well two months after ending classes, i am officially done my junior year! finally no more studying for exams! i still think it's odd that my classes ended the last week of march, and yet i had to wait until june to take the exams. whilst in the weeks of studying we managed to go out to a couple of the clubs (elements & sugarhouse) for some drinks and dancing. and of course, we raided cal's blockbuster film collection to help us procrastinate from our revision :) when the sun would pop out kris & i played tennis, but the weather has still been pretty chilly considering that it's nearing summer (in the upper 50s). however, last friday it was actually in the 70s and we went to Morecambe Bay which is only a 20 minute bus ride from Lancaster. it was nice to be in a bathing suit and soaking up the sun! but the place was anything but a beach, i'd call it a cove. when we arrived it was high tide and boats speckled the shoreline, with fells in the background (beautiful scenery!) but before we knew it the tide was going out and eventually the water was completely gone! it was wet sand from us to the far side of where the water used to be...it was definitely wild! you could probably walk from one coast and across to the other, except we've heard it's like quick sand out there. anyway, we managed to get some silly tanlines while we were there. (oh tanlines, how i've missed you).
last night was the last time that kristen and i would see murphy and jobi (they leave this weekend, and we start our 20 day Eurotrip today!...actually it's already begun--we're in Leeds!). so we decided to have one last dinner date and ended up having a lovely chinese picnic on a bench table outside. it hasn't hit me that i won't be seeing them any time soon. i don't think it will until i'm back in the States myself. we then decided to go out last night (to Revs [revolutions]) which i'd never been to before and we had so much fun. we started off doing karaoke (think moulin rouge, ain't no mountain high enough, journey) and i'm happy to say i can cross that off my bucket list!--karaoke in a british club. we then went upstairs to the dance floor and literally were there until they kicked us out.
so now it's time to start the rest of our Europe adventures. we've decided to couch surf (www.couchsurfing.org) in all of our destinations! it was a process trying to find hosts, but i can happily say that we're surfing in all but one city. i can't wait to see what it has in store for us. printing out all of our boarding passes and tix was the next hassle though. kristen and i were making sure we had everything when we realized that we were missing our amsterdam-copenhagen flight information. we realized that we had jake purchase the tix (since our american credit cards wouldn't work) and had never received a confirmation number or email, and my account said we had no reservations! i'll admit i was beginning to panic. but thankfully we called the airlines and got everything sorted. i think i would have cried if they told us that we never booked anything.
and now after missing our first train in Lancaster by a mere 30-odd seconds, and nearly missing our second train in Leeds, we have made it safely to our first CS hosts! then off to Rome we fly tomorrow! :) i don't think i could be anymore stoked. 4 trains, 5 planes, 7 countries, and 20 days crammed into 1 backpack. here i come!
odd experience of the day: we met a mother who asked us if the UK was part of Europe. um. weird.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
athens: the perfect place to stuff your face :)
we arrived to athens and immediately had plates piled with food sitting in front of us (compliments to lauren's godmother, Dolly) as we exchanged our traveling adventures with lauren, maddi, and brooke. we also discussed how wild it was to be in athens together, on top of having visited Edinburgh, Scotland and Oxford, England together. not many friends can say they've traveled to different countries together! we sure are special :) afterwards we headed to town and got to see the changing of the guards. their routine is pretty funny--a bunch of kicks and wiggling of the toes which have little pompoms on them. but the guys are super serious about the act! i could never do it, i think i would end up laughing hysterically. we found out that all boys must serve in the military at some point in their life, and if you're tall enough, you're considered for employment as a guard (they are really tall!). after being entertained by their routine, we climbed the top of one of athens' mountains where we had a spectacular night view of the cityscape. it was beautiful with all the lights glittering from every possible direction. we were even higher than the Acropolis! we then munched on some traditional greek cuisine (yes ate once again which was soon to become our hobby) at a lovely little restaurant on the mountaintop. we then headed to the apartment that lauren's cousin graciously offered us for the next several days. and would it surprise you to say that on our way back we stopped for delicious crepes? as for the apartment, it was awesome. we had the top floor of the complex with a huge balcony and yet another beautiful view of the city. (we would soon find out that the balcony was the perfect place for an afternoon nap).
