While Sam was visiting me in Paris, we took a trip to Rome and Venice for 5 days.
We left bright and early on Friday, June 12. After a delayed flight, a bus ride, and a long, hot walk, we wound up at the B+B we had booked. It was absolutely incredible! Free internet, air conditioning, our own marble bathroom. We headed out to explore Rome, wandering to the Colosseum (which was about 15 minutes from where we were staying). We wandered around the outside of the Forum as well, not willing to pay the ridiculous admission fees. For dinner, we found a cute little restaurant. Because of traveling, we hadn't eaten a ton during the day, so when we showed up at 6:30 for dinner, we were the only ones in the restaurant. Sam had clams, I had veal, and we shared calamari and shrimp. After dinner, we got gelato and then headed back, since we had woken up before 5 to make our flight.
On Saturday, we got on a Hop-on Hop-Off bus tour at the Colosseum. We took it over to the Vatican City, where we went to St. Peter's. On our way from there to the Vatican Museum, we ran into our friends Walter and Dan who were on trip to Rome with their program from Venice. We knew they were there but hadn't made plans to meet up. We chatted for a little while and then headed off to the Vatican Museum. After a twisted walked, we wound up in the Sistine Chapel, which was so crowded that it was hard to really appreciate it. After a quick lunch, we went to send postcards from the Vatican post office. As were wandering from there to Castel St. Angelo, we ran into Walter again! We took some pictures and hopped back on our bus. We had planned out a route to see Piazza del Poppolo, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, but because of the Gay Pride parade, they weren't making all the stops. We still made it to the Trevi fountain. Unfortunately, when we got to the Pantheon it was closed for a private service. We walked to Piazza Navona and then ate dinner by the Pantheon, hoping that it would open after the service (which it didn't). We then began the hike back to our hotel, took some pictures of the Colosseum at sunset and packed up our stuff to head off the next day for Venice.
Because of the Gay Pride parade, our tickets had been extended for an extra day, so we rode the entire bus route before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Venice. We saw basically all of the touristy sights in Rome then, and worked on our tans/melted in the sun! We got tickets on a train from Termini station to Fiumicino (Leonardo DaVinci) airport. Again, our flight was delayed, so we had a snack and I started to do some work. After a quick 45 minute flight, we were in Venice! Luckily, we made the water taxi right after our flight landed and got to see some of Venice before getting to San Marco where our hotel was. Despite a detour due to a closed Piaza San Marco because of mass, we were able to find our hotel fairly easily. Then we headed out for dinner and of course gelato and wandered around a little bit.
Monday morning we were set to met Walter at the Doges Palace where his class was going in lieu of class. We wandered over there around 10 and headed inside with his class. After going to so many palaces in Europe, this was just another one. However, it did have a really cool dungeon. Walter's class was set to do some more stuff that afternoon, so Sam and I went shopping for souvenirs. We hadn't bought anything in Rome because we were told that Venice would be cheaper (which it was). We bought lots of miscellaneous Venetian souvenirs...scarves, masks, Murano glass. A quick stop at the hotel and we met Walter for dinner...and gelato. Then we hopped on a Vaporetto to the island where his school is, San Servolo. After hanging out there for a bit, we headed back around midnight.
Tuesday morning was our last one in Italy. After breakfast, we headed over to St. Mark's. It was gorgeous inside, but most of the special rooms had separate admission fees. We wandered around the Piazza a bit and then decided to try to find a museum, because our admission to the Doge's Palace included admission to a few others. We picked the closest on the map, but when we got there, we couldn't find it! So instead, we got lunch which we ate sitting on one the many bridges. We then picked up our suitcase and headed to the bus station to go to the airport. We sat in the airport for a while before we could check in and then when we finally went through security, they confiscated my laptop lock because they told me I could strangle someone with it. Oh Italy! At least our flight left on time. After another bus ride, we splurged on a taxi and made it back to my apartment early Wednesday morning.
