Friday, November 2nd
Woke up, finished packing, and headed down the street to our meeting place where the coaches were going to pick us up. Tim and I had just been having a conversation on Thursday about how Italy could have been better if we weren't traveling in a group of people with different travel philosophies, quirks, and idiosyncrasies. So let's just say that I wasn't in the best of moods standing on a sidewalk with 150 American college students with enormous suitcases packed for two days. Oh by the way, this trip was the only one included in my study abroad program. We took a coach across London to Waterloo station, a ride that would have taken 20 minutes on the Tube, but took an hour on a bus with no leg room or air circulation. Once we arrived to Waterloo we were shuffled through security and passport control, and after waiting an hour in the lounge we boarded the Eurostar train bound for Paris. I enjoyed the ride quite a bit, the English and French countrysides flying by at nearly 200mph were beautiful sights. We arrived at 5pm, I wish we would have left London earlier because it was already dark when we finally got to our hotel. Tim and I threw our bags in our room, grabbed a cheap and delicious baguette for dinner and then met back up with the group. We all walked in an enormous mass that just screamed American tour group to the metro station, and then took a train to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was impressive to say the least, to be honest I didn't think much of it before, but I found its architecture very captivating. We took the lift up to the second floor, which was as high as I wanted to go. The majority of the group stood in line to take the lift to the top, but I just stood at the railing and tried to comprehend the fact that yes, this is Paris, and yes, I am here. So after doing that for about an hour I jumped onto a packed lift and took it back down to solid ground. Somehow I met back up with my friends and we then went down to the River Seine to take an hour-long river cruise. It was nice and relaxing, as well as interesting because we basically saw half of the sights of Paris from a seat on a riverboat. After an hour of blurry pictures and good conversation we docked and then luckily caught the last train back to our hotel. I was exhausted and was looking forward to a good night's sleep, but instead talked with friends until 4am.
Saturday, November 3rd
Woke up at 7, so I got less than three hours of sleep. I went on a coach tour of Paris with a large part of our group, and we were lucky enough to have a very good guide so that made it a little more interesting. We stopped at Notre Dame Cathedral and it was absolutely beautiful, but I do feel bad because I am slowly becoming immune to being awed by churches. After nearly being killed by low-flying birds we got back on the coach and continued the tour. Unfortunately we didn't get off of the coach after Notre Dame, but we did see all of the sights: the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Luxembourg Garden, etc. The tour ended at the Louvre, where we waited for our tickets for an hour and then were finally allowed to go inside. Overall the trip was quite unorganized and there was a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, which was frustrating and usually led to Tim and/or I whining. Once we got our tickets we got as far away as possible from our group and went inside the Louvre. I didn't realize how many fantastic historical artifacts that they had there. I saw the Code of Hammurabi, the winged bull from Sargon's palace, and a good amount of other interesting objects from Ancient Mesopotamia and the Levant. We power-walked through the Greco-Roman sculptures, saw Venus di Milo, and found our way upstairs to the Mona Lisa. It was actually larger than I expected, probably because I had heard "it's so much smaller than I expected" so many times. There were hundreds of people crowded into this medium-sized room just to say they had seen it, and at that moment I was one of them. I spent about a minute looking at it, and walked back into the hall. There were four da Vinci paintings that I think are far more impressive than the Mona Lisa, but I was the only person looking at them, I could easily go off on a tangent because of that, but I will refrain. Tim and I then walked through the Grand Galleries, whose enormous and amazing paintings were a bit vertigo-inducing. After returning our jaws to the closed position we met up with the girls near the Glass Pyramid and then headed back to the hotel. After a quick siesta we headed out to dinner at this nice little French restaurant with an English-speaking waiter who made fun of us but earned his tip. I had a wonderful salmon dish and half of my friend Danielle's mussels, let's just say that I was very happy. After grimacing while paying the bill we went back to the hotel and spent the evening talking and laughing, and once more I stayed up far too late.