the next day we went to the market and walked around the little streets of athens where we saw tons of clothes, jewelry, purses, and little greek trinkets waiting to be bartered for. while wandering about, we ran into 2 girls, Jobi & Murphy, who we've become really close friends with while at uni in Lancaster. you never know who you'll run into while traveling! that night we got all dolled up and headed to a club with lauren's cousins. it was a great time until i ended up having to leave due to all the cigarette smoke. even though there are 'no smoking' signs, the greeks don't abide by the rules! apparently, the entire ceiling opened up later in the night which would have been a great star gazing atmosphere. perhaps the next time i'm in athens i'll get to witness it ;)
our last full day in athens we visited the Parthenon along with the Acropolis Museum. it's amazing how evidence of history long, long ago still exists and is standing! that night was Greek Easter and we watched fireworks being set off nearby the church. A procession of people holding candles soon flowed out of the service. The flame is specially flown all the way from Jerusalem, from the Holy Fire, and is distributed to all of the people's candles. It is said that Christianity originated in Greece, which makes sense as to why the Holy Fire would be flown to all of its cities and Greek Orthodox churches. we ended the evening with a traditional greek easter game. everyone holds a hardboiled egg (fact: all of the easter eggs are dyed red in greece) and one person takes their egg and taps it on top of the egg to their left. whoever has the egg that doesn't crack is the 'winner' and goes on to the next person to battle out the eggs. in the end everyone just eats the eggs though.
the following morning, it was time to say our farewells and back to lancaster we went.
out of our entire trip, this is what i'd have to say:
1. the beatles story museum in liverpool, england was my favorite museum i've been to while over here in the UK.
2. paris was by far the most beautiful city. hopefully i can visit there again at some point in my life.
3. seville was my favorite spanish city that we went to--it definitely has the spanish charm to it.
3. athens has the best food, and i now crave it.
4. don't get excited to have your passport stamped... i ended up with only one stamp, and that was when i left Athens.
5. ryanair definitely has the worst landings..i prefer easyjet :)
over and out!
the next day we went to the market and walked around the little streets of athens where we saw tons of clothes, jewelry, purses, and little greek trinkets waiting to be bartered for. while wandering about, we ran into 2 girls, Jobi & Murphy, who we've become really close friends with while at uni in Lancaster. you never know who you'll run into while traveling! that night we got all dolled up and headed to a club with lauren's cousins. it was a great time until i ended up having to leave due to all the cigarette smoke. even though there are 'no smoking' signs, the greeks don't abide by the rules! apparently, the entire ceiling opened up later in the night which would have been a great star gazing atmosphere. perhaps the next time i'm in athens i'll get to witness it ;)
our last full day in athens we visited the Parthenon along with the Acropolis Museum. it's amazing how evidence of history long, long ago still exists and is standing! that night was Greek Easter and we watched fireworks being set off nearby the church. A procession of people holding candles soon flowed out of the service. The flame is specially flown all the way from Jerusalem, from the Holy Fire, and is distributed to all of the people's candles. It is said that Christianity originated in Greece, which makes sense as to why the Holy Fire would be flown to all of its cities and Greek Orthodox churches. we ended the evening with a traditional greek easter game. everyone holds a hardboiled egg (fact: all of the easter eggs are dyed red in greece) and one person takes their egg and taps it on top of the egg to their left. whoever has the egg that doesn't crack is the 'winner' and goes on to the next person to battle out the eggs. in the end everyone just eats the eggs though.
the following morning, it was time to say our farewells and back to lancaster we went.
out of our entire trip, this is what i'd have to say:
1. the beatles story museum in liverpool, england was my favorite museum i've been to while over here in the UK.
2. paris was by far the most beautiful city. hopefully i can visit there again at some point in my life.
3. seville was my favorite spanish city that we went to--it definitely has the spanish charm to it.
3. athens has the best food, and i now crave it.
4. don't get excited to have your passport stamped... i ended up with only one stamp, and that was when i left Athens.
5. ryanair definitely has the worst landings..i prefer easyjet :)
over and out!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Barcelona
we arrived into Barca and were soon on our way to Danielle's piso where we were to meet up with her flatmate (Danielle was visiting Rome at the time). we had amazing directions but to our dismay, no one answered the intercom "bell" when we rung her piso number. it was getting a bit late and we didn't know what to do, so our first instinct was to find WiFi so that Kristen's ipod would connect to the internet. around the corner we finally got service and immediately messaged Jayne, who had just gotten to Barcelona the day before. Thank goodness she responded in no time and gave us the hotel that she and her family were staying at so that we could have a place to stay while we figured things out. What a lifesaver! It took a bit to actually find the hotel..we even attempted to speak spanish to an elderly couple but it was no use since the people of Barcelona mainly speak Catalon. Since it was nearly 9pm or so once we arrived to the hotel, we ended up just sleeping on the floor so that we didn't have to travel off at nighttime.
