I can't believe yesterday was only day 7 of this trip -- it feels like we've been here a month! Of course, Jeremy & I started our travels on Monday (early Monday, at that), so we've been away from home for longer than 7 days. I'm a home-body by nature and I'm starting to get homesick. And I really miss my babies. I've had fun, but I'm about ready to go home. I though for sure our trip wouldn't be long enough, but I think -- for us -- this will be just right. I could never happily do a month long tour of Europe.
Yesterday we left Garmisch and headed north to the Dachau concentration camp. We meant to take the Romantic Road on the way there, but couldn't find how to get on it (there are roadsigns marking the way) and the tourist office we stopped at couldn't help us (they could help us catch it back farther going the wrong way). So, instead, we barreled down the Autobahn going 100 miles per hour (and getting passed frequently by the rocketing Germans).
Dachau was the best done museum that we've seen so far. Of course, it was pretty depressing, but the museum was thorough in its coverage of information -- from discussing the conditions that lead to the Nazi reign to what happened after liberation. It wasn't an uplifting tour, but it was definitely worth seeing. It left me pondering how so many people could just ignore what was happening and wondering if the attitude of "its none of my business" or "its not my problem", that is so prevalent in our society, is just the type that allows this stuff to go on.
After Dachau, we headed to Augsburg. We checked into our hotel and then headed downtown for the evening via the local tram. What a trip! The woman at the hotel told us that it was 1.20 euros per person and that we could pay the driver. Okay, so we get to the tram stop and there is a ticket machine, which made no sense to us. The machine could speak English, but none of the maps or guides around it were in English and we don't understand a LICK of German. This is what I don't like about Europe -- sometimes, you just can't understand anything or anyone. So, we wait for the tram and head to the front where the driver is, only to have it pull away before we can move 10 feet. Well, okay then. We wait for the next tram, all the while I am lobbying on just crashing for the night at the hotel (because these things irritate the crap out of me). So we got on, without ticket, and the driver doesn't want to talk to us, though doesn't seem to be concerned about our lack of ticket. So we watch everyone else -- no one is either paying the driver or using tickets (in the ticket boxes that are located throughout the tram), but are just freely getting on and off. Okay, well that makes no sense!
We walked around the downtown area, which was much like a shopping mall, with large department stores dotted with smaller shops (though not the small local type places I like to frequent). It was interesting to go in and look around, but we didn't buy anything. I was frustrated to find that most of the stuff had English on it (I was looking for t-shirts for the kids with German on them). And then we ate dinner, where we asked the waiter how the tram worked. He gave us exactly the same information that the hotel had.
After dinner we headed back to repeat the tram incident, which I was dreading. At first, we couldn't figure out what tram to get on. Really, the signs made absolutely no sense in connection with the system map the hotel had given us. It took Jeremy having a very disjointed conversation with someone and a thorough review of the posted maps, to realize they gave us a map from 2004, which was very very out of date. This time, the tram wasn't as full and people were actually using tickets. The driver couldn't speak English (of course), but we managed to get the ticket thing figured out.
Augsburg wasn't exactly to my liking, but only because of its size. I've found I've liked the smaller cities much better. And today and tomorrow will be mostly that -- small towns along the Romantic Road, though we may squeeze in Heidelberg if we have the time.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Day 6!
Day 6 might possibly be my favorite day of the trip. We spent the day driving the Romantic Road through southern Bavaria, from Garmisch to Hohenschwangau, where the castle Neuschwanstein is located. I loved this area! It was just gorgeous. The scenic views of the Alps and the rolling farm grounds dotted with small towns at their bases was breathtaking. I could have happily spent a week in this area, spending a day at each small little town.
We started the day with a tour of Neuschwanstein, though it was lunch time by the time we drove there. It is quite the hike up to the castle from the parking area, though we could have taken a bus or carriage ride if we had wanted. We had stopped at a grocery on the way, so we stopped along the path to eat our picnic. I'm not used to high altitude, so the walk knocked the wind out of me! However, it was worth it -- winding through the mountainside, you could catch glimpses of the surrounding area. The woods were dotted with wildflowers. The setting for this castle that was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty's Castle was indeed magical.
