Amsterdam Part 2 And My Last Week In Paris

Sorry it has taken so long for me to finally conclude my travel blog. It seems as though there is just as much to do after getting back from abroad as there is to do before going abroad. That, and I have been working almost non-stop since I got back. A week later, I finally have a few hours to myself to sit down and share the end of my trip with everyone who has been faithfully following it so far.

I'll start by finishing the weekend in Amsterdam. I woke up in the hostel in Amsterdam with a migraine from hell and the sun streaming in through the unusually large windows to torture me a little more. The sun always has a way of finding me when I have a migraine. But I was not going to let that get me down when I only had one last full day in Amsterdam. I took an Excedrin Migraine and dragged myself down three flights of stairs to the cafeteria of the hostel to take advantage of the free breakfast. I had a bowl of granola cereal, some bread and honey, and orange juice-flavored water. It hit the spot just as much as I expected a free hostel breakfast to, but by the time I had finished eating, my headache was almost gone (thank you, Excedrin).

Kaylin and I met up with Amanda in Dam Square at ten o'clock that morning. Right on Dam Square, there was a Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and with coupons that we had in a city guide from the hostel, admission was only 16 euros. So we went in, where we immediately had our picture taken with a wax figure of Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean (which we didn't buy since it cost 8 euros, yuck). Then we were shuffled onto an elevator with about sixteen other people and taken up to the next level. As soon as we stepped off of the elevator, we were greeted by a giant wax figure (it had to have been 30 feet tall), that was a seventeenth-century Dutchman who was made of all of the symbols of Holland, such as windmills, tulips, clogs, and pilgrim-like attire. There was a little show put on (yes, this giant thing talked, which didn't help with the creepiness factor) about the history of Holland during its golden age. There was an exhibit that took up one whole floor of the museum that was a reconstruction of Amsterdam in the 1600s, which was really interesting. It had wax dolls dressed up in the fashions of the time. They looked a lot like the pilgrims who first colonized the Americas at Plymouth, because the pilgrims actually moved from England to Holland before setting off for the New World. Then we walked around the corner and suddenly we were in a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed horror house. I was not prepared for a horror house when I went into the wax museum. I assumed that I would see celebrities, take some cool pictures, and walk around in a museum where people did not jump out covered in stage blood and grab me or get in my face. So I was especially unprepared when the latter did occur. I was at the very front of the group of about sixteen people or so, when I walked into a room that was designed to look like the pirate prison from the movies. I went up to a wax figure of a female pirate was was looking at it, when out of nowhere, a man jumps out screaming, which of course made me scream and start running. That is apparently what they want you to do, because the guy started chasing me around making growling noises and getting really close to my face. He had dreaded hair and his face was covered in stage blood and black grease... he was so scary! Once I figured out what was going on, I started laughing and he went to harrass some other people. As we went through the horror house, some rooms had walls made completely of mirrors, and since I was at the front of the line, I was the idiot who had to keep walking into mirrors for a few minutes before finding the exit. One room had a person in a jail cell who was banging chains up against the bars of the cell and I thought that he was locked in and wouldn't jump out at me. But as soon as I felt comfortable, he jumped out of a door that I hadn't seen and I screamed and ran. This part of the museum went on way longer than my nerves could really handle and by the time it was over, I was ready to go into a room where that wouldn't happen. Finally we made it to the good part. I saw Elvis, Bob Marley, Freddy Mercury, David Bowie, The Spice Girls, Justin Timberlake, James Bond, Humphrey Bogart, Mona Lisa, and even the Pope. It was over too soon, and the last room was the gift shop (how thoughtful of them!).

After the wax museum, the three of us did a little shopping which is always a lot of fun. We randomly ran into Russ' cousin Drew and a few of his friends, so we all went out to lunch together at a little cafe near Dam Square. After a quick lunch, we split and Amanda, Kaylin and I went off on our museum quest. We jumped on the tram and headed straight for the famous Rijksmuseum, which houses a lot of artwork from artist Rembrant. My experience at this museum wasn't that great. It had some wonderful artwork and I enjoyed what I saw, but most of the museum was closed due to renovations. There was only one wing open and we were in and out of the museum in a little over an hour, which was a tease compared to the Louvre (which I went to four times and still didn't see everything because it was so big). And since most of the museum was closed down, you'd think they would charge a reduced price. But no. It still costs over ten euros to get in, with no student discounts! I was not very happy.

After the somewhat disappointing Rijksmuseum, we ran into a stand that sold ice cream, waffles, and crepes. The estrogen in me was crying out for chocolate, so I had to indulge. I got a waffle topped with hot fudge and it was probably the most amazing thing that I have ever eaten. I could have eaten about ten more. It was probably my favorite thing in Amsterdam.

But right next door to the Rijksmuseum was the Van Gogh museum, and I was really excited about that. It costs 12.50 euros to get in (no student discount, ugh), but the entire museum was open and full of hundreds of original artwork from Vincent Van Gogh himself. It was extraordinary and well worth the cost to see all of the amazing paintings he did. There were a lot that I was very familiar with, but there were a lot that I had never seen before. He experimented a lot with different styles, and even did a lot of Japanese-style artwork. He is best-known for his impressionist paintings, all of which were beautiful.

