Today is the twenty-fifth day I've been stateside, and I realized that I never got around to writing that "last blog entry" about Paris. So I'm doing that now. This way, I'll have written 30 times, which sounds much more impressive than 29, and I'll also write lots of introspective, intelligent sounding things that I've pondered over the past few weeks.
First of all, I'm 21 as of yesterday. Which means I can legally drink, (again.) Which is nice, because being legal in France and then not legal for 3 weeks was really just a pain. And back to France...
I don't necessarily miss it. I was definitely ready to come back, and I'm glad I'm here. Though I've found that when I start talking to people who are going to Paris soon on vacation (like Jessica at work, or my friend Bobby at school), and they ask for suggestions, I get sad because I think I really should just be there to give them the grand tour myself. But alas, I no longer live a ten minute walk from Trocadero or Charles deGaulle-Etoile. I am a ten minute walk away from Coldstone, however. And the Millbrook Pool. Which is to say, my life remains glamorous.
Giving suggestions to Jessica and Bobby made me realize that I should really do what Maryse did on her Paris blog, which is write lots of thing that are good to do in Paris, and list them on my blog for all to read. That way, when people want suggestions, I can send them a link! My laziness is escalating to new levels.
Here we go. In no real order whatsoever....
things to do in paris:
-chill in luxembourg gardens. get amorino gelato nearby.
-picnic lots: Parc Monceau, Bois de Boulogne, Parc de la Villete, Buttes-Chaumount are all excellent.
-climb the arc de triomph at sunset
-explore la defense. its the opposite of paris
-go to the 20th. Metro Menilmontant. Coolest. Area. Ever.
-go to a jazz club
-have a party on a boat in the seine (thanks, sweet briar)
-velib across the city. go through scary traffic circles. generally live life on the edge.
-trocadero at night for eiffel tower light show
-see the pompidou center, the orangerie
-louvre on wednesday or friday nights (free on friday if you are under 26)
-get into, then over, the club scene
-train to Giverny, rent bikes, see monet's gardens
-eat baguettes as meals
...on that note, places to eat at/things to eat:
- A La Biche au Bois, 42 ave ledru-rollin (m: ledru-rollin)
- Cafe Dulcet, near Luxembourg Gardens (m: rennes)
- Macarons. LaDuree, Pierre Herme. Vanilla is so good. (m for laduree: st germain de pres-- m for pierre herme: concorde)
- Savory Crepes at Au P'tit Grec; Rue Mouffetard, 5th a. (m: place monge)
- Sweet Crepes at the creperie next to the Moulin Rouge (m: pigalle)
- Falafal at L'As du Falafal, Rue de Rosiers, in the Marais (m: st paul)
- Les 4 Freres, cheap algerian deliciousness (m: belleville)
- Pho or Thai in chinatown (m: tolbiac)
- The Wall, Rue Mouffetard for cheap drinks (m: place monge)
- Dix Bar for cheap sangria (m: odeon)
- Chez Elham for Persian food, near Centre Pompidou (m: Chatelet)
- Overpriced ice cream at Bertillon, anywhere on Ile St. Louis
- Almond Croissants, my favorite were at the lime green boulangerie across from metro censier-daubenton
Hm. I really do miss almond croissants. I had a croissant yesterday from Kayak's and it was a tragedy. Also, is it telling about me that my "things to eat" list is longer than my "things to do" list? All my money went to food....and that is sort of okay with me. I only wish I had taken pictures of more of my food, to commemorate the deliciousness. Let this be a lesson: take pictures of delicious food when the majority of your student loan is going towards it.
And on that uplifting note, I think it is time to bid adieu to this blog about Paris. I miss its delicious food, fashionable characters, haussmanian streets (& oodles of history!!), and obscenely efficient metro system. And life in one language lacks a certain degree of excitement and challenge that life in franglish provided. The good news is that I'm taking two 400 level french courses next year on 18th century literature and writing-intensive in french.
That's sure to bring back the good memories, right?
25 June 2010
24 May 2010
Twilight Takes Forever
I'm realizing this about Paris as I sit at my desk and look out my window, and realize its still rather light outside at 9:47 pm. I guess that is what you get from living this far north-- in the winter, the sun was only up til 4pm, now it doesn't get dark until after 10.
