Good Morning Paris!

Paris was hands-down one of my favorite trips thus far, solely for the fact that I went with my two friends Chris and Angel.  Angel and I flew in together with the rest of our group who were staying at a different apartment in Paris, and Chris met us at the airport.  We had a three and a half day weekend and we were spending it in Paris!  Surprisingly, Paris was never a place I planned on visiting; however, this trip turned out to be one of the best.  After we found Chris, we got on a shuttle and headed into Paris.  From our shuttle we got on the Metro and headed to the Moulin Rogue area where we were staying.  We found our apartment, but had some time before we could officially meet up with our host Maude, so we decided to go get lunch.  We had lunch at this little cafe and then went in search for a map.  We literally looked everywhere! I think Chris and I were trying to find a map similar to the one we had in Venice, which was amazing, however, the best we could find was a map that was literally 5 feet long.  It required two people to hold it open.  Haha!  It was finally time to check into our apartment.  We met up with our host Maude and she took us inside to her Parisian apartment which could not have been more perfect.  Take a look...

Chris at the Pompidou

After the fiasco we had in Venice with our bed and breakfast, I definitely redeemed myself with this place! After we settled into the apartment Angel crashed on the tempurpedic bed (bed hog) and Chris and I fell asleep on the couch.  The first place we were visiting that day was a surprise I had planned for Chris.  He had no idea where we were going; it was great!  At one point while we were sleeping, Chris shot up and said, "Is my surprise the window?!"  I was partly asleep, so I had no idea what he was talking about.  "My surprise, is it at the window right?"  Then we both fell back asleep and woke up shortly after to head to Chris's surprise.  His surprise was this cool architecture building that I know they learned about in their history class called the Pompidou.  What is cool about the building is that all of its internal structures, like plumbing, heating, etc., are all located on the outside of the building.  I knew this wouldn't be a place that we would normally visit, so I thought it would be a nice surprise.  We got there and he was unsure what is was.  Oh no!  I was worried that I brought him to the wrong site and then I said it was the Pompidou and he responded, "Oh, the Pompidouuuuuuu!  I used to  yell that across studio to help us remember the building's name."  He seemed happy, so I think he enjoyed the surprise.  After the Pompidou, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe.  It was perfect timing.  We were there long enough to see the sun set, the Eiffel Tower light up, and we were able to see the Eiffel Tower light show.  It was absolutely perfect.  After the Arc de Triomphe, we walked to the Eiffel Tower.  We didn't have time to climb to the top, so instead we headed to dinner, which was absolutely amazing!  I had a chicken dish, crepes for dessert, and the best part about the meal...our table overlooked the Eiffel Tower.  How perfect is that?!  After 

The Three Musketeers

Arc de Triomphe

dinner we were exhausted, so we just headed home and crashed!  The next day we got up and went to breakfast at my favorite place!  McDonald's..sike.  We needed a meal that was quick and easy so McDonald's did the trick.  After breakfast we headed to Charles De Gaulle.  I felt like throughout this entire trip this was our home base.  Once we made it here, we could go anywhere!  Our next destination was the Louvre.  We maped out where in the Louvre we wanted to go beforehand, because we knew if we didn't we would spend the entire day there.  We made it though the majority of the Louvre in under two hours.  We were champs!  After the Louvre we headed to Notre Dame.  On our way there we stumbled upon a cool pond where kids could rent and sail miniture sail boats.  We finally arrived at Notre Dame and it was beautiful.  I absolutely love Gothic churches and this church could not have been more Gothic.  Chris gave a little history lesson, and then we headed inside.  The inside of the church was just as beautiful as the outside.  We looked around for a little bit and then Chris and I decided to just sit and look around for a while.  It was nice to just sit

