For our second round of organized entire program trips, we headed to the two former Spanish Muslim capitals and former Caliphate capitals of the world – Córdoba and Granada. Leaving early Friday morning we spent the day in Córdoba. The old area of the city, named the Judería is full of tiny streets and white buildings like the majority of Medieval Spanish towns and was a pleasure to walk through. Our first stop was one of the 3 or 4 synagogues left in Spain. At the very end of the 15th century, the Spanish inquisition took full force and did it’s best to purge the Spanish kingdom of non-Catholics. The synagogue was tiny and through a no conspicuous door. We then saw an ancient door to the city, the disgustingly dirty Guadalquivir river which runs through, and then headed back to town to get some beers and tapas while we waited until our tour of the Mesquita/Cathedral of Córdoba to begin. Córdoba is the home to a traditional Spanish dish called Salmorejo. It is very similar to Gazpacho but with more bread (to make it thicker) and garlic and many little chucks of ham added at the end. It is creamier and is eaten like soup. The Salmorejo we had was godly. The region around Córdoba has a special type of vinegar that they use in it, and man was it amazing.
The Mesquita/Cathedral of Córdoba is the main attraction of the city. It is by far the most impressive and well known historical site. That was our last stop and, though I had seen it before, it was different because we had a guide taking us around. By seeing something so historical and gorgeous before, I could listen and learn as well as appreciate since I wasn’t as awestruck. The building was built in the 7th century as a Mesquita (Mosque) by the Caliphate (religious leader of the Islamic world) when he was exiled from Syria and forced to make southern Spain the new capital of the Muslim empire. The following Caliphates added to the Mesquita making it one of the biggest in the world. There are four parts, each created by a different man. After the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, the Mesquita was converted into a Cathedral by the Christian victors. The center of the Mesquita was more of less rooted out for the Cathedral to exist. Many columns were removed and it remains an odd mix of Christianity and Islam.
After our Córdoba excursion we headed to Granada. There we were put up in a hotel that was a nice change after many hostels. We all headed out after a little bit of relaxing and getting ready. We went out to a bar to celebrate a birthday and in the process drank and ate a ton! Dinner was all of the tapas that came with the drinks we ordered. In Granada, each drink comes with a free tapa (a little sandwich or some small but tasty snack). The night was relaxing but not too eventful.
The next day we headed to possibly the most historic site in Spain, the Alhambra. Gorgeous, hard to really explain. There is a palace, a fort, and gardens. The section called the Generalife is the gardens where the king used to stroll and escape the palace life. In the actual palace you see rooms where justice was served and many important decisions were made, including the spot directly upon which Queen Isabel granted Columbus the funding for his westward quest.
The day was filled with more cerveza, more free tapas, and a short siesta. I got my first hair cut at the nearby superstore since for some reason on Saturday afternoons no small hair place, none, are open. We therefore, sadly, paid too much and paid it to the big businessman.
That night, though, was one of the most interesting I’ve had since getting to Spain. John and I peeled of the big group and together went to a club. There we found a huge group of Erasmus students (a European study abroad program) from the nearby town of Murcia. I met Italians, Checks, Irish, British, Dutch, Belgian, French, and more. Great diversity! Early on I met a medical student who gave me a non-hangover drink mix to take before I started drinking. I’m still too skeptical to try it. And later, a group of Jack Daniels cowboy hat wearing, bush loving, Spaniards. It was insane! They were an anomaly and I had a ridiculously interesting talk with them. Their main support of our president was that he is a strong leader who makes strong decisions…hmmm…I was not quite in agreement. Regardless, interesting encounter. Then, after a falafel and a half hour lost wandering around the area looking for another bar, John and I ran into the exact opposite. Walking down a street we heard “Putas Americanas” yelled at us. That means, more or less, American Bitches. I, a little bit influenced by the drink, turned to go talk to these guys. There were three of them. I asked them why they said that about us even though they know nothing about who I am. A long conversation ensued and we listened and tried to correct their ignorant stereotypes. We received an apology, hearing that we weren’t like the others, that we were good Americans. I don’t think we made an impact on their stereotypic mindset. The night ended soon after but was certainly not a disappointment.
