Saturday March 27, 2010: We left Limerick at about 9:30 on a bus headed to Dublin, where we were flying out. I had been to Dublin once when Ellen came, but hadn't seen everything there is to see. Katie saw quite a bit when she was there on St. Patrick's Day, so she took me to a couple parks. We also went to the National Gallery of Art for a little while. We did quite a bit of walking that day. We went to a park that had a statue of Oscar Wilde sitting up on a rock, and I climbed up to get a picture on it, which was an interesting climb up and climb down!
Beginning my climb
getting closer
on Oscar's lap
We spent the night in Dublin airport to save money rather than getting a hostel. We crashed outside the Starbucks in the food court area. I slept for a half hour--and that was at 7 in the morning! I was wide awake. Katie slept for awhile; I guarded the luggage and did word searches. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I'd better get used to it because I'll probably be doing the same thing this coming weekend when we go to Brussels and when we go to Rome!
Sunday, March 28, 2010: Our plane was supposed to leave at 10:55 AM but ended up being delayed for about 45 minutes because of air traffic regulations. I was getting super tired at this point, but slept for most of the plane ride. It was cool seeing Ireland from the sky! We got to the airport in France, which was Beauvais, and it is about a little over an hour away from actual Paris. We were able to get on a shuttle bus right away and were off to Paris! I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed by the fact that I wasn't in Ireland anymore! Our next job was to find the hostel. The only map of Paris we had was in my Europe book. It was fairly simple enough to read, but our hostel ended up being all the way across town from where the bus dropped us off. We really didn't want to pay for a taxi, and weren't sure how to navigate the Metro system yet, even though some nice man tried helping us, so we walked for like TWO hours. The first landmark I recognized was the Arc De Triomphe. I was starting to get tired and very weary and was convinced we'd never find it, when Katie called the hostel and it turns out it was just ahead of us! We checked in, dropped our luggage off in the room, shared a pizza in the hostel restaurant, showered and then were in bed. I was OUT. I don't remember the last time I slept that deeply.
Sunday, March 28, 2010: Our plane was supposed to leave at 10:55 AM but ended up being delayed for about 45 minutes because of air traffic regulations. I was getting super tired at this point, but slept for most of the plane ride. It was cool seeing Ireland from the sky! We got to the airport in France, which was Beauvais, and it is about a little over an hour away from actual Paris. We were able to get on a shuttle bus right away and were off to Paris! I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed by the fact that I wasn't in Ireland anymore! Our next job was to find the hostel. The only map of Paris we had was in my Europe book. It was fairly simple enough to read, but our hostel ended up being all the way across town from where the bus dropped us off. We really didn't want to pay for a taxi, and weren't sure how to navigate the Metro system yet, even though some nice man tried helping us, so we walked for like TWO hours. The first landmark I recognized was the Arc De Triomphe. I was starting to get tired and very weary and was convinced we'd never find it, when Katie called the hostel and it turns out it was just ahead of us! We checked in, dropped our luggage off in the room, shared a pizza in the hostel restaurant, showered and then were in bed. I was OUT. I don't remember the last time I slept that deeply.
Au revoir, Ireland!
Arc De Triomphe!
Monday, March 29, 2010: We started the day off by going on a free walking tour that is done by a company in many different cities in Europe. Katie had been on the one in Edinburgh, Scotland when she went with Amanda and Liz last month.
When we first started getting dressed, we started talking to another girl in our hostel. Her name is Abbey and she's from Florida. She just graduated from UF in December and was traveling around Europe for 7 weeks. We had breakfast with her, and went on the walking tour together. The walking tour was great. Our guide was a young guy named Alex who was originally from New Zealand and he was full of energy and made it very interesting. I actually learned a great deal of French history. He told us a pretty gruesome story of how they executed the man who killed King Henry IV. Well, execute is putting it delicately. It was pretty gross. Anyway, we went across one bridge that had all these "love locks" on it. Then Alex said that this was the bridge that Big professes his love to Carrie on the Sex and the City finale. According to Abbey and Katie my face lit up haha. I really love the series finale of that show! Some other highlights of the tour are the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept before she was beheaded, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Tulerie Gardens, the fountain where Anne Hathaway throws her phone away in The Devil Wears Prada, etc. We had a lunch break, and Abbey, Katie and I each had a croque monsieur, which is sort of like a grilled cheese. I instantly recognized it when we were at the restaurant because it was one of my favorite words in high school French when we learned about food and I was somewhat excited to be able to have one, haha. Here are pictures from the walking tour.
After the free walking tour wrapped up, we talked to Alex for a little while and then decided to go with him to buy tickets for the Montmarte tour that would be later that night. Montmarte is an area of Paris where a number of famous painters like Picasso and Van Gogh lived, and is on a big hill. We also bought a ticket to go on the Versaille tour, which is the palace where King Louis the 14th and Marie Antoinette lived. Alex was leading these two tours also! He also gave me and Katie some very helpful knowledge. Our immigration cards for Ireland proved we were leaving in the European Union, which would give us free admission to a number of Paris attractions, including the Louvre! We were pumped. It was like getting a little money back for the cards, since they cost 150 Euro.
