Earthquake

There was an earthquake this morning around 3:30. The worst one in recent history (or possibly ever) for Italy.

AFAIK, I didn’t feel anything (I did wake up, check my email, and go back to bed right around that time, but that could easily be coincidence) but the poor inhabitants of Abruzzo and the neighboring areas definitely felt the quake. Many centuries-old buildings are completely destroyed. So far, the death toll is nearing 100, and they’re not yet done searching for survivors.

The Italians went to help en masse from all over Italy to the point where the announcements on the radio and news are advising people to stay home because the roads to Abruzzo are completely impassable.

Tags: daily life, news, random facts & history

Heidelburg, Germany & O-Club

This morning, Erin and I arose at the-crack-3-hours-before-dawn and headed into Frankfurt. Her mom arrived in the airport at 6:30 from New York. Since she came from a non-EU country, she landed in a different terminal (1) than I had (2). Terminal 1 was under horrible construction, to the point where if you wanted to get from one part of the terminal to another, you had to go outside, circle the building until you found an entrance door to the area you were looking for, and then go back inside. Since the weather is *freezing* cold, these shenanigans are Not Fun.

Nonetheless, we got there mere seconds before her mom exited customs, so it was perfect timing. We piled her luggage into the car and drove to Heidelburg.

Heidelburg is beautiful, even though it was blanketed with thick fog until around lunchtime and never quite warmed up.

We headed straight to Heidelburg castle, and hiked to the top of the hill maybe 20 minutes before the gates were to open at 8 am. We took a few photos and gazed down across the countryscape until we could enter the castle grounds. Once inside, we went to ticketing and purchased the 10:15 walking tour (the first one in English) and went to do all the non-tour-guided free things.

As it turns out, however, nothing is open until 10. Not the apothecary, the cafes, the gift shops… nothing but the ticket booths. How weird is that?

With nothing else to do but wander around, we set to that task immediately and had a great time exploring the exterior castle grounds and gardens. We were also able to enter the winery (there’s always a winery! love it!) and see the massive wine barrel.

By massive, I mean *massive*. (Photo attached.) This wine barrel has held the Guiness World Record for *centuries*, as the largest vat to ever contain wine. There are staircases to get to the top of it, and over the barrel is a wooden dance floor. That’s right, you heard me–a wine barrel big enough to hoist a dance floor. As we later learned on the tour, the king would have the barrel filled with wine–any wine. Red, white, whatever. As long as it was wine, it was good enough to drink.

The tour was fun, although like many tours, seemed to linger in the least interesting rooms and zoom through the most interesting ones. (Either that, or I have truly bizarre taste in history and decorations.) Nobody really knows exactly how old the castle is. All we know for certain is that the first written record of its existence dates back to the year 800. (Not 1800–just 800. Wow!) As with most castles, it has been remodeled and added onto numerous times over the years. It also suffered destruction by fire twice in the same century. Part of the damaged area was reconstructed in the early to mid 1900s, but other parts will probably remain ruins for the foreseeable future. The combination of old and new made an intriguing experience.

After touring the town of Heidelburg, we headed back to Miesenbach to get ready for tonight’s Hispanic Heritage Banquet at the Officers’ Club on the Rammstein Air Base. Food included salad, tortillas with veggies (or meat), beans & rice, and cheesecake. Not sure that cheesecake is particularly Hispanic, but it was darn tasty.

The entertainment included speakers and dancers, the latter of which I absolutely loved. There was music and dancing representative of many of the Spanish-speaking countries, and even a group of African dancers, from which a lot of Carribbean music and dancing is based. I also got to see Brazilian Capoeira for the first time (live, anyway) which was cool. Capoeira is a style of dancing invented by the slaves in an effort to express themselves while in search of freedom. It combines acrobatics with dance and a coordinated sort of kick boxing.

Of course, the big joke is that I flew to Germany from Spain in order to see flamenco!

Have you seen (or participated in) any cultural dance performances? Let me know all about it!