The castle itself was neat, though the tour was pretty brief. The interior was not like anything else we had toured on the trip -- elaborate dark wood paneling and extravagant paintwork on the ceilings. Now, we have viewed many a painted ceiling in the last week, however this one was different. Intricate, though repetitive, patterns in bold colors that decorated the stonework of the elaborately arched ceilings. The best part, though, was the views from the top. The castle indeed had a fairytale like view of the area, including one of the neighboring castle (which we didn't get to due to time constraints).
There were several different trail options around the castle, including on that wound around to the back of it to a viewing bridge. The view from the bridge was probably wonderful, though I couldn't bring myself to walk out onto more than a few feet. What can I say? I don't walk on things I can see through -- the small gaps between the squeaky boards were too much for me (especially considering we were several hundred feet up from the rocky ground below).
After hiking back down, we headed back down the road. Along the way we stopped at the Ettal Monastery. The basilica at the monastery was one of the most ornate sanctuaries we've been through on this trip. With gold guilding on many of the surfaces, the round structure sparkled. We then headed off to the neighboring beirgarten to try some of the monks freshly brewer beer and have a fresh pretzel in the warm sunshine. This is EXACTLY what we wanted to do here!
We drove back towards Garmisch, stopping along the way to do some shopping (and believe it or not, I bought my first souvenirs of the trip at this point). When we got to Garmisch, we were intending to do some shopping, but discovered that the shops were already starting to close (I'm not used to stores closing at 6:00). We walked around the small downtown anyway, enjoying the area, and found a nice little restaurant to have dinner at. I got some kind of a cheese spaetzle (probably the German equivalent of macaroni and cheese), that was topped with onion straws and it was DIVINE! I could happily live off of the German noodles and dumplings for the rest of the trip!
We ended the day with a bit of business -- laundry. Jeremy & Hannah enjoyed the hotel's pool while I emptied our laundry bag of its contents and did a bit of reading. All in all, it was an absolutely great day!
We started the day with a tour of Neuschwanstein, though it was lunch time by the time we drove there. It is quite the hike up to the castle from the parking area, though we could have taken a bus or carriage ride if we had wanted. We had stopped at a grocery on the way, so we stopped along the path to eat our picnic. I'm not used to high altitude, so the walk knocked the wind out of me! However, it was worth it -- winding through the mountainside, you could catch glimpses of the surrounding area. The woods were dotted with wildflowers. The setting for this castle that was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty's Castle was indeed magical.
The castle itself was neat, though the tour was pretty brief. The interior was not like anything else we had toured on the trip -- elaborate dark wood paneling and extravagant paintwork on the ceilings. Now, we have viewed many a painted ceiling in the last week, however this one was different. Intricate, though repetitive, patterns in bold colors that decorated the stonework of the elaborately arched ceilings. The best part, though, was the views from the top. The castle indeed had a fairytale like view of the area, including one of the neighboring castle (which we didn't get to due to time constraints).
There were several different trail options around the castle, including on that wound around to the back of it to a viewing bridge. The view from the bridge was probably wonderful, though I couldn't bring myself to walk out onto more than a few feet. What can I say? I don't walk on things I can see through -- the small gaps between the squeaky boards were too much for me (especially considering we were several hundred feet up from the rocky ground below).
After hiking back down, we headed back down the road. Along the way we stopped at the Ettal Monastery. The basilica at the monastery was one of the most ornate sanctuaries we've been through on this trip. With gold guilding on many of the surfaces, the round structure sparkled. We then headed off to the neighboring beirgarten to try some of the monks freshly brewer beer and have a fresh pretzel in the warm sunshine. This is EXACTLY what we wanted to do here!
We drove back towards Garmisch, stopping along the way to do some shopping (and believe it or not, I bought my first souvenirs of the trip at this point). When we got to Garmisch, we were intending to do some shopping, but discovered that the shops were already starting to close (I'm not used to stores closing at 6:00). We walked around the small downtown anyway, enjoying the area, and found a nice little restaurant to have dinner at. I got some kind of a cheese spaetzle (probably the German equivalent of macaroni and cheese), that was topped with onion straws and it was DIVINE! I could happily live off of the German noodles and dumplings for the rest of the trip!
