Ch.1 B3.5 - Paris!

Finally, I was in Paris! After our free hotel breakfast we got on the metro where I said goodbye to Kate and Nicole, and I headed of to make sure I checked in nice and early at my hostel I had booked the day before. It was a bit pricey, but it was down the street from the Louvre, right in central Paris, and the fact that was it was on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau made me want to phone my brother in Korea right there and then just to tell him how it seems like you can't walk around a corner in Europe without running into a tribute to a famous poet, philosopher, or musician.

At the hostel I was happy to find a brochure for one of the free Europe walking tours like I did in Edinburgh, (I checked and they are called New Europe tours), and after checking in, I headed out to explore Paris and maybe take a walking tour. I started by heading towards the Louvre, but I got no more than a block or two when I had to stop. There was a bike store, and they actually had road (i.e. racing) bikes, not just euro-style cruisers. And they had a Cervelo! ah... it was like a little slice of home.
Anyway, I did have other things to see so i just took a short look around and continued on. I stood in front of the Louvre and took pictures like all the other tourists, but it was a gorgeous day, better for walking outside (and I knew youth under 26 got in free the next night,) so I just wandered around the perfect parks with square trees, taking in the sights. I strolled down the riverside looking at street vendors' stands as I made my way towards the meeting point for the tour. When I got there however, I was feeling so relaxed and mellow that i didn't feel quite ready to be hearded around the city with a flock of other tourists. Instead, I got advice from one of the guides for the bests streets to explore and went on my way. First, I went to visit the most famous cathedral in Paris, Notre Dame. It was beautiful and ornate both inside and out, and I have since realized that i really like, but take far too many pictures of, Gothic architecture. I enjoyed exploring the cathedral on my own time, but not on my own dime - like many religious sites, entry is free. After that continued on my way to the guide-recommended strolling territory, snacked on a crepe, bought some post cards, and then went back to meet the next tour group.
The tour was great, there was great weather for it, and there was a fun mix of people from around the world there. Aussie, Kiwi, American... (this was an english tour, remember). We saw the sights, including the bridge where one member of french royalty (can't remember which now) had images of his drunken friends carved into a bridge for all to see. (Kind of like when your friends put up pictures of you on Facebook from that party the night before). And the hotel where the winners of the Tour de France get to stay. Not only do they get to stay at a hotel that costs several thousand dollars a night and is frequented by celebrities and/or people who must be ridiculously rich, they get to fly their own flag from the top while they are there. That would be fun. (Kenyon, step up your training so when you win you can invite all the Fort Street Cycle Staff to stay the night).

Now the tour was over, but the same New Europe company also hosted a pub crawl. It was not free, but I had nothing else planned, and it included some free drinks and drink specials, and i would get a chance to hang out with some people I met on the tour. I was in Paris - what else was I going to do, stay in and read? I was glad I went. I had fun with the other travelers I met, and I could actually hold conversations with locals. Plus, we stopped at a Scottish pub where I seized the opportunity to enjoy some more Irn Bru. Knowing French also came in handy when I had to catch a cab home at the end of the night.

