HELLO! SORRY ABOUT THE LACK OF BLOGS…THINGS HAVE BEEN PRETTY BUSY FOR DREW AND I BUT THEY ARE ALL DONE NOW! WE’VE POSTED THEM IN ORDER BUT THAT MEANS THAT YOU HAVE TO GO DOWN TO THE LAST BLOG POSTED BY DREW (ABOUT NEWCASTLE AND THE CRUISE) AND THEN READ UP TO GET THE CORRECT ORDER OF EVENTS. SORRY FOR ALL THE CONFUSION. OH YEAH, YOU MAY WANT TO GRAB A SNACK…THIS COULD TAKE A WHILE!
Drew’s mom and little sister came to visit us. They arrived on Wednesday…we took them out to eat on Wednesday night to celebrate Carla’s birthday. On Thursday Drew, Carla and CarlyFaith went into Edinburgh to see the castle and some other sites. On Friday morning we headed off to London for the weekend. On Friday night Drew and I went to the Wicked at the Apollo Victoria. We both really enjoyed the show so I was really glad that we went.
On Saturday we spent the entire day exploring all of London’s biggest sites. We saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, Hamley’s (Britain’s largest toy store), the Marble Arch, and Hyde Park where we got to see the Peter Pan statue (Carla was very *happy* that Drew had made her walk around half the park to find the statue), and Princess Diana memorial fountain. At Buckingham Palace we watched the beginning of the changing of the guards. Being that it is not high season yet they are only doing the changing of the guards every other day so it was incredibly busy (as I’m sure it always is). We were up at the very front of the group against the gates and, unfortunately, the people in front of us were very inconsiderate and kept shoving us back. Not really a problem except that Carla is pregnant and, understandably, wasn’t very thrilled about having these rude women constantly running into her belly. We stuck it out for a while but then decided that we’d had enough so we went to leave but, there was a huge crowd, so making our way through the crowd with CarlyFaith and the baby buggy was quite difficult. So, being crafty, Drew decided that the best way to get out of the crowd was to hoist the buggy over it. We took CarlyFaith out and Drew lifted the buggy high in the air, over everyone’s heads. Amazingly, the crowd parted so Carla, myself and CarlyFaith were able to follow pretty easily in his wake. We got to the outskirts of the crowd and Drew put the buggy on the ground, kind of dropping it helter skelter. There was a huge gasp from the people there who didn’t realize that there wasn’t a baby in the stroller. It was really hilarious, but I guess you probably had to be there!
We toured Westminster Abbey which was really neat because Drew and I had not gone into the Abbey the last time we were there. It was amazing to see all the tombs that were in the Abbey…I had no idea they had so many and so many famous people. After a full day of walking and discovering that most of London’s underground is not handicap accessible so getting really good at carrying the stroller up and down the stairs we headed back to the hostel for a nice quiet night in to relax and recuperate. We got some pizza and then headed down to the hostel’s hot tub…it was a great way to end our Saturday.
On Sunday we took a walking tour of London where we were able to see Wellington’s Arch, Green Park, Buckingham Palace, the house where Prince Charles lives, St. James’ Palace and much more. It was fun to be able to hear a little more of the history behind some of London’s most famous sites and hear some entertaining stories such as the various break-ins to Buckingham Palace. Overall, we had a really good weekend. It rained a little on Friday night when we first arrived but, other than that, it was clear and sunny the entire time…pretty unusual and spectacular for London!
Friday 24 April 2009
Alnwick Castle and Northumberland
The weekend following spring break was another busy weekend. On Thursday night we went to the local pub for quiz night. We had the help of a couple of Brits on our team so we were actually able to win! On Friday we went to the Musselburgh race course with a group of students from the house. Musselburgh is a coastal town not too far from Dalkeith and they have a horse racing track there. Having never been to a horse race before we weren’t really sure what to expect. A few of the students placed some bets and some were even successful. Eventually, though, the students just resigned to betting between themselves, using food as their currency! They were betting each other apples, digestive biscuits, and spaghetti-o’s and one student in particular was making out with quite a stash of food! Drew and I opted to just sit back and watch the races without betting which I guess takes some of the excitement out of it. It was definitely a new experience and I’m glad that we went.
The following day we headed to Northumberland in northern England to stay at Alnwick Castle. We took a group of 31 people with us…the group was composed of students, some of their family members who were visiting and some members of the staff. I had planning the trip for quite some time and was really looking forward to taking the students on a trip that I had put so much time into. Alnwick Castle has a study abroad program much like the one here at Dalkeith. Students from St. Cloud State University stay at the castle and take classes for the semester. Drew and I’s friend Niki actually studied with this program for a semester so we were excited to see where she had spent her time as well. Most of the students signed up for the trip because Alnwick Castle is actually used as Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft in the Harry Pottery movies. The castle has also been used in many other films and, apparently, there is a huge movie that is being filmed there this summer. In order to get to the castle we had to take a train from Edinburgh to a small station outside of Alnwick. Unfortunately, the stop for the Alnmouth station that we wanted to get off on was never announced on the train and by the time we realized our stop was approaching we didn’t have a lot of time to warn students to start gathering their belongings. The train pulled up to the station, stopped and Drew and I hopped off the train and pushed students to do the same. Unfortunately, a group of 31 people doesn’t always move too fast and only five students made it off the train before the doors shut. I yelled down the platform to the attendant that we had a group of 30+ people on the train and that the doors needed to be opened back up before the train could leave. He refused to let the group off the train and waved the train out of the station so I stood there on the platform and watched as the train sped off with all the students inside, looking out at me, wondering what had happened and what they were supposed to do. Thankfully the program provides students with mobile phones so I was able to communicate with those still on board the train and direct them as to what their next step should be. They got to ride the train all the way to Newcastle where they were able to get spots on a train back to Alnmouth free of charge because, apparently, this problem happens all the time. Eventually the remaining members of our group made it back to the station, got off the train successfully then caught the bus to Alnwick and enjoyed the rest of the day at the castle.