We ended the day with a bit of business -- laundry. Jeremy & Hannah enjoyed the hotel's pool while I emptied our laundry bag of its contents and did a bit of reading. All in all, it was an absolutely great day!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
A few days without internet...
...so I'm way behind in posting, which is too bad -- I'm doing this as much so for my sake as I am for anyone else's.
I'll mention here that, on day 4, we had a round of problems. The debit card stopped working (great!). And the mouse of the computer went berserk. We figured out the problem though -- you can't use the mouse while the computer is plugged in (wonderful -- good thing we just replaced the battery on this 5 year old monstrosity).
Day 5
I'm really glad we decided to head to Strausburg and not Normandy. Monday was not a great day to be a tourist, as it was a national holiday. Strausburg was GORGEOUS and I loved it, but almost everything was closed. The grocery stores, the shopping stores and most of the bakeries and restaurants. There were things open here and there, but a lot was shut down -- including all the public restrooms! It would have been a waste of a lot of time to get to Normandy and have everything (or almost everything) be closed.
Strausburg has a gorgeous little old town area, complete with canals. The people were SIGNIFICANTLY nicer in Strausburg -- they didn't seem to be offended by my small french vocabulary. I'd love to go back sometime when everything is actually open.
After our brief morning tour of Strausburg, we headed over the border into Germany. Our first stop was in Baden-Baden. If you ever get a chance to go to Europe YOU NEED TO GO TO BADEN-BADEN! And if you go to Baden-Baden, you MUST go to the spas. We spent most of the afternoon at a spa called Carcalla (the only spa of several that required swimsuits) and it was HEAVENLY. After more than a week of travelling, this is exactly what we needed. The spa was comprised of a series of mineral bathes ranging in temperature from ice cold to hot-hot-hot! All the pools had water features -- reclining beds, jets, waterfalls, lazy rivers, etc. There were also several options for saunas. It was absolutely WONDERFUL and we all felt like gumby when we left (but were very happy)! I think I've been spoiled and will never appreciate another pool again, because none can possibly compare to the pools of Baden-Baden!
After Baden-Baden we headed to our next stop: Garmisch. We decided to spend the night at the Armed Forces resort located there -- Hannah & I were in need of a break from all the foreignness. On the way, though, we decided to just stop by Lake Constance. Lake Constance is gorgeous, however, it isn't really a stop on the way to Garmisch from Baden-Baden. I'm glad we went and saw it, but the trip was a little stressful. Le Garcon tried to send us on a ferry (I don't do ferries) and then we got on a new highway that he didn't know about (that you couldn't get off of for something like 10 miles). Did I mention that these problems were exasperated by the fact that we were trying to avoid driving into Austria or Switzerland? We were all glad to get to Garmisch to the American resort where they spoke English, had ICE (yay!), queen size beds and washing machines that didn't cost $10 to run.
And now my battery is going to die, which means my mouse is going to stop working when I plug the computer in, so for now "tschuss" (which is "chow" in German)!
I'll mention here that, on day 4, we had a round of problems. The debit card stopped working (great!). And the mouse of the computer went berserk. We figured out the problem though -- you can't use the mouse while the computer is plugged in (wonderful -- good thing we just replaced the battery on this 5 year old monstrosity).
Day 5
I'm really glad we decided to head to Strausburg and not Normandy. Monday was not a great day to be a tourist, as it was a national holiday. Strausburg was GORGEOUS and I loved it, but almost everything was closed. The grocery stores, the shopping stores and most of the bakeries and restaurants. There were things open here and there, but a lot was shut down -- including all the public restrooms! It would have been a waste of a lot of time to get to Normandy and have everything (or almost everything) be closed.
Strausburg has a gorgeous little old town area, complete with canals. The people were SIGNIFICANTLY nicer in Strausburg -- they didn't seem to be offended by my small french vocabulary. I'd love to go back sometime when everything is actually open.