quitely and take in all the church had to offer.  After we sat for a little while we got up and started walking around again.  It was at this point that we realized Angel was gone.  Knowing Angel, we knew he was freaking out about being lost.  Chris and I knew we would find him eventually, so we weren't too concerned...we just hoped he didn't climb to the top of the tower.  We continued to walk around and then we decided to sit at the back on the church and ponder some more.  Finally we went on our search for Angel.  We walked outside in hopes that he would be there, and what do ya know!  "Omg!  Where were you guys!  I was so lost and worried!"  Chris and I just gave each other a look.  Momma mia!  After Notre Dame we sprinted over to the Eiffel Tower in hopes that we could climb to the top.  We made it just in time.  800 steps and four annoying families later and we were at the top!  It began to rain and it was so windy, but it only added to the fun!  The views were absolutely stunning.  I still could not believe that I was in Paris, at the top of the Eiffel Tower!  We stayed in the tower for quite some time and then we headed towards home and had dinner.  It was St. Patrick's Day, and Angel, who is not Irish at all, compared to Chris and I who are majority Irish, wanted to go out and celebrate but we were both too tired.  We all decided to just stay in and hang out, listen to music, and talk. 

Notre Dame

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Gardens at Versailles

Parisian dinner at our apartment

The next day we got up early and headed to Versailles.  While waiting for the train we meet a nice couple from England.  We told them that we were just in London and he responded, "No we are actually from New Castle; there are other places in England."  Haha.  "Sean Connery is from New Castle."  We just looked at each other.  Obviously we know that London isn't the only place in England!  They were very nice and we were actually able to help them figure out where they needed to go.  We are traveling pros!  We had a long train ride there, so we all slept on the train.  Unfortunately, once we got there it started raining.  Prior to coming to Paris I was told that the French hated Americans, specifically American men, so I made sure to do all the talking.  However, it wasn't until Versailles, when the lady yelled at Chris when he bought his ticket, that we had a bad encounter.  We walked around the inside of the Palace, and it was so crowded!  Afterwards we walked around the gardens in the rain.  Eventhough it was raining outside, we still had an awesome time.  After Versailles, we got back on the train and headed home.  We decided to go food shopping, pick up some typical French pastries and finally gave in to Angel and visited Moulin Rogue.  On the way to Moulin Rogue, a prostitute tried to pick up Chris!  Now, I think Angel understood why we didn't want to go there in the first place.  Chris and I like to think that we adapt to the environment we are visiting...Angel, however, is not as smooth.  He walked into the pastry shop and said, "Bon Jour!  I am looking for something French!  What is your specialty?"  Chris lost it!  Angel did mean well; he always does, but he could not have been more American haha.  We got back to the apartment and Angel made pizza, while Chris cooked us pasta.  We ate our lovely dinner in our Parisian apartment, while we listened to French music.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend in Paris.  The next day we got up early and headed to the airport.  We went back to the Charles De Gaulle Metro stop one last time and found our shuttle to the airport.  The three of us went through security, found our seperate gates and then parted ways.  Au revoir Paris.

Absolutely love this picture. It perfectly sums up their relationship. Thanks for an unforgettable weekend!

        "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast. "
                      ~Ernest Hemingway 

Pazzos of March

I couldn't think of a better way to spend the Ides of March, the day Caesar was killed, than to go to the Roman Forum and visit Caesar's grave.  Apparently everyone else was thinking the same thing, because there were over 400 people at the forum today!  I got there around noon and decided to walk around the entire forum.  I had been there before with my class, but it was nice to walk on my own and take pictures of things I missed the first time around.  After walking around, I decided to sit down on some ruins and read Julius Caesar.  Perfect way to spend the day!  As I was reading Julius Caesar, there was a lady, what the Italians would call "pazzo" circling Caesar's grave.  I had heard about this "crazy"; however, I never thought I would get to experience her.  Typically, when I hear English in Rome, my ears perk up.  However, this lady was just yelling nonsense.  She was circling the place ranting and yelling, "This place!  These people and all the cockroaches!  All these cockroaches; everywhere!"  She was pazzo.  I told my Professor about the story and she instantly responded, "Ahh does she have short dark hair?  I know her!  She is crazy!  She hangs around my neighborhood and torments everyone."  What a small world that she knew the exact pazzo I was describing!  

