hard boiled egg sandwich that was not egg salad, but still good, and Mark had a ham sandwich.
Back at the hotel it was nearing midnight and we finally crashed into bed for the day. I think we woke up at 5a this morning. It's been a long day.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Today our vacation is starting to wind down as we will leave Italy and head back towards France and the final destination of Marseille. In Marseille, Mark and I will part ways. =( But, today is still in Italy.
We woke up way too early this morning so that we could catch a 6:10am train to Pisa. The train ride was only about an hour and soon we were at our destination. We stored our luggage at the train station and then walked for 20 minutes towards the Piazza Duomo where the Leaning Tower of Pisa stands.
On the way we stopped for some breakfast and soon were in line for our 9:00am trip to the top of the tower. I've seen many pictures of the tower and I know that it really does lean. However, seeing it in person is a whole other story. It really does lean! I could sit outside that tower and just stare at the engineering marvel that it leans without falling down. I see the columns, only 18 of which are the originals, and can't quite fathom how the columns on the long side can survive under tension. The columns on the short side are longer to try and counter-act the lean.
Anyway, the climb to the top was highly controlled. Only a limited amount of people are allowed up at a time and for only a 30 minutes interval. We were led up where we could stand and take photos, and then we were led back down again. On the climb up, I could tell when we spiraled around the tower as sometimes I felt the lean towards the outside wall, and sometimes the inside wall. The first 3 levels lean the most as those are the original levels that were built and then sunk into the ground. It is impressive to stand on the lower levels and look out the window at the much straighter landscape.
Towards the top, a couple levels were under restoration, however, we were able to view the bell level and then stand on the upper-most level. Here, on the top, we felt as if we were on a disc leaning towards the side. They had added some drainage grooves along the roof so the water had somewhere to go other than down the stairs.
The best part of the whole trip was when we heard an announcement in about 6 different languages warning us that the bells were about to sound. Then, they did, and the booming was impressive.
Back at the bottom, we took our required tourist photos both holding the tower up and knocking it down. It was fun to sit and watch all the tourists pose with the tower doing various things with it. At one point there was a whole line of people standing on columns posing in various leaning formations.
We also purchased tickets to the other 5 attractions in the piazza. We viewed the Monumental Cemetery first where we saw various tomb monuments in the walls and on the floor of a sort of cloister type building. Here we saw a statue of Fibonacci. We also saw some artists restoring the frescoes. We went inside the Duomo, or dome. Here we not only enjoyed the decor, but we were also treated to a demonstration of the amazing echo effect inside. When standing on the right spot, a note sung will echo for several moments allowing one person to sing a chord with themselves. That was worth coming for. The larger church next door was decorated more lavishly than the Duomo and we toured the various areas inside.
By now it was time for lunch, so we headed outside of the piazza and found a trattoria that we could sit down and eat a long lunch. Mark had a tuna fish pizza ordered by accident. It must have not been translated right on the menu, but it was still tasty. I had some amazing tortellini in a cream sauce. The Italians know how to make amazing cream sauce!
We had a little more time before our train, so we quickly strolled through the Museo that held most of the original sculptures and artwork copied in the church and duomo. Then we sat marveling at the tower again before leaving. We found our last Italian gelateria for this vacation and savored every minute of our treat. Eating 1-2 gelatos a day every day has been quite nice.
Our train left Pisa at 3p. We had a change of trains in Genoa, then in Ventimiglia on the border between Italy and France. Actually, the hardest trains to schedule were the ones today that would take us along the Italian and French coastlines from Pisa to Marseille. After Ventimiglia, we'll change trains in Monaco and then finally arrive in Cannes for the night.
Cannes is a very high-end town. We arrived at 10:19pm and saw many fancy dressed people still out walking the streets. All the high-end shops were closed, but we certainly were not anywhere near a sketchy area of France.
Hotel Eden, our stop for the night, turned out to be a fairly fancy hotel, too, with a spa and everything. The reception was open and we soon found ourselves on the 7th floor looking out across the lights of Cannes. The room was nice with a large bed, bathroom, and free wifi. We dropped our stuff and headed out to find some food. After wandering around finding only bars open, we spotted a sandwich place that was still serving. I had a hard boiled egg sandwich that was not egg salad, but still good, and Mark had a ham sandwich.