After a long day of shopping and museum-hopping, we were hungry, so we walked through town looking for a place that had good food for affordable prices. We finally settled on an Italian place along one of the big canals that carved through the city. I had a Heineken that cost four euros but was still cheaper than pop, and some of the best lasagne that I've ever had.

When we finished dinner, we took a cruise through the city in the canals. It was amazing, and gave a unigue perspective of the city. It lasted about and hour and only cost seven euros, so it was well worth the trip. It took us through the oldest parts of the city, the parts of town that were the wealthiest when built, the old Jewish quarter, and even into the harbor. It was the perfect time to take a canal cruise, too. The sun was setting, but it wasn't dark. It was cool and breezy without being cold and the boat took us through the city in a slow, leisurely fashion.

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the city, shopping and occasionally getting lost (that's what we get for not having a Rick Steve's Amsterdam book!). It was a lot of fun and we got to see more of the city than I expected. The canals were beautiful and it was fun to watch the boats flow lazily by and to walk along the cobblestone streets just like people have been doing for hundreds of years in Amsterdam. There were trees all along the canals and rows upon rows of bicycles. I'm sure there are more bicycles than vehicles in Amsterdam, and the bikes are more dangerous than the vehicles. The drivers in Amsterdam are really laid-back in comparison to Parisian drivers, but walk across the bike paths at your own risk. And keep your ears open for the little ding ding of the bicycle bells that tell you to move or be moved, or you will get run over. I was more cautious of the bikes than the cars.

Before my trip to Holland, a few people asked me about Dutch food, and I wasn't really sure what to tell them. I didn't know what would be considered Dutch food myself. So I did some investigating and the only things I could really find that seemed more emphasized than other culinary delights were pancakes and waffles, as well as beer of course (Heineken is brewed in Amsterdam - I saw the brewery with my own eyes!). Pancakes stands were everywhere. If you often find yourself walking down the street and craving pancakes, Holland is the place for you! Pancakes stands are like the hot dog stands of Holland. Of course, there were oddly a lot of hot dog stands there too, so maybe that's a bad analogy. But you get the point.

The next morning, we got up and caught our train with out any problems are arrived in Paris at the same time that the first cyclists from the Tour de France were rolling at top speed up the Champs-Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe to complete their race.

And thus began my last week in France. I must say that I really enjoyed my time in France and I was very opposed to leaving. I love Paris and everything about it. People keep asking me what the best part of Paris was, and I honestly can't boil it down to one thing. And there is only one thing that I didn't like about Paris: the lack of elevators. But when my legs were nice and toned at the end of the month, I even came to love the lack of elevators in Paris. I feel like my personality really fits Paris too, because people aren't in-you-face friendly, but they are helpful when you need them. I never had anyone treat me disrespectfully or insult me because I don't speak French fluently or because I am an American. Even if I said something incorrectly or was having trouble saying something, they weren't mean or rude; they always tried to help the best they could and eventually we would find some level of understanding. Anyone who says that the French hate Americans or treat Americans poorly has never been to France or dealt with a French person. In every store I went in, they were playing American music over the P.A., and in every theater they were playing at least one or two American movies (I saw Kung-Fu Panda in Paris!), and they eat some American foods. They have McDonalds and Starbucks everywhere (although all McDonalds advertisements have a disclaimer like our Surgeon General's warning, and they have stricter regulations on how food can be processed in France, so it is a little healthier). But they still have their own unique culture of cafes and farmer's markets, and small bakeries, and they are the most fashionable people on the planet, make no doubt of that. In truth, I found that the French aren't all that different from Americans.

I will miss a lot of things about Paris:

1. The metro! Every city needs a subway system. It is so efficient and it is pathetic that American cities have not adopted this efficient form of public transportation. For all of you Cincinnatians, if Cincy had a subway like Paris' metro, you could get from Eastgate to Downtown in twenty minutes. And you don't have to pay for gas! Why don't we have this again?
2. The smell of fresh bread baking at the patisserie every morning when I walk out my door.
3. Great shopping around every corner. It wouldn't be Paris if it didn't have a department store or clothing boutique every fifty meters.
4. Cafes. It's more about the atmosphere. You can get a table outside on the sidewalk and people watch all day long or eaves-drop on peoples' conversations.
5. Chocolate. It is so much richer in Europe than in America. Their regular chocolate is like our dark chocolate in richness. Their dark chocolate was just too rich for me.
6. Good, cheap wine. It's made right there in France, so it is really cheap, and authentic.
7. The Louvre. My Friday night ritual in Paris was to spend at least four hours at the Louvre, and I already miss it. I could spend days at a time in the Louvre. If you are going to Paris, absolutely DO NOT miss the Louvre.
8. Speaking French!
9. Having a different museum for practically every weekend of the year! No other city compares to Paris in culture. There are so many cultural activities happening every single day all over the city. Museums, theatre, opera, musicals, art, bookstores on every corner, and music everywhere from bars and cafes to the metro. It is impossible to be bored in this city.
10. The Parks. There were parks and quiet places all over the city where you could get away from urban life for a few hours everyday. There were old men playing chess and boules while sipping on wine, people relaxing in the sun doing crossword puzzles or reading, children playing, and just Parisians at leisure.
11. How clean the city is. Paris is one of the cleanest cities I've ever been to. There are green trash bags every fifty feet or so, and yellow trash cans for recyclables. Parisians take care of their city.
12. How safe the city is. Most of Paris felt very safe and I never felt threatened walking around at night or in the daytime. The metro can be a little shady at night time (a lot of homeless people sleep there at night), but there are always people around. I have been to some shady areas of town (quite by accident), but it was nowhere near as dangerous as taking a wrong turn in downtown Cincinnati or Detroit.