And if I want to be really deep and literary-like and introspective, I could start talking about how this time of day(night?) parallels my experience in Paris, and how I'm leaving in five days, et cetera, et cetera.
However, I'm really not good at being deep, literary-like, and introspective, or at least on this blog. Alas. So instead, I'll just fill you in on what I've been up to lately as the clock is ticking down to ze end.
I've seen a lot of modern things in Paris. Which is weird, because I've spent the past five months hanging around Haussman's grands boulevards and living in about as traditional of a french apartment as you can find (complete with Virgin Mary statue, not figurine, but legit was-formerly-in-a-cathedral-or-something statue). But I've found that the end of my time in Paris has been filled with the opposite: lots of adventures to modern art museums and hanging around/running to La Defense.
After my many modern adventures through Paris, Natalie Roman came to visit, and we frolicked and explored Paris together for the weekend. She was en route to Prague, which is super exciting. It is also cheaper than Paris. *Jealous...* Anywho, we did lots of touristy things, plus we went to a jazz club (it was alright, but not great) and an end-of-the-year-party my school hosted on a boat across from the Seine. The boat did not move, but it was a good time nonetheless, and Natalie met most of my program on day one that way. Overall, it was a great visit!
I also had a really adorable day yesterday when I went to the horse races at Longchamp with Jenny. We bet 2 whole euros on the "elite" race of the day- she bet on a horse named Sarafina because the name was pretty, I bet on a horse named Deluxe because it was from the US. In the end, Sarafina won, Deluxe got second, and Jenny won a whopping 40 centimes, which, when you convert it, will get her around what, 50 US cents? She can buy a whole gumball!
After our race track adventure, we meandered over to Bagatelle, this garden my host mom has been glorifying for the past five months as a place that I "absolutely must go to!" It was blah. Super french. Lots of roses. And irises. I took a nap, though, which was thoroughly enjoyable.
And now I have finals. Boo. I'm so over doing work, as you may have noticed from my various blog posts while I've been procrastinating throughout the semester (oops.). But I only have three exams, and will be done on Thursday! Then I'll be heading back stateside on Sunday.
It's very bizarre knowing I only have 5 days left here. Part of me wants to do alllllllll the things I wanted to throughout the semester that I never managed to do, but at the same time, I don't want to spend my last week just checking items off a list. So we shall see. I plan on enjoying myself, spending time with my friends, seeing the city, and occasionally considering studying. Wish me luck!
17 May 2010
La Semaine Derniere...
Okay, its been a busy past week, so I figure its time to update you/the world of my goings-ons. For starters, last Sunday I went and saw my first (only...) show in Paris-- LCD Soundsy
stem!! It was an amazing show, they played all my favorite songs minus one (sound of silver...alas...), and I was 2nd row. Always a good situation. I went with my friend TJ, who is a super-hipster, and was jotting down the set-list as the show went on and rocking out in his plaid shirt (he claimed it was gingham...apparently plaid is too mainstream now.). In any event, it seemed like a relatively normal show, minus the fact that some french girl brought a stuffed Kermit the Frog and handed him onstage during the encore. Everyone in the audience got suppper excited and was like "Kermiiiiiiiiiiit!" (note: the "i"'s convey their french accent.) Ah French people. What weirdos.
Moving onwards. I then had a busy week filled with homework and projects. I turned in a lit paper Tuesday, then gave a 25 minute speech on facism and a 5 minute speech on this building called the Castel Beranger on Wednesday. All of the above were unpleasant experiences, and my professor ridiculed me in front of my class after my facism speech for 30
minutes on all the things I did wrong. Good times.
Then my crazy week was over, and Rachel was in town! We did super touristy things, like the Louvre and the d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe...but we ALSO went to the Pompidou Center, which I had yet to do. I discovered that I'm not so into modern art. I find it slightly ridiculous. In any event, it was good to explore something new in Paris!
We also made new french friends (!) when we were out at dinner at a jazz bar/restaurant in Menilmontant. It was a very trendy, young area I had never been to before, and two guys a table over from us started chatting with us. Their names were Brice and Vincent, and they are art students at Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Very nice and rather trendy characters. They came out with us after and when we met up with Christina and Jasmine on Mouffetard. All in all, it resulted in me and Rachel making fools of ourselves trying to speak french, which is always a fun time. I think they thought we were weird. Ah well. C'est la vie.