the following morning we joined jayne and her family to the museu d'art contemporani de barcelona, which was a contemporary art museum. i love art, but i just don't get the contemporary part of it...not my style. we then admired beautiful buildings designed by architect, Gaudi, which were pretty neat to look at since we don't have anything like it back in the states! pretty soon, our tummies were rumbling and we ate lunch outside where we had a bit of trouble communicating with our multiple servers. i think the first problem was that we had 3 servers, and they all got confused! first we had asked for an ice coffee, but rather than getting what any american would expect, we got a teeny, tiny teacup with a shot of hot espresso. where was the ice?? one of our servers then brought out a glass of ice cubes which we thought was pretty funny. we ended up just pouring the warm espresso over the ice and it didn't taste that bad after adding a bit of sugar! and despite the mixup for my meal's side, the food was delicious nonetheless. i had a thin crust pizza with scalloped potatoes and onions overtop, rather than the traditional sauce and cheese. it was SO good! definitely asking my mom to make that this summer ;)
afterwards, we headed to Sagrada Familia, but just looked at the outside since the line was pretty long and it cost €12 per person, which is a bit expensive when you're on a tight student budget. by that time, it was siesta time! i guess when you've been living in Spain for 3 months, obviously you're going to get accustomed to their culture. While everyone snoozed, I found a hostel for me and Kristen to spend the night at since we hadn't heard from Danielle about whether her flatmate was at home or not. So off we trekked to the other side of the city to find our accommodations for the evening. after an intense staircase that offered a gorgeous view of the city, we made it at last to the hostel. we were greeted with the sweetest girl who told us everything we needed to know about Barca and she quickly pulled out a huge map to show us all of the hotspots and what metro to take to get here, what bus to take to get there, etc.
the one good thing about staying somewhere in spain is that checkout isn't until noon, since they stay up so late. so we took advantage of not having to lug around our big ol' backpacks and got up early to go to Parc Guell before checkout. We saw beautiful views of the city and you can even see out onto the Mediterranean Sea. It was a bit cloudy but you could still tell that Barca is a huge city with so much to offer. Before it was too late, we made it back to our hostel to collect our things and then off we went to the Olympic Stadium where the Olympics were held in 1992. In order to get to the stadium you have to walk through the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña which is probably the most beautiful building that I saw in Barcelona--it looked like a giant castle. After roaming around this part of town for a bit, we then headed to the beach! We saw Port Olimpia which is filled to the max with sailboats. I don't think i've ever seen so many in my life! We saw people kite-surfing as well which reminded us of Alden and Richard out to sea traveling the caribbean on a boat...lucky guys. we watched people play beach volleyball for a while and then headed to a Spanish buffet where we literally stuffed our faces. we got to try paella which is a traditional spanish dish that has rice and typically seafood in it (ours had mussels). after eating more than we could handle, we decided to walk to Danielle's piso to see if her roommate happened to be in. It was getting to be almost 8:30pm so we decided that if we didn't get a response we would just go back to the hostel that we had stayed in the night before. Miraculously, her roommate answered and we were so so grateful. the girl's mom had flown over from the states so they had been out in the evenings which is why we had missed them previously. and to our delight, danielle came back from Italy about an hour after we had gotten to her piso. It was great to see Danielle and catch up on things over a bottle of wine (in Spain, wine is only €2 a bottle, which is insanely cheap compared to England's prices..and the wine is good too!) We were lucky to have a huge comfortable bed that night, giving us an ideal rest before we departed Spain the next morning. We definitely slept sweet! :)
the following morning we joined jayne and her family to the museu d'art contemporani de barcelona, which was a contemporary art museum. i love art, but i just don't get the contemporary part of it...not my style. we then admired beautiful buildings designed by architect, Gaudi, which were pretty neat to look at since we don't have anything like it back in the states! pretty soon, our tummies were rumbling and we ate lunch outside where we had a bit of trouble communicating with our multiple servers. i think the first problem was that we had 3 servers, and they all got confused! first we had asked for an ice coffee, but rather than getting what any american would expect, we got a teeny, tiny teacup with a shot of hot espresso. where was the ice?? one of our servers then brought out a glass of ice cubes which we thought was pretty funny. we ended up just pouring the warm espresso over the ice and it didn't taste that bad after adding a bit of sugar! and despite the mixup for my meal's side, the food was delicious nonetheless. i had a thin crust pizza with scalloped potatoes and onions overtop, rather than the traditional sauce and cheese. it was SO good! definitely asking my mom to make that this summer ;)
afterwards, we headed to Sagrada Familia, but just looked at the outside since the line was pretty long and it cost €12 per person, which is a bit expensive when you're on a tight student budget. by that time, it was siesta time! i guess when you've been living in Spain for 3 months, obviously you're going to get accustomed to their culture. While everyone snoozed, I found a hostel for me and Kristen to spend the night at since we hadn't heard from Danielle about whether her flatmate was at home or not. So off we trekked to the other side of the city to find our accommodations for the evening. after an intense staircase that offered a gorgeous view of the city, we made it at last to the hostel. we were greeted with the sweetest girl who told us everything we needed to know about Barca and she quickly pulled out a huge map to show us all of the hotspots and what metro to take to get here, what bus to take to get there, etc.