I loved Paris and I definitely plan on going back someday. Hopefully next time I will be going to stay. Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope I've kept you entertained while keeping you posted on my trip!

Au revoir!

Adventures (And Misadventures) in Amsterdam

I finally have a few moments to sit down and write about my weekend in Amsterdam, so I will take advantage of it. Amsterdam is an amazing city with something for just about anyone from the regular touris, to the art connoisseur, and even the utter sleeze-ball. Amsterdam is the only place that can mix high culture with blantant debauchery within the same city. It is the most unique city I've ever traveled to.

Friday morning, I woke up ready to embark on my journey to a new city and a new country. I barely slept the night before, I was so excited. Kaylin, Amanda, and I took the metro to the train station, and boarded the train to Amsterdam. The four-hour train ride was relaxing and the scenery was beautiful. The train went through northern France and into Belgium, where we stopped in Brussels and Antwerp (an important WWII site). As the train sped through the country side, farm-checkered Belgium turned into windmill-speckled Holland, where we stopped in Rotterdam and the Hague before finally arriving in Amsterdam.

I stepped off the train and into a different world. Throughout the train station, absolutely nothing was in English. Everything was in Dutch. I figured that they would have everything in a few key languages, such as English, French and German, but they stuck with Dutch. So we wandered around the train station for around twenty minutes trying to figure out where we were supposed to go. We couldn't even find the bathroom, because we didn't know what any of the signs said. Eventually we found the information desk with people who spoke English. Our first order of business was to find the tram that would take us into the city and to our hostel.

They pointed us in the right direction where we finally made it out of the stubbornly Dutch train station. We were immediately greeted by people who were there to help travelers with the tram system. The trams are the primary system of public transportation in Amsterdam, and they are quite efficient. I personally like the metro better, but the tram was great, too. We talked to a guy (in English!) who told us which tram we needed to get to our hostel, and where we needed to purchase our weekend unlimited tram pass. After buying our tram passes, we had our first of many misadventures involving the tram.

We hopped on the correct tram and had our passes validated, then sat down for the ride. Remember how I said that Europe doesn't do air-conditioning? The trams were no exception. It was so hot and stuffy, I thought I would suffocate. But watching the city rolled by my window more than made up for it. There were so many shops and cafes and interesting looking places, as well as amazing Dutch architecture. Forgetting about the oppressive heat, the fact that I was acutally in Amsterdam was sinking in. Something I had dreamed about for years was right before my very eyes, surrounding me. It was such an awesome feeling. I was shaken from my reverie by the annoucement that we were approaching the stop at which I needed to exit. The annoucements were completely in Dutch, but fortunately there was an electronic sign that showed the names of the stops. Otherwise, I would have never even know we were there. Kaylin, Amanda, and I gathered our bags and made our way to the door of the tram. But right as we made it to the door of the tram, the tram started moving again. Apparently we took too long. We just chuckled to ourselves. We could just get off at the next stop. In theory.

As it approached the next stop, we were ready to walk out the door. If only we could get it open. We must have looked like a bunch of cave men poking and banging on some unfamiliar technology, because no matter what we tried, that door did not budge. Before we had a chance to figure it out, the tram started moving again. This time it turned a corner and went a long way before it actually stopped again. When it did stop again, fortunately someone else was getting off at that stop as well and we just followed them. Apparently there is a button on the handle that you have to press to open the doors (who knew?). So we got off at this stop, not really knowing where we were. Our hostel was a few blocks away from the original tram stop anyway, so now we were really lost. Where is Rick Steves when we need him?

I pulled out my map of Amsterdam (not Rick Steves, which would have been better), and we sat down on a bench to try to figure out where in the hell we were. We looked up and saw the Van Gogh Museum across the street, which is a land mark that was easily identifiable on the map. Once we found that on the map, we were able to figure out where we were and how to get where we were going. Our hostel was about a twenty minute walk away (no easy feat when toting luggage), but we finally made it.

Kaylin and I checked in and everything was fine with that. But our friend Amanda realized that she had checked into the other Stayokay in Amsterdam (there are two), which was on the other side of town. So Kaylin and I put our things in our room before going to find Amanda's hostel. Our room had twenty beds, all bunkbeds, and all girls. I had the bottom bunk (which I much prefer). It was on the fourth floor, but I had the luxury of an elevator (which I haven't had in a month!). The room overlooked Vondelpark, which is the central park of Amsterdam, so it was a beautiful view.

After unpacking, the three of us sat down and tried to figure out which tram we needed to take to get to Amanda's hostel. It didn't take long and we headed toward the tram. Once we got on the tram, we knew we had a long ride, so we just scoped out the scenery. But after a few minutes, we started to get the feeling we weren''t going in the right direction. It was getting more industrial by the minute, so we knew we had done something wrong. We got off the tram and immediately realized we had stepped into a rather unfamiliar side of town, and it was a little dodgy....

We looked on the map and saw where we needed to go and we started walking. Quickly. We wandered around the area for about half an hour to forty-five minutes before finally finding what we were looking for: the road that Amanda's hostel was on. And it was a much less shady area than the one that we were in previously, thank goodness. She checked into her hostel, then we got back on the tram (the right one this time) and made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe, because we were starving.