One other random moment of my weekend with Rachel is that I saw the drunken orange-clad teen brass band again! They were playing at Opera this time. Their real name is Les Plaies Mobiles. I feel like I am officially their fan now that I've seen them twice. Success!
Other than that, it's the final countdown of my last two weeks in Paris. I have 13 days left, as of today, and I'm definitely ready to head home. I have a lot of packing to do before then, though, and many things left to see. Plus, Natalie comes to town this weekend! And more adventures will ensue. I also only have two finals, and one more paper. Which is due...tomorrow. Excellent.
And with that, I'm off to be productive! Last assignment of the semester!!!
stem!! It was an amazing show, they played all my favorite songs minus one (sound of silver...alas...), and I was 2nd row. Always a good situation. I went with my friend TJ, who is a super-hipster, and was jotting down the set-list as the show went on and rocking out in his plaid shirt (he claimed it was gingham...apparently plaid is too mainstream now.). In any event, it seemed like a relatively normal show, minus the fact that some french girl brought a stuffed Kermit the Frog and handed him onstage during the encore. Everyone in the audience got suppper excited and was like "Kermiiiiiiiiiiit!" (note: the "i"'s convey their french accent.) Ah French people. What weirdos.Moving onwards. I then had a busy week filled with homework and projects. I turned in a lit paper Tuesday, then gave a 25 minute speech on facism and a 5 minute speech on this building called the Castel Beranger on Wednesday. All of the above were unpleasant experiences, and my professor ridiculed me in front of my class after my facism speech for 30
minutes on all the things I did wrong. Good times.Then my crazy week was over, and Rachel was in town! We did super touristy things, like the Louvre and the d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe...but we ALSO went to the Pompidou Center, which I had yet to do. I discovered that I'm not so into modern art. I find it slightly ridiculous. In any event, it was good to explore something new in Paris!
We also made new french friends (!) when we were out at dinner at a jazz bar/restaurant in Menilmontant. It was a very trendy, young area I had never been to before, and two guys a table over from us started chatting with us. Their names were Brice and Vincent, and they are art students at Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Very nice and rather trendy characters. They came out with us after and when we met up with Christina and Jasmine on Mouffetard. All in all, it resulted in me and Rachel making fools of ourselves trying to speak french, which is always a fun time. I think they thought we were weird. Ah well. C'est la vie.
One other random moment of my weekend with Rachel is that I saw the drunken orange-clad teen brass band again! They were playing at Opera this time. Their real name is Les Plaies Mobiles. I feel like I am officially their fan now that I've seen them twice. Success!
Other than that, it's the final countdown of my last two weeks in Paris. I have 13 days left, as of today, and I'm definitely ready to head home. I have a lot of packing to do before then, though, and many things left to see. Plus, Natalie comes to town this weekend! And more adventures will ensue. I also only have two finals, and one more paper. Which is due...tomorrow. Excellent.
And with that, I'm off to be productive! Last assignment of the semester!!!
08 May 2010
"Craig, do I look like a prostitute??"
Last night I took a much-needed break from paper writing (kinda like I'm doing right now), and went out to a jazz club in the latin quarter with Craig, Abbie, and Christie. We were meeting at Metro Saint Michel at 10:30, and I got there like five minutes early, so I figured I'd just hang out near the fountain and get a crepe or something, because its a really busy, student-filled area that is normally populated by american study abroad kids and tourists.
I must have missed the memo that if you are alone at Place St. Michel on a Friday night, ever skeezy twenty-something there will try to hit on you. Or pick you up. Or solicit sex. Or something. I'm not quite sure what the deal was, but there was something afoot, and I continue to have no idea what it was.
So first this kid comes and asks if Place St. Michel was around there, or on the other side of the bridge, and I'm like "nope, your standing in it." He notices my accent, asks where I'm from. I say the states. He commences a solid three minute rant about how terrible the US is and how everyone just cares about money and work, yadayadayada. He exults the Italian lifestyle (he's sicilian), talking about how great it is that everyone in Italy is lazy. Weirdo. He then proceeded to talk about how he is an art student, and how I should go to his gallery show in a month, and how I could bring friends. I started saying how I had to go find my boyfriend, and he said I could bring my boyfriend too. Anyways, I escape the situation, chalking it up to a random weirdo/italian art student in Paris.
