Madrid, Spain to Paris, France

After spending another lovely, sunny day working (waaah! waaah!) I packed up and shipped out to the airport to catch my flight into France.

One thing I want to say about the Charles de Gaulle airport that first-time visitors may not be aware–if taking the public transportation, be prepared to get screwed. Although there’s a metro station inside the airport, it costs about $10 or so to go through the gate. (Even though individual Metro trips are about $1.25) For example, last year when I picked Brian up at the CDG airport, it cost me $10 to enter the airport because I came by train (yes, I paid $1.25 for the Metro ride, then $10 to enter the airport) then $10 apiece to leave the airport. Bogus, bogus, bogus.

Disneyland Paris is the same way. You take the regular $1.25 metro, and Disneyland is the last stop. However, to exit the Metro gate, you must pay an exorbitant fee. I think it was close to $20. Each person, each way. So factor that cost in to your travels. (One may be able to circumvent the system through one devious plot or another, but you can’t count on that. There are Metro attendants there to watch for such shenanigans.)

So, after dropping my stuff off in my hotel (which is a hotel/hostel on the Republique square) I took the Metro to Trocadero. The Trocadero stop not only has an awesome view of the Eiffel Tower, but also features vendors who sell a variety of hot, yummy crepes. I got mine with nutella–deelish! I also arrived just in time for the Eiffel Tower lights to go all sparkly and do their glittering thing. This was cool for me, since I’m usually fairly far away from the tower after nightfall and all my past photos of it lit up at night have been from a distance.

I asked some Americans if they’d photo me in front of the tower, which is how I got the horrifically blurry shot attached to this post. Imagine that’s me, with a hot chocolate crepe in my hand, and the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the background. =)

Erica

P.S. You might notice the bright straps on my shoulders in many of my photos. These straps belong to my backpack, known affectionately as the R.B.O.P. (Yes, my backpack has a name. Can you guess what it is?)

Tags: airports, travel tips

Rechtenbach/Gleiszellen Germany & Wissembourg France

Today while Erin was at work, I hijacked her computer, installed a few programs, and spent the day working myself. But, when she got home, we packed up and shipped out on adventure. First, we headed to Schweigen-Rechtenbach. If you’re wondering if the town name is hyphenated because of a recent marriage, the answer is… sort of. Apparently, in this part of Germany, areas are called the hyphenated combination of the two closest (neighboring) towns. I guess this would be the equivalent of saying Tampa-Clearwater, South Bend-Mishawaka, Santa Monica-Los Angeles, etc. I’m just not sure why the towns can’t be independent.

So anyway, we first hung out in Rechtenbach, where there’s a winery (weintor) and pretty scenery. We gave ourselves a self-tour of the winery and climbed up to the top of a tall tower for the view. While we were up there, an older man climbed up the stairs and said something to us in German. Erin didn’t have any clue what he was saying, and since I have pretty much a 50-word vocabulary (plus the numbers so I can count change) I had no idea what was going on, either. He shook a set of keys on a pink keyring at Erin. Figuring someone had dropped them, Erin checked her purse, showed him that she had her keys safe and sound, and said “No” a few times. That had little to no effect because, as it turned out, he was the caretaker trying to lock up the tower without trapping us inside. (Ohhhh.)

After we realized our mistake (with much good-natured laughing on the caretaker’s part, too) Erin and I descended the stairs and decided to snack on some flammkuchen. And wine. (It’s a winery! You can’t not have wine in a winery!) Erin tried to explain flammkuchen to me prior to me laying eyes on it, but like any food item, it’s difficult to explain. I’ll do my best. Imagine the concept of pizza. (Easy, right?) Not pizza itself–but the idea of an open-face breadish susbstance covered with toppings. The breadish thing is thin like a tortilla, but not that flimsy, although not cracker-crisp either. The style we got was Vegetarianisch (I probably killed the spelling on that) which meant it had red peppers, sliced pepperoncini-type peppers, chunks of fresh cheese (not sure what kind), and a bit of garlic for spice. (No pizza sauce, because it’s not pizza. It’s flammkuchen.) I thought it would be small, but it came on a large, rectangluar wooden oven paddle. (They’re baked in flame ovens. I know there’s a better word than “flame oven” but I can’t think of it right now.)

Once we were done eating, we got back in the car and crossed the border into France, where we were detained by seventeen armed guards, three tanks, and a helicopter. Actually… Open EU borders means open EU borders, and if there hadn’t been a sign, I would’ve had no idea we crossed into another country. There were no guards, no checkpoint, no nothing. Easy peasy.