Despite how unbearably hot it was, it was a great trip. It was definitely awesome to see Walter too, after not having seen him since January. Unfortunately, I had to come back to the real world immediately and start studying for the final that I took Saturday.
Now I'm down to 5 days and 1 more final. This may be my last update from Paris... I am unbelievably excited to get home! And then a week from Thursday, I'll be in Boston!
See you soon!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
The Beginning of the End...
After my parents left, the one month mark of my time left in Paris quickly approached. I've officially started my countdown (in various different stages)...
Sam! - June 9
Last Day of Class - June 11
Italy - June 12
Last Final - June 26
Home - June 27
As great has Paris has been, I'm definitely ready to be done with school and back at home. I miss the comforts of the United States for sure, as well as my friends and family. This experience has definitely been a lot harder than I thought that it would be, the time difference especially. It's hard to wake up in the morning wanting to talk to people from home and being unable to do so.
I have two more final papers to get through before next Tuesday, then I'll be able to enjoy doing stuff in Paris with Sam before my finals on the 20th and the 26th. I have a whole list of things that I want to get done before I head home, which I'm hoping will keep me busy and make the time go faster. The end is in sight though...3 weeks from Saturday!
This past weekend, I went to Disneyland Paris (again!) with some friends who were visiting for a few days as part of a post-graduation trip around Eruope. It was great to see them and spend the day outside of the city. For dinner, we went to the Rainforest Café which was a nice treat too!
On Sunday, I went to Giverny with two of my friends and one of their friends who was visiting from Spain. We took the train from Paris to Vernon, sitting on the floor of the train because we got our tickets so late and the train was completely packed. Once we got to Vernon, we rented bikes and took a nice 3-mile bike ride to Monet’s house and gardens. We had a little picnic before exploring the gardens. We accidentally went to the Impressionist museum first, before getting on a 2 hour long line to get into Monet’s gardens. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous…so many different flowers. My favorite part was the water lily garden. We spent a few hours there, hit the gift shop and headed back to the train station because we saw a very ominous looking cloud hovering and didn’t want to bike in the rain. While we waited for the train, we had Kirs (wine with flavored liqueur) and shared this bruschetta/pizza thing. Then it was time to head back to Paris.
After working on a paper all day Monday, I went with a few other girls to see a ballet at the Opera Garnier, the big opera house in Paris. Our seats were great, right in the orchestra. The building is absolutely incredible! All marble and gold and incredible frescoes. The ballet itself was really cool too. It was an adaptation of one of Proust’s works and had music by Beethoven and Debussy and Saint-Saens. It was a cool twist between a classic ballet and a really modern ballet, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Definitely an awesome experience.
Now I'm just gearing up to get through my finals (before finals period, because why would France logically make finals all at the same time?). I had a final last week, one yesterday, and two papers due at the beginning of next week. Then two exams during finals period and I'm officially a senior!
In my spare time, I've uploaded all my photos to Picasa...because I'm getting to an excessive amount of facebook albums. Here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/mek2702
I haven't gotten around to putting up captions for all of them yet, but at least you can take a look at them.
Miss you all!
Sam! - June 9
Last Day of Class - June 11
Italy - June 12
Last Final - June 26
Home - June 27
As great has Paris has been, I'm definitely ready to be done with school and back at home. I miss the comforts of the United States for sure, as well as my friends and family. This experience has definitely been a lot harder than I thought that it would be, the time difference especially. It's hard to wake up in the morning wanting to talk to people from home and being unable to do so.
I have two more final papers to get through before next Tuesday, then I'll be able to enjoy doing stuff in Paris with Sam before my finals on the 20th and the 26th. I have a whole list of things that I want to get done before I head home, which I'm hoping will keep me busy and make the time go faster. The end is in sight though...3 weeks from Saturday!
This past weekend, I went to Disneyland Paris (again!) with some friends who were visiting for a few days as part of a post-graduation trip around Eruope. It was great to see them and spend the day outside of the city. For dinner, we went to the Rainforest Café which was a nice treat too!