the one good thing about staying somewhere in spain is that checkout isn't until noon, since they stay up so late. so we took advantage of not having to lug around our big ol' backpacks and got up early to go to Parc Guell before checkout. We saw beautiful views of the city and you can even see out onto the Mediterranean Sea. It was a bit cloudy but you could still tell that Barca is a huge city with so much to offer. Before it was too late, we made it back to our hostel to collect our things and then off we went to the Olympic Stadium where the Olympics were held in 1992. In order to get to the stadium you have to walk through the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña which is probably the most beautiful building that I saw in Barcelona--it looked like a giant castle. After roaming around this part of town for a bit, we then headed to the beach! We saw Port Olimpia which is filled to the max with sailboats. I don't think i've ever seen so many in my life! We saw people kite-surfing as well which reminded us of Alden and Richard out to sea traveling the caribbean on a boat...lucky guys. we watched people play beach volleyball for a while and then headed to a Spanish buffet where we literally stuffed our faces. we got to try paella which is a traditional spanish dish that has rice and typically seafood in it (ours had mussels). after eating more than we could handle, we decided to walk to Danielle's piso to see if her roommate happened to be in. It was getting to be almost 8:30pm so we decided that if we didn't get a response we would just go back to the hostel that we had stayed in the night before. Miraculously, her roommate answered and we were so so grateful. the girl's mom had flown over from the states so they had been out in the evenings which is why we had missed them previously. and to our delight, danielle came back from Italy about an hour after we had gotten to her piso. It was great to see Danielle and catch up on things over a bottle of wine (in Spain, wine is only €2 a bottle, which is insanely cheap compared to England's prices..and the wine is good too!) We were lucky to have a huge comfortable bed that night, giving us an ideal rest before we departed Spain the next morning. We definitely slept sweet! :)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
¡yo no quiero agua; yo quiero bebida!
we flew into valencia via Vueling airlines, and after flying RyanAir to get to Paris and then to Seville, Vueling felt like a luxury flight, mainly because it was such a smooth landing. (RyanAir is known for their 'rocky' landings which can make you feel a bit uneasy as the plane shakes around). we were quickly greeted by Elissa as we made our way to the metro. it's so awesome how we became instant friends literally within one day (we met Elissa while on a tour in London) and that she was keen on letting us stay with her for the weekend in Spain. it seriously felt like we knew each other for much longer! she took us out on the town that night with several English friends. (it was almost as if we were back in England upon hearing their accents!). the Spanish party scene is so different from what I'm used to though.. typically you don't go to a club (discoteca) until 2am. So that's exactly what we did! and it's nice because there's no cover charge until 2:30am which gives you plenty of time to get there. The club had 2 levels, each playing the typical rap/hip-hop dancing music. I still can't get over how all the countries here in europe basically only listen to American music... whoever created MTV is definitely a mega-millionaire.
the next day we walked into town and had kabobs (this was kristen's first kabob experience). we sat outside and people-watched of course :) afterwards we heard drums being played so followed the beat and stumbled upon a huge crowd of mainly men dressed up in robes and playing a drumline. there were little boys also playing, probably around 4 years old, and they were too cute! we don't really know what it was for, but we guessed that maybe it had to do with the start of Holy Week for Easter. We then walked to the beach and the sun came out and it was just the right temperature for a siesta in the sand. we didn't even have towels or anything, but the beach was such a lovely mattress that we fell asleep instantly. we didn't wake up 'til 6pm! i'd say it was a successful spanish siesta! i dipped my toes in the mediterranean but it was entirely too cold to go in any further. at least i can say i've touched the mediterranean sea!