...And then, as I wait to cross the street, I hear an "Excusez-moi?". I turn and am like "oui?" And the guy is like "Ohhhh you aren't from around here! You have an accent!!" And in my mind I saw the whole situation with the creepy italian art student replaying itself. The new plan: escape as fast as possible. My response in french: "Yep, so I'm told. Good bye," and marching off across the street.
At this point, I've had quite enough of interacting with this weirdos at Place St. Michel so I decide I'll go walk briskly around the block to avoid staying in one place for long. And guess what? Yep, some random guy stops me to ask a question! I don't know why at this point I didn't just ignore him entirely. I think I was in a mild state of shock that such a thing was happening again for the third time in five minutes. So anyways, this kid introduces himself and is like "well, i'm about to go on a boat cruise of the seine with some friends, but i'd love to get a drink with you!" and all sorts of strange and obnoxious things such as this. And I once again say that I can't, that I'm meeting my boyfriend and that I really have to go. Nevertheless, he keeps talking. He says all sorts of really flattering things like "Your face looks funny when you talk, your nose moves" and "You don't seem to know a lot about French culture, do you know the secret handshake of provence?" (side note: what a suave character). So anyways, I have no idea what the heck the secret handshake of Provence is, so this rando decides he will teach it to me. After about three and a half seconds of him attempting to do this and hold my hand, I'd had more than enough. I semi-yelled at him that I didn't care about the Provence handshake, I didn't have the time, and that I really had to go. Au Revoir, Weirdo #3.
I continued to walk around briskly and tried to look as stand-offish and mean as possible. I may have succeeded because I was not approached again. My friend Craig FINALLY showed up, and I was in a semi-state of shock. I ran up to him and demanded "Craig, do I look like a prostitute???" (answer: no? why?). Story-telling ensued and I informed him of my eventful past five minutes.
I recounted this tale to my host mom today, and she laughed and said it was because I was alone and didn't have an ipod or a cigarette. I'll keep that in mind for the future. So I guess the moral of this story is to not speak to anyone in public places, to not give anyone directions, and to smoke lots of cigarettes?
Ah France. Only you would have such a moral to your stories.
I must have missed the memo that if you are alone at Place St. Michel on a Friday night, ever skeezy twenty-something there will try to hit on you. Or pick you up. Or solicit sex. Or something. I'm not quite sure what the deal was, but there was something afoot, and I continue to have no idea what it was.
So first this kid comes and asks if Place St. Michel was around there, or on the other side of the bridge, and I'm like "nope, your standing in it." He notices my accent, asks where I'm from. I say the states. He commences a solid three minute rant about how terrible the US is and how everyone just cares about money and work, yadayadayada. He exults the Italian lifestyle (he's sicilian), talking about how great it is that everyone in Italy is lazy. Weirdo. He then proceeded to talk about how he is an art student, and how I should go to his gallery show in a month, and how I could bring friends. I started saying how I had to go find my boyfriend, and he said I could bring my boyfriend too. Anyways, I escape the situation, chalking it up to a random weirdo/italian art student in Paris.
...And then, as I wait to cross the street, I hear an "Excusez-moi?". I turn and am like "oui?" And the guy is like "Ohhhh you aren't from around here! You have an accent!!" And in my mind I saw the whole situation with the creepy italian art student replaying itself. The new plan: escape as fast as possible. My response in french: "Yep, so I'm told. Good bye," and marching off across the street.
At this point, I've had quite enough of interacting with this weirdos at Place St. Michel so I decide I'll go walk briskly around the block to avoid staying in one place for long. And guess what? Yep, some random guy stops me to ask a question! I don't know why at this point I didn't just ignore him entirely. I think I was in a mild state of shock that such a thing was happening again for the third time in five minutes. So anyways, this kid introduces himself and is like "well, i'm about to go on a boat cruise of the seine with some friends, but i'd love to get a drink with you!" and all sorts of strange and obnoxious things such as this. And I once again say that I can't, that I'm meeting my boyfriend and that I really have to go. Nevertheless, he keeps talking. He says all sorts of really flattering things like "Your face looks funny when you talk, your nose moves" and "You don't seem to know a lot about French culture, do you know the secret handshake of provence?" (side note: what a suave character). So anyways, I have no idea what the heck the secret handshake of Provence is, so this rando decides he will teach it to me. After about three and a half seconds of him attempting to do this and hold my hand, I'd had more than enough. I semi-yelled at him that I didn't care about the Provence handshake, I didn't have the time, and that I really had to go. Au Revoir, Weirdo #3.