Tags: airports, castles & palaces, festivals & fiestas, food, random facts & history, wine

From Spain to Germany

This morning I woke up, scarfed down a croissant (OK, two croissants), snapped a photo of the lovely construction view from my balcony, and headed for the Madrid airport. The airport is massive. I was in Terminal 4, which has sections A through K (maybe more, I was in J so that’s as far as I went) and each letter has a slew of… I don’t know the word. Every time I come to Europe, I forget English. A slew of… places where you board a plane. (Gates?)

Anyway, I bought my ticket online from home. I unfold my printout from the web site confirmation and the printout of the emailed e-ticket, and suddenly I happen to notice that both items, in big, bold, capital letters, say: “Credit Card used in this purchase MUST BE PRESENTED in order to receive boarding pass and board flight.”

Oops. I totally didn’t bring that card. It charges me massive international fees for every overseas transaction (I found this out the hard way last year, once I came home and saw my account statements) so I left it at home. Naturally, I need to board this airline 4 different times… <>

So, I go to the ticketing counter, full of trepidation, but the guy serving me is so blessedly clueless, he doesn’t even ask about it. He did ask whether I preferred window or aisle, I said window, he said window, and printed me a ticket for aisle. I can only hope to have similar help the next 3 times!

The plane ride was uneventful, for the most part. Air Iberia gives out free newspapers, which was cool, but you have to pay for your own food and drink if you want water and peanuts. (They do have other offerings… It’s a whole food cart that comes down the aisle at least twice.) Being both poor and cheap, I just sat there, reading my paper, and chewed a piece of gum.

In this paper (which, bizarrely, used *other* newspaper articles as its primary sources) there was an article about how 1 out of every 10 British 20-somethings and 1 out of every 20 older British adults are eager to have credit card chips implanted under their skin so they don’t have to mess with a purse/wallet and the potential for identity theft and pickpocketing. According to El Universal (the paper), already testing has been underway for some time, using dogs and cats and horses. (Who, I’m sure, are big shoppers and appreciate the experiment.)

Once I arrived in Frankfurt, I zipped through to baggage claim (intra-EU flights don’t have to go through customs, although–also bizarrely–this was set up as honor system, with one line for people going through customs and the other for people not wanting to go through customs) and met up with Erin. Yay!

We drove the ~1 hour south to Kaiserslautern (known by the locals as K-town) near the Rammstein Air Force Base. I dropped off my luggage in Erin’s spare room, and we wandered around K-town for a couple hours, sightseeing and just generally hanging out. We rounded out the night in a restaurant called Himalaya (nothing says Germany quite like Indian food!) where I got saag paneer (my favorite) and Erin got what the menu described as “typical Nepali chicken”. We have no idea what that means, but she said it was delicious. So there you go.

Tags: airplanes, airports, food, random facts & history, shopping

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

Koln, Germany

There is no security check-through on international trains. No X-rays, no wandings, nothing. This is because of the EU, which, due to its “open boundaries” policy, makes such precaution illegal.

Also, so far I haven’t seen any fountain drinks anywhere. Unless you count beer on draught. Just cans and bottles. And don’t think you can get a bottle of Welch’s Grape, either. The closest juice-like concoction I’ve found is Orange Fanta.

Tags: random facts & history, trains, travel tips

Vienna, Austria

I began my stay in Vienna with a city tour. The tourguide says that although German is spoken in Austria, it’s a slightly different German with a definitely different accent. Such as the difference between British English and American English.

The tour began on Ring Straße [Strasse], with the Kartner Ring and the Opera House. Here, this street replaced the city walls. All the palaces along this strip go back to the second half of the 19th century.

Next I saw the Mozart statue, the Museum of Fine Arts and National History, the 200 year old town gate, and the Hofburg (Hapsburg) Imperial Palace. The palace has 18 wings and 40 courtyards. Each subsequent emporer went ahead and added on another wing or entire building. At one time, the Hapsburgs also ruled Belgium and Hungary.

I also saw the Heldenplatz, or Heroes Square. It’s been 60 years since WWII and the people plant potatoes there in remembrance.