We were able to take a tour of the castle that had just opened for public tours a few days earlier. The Duke of Northumberland still lives at the castle so, as the tour guides remind you, it is still very much a family home. It is so hard to tour a building like that and think of it as a family home. To me, a family home is comfy…I think of my parent’s house where the walls have dings and scratches from years of carrying hockey bags up the stairs. Instead, this family home had silk wallpaper…no dings there, stuffed dogs and knick knacks that were so expensive I would be afraid to ever touch them. The only indications of a family living there are a few family pictures here and there. I really wish we were able to see the rooms that the family actually spend most their time in to see if you get more of a homey feel from them. Anyway, what we did see of the castle was pretty amazing and really neat to see. After exploring the castle and taking a tour of the grounds as well as a tour of the movie-making surrounding the castle. We then headed to the Alnwick Gardens on the property of the castle. The Gardens are very extensive and have one of the largest poison gardens in the whole world where the plants can actually kill you. There is also a huge fountain that does different water shows throughout the day. Drew and I had a lot of fun rediscovering our inner child in the bamboo maze. It was a pretty dense bamboo forest and Drew kept running away from me to hide. I would chase after him, giggling (it was really mature). I was pretty embarrassed when I turned a corner, in the middle of a giggling fit, and almost ran over a little thirteen year old boy. Then it just became hilarious as the little boy decided that he wanted to join in on our game and took off chasing Drew through the maze. I was laughing too hard and had to stop running but I think the boy eventually caught Drew and Drew and I decided we should stop creating such a ruckus in the bamboo maze.
The next morning we hit the road again and headed first to the small village of Seahouses on the coast in northern England and, from there, we took a cruise around the Farne Islands. On the cruise we were able to see tons of grey seals, puffins and lots of seabirds. We were also able to spend an hour on an island that is a protected seabird sanctuary. After our cruise we went to Holy Island/Lindisfarne Island. It is a tidal island so there is absolutely no access to it when the tide is in. We went right after the tide had gone out so it was pretty busy because everyone had been waiting to get to it. On the island we were able to visit the Lindisfarne Priory which is where St. Cuthbert served as priory and it has many ties to the introduction of Christianity to this part of the world. After our time on Lindisfarne we were on our way back to Dalkeith. For the students our return marked the beginning of a crazy couple of weeks with lots of schoolwork and final papers due. For me, our return marked the beginning of a crazy couple of weeks since my supervisor, Patty, was back in Minnesota on holiday for two weeks. Things around the house were very busy but the house was still standing when she got back so it all worked out!
The following day we headed to Northumberland in northern England to stay at Alnwick Castle. We took a group of 31 people with us…the group was composed of students, some of their family members who were visiting and some members of the staff. I had planning the trip for quite some time and was really looking forward to taking the students on a trip that I had put so much time into. Alnwick Castle has a study abroad program much like the one here at Dalkeith. Students from St. Cloud State University stay at the castle and take classes for the semester. Drew and I’s friend Niki actually studied with this program for a semester so we were excited to see where she had spent her time as well. Most of the students signed up for the trip because Alnwick Castle is actually used as Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft in the Harry Pottery movies. The castle has also been used in many other films and, apparently, there is a huge movie that is being filmed there this summer. In order to get to the castle we had to take a train from Edinburgh to a small station outside of Alnwick. Unfortunately, the stop for the Alnmouth station that we wanted to get off on was never announced on the train and by the time we realized our stop was approaching we didn’t have a lot of time to warn students to start gathering their belongings. The train pulled up to the station, stopped and Drew and I hopped off the train and pushed students to do the same. Unfortunately, a group of 31 people doesn’t always move too fast and only five students made it off the train before the doors shut. I yelled down the platform to the attendant that we had a group of 30+ people on the train and that the doors needed to be opened back up before the train could leave. He refused to let the group off the train and waved the train out of the station so I stood there on the platform and watched as the train sped off with all the students inside, looking out at me, wondering what had happened and what they were supposed to do. Thankfully the program provides students with mobile phones so I was able to communicate with those still on board the train and direct them as to what their next step should be. They got to ride the train all the way to Newcastle where they were able to get spots on a train back to Alnmouth free of charge because, apparently, this problem happens all the time. Eventually the remaining members of our group made it back to the station, got off the train successfully then caught the bus to Alnwick and enjoyed the rest of the day at the castle.
We were able to take a tour of the castle that had just opened for public tours a few days earlier. The Duke of Northumberland still lives at the castle so, as the tour guides remind you, it is still very much a family home. It is so hard to tour a building like that and think of it as a family home. To me, a family home is comfy…I think of my parent’s house where the walls have dings and scratches from years of carrying hockey bags up the stairs. Instead, this family home had silk wallpaper…no dings there, stuffed dogs and knick knacks that were so expensive I would be afraid to ever touch them. The only indications of a family living there are a few family pictures here and there. I really wish we were able to see the rooms that the family actually spend most their time in to see if you get more of a homey feel from them. Anyway, what we did see of the castle was pretty amazing and really neat to see. After exploring the castle and taking a tour of the grounds as well as a tour of the movie-making surrounding the castle. We then headed to the Alnwick Gardens on the property of the castle. The Gardens are very extensive and have one of the largest poison gardens in the whole world where the plants can actually kill you. There is also a huge fountain that does different water shows throughout the day. Drew and I had a lot of fun rediscovering our inner child in the bamboo maze. It was a pretty dense bamboo forest and Drew kept running away from me to hide. I would chase after him, giggling (it was really mature). I was pretty embarrassed when I turned a corner, in the middle of a giggling fit, and almost ran over a little thirteen year old boy. Then it just became hilarious as the little boy decided that he wanted to join in on our game and took off chasing Drew through the maze. I was laughing too hard and had to stop running but I think the boy eventually caught Drew and Drew and I decided we should stop creating such a ruckus in the bamboo maze.