Back at the hotel it was nearing midnight and we finally crashed into bed for the day. I think we woke up at 5a this morning. It's been a long day.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Secret Basement
9/20/10 (Day 19)
Ah, Florence. I will always remember Florence as the city that Sandra Bullock dreamed of going to one day in the movie While You Were Sleeping. We slept in this morning and then had breakfast at a cafe next door. Nutella croissants are delicious, by the way. =)
By now it was about 10am and we headed for the Duomo for a tour. The line outside at opening time wasn't too long yet and soon we were inside. I would say the most impressive part for me, was learning that the Duomo was actually built on top of another, much smaller church. When they started digging underneath the Duomo, they found the remains of the old Santa Repartante church. We were able to tour around the old church seeing parts of the flooring that still had mosaic tiling and see several artifacts that had been buried with the church. We could see where the supports were for the much bigger Duomo above us and were quite impressed to be walking around underneath.
The Duomo is listed in our guidebook as one of the big three of Italy. The other 2 are the Colosseum and Leaning Tower of Pisa. The exterior is incredibly impressive with all the colored stone and marble and artwork. I was surprised to learn that this place of worship was built in only 150 years compared to the 900 years it took for the Basilica San Marco in Venice. The dome was built during the height of the Renaissance when the idea of an architect being a designer of a building first started. Before now, buildings were just built by experienced builders over sometimes hundreds of years. It's crazy that all these buildings are still around today! The architect studied the Pantheon in Rome and eventually designed this dome. Many people didn't think it could be done, but here it stands as one of the largest brick domes in the world.
Outside the Duomo, the line to climb the adjacent Campanile bell tower was non-existent, so we decided to head their first. There were about 3 or 4 different levels where we could take a break from climbing the 414 stairs and view the surrounding panorama. We experienced the booming sensation that comes from the ringing of the bells while standing on top of the platform that holds them. =) The most memorable part of the climb, however, was near the top where the staircase became impossibly narrow and started to spiral up. Here, people were coming down the same direction we were going up. It was rather tricky for everyone to remain upright while crossing through here.
At the top of the Campanile we were completely fence in, but happy to see the fencing had holes large enough for my camera lens. We had quite the panoramic view and could see all the people that climbed the Duomo next door. We decided we didn't have to climb that one as well.
The next stop on our walking tour of the city was a spot for lunch where we grabbed some takeaway pizza at a cafe. Then we headed towards the main reason for coming to Florence....the Museo Galileo or the History of Science Museum.
No photos were allowed inside, of course. There were 2 floors housing a large collection of historical scientific instruments from early time and astrological keepers to globes, to microscopes, to large decides to create and measure electricty and electromagnetic pulls. We were most impressed with the video displays that showed both in English and Italian how several of the instruments were used or built. We were disappointed to see that a large amount of instruments had almost no explanation what-so-ever. Still, it was very interesting to see and learn about the science from about the 14th century to the 19th century.
There was a neat video of an exploding house to show the positive effects of lightning rods on buildings. The model house was built with wooden sides on hinges. Inside was a pedestal with gunpowder. Outside was a lightning rod with a removable piece. Without the piece making the metal connection from roof to ground, electricity tapped on the rod caused the gunpowder to explode knocking the walls of the house down. When the metal connection was inserted correctly, the same electric tap caused the house to stay intact and the electricity to travel to the ground, where it was safely dissipated.
The gift shop was disappointing with mostly just science books. There were no postcards or hat pins, our typical souvenirs. We made do with some photos of the museum signage.
By now it was late afternoon and we had really toured everywhere of interest in Florence. We wandered around the shops to find some tacky souvenirs. No, we didn't buy miniature statues of David. =) We each found a shirt we liked and skipped the rest of the items. Then, we went back to the hotel to use the internet, do some blogging, and relax before our dinner reservation.
Our dinner reservations were for 8p, about the start of the Italian dinner time, at a recommended restaurant for steak Florentine. The service was probably the best we've had in Italy. We started out with some addictive fried pasta. Mark ordered the 800 grams of steak Florentine and I ordered a smaller sirloin with mushrooms. Both steaks were superb as were the potato sides. Mark had a frozen limoncello for dessert and the waiter also brought us some biscotti to munch on. Eventually, we finally left and I grabbed some gelato to eat as we walked back to the hotel.