The next day Josh, Robert, and I left the group at the hotel and went to see the Capilla Real where the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabel reside. Really cool to see and think about the magnitude of importance they had in Spanish and world history (for those of us not up to date on European history, they led the Spanish Inquisition of 1492). Next we weaved our way on a cool back path up to the Mirador de San Nicolas that has a gorgeous view of Granada and met the group that had driven up there a little earlier. We all then had lunch together. It was amazing; the food we had was almost all vegetarian but consisted of some crazy vegetable combinations, falafel, humus, babaganoush, cinnamon rice, and an incredible rich dessert to finish it off.
After a long bus ride home (4 hours) and teaching Jeni how to roll her R’s I settled in the plaza where I steal internet to check up on everyone back home. While sitting there, I heard someone shouting. I looked up, and a window full of Spanish girls were calling for my attention.
All in all the trip was fantastic. I don’t know what it exactly was, but everything went great, ambience was always good, and that Sunday night I felt fantastic.
domingo, 21 de octubre de 2007
miércoles, 17 de octubre de 2007
10-17-07 Dropping the UCA class
The class through the university, Social and Economic History of Contemporary Spain, and I were not meant to be. I struggled from the start of real assignments due to the level of the writing that we were reading. The material was extremely academic and considering that I have not taken a single Spanish language course, it was no fun to read. Once we went over the paper in class, it was a little clearer but I still felt lost. My decision was made about 2/3 of the way into class Monday. I want to enjoy Spain, I want to have a full cultural experience, keep myself busy socially and make my Spanish grow that way. The course was not uninteresting but nothing exciting enough to make me want to work as hard as I would have needed to. I sacrificed some intense in school learning for cultural exposure. It does make me sad, not taking the class, because it would be ridiculously helpful to my Spanish. The material from the class can be learned in any country of the world, but experiencing Spain/Cadiz can only happen in one. Dropping the class was easy, regret will fade, pleasure is due to ensue.
lunes, 15 de octubre de 2007
10-15-07 Cooking School
Today I had the most amazing and valuable Spanish experience so far. Instead of my regular civilization class of 1.5 hours, it lasted for 3 hours and took place at the School of Hospitality. The school has two majors available – cooking and restaurant service. We were given a tour of the facilities as well as a short explanation of the way in which the school functioned. It was really interesting, and a cooking major would be something I would do in a heartbeat if it didn’t take 2 years of full university-level concentration.
Now, the main purpose of having class there was for us to get to learn to make a whole bunch of authentic Spanish dishes. And eat them. It was amazing and I loved every minute of it. The chefs were all ridiculously nice. We sat in our desks like good students watching them whip together professionally made ethnic dishes, while they explained to us the origins of the dishes and the tips/tricks they new. The chefs were all teachers/professors at the school so knew their stuff. The menu was as follows:
Gazpacho – a blend of tomatoes, garlic, green pepper, cucumber, onions, and a little bread into a cold, easy, and delicious soup
Tortilla de Camarones – A batter with tons of mini shrimp mixed in and fried. Sort of like onion rings with tiny shrimp.
Tortilla de Patatas – Potato pancake, really really common here. It is a mixture of egg (to keep it all together), potato (to provide filing), and a little onion (for some flavor).
Paella (Andaluz Style) – The most well known of Spanish dishes internationally, it is a mixture of veggies, rice, and various meats. Paella means pan in the language native to Valencia and is therefore the name of the dish AND the pan it is made in. The one we ate was made in the style of Andalucia (the region of Spain I’m in). It is extravagant and contains a huge array of items which are all the choices of the cook. The veggies consisted of red peppers, onions, peas, green beans, carrots, a tiny bit of tomato, and some garlic. Meat was chicken, pork, clams, oysters, large shrimp, and calamari. One of the most important ingredients, which gives the true flavor and fluffs the rice (which is added raw), is a broth made from the meat cuts not added to the paella. Another special ingredient is saffron (super-expensive spice which is a flower’s stamen), which gives a light flavor and a tint of color. All together it becomes amazing.
Arroz con Leche (Rice with Milk) – A very traditional dessert that is fantastic. It is made with some lemon rind, cinnamon, milk, sugar, and rice. Simple and tasty.
Tocino de Cielo (Heaven Bacon) – The name is a complete misdirection as to what the dish is. It is a SUPER sweet flan-like dessert that involves 22 egg yokes and 1 kilo of sugar. I though it was decent, but was a little confused by the eggy-sugaryness.
