- lunch at a cafe along the Seine: I got french onion soup and the waitress was so nice to me! She and one of the other patrons complemented me on the doodles I was doing to amuse myself while sitting by myself. It was very sweet.
- Louvre: I got in for free with my student card and passport (score!) and found the whole thing to be very overwhelming. I don't know enough about Rennaissance art or mythology or religion to really appreciate 90 percent of what I saw. What I could appreciate very well was the sheer size of the collections. I mean, to say that the collection in the Louvre is priceless would be a gross understatement. It represents the combined collections of many nobel and royal families and past leaders of France such as Napoleon Bonaparte. Even the building itself represents the combined arquitectural work of centuries. Always, I ran through, stopping to see the Mona Lisa (so small!), Venus de Milo, and the Egypt exibit before making my way back up through the pyramid and out into fresh air.
- Tuileries gardens: I stopped at a cafe to grab a snack and people watch before heading back to the hostel for a bit of rest.
- Champs-Elysee: So right now, the first part of the street is transformed into a Christmas market! It is lined with adorable white stalls decked out in Christmas lights where vendors sell basically anything kitchy or delicious that you might give as a Christmas present. I bought myself some 'christmas wine,' which is like the deranged love child of apple cider and sangria. It was delicious though, and so warming on a cold night. Suddenly, it occured to me that I was alone for the first Thanksgiving in my entire life. As I might have mentioned, I arrived a day before any of my friends to maximize my time spent here, and they didn't arrive until late the night of Thanksgiving. So I was really alone, which almost made me feel sorry for myself. Almost, because as soon as I began to think about it I couldn't have felt more lucky. I was walking past twinkling lights and cheerful stalls while drinking wine, in the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I know that I have friends and family all over the world who I care about and who care about me, and the most wonderfully supportive parents, sister, and boyfriend a girl could ever ask for! Not to mention that study abroad in general is the chance of a lifetime! Basically, I have everything in the world to be thankful for!!!! Oddly enough, it was the perfect way to spend thanksgiving. Don't expect me to make a habit of it though, next year its stuffing and yams for me!!!
- I rounded out the evening with a mozzarella and goat cheese sandwich and some macaroons from Lauduree (thank you Emmy for the tip! They were delicious!) which I ate in front of the arc de triomph (which is, by the way, totally inferior to Barcelona's arc, no contest really. But yes it is a competition. And Lisbon looses, their arc isn't even free standing)
Friday, November 27, 2009
al resto del primer dia
...so to the rest of my day! I'll go through this in bullet point style!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Mas sobre PARIS
Hello again!
I don't know what it is about Paris that makes me want to blog, but I'm all about it right now.
By the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! Its a bit strange to be sightseeing rather than eating mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, but I figure I have many more years ahead of me to stuff myself with stuffing so I'm not letting myself get homesick. I'm in Paris after all!
(side note: french keyboards are sooo annoying!!! the a, w, z, and m are all in the wrong spots. I keep writing like this --> zriting qnd ,qshed potqtoes. I feel like I'm six again and learning how to type!!)
Today I visited Notre Dame, as I mentioned I would do earlier, and it was awesome! I managed to finagle my way into a free entrance to the towers even though I'm not technically an EU citizen (pretty much EVERYTHING is free if you are under 18 or between 18 and 25 AND an EU resident. Thank you, shengen visa!). I got to go all the way to the top! On my tour was an extended family of long island jews who were really funny; the mom especially, because they were sooo ridiculous. One of the kids said at one point that the eiffel tower looked 'very eiffely,' which I suppose it does! My tour ran into a group of french students, about 8 years old, and they were sooo cute!! They kept horsing around and a little blond boy ran into me and said 'pardon, madame.' I wanted to steal him!!! He was so cute!
Oh and the view was awesome.
Next I went to Sainte-Chapelle, which is a small cathedral built in the 13th century to show off the religious relics possessed by the French King and provide a space for royal worship. It is a gorgeous room with 15 panels of stained glass each depicting a book of the old testament or scenes from christ's life. In all there are over 1000 small scenes depicted in the cathedral, and though some were undergoing restoration the ones I was able to see were gorgeous!
Okay I want to spend some time on the Champs-Elysees tonight and its already 7:30! I should get going! But I will finish talking about my day!
Au revoir!
Elena
I don't know what it is about Paris that makes me want to blog, but I'm all about it right now.
By the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! Its a bit strange to be sightseeing rather than eating mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, but I figure I have many more years ahead of me to stuff myself with stuffing so I'm not letting myself get homesick. I'm in Paris after all!