I continued to walk around briskly and tried to look as stand-offish and mean as possible. I may have succeeded because I was not approached again. My friend Craig FINALLY showed up, and I was in a semi-state of shock. I ran up to him and demanded "Craig, do I look like a prostitute???" (answer: no? why?). Story-telling ensued and I informed him of my eventful past five minutes.
I recounted this tale to my host mom today, and she laughed and said it was because I was alone and didn't have an ipod or a cigarette. I'll keep that in mind for the future. So I guess the moral of this story is to not speak to anyone in public places, to not give anyone directions, and to smoke lots of cigarettes?
Ah France. Only you would have such a moral to your stories.
06 May 2010
Procrastination...
Should I be writing the intro to my "Pie XI face aux regimes totalitaires" paper right now? Why yes I should. However, I decided that writing in my blog would be much more fun.
First of all, you know how I was like "good thing I got out of Greece, who knows what would have happened next!". Um yes. See here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/world/europe/07greece.html?ref=europe. So glad not to be in Athens anymore!
Second of all, the weather this week has ranged from being 40-55 degrees outside. Why, Paris, why, are you so confused? It is May. It is time to be warm. I've seen people wearing gloves the past few days. That is simply unacceptable. Fix that soon.
In other news, I'm currently trying to write two papers that are both due next Tuesday and Wednesday for my two classes at Paris III. One will be a 20-25 minute speech, and the other will be a 5-10 page paper. Glorious. I'm pretty sure I will not have a social life this weekend...alas. I AM going to see LCD Soundsystem, however, this...Sunday night I want to say? Or maybe Saturday? I'm really quite confused over when it is all happening, but in any event, it should be a good time. I'm most intrigued to see if concert-going in France is the same/different than concert-going in the US (Speaking of which-- got my tickets for Passion Pit June 23! If you happen to be in St. Louis, and like Passion Pit, you should come too!!)
I'm getting quite sick of academics here in France. It's weird seeing WashU people's statuses saying "One week left!!" I want to only have one week left of doing work! But alas, I have like three weeks left of things to do. It's really a good thing, because this way I get to have more time to see Paris and spend time in the city....but with the amount of work that I have this last month, its just so difficult to get out and do things other than homework. Harumph. The good news is that after my papers are turned in and my presentations are completed next week, I will have visitors coming in town that will keep me occupied and semi-force me to get out and see the city! Rachel is coming on Thursday and staying the weekend, and Natalie is coming the weekend after! It should be oodles of fun. I made a list of everything that I still want to do in Paris before I leave yesterday that is like 30 items long and will try to integrate these things into both Rachel and Natalie's visits. For example, me and Rachel are going to the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Petite Palais (reserved our tickets and everything so that we don't have to wait in line for 4 hours!) Huzzah!
Anyways, writing about all the work I have to do and how I only have 5 days to do it reminded me that I should probbbbbably be doing some of that right now. So back to work! Only 5 more days until relative freedom, after which I will only have finals left!
First of all, you know how I was like "good thing I got out of Greece, who knows what would have happened next!". Um yes. See here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/world/europe/07greece.html?ref=europe. So glad not to be in Athens anymore!
Second of all, the weather this week has ranged from being 40-55 degrees outside. Why, Paris, why, are you so confused? It is May. It is time to be warm. I've seen people wearing gloves the past few days. That is simply unacceptable. Fix that soon.
In other news, I'm currently trying to write two papers that are both due next Tuesday and Wednesday for my two classes at Paris III. One will be a 20-25 minute speech, and the other will be a 5-10 page paper. Glorious. I'm pretty sure I will not have a social life this weekend...alas. I AM going to see LCD Soundsystem, however, this...Sunday night I want to say? Or maybe Saturday? I'm really quite confused over when it is all happening, but in any event, it should be a good time. I'm most intrigued to see if concert-going in France is the same/different than concert-going in the US (Speaking of which-- got my tickets for Passion Pit June 23! If you happen to be in St. Louis, and like Passion Pit, you should come too!!)