I ate it all, and lots of it. I had the seafood ridden Paella and though I avoided the clams and oysters, I actually tried and thoroughly enjoyed the shrimp and calamari. Also, I ate 2 or 3 Tortillas de Camarones, which I really liked (mom, I know you probably figured I would considering my love of Kupuk). The whole experience was great and has given me a ton of great new recipes to bring home and try out on everyone! My only worry is going broke considering the only oil they use (and swear that is the only one that can be used) was extra virgin olive oil – and lots of it.
Now, the main purpose of having class there was for us to get to learn to make a whole bunch of authentic Spanish dishes. And eat them. It was amazing and I loved every minute of it. The chefs were all ridiculously nice. We sat in our desks like good students watching them whip together professionally made ethnic dishes, while they explained to us the origins of the dishes and the tips/tricks they new. The chefs were all teachers/professors at the school so knew their stuff. The menu was as follows:
Gazpacho – a blend of tomatoes, garlic, green pepper, cucumber, onions, and a little bread into a cold, easy, and delicious soup
Tortilla de Camarones – A batter with tons of mini shrimp mixed in and fried. Sort of like onion rings with tiny shrimp.
Tortilla de Patatas – Potato pancake, really really common here. It is a mixture of egg (to keep it all together), potato (to provide filing), and a little onion (for some flavor).
Paella (Andaluz Style) – The most well known of Spanish dishes internationally, it is a mixture of veggies, rice, and various meats. Paella means pan in the language native to Valencia and is therefore the name of the dish AND the pan it is made in. The one we ate was made in the style of Andalucia (the region of Spain I’m in). It is extravagant and contains a huge array of items which are all the choices of the cook. The veggies consisted of red peppers, onions, peas, green beans, carrots, a tiny bit of tomato, and some garlic. Meat was chicken, pork, clams, oysters, large shrimp, and calamari. One of the most important ingredients, which gives the true flavor and fluffs the rice (which is added raw), is a broth made from the meat cuts not added to the paella. Another special ingredient is saffron (super-expensive spice which is a flower’s stamen), which gives a light flavor and a tint of color. All together it becomes amazing.
Arroz con Leche (Rice with Milk) – A very traditional dessert that is fantastic. It is made with some lemon rind, cinnamon, milk, sugar, and rice. Simple and tasty.
Tocino de Cielo (Heaven Bacon) – The name is a complete misdirection as to what the dish is. It is a SUPER sweet flan-like dessert that involves 22 egg yokes and 1 kilo of sugar. I though it was decent, but was a little confused by the eggy-sugaryness.
I ate it all, and lots of it. I had the seafood ridden Paella and though I avoided the clams and oysters, I actually tried and thoroughly enjoyed the shrimp and calamari. Also, I ate 2 or 3 Tortillas de Camarones, which I really liked (mom, I know you probably figured I would considering my love of Kupuk). The whole experience was great and has given me a ton of great new recipes to bring home and try out on everyone! My only worry is going broke considering the only oil they use (and swear that is the only one that can be used) was extra virgin olive oil – and lots of it.
sábado, 13 de octubre de 2007
10-13-07 Getting Hit On
While I was using the Internet near the beach today I found myself victim to a grave misunderstanding. A man walked up to me and said something incomprehensible, then rephrased the previous sentence so that I sort of realized what he was saying, finally asking me, “Entiendes (do you understand)?” Now, I thought he was referring to the previous sentence, so I said, “Sí.” He plopped himself next to me and started talking to me about “amor libre” (free love) which was a little odd, but I smelled alcohol on his breath and I thought maybe he was a little depressed and wanted to talk to someone. So, why not let him vent, right? Well, just a little bit after we started talking I noticed the pierced right ear, with an earring, and no such earring in the left. Now we talked for a bit and then I finally realized that he was completely hitting on me. After we talked about love, the perfect world, and relationships, he asked me what would happen if we were together, or perhaps were to go to bed together “hypothetically” (suuure, hypothetically…). So I tried to say no thank you, I don’t swing that way. He then asked if I was going to go out tonight. I said yup, but with my friends, not you. Then he asked if I wanted to get a drink. I said no. Instead of taking the hint he got closer, asked me name, touched my shoulder and grabbed my hand, after which I promptly got angry. I am in NO way a homophobe, but I don’t like it when people assume they can start to invade my personal space when every answer previously was a no. I pushed him away, told him off, and he finally got the point. After he left I remembered how the conversation had started and felt pretty stupid. When he said, “Entiendes (do you understand)?” as we learned during intensive Spanish class but I neglected to realize, he was really asking, “Are you homosexual?” My response prompted the intent, but definitely did not garner the persistence. That was something very Spanish that made me have much more respect for the girls here and in our program that deal with that sort of attitude constantly. I guess you learn something new everyday, here were my two lessons:
