Paris!

I got to spend a day in Paris!  My work permit only allows me to leave the UK up until October 31st, so this weekend was my last chance to travel through Europe.  I really wanted to go to Paris since I had never been there before and it is so close.  My program supervisor had planned a day trip to Cambridge, England for this past Sunday.  That meant I could only spend Saturday in Paris.  The train is pretty expensive and flying takes so much effort, so I decided to take the bus.  It is an eight hour overnight bus ride.  I left London Friday night at 10 pm and arrived in Paris at 7 am Saturday morning.  The bus takes the ferry, so I had to get off to go through passport control and then get back on the bus once we cross the channel.  I work with a guy who is from Paris and he mapped out a route for me highlighting some of the places I should see.

I started my day at the Arc de Triomphe and walked along the Champs Elysee.  That is where all of the expensive stores are, so it was good to spend my early morning time window shopping while nothing was open yet.  I came to what I think was the National Gallery.  Again, it wasn't open yet, but I took pictures of the outside.  Then I came to the palaces.  There was a really beautiful bridge leading to them.  I kept walking and ended up at the Concorde, which is an obelisk with hieroglyphics inscribed in it.  There fountains all around it.  By then, it was starting to get later and there were lots of tourist groups around.  The next part of the road leads to Jardin des Tuileries.  This is a huge sculpture garden where lots of people were running and checking out the present exhibit which consisted of some weird things.  One of them was a little shed kind of thing made out of chalkboards.  There was chalk nearby so I wrote my name on it!  

The garden leads right up to the Louvre.  I debated whether or not I should go inside since I only had one day to see the whole city.  I decided I would regret it if I didn't get to go in.  It had just opened when I got there so the line wasn't too long.  I went straight to the Mona Lisa and it was actually disappointing.  The painting sits all alone on a wall in the middle of a room with a great big barricade around it.  Photography is allowed as long as you don't use a flash, so there were lots and lots of people there trying to get a picture.  The way it is set up, you can't get close enough to even get a good look.  After that, I just wandered the museum and came across loads of different exhibits.  The best one was Napoleon III Apartments.  This was a series of rooms that were set up as fancy parlors and dining rooms.  Some of them were HUGE and the furniture in them was really extravagant.  I was expecting to just find artwork hanging on the walls, so this was a cool thing to come across.  I actually had to sit down and close my eyes for a few minutes because I was so exhausted from the lack of sleep I got on the bus and from walking all morning.

I had lunch at the cafeteria inside of the Louvre.  I got a baguette with brie because I thought that was a good French thing to eat.  After I left, I walked onto the islands in the middle of the Seine.  I went to Notre Dame Cathedral.  Walking around inside is free, but they also allow you to walk on top of it for a fee.  The student price was only 4.80 euro, so I decided to wait in line and go up there.  Even though it was a long wait, it was worth it.  You have to walk up a spiral staircase and there are two levels to see from.  The first one just allows you to see out from the front of the church.  You can walk along all of the gargoyles.  Then, you walk up even higher and get to the tip top of the cathedral.  You can walk all the way around the tower and see the city for 360 degrees.  It was a little foggy, so the view could have been better, but it was still really beautiful.  The only other bad thing was that there was no elevator.  You go up a spiral staircase in stages, but then you walk all the way down the whole thing to the bottom.  I counted and there were 385 steps!  I thought my legs might fall off by the time I reached the ground.

Once I left there, I came across this strange little monument to refugees that I thought was a monument to deported people (because I don't speak French).  It was underground and there was a guard at the top of the stairs who only allowed a few people in at a time.  It was basically a passageway leading to a room with lots of writing on the walls.  There were a few jail cells off of the room and it was kind of creepy.  It was an interesting thing to find.  After that, I found a whole bunch of ice cream places and I was dragging again, so I decided to get some gelato.  After that, I walked over to the Bastille.  There is an opera house right along the square, so I sat down on the steps and took a rest to people watch for a while.  I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at sunset, so I left with plenty of time to get back across the city.  I missed my first subway stop and had to turn around, then I couldn't figure out which platform to stand on.  I found a guy that sort of spoke English and he told me which train went to the Eiffel Tower.  I kind of missed the sunset by the time I got there, but I was walking toward it when it started to sparkle!  Every hour on the hour, twinkle lights go on for just a few minutes.  I walked around underneath the tower for a while.  It was lit up blue because France is currently the leader of the European Union.  Since the EU flag is blue with a ring of stars, the tower is blue and has a ring of stars affixed to the front.  It cost 12 euro to go inside the tower and the line was super long.  I decided I had seen the city from Notre Dame, and that was enough.  Someone had told me that river cruises were really nice, so I decided to do one of those once the sun went down.  I definitely wanted to see all of the city lights at night, but I didn't think my legs could carry me anywhere else, so the boat was the perfect option.  I got to see all the lights and I had an English translation on a headset.  When I got off the boat, I had just enough time to buy a crepe and get back to the bus station.  I slept much better on the ride back to England because I was so exhausted.  I think I did a good job of seeing Paris in just one day, but I definitely want to go back when I have more time to see more things.  It's a beautiful city.