After the forum I visited Julius Caesar's statue which was decorated with flowers, saw the Column of Trajan and the Trajan Market, visited the Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps, and then ended the afternoon at my favorite sandwich shop in Spanga where I successfully order in Italian.  

That night there was a celebratory production being held at the forum; however, my roommates had an architecture pinup, so I went to support them instead.  The coolest part about going to their studio space was that their studio is connected to the remains of Pompey Theater, the place in which Caesar was murdered.  All in all this was an Ides of March I will never forget and I cannot wait to tell my students about the experience when I teach a lesson on Julius Caesar.

           




             


                  "Et tu, Brute?"
                     ~Julius Caesar
         

Prague

We arrived in Prague late on Wednesday night and we checked into our gigantic apartment. So different than the apartment we had in London. It worked out nicely though, because in London there was so much to see and do that we were barely ever at the apartment; whereas in Prague, there wasn't much to do, so it was nice that we had a lot of space to hang out in. Since we got in late, we just got dinner and then headed to bed.

The next day, Alyssa, Kiren, and I got up and went to a pastry shop around the corner from where we were staying. It was so good! I had a crepe filled with cheesecake and a hot chocolate; my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Afterwards we saw The Church of Our Lady of Victory and then The Church of St. Nicholas. The church is no longer used for mass; rather, it is now used as a concert hall. After we visited the church we just decided to wander around Prague. We walked out of a gift shop and who do we run into but Megan, Jason, and Nora, three of our friends from the Rome Program. What are the chances? I knew they were going to be in Prague, but I never thought that I would run into them out of the blue. It was a very nice surprise. We were both heading in the direction of Charles' Bridge, so we all walked over together. We met up with the rest of our group and spent the rest of the day just wandering around the streets of Prague. Side note...not much to do in Prague. We got dinner and then went out for a drink. It was around this point that the excitement started. It is customary in Prague to help someone in the street when you see that they are drunk. 

The Bachelorette Party

On our way back home we ran into a British bachelorette party who were really struggling. Let me set the scene. The girls had matching t-shirts with all of their names on them. We had Chamberlain, Chamberlain 2, Nicholson, the maid of honor, and the bride. Chamberlain 1, and Nicholson are sitting against a building just slumped. Rough. The bride and Chamberlain 2 are trying to get a taxi while the maid of honor is running in the middle of the street. We go over to help them and the bride could not have been happier to have help. We figure out where their hostel is and we round up the troops. 

The bride was walking with her pinky in the air and we asked her what was wrong. The maid of honor broke it earlier in the night. This was turning into the movie 'The Hangover'. Meanwhile, Bill was being hysterical. He was talking in a British accent and calling out everyone's name. "Nicholson, Jack! Yo, Will Chamberlain, get back here!". It was too funny. Nicholson was completely out of it. Chamberlain 1 thought she was running a marathon, Chamberlain 2 was sober, but somehow she was the one that had to stop and throw up, and the maid of honor was just eager to get to bed. We took them to what they said was their hostel and we ran into their hostel director on the way and she said they gave us the complete wrong hostel name. We walked back to where we were and we headed towards their correct hostel. The only thing getting Chamberlain 1 through was that we told her we were going to another bar. We found their hostel and the girls were home safe. The bride told us to meet her at the same bar tomorrow and she would buy us all a drink. What do you know, the next day we actually did find them! After these shannanigans we just decided to call it a night and go to bed. 