We cruised around looking for Wissembourg for a while, and although we did find it, there wasn’t much going on since the main strip was under construction and the detour pretty much detoured us around the whole town. So we came back across the border in search of Gleiszellen-Gleishorbach, where a wine fest was going on.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t seem to find G-G (as I’m calling it, since I’m a lazy typist) so we drove around looking for someone to whom we could ask directions. Erin says, “We need to find someone who speaks English.” To which I said, “Or French. If they speak French, we can get directions, too.” She made no return comment. (Bear with me and you’ll see the significance in a moment.) We head up a residential hill and see a man with a water hose in his yard. Erin pulls over as I roll down my window.

[pardon the spelling below because I speak it better than I can write it.]

“Sil vous plait,” I call out. “Ou est le festival du vin?”

He puts down the water hose. “Bitte?”

Since I’m a moron, I fail to catch the significance of that single word. So, I rephrase. “Je cherche le festival du vin. Est-ce que vous connais ou ca est?”

He makes a crazy face and starts spouting off gibberish. (Or it could’ve been German. I really need to study up.) He then motions over his wife, who cuts across the lawn to join the conversation. (If you can call it that.)

Once again, I launch into another version of “Do you have any idea where we can find the wine festival?” and both of them chatter back in German.

Erin says, “Forget it.” We wave our thanks and take off.

“I can’t believe they don’t speak French,” I say, semi-outraged.

“Yeah,” Erin agrees. “We’re less than 2 minutes from the border.”

I start looking around the neighborhood more closely and my jaw drops. “Hey,” I say. “This is crazy. Even the *signs* around here are in German!”

At this point, Erin stops the car, levels me with a look, and says, “Erica. We’re *in* Germany.”

Ohhh.

I had completely forgotten. No wonder the Germans spoke to me in… well… German.

And that, my friends, is what happens when you combine ADD with open borders. Absolutely no clue what country you might be in or what language you ought to be speaking at any given moment.

So, we drive around the next corner or two and come across two younger (twenty-something) guys with bikes. Erin says, “Ask *them* for directions.”

But now I’m feeling so idiotic that I can’t fathom forcing my French onto another German. She convinces me that the younger inhabitants are multilingual and that we should give it a shot.

We roll up and I ask if they know where the wine fest is. To which they crack up laughing (luckily not at my French-in-Germany) and respond, “Il-y-a beaucoup des festivals du vin.” (There’s a gazillion wine fests.)

Oh. So they ask me which one in particular we’re looking for, and of course I don’t know. I throw out G-G’s town name, and they happen to know which one I mean and give us directions.

Finally, we arrive at G-G where the wine fest is hopping. We park in a field with the other cars and buses and saunter up the streets, decorated with strands of hanging lights and lots of flowers. Clusters of local food and wine vendors line the streets, and the jovial crowd bustles inbetween.

By jovial, I mean *jovial*. The band struck up a tune and everyone starting singing and swaying to various German drinking songs, and even in the winding streets where the music could no longer be heard, groups of people spontaneously burst into drinking songs and chants and whole tables would sway together and join in the song. At times, it was so loud Erin and I couldn’t even talk. The great thing was that everybody was in the spirit, and there was absolutely no censoriousness. If older people passed by a table of rowdy youngsters swinging and swaying, they just grinned and raised their glasses.

Erin and I tried two different wines apiece. Her first one was OK, but a little warm for white wine. My first one was bubbly, kind of like a would-be asti but not quite. (That’s an awesome description, isn’t it? I should totally get a job writing wine labels.) My second wine was bizarre, but surprisingly delicious. It was apple flavored (which makes sense, since apples are in season and orchards are everywhere. Vendors fill the walk-platz with their bags and baskets of fresh apples.) The second wine came in a souvenir glass, which I could return to the tent for my deposit back, or choose to keep. (Naturally, I’m taking that baby home.) The glass is neat–it has a picture of the local vinyard/winery where my wine came from, and the year that the wine was first produced.

Have you visited any wineries or wine/beerfests? I want to hear all about it!

Tags: festivals & fiestas, food, lost in translation, wine

Paris, France

After leaving the airport, I checked into my hotel to drop off my bags and wandered around the city. I ended up at the Muslim Museum (a giant, 10-story glass building, not all of which is open to the public) where I surprised myself by spending several fascinating hours looking at all the cool artifacts.

Tags: museums

Paris, France to Brussels, Belgium

Today we did some more low-key sightseeing, then ended up at Sacre Coeur. I’d been there before, although I hadn’t yet been inside.