Life in London

I went to the doctor for the first time today.  I was having some ear pains and pressure so I figured I should get antibiotics if it was an ear infection.  There is a doctor's office right up the block from me.  The visits are free!  They have a walk-in clinic from 10-11, so I arrived at 9:20 to get registered and make sure I was first in line since I had to be at class at 11.  Obviously, I had to wait for a while, but they have a loudspeaker to call you in.  They called me, and I couldn't understand what room I was supposed to go to.  I thought they said room 5 on the third floor.  Room 9 was on the third floor, so I thought that might have been the one, but there was a sign on the door saying "quiet please", so I was afraid to knock.  I went down the stairs again and the receptionist was busy so I went back up and knocked.  No one answered, so I opened the door and it led to another hallway which room 9 was off of.  I could hear voices and realized another patient was already in that room.  I went back down the stairs, but the receptionist was still busy.  Then I heard the loudspeaker say something and the last word was immediately, so I thought it must be for me.  I went to try room 5 and the doctor in there told me that she had already called the next patient because I hadn't shown up.  That girl was at the door, so she had to go back down and wait.  I felt really bad, but I honestly didn't know what room I was supposed to be in.  So I went in, and the doctor looked in my ears, up my nose and told me I didn't have an actual ear infection, just fluid.  Since all of your sinuses are connected, she prescribed me a nose spray.  It smells like flowers and is pretty gross, but hopefully it'll make my ears better.

For class today, we met at the Estorick Collection.  This is in the middle of nowhere, but I was able to find it.  There was supposed to be a show of Italian futurist works, but the movement is celebrating its 100 year anniversary next year, so everything has been removed for a traveling collection that's in Paris right now.  Instead, they had a Cut and Paste exhibit which was AWESOME!  I love collage, and this was two rooms full of it.  It was mostly Russian works about Communism, but there was also a movement called Dada which is really cool.  We saw some Constructivist pieces by Rodchenko and Lissetzsky (I have no idea how to spell their names) that were really good too.  We actually studied them in my graphic design class last semester so I already knew a little bit.  It was the best stuff we have seen with my class so far.  I really liked it.  

London Zoo and more photos!

First of all, I have more photos online so here are the links:

Album 7: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034170&l=99715&id=21503219

Album 8: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034273&l=d4eb8&id=21503219

Album 9: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034413&l=cf52d&id=21503219

I went to the London Zoo yesterday!  It is located inside of Regent's Park, which is a really enormous, beautiful park not too far from where I live.  I decided to walk there and make my way through the park to the zoo.  I guess I didn't realize how big the park was, because it took me an hour to find the zoo!  The park was really pretty, so I didn't mind wandering around it for so long.  There was an art fair going on, but the admission was 25 pounds or something, so I decided that was a bit too much.  The park has canals and lakes with paddle boat rentals.  There are lots of ducks and geese swimming around.  The leaves are starting to change here, so walking through the park was the closest I could get to fall in New England.  The colors are nowhere as pretty, but it wasn't too bad.  I found some really nice gardens with fountains.  There were lounge chairs around (probably for when the weather is a bit nicer).  I also found the sports fields where loads of people were playing "football" and rugby.  Eventually, I came to the zoo.