The next morning we hit the road again and headed first to the small village of Seahouses on the coast in northern England and, from there, we took a cruise around the Farne Islands. On the cruise we were able to see tons of grey seals, puffins and lots of seabirds. We were also able to spend an hour on an island that is a protected seabird sanctuary. After our cruise we went to Holy Island/Lindisfarne Island. It is a tidal island so there is absolutely no access to it when the tide is in. We went right after the tide had gone out so it was pretty busy because everyone had been waiting to get to it. On the island we were able to visit the Lindisfarne Priory which is where St. Cuthbert served as priory and it has many ties to the introduction of Christianity to this part of the world. After our time on Lindisfarne we were on our way back to Dalkeith. For the students our return marked the beginning of a crazy couple of weeks with lots of schoolwork and final papers due. For me, our return marked the beginning of a crazy couple of weeks since my supervisor, Patty, was back in Minnesota on holiday for two weeks. Things around the house were very busy but the house was still standing when she got back so it all worked out!
Wales and the Lakes District
So we took the chunnel from Paris to London, pretty much just to say that we rode a train underneath the English Channel! We arrived in London at St Pancras station, walked a few blocks to Euston station in central London to pick up our rental car. After we finally found the car rental place (a tiny shack hidden in a corner on a random floor of the parking garage) we picked up our car. We had asked for the cheapest car we could get that came in an automatic. We were expecting a tiny Nissan Micra like we had in Ireland but they pulled up in a Mercedes…yikes! I told Drew that he was absolutely not able to get in any accidents with this rental because we definitely couldn’t afford the replacement fees on a Mercedes!! So we headed off on our grand adventure up to Scotland but first we had to make our way through rush hour traffic in London at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday! After two hours of driving and only getting lost twice we were finally out of London. We drove to Bath, found a place to park and walked around the city. It was late by the time we got there and everything was closed so we just admired it from the outside. We went to the Bath cathedral which was absolutely amazing from the outside and I’m sure just as beautiful inside. We also went to the Roman baths, the oldest and most intact baths in all of Britain. Our original plan was to spend the night in Bath, spend some time seeing the sties in the morning and then head on to Wales but we were feeling pretty tired from our week of non-stop traveling so we decided to shorten our journey a little by continuing on to Wales that same evening. We entered Wales, drove through the capital city of Cardiff and then, about a half hour outside of the city found a rest stop, parked and ‘slept’ for the evening. The car was freezing so it wasn’t the most comfortable night of sleep but it was better than nothing. At about 6:00 a.m. the next morning we got back on the road and continued on our way up through Wales. It was still about four hours until anything opened so we just enjoyed the scenery, driving up through a national park. Once businesses started opening we found a gas station, spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to open the gas tank and bought ourselves a UK roadmap. We drove through the rest of Wales, enjoying the northwest corner of the country where you drive out of Wales and into England, then back into Wales a few miles later, then back into England a few miles later, back to Wales, and then, finally, back in England for good.
Once we were in England we headed straight for the Lakes District. It was about midday at this point and was turning out to be a really nice day. Lots of people had really recommended that we go to the Lake District which is why we planned it as part of our trip. Thankfully it completely lived up to the hype and was the perfect end to our trip. We made plenty of stops to do some short hiking in the hills; we went to Beatrix Potter’s house and an ancient stone circle. The roads were extremely narrow and there were plenty of parts where we had to pull to the side of the road so another car could pass. After spending our entire afternoon in the Lakes District, soaking up the beautiful scenery, we continued on our way back up to Scotland. Just south of the Scottish border we stopped at Hadrian’s wall…the ancient northern border of the Roman empire. Even though the wall was very hard to find it was really cool when we finally made it there. It is neat to think about how long the wall has been standing there and to think about exactly what it represents.
We arrived back in Dalkeith late on Saturday night and went immediately to bed. After a good night’s rest in a real bed we took our Mercedes and drove to the coast in North Berwick. We spent some time climbing out on the rocks and just enjoying the sea. I never get tired of spending time on the coast and I think living in such close proximity to the coast will be one of the things I will miss the most about living here.
Once we were in England we headed straight for the Lakes District. It was about midday at this point and was turning out to be a really nice day. Lots of people had really recommended that we go to the Lake District which is why we planned it as part of our trip. Thankfully it completely lived up to the hype and was the perfect end to our trip. We made plenty of stops to do some short hiking in the hills; we went to Beatrix Potter’s house and an ancient stone circle. The roads were extremely narrow and there were plenty of parts where we had to pull to the side of the road so another car could pass. After spending our entire afternoon in the Lakes District, soaking up the beautiful scenery, we continued on our way back up to Scotland. Just south of the Scottish border we stopped at Hadrian’s wall…the ancient northern border of the Roman empire. Even though the wall was very hard to find it was really cool when we finally made it there. It is neat to think about how long the wall has been standing there and to think about exactly what it represents.
We arrived back in Dalkeith late on Saturday night and went immediately to bed. After a good night’s rest in a real bed we took our Mercedes and drove to the coast in North Berwick. We spent some time climbing out on the rocks and just enjoying the sea. I never get tired of spending time on the coast and I think living in such close proximity to the coast will be one of the things I will miss the most about living here.
Paris
After a short train ride we arrived in Paris, armed with directions to get to the station where our couchsurfing host would pick us up. Unfortunately, our host forgot to include the minor (actually major) detail that there are two trains with the same name as the one she told us to take…one of the trains goes to the station we needed and one (of course, the one we took) splits off to another track right before the station we needed. So, as we were riding the train, expecting our stop to be next we were terrified to arrive at a completely different station. We immediately realized what happened and hopped off the train to figure out our next move before heading any further in the wrong direction. We couldn’t figure out how to get back to the station that we needed and weren’t able to get in touch with our couchsurfing host. We tried to ask for some help with our minimal French but unfortunately were unable to find anyone who could speak any English to help us. Finally we were able to find a man who worked at the station who knew another man that worked there that spoke English. The man was able to get in touch with our host and explain our situation to her. At this point it was getting to be pretty late at night and Drew and I were feeling horrible that we were being such an inconvenience to our host. The man at the station helped explain to us how to get back on the train in the opposite direction to get back to the station we needed. We were about to get back on the train when we, thankfully, decided to try to get in touch with our host ourselves. We called and her boyfriend answered the phone as our host was driving on her way to pick us up at the station…we would have really felt awful if they had shown up at the station only to have us not be there! Isabelle (our host) and her boyfriend picked us up, brought us back to the house and introduced us to their roommates. Their roommates were incredibly friendly and wanted to hear all about our travels. We talked for a while and then, being late, we all headed off to bed.