we then went back to elissa's piso and got ready for a traditional spanish dinner. again we ate outside, but not until around 11pm! there were about 15 of us, all students, and the people were from France, England, and Spain; and it was absolutely amazing listening to them talk because they all could speak at least 2 languages. I was listening to one of the girls talking in Spanish and all of a sudden she switched to English, and pretty soon she was speaking French! it was incredible. for our meal, i can't recall what the name of it was, but we ordered platters of various hams and cheeses and then platters of various seafood and you use them for toppings on bread. (what lots of europeans do is order big platters and then share whatever is on the table). and we had to have our sangria to accompany the spanish aura. we ate and talked for nearly two hours! then to end the dinner, the waiters served us shots. rather than mints, they have an herb liqueur that you take a shot of to wash your palate. yum!
we then all went to a club, again where entrance is free up until 2:30am, and to our delight there was a live band playing! They were from Holland and were pretty darn good! This time the club played indie/folk music so it was a neat atmosphere that allowed us to experience a different vibe from the night before. around 5am we made it back to elissa's.. so i can't say we stayed up 'til 8am which is what most spaniards do... but i'm satisfied with 5am. we actually found out that in order to stay for closing, you wouldn't leave until around 10am, whaaaat?! how wild.
well sunday morning was our time to pack up and say our goodbyes. after eating at a chinese buffet for lunch (whoever invented buffets is genius) we headed for the train station. and to anyone visiting spain, their trains are awesome! you get lots of leg room, the seats recline, and they even play a movie! I felt like i was back on an American airline! the views along the ride were breathtaking since it was all along the Mediterranean coast. there were giant cliffs and hills, and then i could spot people enjoying the sun on the beach, and people sailing. boy, how i've realized that i love the ocean/beach life!
¡adios, valencia!
the next day we walked into town and had kabobs (this was kristen's first kabob experience). we sat outside and people-watched of course :) afterwards we heard drums being played so followed the beat and stumbled upon a huge crowd of mainly men dressed up in robes and playing a drumline. there were little boys also playing, probably around 4 years old, and they were too cute! we don't really know what it was for, but we guessed that maybe it had to do with the start of Holy Week for Easter. We then walked to the beach and the sun came out and it was just the right temperature for a siesta in the sand. we didn't even have towels or anything, but the beach was such a lovely mattress that we fell asleep instantly. we didn't wake up 'til 6pm! i'd say it was a successful spanish siesta! i dipped my toes in the mediterranean but it was entirely too cold to go in any further. at least i can say i've touched the mediterranean sea!
we then went back to elissa's piso and got ready for a traditional spanish dinner. again we ate outside, but not until around 11pm! there were about 15 of us, all students, and the people were from France, England, and Spain; and it was absolutely amazing listening to them talk because they all could speak at least 2 languages. I was listening to one of the girls talking in Spanish and all of a sudden she switched to English, and pretty soon she was speaking French! it was incredible. for our meal, i can't recall what the name of it was, but we ordered platters of various hams and cheeses and then platters of various seafood and you use them for toppings on bread. (what lots of europeans do is order big platters and then share whatever is on the table). and we had to have our sangria to accompany the spanish aura. we ate and talked for nearly two hours! then to end the dinner, the waiters served us shots. rather than mints, they have an herb liqueur that you take a shot of to wash your palate. yum!
we then all went to a club, again where entrance is free up until 2:30am, and to our delight there was a live band playing! They were from Holland and were pretty darn good! This time the club played indie/folk music so it was a neat atmosphere that allowed us to experience a different vibe from the night before. around 5am we made it back to elissa's.. so i can't say we stayed up 'til 8am which is what most spaniards do... but i'm satisfied with 5am. we actually found out that in order to stay for closing, you wouldn't leave until around 10am, whaaaat?! how wild.
well sunday morning was our time to pack up and say our goodbyes. after eating at a chinese buffet for lunch (whoever invented buffets is genius) we headed for the train station. and to anyone visiting spain, their trains are awesome! you get lots of leg room, the seats recline, and they even play a movie! I felt like i was back on an American airline! the views along the ride were breathtaking since it was all along the Mediterranean coast. there were giant cliffs and hills, and then i could spot people enjoying the sun on the beach, and people sailing. boy, how i've realized that i love the ocean/beach life!