We are happy with our visit to Italy. Tomorrow we will hit up Pisa and then slowly travel the coast of Italy and France to Cannes for the night.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Ah, Florence. I will always remember Florence as the city that Sandra Bullock dreamed of going to one day in the movie While You Were Sleeping. We slept in this morning and then had breakfast at a cafe next door. Nutella croissants are delicious, by the way. =)
By now it was about 10am and we headed for the Duomo for a tour. The line outside at opening time wasn't too long yet and soon we were inside. I would say the most impressive part for me, was learning that the Duomo was actually built on top of another, much smaller church. When they started digging underneath the Duomo, they found the remains of the old Santa Repartante church. We were able to tour around the old church seeing parts of the flooring that still had mosaic tiling and see several artifacts that had been buried with the church. We could see where the supports were for the much bigger Duomo above us and were quite impressed to be walking around underneath.
The Duomo is listed in our guidebook as one of the big three of Italy. The other 2 are the Colosseum and Leaning Tower of Pisa. The exterior is incredibly impressive with all the colored stone and marble and artwork. I was surprised to learn that this place of worship was built in only 150 years compared to the 900 years it took for the Basilica San Marco in Venice. The dome was built during the height of the Renaissance when the idea of an architect being a designer of a building first started. Before now, buildings were just built by experienced builders over sometimes hundreds of years. It's crazy that all these buildings are still around today! The architect studied the Pantheon in Rome and eventually designed this dome. Many people didn't think it could be done, but here it stands as one of the largest brick domes in the world.
Outside the Duomo, the line to climb the adjacent Campanile bell tower was non-existent, so we decided to head their first. There were about 3 or 4 different levels where we could take a break from climbing the 414 stairs and view the surrounding panorama. We experienced the booming sensation that comes from the ringing of the bells while standing on top of the platform that holds them. =) The most memorable part of the climb, however, was near the top where the staircase became impossibly narrow and started to spiral up. Here, people were coming down the same direction we were going up. It was rather tricky for everyone to remain upright while crossing through here.
At the top of the Campanile we were completely fence in, but happy to see the fencing had holes large enough for my camera lens. We had quite the panoramic view and could see all the people that climbed the Duomo next door. We decided we didn't have to climb that one as well.
The next stop on our walking tour of the city was a spot for lunch where we grabbed some takeaway pizza at a cafe. Then we headed towards the main reason for coming to Florence....the Museo Galileo or the History of Science Museum.
No photos were allowed inside, of course. There were 2 floors housing a large collection of historical scientific instruments from early time and astrological keepers to globes, to microscopes, to large decides to create and measure electricty and electromagnetic pulls. We were most impressed with the video displays that showed both in English and Italian how several of the instruments were used or built. We were disappointed to see that a large amount of instruments had almost no explanation what-so-ever. Still, it was very interesting to see and learn about the science from about the 14th century to the 19th century.
There was a neat video of an exploding house to show the positive effects of lightning rods on buildings. The model house was built with wooden sides on hinges. Inside was a pedestal with gunpowder. Outside was a lightning rod with a removable piece. Without the piece making the metal connection from roof to ground, electricity tapped on the rod caused the gunpowder to explode knocking the walls of the house down. When the metal connection was inserted correctly, the same electric tap caused the house to stay intact and the electricity to travel to the ground, where it was safely dissipated.
The gift shop was disappointing with mostly just science books. There were no postcards or hat pins, our typical souvenirs. We made do with some photos of the museum signage.
By now it was late afternoon and we had really toured everywhere of interest in Florence. We wandered around the shops to find some tacky souvenirs. No, we didn't buy miniature statues of David. =) We each found a shirt we liked and skipped the rest of the items. Then, we went back to the hotel to use the internet, do some blogging, and relax before our dinner reservation.
Our dinner reservations were for 8p, about the start of the Italian dinner time, at a recommended restaurant for steak Florentine. The service was probably the best we've had in Italy. We started out with some addictive fried pasta. Mark ordered the 800 grams of steak Florentine and I ordered a smaller sirloin with mushrooms. Both steaks were superb as were the potato sides. Mark had a frozen limoncello for dessert and the waiter also brought us some biscotti to munch on. Eventually, we finally left and I grabbed some gelato to eat as we walked back to the hotel.
We are happy with our visit to Italy. Tomorrow we will hit up Pisa and then slowly travel the coast of Italy and France to Cannes for the night.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Firenze
9/19/10 (Day 18)
This morning started way too early when my alarm went off at 5:30am. We had to leave the hotel by 6 in order to make our 6:50a train to Firenze (Florence). The train was uneventful and about 3 hours in length. I sure do like train travel rather than air travel. I was able to sleep almost the whole time, but Mark never did get comfortable in the seats.