The next day we woke up bright and early so we could get a full day of exploring Paris. We headed first to the Louvre where the lines weren’t nearly as long as we had expected. We saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo as well as many other amazing pieces of art. The museum is absolutely huge and you could easily spend an entire day exploring it. We spent our entire morning there and by the time we left we had probably only seen about a quarter of its collection. After the Louvre we headed to Notre Dame to try to find Quasimodo. Before we actually went into the cathedral we made some lunch outside on a park bench and spent some time people watching while enjoying our lunch. It was at this time that we came into contact with one of the most annoying aspects of Paris: its beggars. We were approached by a young woman who asked if we spoke English, upon answering yes she proceeded to open up a postcard she was holding. On the postcard it was written that she was a Kurdish refugee who was living in Paris with her mother and brother. Her brother had leukemia and she wanted some money. We told her no but she was extremely persistent and begged us for money. We finally got her to leave us alone and we looked around and realized there was a whole swarm of them. They were all dressed similarly (like stereotypical refugees) and all had postcards…amazingly they all spoke very good English as well! Every tourist attraction and train station that we went to following Notre Dame we would find a swarm of beggars with their postcards so we got pretty good at saying that we didn’t speak English and just avoiding them altogether! It was extremely frustrating to me as I can only imagine that there are plenty of people in Paris who are in genuine need of help…I have never seen such an organized, widespread begging operation in any other place I have ever visited! Anyway, back to Notre Dame…the cathedral was absolutely amazing inside. I think Drew finally understood why I enjoy churches so much…I am always in awe of how much work and beauty has gone into these older churches.
From the Notre Dame we headed off to Arc de Triomphe which was much larger than I could have ever imagined. Standing at the Arc, in the middle of a five lane roundabout I couldn’t help but laugh just thinking of National Lampoon’s European Vacation and just driving round and round…I don’t know how anyone can navigate that roundabout! After the Arc we headed off to Paris’ most famous tourist attraction…the Eiffel Tower! The one thing that Drew really wanted to do and always mentioned when we were planning this trip was to climb the Eiffel Tower so, being the windiest day ever we decided we’d give it a shot! You’re only allowed to climb to the second viewing platform (668 steps) and then, if you want to continue to the top, you have to take an elevator. As thrilling as the climb was I was definitely glad that you weren’t allowed to hike up past the second viewing platform because, being exposed to the open wind at any point higher than that probably would have blown us straight off! So we took the elevator all the way to the top and had some great views of the city. The viewing platform at the top is completely enclosed in an open cage thing so you can’t be blown off. Nonetheless it was scary walking around the top because there was one side completely blocked from the wind so it was completely still and calm but as you walked around to the other side you walked straight into a brick wall of wind…you literally had to lean forward with most of your body weight just to keep walking. We eventually made it back to the bottom and continued on our way! We’d had a pretty full day so we didn’t stay in the city centre much longer before heading back to our host’s house. Unfortunately Isabelle still hadn’t explained the two different trains to us so we took the wrong one again which made our journey back much longer than we had anticipated.
On our second day in Paris we spent the morning at Versailles Palace, considered to be one of the grandest palaces in the entire world. The detail inside of the palace was amazing and again, like the Louvre, you could easily spend an entire day there. Every single room that you went in was elaborately decorated…it never ceases to amaze me that people actually live in such grandeur. Drew and I’s favorite room was the hall of mirrors which is an incredibly long hall with mirrored walls and tons of crystal chandeliers. It is so incredibly regal and amazing. After Versailles we headed back into Paris to see some more of its sites. I really wanted to see Moulin Rouge (really just to get a picture) and we spent most of the afternoon looking for it. While trying to find it we stumbled upon an absolutely beautiful basilica and, on our way up to it, we were hounded by some of Paris’ wonderful street salesmen. Basically what these salesmen do is give you something (in this case they were giving out string bracelets) and then, once you take it, tell you have to pay for it. You find them in a lot of big cities so Drew and I knew what they were up to and just walked through the bunch of them, ignoring their offers of bracelets. However, being Paris where everyone seems to be an aggressive capitalist, one of them grabbed me by the hand and refused to let go. He told me that he really liked Americans and really wanted me to take the bracelet. I kept telling him no thanks, I really wasn’t interested, etc., etc. but he absolutely would not let go! Drew finally had to grab my other hand and begin pulling me in the opposite direction. I was yanked back and forth between the two until Drew succeeded in pulling me away. We made our way up to the basilica and were able to get a really great view of the city through the smog. We made our way back down the hill and finally found Moulin Rouge, got our pictures and continued on our way. We then headed to the Pantheon and then spent some time wandering around and waited for it to get dark so that we could see the Eiffel tower at night. We found the second, smaller, Statue of Liberty that France kept for itself after giving the larger one to the United States. Seeing the Eiffel tower at night was really neat. It is all lit up and looks really cool!
Our last day in Paris was really just a half day because we were leaving in the early afternoon. We headed to the train station we were leaving from first thing in the morning, dropped off our suitcases and tried to avoid drawing attention to ourselves because the station was full of guards carrying huge semi-automatic rifles. We did some more wandering around the city trying to find the entrance to the catacombs. Unfortunately, we were never able to find it so we weren’t able to see the catacombs. We headed back to the train station and, fortunately, got there early because it took us at least a half hour to get through customs. We had to sit off to the side and got questioned about exactly what we were doing in the United Kingdom and why we were there so long. The customs man had to call Patty, my supervisor at the program, to ensure that I was legit and, after she vouched for me, we were able to get through and board our train about five minutes before it left the station.
