I just finished making captions for all of my online photo albums, so here are their links!
I'll do a broader update and an entry about Portugal when I get back to Nantes! So far Lisbon is AWESOME and I've met SOOOOO many amazing and fun people here in my hostel! I'm truly having the best time I could have ever hoped to have!
UPDATE:
Enjoy the photos and the commentary I added! Feel free to ask questions and I'll answer them in my next post!
Photos from Venice! (<- Click for photos!)
(Feb. 22nd - 25th)
UPDATE: Venice was absolutely gorgeous, but unfortunately everything was extremely pricey--especially the museums and churches. Therefore, we didn't go into a lot of places, however we truly saw everything there was to see (at least, from the outside). The food was decent although many restaurants tricked you into buying bottled water or charging you to sit. We took a water bus to our hostel the first night but never again as the hourly passes were incredibly expensive-- €6.50. It wasn't ever necessary to take water buses anywhere, anyway, as Venice is not large and you can walk anywhere you want. The one thing absolutely necessary to have at all times was a map, as the streets were incredibly confusing. But it was SO fun to wonder the streets and stumble upon all of the cute boutiques, souvenir shops, eateries, and to find the most delicious Gelato places (hehe). My friend Kate and I went out one night and visited several bars (and were lucky enough to find a happy hour, as drinks were very expensive otherwise). We watched a big Rugby match and then found a small bar with live music--2 men, one on guitar and the other singing some American classics. I was constantly amazed by the vibrant colors of all of the buildings, and the beautiful bridges connecting all of the cute, narrow streets within the city. Our hostel was very nice and clean, although the free breakfast was quite terrible (packaged croissants -- blasphemy in France!! haha). There were reminents of the huge festival -- "Carnivale" -- (the streets were littered with confetti) which we unfortunately missed by one week. But we certainly didn't miss the dozens of vendors who were selling hundreds of masks of all shapes and sizes around the sinking city. It was an amazing experience, but unlike other cities I've visited, I don't feel the need to ever return.I'm very happy I got to see the Grand Canal because I saw the real-life version of my favorite painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir -- "Grand Canal, Venice (1881)."
And my favorite part of my trip to Venice was the Gondola ride, partly because the song I most enjoy playing on the piano is called, "Venetian Gondola Song" (by Felix Mendelssohn).
My stay in Paris!
(Feb. 25 - 27th)
UPDATE: I was unexpectedly able to stay in Paris for a couple of days upon my return from Venice because of delayed planes, missed trains, and warm and welcoming family friends. Luckily I was travelling with my friend Kate when we arrived in Paris at 1 am, and she had been planning on staying with a family that, after hearing my pitiful situation, invited me to stay at their house for the night -- and in fact another night! I accepted their invitation, and the next day we went to dinner at one of the grandparents' houses. The family was so incredibly nice and welcoming; it was so different from the cold attitude this is stereotypical of the French. Before the dinner, Kate, Elise (the daughter in the family), and I explored Paris. They live in a suburb outside of Paris, but it was only a 30 minute commute (by metro) into the heart of Paris, and so we explored the city and walked A LOT (we only took the metro to and from the city, not within the city itself). We saw the Eiffel Tower, Le Louvre (from across the river, La Seine), a bunch of other buildings I forget the names of (haha, just being honest), then finally arrived at Notre Dame and a cute little dinner/shopping district where we stopped in a Starbucks and rested after our long walk. (Starbucks is even more expensive in euros than dollars in Europe, so Kate and I opted not to buy a drink; Elise bought a drink with a giftcard, she said otherwise it's completely unaffordable.) Elise spoke very good English as her parents both speak fluently, her mother taught French in the U.S., they have several American friends, and have hosted many English speakers in their house. I'm so happy they took me in as a refugee! (haha) But they were incredibly nice people and, in fact, they gave me their contact information and said that I could come back and visit them any time I liked! And that I'd always have a place to stay if I visited Paris! It was truly touching to meet people with such big hearts...
