Au revoir France, Hola Spain!

Just got internet access for the first time in three whole days. I know you all are chomping at the bit for an update so here it is:

July 18

I made my way out to Charles De Gaulle to pick up Jess without a hitch. Stood in front of Jess’ gate and within five minutes she strolled out. It was so nice to see a familiar face! We hugged for about 20 minutes and then walked back toward the RER trains to Paris. We stopped in a little airport bar, ordered some champagne and toasted to our birthdays and our European adventure. Jess made me the coolest card.

We finally got the Metro and decided to run to the train. I made it on and Jess didn’t! I got off at the next stop and circled back to meet her. It wasn’t a very nice introduction to the Metro.

We got off at the Bastille stop to take advantage of the little walk back to the hotel to give Jess a look at the neighborhood. We stopped by a little market and picked up a 2 euro bottle of champagne to take back to our room. We staying in the same hotel that I had been staying in during classes but tonight we had booked a triple instead of a double. The room was easily twice the size and we had a balcony overlooking the Bastille. Jess and I stepped out on the balcony and popped open the champagne. Swank.

We decided to have French food for dinner and we went to a local bistro. Jess had her first croque monsieur and loved it. In traditional French style our meal lasted about 2 hours. We had so much catching up to do.

We hoped to head to the Eiffel Tower that night and see the lights but unfortunately it was raining by the time we left the restaurant. We were both exhausted and we headed to the hotel to get a good night sleep for the next day.

July 19th

Paris here we come

This was Jess’ only full day in Paris and we needed to make the most of it. We had a traditional French breakfast at the hotel and smuggled out 2 ham sandwiches for a picnic lunch.

Atop the Eiffel Tower

First things first, we hit the Eiffel Tower. It was only 10 am by the time we got there but the lines were already snaking around under the tower. We figured that if we got in line it could be at least an hour before we even got tickets for the lifts. We noticed that there was barely a line at one of the pillars. It was for the stairs. Tickets were half price and there was no wait. There were tons of stairs but it saved us hours of waiting. We only went to the second floor because from there you have to take a lift and the lines were crazy. I hadn’t been up the tower during the day and the views were incredible. We took a ton of pictures and then headed to the Louvre.

We bought a couple pastries and ate our lunch in the grass overlooking the Louvre complex. It was another beautiful day in Paris. I have really been lucky with the weather since I arrived. We finished our lunch and headed inside to see the collection. Yet again, 4 hours in the Louvre wasn’t enough. We got to see a lot but I’m sure there are so many things we missed.


We had to catch a train later that evening and Jess really wanted to hit the Carnavalet Museum and walk around the Marais neighborhood before we left. We headed back toward the Carnavalet Museum (which is very near the hotel) and took a look around. A painting in the museum’s collection is one of my favorite things I have come across during my stay. We also took a look at the French Revolution room and got see locks of Marie Antoinette’s hair and the furniture from the royal family’s jail cell. Very cool.

Unfortunately our time in Paris was up, so we grabbed our stuff from the hotel and headed for the train station. It was only one stop down the track on the Metro so I figured and hour would be plenty of time. I was horrified to see our train pass the stop we needed. For some reason the stop was closed for the weekend! We just had to get off at the next stop. Luckily I found someone who spoke English and we ran to the station. We were running a little late but had time to grab a sandwich. Then we realized that we had forgotten to validate Jess’ rail pass about 5 minutes before our train left. We ran through the station and we were able to get everything taken care of just about 1 minute before the train left. If we hadn’t made it we would have been stuck in Paris for another 3 hours. Close call!

Marseille by night

We made it to Marseille in just 3 hours. Our hostel was very close to the station and the other major sights in the city, completely adorable, super clean, and super cheap. Jackpot. I love the internet for helping me find this place. It was a dream come true. We dropped off our stuff and decided to have a look around. It was nearly 11 pm but the hostel had a little bar and courtyard. We split a bottle of wine and chatted.

Down the street from the hostel we found this tiny locals bar and went inside. The bartender didn’t speak any English but we managed to get our drinks and find a seat. He turned on the jukebox and rainbow disco ball just for us. It was so fun.

Headed back to the hostel and dragged my tired self up a ladder and into my bunk bed. Now that is not as easy as it used to be.

July 20

We woke up the next morning and decided to walk down to the port. Along the way we found a beautiful cathedral and managed to catch the end of Sunday mass. The hymns were so beautiful in French. Just outside the church were two sculptures of giraffes made out of books. Very cool.