One of the most rewarding parts of our stay in Paris was our couchsurfing experience. In particular, two roommates of our hosts were so friendly and felt more like our hosts than our actual hosts. Drew and I have really enjoyed couchsurfing so far because it provides you with an extra insight into the culture you are experiencing. We were both greeted with kisses on the cheeks and, I have to admit, it really caught me off guard when we first met our hosts because it is so different from anything we would normally experience but by the end of our stay it was natural and comfortable and I enjoyed being able to experience these small mannerisms of French culture. It was also helpful to have people readily available to help us with our French pronunciations and explain things that we had seen throughout the day. It was also nice to be able to chat and learn more about French culture. These two particular roommates were both not from Paris (and actually the place we were staying was Ris Orangis…a half hour to hour train ride outside of Paris) and had pretty strong opinions concerning Parisians. After our first day out exploring they asked us if we had had any problems with the rude Parisians. We answered that we hadn’t and they were relieved because they felt that many Parisians are rude and think they are better than everyone else. I thought this was very interesting because it is, unfortunately, a stereotype that you often hear applied to the entire country of France. Our hosts (actually, the two roommates of the hosts) wanted to cook a traditional French dinner for us and take us out on Friday night to meet some of their friends and experience the Parisian nightlife…unfortunately, we were leaving Paris on Friday afternoon so we weren’t able to spend this extra time with them but they welcomed us back whenever we get the chance so we just might have to take them up on their offer!
The next day we woke up bright and early so we could get a full day of exploring Paris. We headed first to the Louvre where the lines weren’t nearly as long as we had expected. We saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo as well as many other amazing pieces of art. The museum is absolutely huge and you could easily spend an entire day exploring it. We spent our entire morning there and by the time we left we had probably only seen about a quarter of its collection. After the Louvre we headed to Notre Dame to try to find Quasimodo. Before we actually went into the cathedral we made some lunch outside on a park bench and spent some time people watching while enjoying our lunch. It was at this time that we came into contact with one of the most annoying aspects of Paris: its beggars. We were approached by a young woman who asked if we spoke English, upon answering yes she proceeded to open up a postcard she was holding. On the postcard it was written that she was a Kurdish refugee who was living in Paris with her mother and brother. Her brother had leukemia and she wanted some money. We told her no but she was extremely persistent and begged us for money. We finally got her to leave us alone and we looked around and realized there was a whole swarm of them. They were all dressed similarly (like stereotypical refugees) and all had postcards…amazingly they all spoke very good English as well! Every tourist attraction and train station that we went to following Notre Dame we would find a swarm of beggars with their postcards so we got pretty good at saying that we didn’t speak English and just avoiding them altogether! It was extremely frustrating to me as I can only imagine that there are plenty of people in Paris who are in genuine need of help…I have never seen such an organized, widespread begging operation in any other place I have ever visited! Anyway, back to Notre Dame…the cathedral was absolutely amazing inside. I think Drew finally understood why I enjoy churches so much…I am always in awe of how much work and beauty has gone into these older churches.
From the Notre Dame we headed off to Arc de Triomphe which was much larger than I could have ever imagined. Standing at the Arc, in the middle of a five lane roundabout I couldn’t help but laugh just thinking of National Lampoon’s European Vacation and just driving round and round…I don’t know how anyone can navigate that roundabout! After the Arc we headed off to Paris’ most famous tourist attraction…the Eiffel Tower! The one thing that Drew really wanted to do and always mentioned when we were planning this trip was to climb the Eiffel Tower so, being the windiest day ever we decided we’d give it a shot! You’re only allowed to climb to the second viewing platform (668 steps) and then, if you want to continue to the top, you have to take an elevator. As thrilling as the climb was I was definitely glad that you weren’t allowed to hike up past the second viewing platform because, being exposed to the open wind at any point higher than that probably would have blown us straight off! So we took the elevator all the way to the top and had some great views of the city. The viewing platform at the top is completely enclosed in an open cage thing so you can’t be blown off. Nonetheless it was scary walking around the top because there was one side completely blocked from the wind so it was completely still and calm but as you walked around to the other side you walked straight into a brick wall of wind…you literally had to lean forward with most of your body weight just to keep walking. We eventually made it back to the bottom and continued on our way! We’d had a pretty full day so we didn’t stay in the city centre much longer before heading back to our host’s house. Unfortunately Isabelle still hadn’t explained the two different trains to us so we took the wrong one again which made our journey back much longer than we had anticipated.
On our second day in Paris we spent the morning at Versailles Palace, considered to be one of the grandest palaces in the entire world. The detail inside of the palace was amazing and again, like the Louvre, you could easily spend an entire day there. Every single room that you went in was elaborately decorated…it never ceases to amaze me that people actually live in such grandeur. Drew and I’s favorite room was the hall of mirrors which is an incredibly long hall with mirrored walls and tons of crystal chandeliers. It is so incredibly regal and amazing. After Versailles we headed back into Paris to see some more of its sites. I really wanted to see Moulin Rouge (really just to get a picture) and we spent most of the afternoon looking for it. While trying to find it we stumbled upon an absolutely beautiful basilica and, on our way up to it, we were hounded by some of Paris’ wonderful street salesmen. Basically what these salesmen do is give you something (in this case they were giving out string bracelets) and then, once you take it, tell you have to pay for it. You find them in a lot of big cities so Drew and I knew what they were up to and just walked through the bunch of them, ignoring their offers of bracelets. However, being Paris where everyone seems to be an aggressive capitalist, one of them grabbed me by the hand and refused to let go. He told me that he really liked Americans and really wanted me to take the bracelet. I kept telling him no thanks, I really wasn’t interested, etc., etc. but he absolutely would not let go! Drew finally had to grab my other hand and begin pulling me in the opposite direction. I was yanked back and forth between the two until Drew succeeded in pulling me away. We made our way up to the basilica and were able to get a really great view of the city through the smog. We made our way back down the hill and finally found Moulin Rouge, got our pictures and continued on our way. We then headed to the Pantheon and then spent some time wandering around and waited for it to get dark so that we could see the Eiffel tower at night. We found the second, smaller, Statue of Liberty that France kept for itself after giving the larger one to the United States. Seeing the Eiffel tower at night was really neat. It is all lit up and looks really cool!