The next day Aaron and Anthony were meeting us in Prague.  We waited for the guys to arrive and then we headed to the Prague Castle. We hiked up to the Castle and visited the church there. The stain glass work was beautiful. After the Castle, we wet down to the water and visited the Lennon wall. It was pretty cool. Afterwards we all meet up again and saw the Prague clock tower. The rest of the day we just wandered around some more. We went out to lunch and I figured out that I am allergic to Dijon mustard. Needless to say I spent the rest of the night very low key. Everyone else went out but I decided to stay in and rest. The next morning was our last day in Prague. We got breakfast and then headed to the airport.

Reflection of the stained glass work.

Lennon Wall.

I don't know my thoughts on Prague. I loved the architecture, and the views were stunning, but there was really nothing to do. I think I would have rather spent another day in London. All in all though a great spring break! One I will never forget!

        "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in."

                       ~Andrew Jackson

London Calling

Our Apartment

So I haven't blogged in forever; I have really been slacking! After Venice we had midterms and then our spring break began. For spring break we spent four and half days in London and four days in Prague. I absolutely loved London. I am just going to add it to the list of places I now want to live in. Besides that fact that it was great to hear English again (especially with a british accent), London was just an overall fun city with so much to see and do.

Day 1

We arrived in London at around 11 am. We couldn't check into our apartment until 2, so we had some time to kill. We had a great lunch at this little cafe CocoMomo, we bought groceries and then checked into the apartment. We rented the apartment from a guy who we liked to call Beetlejuice. He was so weird! He had stingy long, wet hair, an all black suite with a red shirt and white make-up all over his face. He was a hoot! After we settled in to the apartment we headed to the Tube and we were off to Windsor Castle! We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Queen's summer home. We got to see the Queen's ginormous doll house which is bigger than my own house, a portrait room of the queen throughout her life celebrating her Jubilee, and we even got to see the Guards march. Besides the rain, this was a great way to spend an afternoon in England! That night, we meet up at O'Neill's Pub with some of our CUA friends who are interning at Parliament. We hung out with them for a while and then we all headed home and crashed.

Day 2

We got up early and met our Parliament friends for a private tour of Parliament. How cool is that?! I got to stand on Churchill's grave, see where the Prime Minister sits and so much more. They gave an awesome tour! After the tour we got something to eat and saw Big Ben and then headed over to my favorite place: Westminster Abbey. Before we arrived in London we all bought the London Pass. It is a tourist pass that allows you to go into all the different attraction sights. It ended up being a lot cheaper than individually paying for each thing, and it included metro cards as well. We spent over an hour in Westminster. Westminster is probably one of my favorite places that I have been to since coming abroad. The church was absurdly beautiful, and it was crazy to think that just last year Prince William and Kate got married here. We had audio guides as we walked around the church, and at one point the director said to just stop and listen to the recording of the Westminster Abbey Boys Choir. It was at this moment that I had another 'omg I am studying abroad' moment. I was just in awe of my surroundings. After walking around the church area, I visited Poet's Corner where I got to see the graves of some of the most famous author's of all time. Although Shakespeare is not buried here they still have a statue in his honor. I wish I had time while I was in London to visit Stratfort Upon Avon-the place where Shakespeare lived; however, there just wasn't enough time. After Westminster we walked around the Churchill Museum and then saw Buckingham Palace. I have to say, I was slightly disappointed by the Palace. I think I imaged it to be more elaborate and much larger. There also weren't any guards out front so that was much different than I had imagined it. After Buckingham Palace, Alyssa and I decided to get lost in Harrods. This place was huge and completely out of my price range! We found the 'Harrods' section and bought some memorabilia. I bought an apron and a wallet, and I didn't have to spend an arm and a leg. After we got back, we all headed out and saw the play 'Wicked'. All I can say is that it was absolutely AMAZING! I have always wanted to see this show, and what better place than London! It was awesome.

