Guide for Traveling in Europe

Here are a few tricks of the traveling trade that I have picked up along the way in these past four months.

Bridget's Guide for Traveling in Europe (I am the next Rick Steve's):

1. Conquer the City's Public Transportation: It's cheap, fast, easy, and you get to sit. Taxis love to rip tourists off, often. If you must take a taxi, use only registered taxi services and ask for the price or standard fare ahead of time. They are oh so tricky tricksters. 
2. Find Hostel or what have you first, so you can dump you bags and unload. Most cities you are free to walk around without your Passport.
3. Bring a lock or use one that is provided to you, to keep your valuables in the lockers at your Hostel. Don't be carrying around your Passport-treat this like your lifeline, trust me. Identity theft should not be taken lightly.
4. Exchange Currency and try to small bills as soon as you can. When you want to exchange your money back, remember that you will not be able to return coins. Recommendations, go into a bakery and spend your small change on all things cheap.
5. Travel to lesser known cities, like Eastern Europe for example. It is cheap. The Euro is just way to expensive. Anywhere that is not on the Euro like, Budapest, Prague,  and KRAKOW are cheaper. 
6. Find the Free Tours that are offered in the city you visit. These tours are great and are often to good to be true. You are suppose to pay tips and give as much or as little as you want depending on how you liked the tour. 
7. Try local cuisine, you only live once.
8. Research important places, people, memorials, museums. If you know for sure that you want to go to a certain museum or memorial then go. But before you do, make sure that it is open that day, be careful certain places like Jewish Museums/Synagogues aren't open on certain days. Also, most places have discount days or free days so definitely check that out ahead of time. You might even have to pre-register online, like in Paris or Berlin for certain attractions.
9. Watch your pockets and bags, who knows when there will be an unwelcoming hand seeking treasures from your bags. (hasn't happen to me, but just warning). 
10. Have fun and be careful at the same time! (Thank my Mom for that one). 
11. If you have any questions look for the nearest information center (look for the i sign). 
12. Learn basic words for the language of the country you are in like: thank you, please, sorry, excuse me, yes, no). 
13. Experience the culture and nightlife of the place you are in. Try to meet locals, branch out. Talk to the people staying at your hostel and the hostel workers to. They always have a wealth of knowledge of the city that you are in. Take advantage of that resource. 

I think that is all you need to start your adventure. It is really easy traveling all around. But it definitely takes practice and knowing what's up. 

Now, go on, Adventures are out there! 

Berlin

Berlin

I am so glad that I was able to squeeze this trip to Berlin into my final days here in Europe. This city was an important place to go see and my dad kept saying that I should really try to get myself over to it. I didn't realize how East  the city is located. I am still conquering the geography of Europe, it takes time. I was able to get 2.5 days in Berlin. I traveled with Alex, another person from my program. She lives in Atlanta and goes to school at Georgetown. We were both were very impressed with the city. I have heard great things from various people who were there before.

Personal advertisements:
Fly Air Berlin, you won't regret it.
Stay at Raise a Smile Hostel. The hostel opened in December 2009 by members of the charity Raise a Smile in order to raise funds to support schools and orphanage projects in Zambia. Raise a Smile is a non-profit English-German charity organization. They support children in various projects in Zambia (a developing country in Southern Africa). Their main focus is on education, as they believe that education is the most powerful tool that can be used to escape poverty. The hostel has a Zambian theme so you can experience a bit of Africa in the heart of East Berlin. I stayed in the Zebra eight-bed room and I even made a few donations for a Zebra keychain to remember my stay in Africa, no Berlin. In all seriousness though, this hostel is working for a great cause, and it was my privilege to stay there and meet these incredible people who are doing incredible work. Without even realizing it, I made a contact in my networking web for some future volunteer work in Africa. Raise a Smile created a small homely backpacker style hostel for travellers and is designed to try and encourage social interactions between guests. We went out to dinner downtown with four new friends we met from the Hostel, three girls from London and one guy from my neck of the woods (states), Burlington. Boy, did I gush about my love for everything Burlington. Living in that city is on the top of my forever extending bucket list..It was neat reminiscing about New England, and trying to convince the English girls to visit Boston rather than NYC. I always favor Boston no matter where I go. We also met a guy from LA, he was pretty impressive because he has been traveling throughout Europe for 8 (count them) months. Jeez, I thought I was homesick...

Back to Berlin we go!