Hard Rock Cafe was great. It was the first American food I'd had in a month, and they had a two-for-one cocktail special that we indulged in. I got the twisted macaroni and it was amazing. There wasn't a gift shop though, which was disappointing because I wanted to get a t-shirt.

After eating, we went to Anne Frank House, which was a really great thing to see. I have read Anne Frank's diary twice, which made it that much more interesting. To see the place that she had to hide with seven other people for two years, completely in fear of being discovered by the Nazis was a chilling experience. They had black-out curtains over the windows, so it was dark and cold even though it was really warm outside. Imagine being cooped up in such a small place for that long and never being to go outside or make any noise or even just feel safe. And Anne was 12 - 13 years old when she was in hiding here, so she couldn't even be a child while here. She and her family were eventually discovered by the Nazis and Anne and all of her family, except her father, died while in the Nazi concentration camps. Anne was only thirteen, and died a few weeks after her mother and sister were killed. She didn't even know that her father was still alive. Two months after her death, all the surviving jews were freed from the concentration camps by the Allies and the war was over.

After the moving experience at Anne Frank House, we walked around town, taking pictures and looking in little boutiques until night fell. Then we made our way over to the Red Light District. Night time is oddly the safest time to go to the Red Light District, because there are so many tourists and such. It was a very strange place, somewhere that was interesting to see once, but that was enough for me. They had prostitutes that would sit in the windows in bikinis or lingerie, with neon lights and black lights illuminating them. They would randomly point to the men as they walked by and try to get them to buy them. There were people who would stand outside of the strip clubs and try to get people to go in and see the show. The guy at one place was announcing that they had student discounts with a student ID. Apparenly you get student discounts at strip clubs in Amsterdam, but not at the museums (not one single museum had a student discount!).

During the walk through the Red Light District, Kaylin ran into a light post and hurt her head, so we headed back to the dorms. I was so tired from the long day that I fell asleep around midnight, but I didn't really sleep well.

Part Two is coming up shortly in the next blog. Its lunch time.

My Last Weekend In Europe

Bonjour!

This is sadly my last weekend in Europe, but it will be a very exciting one because I am traveling to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands! It will be my first time traveling to a country in which I don't speak a word of the language, so it should be especially interesting. Dutch is the primary language in the Netherlands, but most of the Dutch speak English fluently. Also, fun fact: Dutch is the closest language to English, linguistically. Both Dutch and English are Germanic languages, which have a lot in common with German and Scandinavian languages such as Swedish and Norwegian. I think that Dutch sounds more like English than it looks like English.

Kaylin and I are going, as well as several of the girls from the Auburn group, so there will be a big group of us girls. We plan to see Anne Frank's House (which is now a museum), Rijksmuseum (a very famous art museum), Van Gogh Museum, The Cannabis College, and perhaps even take a canal boat tour through the city.

I won't have my computer with me, unfortunately, so I won't be posting another blog until Sunday night at the earliest, after I return.

Bon week-end!

Grand Palaces and Half-Timbered Buildings

What at long, wonderful weekend.

Saturday, I went to the Palace of Versailles. Dr. Morris and a group of about eight of us girls from the Auburn group left the residence hall around nine o'clock in the morning and took the metro to the RER station (the RER are the trains that serve the Ile-de-France, the province where Paris is). But when we got to the RER station, it was closed. It took us forever to figure out what we had to do, but we eventually found a metro employee who could point us in the right direction. Unfortunately, the right direction was to the complete other side of town, because we had to take the metro about thirty minutes away to find an RER that would take us to Versailles. The train ride to Versailles itself was only about twenty minutes, but it took so long to figure out the detour that it ended up taking two hours to get there.

But Versailles was beautiful! The palace was really cool, but I liked the gardens much better. After about three rooms in the palace, you kind of get the point: they were rich and like gold. Every room is coated in unbelievable amount of gold. Its almost like everything there was either made of gold or had gold on it. And of course, every room had its fair share of royal portraits and such. The best part of the palace was the Hall of Mirrors, which was unbelievably gorgeous. It was a long hallway with a eighteen windows on the right, and eighteen mirrors across from the windows to create a lot of light and a great view in any direction. There were huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in front of ever window as well. The ceiling and walls were painted in gold. It was incredible.

All that said, I was way more impressed by (or maybe just interested in) the gardens. The estate was extensive, with flowers, large shrubbery, fountains, and a large canal built right in the center. Every inch of the estate was so well manicured; I can't imagine how much time and money was put into it. Not to mention I now understand why it cost 26 euros to get in, too. The most interesting part was Marie Antoinette's estate. She had her own "little" cottage that was actually bigger than any house I've ever lived in, as well as her own gardens and a little village that was built just for her to play in. She was married when she was fourteen, and she liked to play in the village with her friends. There was a pond there and even a fully-equipped farm that was tended to by servants. This girl had it all!

I also had the best chocolate ice cream cone I've ever had in my life at Versailles. The chocolate was so rich and sweet that it tasted like chocolate pudding, but more frozen, like ice cream. It was the best three euros I've spent so far!