In Florence, our hotel, the Luna Rossa, was just a few blocks from the train station. We arrived and found a note telling us to go across the street to another hotel to check in. It was only 10am now, so I figured there was no way our room was ready anyway. Across the street, we found out that somehow these 2 hotels are linked, and our room was actually on this side of the street anyway in the Hotel Ester? Whatever. We were pretty tired, so we just sat on their couch waiting for our room to open up. At 11am, our room opened up and we took a nap.
The room is fairly large and even comes with a computer hooked up to the internet! The wifi is only available in the lobby, but we can figure out about plugging our laptop into the ethernet in the room instead. The room has one double bed and two twin beds. It's a rather odd arrangement, but as I said, we were tired and just came in and napped.
When we woke up for lunch, we headed down the street to a place recommended by the hotel and had some wonderful pizzas. We could see them making our pizzas while we waited and I could tell the ingredients were fresh. I would say this was the best pizza so far in Italy. The cheese especially was delicious.
There were no real plans for today, so we just headed towards the large Duomo, or dome. I read in our guidebook that this Duomo is one of Italy's big three must-sees. The others are the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In any case, we shall see all 3 on this trip. The Duomo was indeed a marvelous sight. This one only took 150 years to build as opposed to the San Marco Basilica in Venice which took 900 years. The outside was very ornate with colorful stone, small pillars carved into swirls, and lots of statues. We were impressed. Tomorrow we'll go inside. The adjacent Campanile was similarly decorated and the two together were quite a sight.
We continued to wander and saw the Parazzo Vecchio that looks like a medieval castle on the outside and houses Renaissance art on the inside. Next to it was the Loggia dei Lanzi that had several Greek statues on display under large archways.
Continuing on our way, we walked past the famous Uffizi Gallery housing more Renaissance art and on to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. This bridge is more like a street with shops on either side of the walking path. The shops almost seem to hang off the side of the bridge as cantilevers. The shops used to sell meat, but when they just threw the unsold meat into the river below, the meat stores were banned, and now the shops are all jewelry shops.
The river beneath was surprisingly milk chocolate in color and very muddy. I don't know why, but it wasn't very scenic. We stopped to eat some gelato and I even found some peanut butter gelato! This is pretty rare I hear.
Our walking tour continued on the other side of the river where we found the Piazza de Pitti. I think this was another art museum, but mostly it was too big for the lens on my camera, so we joined everyone else and sat in the sun on the large area in front of the building. I guess people come here to lounge. The breeze was chilly and the sun was warm making the perfect combination of temperature.
Next up was a climb up many steps to the Piazzale Michelangelo. I had no idea that from here we would have an unobstructed view of the sun setting over Florence with all the important buildings like the Duomo in perfect view. Wow, what a wonderful surprise. We found the steps covered in people sitting to stare out at the panoramic view in front of us and we joined in.
While sitting, we listened to a few audio guides I had downloaded to my iPhone. The sun set and turned the distant mountains purple. The moon shown bright over the bronze copy of Michelangelo's David in the center of the square, and eventually we wandered away.
We wanted to get back to the Palazzo Vecchio by 8p as we had seen something about a night tour there. Luckily there was a restaurant selling food right there in the square and we ate our pasta within view of the giant castle. The city is still teeming with life and this museum is actually open until midnight! As it turned out, the night tour wasn't quite what we were expecting as we had to buy tickets to the museum as well and the tour wasn't until 9:30, so instead we headed out to take some night photos of the great buildings on the way back to our hotel.
We stopped at Ben & Jerry's to get some of their ice cream/gelato.
Florence is turning out to be a beautiful town. There are plenty of people and tourists, but it doesn't seem quite as crowded as Rome or even Venice. So, now, tonight, I actually have some time to catch up on my travel journal. Eventually I'll get around to posting everything online as well.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
This morning started way too early when my alarm went off at 5:30am. We had to leave the hotel by 6 in order to make our 6:50a train to Firenze (Florence). The train was uneventful and about 3 hours in length. I sure do like train travel rather than air travel. I was able to sleep almost the whole time, but Mark never did get comfortable in the seats.
In Florence, our hotel, the Luna Rossa, was just a few blocks from the train station. We arrived and found a note telling us to go across the street to another hotel to check in. It was only 10am now, so I figured there was no way our room was ready anyway. Across the street, we found out that somehow these 2 hotels are linked, and our room was actually on this side of the street anyway in the Hotel Ester? Whatever. We were pretty tired, so we just sat on their couch waiting for our room to open up. At 11am, our room opened up and we took a nap.