On Sunday, I went to Giverny with two of my friends and one of their friends who was visiting from Spain. We took the train from Paris to Vernon, sitting on the floor of the train because we got our tickets so late and the train was completely packed. Once we got to Vernon, we rented bikes and took a nice 3-mile bike ride to Monet’s house and gardens. We had a little picnic before exploring the gardens. We accidentally went to the Impressionist museum first, before getting on a 2 hour long line to get into Monet’s gardens. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous…so many different flowers. My favorite part was the water lily garden. We spent a few hours there, hit the gift shop and headed back to the train station because we saw a very ominous looking cloud hovering and didn’t want to bike in the rain. While we waited for the train, we had Kirs (wine with flavored liqueur) and shared this bruschetta/pizza thing. Then it was time to head back to Paris.
After working on a paper all day Monday, I went with a few other girls to see a ballet at the Opera Garnier, the big opera house in Paris. Our seats were great, right in the orchestra. The building is absolutely incredible! All marble and gold and incredible frescoes. The ballet itself was really cool too. It was an adaptation of one of Proust’s works and had music by Beethoven and Debussy and Saint-Saens. It was a cool twist between a classic ballet and a really modern ballet, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Definitely an awesome experience.
Now I'm just gearing up to get through my finals (before finals period, because why would France logically make finals all at the same time?). I had a final last week, one yesterday, and two papers due at the beginning of next week. Then two exams during finals period and I'm officially a senior!
In my spare time, I've uploaded all my photos to Picasa...because I'm getting to an excessive amount of facebook albums. Here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/mek2702
I haven't gotten around to putting up captions for all of them yet, but at least you can take a look at them.
Miss you all!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Parents in Paris!
So as soon as I got back from the Loire Valley, I headed to the hotel right across the street to meet my mom, who had flown in that morning! She was exhausted from her trip, but we walked around my neighborhood catching up and then went to dinner. The next few days, we hung out and did some shopping and other little things in between my classes. On Wednesday, my Dad arrived and I had my last day of classes for the week, then the touristy adventure began!
Thursday was a national holiday, so we took advantage of the day off from classes to go to Chartres, about an hour and a half from Paris, where there' s a gorgeous cathedral. My Dad and I climbed to the top of the tower and go a great view of the city and surrounding countryside. Then we all sat by the river to relax and had some dinner before returning to Paris. That night, we wandered around Rue Mouffetard and I took my parents for this delicious gelato served in the shape of roses!
On Friday, we went out for breakfast with one of my roommates and then I took my parents to see my school, so they could see the bane of my existence for themselves. From there, we walked to Les Invalides, a former military hospital that now houses a military museum and Napoleon's tomb. The tomb was really cool. It's absolutely gigantic. The museum was neat too, but I can only look at guns for so long without being bored. That evening, we went to dinner and then went to see "Angels and Demons" to relax. SUCH a good movie. And it was in English, which was great.
Saturday we headed off on another day trip to Versailles, where my dad actually spent some time working last summer. I had already seen the palace, so we went to Marie Antoinette's house and enjoyed a fountain show in the afternoon. All the fountains are absolutely gorgeous. It's definitely worth paying to see them work, because otherwise they're turned off. It was really nice to be outside, but all the walking was exhausting! After dinner at one of my favorite French/Greek restaurants near my apartment, I crashed for the evening.
Sunday we spent in Paris again, going to Notre Dame for mass and then the bird market nearby afterwards. We finally got me some flowers to hang off my balcony...beautiful pink begonias. We brought those back to my apartment and then went to the Orangerie, a museum that has Monet's Waterlillies, as well as a lot of works from different artists. It was nice to go to a museum that wasn't overwhelming. Afterwards, my mom and I walked along Rue de Rivoli to look for some souvenirs. It was SO hot that we didn't last very long and went back to their hotel. We went to a delicious Italian restaurant by my apartment. I hadn't been feeling well since the night before, so I just went back to the hotel to chill with my parents and take care of some random tasks (since we finally realized that the WiFi was not ridiculously expensive).