We were there for about six hours, just wandering through the gardens (and getting lost). Dr. Morris didn't go into Versailles because he had been there about a million times, so we met him outside of Versailles at five o'clock that evening. We were late because we got lost at least twice just on our way back from Marie Antoinette's village. That, and we kept getting distracted. Dr. Morris was waiting for us at the gate, but there were still a few other people who hadn't yet shown. Four other girls and I were worried that we would be late for dinner back at the residence hall, so we left by ourselves to catch the train. Fortunately, our train was waiting for us when we got there, so we didn't have to stand around and wait. But when we got on the train, we didn't know if we were actually on the right train. There wasn't anything that identified the train as being the one that was going to Paris, and a bunch of other passengers were confused as well. But there was no other train at the station, so we stayed on that one. Apparently it was the right one though because we ended up in Paris.

After a long Saturday, Kaylin and I woke up at six o'clock in the morning on Sunday to get ready for our day trip to Strasbourg. We thought we'd given ourselves plenty of time, but when we got on the metro to head to the train station, we realized that we were running late. As soon as the metro pulled into the train station, we had to run-run-rudolph all the way to the quai to catch our train in time. It felt like Home Alone all over again. But we made it with a few minutes to spare, and before we knew it, the train was rolling toward the German border.

The train ride was great. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, with rolling hills and forests, and checker boards of farmland as far as the eye could see. Occasionally the train would pass a tiny French village, most little more than a tall gray church spire peaking out over a huddled patch of orange roof tops. At one point I saw the remnants of an old stone castle clinging to the edges of a tree-covered hill. When traveling, I enjoy the journey just as much as the destination, and this trip was certainly no exception.

As the train approached Strasbourg, we came first to the industrial part of the city. In Europe, the wealthy people usually live in the inner city, and poorer people live in the outskirts of the city and in the suburbs (le banlieu), as opposed to in America where poorer people live in the inner cities and more affluent families live in the suburbs. It is really expensive to live downtown here, no matter where you are. The outskirts of Strasbourg looked like the outskirts of Paris, with a lot of factories and tall modern apartment buildings. But as the train moved closer to the center of the city, it became more quaint. At this point, I still wasn't sure what to expect. The train arrived at the train station in Strasbourg right on time (to the minute), and as soon as we walked outside of the train station, I knew I was going to love Strasbourg.

There was a big open plaza, with open lawns surrounded by tall, colorful buildings. To find out where we needed to go, I consulted my Rick Steves book (probably the most valuable thing I brought with me to Europe) and found the road immediately. It was an old medieval street, evident by the fact that it was cobblestone and had barely enough room for one car to drive down (believe me, they still tried). It was only 9:30 in the morning, so it was very peaceful and quiet. There were only a few other people out in the town and few cars at all. I haven't heard quiet like that in a really long time. I was strolling down the street taking in every inch of the city, breathing in the scent of fresh bread and feeling the bumpy cobblestone beneath my feet, when the river Ille opened up before me, a wide stone bridge traversing the green waters below. All along the river were colorful, half-timbered houses with beautiful flowers of bright summer colors cascading from window boxes. They looked like ginger bread houses all sitting in a row.

Kaylin and I followed the map into the heart of Strasbourg, looking for the Strasbourg Cathedral, where we would begin our journey through the city. After about twenty minutes of walking, we knew we must have been close because the further into the city we walked, the older the buildings got, and we were definitely in the medieval quarter. We made it to Gutenberg Plaza, where there is a giant copper statue of Johann Gutenberg, who invented the printing press in 1440, right here in Strasbourg! So as you're reading this blog, thank Johann Gutenberg, because without his revolutionary invention, you would not be reading this blog until I dictated this story to a monk or scribe, who would then spend a few years handwriting one copy of my blog. Not to mention the time it would take to get to all of you in the States. So thanks, Johann Gutenberg, for creating a more expedient way to produce literature (without which I would surely die of boredom)!

It was while we were standing on the corner in Gutenberg Plaza looking at the map in Rick Steves' book that I stumbled upon an amazing sight. I was looking for a street sign to say what street we were on, when I turned my head to the left, and oh, what a sight. I saw the largest, darkest medieval cathedral I have ever seen, standing proudly at the end of a tight, cobblestone lane, lined with medieval half-timbered buildings. It was astonishing. It was built with red stone that had slowly started turning black over the years. Its pointy bell tower stretched into the sky, with gargoyles staring menacingly back at me.

"Uh, Kaylin," was all I was able to say, as I pointed in the direction of the cathedral. "I think we've found Strasbourg Cathedral."

We tilted our heads toward the sky to try to take in all of the cathedral as we walked down the cobblestone lane, past the cafes and gift shops that were still in a deep Sunday morning slumber. We walked on with the sound of church bells telling us it was ten o'clock, until we reached the 2,000 year-old Roman square on which the cathedral was built. The square, unlike the rest of the city, was teaming with life. Locals rushing to the cathedral for morning mass, tourists taking pictures and gazing up at the incredible building before them. Construction began on Strasbourg Cathedral in 1015 A.D., but it wasn't completed until 1439. It was the tallest building in the world from 1647 until 1874. The building was way bigger than Notre Dame de Paris, and far more impressive.

Morning mass was going on inside the church and we were allowed to sit in and watch for a little while. I had never been to a Catholic church or a mass before, so it was an interesting experience. It was completely in French, so I wasn't really sure what was going on most of the time (not that I would have known what was going on if it were in English, either), but it was really interesting to watch. The inside of the cathedral was a lot like Notre Dame de Paris: Gothic architecture, high ceilings, stained-glass windows everywhere. We didn't stay long because we had a lot we wanted to do.