The room is fairly large and even comes with a computer hooked up to the internet! The wifi is only available in the lobby, but we can figure out about plugging our laptop into the ethernet in the room instead. The room has one double bed and two twin beds. It's a rather odd arrangement, but as I said, we were tired and just came in and napped.
When we woke up for lunch, we headed down the street to a place recommended by the hotel and had some wonderful pizzas. We could see them making our pizzas while we waited and I could tell the ingredients were fresh. I would say this was the best pizza so far in Italy. The cheese especially was delicious.
There were no real plans for today, so we just headed towards the large Duomo, or dome. I read in our guidebook that this Duomo is one of Italy's big three must-sees. The others are the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In any case, we shall see all 3 on this trip. The Duomo was indeed a marvelous sight. This one only took 150 years to build as opposed to the San Marco Basilica in Venice which took 900 years. The outside was very ornate with colorful stone, small pillars carved into swirls, and lots of statues. We were impressed. Tomorrow we'll go inside. The adjacent Campanile was similarly decorated and the two together were quite a sight.
We continued to wander and saw the Parazzo Vecchio that looks like a medieval castle on the outside and houses Renaissance art on the inside. Next to it was the Loggia dei Lanzi that had several Greek statues on display under large archways.
Continuing on our way, we walked past the famous Uffizi Gallery housing more Renaissance art and on to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. This bridge is more like a street with shops on either side of the walking path. The shops almost seem to hang off the side of the bridge as cantilevers. The shops used to sell meat, but when they just threw the unsold meat into the river below, the meat stores were banned, and now the shops are all jewelry shops.
The river beneath was surprisingly milk chocolate in color and very muddy. I don't know why, but it wasn't very scenic. We stopped to eat some gelato and I even found some peanut butter gelato! This is pretty rare I hear.
Our walking tour continued on the other side of the river where we found the Piazza de Pitti. I think this was another art museum, but mostly it was too big for the lens on my camera, so we joined everyone else and sat in the sun on the large area in front of the building. I guess people come here to lounge. The breeze was chilly and the sun was warm making the perfect combination of temperature.
Next up was a climb up many steps to the Piazzale Michelangelo. I had no idea that from here we would have an unobstructed view of the sun setting over Florence with all the important buildings like the Duomo in perfect view. Wow, what a wonderful surprise. We found the steps covered in people sitting to stare out at the panoramic view in front of us and we joined in.
While sitting, we listened to a few audio guides I had downloaded to my iPhone. The sun set and turned the distant mountains purple. The moon shown bright over the bronze copy of Michelangelo's David in the center of the square, and eventually we wandered away.
We wanted to get back to the Palazzo Vecchio by 8p as we had seen something about a night tour there. Luckily there was a restaurant selling food right there in the square and we ate our pasta within view of the giant castle. The city is still teeming with life and this museum is actually open until midnight! As it turned out, the night tour wasn't quite what we were expecting as we had to buy tickets to the museum as well and the tour wasn't until 9:30, so instead we headed out to take some night photos of the great buildings on the way back to our hotel.
We stopped at Ben & Jerry's to get some of their ice cream/gelato.
Florence is turning out to be a beautiful town. There are plenty of people and tourists, but it doesn't seem quite as crowded as Rome or even Venice. So, now, tonight, I actually have some time to catch up on my travel journal. Eventually I'll get around to posting everything online as well.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Friday, September 24, 2010
Lawn chair to the sky
9/18/10 (Day 17)
This morning was glorious as we allowed ourselves to sleep in and have more of a relaxing day. We didn't order our breakfast in the room until about 9:30 and then set out to find the boat to the island of Capri.
The walk to the coast was only about 20 minutes and in typical Italian style the roads were full of crazy drivers and the sidewalks were too small for all the pedestrians. Purchasing the right tickets and getting to the right dock proved to be a challenge due to lack of posted information in English, but by following others we managed to get on the right boat. Of course it is a Saturday and the people of Napoli are going on vacation to the island of Capri today. The boat was fairly packed with a tour group as well, but thankfully it was less than an hour trip to this island.
On the island, we found out, after walking the coast, that the actual city of Capri is a train ride up the mountain. So we found the ticket line for the Funicular and then found the actual boarding area for the Funicular. All was not labeled well and rather confusing. Thankfully we don't have any real plans for today so we just went with the flow. Once we arrived in the city of Capri and walked to the edge, did we figure out where we really wanted to be was the city of Anacapri which is a bus ride away. This whole island is only 6km long and 3km wide, by the way. =) We took one look at the over crowded buses reminiscent of Peru and decided to inquire about a taxi ride. This turned out to be an excellent plan. The taxis here all have open roofs with a cloth canopy over the top for shade.