When Jim visited me!
(March 12th - 20th)
UPDATE: AMERICAN INVASION!!LOL, not quite...but my week with Jim was absolutely marvelous. Jim did one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me!! I had known for a while that he was coming to visit me (and I looked forward to his visit since before I even arrived in France), but it wasn't until AFTER he left that I realized how amazing it was that he came all of the way over here to see me!
Jim flew into Paris on a Friday, so we decided to spend the weekend there! Saturday and Sunday we walked around the city -- Saturday, we visited l'Arc de Triomphe and wandered around all of the surrounding streets that converge at the circle around the monument. It was a little strange to see Paris again exactly 10 years after I had last seen it (I went on the decades 2000 and then 2010) and I was often experiencing déjà vu! We went window shopping all day (we were on a quest to find Jim's mom the perfect bag and ended up finding a winner in the popular European fashion chain "Zara") and even did some window shopping at the fabulous "Cartier" (there is a picture of a VERY expensive watch in this photo album). We treated ourselves to nice lunches and dinners in Paris, and I had my first hamburger of the semester while in Paris with Jim! Sunday, we did the most walking and site seeing. We walked to the Eiffel Tower (yes, it was within walking distance of our hotel)! And we went up to the very top! After taking an elevator down to the middle level, we decided to walk down the legs to the ground. The view was incredible! It was a very different experience from when I went as a child as I've since developed a fear of heights (like my mom)!
Anecdote: I remember very well my first visit to the Eiffel Tower in 2000. We went up to the main level in the elevator, but due to very long lines, the decision was made to descend by foot. Now, the stairs in the legs of the tower are made of iron (like all of it), but it's like mesh in that you can see through them to the ground -- like-wise for the walls (as you will see in the pictures). Therefore, it is quite easy to understand how someone with a massive fear of heights (Michele Shapiro) would be deathly afraid until the moment her feet were once again firmly on the ground. Well, I remember my poor mother sobbing, clutching onto the railings and slowly finding firm footing on each stair, the entire way down. I think it was still worth it to her, though...haha!
Anyway, Jim really enjoyed going up the Eiffel Tower, especially since he's an engineer and got to see all the architecture and the machines that controlled the elevators and all that stuff...I just trust it all to work...I don't care how it works as long as it does work!
After the Eiffel Tower, we started following La Seine and bought mouth wateringly delicious Banana Chocolate Crapes! We found Musée D'Orsay (which I'm dying to visit, especially after taking my two Art History classes this semester...SO many incredibly important paintings are kept there), but unfortunately the line was just too long (we were leaving to come back to Nantes later that night and wanted to see more of the city). Then, right across La Seine from the museum was Le Louvre, so we explored the grounds and took pictures with the Pyramid (which Jim liked more than the Le Louvre itself, haha). It was a nice day, perfect for walking and exploring the city! So we then continued on to Notre Dame, which was beautiful during the day! (I had previously seen it at night.) Then we walked around the shopping/restaurant district right across the river, ate dinner, and caught our train back to Nantes!
Monday, my host family invited me and Jim over for dinner. They made delicious dinner crapes (to which we later added sugar and jam to make dessert crapes, haha) and we spoke much Franglais. I was the official translator of the evening! And I discovered that my host mother speaks English very well! She has been taking classes for six years. I don't know how intensively, but her comprehension was also very good (well, when I spoke...Jim was mumbling and using English expressions like "weeding people out" which I then had to explain, haha)!
Tuesday, after my classes, we walked around the city and I took Jim to the Chateau, to my favorite creperie, and then to the movies! For one of my classes, I needed to see the movie "Liberty," a French film following Gypsies in WWII, so I took Jim and translated for him (it helped that the film was very visual and he was able to get the gist of it without translation).