(side note: french keyboards are sooo annoying!!! the a, w, z, and m are all in the wrong spots. I keep writing like this --> zriting qnd ,qshed potqtoes. I feel like I'm six again and learning how to type!!)
Today I visited Notre Dame, as I mentioned I would do earlier, and it was awesome! I managed to finagle my way into a free entrance to the towers even though I'm not technically an EU citizen (pretty much EVERYTHING is free if you are under 18 or between 18 and 25 AND an EU resident. Thank you, shengen visa!). I got to go all the way to the top! On my tour was an extended family of long island jews who were really funny; the mom especially, because they were sooo ridiculous. One of the kids said at one point that the eiffel tower looked 'very eiffely,' which I suppose it does! My tour ran into a group of french students, about 8 years old, and they were sooo cute!! They kept horsing around and a little blond boy ran into me and said 'pardon, madame.' I wanted to steal him!!! He was so cute!
Oh and the view was awesome.
Next I went to Sainte-Chapelle, which is a small cathedral built in the 13th century to show off the religious relics possessed by the French King and provide a space for royal worship. It is a gorgeous room with 15 panels of stained glass each depicting a book of the old testament or scenes from christ's life. In all there are over 1000 small scenes depicted in the cathedral, and though some were undergoing restoration the ones I was able to see were gorgeous!
Okay I want to spend some time on the Champs-Elysees tonight and its already 7:30! I should get going! But I will finish talking about my day!
Au revoir!
Elena
Elena de Montmartre!
Hello everyone!!
So I just arrived in PARIS last night and I wanted to share an experience that I had. I arrived here at 8pm, a day earlier than everyone else I am traveling with, and I was hungry and went to do a little exploring. I found a cute cafe to get a bite to eat... it actually occured to me at this point that I have NO IDEA how to order vegetarian in french. I haven't had that much of a problem yet... portuguese is similar to spanish so I can make educated guesses, in Rome I had a friend who is studying abroad there to give me guidance, and in Amsterdam everything is in english because dutch is too ridiculous on its own. But anyways, I ordered a soup with endives and some mystery ingredient that I am scared to look up; nothing seemed meaty, but you never know. Oh well, travel is the one time that I am very willing to be lax about not eating meat, so c'est la vie!
After my dinner, which was delicious, I went for a bit of a walk. My hostel is in Montmartre and I knew that Sacre Coeur was somewhere nearby; I had a vague idea of where it was but wasn't really sure, I was mostly just wandering. Just as I was about to give up and admit I had no idea where I was I suddenly turned a corner and THERE IT WAS!
It was one of those moments that you know you will remember for the rest of your life the instant it happens. It was just SO BEAUTIFUL, sitting uptop the hill and lit up from below. It is a gorgeous white, a big and imposing cathedral. I couldn't stop smiling! I made my way around, assuming it was closed for the night and that I could always return in the morning. Turns out, not only was it open, but there was a service going on inside. I walked in to hear the sound of a bell commanding all the parishoners to stand and begin singing the opening song, it was magical.
The view of Paris from the top of Montmartre hill is incredible. It was a perfect first night in this gorgeous city.
I finished out my night by making a stop in a small store to grab a snack and do a bit of studying in the meat section... jambon is ham, porc is pork... its not too difficult actually, pretty similar to spanish.
Anyways, I need to get going! I was supposed to make my way to Notre Dame an hour ago according to last night's plan, so I'm already late to see Quasimodo and the talking gargoyles!
Elena
PS the mystery ingredient was poireaux. I looked it up, means leeks!! Whew haha
So I just arrived in PARIS last night and I wanted to share an experience that I had. I arrived here at 8pm, a day earlier than everyone else I am traveling with, and I was hungry and went to do a little exploring. I found a cute cafe to get a bite to eat... it actually occured to me at this point that I have NO IDEA how to order vegetarian in french. I haven't had that much of a problem yet... portuguese is similar to spanish so I can make educated guesses, in Rome I had a friend who is studying abroad there to give me guidance, and in Amsterdam everything is in english because dutch is too ridiculous on its own. But anyways, I ordered a soup with endives and some mystery ingredient that I am scared to look up; nothing seemed meaty, but you never know. Oh well, travel is the one time that I am very willing to be lax about not eating meat, so c'est la vie!
After my dinner, which was delicious, I went for a bit of a walk. My hostel is in Montmartre and I knew that Sacre Coeur was somewhere nearby; I had a vague idea of where it was but wasn't really sure, I was mostly just wandering. Just as I was about to give up and admit I had no idea where I was I suddenly turned a corner and THERE IT WAS!
