two weeks in two minutes!
So I'll try to sum up my first two weeks as succinctly as possible. It's frustrating that you still can't get internet everywhere in Europe. At least not good quality for free.
So leaving for the airport was the crazy mess it always is. I don't like flying and I don't like the thought of not getting any sleep for a long time. This on top of leaving my cat and family for five weeks made me an emotional wreck. But that's nothing new.
So I land in Paris extremely exhausted. I get to my hostel around 10 and can't check in til 4. Fantastic. But I knew this and was prepared. The worst thing I could've done to myself was go window shopping - but that's exactly what I did. I must've picked out 50 pairs of shoes that I was dying to have, but couldn't buy any of them cus I didn't want to lug them around. My first day in Paris was spent looking for Yop and visiting the Musee de Cluny - the medieval museum. I recommend both. My outdated, useless Let's Go book said the Cluny museum is free. Wrong. 8 euros. But it was fine. There were lots of pretty tapestries including La Dame a la Licorne. My second day was spent picnicking with my friend Sandrine and two cute little kids that were staying with her. This random little girl wandered up to our picnic and begged for food. Then we played some Uno and had a grand old time.
Next stop was London. I loved London! I had perfect weather and got to see so much. I visited the National Gallery, Tate Modern, and the British Museum where I saw the Rosetta Stone. It was pretty cool. I took a day trip to Stonehenge, which I was surprised to see is literally right next to a highway. I was quite impressed with what I saw though I admit I thought it would be a bit more imposing than it was. Still great though. I went shopping at Camden town and Spitafield which were both awesome. My friend Hilary and I even had some adventure on the bus on the way to Camden. We were riding on the top deck when we all of a sudden hear a scream. We have no idea what's going on but we hear "you killed him!" and then "you almost killed me!" I thought maybe the driver hit someone but surely we would've noticed that. So apparently some crazy guy just up and hit another guy on the bus, then got off and walked away. It must've been pretty intense though cus those were some serious screams. So we decided it's best to walk the rest of the way to Camden and who do we catch up with 20 minutes later? Yep, crazy violent guy. He didn't hit us but it makes you think about just how crazy the people around could actually be. Be careful out there!
Next stop - Amsterdam. I took a night cruise from Harwich to Hoek Van Holland which was pretty awesome. The ferry was a legit cruise ship. It didn't quite have everything a Carnival Cruise would have but it was still pretty cool. I had a nice room but couldn't really sleep well with the rocking and the clock on the TV whose light could be seen from outer space. I had one nice day in Amsterdam and two rainy days. On the nice day I took a free walking tour guided by a really cool stoner. The tour was supposed to be three hours but took four. It was just really laid back and leisurely. The guide didn't really seem to care about anything. But he was real cool. I learned that the Dutch didn't always have last names, but a French king took over and made them pick their own names. Apparently to be funny they chose names that translate to "of the testicle" which are still used to this day. I still need to verify this fact. When it rained I visited the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. The Van Gogh museum was amazing! I also went to the Anne Frank Huis which was very moving. I think the saddest part about that was, at the end, we could see a newspaper ad that her father had taken out looking for Anne and her sister Margot, not knowing that they didn't make it. It was really emotional, but I highly recommend visiting.
Next stop was Den Haag. I loved it here! The Mauritshuis is a fantastic little museum with some great works of art, including the Girl with the Pearl Earring by Vermeer. I also discovered the works of Jan Steen while in Holland. I like his work but I wonder why he makes the children he paints look soooooo freaking creepy. I also walked down to the beach which was really lovely and took a trip over to Delft. Delft is a really cute little place. With the leaves changing color and falling it was really beautiful. I probably had the most fun up to that point riding on the back of my friend's boyfriend's bike. It was very exciting!
Aaaand next up is Geneva! Geneva wasn't part of the original plan but I have a friend starting business school there so I added it in to the agenda. We had a great time! We found a really great tapas restaurant in the Vielle Ville and took about 100 pictures of the jet d'eau, to add to my 100 that I already have from a previous visit to Geneva. The weather was perfect and we had a great time!
I'm now back in my former hometown of Grenoble where I'm just passing through on my way to Aix-en-Provence. I'm at my old haunt McDonald's where I'm using the Internet without buying anything. I can see that the outlets are still covered up which I'm pretty sure that I am responsible for. You see, when I was living here a few years ago I had a computer with a bad battery and it would only work when plugged in. So I would nab a spot by an outlet and take over. Whenever someone asked to use that outlet I would of course say no. If they pushed the issue I would explain my dilemma, they would then say it would be just a few minutes. I trust no one so I knew this wasn't true. There was one day a guy just wouldn't give up. (Ed. note - I wasn't using the only outlet - he could've bothered someone else). So we went back and forth. Nothing escalated, but the next day, all the outlets were covered and no one could plug in. This meant that I had exactly two minutes to use the Internet at McDo before my battery died. Ahhhh memories.
Ugh so the guy next to me is skyping and keeps making kissing noises to whoever he's talking to. I think that has to be one of the worst noises ever. It also reminds me of a story. One day I was in Barnes and Noble on 86th treating it as my own personal public library as I was wont to do. I was sitting on the floor reading a magazine when I hear that god awful kissing noise coming from another aisle which I can't see. I thought to myself, "who would make out at a barnes and noble??" I then hear "sir, I'm going have to ask you to stop licking that magazine."