1. REALLY understand before you say you do.
2. Women in Spain deserve a lot of credit for what they have to put up with.
According to my ‘mom’, what I did was very polite and much much less intense than it would have been had one of her sons been approached. That man would have received a nice black eye so I hear.
1. REALLY understand before you say you do.
2. Women in Spain deserve a lot of credit for what they have to put up with.
According to my ‘mom’, what I did was very polite and much much less intense than it would have been had one of her sons been approached. That man would have received a nice black eye so I hear.
viernes, 5 de octubre de 2007
10-01/05-07 Spanish Class and Learning
This week I started my class, the Social and Economic History of Spain. It is a real University of Cadiz course and is taught by two professors, one does the social history and the other economic history. One teaches the Monday class and the other the Tuesday class which keeps things changing. Both professors were easy enough to understand since they talked at a normal rate and with purpose. The class is made up of four groups of students- us three Americans (myself and two other girls from my program), some French girls, a few Germans, and some Spaniards. It’s not a surprise that there are so many of us foreigners since the class is sort of redundant for Spaniards. I really enjoyed and became excited for the Social side after the prof’s presentation. The woman who is teaching it is great and the issues that we’ll be going over shed light on international history and it’s effects on a nation internally. The other half, Economic history, is taught by the same man who does my Spanish Civilization course. Now, he is a really nice man but at the same time extremely boring. I think that economic history has the potential to be interesting, only I hope he doesn’t prevent that.
After class on the second day I went to talk to some of my fellow foreigners. The Germans I met were all there on the Erasmus program. It is an extremely popular program that allows any student in the European Union to apply to study at a University in another country for a year. It is much easier than exchange programs and has attracted TONS of students. The even better part, which I didn’t know about, was that their tuition is absolutely free. They get a scholarship automatically when accepted to their program. All they pay for is living expenses. Unfair!
Other than that, I had some more late nights, during one of which I had an eye opening experience. My opinion about listening to opinions of others was rattled. The situation was this – last year there was some legal trouble with a student on the program, a local, and drugs. Nothing serious but nothing fun either while on a foreign exchange program. Therefore, the said local has been given a pretty bad reputation among host mothers and program directors. My ‘mom’ had personally warned me about this local trying to get to know American students so as to promote his business. So after all that I eventually got to know him and after spending a few nights around him, playing a soccer game with him, and hearing more about the other side of the legal troubles. Though he is shady, has a sort of questionable personality, and is a little bit of a mooch – he is actually a pretty damn good guy. After all that I had heard, it was a little surprising but made me really thankful I had given him a chance.
I’ve seen that many Spanish people have very particular thoughts about most things and changing their minds is difficult. They believe something, and then, not only do they stick to it as truth, they want you to think or do the same. Therefore they are quick to tell you/teach you their way as the only right way. My mom has opinions and knowledge that are true and well thought-out, but also TONS that just do not make sense or are obviously there to promote her style of life as the best. My ‘mom’ is a relative extreme of this syndrome but I see it all over. People are not as skeptical about their way of life but extremely proud. Maybe it comes from centuries of deeply rooted tradition, but now that globalization is changing the Spanish way of life, a lot of what they claim no longer holds true. The youth, especially those at the university, are more skeptical, but the older/traditional households are not - unlike those of the US (not all but I believe most) who are for the most part aware that our society has significant flaws, but we accept it shamefully or acknowledge the hypocrisy.
After class on the second day I went to talk to some of my fellow foreigners. The Germans I met were all there on the Erasmus program. It is an extremely popular program that allows any student in the European Union to apply to study at a University in another country for a year. It is much easier than exchange programs and has attracted TONS of students. The even better part, which I didn’t know about, was that their tuition is absolutely free. They get a scholarship automatically when accepted to their program. All they pay for is living expenses. Unfair!