Anacapri isn't even at the top elevation of this island of cliffs yet. We went to the chair lift to be taken up to the top. The chair lift, was just that, a chair lift. We sat in individual chairs, almost like lawn chairs, and were taken by cable up to the top. I guess what the chairs most reminded me of were the chairs on the swing rides at amusement parks, but attached to a cable like a ski lift. The lift was really quite long and of course had excellent views. Finally, here at the top of the island we have beautiful panoramic views of the island, Italy, and the blue ocean. The view is unfortunately bit hazy, but still makes a wonderful spot to sit and type out blog posts. This is probably the least populated spot we've found in Italy and we are sitting here, enjoying the view and catching up on the daily journal.
At 5:30 we heard last call for the chair lift and we rode back down to Anacapri. We arrived in town too early for dinner as people start eating dinner around 8p or later. Every place we found wasn't serving food anymore. This seems to be more of a lunch island anyway. So, we took the bus down to Capri. The bus wasn't quite as crowded as the ones in Peru, but we just barely fit inside the door for the ride down. In Capri, no one was selling food either. Now it was already 7pm and our ferry was at 8, so we decided to take the Funicular down to the shore where at lunch there were plenty of food shops.
At the shore, everyone was closing up. We just barely had time to grab some gelato before the shop closed for the night. Now I can see why people left on the earlier ferries today. I don't know what people on this island do for dinner, but by the time our boat arrived, the area was nearly deserted.
The ride back was neat from the top deck of the boat because we could see all the lights from the surrounding coastlines of Italy and Capri. No photos of course as tripods do not work on boats. =) Just before we arrived, the crew decided they were ready to go home and the shoved us all off the top deck to the waiting area. They were so anxious to get us off, I was surprised they didn't have cattle prods and make us jump from the boat onto the dock.
Back in Naples, we found the city packed after 9pm on a Saturday. Of course now all the restaurants were packed with people. We found a busy one and figured the food had to be good with all the people. However, we had a rather poor experience here. Not only was the service slow, closer to the Italian style of service, but the food was not worth finishing. We stayed way too long trying to flag our waiter down to pay.
Naples does seem to like to party hard at night. It felt like the whole town was out and about. The streets were packed with cars and motorcycles and the sidewalks with people. It's not a very pretty city and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone coming to visit. The only thing Naples has going for it, is it's a great hub for Pompei, Capri, and the Amafli Coast.
We will be glad to leave this graffiti-covered city for Florence tomorrow morning.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
This morning was glorious as we allowed ourselves to sleep in and have more of a relaxing day. We didn't order our breakfast in the room until about 9:30 and then set out to find the boat to the island of Capri.
The walk to the coast was only about 20 minutes and in typical Italian style the roads were full of crazy drivers and the sidewalks were too small for all the pedestrians. Purchasing the right tickets and getting to the right dock proved to be a challenge due to lack of posted information in English, but by following others we managed to get on the right boat. Of course it is a Saturday and the people of Napoli are going on vacation to the island of Capri today. The boat was fairly packed with a tour group as well, but thankfully it was less than an hour trip to this island.
On the island, we found out, after walking the coast, that the actual city of Capri is a train ride up the mountain. So we found the ticket line for the Funicular and then found the actual boarding area for the Funicular. All was not labeled well and rather confusing. Thankfully we don't have any real plans for today so we just went with the flow. Once we arrived in the city of Capri and walked to the edge, did we figure out where we really wanted to be was the city of Anacapri which is a bus ride away. This whole island is only 6km long and 3km wide, by the way. =) We took one look at the over crowded buses reminiscent of Peru and decided to inquire about a taxi ride. This turned out to be an excellent plan. The taxis here all have open roofs with a cloth canopy over the top for shade.
Anacapri isn't even at the top elevation of this island of cliffs yet. We went to the chair lift to be taken up to the top. The chair lift, was just that, a chair lift. We sat in individual chairs, almost like lawn chairs, and were taken by cable up to the top. I guess what the chairs most reminded me of were the chairs on the swing rides at amusement parks, but attached to a cable like a ski lift. The lift was really quite long and of course had excellent views. Finally, here at the top of the island we have beautiful panoramic views of the island, Italy, and the blue ocean. The view is unfortunately bit hazy, but still makes a wonderful spot to sit and type out blog posts. This is probably the least populated spot we've found in Italy and we are sitting here, enjoying the view and catching up on the daily journal.