Sunday, November 4th
Woke up at 8 after four hours of sleep and grabbed some delicious and free breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Tim and I then went off to explore as much of Paris as we could before we were supposed to leave. We walked to the Bastille Monument and then for some reason kept walking. As the amount of graffiti increased I realized we were probably heading into the gritty part of Paris. And after we were accosted by four drunk Frenchman at 11 in the morning we knew we were in the wrong part of town. Every large white van was covered in graffiti, and the locals knew we were tourists because we had recently bathed. I've walked some pretty scary streets on some very late nights in London and Rome, but the first time I have feared for my safety was on that Paris street at 11am on a Sunday morning. Needless to say, nothing happened, and I am still alive. We got back to the hotel, grabbed one last baguette, waited around for an hour after checking out, took the coach to the train station, and then took the train back to London. All of that fits into one sentence because everything went according to plan, which is never any fun. So what is my verdict on Paris? To be honest I was never that excited to go, I've never dreamed about going to France, because it's...France. Paris is a beautiful city, more beautiful than Rome or London, and a day an a half was not near enough time to give the city justice. I would need a week or two to explore everything that it had to offer, but to be honest a day and a half in Paris was enough for me. Paris and France may be beautiful, but French people still live there. I tried to go into it with an open mind and held out hope that the stereotypes weren't true, but they sure were. The French are so...French. It was a breath of fresh air coming back to snooty Kensington and hearing people say "excuse me" and "good evening", manners are certainly cultural. Later in the evening Danielle, Michelle, Tim and I all went to Pizza Hut to celebrate our homecoming with some good American food. The waitress didn't make fun of us, she was kind, she was English, we tipped her well.
Monday, November 5th
"Remember, remember the fifth of November" So today was Guy Fawkes Day, and while Parliament didn't have to sit, we still had to go to classes. I went to class until 5, and then hung out and watched the fireworks with a big group of good friends until bed time. I know I've said this before, but I am really going to miss the friends I have made out here. I came over here with the philosophy that I would meet a few bearable people and just get by for four months. I didn't realize that I would be forming deep friendships with amazing people that, come one more month, I may never see again. It's bittersweet, that is for sure.
Tuesday, November 6th
Wrote a paper, turned it in. Ate dinner with Danielle and Michelle. Am now heading out to the Builder's Arms with Danielle and Tim. Oh and I'm heading to Prague the day after tomorrow, yikes.
Woke up, finished packing, and headed down the street to our meeting place where the coaches were going to pick us up. Tim and I had just been having a conversation on Thursday about how Italy could have been better if we weren't traveling in a group of people with different travel philosophies, quirks, and idiosyncrasies. So let's just say that I wasn't in the best of moods standing on a sidewalk with 150 American college students with enormous suitcases packed for two days. Oh by the way, this trip was the only one included in my study abroad program. We took a coach across London to Waterloo station, a ride that would have taken 20 minutes on the Tube, but took an hour on a bus with no leg room or air circulation. Once we arrived to Waterloo we were shuffled through security and passport control, and after waiting an hour in the lounge we boarded the Eurostar train bound for Paris. I enjoyed the ride quite a bit, the English and French countrysides flying by at nearly 200mph were beautiful sights. We arrived at 5pm, I wish we would have left London earlier because it was already dark when we finally got to our hotel. Tim and I threw our bags in our room, grabbed a cheap and delicious baguette for dinner and then met back up with the group. We all walked in an enormous mass that just screamed American tour group to the metro station, and then took a train to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was impressive to say the least, to be honest I didn't think much of it before, but I found its architecture very captivating. We took the lift up to the second floor, which was as high as I wanted to go. The majority of the group stood in line to take the lift to the top, but I just stood at the railing and tried to comprehend the fact that yes, this is Paris, and yes, I am here. So after doing that for about an hour I jumped onto a packed lift and took it back down to solid ground. Somehow I met back up with my friends and we then went down to the River Seine to take an hour-long river cruise. It was nice and relaxing, as well as interesting because we basically saw half of the sights of Paris from a seat on a riverboat. After an hour of blurry pictures and good conversation we docked and then luckily caught the last train back to our hotel. I was exhausted and was looking forward to a good night's sleep, but instead talked with friends until 4am.