Other than that, I had some more late nights, during one of which I had an eye opening experience. My opinion about listening to opinions of others was rattled. The situation was this – last year there was some legal trouble with a student on the program, a local, and drugs. Nothing serious but nothing fun either while on a foreign exchange program. Therefore, the said local has been given a pretty bad reputation among host mothers and program directors. My ‘mom’ had personally warned me about this local trying to get to know American students so as to promote his business. So after all that I eventually got to know him and after spending a few nights around him, playing a soccer game with him, and hearing more about the other side of the legal troubles. Though he is shady, has a sort of questionable personality, and is a little bit of a mooch – he is actually a pretty damn good guy. After all that I had heard, it was a little surprising but made me really thankful I had given him a chance.
I’ve seen that many Spanish people have very particular thoughts about most things and changing their minds is difficult. They believe something, and then, not only do they stick to it as truth, they want you to think or do the same. Therefore they are quick to tell you/teach you their way as the only right way. My mom has opinions and knowledge that are true and well thought-out, but also TONS that just do not make sense or are obviously there to promote her style of life as the best. My ‘mom’ is a relative extreme of this syndrome but I see it all over. People are not as skeptical about their way of life but extremely proud. Maybe it comes from centuries of deeply rooted tradition, but now that globalization is changing the Spanish way of life, a lot of what they claim no longer holds true. The youth, especially those at the university, are more skeptical, but the older/traditional households are not - unlike those of the US (not all but I believe most) who are for the most part aware that our society has significant flaws, but we accept it shamefully or acknowledge the hypocrisy.
10-05/08-07 Paris on crack
I made it to Paris!! I had thought about going, but never seriously considered it. France was not a must see, but now I know that it should have been. My friend Vanessa has a friend studying there who she wanted to visit and so that she could have a partner tourist I went along. Having that connection meant free board, free tour guide, free translator, and free good company.
Getting to Paris meant us having to travel to Sevilla (2.5 hours by bus), to the airport in Sevilla from the bus station (1 hour by bus), and then fly to Paris from there (2 hours). Nothing too horrible until we got out of the airport too late to take the metro and ended up catching a taxi from the airport into town. Cost = 50 euro. No fun, but money becomes fake on vacation (consequently I didn’t spend anything the whole time I was there…maybe) so no worries were had. I was amazed at the speed of checking in and such at the airport. We got to our gate within 15 minutes of entering the airport, if not less. Unfortunately, flight left pretty late so all efficiency was lost. Charles d’Gaul airport in Paris is crazy. There are huge, long moving walkways and people tunnels crisscrossing all over. It was very spaceageish but in like a 1960s sort of way.
Meeting Heather, Vanessa’s friend, was a pleasure (as was being around here the whole trip). She’s ridiculously nice and was an amazing hostess. Her apartment had a view of the top of the Eiffel Tower. The lights on it flash once an hour for about 10-15 minutes which we saw right as we arrived. It is a spectacle for the tourists that I wasn’t too partial to. Not surprisingly, most Parisians feel likewise. Regardless, beautiful view. Getting up to her floor (the 8th) had us all crammed into a tiny elevator. The elevator fit us three and two backpacks as long as one backpack was held above our heads. This turned out to be a normal elevator size. Smaller came later. On the plus side, elevators in France are amazingly quiet.
We woke up relatively early to start what I call “Paris on Crack”. Everyone on the streets, Vanessa noticed, was dressed in very plain/preppy but stylish clothing. I was the only person that I saw that had any writing on their shirt. It seemed like the whole society dressed well. With weather that was a little chilly (a nostalgic change), we began our quest. This is how it went:
1. Saturday market – it was outdoor and extremely French.
2. French Café - coffee and a croissant.
3. Montmarte – a gorgeous neighborhood where the Moulin Rouge is located. It is up on a hill, and has a great view of the rest of Paris. It also has the largest church in Paris, which is pretty huge and very beautiful.
4. Dali Museum in Montmarte – amazing artist, amazing museum.
5. Arc de Triomph
6. Walk down the Champs-Elysée
7. Obelisk – taken from Egypt a while back; Egypt wants it back, France says too bad.
8. Eiffel Tower – We bought wine, brie, some baguettes, and mini-strawberries which we picnicked with on the lawn in front of the Tower.
9. Watched a rugby match with French peeps – It was the rugby world cup quarterfinal and France upset New Zealand (the best team in the world) 20 - 18. The Frenchies freaked out, it was awesome! Unfortunately they lost to England just the other night in the semis.