At 5:30 we heard last call for the chair lift and we rode back down to Anacapri. We arrived in town too early for dinner as people start eating dinner around 8p or later. Every place we found wasn't serving food anymore. This seems to be more of a lunch island anyway. So, we took the bus down to Capri. The bus wasn't quite as crowded as the ones in Peru, but we just barely fit inside the door for the ride down. In Capri, no one was selling food either. Now it was already 7pm and our ferry was at 8, so we decided to take the Funicular down to the shore where at lunch there were plenty of food shops.
At the shore, everyone was closing up. We just barely had time to grab some gelato before the shop closed for the night. Now I can see why people left on the earlier ferries today. I don't know what people on this island do for dinner, but by the time our boat arrived, the area was nearly deserted.
The ride back was neat from the top deck of the boat because we could see all the lights from the surrounding coastlines of Italy and Capri. No photos of course as tripods do not work on boats. =) Just before we arrived, the crew decided they were ready to go home and the shoved us all off the top deck to the waiting area. They were so anxious to get us off, I was surprised they didn't have cattle prods and make us jump from the boat onto the dock.
Back in Naples, we found the city packed after 9pm on a Saturday. Of course now all the restaurants were packed with people. We found a busy one and figured the food had to be good with all the people. However, we had a rather poor experience here. Not only was the service slow, closer to the Italian style of service, but the food was not worth finishing. We stayed way too long trying to flag our waiter down to pay.
Naples does seem to like to party hard at night. It felt like the whole town was out and about. The streets were packed with cars and motorcycles and the sidewalks with people. It's not a very pretty city and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone coming to visit. The only thing Naples has going for it, is it's a great hub for Pompei, Capri, and the Amafli Coast.
We will be glad to leave this graffiti-covered city for Florence tomorrow morning.
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
Nature's Fury
9/17/10 (Day 16)
We found out today just how boutique our hotel was as the breakfast was brought to our room at no extra charge. Breakfast consisted of the typical Italian style of croissant, juice, and coffee (declined).
Today is Pompei day. We headed to the main Naples train station before 8am to see if we could figure out what train to get on. As it turned out, we could not use our Eurorail pass for today, but the return ticket price was less than 10 Euros for the two of us. We jumped on the train and got to Pompei in about 30 or 40 minutes.
Once here, we had no idea where to go, but just a few steps put us right at the entrance gate to the ruins, so all was working out. We arrived at 8:45am and just after they opened at 8:30. This meant we had the whole day here. Excellent. Pompei is huge at 65 hectacres of which about 10 are visitable.
The audio guides were an excellent purchase and we were able to use them all day. There was about 4 hours of audio on the guides and we almost listened to all of it. We also had a book purchased in Rome that explained the ruins and had photos of the ruins as they are today with transparent overlays that showed the artistic renderings of what they would have looked like back in 79 AD before Mount Vesuvius eruption. Between these two resources I have enough information about Pompei, well, to write a book. =)
Some of the highlights..... Pompei had about 20,000 residents at the time of the eruption. The town was much bigger than I thought it would be. The legends stated that Hercules founded the town of Pompei and they worshiped him as such. The town is full of temples honoring various gods and goddesses. The archeologists named each building they found according to the statues or paintings they found in the rooms. Pompei streets were made of large flat, rounded rocks with sidewalks on either side built at least half a foot higher than the street. The street served as the drainage for both storm drainage and sewage, so crosswalks across the street were built raised like the sidewalks, but as stepping stones, so carts could still get through.
Most of the houses had a similar layout. The entrance went to a large room with a square basin in the center. The roof angled in towards this center and a square hole in the roof allowed the rainwater to collect in the basin for drinking water.
Typical entrance
The rooms were off of this main room. Many of the large houses of the diplomats has large gardens through the back with fresco decorated walls and rooms built off the garden as well.
We saw many of the shops along the street. You could tell which were the shops selling hot food as they had marble counters with holes to hold the food.
The forum for public events was extremely large. Off towards the edge of town we saw a small and large theater for, well theatrical events complete with dressing rooms and stage management in the back. There was a large amphitheater for gladiator events, and a huge sports arena for other sporting events.
Pompei was buried under several meters of ash and rock during the 79 AD eruption. Most of the inhabitants were buried alive in the ash. When excavating, the archeologists were able to make plaster casts of those buried alive because as their bodies and clothes decomposed, the ash kept the shapes. They could even see the folds in the clothing and expressions on faces. The city was not excavated until the 17th century and Mark and I would both like to know more about the excavation. It seems amazing that people were able to dig through volcanic rock to find the city, also built of rock. Today the city is completely walkable. Most of the buildings were blocked off to entry, but we were able to tour several of them with our audio guide.