We left and followed Rue Rohan to the river where we bought tickets for a boat tour of the city. We got really good seats on the boat, and a few minutes later, we left on our seventy minutes tour of Strasbourg. There were earphones in every seat that you could listen to for information on everything around you. When I first put the earphones on, it was all in German. I listened to the tour in German for about five minutes before I realized that I could change the channels and find it in English. When I finally did find English, it was an Irish man who was speaking, which was unexpected by definitely okay with me. I actually found myself paying more attention because of the Irish accent.

I was able to see so much of the city from the boat and it was absolutely beautiful. The river was lined with trees and of course the gorgeous medieval half-timbered buildings that are everywhere in Strasbourg. There is so much history in the city, too. Having been juggled between Germany and France for several centuries, it is a great mix. I felt like it has all the best things from both cultures. You could walk down the street and smell sour kraut cooking while people sit outside at cafes sipping on wine. The dialect there was very strange... it really threw me off, as someone who is still learning standard French. I was especially thrown off when someone said "Bon-shor-uh!" It took me a few seconds to realize that they were saying "Bonjour." It was like how Germans speak French, I guess.

After the boat ride, we took a walk throughout the city. We stopped at the archaeological museum in Rohan Palace, where we spent about an hour looking over old bones and skulls, and all kinds of ancient artifacts from the Alsace region (the region where Strasbourg is). It chronicled the history of Alsace from prehistoric times to the nineteenth century A.D. The even had a Neanderthal skull! After the museum, we made our way to La Petite France, where there is the biggest concentration of half-timbered houses and little sidewalk cafes. It is the oldest part of the city and it is called La Petite France because it has always been the French part of the city no matter what country happened to own the city at the time (kind of like China Town in New York or San Francisco).

We walked around for several hours along the river and through some of the non-touristy neighborhoods before deciding to find some food. We made our way back to the Roman square on which Strasbourg Cathedral stands, and found a decently priced cafe that served good food. I ordered a Kronenberg, which has brewed right there in Strasbourg for centuries so it was extra special, and a croque monsieur, which is a toasted ham sandwich with melted cheese on top and in the middle. It was incredible. It also came with a salad that had a delicious house dressing on it. I have no idea what it was, but it was delicious.

We had to leave right after dinner to make our way back to the train station. We walked twenty minutes back to where we first started our Strasbourg experience. The square was much more lively in front of the train station that evening than it was in the morning when we had first arrived. There were travelers and backpackers everywhere, some eating and some laying down in the grass with their heads on their backpacks, fast asleep. Many of them were traveling with dogs, who lay in the grass beside their person and watched all of the people walk by. Kaylin and I sat down too, to take a break from hours of walking. I didn't want to leave Strasbourg quite yet. I felt like their was so much more I wanted to see, but our train was leaving soon.

This time we didn't have to run to catch our train, thankfully. It was waiting for us when we got to the quai, and we hopped on and found our seats. The train left the station about fifteen minutes late and we headed back to Paris.

When the ticket checker came around to check our tickets, I had an interesting conversation with him. He was an older French man, with an interesting sense of humor.

"What part of America are you from?" he asked, a warm smile crinkling the skin around his eyes.

"Cincinnati, Ohio," I told him.

"And you are studying in France?"

"Yes, we're studying in Paris for a month," I responded.

"How do you like Paris?" he asked.

I gave him a big smile. "I love Paris! I don't want to leave!"

"Good, good," he said, looking at my passport. "You are called Marie Simpson?"

I nodded, wondering why he asked.

"I will look for you on television, then," he told me, with a big smile.

"On television?" I asked, wondering what in the world he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"The television show, The Simpsons," he said with a laugh. "My son loves that show very much."

I started cracking up. I never would have expected someone in France to connect my name with the American cartoon, The Simpsons. I haven't heard that joke at home since I was in elementary school, so it was such a surprise to hear.

He moved on to check the other passengers' tickets, then came back to my seat and said, "My name is Heinz, you know, like the ketchup."

The French have a really good sense of humor.

We made it back into Paris around nine o'clock that night and I was too tired to do anything but take a shower and go to sleep. It was such a great weekend!

Enfin, le week-end est ici!

Bonjour tout le monde!

The weekend is finally here! I have a really fun (and busy) weekend planned, so I thought I would give you the heads-up on where I will be going.

Tomorrow, I will be going to Versailles with the group from Auburn. Versailles is the grand palace built by Louis XIV in the second half of the 1600s, after he moved the capital of France from Paris to Versailles. It is one of the largest palaces in Europe, and consequently one of the most expensive. It is about forty-five minutes outside of Paris by train, and the group will be leaving tomorrow around 9 am.

Sunday, Kaylin and I are taking a day trip to the city of Strasbourg, which is a city that sits on the border between France and Germany. It is about a two-and-a-half hour train ride west of Paris in the province of Alsace. I am more excited about this than Versailles because I've been wanting to go to Strasbourg for a long time. There is a lot of German influence there since it has been tossed between Germany and France for centuries, so the culture is an interesting mix of French and German. Even the language is different. The people there speak a dialect of German called Alsacian, in addition to French. I am so excited to see this city and the culture there. I'm honestly not really sure what to expect, which is the best part!