Places We Visited:

The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany. It is located on the Paris Platz and has many important buildings surrounding it including the French Embassy, the U.S. Embassy and the ........Hotel (infamous for being the site where Michael Jackson hung the baby out from his balcony, who knew that took place in Berlin? not I). On the other side of the gate is where the Berlin Fan Zone is located for the Euro2012. The is a huge tv set up on a stage for fans to view the games. Alex and I went to watch the Germany game that night with thousands of German fans.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial is a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by architect Peter Eisenman. It consists of a 4.7 acres site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs, arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. According to Eisenman's project text, the slabs are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.
Here is my dash attempt to describe the many emotions one feels walking through this memorial:
loneliness. can't walk side by side, you have to walk alone.
dehumanization, no names or labeling of memorial.
slabs, funeral.
grey, dreary, dark.
the slopping center makes it really dark while in the middle of the chaos. but you are always able to see you're way out, see the light at the end of the dark tunnel...
no use of any symbolism.

Visitors can move through the tilting featureless stones - each one a unique shape and size - from any direction. There are no plaques, inscription or symbols along the way.

An attached underground "Place of Information" holds the names of all known Jewish Holocaust victims, obtained from Yad Vashem in Israel. a visitors' center offers information and context on the Nazi campaign against the Jews. The information center has 8 exhibits. The one that I found most powerful was the Room of Dimensions. This room centers on diary entries, letters and last notes that were written during the Holocaust. Another room, the Room of Families show various Jewish lifestyles, using the example of 15 families. Photos and documents reflect the variety of European Jewish culture before the Holocaust and illustrate the destruction, displacement and murder of these families.

                        


Hitler's Bunker
Hitler's Bunker is located underneath this car park located a block from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This site is unmarked and the bunker is sealed off. It was decided that there should be no memorializing of this site because people worried that it might become a site of Neo-Nazi pilgrimages.

Hitler took up residence in the Fuhrerbunker on 16 January 1945 and it became the epicenter of the Nazi regime until the last week of World War II. HItler married Eva Braun here during the last week of Apirl 1945, shortly before they committed suicide.

Berlin Wall.
Alas! I lay eyes on the original Berlin Wall in the city where it was located. Throughout my travels I have seem sections of the wall, like in Gdansk and Budapest. But finally I am in the city where it all happened.

The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along the large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (known as the "death strip") that contained all sorts of weapons which were aimed to kill any escapees.

Since its initial construction the wall was remodeled and revamped throughout the years that it held power. The wall at one point had barbed wire on the top of it, but that was later taken down because it was well known that people trying to escape and climb over the wall used the barbed wire to grasp and pull themselves over. At one point, German olympians were brought in to test the durability of the wall. This lead to the addition of the pipes that you see on top of the wall now. These pipes (some type of sewer pipes) are just round enough for it to be impossible for anyone to get their arms around. Tricky huh.

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie (C) was the name given by the Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. Checkpoint Charlie was designated as the single crossing point (by foot or by car) for foreigners and members of the Allied forces. 

The guard house viewed from what was the American sector. Beyond it is a mast with an image of a Soviet soldier looking towards the American side. And at this view, is an American soldier looking into the Soviet side, always watching. 

Replica of the famous sign at the former East-West Berlin border.

The Burning of Banned Books
The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the authorities of Nazi Germany to ceremonially burn all books in Germany which did not correspond with Nazi ideology.

Among the thousands of books burned on Berlin's Opernplatz in 1933, following the Nazi raid, were works by Heinrich Heine, the beloved nineteenth-century German-Jewish poet. To commemorate the terrible event, one of the most famous lines of Heine's 1821 play Almansor was engraved in the ground at the site: "That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also."

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is an international memorial of freedom. It is a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin Wall. The Gallery consists of 105 paintings by artists from all of the world, painted in 1990 on the east side of the Berlin Wall. The paintings document the time of change and express the euphoria and great hopes for a better and free future for all people of the world. It is possibly the longest-lasting open air gallery in the world.

A popular slogan graffitied on one of the sections of the East Side Gallery, reading: "No more wars. No more walls. A united world."