Our last day in Paris was really just a half day because we were leaving in the early afternoon. We headed to the train station we were leaving from first thing in the morning, dropped off our suitcases and tried to avoid drawing attention to ourselves because the station was full of guards carrying huge semi-automatic rifles. We did some more wandering around the city trying to find the entrance to the catacombs. Unfortunately, we were never able to find it so we weren’t able to see the catacombs. We headed back to the train station and, fortunately, got there early because it took us at least a half hour to get through customs. We had to sit off to the side and got questioned about exactly what we were doing in the United Kingdom and why we were there so long. The customs man had to call Patty, my supervisor at the program, to ensure that I was legit and, after she vouched for me, we were able to get through and board our train about five minutes before it left the station.
One of the most rewarding parts of our stay in Paris was our couchsurfing experience. In particular, two roommates of our hosts were so friendly and felt more like our hosts than our actual hosts. Drew and I have really enjoyed couchsurfing so far because it provides you with an extra insight into the culture you are experiencing. We were both greeted with kisses on the cheeks and, I have to admit, it really caught me off guard when we first met our hosts because it is so different from anything we would normally experience but by the end of our stay it was natural and comfortable and I enjoyed being able to experience these small mannerisms of French culture. It was also helpful to have people readily available to help us with our French pronunciations and explain things that we had seen throughout the day. It was also nice to be able to chat and learn more about French culture. These two particular roommates were both not from Paris (and actually the place we were staying was Ris Orangis…a half hour to hour train ride outside of Paris) and had pretty strong opinions concerning Parisians. After our first day out exploring they asked us if we had had any problems with the rude Parisians. We answered that we hadn’t and they were relieved because they felt that many Parisians are rude and think they are better than everyone else. I thought this was very interesting because it is, unfortunately, a stereotype that you often hear applied to the entire country of France. Our hosts (actually, the two roommates of the hosts) wanted to cook a traditional French dinner for us and take us out on Friday night to meet some of their friends and experience the Parisian nightlife…unfortunately, we were leaving Paris on Friday afternoon so we weren’t able to spend this extra time with them but they welcomed us back whenever we get the chance so we just might have to take them up on their offer!
Brussels
We arrived in Brussels and phoned our couchsurfing host, Ernest. He explained that he would meet us at the train station so we waited, a bit nervously, not knowing quite what to expect. Ernest showed up and walked us back to his flat (it was pouring rain outside), playing tour guide along the way and pointing out various sites along the way. We dropped our bags at the flat and, as the night was still young, Ernest insisted that we head to a local pub to pick up a drink. Ernest is actually from the Netherlands, but is currently doing an internship with Cargill in Brussels. He studied abroad at Michigan State so he is pretty familiar with the United States. We had an excellent chat at the pub and really enjoyed getting to know one another. After a drink at that pub, Ernest decided he wanted to take us to another. We got outside and it had stopped raining so Ernest was really great and took us on a short tour of the city. He brought us to the main square and explained the meaning of the statues on all the buildings (the statues are pointing at one another as to who is the father of the baby inside one of the female statue’s bulging belly). Then he took us to see the Manneken Pis, the most famous statue in Brussels. After Manneken Pis we headed into what is considered the tourist part of town. It is one long street of restaurants but every single restaurant is pretty much the same thing and they are very aggressive about getting you to eat in their restaurant. As we walked down the street every single restaurant’s workers called out to us to come eat in their restaurant…they would follow you as you walked down the street trying to convince you that you needed to eat there. Ernest just laughed and explained that we weren’t hungry but they were still persistent! We finally arrived at our destination, a pub known as Delirium that holds the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most beers available in a bar. You enter the bar and pick up a menu which is about an inch thick full of beers from all around the world. Ernest finally had to just pick a beer because Drew was so completely lost in what he referred to as ‘the Beer Bible’. Drew and I were extremely tired after our drink at the Delirium Bar so we headed back to the flat to catch some shut eye as we had to be up bright and early the next day.
The next morning we woke up and headed off to explore the beautiful city of Brussels. Ernest left us with a few suggestions of what to do with our day and, among them, was to visit Atomium. Atomium is a giant statue from the 1958 World’s Fair and it is located on the outskirts of Brussels. It was neat to see and very futuristic…it reminded me of something you would see at Disney’s Epcot. After Atomium we headed back into the city. We spent some more time in the central square just soaking in the amazing architecture, went back to the Manneken Pis who was dressed up in a cute little outfit to advertise Unicef, headed off to a park to enjoy some of the limited sunshine of the day and explored some of the various aspects of the European Parliament located in Brussels. Because the EU is headquartered in Brussels, the city has a very unique feel to it…most people who live in Brussels are not actually Belgian but are living there from elsewhere in Europe. We also found the Royal Palace in our wanderings around the city which was absolutely beautiful. An interesting note about the streets in Brussels…they’re set up on a circular pattern so when I say we were wandering the streets we were literally wandering the streets! We learned pretty quickly that we shouldn’t try to do anything in the city without first consulting our map! We also took some time in Brussels to take advantage of their delicacies…Belgian waffles, Belgian fries and, of course, Belgian chocolate!
Later in the day, after all of our exploring, we were once again back at the train station and on our way to Paris!
The next morning we woke up and headed off to explore the beautiful city of Brussels. Ernest left us with a few suggestions of what to do with our day and, among them, was to visit Atomium. Atomium is a giant statue from the 1958 World’s Fair and it is located on the outskirts of Brussels. It was neat to see and very futuristic…it reminded me of something you would see at Disney’s Epcot. After Atomium we headed back into the city. We spent some more time in the central square just soaking in the amazing architecture, went back to the Manneken Pis who was dressed up in a cute little outfit to advertise Unicef, headed off to a park to enjoy some of the limited sunshine of the day and explored some of the various aspects of the European Parliament located in Brussels. Because the EU is headquartered in Brussels, the city has a very unique feel to it…most people who live in Brussels are not actually Belgian but are living there from elsewhere in Europe. We also found the Royal Palace in our wanderings around the city which was absolutely beautiful. An interesting note about the streets in Brussels…they’re set up on a circular pattern so when I say we were wandering the streets we were literally wandering the streets! We learned pretty quickly that we shouldn’t try to do anything in the city without first consulting our map! We also took some time in Brussels to take advantage of their delicacies…Belgian waffles, Belgian fries and, of course, Belgian chocolate!