Next I went by the theater, followed by the Kafe Landtmann, which is 150 years old and a favorite of Sigmund Freud, who lived nearby. Then I saw the university, which was founded in 1365. Vienna has over 100,000 university students. Then I saw the Vienna woods. How could I miss it? The Vienna woods is a forest three times the size of Vienna, the city. And in case you’re wondering, Vienna is not exactly on the Danube, but the canal does run through the city.

Then I went by Vienna’s oldest church, which is a thousand years old, and the St Stephen’s cathedral, which is 800 years old, the oldest gothic building in Austria, and the center of the city. There are 300-some churches and most are Roman Catholic. Some 85% of the population is Catholic.

Vienna also has an amusement park on an island between the canal and the Danube. Its giant ferris wheel was built in 1900 by the same person who designed the ones in London and Chicago.

Vienna has famous coffee houses and a funny coffee history. At first, it was unclear whether coffee was dangerous, so only men were allowed to drink it. Once they were certain that no ill effects were to come of it, women were granted permission to drink coffee as well.

I saw the houses of many famous composers that were born elsewhere, but lived here, such as Beethoven and Mozart. The Hapsburgs were patrons of music and made Vienna the city of music with their generosity.

Next I saw the St Charles church, which is the biggest baroque church and is 300 years old. Then I saw the art temple, in an art nouveau style with a large gold leaf dome.

Vienna, as I’m sure you know, is 400 square kilometers, or 150 square miles. There are 800 parks and 1.7 million inhapitants. 2000 years ago, it was a Roman settlement, and before this, Celtic. The Celts named the river, and the Romans named the city after the river. Nowadays, the city has 23 districts.

I also visited the Schonbrunn Palace, which means beautiful fountain. It was built 300 years ago, and was the favorite residence of Maria Teresa and also Franz Josef. Maria got the palace as a wedding gift, and lived there with her 16 children. (16 children in 20 years! Wow. I hope to stop at a nice, round 2.) The palace ceilings were decorated with boroque frescoes, done by Gregorio Guglielini in the 15th century. There is a rococo gallery with two 23 carat gold plated chandeliers. There are also two chinese rooms, which were trendy in the time of baroque palaces. During WWII, a bomb fell into the palace but didn’t explode. It destroyed a fresco, obviously, but the palace itself was otherwise fine. The original fresco was created in 1761 and restored in 1947, and it was easy to see the difference. JFK met with Russian representatives in this room as part of the first steps toward ending the cold war.

Another room in the palace is the carousel room. At the time, carousel was not a ride, but rather a game much resembling a congo line, but using horse and carriages. There is a painting in this room of the carousel line, with a ball being tossed around–but the ball is actually the head of a Turkish soldier. (It’s fun for the whole family.)

Interesting fact: Emporers and their successors wore red-heeled shoes. No one else was allowed to do so.

Charles I was the last Austrian emporer from 1916-1918. The monarchy collapsed after the end of WWII. He abdicated the throne but refused to renounce the title, because God himself had made him Emporer. (The people didn’t buy this claptrap, so they sent him into exile.)

Napoleon married into the Hapsburg family and his son, Napoleon II, died in this palace.

Another interesting fact: Everyone wore wigs at this time, even the kids and babies. Besides keeping the lice away, it was also a symbol of nobility.

Tags: castles & palaces, cathedrals, museums, random facts & history, theme parks

Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands to Vienna, Austria

I get up and head out. Venkat and I walk to the tram, take the tram to the Metro, and the Metro to the train station. All of this took maybe 10 minutes, so we possibly could have walked, but what’s the fun in that?

Venkat heads to work, and I head to the train station. For some reason, I decided that I’d buy my Amsterdam ticket to save a Eurail slot (I only get 15). So we go to the ticket counter, and the guy asks “26 or under?” “Um, sure,” I respond craftily. He sells me the ticket for $20. I had already purchased a reservation for $10 when I had planned to use the Eurail, but this was still less than the 50 Euro price. Of course, once I got on the train, they checked my passport, and busted me for being over 26, so I had to pay the difference, which was 35 Euros. So I screwed myself out of 10 Euros. And then later that night, as I was leaving Amsterdam, I realized I had to use today as one of my days anyway on my Eurail ticket, so I should have just kept my original Eurail reservation to start out with. So I actually screwed myself out of 50 Euros. All of which leads to the moral of the story: Don’t try to cheat the system. The system is Master. I did not win.