Port of Marseille

Down a side street we found a farmer’s market complete with open air butcheries and fish mongers, produce, and baked goods. Apparently there is a very large Muslim community in the city of Marseille and their influence was very apparent at the market. This whole section of the city felt very much like Cairo complete with hookah bars and tea shops. Then we walked the rest of the way down to the port and harbor. This area felt very much like Greece. The Mediterranean is such an amazing color – almost like dark blue velvet. All around the harbor vendors had little tables set up selling jewelry, soap, lavender products (very famous export of Provence), shirts, baskets, everything you can think of. We found one vendor selling antique postcards of Marseille and bought a couple.


We noticed a little gas powered train that takes tourists around the city. We hopped on and for only 7 euro we got a great tour of the city and a free ride to the Basilica at the highest point in the Marseille. This area was much more mountainous and rocky than I expected. Along the way we got to see the island prison that inspired the Alexander Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo and panoramic views of the sprawling city of Marseille.

The Basilica. See the boats?

Finally at the top of the hill was the stunning Basilica de Notre Dame de la Garde. Inside models of boats and planes hung from the ceiling on long strings and the walls were covered with paintings of maritime and aviation disasters. The church is dedicated to the struggle of pilgrims in their journeys and so is covered with images of boats and planes. I have never seen anything like it. The outside of the Basilica also bears scars from battles fought there during World War II. We sat for a while in the church and then hit he church cafeteria for a crepe and hot chocolate and bought a couple of things at the gift shop. The wind was strong at the top of the hill and so ended the day with both windburn and sunburn! Totally worth it though!

We went back to the hostel to share a 3 euro bottle of wine and write postcards (which we still haven’t had a chance to mail – dang post office). Later that night met an 8 year old who totally schooled me in French and then did the moonwalk.

July 21

Early morning train and again we’re running! Even though we give ourselves plenty of time to make it to the station there is always some miscommunication and confusion to clear up before we are safely aboard our train. While the train system here is extremely impressive and comfortable I’ve been surprised to find that most rail employees have no idea what they are looking at when I show them my rail pass. The rail passes are written in English and for the most part the conductors look at the passes shake their head and shrug their shoulders. They just let us sit on the train and for the most part they aren’t making us fill in the dates on our passes. We purchased 5 days of travel and so far we have used 4 of those days but have only had 2 days documented. We traveled all the way from Paris to Marseille on a TGV (high speed train) and we didn’t have to use a day of our passes. The tickets for that train run about 200 US dollars. We basically got to Marseille for free! Now we have an extra day of train travel to use when we are in Spain that we planned to pay for out of pocket.

Lunch in Arles. This fan has turned out to be the best 4 euro I ever spent.

Anyway, off to Arles then on to Nimes to spend the night. Arles turned out to be really cool. This was the place I wanted to see most in Provence and it didn’t disappoint. The city is riddled with history and we strolled around with our packs taking in the sights that ranged from Roman to Medieval to Renaissance.

The city’s claim to fame is that Van Gogh painted some of his best works and cut off his ear while living in Arles. The sun is hot here but it is very pleasant in the shade. We had lunch at a little café. I ordered something from the menu that said steak hache and frites. What came out was a baguette filled with salisbury steak and topped with French fries. Surprise, it was delicious.

Packin' it in

Around three we left Arles for Nimes. Jess and I had been lugging our packs around all day and we were exhausted by the time we got to the hotel we decided to take a shower and a nap. We took a look at the local amphitheater (the best preserved) and withdrew to the quiet cool of our hotel. The Hotel de Provence turned out to be an adorable ramshackle place with a tiny one person lift, floor to ceiling windows, and pink toilet paper. Jess and I had another two hour meal – I had real fettuccine carbonara complete with a raw egg cracked right on top. The yolk was bright orange and frankly it was a little scary. I mixed it in and miraculously it made a creamy sauce. It was very good.

Hotel de Provence. Doing laundry French style.

On our way to dinner. The hotel had these huge mirrors in every hallway.

We are on our way to Barcelona. I have been accidently speaking Spanish to every person in France and I’m looking forward to being able to read signs. I have become accustomed to the sound of French and picked up some vocab that has made things easier. It is hard to imagine that in under a week I will be headed home. I will miss this so much. But we have Spain to conquer before then.

p.s.- I know, I know I talk a lot about food. Let me know if it's annoying.