Day 3

Alyssa and I got up early and headed to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The Shakespeare lover in me was thrilled! We had a guided tour and we got to see the inside of the theatre and watched them set up for their production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. I would have bought tickets to see one of the show's; however, they were only doing children's productions. After the Globe, we crossed over the Harry Potter Bridge, and headed to St. Paul's Carhedral. Unfortunately it was closed, so we then headed to The Monument. The Monument is a tall obelisk you can climb to see a view of the city. 400 steps later and we were at the top. Climbing things seems to be a reoccurong theme in all of my trips. Afterward, we got a certificate congratulating us on making it to the top. We then headed back to Big Ben to meet the rest of our group for a boat tour. The boat tour was hysterical. The tour was a cool way to see all the sights from the water. We got to see the construction for what is going to be the tallest building in Europe, so that was pretty cool! We also saw a building made of all glass and our guide  joked that it was the windowashers headquarters where they were practicing for the Olympics. The boat dropped us off at the Tower of London and we headed inside. Unfortunately they were not showing the Crown Jewels. Kaleigh said something about the Jewels and the guard overheard her and laughed, "Oh well. All the same shit." Her witty comments never get old! We wandered around the Tower aimlessly. It is hard to fully appreciate it when you don't really know what you are looking at. After the Tower we headed back to the apartment and later that night we met the Parliament kids and went bowling. What a blast! I am probably the world's worst bowler, but I actually didn't do that bad! We had bets going on who was going to win. Tom always managed to knock the pins over in his bet no matter how hard the shot was. Afterwards, everyone went to a pub and I headed home because I was absolutely exhausted.

Globe Theatre

Bridge from Harry Potter, St.Paul's in the foreground.

View of the staircase from the top of The Monument.

Me and Alyssa at the top of The Monument.

Big Ben and Parliament

Construction for the soon to be tallest building in Europe.

Tower Bridge.

Day 4

Beetlejuice

Today was our last day in London. We went back to CocoMomo for lunch and then waited for our shuttle to take us to the airport. Beetlejuice said one last goodbye before we left. "Remeber to give us a good review!" After that it was off to Prague we go!

CocoMomo

       "Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation."
                  ~Elizabeth Drew

Hot Mess in Venice

I could not have been more excited for my trip to Venice.  My friend Chris from Barcelona was meeting me in Venice and we were going to spend the weekend there.  Prior to leaving,  we had a few minor freak outs, housing numbers came out (I will not be getting housing this year), and the airline changed Chris's airport in Barcelona at the last minute.  This was a sign that the weekend was going to be a hot mess.

My train arrived right on schedule at 10:30.  Chris's flight was supposed to get in at 10:00 and his airport was 20 mins off the island, which meant this was perfect timing for him to meet me at the train station, which was in the area we wanted to be in.  Sounds like a perfect plan right?  10:45 rolled around and still no Chris....  I thought, "Maybe there was traffic?"  11:00, no Chris, I knew he had to be lost.  He knows no Italian, so I obviously began to worry.  11:30 and finally I see Chris.  I told myself that my first words to him couldn't be 'where were you?'.  I spot him and the first words out of my mouth, 'where were you?!'.  The airline had again changed his airport to one an hour away; however, this time they did not notify him ahead of time.  Thank God, he somehow made it to me in one piece!  Chris, who is not the best with figuring out directions (sorry Chris), bought a bus ticket, found the bus, and figured out the directions to the train station and then walked there.  I was so proud!  This was a BIG accomplishment.  We were both starving, so we decided to go get lunch before our 2pm check in at our Bed and Breakfast.  We ate at Ginos, Ginos:  A Place So Nice They Named It Twice!, then we visited St. Lucia Basilica, and bought our 18 euro bus passes.  So far things were going smoothly.  Headed to our bus...and this is where it gets rough.  I asked the lady at the station where we had to get off and she wrote down a bus name.  We got on that bus, rode it for about ten minutes and then realized we had no idea where to go from there, or what stop we needed to get off at.  Luigi, our Asian host living in Italy told us it would be a fifteen minute walk...lies.  We got off at the second stop just because we figured it couldn't have been that much further away.  Ha!  Texted Luigi and he said in regards to which stop to get off at, "Stop is hasn't name.  Look for Chinese restaurant."  Thanks Luigi....  We decided to walk.  It couldn't be that far right?  We walked for about 20 minutes, decided to get back on the bus, and we ran into the same person that was on our original bus.  So weird.  Rode that bus for a while then decided to get off at a stop that had the street name we needed, but ended up not being it.  Walked some more in no mans land where they probably haven't seen civilization in 20 years.  Now this was backpacking!  We decided to get on yet another bus and again there was someone from our original bus.  Now this was too much.  Fate was really messing with us.  We rode this bus for one stop and then saw the Chinese restaurant  In total we walked about 14km, which I averaged to be about 9 miles, for 2 hours.  What an adventure!  It's all about making memories.  At least now I can say I sorta backpacked....  As Chris said, "We have to be some of the best looking back packers around."  After we settled in to our Bed and Breakfast, we got on the bus and headed back to Venice.  