So anyway, I’m on the train to Amsterdam, and I forget what I said to the woman next to me, but I must’ve startled her by speaking, because she jumped about a mile. In doing so, I noticed she was clutching a long strand of dark brown, wooden beads. I wonder if they were religious and I caught her mid-prayer?

Today I’m wearing my “Toro Beso” shirt, featuring a (cartoon) bull kissing a cow. Naturally, I start to overanalyze it. The toro is black (as one might expect) and the cow is black and white spotted (also as one might expect.) However. Kristin, who lives on a milk farm and therefore ought to know about such things, told me that the color represents the type of cow, meaning that there are all-black cows and bulls that are black-and-white spotted, and that generally like sticks with like. In other words, my cow and toro are doin’ the mixed-race thang, which is funny (for me) on many levels.

Sooner or later, the train arrives and I discontinue contemplating the jungle fever of spanish cows. I detrain (or whatever the rail word for “deplane” is) and immediately head off in search of the Monday Morning Market, which I learned about from the lady next to me on the train. (And with whom I did *not* share my cow musings, else she might have strangled me with the prayer beads.)

First, let me give you some background info. Relevant, I swear. If you know nothing about the topography of Amsterdam (much like myself before I showed up on the train) then what you ought to realize is this.

Amsterdam is mostly water.

It is a city lined along the banks of several horseshoe-shaped canals, each nestled inside the other, so that the outermost canal is very long indeed. The train station is in the middle of this Chinese box. The market is on the outermost canal. Luckily, it is possible to weave your way across the canals through a series of (unconnected) bridges.

Amsterdam is also singular because for every person you see, you see at least twenty bikes. There were multi-level parking garages, all of which were packed with bikes. 10-speed type bikes, not motorcycles.

Each traffic light has a car light, a pedestrial light, and a bike light. The bridges are lined with bikes. The lamps and signposts are tethered with bikes. The streets are strewn with bikes. And you’re likely to get taken down when crossing the street if you don’t keep your eye on the bike lane. It’s absolutely crazy, but in a very cool way.

So anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the market. I was directed to the right location by a very nice gentleman sporting dreadlocks and the traditional Amsterdam Scent. He said he was on his way there himself and I would be welcome to follow him. He made it about three blocks before stopping by the canal for a smoke break (yes, a “smoke break”) but by that point, I could see the next bridge and the market across the water, so I went on ahead.

The market was very cool. The first part was ultra flea-market-esque. My mom would’ve really liked it because most of the tents were true flea market material. (In her words, “I want to see other people’s junk, not tables of beanie babies.”)

Toward the other side were tents with food. I don’t know what it was that I ate, but it was a hot, fresh, bread-ish thing, and very tasty. (I didn’t recognize anything in any tent, but as long as it was vegetarian, I was game to try it. Although, with the pastry, they asked me if I preferred hot sauce only, or sweet and sour sauce (???) and they stared at me like I didn’t know good eats when I said, “Um… neither?”

Next, I went to the Anne Frank house. There was a sign posting “No Bags Allowed”, so I couldn’t go in since I was backpacking. I probably wouldn’t have made it in anyway, since the line wrapped down the block, turned the corner, and kept on going. (I’m told this is the usual way of it.)

Next I went by the Westerkirk Church. I am assuming “kirk” means “church”, since I think “kirsche” means chirch in German. But who knows.

Besides lots of signs for Heineken, Amstel, and various herbal cafes (including the “Energy” cafe, which at first seemed to be a bit of an oxymoron, until I learned that in addition to the usual marijuana options, they also served their own brand of energy drink, and for this reason posted a large sign with a can of Red Bull in an red circle with a line through it.)

Anyway, in addition to all this, I noticed that Amsterdam was very gay and lesbian friendly. Many European cities are gay and lesbian friendly, which is nice, but Amsterdam *especially*. There were souvenir kiosks that catered to this demographic, and lots of streets with buildings titled things like “Hotel Rainbow Palace”.