Later in the day, after all of our exploring, we were once again back at the train station and on our way to Paris!
Picking up where we left off...In Amsterdam
Sorry we kind of left you hanging on the last blog! As Drew mentioned, we arrived in Amsterdam early Saturday morning (of our spring break trip). We checked into our hostel and headed out to explore the city for the day. We spent most of the first day just wandering the streets lining the canals and the main city centre. We went to the sex museum because we were told that it was the thing to see in Amsterdam…it was interesting but not as great as all the hype, unless you’re really into pornography from the 19th century!
Our second day in Amsterdam was a full day of being tourists…absolutely wonderful. Drew decided that we should start our day off at the zoo so we headed to Artis Zoo in the centre of Amsterdam and spent some time with the animals! We were able to catch the feeding times for the seals and the crocodiles although we couldn’t see anything that was happening with the crocodile because it was so crowded. After the zoo we headed off to the Heineken Experience to learn all about the way that Heineken beer is brewed. It was a really neat brewery…they have a ‘ride’ where you get brewed as a Heineken beer which is pretty fun. Then, afterwards, they allow you to sample some Heineken and teach you the true art of drinking it. Not being a beer drinker myself, I’m not sure I got the most out of the taste testing. At the same time, I’m not one to pass up something free so after three free Heineken’s at the brewery we headed back into the city for a giggly (on my part) afternoon. After checking out the small garden at the Rijkmuseum we headed to Max Epstein for live, outdoor, giant chess. We sat and watched the chess match for a while (it was pretty intense) and then set off again to continue our day’s adventures. We were in search of the narrowest house in Amsterdam and ended up getting terribly lost in our attempt to find it. We eventually found the house…it’s hard to believe how narrow it actually was! In our wanderings throughout the city we discovered many different parts of Amsterdam’s red light district. Apparently, the red light district is fast disappearing; just last year about a third of the windows were shut down because the women working them were found to be illegal immigrants. Later that evening we went to the Anne Frank museum which was incredibly moving. It is the actual building that Anne Frank and her family hid out in during World War II…it was hard to imagine the life that the Frank family must have lived while cooped up in that house. After the Anne Frank museum and on our way back to the hostel we stopped off at this little amusement park thing. Our intention was really just to get some neat pictures but we were lucky enough to meet the number one rapper in Holland! I can’t even remember his name but he explained to us that he had the number one song on Holland radio at the time…something about ‘shake that booty’(??). Ended up not buying his CD (even though he was offering us quite the bargain)…probably kick myself for that one later when he’s excepting his grammy!!
Our last day in Amsterdam was pretty crummy weather. We spent the majority of our day (we only had a half day in Amsterdam) doing a free walking tour of the city. The particular tour company that we went with is really cool and they have tours in cities all over Europe. The tour is completely free so they’re just working for tips which means you always get a really interesting, entertaining tour. We had a great guide from New York who shared the history of Amsterdam with us, mixing in plenty of humor along the way. One of the sites that she pointed out along our tour and really recommended returning to was the Cannabis College and, you guessed it, it was free so, after the tour, we headed back to learn some more about one of the most famous parts of Amsterdam’s culture. We learned all about the double standards of the Netherland’s laws regarding cannabis…you’re allowed to possess it but not grow it, etc. We also learned all about growing cannabis…you know, just the basic life survival skills! After Cannabis College we headed back to the train station and were on our way to Brussels!
Our second day in Amsterdam was a full day of being tourists…absolutely wonderful. Drew decided that we should start our day off at the zoo so we headed to Artis Zoo in the centre of Amsterdam and spent some time with the animals! We were able to catch the feeding times for the seals and the crocodiles although we couldn’t see anything that was happening with the crocodile because it was so crowded. After the zoo we headed off to the Heineken Experience to learn all about the way that Heineken beer is brewed. It was a really neat brewery…they have a ‘ride’ where you get brewed as a Heineken beer which is pretty fun. Then, afterwards, they allow you to sample some Heineken and teach you the true art of drinking it. Not being a beer drinker myself, I’m not sure I got the most out of the taste testing. At the same time, I’m not one to pass up something free so after three free Heineken’s at the brewery we headed back into the city for a giggly (on my part) afternoon. After checking out the small garden at the Rijkmuseum we headed to Max Epstein for live, outdoor, giant chess. We sat and watched the chess match for a while (it was pretty intense) and then set off again to continue our day’s adventures. We were in search of the narrowest house in Amsterdam and ended up getting terribly lost in our attempt to find it. We eventually found the house…it’s hard to believe how narrow it actually was! In our wanderings throughout the city we discovered many different parts of Amsterdam’s red light district. Apparently, the red light district is fast disappearing; just last year about a third of the windows were shut down because the women working them were found to be illegal immigrants. Later that evening we went to the Anne Frank museum which was incredibly moving. It is the actual building that Anne Frank and her family hid out in during World War II…it was hard to imagine the life that the Frank family must have lived while cooped up in that house. After the Anne Frank museum and on our way back to the hostel we stopped off at this little amusement park thing. Our intention was really just to get some neat pictures but we were lucky enough to meet the number one rapper in Holland! I can’t even remember his name but he explained to us that he had the number one song on Holland radio at the time…something about ‘shake that booty’(??). Ended up not buying his CD (even though he was offering us quite the bargain)…probably kick myself for that one later when he’s excepting his grammy!!