After our brief morning tour of Strausburg, we headed over the border into Germany. Our first stop was in Baden-Baden. If you ever get a chance to go to Europe YOU NEED TO GO TO BADEN-BADEN! And if you go to Baden-Baden, you MUST go to the spas. We spent most of the afternoon at a spa called Carcalla (the only spa of several that required swimsuits) and it was HEAVENLY. After more than a week of travelling, this is exactly what we needed. The spa was comprised of a series of mineral bathes ranging in temperature from ice cold to hot-hot-hot! All the pools had water features -- reclining beds, jets, waterfalls, lazy rivers, etc. There were also several options for saunas. It was absolutely WONDERFUL and we all felt like gumby when we left (but were very happy)! I think I've been spoiled and will never appreciate another pool again, because none can possibly compare to the pools of Baden-Baden!
After Baden-Baden we headed to our next stop: Garmisch. We decided to spend the night at the Armed Forces resort located there -- Hannah & I were in need of a break from all the foreignness. On the way, though, we decided to just stop by Lake Constance. Lake Constance is gorgeous, however, it isn't really a stop on the way to Garmisch from Baden-Baden. I'm glad we went and saw it, but the trip was a little stressful. Le Garcon tried to send us on a ferry (I don't do ferries) and then we got on a new highway that he didn't know about (that you couldn't get off of for something like 10 miles). Did I mention that these problems were exasperated by the fact that we were trying to avoid driving into Austria or Switzerland? We were all glad to get to Garmisch to the American resort where they spoke English, had ICE (yay!), queen size beds and washing machines that didn't cost $10 to run.
And now my battery is going to die, which means my mouse is going to stop working when I plug the computer in, so for now "tschuss" (which is "chow" in German)!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Day four and kissing Paris goodbye!
The main (and pretty much ) only item on the itinerary for today was to visit Versailles, which was at the top of my list for things I wanted to see in Europe.
We started off bright and early, checking out of our hotel because we'd be moving on today. We drove there, which wasn't too bad (though, considering it was a Sunday morning, shouldn't surprise me). We got there bright and early, which was nice -- we got to park right in front.
The building, was of course, beautiful. It was my favorite building so far. They provided an audio tour, which was great and gave information by room as to what the purpose and what the meaning behind the decor was.
Around lunch, we headed out to the gardens, which were actually what I really wanted to see at Versailles. Unfortunately, it is a bit early in the season for the gardens. And, also, it was their "musical watershow" weekend, when the fountains are set to run with broadcast music. That sounds great, but they charge an arm and a leg to get in when they are doing so. Want to know the real kicker? We only found one fountain that was running while we were there -- the rest were set to run later in the afternoon (or had run in the morning when we were inside). We did find one little corner of the garden that was blooming nicely -- mostly trees & shrubs -- that made the trip to the gardens worth it.
After a few hours in the gardens, we headed out for our next destination: Strausburg, which is almost straight east of Paris and very near the German border.
We stayed off the major highways for this trip, for which I was glad. It is fun to drive through and near the little towns, just to see what they look like. It was interesting to watch the buildings and terrain change as we approached Strausburg. The homes are definitely larger here and more spread out. The architecture is much more German, which I actually prefer. It isn't as "fussy" as in Paris and the other areas of France that we have been in.
So, tomorrow we're planning on exploring Strausburg a bit and then moving on to Germany, to Baden-Baden and through the Black Forest. We've yet to determine a final stop for tomorrow, though, so that is what I am off to do next...
We started off bright and early, checking out of our hotel because we'd be moving on today. We drove there, which wasn't too bad (though, considering it was a Sunday morning, shouldn't surprise me). We got there bright and early, which was nice -- we got to park right in front.
The building, was of course, beautiful. It was my favorite building so far. They provided an audio tour, which was great and gave information by room as to what the purpose and what the meaning behind the decor was.