Topography of Terror:
The Topography of Terror is an outdoor museum. It is located on the site of buildings which during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 were the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS. The buildings that housed the Gestapo and SS headquarters were largely destroyed by Allied bombing during early 1945 and the ruins demolished after the war. The boundary between the American and Soviet zones of occupation in Berlin ran along this street, so the street soon became a fortified boundary, and the Berlin Wall ran along the south side of the street from 1961 to 1989. The wall here was never destroyed. Indeed the section adjacent to the Topography of Terror site is the longest extant segment of the outer wall (the longer East Side Gallery section is actually part of the inner wall, not visible from West Berlin).

New Synagogue

The Neue Synagogue was built 1859-1866 as the main synagogue of the Berlin Jewish community. it was badly damaged prior to and during World War II and subsequently much was demolished; the present building on the site is a reconstruction. 

During the November Pogrom (9-10 November 1938), Kristallnacht, the Neue Synangogue was set ablaze, Torah scrolls desecrated, furniture smashed and other combustible furnishings piled up and set on fire.  

              
We happen to stumble upon this breathtaking building by chance. We caught a glimpse of a sign for it and just ventured our way to it, I am so glad that we saw it though, it is incredible up close.

Reichstag

The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. After World War II, the building fell into disuse. In 1990, it underwent a reconstruction and after its completion in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag. The Reichstag is now the second most visited attraction in Germany, not least because of the huge glass dome that was erected on the roof as a gesture to the original 1894 cupola, giving an impressive view over the city, especially at night (we were there in the morning, and i must saw it was still an impressive view, nonetheless).

More on the huge glass dome:
The large glass dome at very top of the Reichstag has a 360 degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The main hall of the parliament below can also be seen from inside the dome, and natural light from above radiates down to the parliament floor. A large sun shield tracks the movement of the sun electronically and blocks the direct sunlight which would not only cause large solar gain, but dazzle those below, so smart and nice of them. The roof of the dome is open or so it seemed to us.
In order to visit the dome, which we did, you have to register your visit online, so fancy. When we went, the Parliament was in session. Trust me, it is worth it.
Jewish Museum in Berlin

The historical permanent exhibit chooses an unusual perspective on the history of Germany and German-speaking territories. Two Millennia of German Jewish History lets the visitor see Germany of the past and present through the eyes of the Jewish minority. 

Two Millennia of German Jewish History:

The World of Ashkenaz, 950-1500 -- Women's Lives 1646-1724 -- Matters of Faith -- City, Countryside, Court, 1500-1800 -- Moses Mendelssohn and the Enlightenment, 1750-1800 -- Tradition and Change, throughout History -- Family Life 1850-1933 -- German and Jewish at the Same Time, 1800-1914 -- Modern Judaism, 1800-1933 -- Berlin, Berlin, 1890-1933 -- East and West, 1900-1933 -- Equality in Danger 1914-1933 -- Children's Island --National Socialism, 1933-1945 -- Present, 1945 to Today. 

Othe Exhibits:

The Memory Void contains the installation Fallen Leaves by Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman.  Over 10,000 open-mouthed faces coursely cut from heavy, circular iron plates cover the floor sporadically.

I found the special exhibit for Russians Jews Germans to be very interesting. Russian Jews Germans shows photos documenting the immigration of Russian-speaking Jews to Germany from 1992 to the present. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989/90, nearly a quarter of a million Jewish immigrants - so-called "quota refugees- came to Germany from the former Soviet Union. This wave of immigration brought about lasting changes in the the German Jewish community. Why did these Jews immigrate to Germany you ask? The Russian Jews believed that Germany offered a better prosperous future then that of the Soviet Union. The Quota Refugee Act was another issue that I wasn't familiar with even though we discussed various quota systems during WWII. 

I absolutely loved all of the graffiti that I found in the city. I usually am not a fan of graffiti, but I think that in this particular city, it is an important part of the cities history. In some ways graffiti represents freedom, and we know that the citizens strived for freedom. Some more Berlin graffiti for you:

"Berlin Loves All Colors"

                                         

Farewell Berlin, you were a very impressive city, if I do say so. All you Vegetarians/Vegans would be in heaven here. Also, they have a very interesting music scene. A lot of hipster looking venues, like playing in abandoned warehouses. If you get the chance to visit Berlin, GO to the abandoned Amusement Park. I chickened out, because technically it is illegal, so we didn't dare venture over there, but it is worth the trip. The only thing that keeps running through my brain is a zombie apocalypse and Zombieland.  Check it out.