And scene.
So leaving for the airport was the crazy mess it always is. I don't like flying and I don't like the thought of not getting any sleep for a long time. This on top of leaving my cat and family for five weeks made me an emotional wreck. But that's nothing new.
So I land in Paris extremely exhausted. I get to my hostel around 10 and can't check in til 4. Fantastic. But I knew this and was prepared. The worst thing I could've done to myself was go window shopping - but that's exactly what I did. I must've picked out 50 pairs of shoes that I was dying to have, but couldn't buy any of them cus I didn't want to lug them around. My first day in Paris was spent looking for Yop and visiting the Musee de Cluny - the medieval museum. I recommend both. My outdated, useless Let's Go book said the Cluny museum is free. Wrong. 8 euros. But it was fine. There were lots of pretty tapestries including La Dame a la Licorne. My second day was spent picnicking with my friend Sandrine and two cute little kids that were staying with her. This random little girl wandered up to our picnic and begged for food. Then we played some Uno and had a grand old time.
Next stop was London. I loved London! I had perfect weather and got to see so much. I visited the National Gallery, Tate Modern, and the British Museum where I saw the Rosetta Stone. It was pretty cool. I took a day trip to Stonehenge, which I was surprised to see is literally right next to a highway. I was quite impressed with what I saw though I admit I thought it would be a bit more imposing than it was. Still great though. I went shopping at Camden town and Spitafield which were both awesome. My friend Hilary and I even had some adventure on the bus on the way to Camden. We were riding on the top deck when we all of a sudden hear a scream. We have no idea what's going on but we hear "you killed him!" and then "you almost killed me!" I thought maybe the driver hit someone but surely we would've noticed that. So apparently some crazy guy just up and hit another guy on the bus, then got off and walked away. It must've been pretty intense though cus those were some serious screams. So we decided it's best to walk the rest of the way to Camden and who do we catch up with 20 minutes later? Yep, crazy violent guy. He didn't hit us but it makes you think about just how crazy the people around could actually be. Be careful out there!
Next stop - Amsterdam. I took a night cruise from Harwich to Hoek Van Holland which was pretty awesome. The ferry was a legit cruise ship. It didn't quite have everything a Carnival Cruise would have but it was still pretty cool. I had a nice room but couldn't really sleep well with the rocking and the clock on the TV whose light could be seen from outer space. I had one nice day in Amsterdam and two rainy days. On the nice day I took a free walking tour guided by a really cool stoner. The tour was supposed to be three hours but took four. It was just really laid back and leisurely. The guide didn't really seem to care about anything. But he was real cool. I learned that the Dutch didn't always have last names, but a French king took over and made them pick their own names. Apparently to be funny they chose names that translate to "of the testicle" which are still used to this day. I still need to verify this fact. When it rained I visited the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. The Van Gogh museum was amazing! I also went to the Anne Frank Huis which was very moving. I think the saddest part about that was, at the end, we could see a newspaper ad that her father had taken out looking for Anne and her sister Margot, not knowing that they didn't make it. It was really emotional, but I highly recommend visiting.
Next stop was Den Haag. I loved it here! The Mauritshuis is a fantastic little museum with some great works of art, including the Girl with the Pearl Earring by Vermeer. I also discovered the works of Jan Steen while in Holland. I like his work but I wonder why he makes the children he paints look soooooo freaking creepy. I also walked down to the beach which was really lovely and took a trip over to Delft. Delft is a really cute little place. With the leaves changing color and falling it was really beautiful. I probably had the most fun up to that point riding on the back of my friend's boyfriend's bike. It was very exciting!
Aaaand next up is Geneva! Geneva wasn't part of the original plan but I have a friend starting business school there so I added it in to the agenda. We had a great time! We found a really great tapas restaurant in the Vielle Ville and took about 100 pictures of the jet d'eau, to add to my 100 that I already have from a previous visit to Geneva. The weather was perfect and we had a great time!
I'm now back in my former hometown of Grenoble where I'm just passing through on my way to Aix-en-Provence. I'm at my old haunt McDonald's where I'm using the Internet without buying anything. I can see that the outlets are still covered up which I'm pretty sure that I am responsible for. You see, when I was living here a few years ago I had a computer with a bad battery and it would only work when plugged in. So I would nab a spot by an outlet and take over. Whenever someone asked to use that outlet I would of course say no. If they pushed the issue I would explain my dilemma, they would then say it would be just a few minutes. I trust no one so I knew this wasn't true. There was one day a guy just wouldn't give up. (Ed. note - I wasn't using the only outlet - he could've bothered someone else). So we went back and forth. Nothing escalated, but the next day, all the outlets were covered and no one could plug in. This meant that I had exactly two minutes to use the Internet at McDo before my battery died. Ahhhh memories.
Ugh so the guy next to me is skyping and keeps making kissing noises to whoever he's talking to. I think that has to be one of the worst noises ever. It also reminds me of a story. One day I was in Barnes and Noble on 86th treating it as my own personal public library as I was wont to do. I was sitting on the floor reading a magazine when I hear that god awful kissing noise coming from another aisle which I can't see. I thought to myself, "who would make out at a barnes and noble??" I then hear "sir, I'm going have to ask you to stop licking that magazine."
And scene.
posted by Maggie @ 12:45 PM
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