The admission there was 15 pounds, which is kind of a lot, but it was definitely worth it.  I went straight to the reptile house (where part of the first Harry Potter was filmed) and I think I figured out which case could have been the one Dudley falls into.  Then I went to see the gorillas.  There were two of them grooming each other and they were adorable.  The last time I saw gorillas was at the Bronx Zoo and one of them kept throwing up into its own hand and then eating what it had regurgitated.  These gorillas weren't as funny, but definitely more pleasant.  I saw lots of birds and some bearded pigs and hippos.  Obviously, I spent forever looking at the monkeys!  There was a whole exhibit called "Meet the Monkeys" where you could walk through a fenced in area where Black-Capped Squirrel Monkeys could roam free.  They are the most adorable animals on Earth!!  I wanted to take one home with me.  They are little monkeys and they jump and swing all around.  There was one that was eating berries in a tree and he was right in front of me!!  Literally, he was two feet away from my face.  It was really the cutest thing I've ever seen and I didn't want to leave.  I just wanted to stay inside that exhibit all day.  You aren't allowed to touch or feed the monkeys, but I was happy just to watch them.  Eventually, I left and went to see the rest of the animals.  There was also a butterfly house that you could walk through.  It was really hot inside of there.  I saw giraffes, zebras, okapi and lemurs.  There was a whole aquarium within the zoo too.  It wasn't as big as a regular aquarium, but they had at least three different rooms with South American fish, coral reefs and other tropical fish.  There was an exhibit of nocturnal animals too.  They were kind of hard to find in their cases because it was so dark, but it was pretty cool.  I stayed until the zoo closed.  The only thing I didn't get to see were the otters, but that's ok because I'm really glad I spent all that time with the monkeys.

MORE PHOTOS!

I got more photos online, so here are the links to view the albums:

Album 4: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033778&l=bd9e5&id=21503219

Album 5: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033895&l=2acaf&id=21503219

Album 6: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033914&l=f2761&id=21503219

Dublin!

Last weekend, we went to Dublin!  We bought tickets for a "hop on hop off" tour of the city.  On some of the busses, the driver gave a live narration.  Others had pre-recorded a narration in different languages.  We got off the bus at Dublin Castle first.  We walked around the grounds and took pictures but we didn't go inside.  There was a green with some kind of image drawn into it that we thought was a celtic knot.  After that, we walked around Christ Church Cathedral.  Again, we just walked around the outside, but it was really pretty.  Then I went inside the City Hall.  It was no comparison to Oslo.  After that, we got back on the bus and took it to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Some of the girls paid to go inside, but Jess and I just walked around outside instead.  There was a park next to the church with a little playground and some nice flowers.  Our next stop was the Guinness Storehouse.  Last summer when my family was in Amsterdam, we went to the Heineken Experience, which was basically the same attraction.  The Guinness one went through all of the history of the family who started the company and the ingredients that go into the beer.  They had a few displays of the machinery they use to brew the beer.  There was a whole section on the advertisements for Guinness through the years that was pretty cool.  At the end of the tour, you reach the top of the building where the "Gravity Bar" is and you get a pint of Guinness.  I tasted it, but I really didn't like it so I gave mine to Jess.  I'm just not a beer person.  Surprisingly, it wasn't carbonated...I just didn't like the taste.  The Gravity Bar is a circular bar at the top of the building with a 360 degree view of Dublin.  That was pretty cool to see.  

Once we left there, we got off the bus at Kilmainham Gaol.  None of us knew what it would be, but we decided to give it a try anyway.  It turns out, it was an old jail that was mainly used for keeping famous political prisoners.  This was actually my favorite part of the trip.  I wasn't expecting to like it, but it was really interesting.  We got a guided tour which started with a slideshow and information about the history of the jail.  Before Ireland split off from the UK, there were some rebels that tried to get independence.  Fourteen men led the Easter Rising, the first attempt at gaining independence.  They were all brought to Kilmainham to be executed.  Some of them had really interesting stories.  One of them was engaged and he was allowed to get married the night before he got executed.  His new wife not only lost him, but also her brother who was one of the other rebels.  Their executions were a major spectacle over the course of about a week and the people of Ireland thought of them as heroes instead of criminals.  The jail also held criminals, but it was most famous for these fourteen men.  Unfortunately, it was raining after we left there and the lower deck of our bus was full.  So we ended up sitting on the top deck in the rain for the rest of the ride back to our hostel.  

On Sunday, we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells.  It is a 6th century copy of the Gospel.  It is actually made up of four books, all of which were under glass.  They had pages photocopied and blown up to put on the walls of the exhibit.  There was info on how the book would have been constructed, including a video demonstration of how the book would have been bound.  I thought this was really cool.  I would definitely love to get into book making.  Part of the process is to scrape cow fur off the leather which I wouldn't be okay with, but the rest of it was cool!  The illustrations in the book were really beautiful and the whole thing was just cool.  This was probably my other favorite part of the weekend.  At the end, you can go into the old Trinity College Library.  It was mostly roped off so you can only really walk through the center and look at everything else, but it felt like Beauty and the Beast!  It is a two story room with book cases and ladders full of extremely old books.  It was really neat.  We got to walk around Trinity's campus a bit too, and then we had to go back to London.  It was fun though!