Speaking of palaces, I did see the Palais in Amsterdam as well as the Nieuwe Kirk, and the National Monument, Waag, and Mme Tussauds. I also saw a cop cruise by on a bike. Not a motorcycle, as I mentioned, but your ordinary, pedal-pumping bike. I actually never saw any cops *not* on bikes… none on foot and none in cars.

A public restroom was very difficult to locate, and I ended up banking on KFC on the supposition that all American fast food chains have bathrooms. I was not disappointed. (Where else can teenagers express their angst in magic marker graffiti?) This bathroom cost 50 cents and I had to check my bag before I could go in. Shockingly (although pleasingly) this just might be the nicest and cleanest bathroom of my European experience thus far.

After this little side trip, I wandered around some more, and came across a tall, old church. Only in Amsterdam would the other side of the street contain a coffee shop and a sex shop, side by side, facing the church. (I guess that makes it more convenient. Head into the sex shop, and when you wake up the next morning, stumble next door for some coffee, then across the street to repent your wicked ways.)

Back to the bathrooms. (I apologize for all the toilet talk in this particular post.) Near this church is also where I came across a guy urinating in the street. I couldn’t exactly see him (although I could unfortunately smell him) because he was inside some kind of spiral shaped metal wall. The wall extended from about knee level to shoulder level–covering the necessities, I suppose–and the opening overlapped enough that you wouldn’t accidently glimpse the genitalia of the person inside. From the nonchalant way other people were standing around (and from the smell of the street) I can only assume he really was supposed to be peeing on the sidewalk, and that that is what the metal circle was for.

Another thing I noticed about Amsterdam (I swear this has nothing to do with bodily functions) is that in general, prices are not posted. When cruising past a souvenir stand, if I see a postcard I like, I have to go in and specifically ask. Likewise with the Internet cafe and anything else.

I ducked into a soup kitchen and ordered some soup. They asked if I preferred white or brown bread (brown) and if I wanted butter or pesto (um…pesto?) and then they served up a steamy cup of spinach soup, but not before putting a healthy scoopful of tomato soup in the middle of it. It turned out to be really good, although halfway through the soup I felt my cheeks and forehead heating up (sigh… add pesto to my ever-growing list of food sensitivities.)

So I headed on down the street and decided what I really needed was some coffee. I go into a coffee shop and order a caramel mocha. The guy behind the counter says, “Where are you from?” “Florida,” I answer. He then says, “You don’t look like you’re from the States. Your eyes are like chocolate and your skin is like caramel. I can’t look at you too much or I’ll want to eat you.” I bared my teeth in a smile, said, “We’re all colors there,” and asked, “How much is the coffee?” Two other women came in shortly after, and as soon as his attention was diverted, I escaped.

Amsterdam, I might add, is not as fashion forward as France, for example. I saw many bizarre outfits such as jean miniskirts with moon boots. (Guess they didn’t go out with the 80s here) or knee-high fur boots complete with furball tassels (???) and lots of clunky cowboy boots with otherwise trendy dresses. (Also not having died with the 80s here is the colored mascara. I saw many a woman with bright blue eyelashes. And like in France and Spain, Manic Panic is making a mint–women of all ages sport hair in unnatural shades, especially cherry, magenta, rust, and grape.) I later met someone from Holland who said you can always tell an American because he’s wearing tennis shoes, rather than some flavor of boot.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re asking yourself, “So what do they speak in Holland? Hollandaise?” No, my friend! What they speak is Dutch. And I don’t understand a word of it. The same guy who informed me about the boots also said, “In Amsterdam, we don’t say ‘Cheers’. We say, ‘Cheese’.” Or something like that. I told you I can’t understand Dutch.

I sat on the waist-high stone bank of a sidewalk flower bed for about an hour, trying to will my cell phone to work (no luck, then or ever) and pretending I could feel the sun on my (idiotically) bare legs. Naturally, Florida girl only packed one pair of khakis and loaded the rest of her suitcase with shorts. It’s August! How can people live in a country that’s cold in August???