I'm getting quite sick of academics here in France. It's weird seeing WashU people's statuses saying "One week left!!" I want to only have one week left of doing work! But alas, I have like three weeks left of things to do. It's really a good thing, because this way I get to have more time to see Paris and spend time in the city....but with the amount of work that I have this last month, its just so difficult to get out and do things other than homework. Harumph. The good news is that after my papers are turned in and my presentations are completed next week, I will have visitors coming in town that will keep me occupied and semi-force me to get out and see the city! Rachel is coming on Thursday and staying the weekend, and Natalie is coming the weekend after! It should be oodles of fun. I made a list of everything that I still want to do in Paris before I leave yesterday that is like 30 items long and will try to integrate these things into both Rachel and Natalie's visits. For example, me and Rachel are going to the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Petite Palais (reserved our tickets and everything so that we don't have to wait in line for 4 hours!) Huzzah!
Anyways, writing about all the work I have to do and how I only have 5 days to do it reminded me that I should probbbbbably be doing some of that right now. So back to work! Only 5 more days until relative freedom, after which I will only have finals left!
03 May 2010
Not So Smoot Sailing on Louis Cruises-- My Many Mishaps in Greece
I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to load my photos from Greece to my blog. I wanted to have photographic evidence of the terrible array of events that, when strewn together, comprised my vacation in Greece. Alas, no luck. You will have to make do with my stories. And oh the stories I have...
After all the drama concerning my flight and whether it would be canceled, I flew out of Paris without any problems last Sunday morning for Athens. I had a realization when I got to the airport that was basically the same one that I had when arriving in Italy, which was "Wait a second. I don't speak Greek. I can barely even read Greek." Nevertheless, I navigated my way through the train, to a metro, to my hotel, and met up with my friends (who had arrived the day before) for lunch. Athens was pleasant enough, besides the fact that our hotel was in the ghetto, there were strippers literally lining our street, and we heard women screaming in the middle of the night out the window. Excellent.
We woke up the next morning and headed off to the metro to get to Port Pireaus for the cruise. We realized we were running a bit late, but it would be okay, as long as the metro didn't take too long....screach. The metro stopped abruptly two stations away from Pireaus. Athenians all filed out of the train, and explained to us that the metro was under construction, and we had to wait for a bus, then take the bus to the next metro station, then get back on the metro. We didn't have that kind of time. We frantically searched for cabs, hopped in the first two we saw, and sped off to the Port.
Or we would have sped off, if we actually weren't caught in basically standstill traffic for ten minutes. We got to the port at 10:40, our cruise set to ship out at 11:00. We were freaking out. To compound the problem, our taxi dropped us at a completely different place than the other group's taxi. We jumped out, only to learn we were in the wrong place, then jumped back in a taxi for another half mile or so along the port, and sprint into the port's departures terminal.
Great sigh of relief. The other group was there, with Carol of Louis Cruises and Some Other Guy of Louis Cruises, who informed us that because of a violent port strike scheduled to arrive at our very location in about five minutes, the cruise's embarkment had been changed from Athens to a town called Lavrio. They hurried us into cabs to get us to "safety." I thought they were being ridiculous, until as we drove off on our hour ride to Lavrio, I saw a huge mob wielding banners and yelling a lot rushing towards the departures terminal. Anyways, after an hour in the taxi, we arrived at Lavrio and rushed onto the boat-- the last passengers to board. We went up to the buffet hall to eat underwhelming food and collapse into chairs, relieved that we finally made it. We noticed out the window a little tug boat that was pulling out ship out to see. It was having a hard time. We said it was cute and made references to the little tug boat that could.
The little tug boat couldn't. Obscenely strong winds prevented it from pulling us out to see for the next THIRTY SIX HOURS.....so we sat in Lavrio, and enjoyed our scenic view of an empty parking lot. We went to the Moonlight Disco that night onboard, which was frequented by Burlington, Vermont's High School Band. From the guest lists of Cab and the BC to the Moonlight Disco. Oh my, how far we'd fallen.
We finally made it out to see at 3pm the next day, but due to the crazy wind, the ship was rocking back and forth at an apparently unprecedented rate. Lots of green looking fat tourists and queasiness. No Moonlight Disco for us that night. Alas.