Our last day in Amsterdam was pretty crummy weather. We spent the majority of our day (we only had a half day in Amsterdam) doing a free walking tour of the city. The particular tour company that we went with is really cool and they have tours in cities all over Europe. The tour is completely free so they’re just working for tips which means you always get a really interesting, entertaining tour. We had a great guide from New York who shared the history of Amsterdam with us, mixing in plenty of humor along the way. One of the sites that she pointed out along our tour and really recommended returning to was the Cannabis College and, you guessed it, it was free so, after the tour, we headed back to learn some more about one of the most famous parts of Amsterdam’s culture. We learned all about the double standards of the Netherland’s laws regarding cannabis…you’re allowed to possess it but not grow it, etc. We also learned all about growing cannabis…you know, just the basic life survival skills! After Cannabis College we headed back to the train station and were on our way to Brussels!
Tuesday 7 April 2009
Newcastle and the Cruise
First of all I would like to apologize for how long this took us to update our blog. We will be writing a series of blogs to cut down on the length of what it would be if we wrote about all of spring break in one blog.
On Thursday night we stayed in Newcastle on someones couch. His name was Derek and he was an amazing host. We arrived around 8:30pm and he met us at the train station. We stopped by a pool hall in the City Center and had a few drinks and played a couple of games of pool. It was fun because he had some different rules. When you scratch the your opponent gets two shots no matter whether you make one on the first shot or not. Also if you completely miss your balls you get three free shots. It was a lot of fun seeing a local pub that Kels and I would never of thought to go into. We got back to Derek's around 11:00 and then we stayed up and just talked for awhile.
The next morning we went into Newcastle City Center and just walked around. It was a very interesting city. I didn't reailze how big of a ctiy it was. After walking around for awhile we went to a free art museum that had contemporary art. You want to talk about some weird art. They had movies of people smoking for 8 minutes in a countinuous loop. Kels enjoyed it but I just thought it was a little boring. It was free so who cares.
We went back to Derek's to collect our stuff then headed out to the cruise ship. That was an interesting walk. We had to take a train to the small city that the cruise set off from and when we got there we followed the signs for the Ferry. Apparently it was the Passenger Ferry that got them across the river. We got there and then asked how to get to the Cruise ship and they said it was a little ways away. So we started to hoof it. By this time we only had about 30 minutes to get onto the ship before they stop checking people in. Pretty much we ran the whole way there. Finally when we got to the main enterance we saw all the poepl just leisurly walking up to the building where you check in. After all the running and panixing we found out that there wasn't any reason to be in a rush. There were about 200 people still in line to check in and the boat wasn't going to leave without all of them.
When we made it onto the ship we went down to our room and just rested for a little while. We headed up to the main deck to find where I could find a beer. We got there and the beer was 5.50 Euro, which is about $8. Kind of rediculous but when are we ever going to take a cruise to amsterdam again. So kels and I had a few drinks and watched a dancing show. After that was done we went to a more quit bar and sat and listened to a live band. Actually it was just one guy with an interesting accent trying to sing all of these american covers. It was a lot of fun and we were finally comfortable and on our way to Amsterdam.
We docked around 9:00am on Saturday morning. That was also interesting because we didn't realize we needed to pay for a bus into Amsterdam. We should have done a little more research but that wouldn't have been as much fun. We went up to the guy selling tickets asked how much it was and he said 16 pounds for both of us. I reached into my pockets and realized I didn't have any money. So we went off to find an ATM. Nothing in the docking station and they told us there wasn't one anywhere. So now we were trapped. No way to get back into the ship and no way to get into Amsterdam. I didn't know what happened to all of my money. I just figured I got pick pocketed but Kels will tell you more about that in this video.....
So that was our Crusie and now we are in Amsterdam......
On Thursday night we stayed in Newcastle on someones couch. His name was Derek and he was an amazing host. We arrived around 8:30pm and he met us at the train station. We stopped by a pool hall in the City Center and had a few drinks and played a couple of games of pool. It was fun because he had some different rules. When you scratch the your opponent gets two shots no matter whether you make one on the first shot or not. Also if you completely miss your balls you get three free shots. It was a lot of fun seeing a local pub that Kels and I would never of thought to go into. We got back to Derek's around 11:00 and then we stayed up and just talked for awhile.
The next morning we went into Newcastle City Center and just walked around. It was a very interesting city. I didn't reailze how big of a ctiy it was. After walking around for awhile we went to a free art museum that had contemporary art. You want to talk about some weird art. They had movies of people smoking for 8 minutes in a countinuous loop. Kels enjoyed it but I just thought it was a little boring. It was free so who cares.
We went back to Derek's to collect our stuff then headed out to the cruise ship. That was an interesting walk. We had to take a train to the small city that the cruise set off from and when we got there we followed the signs for the Ferry. Apparently it was the Passenger Ferry that got them across the river. We got there and then asked how to get to the Cruise ship and they said it was a little ways away. So we started to hoof it. By this time we only had about 30 minutes to get onto the ship before they stop checking people in. Pretty much we ran the whole way there. Finally when we got to the main enterance we saw all the poepl just leisurly walking up to the building where you check in. After all the running and panixing we found out that there wasn't any reason to be in a rush. There were about 200 people still in line to check in and the boat wasn't going to leave without all of them.
When we made it onto the ship we went down to our room and just rested for a little while. We headed up to the main deck to find where I could find a beer. We got there and the beer was 5.50 Euro, which is about $8. Kind of rediculous but when are we ever going to take a cruise to amsterdam again. So kels and I had a few drinks and watched a dancing show. After that was done we went to a more quit bar and sat and listened to a live band. Actually it was just one guy with an interesting accent trying to sing all of these american covers. It was a lot of fun and we were finally comfortable and on our way to Amsterdam.
We docked around 9:00am on Saturday morning. That was also interesting because we didn't realize we needed to pay for a bus into Amsterdam. We should have done a little more research but that wouldn't have been as much fun. We went up to the guy selling tickets asked how much it was and he said 16 pounds for both of us. I reached into my pockets and realized I didn't have any money. So we went off to find an ATM. Nothing in the docking station and they told us there wasn't one anywhere. So now we were trapped. No way to get back into the ship and no way to get into Amsterdam. I didn't know what happened to all of my money. I just figured I got pick pocketed but Kels will tell you more about that in this video.....
So that was our Crusie and now we are in Amsterdam......
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