All that sitting around (and failed mind-control) worked up an appetite. I have no idea what they eat in Amsterdam, so I slipped into an Indian restaurant. (No, I don’t think Amsterdam is in India. I just like the food.)

The waiter came up to me with a huge grin, and I was immediately wary. “Let me guess,” he says, and closes his eyes. “You are from… Florida. And your name… starts with… an E.”

Humph. As if I didn’t know that i’m lugging around a bright blue bag with a name tag the size of Texas. Single women, beware. Amsterdam men live to flirt. And they’re not very clever at it.

Once again, I flash a tolerant smile (which kills him–he’s dying for me to ask how he knows, and I’m not even going to mention it) and I order the vegi biryani.

Every time I bit into a white raisin, it surprised me. It was kind of funny. Mine also had maybe cashews or almonds in it. I’m not sure because I’m not very nutty (no comments please) so I admit I ate around those bits. I know, I know, vegetable biryani clearly indicates that I fell off my “I’ll only eat European food in Europe” high horse. What can I say. It was next door to Tio Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant, but I wasn’t too sure about Mexican food in Holland. This place at least had employees that could conceivably be from India. Plus the meal came with free aloo mater. What more could you ask for?

So that night I take the train to Vienna. The train station bathroom costs 50 cents (here I go again with my bathroom diatribes) and there was a man in it, which confused me. Come to find out, he was manning the station, which at the time I found to be odd. (But, as my travels continued, I realized this was the norm.) This is also where I got yelled at for my shoddy German. “Sprechen sie Englisch?” I asked, wanting to find out what he was doing in the ladies room. “No, I don’t speak English!” he screams at me in rapid-fire German. “If you want to speak English, go to England!” He glares, then adds, “Or America!” as if it’s some horrible insult beyond all imagining. “You are here, and here we speak German! So speak German!” At this point, he stops to catch his breath, red-faced, hands on hips.

“Um, okay,” I answer brilliantly. “Uh… danke.”

Tags: cathedrals, fashion, food, random facts & history, shopping, 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

Paris, France

We began the day with a Paris city tour. Paris was founded by a Celtic tribe, and nowadays has a population of two million within the city limits, 11 million when counting the outskirts. Paris alone is 1/5 of France’s entire population.

Paris has 20 districts. The streets are generally wide avenues lined with trees. There are no big parks in the city, but there are two large parks just outside the city. Like Spain, menu prices are less expensive when seated at the bar than at tables.

At stops for loading/unloading passengers, tour buses kill the engine (and therefore the A/C). This isn’t to torture tourists–this is because there are strict anti-pollution laws, and if they don’t turn off the bus, they will get a ticket.

First I saw a Russian cathedral, then Montmartre which is called the Mount of Martyrs because of the legend of a Paris bishop who was beheaded here by Romans.

Next, I got to see Sacre Coeur, and although I didn’t go inside (I plan to do so later) it is beautiful on the outside.

Nearby, there is a square packed with vendors of all types (and, I’m warned, pickpockets) and their in-you-face hustle reminded me of Morocco. (Luckily, this was the only place in Paris that struck me this way.)

Paris is seperated by the river Seine and the people on each side are distinct, with their own different customs. We went down Rue de la Paix, an expensive strip, and Rue Saint Honore, and saw a statue of Napoleon. We also saw the Latin Quarter, and the Roman baths, which have pools of different temperatures (really hot, warm, and ice cold. M. Saint Michel, if you’re interested.)

I learned that the Louvre was a fortress in the 12th century, and that Notre Dame is the center of the city. This is also where Napoleon crowned himself emporer in 1804. I also learned that Notre Dame used to be colorful, with bright blues and reds. It would have been neat to see it in its original condition.

Place de la Concorde is the square where in 1793, Marie Antoinette was beheaded. At the time, it was known as Revolution Square.

We went by a 3000 year old Egyptian tower, then Invalides, then went to the Arc de Triomphe (me, for the second time). This is the biggest arc in the world. This area is also known as Star Square, because the streets intersect like an asterisk, with the Arc de Triomphe on a roundabout in the center. One of the friezes is of Napoleon dressed in Roman gear. In the middle of the arc lies the tomb of the unknown soldier from WWI, with its eternal flame.