Tonight Kaylin and I are going back to the Louvre for the fourth time. We go every friday night because it is free for students. We still have a lot of ground to cover, but I think we have been to more than half of the museum by now. Before we go to the Louvre, we will go to Jardin Tuileries, which is a huge park across the street from the Louvre. There is one of the biggest ferris wheels I've ever seen right on the bank of the Seine, which sounds kind of scary but this city has really gotten me used to heights, so I think I'll be okay. The Place de la Concorde is also right next to Jardin Tuileries, so we will go there as well. The Place de la Concorde is where King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded during the French Revolution. It is full of history!

I am so excited about this weekend!

The Notre Dame de Paris

I finally made it to Notre Dame today. The Auburn group went together to see it when we first got here, on the day that I was sick, so I didn't get to go. But today after class and a baguette, Kaylin and I took the metro up to Ile de la Cité to visit this 900-year-old cathedral. It was very impressive in size, architecture and beauty. It is huge on the outside, but the outside doesn't really prepare you for how big it is on the inside. On the inside, it looks like it is so much bigger. All of the stone arches draw your eyes immediately to the ceiling if the cathedral, where the arches meet in a triangular shape. It is an incredibly humbling feeling to be in such a large building and to feel so small in comparison.

More than anything, I was blown away by how old the building is. A history-nerd at heart, I had to sit down in the pews for a minute to wrap my head around the fact that the walls surrounding me and the floor beneath my feet were crafted by 900-year-old hands. I looked around and I could almost see them at work, shaping the stones, fitting them into place, carving all the amazing sculptures and gargoyles and freizes scattered throughout the place. I could see in my mind's eye 900 years worth of masses, papal visits, communions and baptisms, marriages and so on. And there I was, sitting in the middle of all this history, just another page in the story of Notre Dame. I couldn't stop myself from touching the walls and thinking about all of the people who have also touched that wall in the past 900 years, and of their stories.

After wandering around the inside of Notre Dame for a while, we decided to go up to the top of the cathedral, for which there was a long line. We stood in line for about 45 minutes talking to a british woman and her teenage daughter. After finally arriving at the door to enter the spiral staircase that would take us to the roof and the bell tower, we paid almost five euros to get in and stand around in the gift shop (how thoughtful!) while we waited to be allowed to embark on our journey to the top. The staircase was almost comical. Four hundred steps up a dangerously steep and narrow spiral staircase was really funny to me for some reason at the time. I guess if I am going to laugh about it later, I might as well laugh about it now.

At the top of those four hundred steps was an amazing gargoyle's eye view of the city. You can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, the Seine river, the Louvre, Montparnasse Tower, and Sacre-Coeur on the horizon. I could even see the neighborhood in which I live, but not the exact building because they all look the same.

After walking all around the roof of the cathedral, I was ready to go into the dark, spooky bell tower where the Quasimoto rang the Grand Bell of Notre Dame in Victor Hugo's novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I crawled through the tiny door, which was maybe four feet high, into the bell tower. When I stood up and looked around, I was surrounded by wooden planks and another steep, dangerous staircase. The staircase led to the Grand Bell (of course), so I climbed up deep into the bell tower. It looked and felt like it had been there for 900 years. Musty and dark, with cobwebs hanging from the wood rafters, I stepped back in time. The bell hung in the middle of the tour, the hugest bell I've ever seen in person. I don't know how it compares in size to the average church bell since I've never seen another church bell in person, but I will say this: I would really hate to be in that tower when that bell is ringing.

Believe it or not, there was still more to see, and consequently, more stairs to climb. So I climbed more spiral stairs to the roof of the bell tower itself. It was the highest point of the cathedral, and it had an amazing view with it, too. While I was up there, the bell in the other tower started ringing. It wasn't as loud as I expected, but I was still surprised when I heard it.

Overall, I would say that I enjoyed climbing up on the roof and the bell towers more than exploring the inside of Notre Dame, but both were very enjoyable. The experience wouldn't have been complete without going to the top, and it is worth paying for unless you have a fear of heights. The Notre Dame cathedral is a big part of Paris' history and has been for nearly a millenium. Therefore, no trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to Notre Dame.

Bonne Fête Nationale!

The weather finally cleared up for Bastille Day, the national holiday of France, making it a beautiful day for celebrating the holiday. All of Paris was out and about, filling up parks all over the city, sunbathing, snacking on bread and cheese, and drinking wine straight out of the bottle. Street bands were on every corner, serenading the jovial Parisians on their national holiday while the scent of cigarettes and fresh bread waft through the air. The sun was warm on my face as I stretched out in a chair in Jardin du Luxembourg eating a 3-Euro ice cream cone (so worth it), watching a group of people toss an American football (didn't expect to see that here!). The details were a little different, but the atmosphere was not so different from America's national holiday, the fourth of July. Parades and fireworks. Good food and family. Of course, Paris puts its own spin on it, making it a unique experience worth being a part of. At least I was glad to be a part of it anyway.

I joined the celebrating masses at Jardin du Luxembourg, sitting in a surprisingly available chair on the lawn before the massive Palace of Luxembourg. Not long after sitting down, the sound of music reached my ears, peaking my curiosity. It sounded really far away, but I could barely detect the low rumblings of a tuba. I had to investigate, so Kaylin and I gave up our precious lawn chairs in our quest for this mysterious music. We followed the faint sounds throughout the park until the sounds became louder and more distinguishable. By the time we reached the other side of the park, I could tell that the music was jazz.