On the walking tour I had met Vinny, a New Zealander, who was also traveling alone. He was also at the pub crawl, and we made plans to meet up the next day to go sightseeing. Since it was a bit of a late night we agreed not to meet up until the afternoon, which suited me fine. I had to switch to the sister hostel of the one I was at, and so did a couple of French Canadian girls from my room. Once again my French came in useful as we chatted and walked along the streets of Paris carting our bags to the next hostel. I said bye to the French Canadian girls then stopped at a train station to make a reservation for my trip the next day to Bonn, Germany. After that I spent my time until I had to meet Vinny writing postcards sitting down by the river and looking in tacky tourist shops for sticker for my collection on my water bottle. He was a little late, having had a not-so-restful night after not being able to get back into his hostel because of the curfew! Still, he was eager to see the sights so we went on our way. He had to drop his things at his second hostel, so I agreed to meet him at the church of Sacree Coeur (Sacred Heart). Lovely white church (it cleans itself when it rains) on a hill overlooking Paris. Both Vinny and I were caught in tourist traps where we were pounced by people who practically grabbed your hand and proceeded to make a little string bracelet for good luck and love for you and the church... They were very kind and friendly while they did this, and while they asked for 10 euros for it!!!! As much as the seller was interesting to talk to, I was not about to pay 10 euros for a piece of string, and while Vinny managed to talk his way down to 3, I coughed up a mere 1.20. Perhaps I was let off the hook because my vendor was impressed that I had the same name as the French president's wife (Carla Bruni). And quite by chance I also have some music by her on my mp3 player. Despite this, we had a good time relaxing on the steps of the church taking in the view.
Next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. Got a great picture by standing just somewhat in the middle of the road, maybe not the best idea just in front of the most accident-prone roundabout in Europe, but it was worth it. Then we walked down the ridiculously expensive shopping strip on Ave des Champs Elysee, saw some fashionably dressed people, and continued all the way to the Louvre. We took advantage of the free entry, though we only stayed for about 2 hours. That's about as much museum time as I can take at once, and there is no way to see it all in one day anyway. We saw the Mona Lisa, nice but behind glass and roped off, and a couple exhibits. I liked the giant French and Italian paintings and the Greek and roman sculptures, which was pretty much all we had time to see.
But now, now it was time to go. We had saved the best for last: the Eiffel Tower.
It was fully dark when we went up, but that didn't take anything away from the experience. The tower was lit with a blue light, and from the very top you could see Paris spread out below in all its perfect symmetry. Some of my pictures were a little blurry, but even from them you can see why it's is called the city of lights. All the famous buildings are lit up - it looks amazing but the city must have one huge electricity bill! Carbon footprint notwithstanding, it was a perfect way to spend my last night in Paris.
I waved bye to Vinny from the Metro, and headed back to my hostel. The next morning I thought I gave myself enough time to get to the train station, but the unclear directions to the nearest metro station led me to wander the streets looking for it just long enough to miss my train by a minute (one minute!!!). Luckily this is Europe, and there was another one in half and hour, so I made my connection in Brussels and made it safely to my relatives in Bonn, Germany. But that is for next blog, stay tuned for more...

Ch1. B3 - Capital Tour

No surprize that "soon" is never as soon as at should be for me when it comes to blogging. It is now a couple weeks later and I am in Germany, and I likely will not even have anything on Germany untill the next blog. Also, I do intend to post pictures with this blog, but if you don't see them yet it's because I thought I should get to the wtitten part first. So...

I left off in Gelncoe, and the next stop for me was Inverness. I realize that it's not a national capital city and maybe doesn't belong on the Capital Tour blog along side Edinburgh, Lodon and Paris, but as the capital of the Scottish Highlands it's good enough for me.
Inverness was quite pretty, and it was small enough to explore easily by foot. I stayed only one night, and I made sure during my brief time there I got out to see Culloden battlefields where the Scottish Jacobites soldiers made a last stand for their independence, but were totally decimated by the English. It was quite rainy, windy and cold when I went, but it seemed as though the gloomy weather was suited to the atmosphere of the place.
After getting thoroughly chilled, I also made sure that in my brief time in Inversness I made it to a pub. At my hostel I met Robin, a fellow sociology major from the U.S., and she and I went out to the Hootanny Ceilidh Cafebar, where we enjoyed drinks and live traditional music. (Along with the entertainment of sitting next to a large group of students - from the Netherlands, I believe - who were on some sort of fraternity holiday. They seemed to be quite enjoying themselves as they got drunk wearing kilts they had bought that day, partying away despite the fact that their term had already started.)

The next day I got on a train and headed south to Edinburgh, which is a very picturesque city full of amzing things like quintiscential castles, haunted graveyards, deep fried marz bars, J.K. Rowling, and of course, haggis. And, their national Art Gallery is free... which made me just as happy as discovering that many scottish artists appreciate their natural surroundings just as much as I do.
Edinburgh is also where I discovered the fabulous free Europe walking tours (of which I've done in three different places already). The Guides tend to be current or former university students from an Enlish-speaking coutry, and the way it works is the tours are free but you are expected to tip at then end. You learn loads, see the city, and I highly reccomend them for people on a budget. And they are easy to find since they have big red sings that say FREE on them where the tours start - I even found one by accident in Munich. On the Edinburgh tour we heard many sotires and saw many things, including the the Elephant house, the cafe where J.K.R wrote most of the first Harry Potter book, and the building that is said to have inspired Hogwarts (which you can see from the rear of the cafe).
I also made friends at my hostel there. The first night I went on a ghost tour with Yi Chan Lin from China, who I convinced to come with me. A good thing too because it got quite spooky towards the end. After the next day full of visiting the royal caslte, the National Gallery, and doing the walking tour, I decided to make the most of it and tagged along with a German and Spanish guys who were goin out for the night. And it was most of the night. After one bar, one jazz club, and one more deep fried marz bar, I only got about two hours sleep before I had to get up and catch the express train to London.