10. French house party – The elevator was the smallest in the world, I’m sure of it. Three tiny girls just barely fit in it. Barely. The apartment was also tiny but nothing too ridiculous until we saw that the shower was in the kitchen, right next to the stove! The party was alright but nothing as good as going to Nois Blanche (white night) would have been (which was that night also). It is an all night festival with street performers, art, and other fun stuff.
11. Back to the Arc de Triomph – I ran across the roundabout that encircles it because I wanted to truly feel the size of the thing (it’s HUGE). There were some cops there, they weren’t so happy with me. I got scolded but Heather’s French friend Olivier came to my rescue. He is one of the nicest guys in the world and stuck with us all night.
12. At 5:30 AM we caught the metro home. The taxis were ALL full due to Nois Blanche so we camped out at a sandwich shop until the first metro came.
The next day was not quite as jam packed, but I thought we did a good job of that the day before. After a 2pm wakeup and a 3pm lunch, Vanessa and I left Heather and hit up the two museums we most wanted to see – the Louvre and the Pompidou. The Louvre was amazing as everyone that visit it sees. I really liked the Egyptian art and the sculptures. It was crazy to see the Venus de Milo right there. Also, the Mona Lisa was a trip, mostly because of the huge crowd that gathered to see a painting that to me was surprisingly small and not as spectacular as I would have thought. A great painting for sure, but probably not worth its extreme fame. The next stop was the Pompidou which is a modern art museum. Also amazing. The art was thrilling due to the intense modernism and surrealism. There was a ton of Picasso, Miró, and Dali as well as many many many others that I did not recognize but who had amazing works.
To top off the day, we met up with heather and headed straight out to dinner. Having little time left (we left the next morning) we needed a full french cuisine experience. Oh, and that we had. I, in my odd loss of pickyness since I’ve been here, ordered a plate of greinouie (Frog’s legs), Vanessa got the escargot, Heather onion soup, and we all shared a fondue. I really really enjoyed the frog legs, the escargot was excellent too (it was in a pesto sauce, mmm), as was the soup. Our fondue was not in a pot and all melty as normal ones are. It was a hot plate on which we melted cheese that was brought to us. It lifted so that we could pour the cheese onto potatoes and ham, which were also brought on side plates. The meal was a French explosion and I’m really glad I let down all food barriers because I loved it all.
Afterwards, we made it to Notre Dame which was right next door, had a beer, and then hit the sack early so as to get up early.
The next day we woke up, had croissants for breakfast, and then found a store so that I could buy some cheese to bring back to the others. The Brie and Camembert – which I spent a hard earned 5 euro on – were taken away from us at the airport! They were (heavily French accent on) “prohibited”. The security lady was insane and spoke little English. After some exasperated haggling the cheese was thrown into a burn bin, never to be seen again…
So, aside from some tiny inconveniences, Paris rocked hard. The city is beautiful, there is a ton to do there, and from the talk of the locals and foreigners, it is also a fun place to live. Go, do Paris on crack. I highly recommend it.
Getting to Paris meant us having to travel to Sevilla (2.5 hours by bus), to the airport in Sevilla from the bus station (1 hour by bus), and then fly to Paris from there (2 hours). Nothing too horrible until we got out of the airport too late to take the metro and ended up catching a taxi from the airport into town. Cost = 50 euro. No fun, but money becomes fake on vacation (consequently I didn’t spend anything the whole time I was there…maybe) so no worries were had. I was amazed at the speed of checking in and such at the airport. We got to our gate within 15 minutes of entering the airport, if not less. Unfortunately, flight left pretty late so all efficiency was lost. Charles d’Gaul airport in Paris is crazy. There are huge, long moving walkways and people tunnels crisscrossing all over. It was very spaceageish but in like a 1960s sort of way.
Meeting Heather, Vanessa’s friend, was a pleasure (as was being around here the whole trip). She’s ridiculously nice and was an amazing hostess. Her apartment had a view of the top of the Eiffel Tower. The lights on it flash once an hour for about 10-15 minutes which we saw right as we arrived. It is a spectacle for the tourists that I wasn’t too partial to. Not surprisingly, most Parisians feel likewise. Regardless, beautiful view. Getting up to her floor (the 8th) had us all crammed into a tiny elevator. The elevator fit us three and two backpacks as long as one backpack was held above our heads. This turned out to be a normal elevator size. Smaller came later. On the plus side, elevators in France are amazingly quiet.