Saturday, November 3rd
Woke up at 7, so I got less than three hours of sleep. I went on a coach tour of Paris with a large part of our group, and we were lucky enough to have a very good guide so that made it a little more interesting. We stopped at Notre Dame Cathedral and it was absolutely beautiful, but I do feel bad because I am slowly becoming immune to being awed by churches. After nearly being killed by low-flying birds we got back on the coach and continued the tour. Unfortunately we didn't get off of the coach after Notre Dame, but we did see all of the sights: the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Luxembourg Garden, etc. The tour ended at the Louvre, where we waited for our tickets for an hour and then were finally allowed to go inside. Overall the trip was quite unorganized and there was a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, which was frustrating and usually led to Tim and/or I whining. Once we got our tickets we got as far away as possible from our group and went inside the Louvre. I didn't realize how many fantastic historical artifacts that they had there. I saw the Code of Hammurabi, the winged bull from Sargon's palace, and a good amount of other interesting objects from Ancient Mesopotamia and the Levant. We power-walked through the Greco-Roman sculptures, saw Venus di Milo, and found our way upstairs to the Mona Lisa. It was actually larger than I expected, probably because I had heard "it's so much smaller than I expected" so many times. There were hundreds of people crowded into this medium-sized room just to say they had seen it, and at that moment I was one of them. I spent about a minute looking at it, and walked back into the hall. There were four da Vinci paintings that I think are far more impressive than the Mona Lisa, but I was the only person looking at them, I could easily go off on a tangent because of that, but I will refrain. Tim and I then walked through the Grand Galleries, whose enormous and amazing paintings were a bit vertigo-inducing. After returning our jaws to the closed position we met up with the girls near the Glass Pyramid and then headed back to the hotel. After a quick siesta we headed out to dinner at this nice little French restaurant with an English-speaking waiter who made fun of us but earned his tip. I had a wonderful salmon dish and half of my friend Danielle's mussels, let's just say that I was very happy. After grimacing while paying the bill we went back to the hotel and spent the evening talking and laughing, and once more I stayed up far too late.
Sunday, November 4th
Woke up at 8 after four hours of sleep and grabbed some delicious and free breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Tim and I then went off to explore as much of Paris as we could before we were supposed to leave. We walked to the Bastille Monument and then for some reason kept walking. As the amount of graffiti increased I realized we were probably heading into the gritty part of Paris. And after we were accosted by four drunk Frenchman at 11 in the morning we knew we were in the wrong part of town. Every large white van was covered in graffiti, and the locals knew we were tourists because we had recently bathed. I've walked some pretty scary streets on some very late nights in London and Rome, but the first time I have feared for my safety was on that Paris street at 11am on a Sunday morning. Needless to say, nothing happened, and I am still alive. We got back to the hotel, grabbed one last baguette, waited around for an hour after checking out, took the coach to the train station, and then took the train back to London. All of that fits into one sentence because everything went according to plan, which is never any fun. So what is my verdict on Paris? To be honest I was never that excited to go, I've never dreamed about going to France, because it's...France. Paris is a beautiful city, more beautiful than Rome or London, and a day an a half was not near enough time to give the city justice. I would need a week or two to explore everything that it had to offer, but to be honest a day and a half in Paris was enough for me. Paris and France may be beautiful, but French people still live there. I tried to go into it with an open mind and held out hope that the stereotypes weren't true, but they sure were. The French are so...French. It was a breath of fresh air coming back to snooty Kensington and hearing people say "excuse me" and "good evening", manners are certainly cultural. Later in the evening Danielle, Michelle, Tim and I all went to Pizza Hut to celebrate our homecoming with some good American food. The waitress didn't make fun of us, she was kind, she was English, we tipped her well.
Monday, November 5th
"Remember, remember the fifth of November" So today was Guy Fawkes Day, and while Parliament didn't have to sit, we still had to go to classes. I went to class until 5, and then hung out and watched the fireworks with a big group of good friends until bed time. I know I've said this before, but I am really going to miss the friends I have made out here. I came over here with the philosophy that I would meet a few bearable people and just get by for four months. I didn't realize that I would be forming deep friendships with amazing people that, come one more month, I may never see again. It's bittersweet, that is for sure.
Tuesday, November 6th
Wrote a paper, turned it in. Ate dinner with Danielle and Michelle. Am now heading out to the Builder's Arms with Danielle and Tim. Oh and I'm heading to Prague the day after tomorrow, yikes.
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