UEFA Euro 2012 Craziness has BEGUN

 

Euro 2012: Poland-Ukraine 

June 8th-Poland vs. Greece. The background story, Poland's exchange rate with the US has been exceptionally these past few days/weeks thanks to Greece's fast failing economy. Right now, it has been 3.50 to 1. We are living in crazy times indeed. 


Krakow's stadium is a back-up stadium for the games, I live right across this said stadium, too bad. We are a host city for the England and Holland team. My goal is to find them. I have inside sources that know where they are living.


Europe really does love its sports. I have experienced the frenzy that fútbol games stir up. Riots, parades, crowded bars, people crying on the curbs when their team loses. The city comes alive when there is a game on. When I was in Prague, we stood in the main square watching the finals of the hockey game projected on a wide-screen on the center stage. For dinner, we went to an Irish Pub and there we watched this hockey game as well as a rugby game and the beginning of the fútbol championship game. 


Just to clear up some confusion, Poland and Ukraine are joining in partnership and hosting the Euro 2012. 4 stadiums in Poland (Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw) and Ukraine (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv). 

Google went Polish to kick off Euro2012. 

Eurotrippin with Sis

Welcome to Eastern Europe Eliza, the land of the cheap and cobblestone. 

Krakow


Sis arrived in Krak Friday May 11th at 12:30pm. Yes I got to the airport right on time, of course I was rushing and stressing all the same. I checked the arrival board and relaxed because Frankfort was suppose to land at 130. It was 85 degrees out, so i got some ice cream and sat upstairs in the cafe and read my book for a bit. I ventured downstairs to check the arrivals and sure enough sis was walking toward me. Turns out, she arrived at 12:30 from a connecting flight from Munich. Whoops. She was ecstatic to see me nonetheless, I swear. Luckily, I regained her spirits, by having us hop onto a bus to bring us into Krakow. The bus was crammed pack with tourists and townies. We got to Nawojka (my deluxe dorm) and immediately went down for a nap. What, I was exhausted in anticipation for her arrival. 


Sis brought the bad weather to Krak. Starting Saturday, a cold front moved in and settled right on Krakow for the next week. Sis was here from Friday to Thursday night. It was grim and gloomy weather but we made the best of it. I had classes during her visit, so Eliza ventured off during the afternoons, walking the streets of Krakow and doing mad souvenir shopping in the Cloth Hall (sukiennice) and on ulica Florianska.


In the afternoons, we were able to walk through the city together. We made it to Wawel Castle together when there was a brief ray of sunshine. Wawel hill is so beautiful in the springtime. After romping around the castle grounds, I introduced Eliza to the best polish cuisine restaurant, Bar Smok. Here, I ordered, all in polish, zupa pomidorowa z makaroni (tomato soup with noodles), szpinakem pierogi (spinach pierogi) and nalesniki z czekolada (pancakes filled with cheese sauce and covered in chocolate). Poland is not the healthiest country, but we do love their food. 



The next afternoon, we made our way into Podgorze to see the Ghetto Square Memorial and continued to the Schindler's Factory Museum. I let sis go through the museum on her own, but gave her all the time she needed. It is a great museum, but I wanted to sit down and catch up on my journaling (okay, yeah I have a diary, but I call it a journal). Both my dad and my sister were presuming that his museum was going to be centered around Oskar Schindler and his factory. But little does everyone know it is more about the history of Krakow under Nazi occupation, including the Krakow ghetto, Plaszow concentration camp, Schindler's Factory, and the Soviet invasion. It is a complete history of Krakow during World War II, but it also goes over both the Jews and the Poles daily life and experiences living in Krakow before and during the war. The museum is very thorough and it takes some time going from room to room from floor to floor. 


I sat in the Cinema Cafe, drinking goraca czekolada and writing in my journal/diary. It was relaxin to just sit, and collect my thoughts while sis meandered through the museum. Eliza took about an hour and a half in the museum. After her visit, she decided that she wanted to make the trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum. So i booked our tour for 8:15am the next morning. Of course we decided to go out for our her last night in Krakow. 


Banialuka here we come! We celebrated Bania's birthday by singing "Sto Lat" with a packed bar while a saxophonist played on the bar. Literally the bar was packed, no room to move or breath. 


At Banialuka, you can get 4 zloty drinks ($1.15). We go here to start and end our nights. And this place is the meeting place for most erasmus students. We usually meet Americans here. We eventually made our way to Afera Club, and danced the night away. All in all, I think sis thoroughly enjoyed her time in Krakow.