We woke up relatively early to start what I call “Paris on Crack”. Everyone on the streets, Vanessa noticed, was dressed in very plain/preppy but stylish clothing. I was the only person that I saw that had any writing on their shirt. It seemed like the whole society dressed well. With weather that was a little chilly (a nostalgic change), we began our quest. This is how it went:
1. Saturday market – it was outdoor and extremely French.
2. French Café - coffee and a croissant.
3. Montmarte – a gorgeous neighborhood where the Moulin Rouge is located. It is up on a hill, and has a great view of the rest of Paris. It also has the largest church in Paris, which is pretty huge and very beautiful.
4. Dali Museum in Montmarte – amazing artist, amazing museum.
5. Arc de Triomph
6. Walk down the Champs-Elysée
7. Obelisk – taken from Egypt a while back; Egypt wants it back, France says too bad.
8. Eiffel Tower – We bought wine, brie, some baguettes, and mini-strawberries which we picnicked with on the lawn in front of the Tower.
9. Watched a rugby match with French peeps – It was the rugby world cup quarterfinal and France upset New Zealand (the best team in the world) 20 - 18. The Frenchies freaked out, it was awesome! Unfortunately they lost to England just the other night in the semis.
10. French house party – The elevator was the smallest in the world, I’m sure of it. Three tiny girls just barely fit in it. Barely. The apartment was also tiny but nothing too ridiculous until we saw that the shower was in the kitchen, right next to the stove! The party was alright but nothing as good as going to Nois Blanche (white night) would have been (which was that night also). It is an all night festival with street performers, art, and other fun stuff.
11. Back to the Arc de Triomph – I ran across the roundabout that encircles it because I wanted to truly feel the size of the thing (it’s HUGE). There were some cops there, they weren’t so happy with me. I got scolded but Heather’s French friend Olivier came to my rescue. He is one of the nicest guys in the world and stuck with us all night.
12. At 5:30 AM we caught the metro home. The taxis were ALL full due to Nois Blanche so we camped out at a sandwich shop until the first metro came.
The next day was not quite as jam packed, but I thought we did a good job of that the day before. After a 2pm wakeup and a 3pm lunch, Vanessa and I left Heather and hit up the two museums we most wanted to see – the Louvre and the Pompidou. The Louvre was amazing as everyone that visit it sees. I really liked the Egyptian art and the sculptures. It was crazy to see the Venus de Milo right there. Also, the Mona Lisa was a trip, mostly because of the huge crowd that gathered to see a painting that to me was surprisingly small and not as spectacular as I would have thought. A great painting for sure, but probably not worth its extreme fame. The next stop was the Pompidou which is a modern art museum. Also amazing. The art was thrilling due to the intense modernism and surrealism. There was a ton of Picasso, Miró, and Dali as well as many many many others that I did not recognize but who had amazing works.
To top off the day, we met up with heather and headed straight out to dinner. Having little time left (we left the next morning) we needed a full french cuisine experience. Oh, and that we had. I, in my odd loss of pickyness since I’ve been here, ordered a plate of greinouie (Frog’s legs), Vanessa got the escargot, Heather onion soup, and we all shared a fondue. I really really enjoyed the frog legs, the escargot was excellent too (it was in a pesto sauce, mmm), as was the soup. Our fondue was not in a pot and all melty as normal ones are. It was a hot plate on which we melted cheese that was brought to us. It lifted so that we could pour the cheese onto potatoes and ham, which were also brought on side plates. The meal was a French explosion and I’m really glad I let down all food barriers because I loved it all.
Afterwards, we made it to Notre Dame which was right next door, had a beer, and then hit the sack early so as to get up early.
The next day we woke up, had croissants for breakfast, and then found a store so that I could buy some cheese to bring back to the others. The Brie and Camembert – which I spent a hard earned 5 euro on – were taken away from us at the airport! They were (heavily French accent on) “prohibited”. The security lady was insane and spoke little English. After some exasperated haggling the cheese was thrown into a burn bin, never to be seen again…
So, aside from some tiny inconveniences, Paris rocked hard. The city is beautiful, there is a ton to do there, and from the talk of the locals and foreigners, it is also a fun place to live. Go, do Paris on crack. I highly recommend it.
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