I won't go into details of the ongoing inefficiencies of Louis Cruises, but basically, they only compensated us 70 euro in boat credit for missing half the cruise, had rather terrible, bad-university-dorm-dining-hall-food, and managed to not have enough buses or boats for us to quickly leave the boat for excursions to the islands half the time. So our times on the were often short. In any event, while Louis Cruises sucked, the places we visited were fairly cool.We managed to pack four islands into the next two days-- Kusadasi, Turkey (not an actual island), and then Patmos, Santorini, and Mykonos.
Kusadasi is the site of Ephesis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, and is the ruins of an ancient greek civilization. Quite cool. Patmos....I'm not sure why we went there. Patmos was sort of a joke. The brochure the cruise gave us described it as "A rocky, barren hillscape" and said "There's not much to see in Patmos." Then why did we go there? Oh well, we did, and we went to the "most popular beach" in Patmos, which turned out to be completely unpopulated and next to a goat farm. Private beach on the Aegean? Check.
The next day we went to Santorini. The cruise brochure described the options we would have to get to the top of the mountain: "You can take a cable car for 4euro, a donkey for 5euro, or walk by foot for 45 minutes on a strenuous uphill path you will share with the mules." I thought oh Louis Cruises, trying to scare the fat american tourists out of walking......and then we walked uphill for thirty minutes up a mountain, on a path we shared not only with the donkeys, but also with the donkeys poop, which was absolutely everywhere. And occasionally fat american tourists on donkeys would ride by, and we'd have to dodge donkeys and fat americans. Oh the joy. I'm told by others that spent a few days on Santorini that it has some great black sand beaches. I didn't see that part. Only the donkey poop.
We rounded out our cruise with an evening trip to Mykonos, which was the best island ever. We had an amazing dinner there, saw all of its cute shops and streets, and its famous windmills. We also arrived just in time to watch the sunset. Le sigh. Why couldn't the whole week have been like this again?
My last day in athens went splendidly, and I did lots of shopping, museum-going, and acropolis-seeing. A violent transportation strike semi-ruined my train plans to get to the airport the next day, but in the end it all worked out and I got there via bus. Oh Athens, you and your strikes.
Ps, those seem to have turned really problematic over the past few days. Glad I got out of there! Who knows what would have gone awry next??
After all the drama concerning my flight and whether it would be canceled, I flew out of Paris without any problems last Sunday morning for Athens. I had a realization when I got to the airport that was basically the same one that I had when arriving in Italy, which was "Wait a second. I don't speak Greek. I can barely even read Greek." Nevertheless, I navigated my way through the train, to a metro, to my hotel, and met up with my friends (who had arrived the day before) for lunch. Athens was pleasant enough, besides the fact that our hotel was in the ghetto, there were strippers literally lining our street, and we heard women screaming in the middle of the night out the window. Excellent.
We woke up the next morning and headed off to the metro to get to Port Pireaus for the cruise. We realized we were running a bit late, but it would be okay, as long as the metro didn't take too long....screach. The metro stopped abruptly two stations away from Pireaus. Athenians all filed out of the train, and explained to us that the metro was under construction, and we had to wait for a bus, then take the bus to the next metro station, then get back on the metro. We didn't have that kind of time. We frantically searched for cabs, hopped in the first two we saw, and sped off to the Port.
Or we would have sped off, if we actually weren't caught in basically standstill traffic for ten minutes. We got to the port at 10:40, our cruise set to ship out at 11:00. We were freaking out. To compound the problem, our taxi dropped us at a completely different place than the other group's taxi. We jumped out, only to learn we were in the wrong place, then jumped back in a taxi for another half mile or so along the port, and sprint into the port's departures terminal.
Great sigh of relief. The other group was there, with Carol of Louis Cruises and Some Other Guy of Louis Cruises, who informed us that because of a violent port strike scheduled to arrive at our very location in about five minutes, the cruise's embarkment had been changed from Athens to a town called Lavrio. They hurried us into cabs to get us to "safety." I thought they were being ridiculous, until as we drove off on our hour ride to Lavrio, I saw a huge mob wielding banners and yelling a lot rushing towards the departures terminal. Anyways, after an hour in the taxi, we arrived at Lavrio and rushed onto the boat-- the last passengers to board. We went up to the buffet hall to eat underwhelming food and collapse into chairs, relieved that we finally made it. We noticed out the window a little tug boat that was pulling out ship out to see. It was having a hard time. We said it was cute and made references to the little tug boat that could.