On Monday, my dad went to the Cluny, which is a medieval museum in Paris while my mom and I did some shopping. We also went to Breakfast in America for lunch where I got a cheeseburger and Dr. Pepper! Dr. Pepper is SO hard to find in France and is so expensive (1E a can at least!). We also got me some groceries and chocolate for her coworkers. Then in the afternoon, we decided to escape the second day of heat by reading in the Jardin de Luxembourg before meeting up with my Dad for dinner at a Chinese restaurant near my apartment. Certainly not the same as at home, but not too bad. After dinner, we headed over to the Seine for a Bateau-Mouche ride. There was an ominous looking cloud as we headed out, but the rain held off for a few hours. It was nice to see Paris at twilight and get a different view of the city. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle, but it was still a lot of fun. We were going to get dessert afterwards, but pretty much everything was closed.
After a great week with my parents, it was really tough to say goodbye. I definitely think it was harder than leaving home in February. At least I'm pretty much in the home stretch now...
Thursday was a national holiday, so we took advantage of the day off from classes to go to Chartres, about an hour and a half from Paris, where there' s a gorgeous cathedral. My Dad and I climbed to the top of the tower and go a great view of the city and surrounding countryside. Then we all sat by the river to relax and had some dinner before returning to Paris. That night, we wandered around Rue Mouffetard and I took my parents for this delicious gelato served in the shape of roses!
On Friday, we went out for breakfast with one of my roommates and then I took my parents to see my school, so they could see the bane of my existence for themselves. From there, we walked to Les Invalides, a former military hospital that now houses a military museum and Napoleon's tomb. The tomb was really cool. It's absolutely gigantic. The museum was neat too, but I can only look at guns for so long without being bored. That evening, we went to dinner and then went to see "Angels and Demons" to relax. SUCH a good movie. And it was in English, which was great.
Saturday we headed off on another day trip to Versailles, where my dad actually spent some time working last summer. I had already seen the palace, so we went to Marie Antoinette's house and enjoyed a fountain show in the afternoon. All the fountains are absolutely gorgeous. It's definitely worth paying to see them work, because otherwise they're turned off. It was really nice to be outside, but all the walking was exhausting! After dinner at one of my favorite French/Greek restaurants near my apartment, I crashed for the evening.
Sunday we spent in Paris again, going to Notre Dame for mass and then the bird market nearby afterwards. We finally got me some flowers to hang off my balcony...beautiful pink begonias. We brought those back to my apartment and then went to the Orangerie, a museum that has Monet's Waterlillies, as well as a lot of works from different artists. It was nice to go to a museum that wasn't overwhelming. Afterwards, my mom and I walked along Rue de Rivoli to look for some souvenirs. It was SO hot that we didn't last very long and went back to their hotel. We went to a delicious Italian restaurant by my apartment. I hadn't been feeling well since the night before, so I just went back to the hotel to chill with my parents and take care of some random tasks (since we finally realized that the WiFi was not ridiculously expensive).
On Monday, my dad went to the Cluny, which is a medieval museum in Paris while my mom and I did some shopping. We also went to Breakfast in America for lunch where I got a cheeseburger and Dr. Pepper! Dr. Pepper is SO hard to find in France and is so expensive (1E a can at least!). We also got me some groceries and chocolate for her coworkers. Then in the afternoon, we decided to escape the second day of heat by reading in the Jardin de Luxembourg before meeting up with my Dad for dinner at a Chinese restaurant near my apartment. Certainly not the same as at home, but not too bad. After dinner, we headed over to the Seine for a Bateau-Mouche ride. There was an ominous looking cloud as we headed out, but the rain held off for a few hours. It was nice to see Paris at twilight and get a different view of the city. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle, but it was still a lot of fun. We were going to get dessert afterwards, but pretty much everything was closed.
After a great week with my parents, it was really tough to say goodbye. I definitely think it was harder than leaving home in February. At least I'm pretty much in the home stretch now...
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