¡adios, valencia!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
soaking up the sun in seville
we landed in seville where it was hot hot hot! the hostel we stayed in was really nice, and it even had a kitchen to cook your own meals. they know we're on a tight budget! and the upstairs had roof access where there were hammocks so we could take a siesta! as soon as we got settled in we met jayne, and she is SO SO tan. it was great to see a face I hadn't seen since the start of December. we made plans to meet up later which at first was a bit of a disaster since we couldn't find each other. but after running around downtown for an hour we finally ran into each other and it all ended great. we didn´t get back til 430am and jayne even had an exam the next morning! on our walk back to the hostel, we witnessed the "street sweepers" who hose down the streets every single night. apparently sometimes they mess around with the girls and spray them too, but thank goodness that didn't happen to us! the next morning we went to a museum that was dedicated to christopher columbus and it had his journals/maps from his trip from when he discovered the americas. he actually sailed out of seville's port which is why he has a museum dedicated to his findings. he's even buried in seville. later in the afternoon, after taking a siesta on our hostel's rooftop, we went on a walking tour around the city and learned tons of interesting facts--for example, seville's streets are very narrow with tall buildings/pisos (flats) lining the streets and this is to block the sunlight and cool the air that travels down the streets. they attempted to keep cool in a variety of ways. i guess this is necessary when it reaches 115 degrees daily in the summertime! that evening, we met up with jayne, rachel, and israel where we had giant mojitos and drank them in the streets which were packed. i felt like i was in new orleans for mardi gras! and you could hear the roar of voices a couple blocks away. we then went across the river (which is gorgeous) to triana where we found a glass of a beer with a shot for only a euro, not too bad! the following morning we met up with jayne and went to the palace of alcazar. it was beautiful and had tons of gardens and even a maze that was alice in wonderland style. kristen and i then went to seville's cathedral, which is the largest gothic cathedral in the world, and the 3rd largest cathedral in general. lots of gypsies stand outside carrying rosemary where they try to get tourists to take the herb and then the gypsies bless you and proceed to tell your fortune (the typical "you will live long life, happy, 1 baby 2 baby...") and of course ask for money in the end. kristen and i got bombarded but eventually shooed them away. afterwards we lounged in a park and enjoyed the warm, sunny weather before heading to the airport for our next adventure.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
je ne parle pas français
kris & i started our euro adventure in liverpool, england. after a delayed train causing us to miss our switch in preston, we eventually made it to liverpool. we went to ´the beatles story´which is a museum dedicated to the beatles, since liverpool is where they grew up, started the band, and became famous. it actually made me want to stay in england forever. if ever you get a chance, definitely check out the museum. it was by far one of my favorites. the commentary was funny and interesting and at times even gave me the chills. after learning the history of the beatles, we flew out of liverpool and headed to paris, the city of love!
since we flew in so late the airport was pretty dead, which was nice because i´ve heard it can get pretty hectic with lots of pickpocketers. kris and i found our hostel and went off to bed to rest up for our exploration the next day. we decided to do another free walking tour, and kris and i ended up walking from 9am to 10pm. we started off the day with bread and jam at the hostel for breakfast (the french love their loafs of bread..think italian restaurant style). we then followed the map to the meeting place for the start of our tour, and let me just say kris and i are getting to be quite the map readers! on the way we realized what a clean city paris is! for as big as it is, there was not a bit of trash, and all of the trees were perfectly trimmed, and the flowers were all in bloom. we also noticed the cutest boutiques, shop after shop. their window displays and all of the clothes were so cute..too bad it´s so pricey! anyway, back to the tour...our tour guide was from scotland and she did an awesome job. of all the free tours, paris was by far my favorite. we saw buildings such as the Louvre, the arch, the Eiffel tower, and bridges while learning the history of Paris. It´s such a lovefest that there is a bridge dedicated to lovers who put a lock on the fence rail and then toss the key into the river, locking their love forever. there are hundreds upon hundreds of such locks, some engraved, some just written in marker with names and dates, of all shapes and sizes. another bridge we saw was the first stone bridge built in Paris. the king at the time was humiliated by friends because they didn´t think the stone bridge would stand and instead they thought it would collapse just like how all the wooden bridges rotted away. well, after he had it built, he hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the bridge. he invited tons of guests, many of whom were the ones who thought a stone bridge was a pathetic idea. he served wine and champagne which apparently isn´t a good combo. they got plastered and the king had an artist sketch a picture of them all after they were ´well pissed´ (english term for really, really drunk). he then had a sculptor sculpt out the heads of all of these faces, and he had them placed on the side of the bridge, in revenge to humiliate them. there is not a single duplicate of a face, and some even look goblin-like. a bitter revenge? i think so, since the whole world can now view them!
we ended the tour at a restaurant that had outside seating (literally every single place has outside seating with the chairs all facing the sidewalk/street so that you can people watch, how brill!). we had a view of the eiffel tower while we ate croque monsieur, a typical french sandwich, and sipped on some lovely white wine. the sandwich is like a toasted hot ham and cheese but it also has cheese toasted on top as well. i´m definitely going to start doing that at home! a grilled cheese with a twist...