The next morning, we were up and ready to be out the door by 7:30am. We stopped at Kefirek (grocery store-which means sour milk...) to get some breakfast supplies and snacks for our day trip to Auschwitz. Poland does not have sandwich baggies or snack-sized foods so our bags were stuffed with apples, sandwiches, pretzels, yogurts, and chips. 

Originally, I was going to stay in Krakow today and go to my Polish class and let Eliza venture to Auschwitz by herself, but giving it a second thought, I decided that I wanted to experience the visit and being there with her. This trip is my third time to the camp (once with my dad and once on a field trip with one of my classes). Every time the experience has been different. 


While we were walking through the exhibitions, we noticed that there was an Israeli military group walking through the museum with us. This was the first time I saw an international military group. This time around, there were a lot more flowers and memorials springing up in front of walls, near pictures, and rocks piled up. We had a beautiful day.


Thursday night, Eliza and I set out for the train station to start our adventure to Prague. We definitely started off our trip right...having booked a sleeping compartment for our overnight train ride to Prague. 


Prague
We got our sleeping compartment and after having our tickets checked, we immediately locked our door. Our car was mostly American students who were studying in various countries around Europe and, like us, were going to Prague for the weekend for Sensation. Sis and I slept for the majority of the trip (I felt well-rested, sis was still a bit wary). We got to Prague by 8, and took a taxi to our hostel, The Madhouse Hostel, so we could check our bags and freshen up before we   started our day in the city exploring. We had to wait til their reception opened at 9am, so we sat on our luggage across the narrow cobblestone street, looking like a couple of bums. 



Day 1: I might start listing here. Prague was a beautiful city, very much like Krakow. We were lucky with the weather here though so of course sis immediately jumped on the Prague-loving bandwagon. Who couldn't love warm weather, nice people, and beautiful city streets and gorgeous views. I have yet to experience this in any other city (well, besides Galway, Ireland) where hearing English, pure American English, was everywhere. My ear was picking it up all around us. It was refreshing to hear and we meet a lot of people from all over the North America, (yes, even Canadians come to Prague). 


 Eliza and I started walking from our hostel, and meandered the streets not really paying attention to our maps. We found a nice Italian restaurant for breakfast (11am) and then made our way to the main square, where we decided to walk up to the top of the Clock tower to get a panoramic view of the city. Here are some of the sights that we saw from the top of the world:








Prague has become one of the world's most popular tourist destinations (hence all of the American tourists). It is the sixth-visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin. The Old Town Square, is much more compact, and smaller than Krakow's main square, but it deserves its own due. The tops of the buildings around the city are a beautiful red, and the square is bubbling with activity. We witnessed many events being taken place, like watching the finals of the hockey game projected on a big screen. Everyone was decked out in Czech colors, waving the flag and being very patriotic for their home team, it was great a fun watching the crowd. 

This bizarre statue is situated right in front of the entrance to the Franz Kafka Museum. Take a gander at the animatronic "Piss" statue located in the Kafka Museum's courtyard (yes parts of it moves...) This rendition of a coupe urinating into a fountain, shaped like the Czech Republic was made by a local sculptor David Cerny, interesting choice of statue, yes? Who is Franz Kafka? Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the greatest figures of 20th century world literature. Entitled ‘The City of K. Franz Kafka and Prague’, this exhibition on the life and work of Prague’s most famous literary son explores the intimate relationship between the writer and the city that shaped him through the use of original letters, photographs, quotations, period newspapers and publications, and video and sound installations. This museum was really interesting. I might just have to pick up one of his books, The Trial or The Castle and give it a read. After walking through the exhibit, solo, I met back up with Eliza and we headed back to our hostel to finally check in, nap, shower and wait to see Luke! 

Glastonbury Reunion! It was so great seeing one of my best guy friends from Luke.  He is studying in Uppsala, Sweden for the semester and we were about to plan a trip to rendezvous in Prague for sensation and spend the weekend together. I was able to meet a few of his friends who are studying with him and they were all lovely people. It was really great to see a familiar face from home and be able to explore a new city together. One of our really close friends studied in Prague last semester so we felt her presence all over the city and enjoyed walking in her footsteps and falling in love with her city. 