There’s lots of good eats in this area, but the restaurants are more expensive.

We rode up the little sky train (I know there’s a word for it in English, but right now my brain refuses to let on what that might be) and were let out near Sacre Couer and the square. (The sky lift thing costs the same as a Metro ticket, BTW.)

Sacre Couer is beautiful, and you can get another great view of the city from this vantage point as well.

Afterward, we headed to the train station and bopped on over to Belgium. Bri was excited to see Venkat and Anjali, and we all headed out to see the Grand Place all lit up at night. (Place like “plahss”, meaning “plaza”, not “place”.)

We ate dinner at an outdoor cafe and Bri got to eat Mussels in Brussels. (And I finally caught on that in the song Land Down Under, the singer says he met a man from Brussels who had a lot of mussels, not muscles. Ohhhhhh.)

Bri also got to visit the Mannekin Pis and the Golden Lady, and we got our picture taken with Vincent Van Gogh. Oh, okay, not the real Vincent Van Gogh, but a guy whose entire career is to dress like a statue of Van Gogh (that’s right, he doesn’t dress like the man, he dresses like a statue of the man) for tips. Fun!

Tags: cathedrals, random facts & history, travel tips

Paris, France

Last night, we got to sleep in a real, live bed, which was wonderful. OK, it wasn’t alive. Or a real bed. But it was a pair of bunkbeds in a train cabin, which far outranked sitting upright in train seats.

Today we got up and visited the Louvre. This was Bri’s first time and he was a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of *stuff* crammed into such a large space. Whatever your interest is, the Louvre is bound to have a room (or wing, or entire floor) dedicated to that area.

Next we went to the Eiffel Tower. Too impatient to stand in the ridiculously long ticket line for the elevator ride to the top, we stood in the shorter (and free) do-it-yourself, walk-up-steps line.

We made it up as far as you could walk–just under halfway–and I thought I would die of an asthma attack. Good Lord, that’s a lot of stairs. The view was spectacular, however, and worth every step.

Near the Eiffel Tower is an unofficial viewing area, just on the other side of large, oblong fountain pools. (I believe this is near the Trocadero stop.) Here you can get a Kodak-perfect photograph of the tower while noshing on the hot, fresh crepes and chocolate. Yum!

We rounded out the evening with a trip to the Arc de Triomphe at night, to see it (and the Eiffel Tower, which you can also see from here) all lit up at night. The lights on the Eiffel Tower do patterned flashing at regular intervals, which is neat to watch.

Tags: trains, travel tips

Paris, France

Today we got up and did some low-key sightseeing, which was fun. We saw any number of statues, fountains, etc, and wound up at the Fair in the Jardin des Tuileries by the Seine and took a ride on the big Ferris Wheel (La Grande Roue), upon which we got to view an amazing panorama of the city.

We walked past the Louvre and the big obelisk, the Assemblee Nationale, and other monuments.

Next we went to Invalides where we wandered the grounds and took a gander at Napoleon’s tomb in the dome church.

Afterwards, we swung by the Arc de Triomphe. I’m not sure if he was more impressed by the Arc or more terrified by the crazy traffic circling the roundabout surrounding it. (Something like a gazillion lanes. Rumor has it that car insurance companies don’t cover accidents at this site.)

Tags: travel tips

Paris, France

This morning, we woke up bright and early and had a nice long hour on the Metro. If you’ve been paying attention, you may have guessed that we were on an alphabet line and not a number line. You’re right! We were en route to DisneyLand Paris.

The sun was shining, the castle on Main Street was very blue and pink, and the park wasn’t too crowded. There were even storybook stained glass windows and a fire-breathing dragon in the dungeon. I was surprised by the number of things (signs, etc) that were in English, for example a store that was simply called “Gifts”.

We headed into Frontierland (guess that’d be hard to translate into French) and did the Thunder Mesa ride. Afterward, we went to Phantom Manor to see how different it was from the Haunted Mansion here in Florida. The gravestones were pretty cool.

In Adventure Isle, we played on the big pirate ship and did the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. I opted not to go on the Space Mountain ride, and instead wandered around taking pictures.

We caught a parade, rode the train, and then did the Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster, Star Tours, It’s a Small World, and the Storybook ride, which was really neat.

In between all this, we also checked out EuroDisney Studios, which was not nearly as exciting as one might hope. I think we were there maybe half an hour and I took something like 2 pictures.

Alice’s Curious Labyrinth in DisneyLand was my favorite attraction. The hedges were shoulder-high and there was a little castle to climb inside in the center of the maze before finding your way back out.