Dancing in the Streets

Last night turned out to be another exciting night in Paris. Merle, Megan, Heather, Dillan and I hit the town. July 14^th is French Independence Day the city of Paris has a lot of festivities planned for the occasion. Just a short walk from our hotel is the Bastille monument. This area is home to a lot of bars and cafes and is touted as one of the hippest, youngest parts of Paris. The Bastille monument itself is at the center of a traffic roundabout. All day yesterday this intersection was closed to host a free international music festival. Bands from all over the world (including Ireland and Brazil) poured music into the square from two stages with acts playing simultaneously. As you can imagine, this made for an interesting blend of music.

We made our way into the crowd of revelers. Everyone was dancing and singing along to the bands. We watched a Brazilian band for a while then moved to the other stage which was hosting a French Rap-Rock band. That was crazy! The crowd screamed along to the lyrics and danced like crazy so we joined right in. I couldn’t believe that we were hearing Rap-Rock in French!

The band finished playing around 11:30 signaling the end of the festival. We made our way through the crowd and found some vendors selling street food. I opted for some sort of grilled meat (still not sure what it was – maybe pork?), sausage, and onion sandwich on baguette. It was one of the best things I’ve tasted since arriving in France. Then we shared a crepe with nutella as we headed back to the hotel. Another great night.

This morning we made our way to Pere Lachaise Cemetery. I was really looking forward to this excursion and I wasn’t disappointed. The cemetery consists of large family tombs of all different shapes and sizes. We got a chance to see some of the famous gravesites like Oscar Wilde, Proust, Victor Noir, Raspail and countless other unknowns. We also found Jim Morrison’s famous grave and were confused to find that it didn’t look as we expected. The monument used to include a bust of Morrison and a different headstone. Apparently, the bust was stolen in the late 80’s and they haven’t been able to obtain a license to place a new monument on the grave as of yet.

Some of the monuments and statuary in the cemetery were really interesting. Oscar Wilde’s monument was covered in waxy lipstick kisses.

From there we headed to the Moulin Rouge and then to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. We took the funicular to the top of the hill. How beautiful. The view from the top was crowed but spectacular. Stopped to buy some souvenirs then hopped on the Metro to head home. I have gotten really used to the ease and reliability of public transportation. I’m definitely going to miss it when I get home.

Tonight we plan to see the Bastille Day fireworks then tomorrow we will visit Notre Dame.

Close Encounters

Last night I decided to go out and have a drink, Paris-style. Dillan and I found a small bar very near the Bastille and grabbed a couple of seats out front to people watch. No one in the bar was speaking English but we managed to get our drinks. We made idle conversation for a while and wondered if anyone nearby spoke English.
Soon, the woman (let’s call her Sarah) at the table next to us asked us where we were from. She is a student at the Sorbonne and speaks 3 languages. She was with her boyfriend (Alex) and his two friends. Both her boyfriend and his friend were Russian nationals in the Foreign Legion and were wearing their uniforms and accompanying stiff white hats. The two men in the Foreign Legion were paratroopers. At one point one of them pulled out their cell phone and showed us a four minute video of his military training. How incredible is it that -- using a cell phone to overcome a language barrier?!

Sarah said that when she first met her boyfriend, he couldn’t speak a word of French, only Russian and German. They only spoke in German to one another for the first few months of their courtship. Since then his French has developed and his Russian accent was nearly indiscernible. The woman was the only one who could speak English so she served as translator for the rest of us.

We were mostly talking with Sarah and then Alex interrupted and asked Sarah to interpret for him. He told us that when he was a small child in Russia that he had two dreams. One was to come to America and see the Twin Towers before he died. The other was to see Michael Jackson perform in concert. Then he looked stonily at both of us and said something that translated to “now both those dreams are dead.” It was fascinating.

Next we met two German nationals, Tom and Martin. Martin has been living in Paris for the past twelve years with his wife and children. He and Tom were childhood friends. Tom was in town visiting Martin for the weekend. They both spoke impeccable English (actually they put most Americans to shame) and they were a lot of fun. I have a very German last name and when I told them what it was they were horrified that I didn’t speak German. They felt that I was turning against my heritage. Overall, they were very confused as to why most Americans don’t speak more than one language. Honestly, interacting with all these Europeans who speak at least three languages fluently made me feel inadequate.

Anyway, it turned out to be a really fun night. Hearing about these strangers’ lives and how they live was extremely interesting. Thanks to Dillan for letting me tag along!