The little tug boat couldn't. Obscenely strong winds prevented it from pulling us out to see for the next THIRTY SIX HOURS.....so we sat in Lavrio, and enjoyed our scenic view of an empty parking lot. We went to the Moonlight Disco that night onboard, which was frequented by Burlington, Vermont's High School Band. From the guest lists of Cab and the BC to the Moonlight Disco. Oh my, how far we'd fallen.
We finally made it out to see at 3pm the next day, but due to the crazy wind, the ship was rocking back and forth at an apparently unprecedented rate. Lots of green looking fat tourists and queasiness. No Moonlight Disco for us that night. Alas.
I won't go into details of the ongoing inefficiencies of Louis Cruises, but basically, they only compensated us 70 euro in boat credit for missing half the cruise, had rather terrible, bad-university-dorm-dining-hall-food, and managed to not have enough buses or boats for us to quickly leave the boat for excursions to the islands half the time. So our times on the were often short. In any event, while Louis Cruises sucked, the places we visited were fairly cool.We managed to pack four islands into the next two days-- Kusadasi, Turkey (not an actual island), and then Patmos, Santorini, and Mykonos.
Kusadasi is the site of Ephesis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, and is the ruins of an ancient greek civilization. Quite cool. Patmos....I'm not sure why we went there. Patmos was sort of a joke. The brochure the cruise gave us described it as "A rocky, barren hillscape" and said "There's not much to see in Patmos." Then why did we go there? Oh well, we did, and we went to the "most popular beach" in Patmos, which turned out to be completely unpopulated and next to a goat farm. Private beach on the Aegean? Check.
The next day we went to Santorini. The cruise brochure described the options we would have to get to the top of the mountain: "You can take a cable car for 4euro, a donkey for 5euro, or walk by foot for 45 minutes on a strenuous uphill path you will share with the mules." I thought oh Louis Cruises, trying to scare the fat american tourists out of walking......and then we walked uphill for thirty minutes up a mountain, on a path we shared not only with the donkeys, but also with the donkeys poop, which was absolutely everywhere. And occasionally fat american tourists on donkeys would ride by, and we'd have to dodge donkeys and fat americans. Oh the joy. I'm told by others that spent a few days on Santorini that it has some great black sand beaches. I didn't see that part. Only the donkey poop.
We rounded out our cruise with an evening trip to Mykonos, which was the best island ever. We had an amazing dinner there, saw all of its cute shops and streets, and its famous windmills. We also arrived just in time to watch the sunset. Le sigh. Why couldn't the whole week have been like this again?
My last day in athens went splendidly, and I did lots of shopping, museum-going, and acropolis-seeing. A violent transportation strike semi-ruined my train plans to get to the airport the next day, but in the end it all worked out and I got there via bus. Oh Athens, you and your strikes.
Ps, those seem to have turned really problematic over the past few days. Glad I got out of there! Who knows what would have gone awry next??
23 April 2010
Spring Break Week 1: Stranded in Paris
Dear Volcano,
You have tried to ruin my spring break. You shut down European air travel, and stranded Alec in Dublin, and thus put an end to my Switzerland plans. But aside from my occasionally freaking out when reading up on the latest flight information, YOU, dear Volcano, have not managed to ruin my Spring Break. I went to lots and lots of parks, and had innumerable picnics, and went to cafes, and enjoyed spring time in Paris. So THERE! I bet you are jealous, because you are stuck in Iceland, and I get to be here. Muahaha.
Love/Hate Relationship,
Colleen
(Pictured: Rodin Museum gardens; the girls stranded in Paris picnicking in the Bois de Boulogne; classy Thursday Tea Time at Two)
You have tried to ruin my spring break. You shut down European air travel, and stranded Alec in Dublin, and thus put an end to my Switzerland plans. But aside from my occasionally freaking out when reading up on the latest flight information, YOU, dear Volcano, have not managed to ruin my Spring Break. I went to lots and lots of parks, and had innumerable picnics, and went to cafes, and enjoyed spring time in Paris. So THERE! I bet you are jealous, because you are stuck in Iceland, and I get to be here. Muahaha.
Love/Hate Relationship,
Colleen
(Pictured: Rodin Museum gardens; the girls stranded in Paris picnicking in the Bois de Boulogne; classy Thursday Tea Time at Two)
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