Wednesday, we made dinner in the apartment we rented, which had a full kitchen (we made/microwaved dinners other nights too, however this meal was delicious -- thanks to Chef Jimmy P for making it): pesto pasta and chicken, and I forget what sides....Then, after dinner, we went to a concert at a small venue nearby. I had bought the tickets several weeks before as a surprise Valentine's Day present for Jim! The band was English (UK) -- "Girls." They put on a really good concert (and there were some very entertaining teenagers in the crowd who were tripping on some psychedelic drug).
Thursday (even though it was the day after the holiday), IES celebrated St. Patrick's Day. We went out to the popular Irish Pub (where I had previously gone to watch the France - Ireland rugby match), John McByrne's, and had a few drinks with our American and French friends! That's when Jim met all of my friends. (I was hogging him earlier in the week!)
Friday, we had plans to go to the seaside town, La Baule, but on our way to the train station I realized I had forgotten my 12-25 card, with which I get discounted prices on tickets, but if you don't present the card to the conductor while on board, you receive a large fine... it was too late to retrieve the card, so we ended up missing our train (we were refunded, no worries)! The next train wasn't for several hours and the last train left in early evening, so we decided it wasn't worth the trip (it was pouring the whole day, though, so I'm sure it was actually better that we hadn't gone). Later that night, we met our friends at a bar and hung out with them for a few hours. Jim and I then ate the most delicious dinner we'd ever tasted (haha, it was THAT good) at a really neat and small restaurant in town called "Les Pieds dans le Plat." We started eating at midnight and finished a little after 1 am! It was such a fun and really well priced dinner for the quality of food we received!
The next morning, Jim was leaving at 6 am, so we finished packing and got the little amount of sleep we could...I took Jim to the train station and saw him off. It was very sad, but I realized we had made a memory together we'd never forget. If I wasn't here, he never would have been able to visit me or see Europe at age 22!
It truly worked out perfectly because just 2 hours after he left, I was leaving on a trip to Normandy with IES for the weekend...
--COMING SOON--
Normandy
(March 20th - 21st)
Amsterdam!
(March 27th - 29th)
UPDATE: Amsterdam was very different than what I had expected (even though I had heard much about it). It was absolutely beautiful in its architecture and canals. Our hostel was literally in the center of the red light district (actually, a good location for nightlife and for walking around to site-see as it was close to the main parts of town and many interesting museums, and really not at all dangerous). At night, we would look out the window of our hostel and the street would be glowing red...it was actually pretty neat! Of course I'm not very interested in living there, but it was quite an experience and truly beautiful!
During the day time we wandered around and explored the streets because, much like Venice, everything was expensive, so we didn't go inside any museums--not even the Anne Frank house which had an extremely long wait! That was disappointing, but to be expected since it was a Saturday. We also found a few small markets and MANY interesting stores. And I learned that Holland is famous for its windmills because at one store there were hundreds of little windmill souvenirs!
Both mornings we got a free breakfast at the hostel, which was quite delicious and was a great way to start off our days. At night we explored the bars and nightlife and found everyone to be very nice, easy going, and fun! Our roommates were very nice and one morning a cat ran into our room when one of us opened the door and it stayed and hid in our room the entire day! We all got a laugh out of that...in Amsterdam there are cats EVERYWHERE. I don't recall seeing a single dog. But in 2/3 of the store fronts, there were cute little cats sitting and sunbathing in the windows. Also, there is a cat boat in Amsterdam, floating along one of the canals, where stray cats live and are taken care of by the State. I thought this was a joke at first, but many travellers' books talk about it! We tried looking for it on one of our long walks, but we never found it :( haha, oh well!
This trip is going to be over in a blink of an eye; I'm trying to make the most of every moment I have left!
Je t'aime et tu me manques!
xoxo Monica
Hi Monica,
ReplyDeleteWow! You can be a tour guide of Europe some day with all the places you have visited. Good luck on your finals and papers. We are so excited to see you in a few weeks. Hopefully the volcano has settled down and flights are leaving Europe by then. And don't make fun of your mother being afraid of heights. I couldn't even make it past the first level of the eiffel tower - I was shaking in my shoes the whole time!
Aunt Laura