Day 2: The Charles Bridge

The Charles Bridge is the famous historic 14th century bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague. The Charles Bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town. It is a great tourist trap, with many street vendors, performers and of course great views of the city along the river. We crossed the bridge everyday. Thankfully, Prague is a very walkable city and you are able to conquer the area more or less in one day's time. We returned to a few sites more than once, like the peacock gardens (which I will mention later) and left going to the Prague Castle for our last day. But Prague is a great city and you really can spend a lot of time getting to know all of the streets quite well.    

The Lennon Wall: Graffiti on Graffiti on Graffiti.

Of course any study abroad student who is in Europe has seen pictures of the Lennon Wall. But today, it was my turn to see the wall up close and personal. The Lennon wall or JOhn Lennon Wall, is a wall. Once a normal wall, since the 1980s it has been filled with John Lennon inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles songs. The wall represents a symbol of youth ideals such as love and peace. The wall continuously undergoes change and the original portrait of Lennon is long lost under layer of new paint. Even when the wall was repainted by some authorities, on the second day is was again full of poems and flowers. And who can resist in adding their own graffiti to the wall. We lacked a permanent marker but luckily I had a few pens in my bag and the four of us were able to sign the wall. 

Sensation 2012: White Out

Sensation is an indoor electronic dance music event. White Sensation is a pure house event. All the attendees are required to wear white. Sensation White's slogan is "Be Part Of The Night - Dress in White". Every event has around 40,000-45,000 tickets available. So you know that the arenas are going to be massive.


It is an extreme light show. Not realizing the exact duration of the event, I was shocked to find out that it started at 9:30pm and lasted until 6:00am. We were in for a long night. But it was great night. It is such a European event. I think there are plans in the making to bring Sensation to the States but I do not think that it will be the same. The atmosphere just won't be the same. 

Day 3:

Sadly our last day in Prague. For a good part of the morning and early afternoon, we lounged in Madhouse Hostel's comfy t.v. room, transfixed watching the show "Californication." Seriously it is one of the best shows I have ever seen, I'm addicted to it now. I know what I will be watching this summer. After watching a god ten episodes, Luke, Eliza and I decided that we should depart from this dark hole and go see the Prague Castle and visit the Peacock Garden. 

Let me see your peacock

After what seemed like a million steps, Luke and I tried to count but after a long silence we both quit. Trust us though, there were a lot of steps. After what felt like ages, we eventually reached the top and were rewarded immediately by the views of the city. 


P.S.- If you are ever in Prague, please do yourself a favor and book a dorm at The Madhouse Hostel, you will NOT regret it. You will regret not booking your stay there. It was recently opened (April 2012) and is run by a handful of young people (23-25 years old). It is very well-run, managed and organized. It is a great place for college students to congregate, and solo travellers to meet a bunch of friendly travellers like themselves. The first night we stayed at the hostel, the owners all invited us out to celebrate on of their birthdays. It felt like a genuine field trip. We went from a bar to club and before leaving the bar we had to count heads to make sure we were all accounted for. They take great care of you and you will really enjoy your stay in the city. A few of my friends signed up to go skydiving with the hostel, and they offer a lot of other great deals and are very knowledgeable of the city. 


Good Prague, Sis and I are off to Paris!


Paris
The Land of the Wine, Cheese & Baguettes


Day 1:

We arrived into Paris in the evening, so first thing was to check into our hostel. Vintage Hostel was a budget hotel and hostel and definitely lower down on the scale compared to the Madhouse Hostel in Prague. First thing first: Eat food. We walked around the neighborhood that our hostel was in, Montmartre to get a feel for Paris. Monmartre is talked about by Parisians the way New Yorkers talk about the village. If you have ever watched the movie "Midnight in Paris" with Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, then you would recognize the streets and area because Montmartre was the setting for the film. Many artists had studios or worked around the community of Montmartre such as Salvado Dali, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. Also, a lot of writers took up residency here as well. 


For some silly reason, most of the restaurants do not start serving dinner until 7pm. So after getting rejected at 6 o'clock from Refuge de Fondus, Eliza and I had to wonder the streets aimlessly, in the rain until it was a reasonable enough time to return to the fondus place, and wait a little ways down the street until we were allowed to cross the threshold of the establishment. Right at 7 o'clock, we were seating in the corner of the restaurant awaiting our meal of cheese and bread. now, let me backtrack here. While we were in the airport flying from Prague to Paris earlier in the day we started talking to this guy, Alex, from Toronto who like us and about all of the North Americans traveling that day were at Sensation. Alex was our lucky charm because he has been studying in Paris for the semester so he was able to help us by a pack of metro tickets, and sent us in the right direction towards our hostel. He also recommended this fondus place, that was in walking distance from our hostel and Eliza and I were all ears once he mentioned that cheese was involved. So this fondus place was our first stop that we made in Paris. 