The Montmarte tour was really cool. It met in front of the Moulin Rouge! We saw Van Gogh's old apartment, a cafe where Picasso drew the waitresses in an attempt to get free meals, and an old art studio that a number of artists lived before they made it big. Alex told us Van Gogh's life story, and boy, he was really messed up. I knew he cut his ear off, but I didn't know he did it for a woman he was interested in! How very romantic. It started pouring during this tour, there was even a little lightening! One of the last stops was a beautiful white church called Sacre-Couer, or Sacred Heart that overlooks Paris. The view was phenomenal! The tour ended at a wine bar where we were all treated to a free glass of wine. A husband and wife on the tour bought platters of cheese and meat and bread baskets! Yum. After that, Abbey, Katie and I went in search of a place to eat dinner. We found a cute little restaurant and decided to eat outside. I had pasta carbonara. This guy started playing the violin and I thought I recognized the song, and I looked over at him,and suddenly he smiled and then came up to me and was like rubbing his fingers together, like he wanted me to pay him. I was kind of confused, but decided to give him a little change, but suddenly he was beckoning me for a 2 Euro coin. I was like what the hell? and ended up just giving it to him to get him out of my face. I was annoyed though. Then these other guys kept coming up to us trying to tell sell us flowers. That sort of thing is probably not legal and is probably considered soliciting, because they only did it when the waitress was inside. Well, I will end this post with some pictures from the Montmarte tour and then write about the rest of the week another time soon!
Sacre-Couer
view of Paris
When we first started getting dressed, we started talking to another girl in our hostel. Her name is Abbey and she's from Florida. She just graduated from UF in December and was traveling around Europe for 7 weeks. We had breakfast with her, and went on the walking tour together. The walking tour was great. Our guide was a young guy named Alex who was originally from New Zealand and he was full of energy and made it very interesting. I actually learned a great deal of French history. He told us a pretty gruesome story of how they executed the man who killed King Henry IV. Well, execute is putting it delicately. It was pretty gross. Anyway, we went across one bridge that had all these "love locks" on it. Then Alex said that this was the bridge that Big professes his love to Carrie on the Sex and the City finale. According to Abbey and Katie my face lit up haha. I really love the series finale of that show! Some other highlights of the tour are the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept before she was beheaded, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Tulerie Gardens, the fountain where Anne Hathaway throws her phone away in The Devil Wears Prada, etc. We had a lunch break, and Abbey, Katie and I each had a croque monsieur, which is sort of like a grilled cheese. I instantly recognized it when we were at the restaurant because it was one of my favorite words in high school French when we learned about food and I was somewhat excited to be able to have one, haha. Here are pictures from the walking tour.
Notre Dame
Love locks
The Sex and the City Bridge :P That's what I'm calling it. It's really Pon du Arts
Katie and I outside the Louvre
Guess which fountain this is?
After the free walking tour wrapped up, we talked to Alex for a little while and then decided to go with him to buy tickets for the Montmarte tour that would be later that night. Montmarte is an area of Paris where a number of famous painters like Picasso and Van Gogh lived, and is on a big hill. We also bought a ticket to go on the Versaille tour, which is the palace where King Louis the 14th and Marie Antoinette lived. Alex was leading these two tours also! He also gave me and Katie some very helpful knowledge. Our immigration cards for Ireland proved we were leaving in the European Union, which would give us free admission to a number of Paris attractions, including the Louvre! We were pumped. It was like getting a little money back for the cards, since they cost 150 Euro.
The Montmarte tour was really cool. It met in front of the Moulin Rouge! We saw Van Gogh's old apartment, a cafe where Picasso drew the waitresses in an attempt to get free meals, and an old art studio that a number of artists lived before they made it big. Alex told us Van Gogh's life story, and boy, he was really messed up. I knew he cut his ear off, but I didn't know he did it for a woman he was interested in! How very romantic. It started pouring during this tour, there was even a little lightening! One of the last stops was a beautiful white church called Sacre-Couer, or Sacred Heart that overlooks Paris. The view was phenomenal! The tour ended at a wine bar where we were all treated to a free glass of wine. A husband and wife on the tour bought platters of cheese and meat and bread baskets! Yum. After that, Abbey, Katie and I went in search of a place to eat dinner. We found a cute little restaurant and decided to eat outside. I had pasta carbonara. This guy started playing the violin and I thought I recognized the song, and I looked over at him,and suddenly he smiled and then came up to me and was like rubbing his fingers together, like he wanted me to pay him. I was kind of confused, but decided to give him a little change, but suddenly he was beckoning me for a 2 Euro coin. I was like what the hell? and ended up just giving it to him to get him out of my face. I was annoyed though. Then these other guys kept coming up to us trying to tell sell us flowers. That sort of thing is probably not legal and is probably considered soliciting, because they only did it when the waitress was inside. Well, I will end this post with some pictures from the Montmarte tour and then write about the rest of the week another time soon!
The Moulin Rouge!
Van Gogh's apartment
Awesome view of a Parisian street
our new friend Abbey!
love the outfit! not the type of eiffel tower shirt i was picturing (far less touristy :)
ReplyDeleteYour hat makes me laugh! Love the pictures and hearing all the details! You have become quite a cosmopolitan girl!!!
ReplyDelete