Mosaic floor. About 5 tiles would fit in a penny!
The city is also strewn with stray, but very docile dogs. We found many sleeping in the shade. They were sleeping so soundly that we could walk right in front of their noses without a stir. There is a group that takes care of the dogs as dogs were always sacred to Pompei.
We were amazed to see that even the 2000 year old graffiti on the walls survived after all this time. Political figures would put their names on the walls before elections. Many of the floors of buildings and houses still had the small mosaic tiles laid 2000 years ago.
Overall, we were very impressed by all that remains. We didn't leave until after 7pm; a full day of walking. The train back was uneventful and we found a deserted restaurant in Naples for dinner.
Gorgeous sunset...did the best I could with the foreground
http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
We found out today just how boutique our hotel was as the breakfast was brought to our room at no extra charge. Breakfast consisted of the typical Italian style of croissant, juice, and coffee (declined).
Today is Pompei day. We headed to the main Naples train station before 8am to see if we could figure out what train to get on. As it turned out, we could not use our Eurorail pass for today, but the return ticket price was less than 10 Euros for the two of us. We jumped on the train and got to Pompei in about 30 or 40 minutes.
Once here, we had no idea where to go, but just a few steps put us right at the entrance gate to the ruins, so all was working out. We arrived at 8:45am and just after they opened at 8:30. This meant we had the whole day here. Excellent. Pompei is huge at 65 hectacres of which about 10 are visitable.
The audio guides were an excellent purchase and we were able to use them all day. There was about 4 hours of audio on the guides and we almost listened to all of it. We also had a book purchased in Rome that explained the ruins and had photos of the ruins as they are today with transparent overlays that showed the artistic renderings of what they would have looked like back in 79 AD before Mount Vesuvius eruption. Between these two resources I have enough information about Pompei, well, to write a book. =)
Some of the highlights..... Pompei had about 20,000 residents at the time of the eruption. The town was much bigger than I thought it would be. The legends stated that Hercules founded the town of Pompei and they worshiped him as such. The town is full of temples honoring various gods and goddesses. The archeologists named each building they found according to the statues or paintings they found in the rooms. Pompei streets were made of large flat, rounded rocks with sidewalks on either side built at least half a foot higher than the street. The street served as the drainage for both storm drainage and sewage, so crosswalks across the street were built raised like the sidewalks, but as stepping stones, so carts could still get through.
Most of the houses had a similar layout. The entrance went to a large room with a square basin in the center. The roof angled in towards this center and a square hole in the roof allowed the rainwater to collect in the basin for drinking water.
Typical entranceThe rooms were off of this main room. Many of the large houses of the diplomats has large gardens through the back with fresco decorated walls and rooms built off the garden as well.
We saw many of the shops along the street. You could tell which were the shops selling hot food as they had marble counters with holes to hold the food.
The forum for public events was extremely large. Off towards the edge of town we saw a small and large theater for, well theatrical events complete with dressing rooms and stage management in the back. There was a large amphitheater for gladiator events, and a huge sports arena for other sporting events.
Pompei was buried under several meters of ash and rock during the 79 AD eruption. Most of the inhabitants were buried alive in the ash. When excavating, the archeologists were able to make plaster casts of those buried alive because as their bodies and clothes decomposed, the ash kept the shapes. They could even see the folds in the clothing and expressions on faces. The city was not excavated until the 17th century and Mark and I would both like to know more about the excavation. It seems amazing that people were able to dig through volcanic rock to find the city, also built of rock. Today the city is completely walkable. Most of the buildings were blocked off to entry, but we were able to tour several of them with our audio guide.
Mosaic floor. About 5 tiles would fit in a penny!The city is also strewn with stray, but very docile dogs. We found many sleeping in the shade. They were sleeping so soundly that we could walk right in front of their noses without a stir. There is a group that takes care of the dogs as dogs were always sacred to Pompei.
We were amazed to see that even the 2000 year old graffiti on the walls survived after all this time. Political figures would put their names on the walls before elections. Many of the floors of buildings and houses still had the small mosaic tiles laid 2000 years ago.
Overall, we were very impressed by all that remains. We didn't leave until after 7pm; a full day of walking. The train back was uneventful and we found a deserted restaurant in Naples for dinner.
Gorgeous sunset...did the best I could with the foregroundhttp://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
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