my absolute favorite part of paris was of course the eiffel tower. we were advised to go at dusk to get the best of both worlds and see the tower right before the sun completely sets as well as when it´s silhouetted against the black sky. to my suprise there was no line to climb the 669 steps to the 2nd floor, so up we went! the views were spectacular, and as we climbed, the skies became dark and we were greeted with a lighted tower that sparkles every hour on the hour for 10 minutes. the sights were great, but did you know the empire state building is taller? once we descended all 669 steps, we gazed once again and waited for the tower to start its glittering. we felt like we were waiting for fireworks on the 4th of july. Once the time approached, the sight was beyond beautiful. i couldn´t take my eyes away from the tower. no wonder an american woman literally fell in love with it, got married to it and even got married on it (well i guess how else would you marry someone (or should i say some ´thing´) without ´it´ being there?) that´s a true story too, look it up!
since we flew in so late the airport was pretty dead, which was nice because i´ve heard it can get pretty hectic with lots of pickpocketers. kris and i found our hostel and went off to bed to rest up for our exploration the next day. we decided to do another free walking tour, and kris and i ended up walking from 9am to 10pm. we started off the day with bread and jam at the hostel for breakfast (the french love their loafs of bread..think italian restaurant style). we then followed the map to the meeting place for the start of our tour, and let me just say kris and i are getting to be quite the map readers! on the way we realized what a clean city paris is! for as big as it is, there was not a bit of trash, and all of the trees were perfectly trimmed, and the flowers were all in bloom. we also noticed the cutest boutiques, shop after shop. their window displays and all of the clothes were so cute..too bad it´s so pricey! anyway, back to the tour...our tour guide was from scotland and she did an awesome job. of all the free tours, paris was by far my favorite. we saw buildings such as the Louvre, the arch, the Eiffel tower, and bridges while learning the history of Paris. It´s such a lovefest that there is a bridge dedicated to lovers who put a lock on the fence rail and then toss the key into the river, locking their love forever. there are hundreds upon hundreds of such locks, some engraved, some just written in marker with names and dates, of all shapes and sizes. another bridge we saw was the first stone bridge built in Paris. the king at the time was humiliated by friends because they didn´t think the stone bridge would stand and instead they thought it would collapse just like how all the wooden bridges rotted away. well, after he had it built, he hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the bridge. he invited tons of guests, many of whom were the ones who thought a stone bridge was a pathetic idea. he served wine and champagne which apparently isn´t a good combo. they got plastered and the king had an artist sketch a picture of them all after they were ´well pissed´ (english term for really, really drunk). he then had a sculptor sculpt out the heads of all of these faces, and he had them placed on the side of the bridge, in revenge to humiliate them. there is not a single duplicate of a face, and some even look goblin-like. a bitter revenge? i think so, since the whole world can now view them!
we ended the tour at a restaurant that had outside seating (literally every single place has outside seating with the chairs all facing the sidewalk/street so that you can people watch, how brill!). we had a view of the eiffel tower while we ate croque monsieur, a typical french sandwich, and sipped on some lovely white wine. the sandwich is like a toasted hot ham and cheese but it also has cheese toasted on top as well. i´m definitely going to start doing that at home! a grilled cheese with a twist...
my absolute favorite part of paris was of course the eiffel tower. we were advised to go at dusk to get the best of both worlds and see the tower right before the sun completely sets as well as when it´s silhouetted against the black sky. to my suprise there was no line to climb the 669 steps to the 2nd floor, so up we went! the views were spectacular, and as we climbed, the skies became dark and we were greeted with a lighted tower that sparkles every hour on the hour for 10 minutes. the sights were great, but did you know the empire state building is taller? once we descended all 669 steps, we gazed once again and waited for the tower to start its glittering. we felt like we were waiting for fireworks on the 4th of july. Once the time approached, the sight was beyond beautiful. i couldn´t take my eyes away from the tower. no wonder an american woman literally fell in love with it, got married to it and even got married on it (well i guess how else would you marry someone (or should i say some ´thing´) without ´it´ being there?) that´s a true story too, look it up!