The number one thing that Chris and I wanted to do was take a gondola ride.  This was our first order of business.  By this point it was sunset, so the gondola ride was perfect.  We got on the gondola and our Gondolier asked us where we were from.  United States.  He then asked, "So, are you on your honeymoon?"  Uh, nope.  "Romantic vacation?"  Nope.  After the gondola ride, we figured out that our expensive bus passes worked on the water taxis too.  We rode the taxi around, with really no destination.  We knew we wanted to have dinner soon, so we got on the taxi back in the direction we wanted and we headed to dinner and got something to eat.  One of the things that makes me laugh about Italy, and all of Europe, is that they don't understand social cues.  Numerous times I made eye contact with our waitress for our check.  She just didn't get the memo.  Social cues!  She already thought I was a crazy American, who put the bread basket in her lap to get the crumbs off of the table.  You would have thought I had three heads with the look she gave me.  We were falling asleep at the table and all we wanted was our check. We made it back to the room by 9:30, and we crashed.

The next day we got up early, had breakfast, checked out of our Bed and Breakfast and decided what we wanted to do for the day.  The main place we wanted to see was St. Mark's Plaza, and Cathedral.  It was beautiful out, so we decided to take a scenic water taxi ride.  Check out the views!

After the water taxi, we ended up at St. Marks.  There is  a bell tower at St. Marks, and I said to Chris, "Wanna climb it?"  His response, "Oh, we're climbing it."  We bought our tickets, and unfortunately, you couldn't take the steps, you had to take the lift.  We were disappointed, but the views were still worth it!  Afterwards, we went into St. Mark's Cathedral.  We couldn't go in with our back packs, so Chris and I went in shifts.  Besides seeing St. Mark's, there was nothing else we both had our hearts set on doing.  This was probably my favorite part about this trip: there was no pressure to rush around, we both saw what we wanted to see, and, at times, we just walked around and looked on our map for cool things we hadn't yet seen.    Later we walked around, and by walked around, I mean got lost at every chance possible; yet, we always got where we needed to go.  We had lunch and then sat down near the Rialto Bridge so Chris could sketch.  As I sit next to Chris sketching, which came out awesome btws, I am in utter bliss.  I am so lucky to have been given the opportunity to study abroad.  Here I am sitting next to one of my closest friends, as we overlook the water and he sketches in Italy!  Unreal.

We ended our trip back where we started, Ginos, Ginos: A Place So Nice They Named It Twice.  I was taking the night train home at 11:00 and Chris's flight was at 9:30.  I tried to get my train switched, but they said I would have to pay.  I waited to make a decision, so we then bought Chris a bus ticket to his airport.  I told him I was going to buy my ticket for my train and that I would be right back to help him find his bus.  I came back, and no Chris.  I am hoping he found his bus to the airport and is safely spending the week in Germany on a class trip.

    "Do great things in your life, but do small things as well."

                     ~ Anonymous.