And oh boy, it was delicious! 

 

 


After stuffing ourselves with as much cheese and bread that we could handle, we waddled out and began to walk off all the food that we just consumed. We took the metro to the Notre Dame stop and saw this magnificent cathedral all light up at night. I couldn't find the hunchback of Notre Dame anywhere. But we were able to see the gargoyles if you squint very hard and peered all the way up. They act as water spouts, so smart. 



It took us forever to find this said tower of Eiffel. We walked from Notre Dame all the way along the river, heading in what we thought was the right direction towards this massive structure. It was a good 30 minute walk before we even so much as caught a glimpse of the tip of the tower. Eliza and I started discussing the possibility of it either falling down, been stolen and surely it just didn't exist. I was in favor of the stolen hypothesis. I believed that the evil villain from "Despicable Me" used his shrink ray and stole the Eiffel Tower and in its place, put a fake blown-up version of the tower. Clearly, we way too much time on our hands while we searched endlessly for this make believe tower. Miracously, when I finally did see the very top of the tower over the buildings, i screeched, jumped into the air, and surprisingly my eyes started to water (I swear it was windy that night). Once we finally caught a glimpse of it, we hurried on our way to see this tower up close and personal. Along the way, because we still had a good half-hour walk ahead of us still, Eliza and I started to break out in song, singing Ingrid Michaelson's "You and I." It is a beautiful song. After what seemed like hours we reached the beginning of the park where the Eiffel Tower stands. My jaw dropped completely to the floor when I actually saw the size of this iron tower. I had to collect myself and my jaw before making any moves closer to it. Eliza and I decided that we would hike this beast tomorrow night, we had to prepare ourselves for the task. Feelings that I experienced while gawking at the Eiffel Tower: Awe, I felt very insignificant and inferior, astonished, impressed, questioned how in the world were they able to built this in 1889, and of course speechless. I don't think sis or I spoke for a good ten minutes and a hundred pictures later. 

The Eiffel Tower

Crepes Heaven 

Because our necks started to hurt, we bowed our heads and brought them back to eye-level and decided that our next move would be to try these infamous crepes. Wine, Cheese, and crepes all in one night, i think we can say that we conquered French cuisine very well for our first round. We had a delicious chocolate (nutella) and banana crepe with whipped cream at a stand looking straight towards the Eiffel Tower. So many French things. Bon appetite! Crepes on crepes on crepes. 


Day 2: 

The Louve Museum 

Phantom of the Opera @Paris Opera House

Arc de Triomphe

Warning: Prepare yourself for a ridiculous amount of Eiffel Tower shots. Sorry, I'm not sorry, but really sorry...

Rewarding ourselves for surviving climbing to the top of the Eiffel tower and making it back down safely to the ground, without having a panic attack or sick impulse to do something crazy. Mealing face on crepes: 

Our last day in Paris together was well spent criss-crossing all over Paris. We saw so many attractions and got our souvenir shopping over with. We conquered the metro system of Paris. it was so easy to navigate underground. it is nothing like the T system in Boston. much more organized and only one train comes to the terminal, so you know if you are at the right terminal that whatever train comes is the one that you want to take. it was easy to use. and thankfully so because Paris is ginormous, and you really need to use the public transportation (metro) if you want to get around the city. or if you are competing with time. Eliza had 48 hours in the city and we criss-crossed all over the place, and went to the Eiffel tower both days. We did a tremendous amount of walking this trip. My feet will need some time to heal from all of the pounding we did all throughout the various cities. 


Day 3:
Sis left bright and early for the airport to begin her trip back to the States :( luckily I will be seeing her soon! It was great spending 13 days with her, and traveling throughout Europe with her by my side. 
I left the hostel shortly after Eliza because I had a big day planned. Today, I went to Versailles. Rick Steeve's (the best travel expert around) suggested giving yourself at least a six hour time span for this day trip. I gave myself all day because honestly I had no place to be or any other plans. 


Versailles

 

 

 

 

 

 





Inside of the Notre Dame Cathedral:

 

 

Favorite Street in Paris:

 

 

Goodnight Paris.