  
June 24 - June 27, 2003
| JUNE 24 : The
train ride was less than pleasant, but that's my fault for going out
the
night before. A greasy ham and cheese sandwich made life better though.
The passing countryside was very pretty, and the houses were so quaint!
We arrive at the hostel, which instead of the quoted six beds to a
room,
we walk up about a million stairs and find we are in the top
room...with
ten beds. An Aussie couple was already there, and they were super nice.
It's all good as we find out that you can see the Eiffel Tower from the
window above my bed and we have an awesome draft that keeps the room
cool
unlike the rest of the rooms. We dump our stuff and practically run to
the Eiffel Tower since the weather was beautiful. It was pretty much
cloudy
and rained some each day so far on our trip so we didn't want to miss
this
chance! We take the lift to the top of the Tower and look around. Los
Angeles
is only about 3,500 KM away according to a sign. Did you know the Tower
is brown? I always thought it was gray or black. After we ran away from
the men who bombard you with souvenirs and water for one Euro, we
walked
around and got slightly lost. The streets kind of look the same.
Dinner:
Chinese of course! |
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What a view!
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Yea for zoom lens. The view was even more
spectacular at night
when the lights were twinkling.
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Freya snapped this pic while we were running
to get to the Tower.
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Uh oh...the thunder rolls. Good thing we
finished our sightseeing
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Portrait de Mona Lisa (Léonard de
Vinci)
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Les Noces de Cana (Paolo Caliari dit
Véronèse)
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The alter in the Cathedral
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The famed Rose Window
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JUNE 25 : We
wake and find our Aussie friends enjoying a Vegemite sandwich.
Curiosity
got the best of me, and I had to have a taste...congealed form of Ramen
Noodle seasoning. Freya and I dash to the Louvre to check out the
artwork
and sculpture. The place is HUGE! I'm glad we didn't pay to see the
Michelangelo
exhibit because my calves were screaming at me by the end. We saw
Venus,
the Mona Lisa, and the "famous" Gnome with a Snail. The Mona Lisa was
only
about two feet tall, which was surprising. The crown jewels of Louis
XV,
Marie Antoinette's furniture, and Napoleon's apartment were cool too.
He
owned these nifty couches that swirled out and sat three. I can see
that
he like to spend the money on grandeur. There were rumblings that he
suffered
from an inferiority complex because of his height. We did go a little
stir
crazy near the end and resorted to making up names for the pieces of
artwork
so we could get through the whole thing. We finished off with a meal at
McDonalds because frankly, Paris is expensive. Of course while we are
in
the area, we had to stop off at the Notre Dame Cathedral. Can you
imagine
going to Sunday mass there? It was amazingly beautiful. |
| JUNE 26 : The
plan was to go shopping in the ritzy areas of Paris and see the Arc de
Triomphe. We got sidelined and stopped to see the Rodin Museum. Good
call
because we saw The Thinker (who was only about two feet tall), Romeo
and
Juliet, and The Kiss. We made it to the shopping streets of
Paris,
and I didn't buy ANYTHING! The Arc was cool, but not quite as fun as
standing
in the middle of the street to get the best picture. It was a great
place
to sit and chill though, as my calves were still very mad at me for all
that walking I did. I mean, I have had pain in the legs before, but I
could
not go on stairs, walk over curbs or move very fast. It was bad. On the
way back I finally got my authentic crepe in a Parisian park!
Nutella...is
there anything better? I recommend going out and getting some if you
have
never tried it. |
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| A view of the Rodin gardens |
An impression of "Dante's Inferno" |
"How come the real one gets to be inside?! I need
a new agent." |
The original Le Penseur, The Thinker |
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| The Kiss |
The Arc |
Dodging cars |
Around town |
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Maybe this map will help
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I don't see the cruise ferry here
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The ferry better be bigger than this
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Maybe I should be worried there is NO WATER!
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JUNE 27 : Time to
leave. As pretty
as Paris is, it's just not that place for me. I think if I had a grasp
of the French language, I would have felt differently. Then again, I
can't
know every language already. It will take some time for that to happen!
Freya and I leave the hostel at around 6 am (Yuck!) and take the train
to Roscoff so we can catch the ferry to Rosslare, Ireland at 17:30. We
would have left later, but it would cost about 40 Euro more. We start
cracking
up when we got to Roscoff because not only can we not find the huge
ship
we're supposed to take, we find all these beached boats because of a
lack
of rain. We were so confused. Fortunately we had plenty of time to look
around since we had several hours before the ship boarded. That left
time
to shop for Paprika Pringles (they are really yummy; they need to sell
them here) and start reading the Lord of the Rings and find out when
they
finally get out of the forest...I gave up after chapter ten. |
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