lazy days in lancaster
well the jogging/walking every day did not exactly work out. but hey, i´ll be walking so much once my euro trip starts, so no big deal! instead, i attempted to study while literally getting a bit burnt. who would´ve thought, tanning in england in april? it actually reached 70 for two days, which was amazing. apparently that´s about as hot as it gets here in northern england in the summertime. i´m glad i have much warmer weather at the beach :)
during our 2 weeks of boredom, kristen & i became good friends with the guys who were also left in lancaster. one night kristen and i decided we should show them some american drinking games (you know, beer pong, flip cup, chandelier, screw the dealer, kings, and up the river down the river). they definitely had a great time, and we became best friends with a new guy, cal, who lives on the top floor of our complex. he also has the most amazing movie collection ever--shelf after shelf of dvds, so of course we managed to watch several films and borrow more than just a few. cal also loves to go down to the pond to feed the ducks so we did that a couple times too. the baby ducklings were adorabe, and the nests that the other birds/swans sat on were HUGE. they were like dinosaur size.
another night one of the chinese boys on our hall cooked us a hot pot, which is when there´s a large pot and it has spices and chilli and beans in this piping hot liquid broth. you then throw in a bunch of random food, and it cooks in the heated pot in the center of the table. we were eating beef (which looked like strips of bacon), lamb, lettuce, japanese noodles, fish eggs, fish sausages, mushrooms... and it was so good! there were 13 or 14 of us and we would all rotate seats after about 20 minutes. and the boy said typically the chinese eat for 5 hours; we only ate for 2, but there was still food left! i learned how to play poker (or maybe it was texas hold ém?) with all of the boys after the dinner. sad to say i didn´t win, no surprise there!
the day before kristen and i left for our euro trip, dom (a boy on our floor) wanted to have a proper barbeque, american style, you know burgers and what not. well, it turned out to be an all day attempt! the boys went into town to buy the burgers (and we´re in england so of course we needed to have sausages as well), and kristen and i went down to the pond where the grills are located, to snag a table. we thought we were all set, until realizing you need a key to use 1 of the 4 grills. 1 was in use, the other 3 were vacant, but we found out that 2 were broken and the other key was already taken for the day and it hadn´t been returned in order for us to use it. our only other option was to wait for the one in use, which was being occupied by chinese students, and if they take 5 hours to eat, we weren´t going to start cooking til after sunset. so we all moved everything back inside, and after the failure of the first kitchen, the second kitchen had working grills and we ate outside in the courtyard...so it turned out to be a modified bbq. oh, one thing, they don´t know how to have proper burgers. they think a burger and a bun will suffice. no no, if only they knew of the bacon cheeseburger with lettuce tomato and pickles!
during our 2 weeks of boredom, kristen & i became good friends with the guys who were also left in lancaster. one night kristen and i decided we should show them some american drinking games (you know, beer pong, flip cup, chandelier, screw the dealer, kings, and up the river down the river). they definitely had a great time, and we became best friends with a new guy, cal, who lives on the top floor of our complex. he also has the most amazing movie collection ever--shelf after shelf of dvds, so of course we managed to watch several films and borrow more than just a few. cal also loves to go down to the pond to feed the ducks so we did that a couple times too. the baby ducklings were adorabe, and the nests that the other birds/swans sat on were HUGE. they were like dinosaur size.
another night one of the chinese boys on our hall cooked us a hot pot, which is when there´s a large pot and it has spices and chilli and beans in this piping hot liquid broth. you then throw in a bunch of random food, and it cooks in the heated pot in the center of the table. we were eating beef (which looked like strips of bacon), lamb, lettuce, japanese noodles, fish eggs, fish sausages, mushrooms... and it was so good! there were 13 or 14 of us and we would all rotate seats after about 20 minutes. and the boy said typically the chinese eat for 5 hours; we only ate for 2, but there was still food left! i learned how to play poker (or maybe it was texas hold ém?) with all of the boys after the dinner. sad to say i didn´t win, no surprise there!
the day before kristen and i left for our euro trip, dom (a boy on our floor) wanted to have a proper barbeque, american style, you know burgers and what not. well, it turned out to be an all day attempt! the boys went into town to buy the burgers (and we´re in england so of course we needed to have sausages as well), and kristen and i went down to the pond where the grills are located, to snag a table. we thought we were all set, until realizing you need a key to use 1 of the 4 grills. 1 was in use, the other 3 were vacant, but we found out that 2 were broken and the other key was already taken for the day and it hadn´t been returned in order for us to use it. our only other option was to wait for the one in use, which was being occupied by chinese students, and if they take 5 hours to eat, we weren´t going to start cooking til after sunset. so we all moved everything back inside, and after the failure of the first kitchen, the second kitchen had working grills and we ate outside in the courtyard...so it turned out to be a modified bbq. oh, one thing, they don´t know how to have proper burgers. they think a burger and a bun will suffice. no no, if only they knew of the bacon cheeseburger with lettuce tomato and pickles!
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