Next we got to see the Eiffel tower. It was built out of iron in 1889 and at the time was the biggest monument in the world. People who lived nearby began moving away because they were afraid it would topple over.

The girls and I sat on a bench with a view of the tower and noshed on some crepes. It was the first surreal moment I’ve had since I left the U.S. Just standing in the sunlight, warm chocolate crepe in my hand, Eiffel tower towering in front of me. Sunlight for a moment, anyway–then the sky opened up and the rain came. Apparently, it’s not unusual for Paris to rain every afternoon.

That night, we dressed up and went back on the town for a night tour, to be followed by an evening performance of the Moulin Rouge cabaret.

We saw the statue of Napoleon as Caesar, and the square with the Ritz, next to the Ministry of Justice. We went by Cartier (a place to window shop for jewels) and the Paris Opera House, built in 1860. We went by the Louvre, whose modern art glass pyramid structure is comprised of 85 tons of steel. An interesting fact: the surface area of the Louvre is greater than that of the Vatican.

We went by Le Port Neuf (The New Bridge) which, in fact, is actually the old bridge–the oldest one in Paris. It used to be said that the bridge was so crowded, that on any given crossing, you were bound to run into a monk, a white horse, and a loose woman.

We went by the contemporary arts building, city hall, the Institut de France, the Latin Quarter, and of course Notre Dame. (No, not the one in South Bend, IN. The one from the 12th century, with the rose windows and bell tower.)

Next we hit the Place de la Concorde, which is one of the largest squares in the world. Its fountains were inspired by those in St. Peter’s square in Rome.

Then we rolled down Champs Elysees, which was the product of Louis XIV’s designer, who also created the gardens at Versailles. Here you’ll find the Grande Palais and the Petite Palais, as well as the oldest Metro station. The Paris Metro was begun on October 4, 1898 (two days after my birthday… if I were 107 years old. Which I’m not.) The Paris Metro runs three times the circumference of the Earth, every single day.

Champs Elysees is also the street with Fouquets, the oldest restaurant in Paris, where movie stars are often seen (and the menu prices prove it). We passed the Arc de Triomphe again, and I was amused to find out it exists out of luck–Napoleon had originally wanted to build a giant elephant instead. (And if Parisians could talk Napoleon Bonaparte out of an elephant, why oh why could no one talk George Lucas out of Jar Jar Binks???) The Arc de Triomphe was inaugerated on July 29, 1836–30 years after construction began. Napoleon was buried nearby in Les Invalides, also near the Church of Glory. (Magdalene/Madeleine)

The Eiffel Tower was created much like a giant puzzle, and the last piece clicked into place on February 24, 1889, and not to rave reviews. Besides the fact that everyone was sure it would collapse on their houses at the slightest provocation, it was also higher than Notre Dame, which made it unclerical as well.

Moulin Rouge. How can I describe it? The best I can do is this: The Moulin Rouge is Broadway meets Cirque du Soleil. But topless.

An overabundance of champagne was served at every table, the costumes were amazing, acts included strong-man type acrobatics and awoman diving into a tank with a boa constrictor, and dancing–of course!–included the famous French can-can.

Tags: cathedrals, food, museums, random facts & history, shopping, theatre & shows, travel tips

Madrid, Spain

Today was finals. The art class was slide recognition, which wasn’t too terrible, although the professor did throw in a few sneaky ones, like slides that he never showed in class. It was of a place we did visit, yes, but in the daylight and from the ground level, not from a night-time aerial perspective like the slide. (Tricksy he is.)

I later zipped over to the Corte Ingles to get the receipt form for Customs–not sure how that whole tax-back thing works yet, but it seems like something to investigate.

That evening, we got dressed up and went to Casa Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world. (Also in the Guinness Book of World Records). We had a couple pitchers of Sangria, really tasty meals, and then we each ordered a different dessert off the menu, so that we could pass them around counter-clockwise and try everything. I’m glad we did–the desserts were awesome!

Tags: food, random facts & history, travel tips