Ah London... busy, exciting, full of things to see, and ridiculously expensive. I would have never stayed so long was it not for the hospitality of my cousin, Julia, and her fiancee, Richard, who let me stay at their place (thanks, guys!). Julia also had her friend Andy visiting when I arrived, which was great because when Julia and Richard were busy working those first few days Any and I went and ran around London together taking pictures of Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and so on. Having navigated the crowded halls at Uvic for the past 5 years definitely gave me an edge when mastering the "London swerve," as Julia calls it - an essential move for quickly navigating the crowds in tube stations (that's the London Undergound, or subway, for all you North Americans reading).
I really did have quite the English experience while I was in London. I got to experience a real English tea, tiny porcelain teacups and clotted cream included, hosted by some slightly more distant cousins. I also saw a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre with Julia and Richard, and of course visited the Tower Bridge. I got to mingle with some of Julia's cultured, city-living actor friends (yes, I'm talking about you, Ambjorn), got to see the inside of a London gay bar, as well as enjoy the company of some of Julia and Richard's friends at a neighbourhood pub, after which transpired a rather unfortunate event involving one of said friends' head and a car door coming together a little too quickly.
Despite me still not having my entry visa for Ghana, (which I tried to get once, didn't have the right information, went back for again but decided not to because it would take too much time), I decided it was time to move on, and left London for Paris the same day Julia left to move back to Canada. I hope you have enjoyed this blog, I will add in Paris later this evening. (Hopefully)

Hah! I did make it back this evening to do the Paris bit! Firts, however, for those who are wondering, the reason I need a visa for Ghana is because I will be Volunteering in Togo and Benin starting in Decmber, but I fly in and out of Ghana in order to get there.

And on to Paris. I loved Paris. It was warm and sunny most of the time when I was there, I could speak with the locals, and I really wish I had had more than three nights and two days. Making it to Paris in the first place, on the other hand, was a bit of a challenge. The train Journey from London to Dover was easy enough, and the ferry to Callais was not too expensive, but I didn't really know where to go from there except that I wanted to catch a train to Prais. Luckily for me I ran into a couple of helpful touring musicians - The Bolloch Brothers (sorry if I spelled that wrong) - who wisely advised me that walking to the train station was not as easy as the lady at the information desk suggested. Also, since the bus wasn't for another half hour, they offered to let me share their cab with them at no cost to myself. This I did despite their own cheerful warnings to me that they exactly the kind of people my mother had in mind when she taught me not to talk to strangers. Sorry, mom.
Once I was safely on the train, I had to face the fact that I was not going to get to Paris on time to claim my spot ot the youth hostel I wanted, and needed to find another one. It turns out that Paris youth hostels are not only busy in the summer. While franrically calling every hostel in my guide book, I realized I was overhearing a conversation in English right behind me. Wanting to vent my frustraions a bit I started a converstion with the two girls behind me. They were Kate and Nicole, two americans who were travelling before heading back to study in the U.K. It turned out that they had also had to scramble for accomodation at the last minute, and understanding my plight, when I asked them after probably less than hour of knowing them they aggreed to let me share their hotel room. Thus I spent my first night in Paris sleeping on the floor of slightly scuzzy and odd looking hotel room, sharing a room and a laugh over the odd lighting with two poeple I had met a few hours before. Maybe not the most romantic begining to my stay in Paris, but the next day was just ahead, and it included a free breakfast.
Sorry, but that is all for now, I will finnish Paris later but right now I have to go to sleep because tomorrow I am off to explore another Capital, Berlin.