Tags: theme parks, trains

Paris, France

I picked Bri up at the airport. He didn’t look nearly as freaked out as I’d feared, which was a good thing. We zipped by the hotel to dump his luggage off, and set out to go sight-seeing.

First, we walked across the Seine River. It was a gorgeous day out, so the pictures turned out really nice. Oh, and that’s the other thing… my camera died during the travels, so Bri bought a new one and brought it with him. Yay! Digital photos rule!

Next we checked out Notre Dame. I had been by several times, but hadn’t been inside yet. There was a hellacious line, but the church was super pretty. There was also some resoration going on, so I’m interested to go back in a year or so and see what they updated.

Next we went by St. Severin, which is old and gothicky and very cool looking. We strolled by the Pantheon and saw a little outdoor cafe, where we sat down for some scrumptious galettes. They’re delish, but a little hard to explain. Imagine a plate-sized Hot Pocket made out of large, square crepes and sealed on all sides. Mine had eggs and cheese. Bri’s had bacon, I think. Something meaty. Dunno.

Afterwards, we hung out in the Luxembourg Gardens, which are really pretty. It’s full of green, green grass, and statues and flowers and fountains and round little bush-trees, and a big palace. There’s also a big fountain with a pool the size of an arena football field, and little kids played with miniature sailboats in the water.

Then we just walked around, taking in the sights and enjoying the general Parisian vibe. Bliss.

Tags: cathedrals, food

Paris, France

Today I planned to take the train into Paris and then another into Brussels, but come to find out, the Germany-to-Paris train ran through Brussels, so I just went ahead and got out, saving myself $20. (Aren’t I thrifty?)

I did some laundry, made my goodbyes to Venkat and Anjali, and headed back to Paris. (I just can’t keep away.) I mostly trolled around doing nothing, enjoying outdoor cafes and the like.

Tags: trains, travel tips

Paris, France

Everyone from the college program left today, either to go home or to embark on subsequent travels. My plans don’t really unfold until tomorrow when Venkat and Anjali are expecting me. Danielle had a limbo day, too, since her dad and grandmother are driving to Lourdes to meet her tomorrow.

So, we got around and went to the Louvre again.

When we think about ancient civilizations, we tend to think of them as primitive or at least inferior in some way. But I think it’s obvious that they had a much greater appreciation of art than we do today, and consequently, they were surrounded by much more beauty.

Sure, they didn’t have the technology and mass production that we do today, but that only makes my respect for that time period even deeper. All the intricate detail and opulent decoration had to be done by hand. Slowly, carefully, purposefully.

And we are lucky they took the time to do so, so we can still see what architecture/craftsmanship used to mean, now that we live in a time when the most ornate we get is crown moulding.

OK, enough waxing philosophic. Let me tell you more about the Louvre. We started in the oldest section (hence the above rant) and more or less worked our way forward through time. I saw an astrolabe, which was pretty neat, Puget Statues, and the code of hammurabi, which dates back to ancient Babylon and was the first written code of laws.

(We also saw some guy get pickpocketed by a teenager, right in front of the Mona Lisa.)

I saw works by El Greco, Rubens, Goya, Boticelli, Raphael, da Vinci, De La Croix, and–one of my personal favorites–Giuseppe Arcimboldo. If you have no idea who this is, but you live in the state of Florida, bop on over to the Ringling museum, which I believe has several other of his “still lifes”. I “quote” it, because although he typically paints fruit, it always looks like something else. Usually a portrait. And unlike Dalí, who is not above melting or morphing something to achieve an effect (and whom I also like immensely), Arcimboldo’s fruit are really fruit, although you can’t help but see the other image, especially from a distance.

We only stayed a few hours, but Danielle says if you looked at each individual item in the Louvre’s extensive collection for only one second each, it would take three solid months to get through everything. I can’t wait to come back!

We also had a little adventure in the Louvre when we were stopped by a security guard named Lakpar, who thought we were Italian. He discovered we were not, tried to put the moves on us anyway, and finished his speech with a diatribe about how you can’t trust a woman and you better not leave her alone if you have to work late or she’ll be sleeping with your neighbor. (He gave us his phone number, but we did not reciprocate.)

After the Louvre, Danielle and I walked around Paris. We saw the Bastille, which reminded me of Siegessaule in Berlin.

We also went to Invalides and Madeleine before calling it a night. We went out later in search of Wedding Crashers, which we saw advertised all over town, but all we could find was Mr and Mrs Smith (which we decided to pass on) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We ended up getting dinner and relaxing on the Champs Elysees.

Tags: museums, random facts & history, travel tips