A jazz band!

Eventually we came upon a crowd of people along the tall, black wrought-iron fence that surrounded the perimeter of the park. We fought our way to the front of the crowd (no easy feat) where upon closer investigation, we discovered that it was in fact a jazz band responsible for the music we'd been hearing. But this jazz band was pretty special. For starters, the trombone player was a guy in a dress and a blond wig - I think he must have lost a bet, because he wasn't even a well-dressed drag queen. There was a trumpet player, an alto-sax player, a drummer, and a guy who switched back and forth between a saxophone, a clarinet, and a megaphone. They put on an amazing show. We stayed and watched the entire show, and I threw a 2-euro coin into their suitcase, where they were collecting tips. Cheap entertainment isn't difficult to come by in Paris.

Feeling desperate for something quick and inexpensive to eat, Kaylin and I decided to try one of France's own fast food chains. It is called "Quick Burger" and it is not much different from a Burger King, except higher in quality (relatively speaking, of course). It was more difficult to order fast food in French than I had expected, mostly because their food choices had unique and original names that didn't really describe what you are actually getting. Fast food chains in America do this... for instance, what is a Whopper? If you don't know anything about Burger King, you would have no clue what a Whopper consisted of because the name offers no information about it. At least at a cafe in Paris, a ham sandwich is a ham sandwich, etc. So anyway, I didn't end up getting what I thought that I had ordered, didn't really like what I got, and felt like crap after eating it anyway. What I got was called a Fred & Omar burger. Seriously. I was just trying to order some mozzarella sticks, but apparently whatever I said sounded like "Fred & Omar burger" because that was what I got. So that was my one and only experience with French fast food and it made me feel just as crappy and ripped-off as American fast food.

Around eight o'clock we headed to the metro so we could make our way to the Eiffel Tower for the fireworks. Apparently all the other 10 million residents of Paris had the same idea because the metro was so packed, that we had to wait several trains before we could squeeze onto one. And I mean really squeeze. It was similar to my Eiffel Tower elevator experience, except there were more people, it was a lot hotter and stuffier, and the ride was much longer. Oh, and at every stop, even more people tried to squeeze on. And of course my face was pressed right up against the door as the train sped along the tracks. I was just trying not to think about the lock on that door failing.... But I was just glad that I had a door behind me instead of some pervert trying to feel me up in a crowded metro.

We finally made it to the Eiffel Tower and it was crowded everywhere. To put it in an American context, these fireworks are like New Year's Eve in Times Square, New York. There was no room to move or breathe. After being pulled through the tides of people wandering aimlessly, we finally found a spot where we could sit down at the edge of a grassy area where people were sitting and picnicking and drinking. We had to sit in the gravel, but there were some really nice Parisians sitting next to us that we talked to while we were there. They were three couples, probably in their thirties, and they were immediately friendly to us.

"Bonjour!" One of the men said to us as we sat down, in really close quarters.

"Bonjour!" We said, as crowds of people stood behind us.

We basically just complained about the crowds with them and made fun of people for being stupid. It was really nice to be able to interact with Parisians in a casual social setting. I've been able to talk to Parisians a lot since I've been here, but it has always been either in the class room or in a customer-server situation. This was the first casual situation I've encountered and it was really cool. They were funny and really nice, considering that we are foreigners and obviously don't speak French expertly. But they were patient and didn't make us feel like foreigners.

After a while we were forced to stand, due to the crowds that were closing in on us. It was hot and noisy and so many people that I literaly could not move. I was shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers on every side. But when the fireworks started, it was all worth it. The entire crowd immediately turned silent and put their full attention on the show above our heads. The smoke from the fireworks smelled like popcorn as it drifted through the city, and it was illuminated in all different colors every time new fireworks went off. There was classical music playing in the loudspeakers all over the city, perfectly accompanying the fireworks, down to every note. At the end of every set, the crowd went wild with applause and whistles, then quieted again to await the next segment. The fireworks were absolutely amazing. It was one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen... it was so beautiful that it made me want to start singing opéra!

Some of the fireworks were low over the river and one of the French ladies and I were both too short to see them over the crowd, so I stuck my camera up over my head and snapped a picture, then she and I looked at the pictures... it worked well and we got to see a lot of them that way!

At one point, someone a few feet behind me passed out and when the security guards didn't hear her friend calling, our entire section of about twenty to thirty people started screaming "Sécurité!" until security finally heard us (which didn't take long - we were loud).

The fireworks lasted for about thirty to forty-five minutes, but it seemed like it was over too soon. The Eiffel Tower glowed behind us as the crowd started moving en masse away from the river and the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadèro. It was one of the most massive crowds I've ever witnessed. There are ten million people in this city, and it seemed like they were all there.

As we were leaving, one the the French men said to me, "C'était beau, n'est-ce pas?" Which means "That was beautiful, wasn't it?" And I answered, "Oui, c'était très beau!" Then he and his wife said au revoir! and left. Kaylin and I decided to walk home because the metro would have been impossible. People were climbing over the gates to get in because there were so many people. After an hour and a half walk home through the city, I was glad to finally be home in my bed.

Bonne Fête Nationale!