It was one of those moments that you know you will remember for the rest of your life the instant it happens. It was just SO BEAUTIFUL, sitting uptop the hill and lit up from below. It is a gorgeous white, a big and imposing cathedral. I couldn't stop smiling! I made my way around, assuming it was closed for the night and that I could always return in the morning. Turns out, not only was it open, but there was a service going on inside. I walked in to hear the sound of a bell commanding all the parishoners to stand and begin singing the opening song, it was magical.
The view of Paris from the top of Montmartre hill is incredible. It was a perfect first night in this gorgeous city.
I finished out my night by making a stop in a small store to grab a snack and do a bit of studying in the meat section... jambon is ham, porc is pork... its not too difficult actually, pretty similar to spanish.
Anyways, I need to get going! I was supposed to make my way to Notre Dame an hour ago according to last night's plan, so I'm already late to see Quasimodo and the talking gargoyles!
Elena
PS the mystery ingredient was poireaux. I looked it up, means leeks!! Whew haha
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
frustración
I just wanted to share my thoughts quickly about something that's been bothering me...
European men can be so sleazy!!
Today, as I was getting off the Renfe train at Arc de Triomf, this man who had been kind of staring at me for the short duration of the ride gestured to let me exit ahead of him. Then, as he was stepping off the train, he "fell" and blatantly slid his arm around my waist. I didn't know what to do but run out of the station! It was very creepy.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Beyond getting the honking that girls sometimes get even in the United States, I've also been called a "sexy mamacita" by a garbage truck driver and had men in the metro stations try and begin conversation with "hola chica..."
This isn't the worst of what happens, by far. A friend was told by a man in Portugal, "hey chica I want to have sex with you," another was groped on a tram, and another two friends had men leaning in for kisses and attempting to look up their skirts while traveling by train in Italy.
It's infuriating. What gives men the right to treat women like that? Why would they even want to? Do they think any woman would respond favorably to being treated that way? Do any women respond favorably to being treated that way?
Maybe it's a hyper-machismo that makes these men act this way; an elevated need to prove that they have power over women.
I shouldn't generalize; by and large the men here aren't openly disrespectful to women. It's just that the ones that are who stick out and leave me with a general frustration toward men here. Also, this kind of sexism supposedly doesn't exist in Northern Europe. In fact, in states like Sweden there is supposedly an atmosphere of absolute gender equality.
Anyways, I'm just annoyed and wanted to share. I just got back from a trip to Lisbon, which was INCREDIBLE! More about that later.
European men can be so sleazy!!
Today, as I was getting off the Renfe train at Arc de Triomf, this man who had been kind of staring at me for the short duration of the ride gestured to let me exit ahead of him. Then, as he was stepping off the train, he "fell" and blatantly slid his arm around my waist. I didn't know what to do but run out of the station! It was very creepy.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Beyond getting the honking that girls sometimes get even in the United States, I've also been called a "sexy mamacita" by a garbage truck driver and had men in the metro stations try and begin conversation with "hola chica..."
This isn't the worst of what happens, by far. A friend was told by a man in Portugal, "hey chica I want to have sex with you," another was groped on a tram, and another two friends had men leaning in for kisses and attempting to look up their skirts while traveling by train in Italy.
It's infuriating. What gives men the right to treat women like that? Why would they even want to? Do they think any woman would respond favorably to being treated that way? Do any women respond favorably to being treated that way?
Maybe it's a hyper-machismo that makes these men act this way; an elevated need to prove that they have power over women.
I shouldn't generalize; by and large the men here aren't openly disrespectful to women. It's just that the ones that are who stick out and leave me with a general frustration toward men here. Also, this kind of sexism supposedly doesn't exist in Northern Europe. In fact, in states like Sweden there is supposedly an atmosphere of absolute gender equality.
Anyways, I'm just annoyed and wanted to share. I just got back from a trip to Lisbon, which was INCREDIBLE! More about that later.
Friday, October 16, 2009
más Merce
Okay so these pictures are actually from about a month ago at this point, but the Merce fireworks were just sooo cool I still think its worth it to post them now. They were absolutely stunning visually AND they incorporated the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song. I am in love with them.
Ahhh the pictures don't even do them justice. The other amazing part was that, unlike America, where our government tries to prevent its citizens from lighting small fireworks in crowded areas, the government of Cataluña encourages it! They passed sparklers out by the thousands!
Sweet.
en el metro
independencia i socialisme, parte II
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