Around lunch, we headed out to the gardens, which were actually what I really wanted to see at Versailles. Unfortunately, it is a bit early in the season for the gardens. And, also, it was their "musical watershow" weekend, when the fountains are set to run with broadcast music. That sounds great, but they charge an arm and a leg to get in when they are doing so. Want to know the real kicker? We only found one fountain that was running while we were there -- the rest were set to run later in the afternoon (or had run in the morning when we were inside). We did find one little corner of the garden that was blooming nicely -- mostly trees & shrubs -- that made the trip to the gardens worth it.
After a few hours in the gardens, we headed out for our next destination: Strausburg, which is almost straight east of Paris and very near the German border.
We stayed off the major highways for this trip, for which I was glad. It is fun to drive through and near the little towns, just to see what they look like. It was interesting to watch the buildings and terrain change as we approached Strausburg. The homes are definitely larger here and more spread out. The architecture is much more German, which I actually prefer. It isn't as "fussy" as in Paris and the other areas of France that we have been in.
So, tomorrow we're planning on exploring Strausburg a bit and then moving on to Germany, to Baden-Baden and through the Black Forest. We've yet to determine a final stop for tomorrow, though, so that is what I am off to do next...
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Day three down!
Note: I started this yesterday, but was diverted for business reasons (finding a hotel for tonight).
We're calling it a day a bit early tonight -- we're just tired and our feet hurt.
It was a rainy wet day here. We started off with a tour of the Louvre (after a successful and stress free trip on the metro). It was pretty cool, though, as I said (or I think I said) earlier, I'm really not an art person. I found the building (and history of it) were fascinating. I really enjoyed the chambers of Napoleon III (well, I think it was the III -- I can't find our pamphlets to check). We saw the Mona Lisa and the other masterpieces. I was a bit disappointed, because we paid for an audio tour, hoping to get an English version of the information placard for each piece of art (like they had at the Musee D'Orsay), but found the tour only gave information by room. There were a lot of fascinating pieces that I would have liked to have heard an explanation of, but was sorely disappointed. The placards were en francais and so we only understood a bit of it.
After the Louvre, we headed to Ile de Cite, which is where Notre Dame is located. Outside of Notre Dame, we toured an underground room that showed the ruins of previous civilizations and their cities. I cannot remember what the exhibit was called, but it was very interesting. It was literally the uncovered buildings of Paris' history a few dozen feet under the grounds of the Notre Dame courtyard.
Our favorite part of the day was Notre Dame. We waited in a line for about 30 minutes, which wasn't too bad, to get in. It was GORGEOUS! I was very impressed by how much access the tourists were given. The detailing in the work was beyond description. And it was just HUGE! It looked big from the outside, but then you got inside and WOW -- it was huge!!! The church was built over the course of almost 200 years and on the backs of the citizens (mostly for free) -- talk about building something to the glory of God! It gave me goosebumps standing in the church.
After visiting Notre Dame, we went on to tour the Consierge, which was once a prison and where Marie Antoinette was held and decapitated. I wouldn't highly recommend this tour, as it was expensive and short and a bit contrived (most of the exhibit was a recreation and was a bit hokey -- mannequins and all). Still, there was a pretty good history lesson on the tour.
So, now I must confess -- I don't particularly like Paris. The people are RUDE. A "pardon" seems to be an acceptable introduction to a shove in the back. People are just RUDE RUDE RUDE! It is busy and noisy and dirty. I'll give that the city is beautiful, too. The architecture is amazing. The food is fabulous. On a whole, though, I've about had enough of Paris. Epernay (and the Champagne region in general) was much more to my liking.
We're calling it a day a bit early tonight -- we're just tired and our feet hurt.
It was a rainy wet day here. We started off with a tour of the Louvre (after a successful and stress free trip on the metro). It was pretty cool, though, as I said (or I think I said) earlier, I'm really not an art person. I found the building (and history of it) were fascinating. I really enjoyed the chambers of Napoleon III (well, I think it was the III -- I can't find our pamphlets to check). We saw the Mona Lisa and the other masterpieces. I was a bit disappointed, because we paid for an audio tour, hoping to get an English version of the information placard for each piece of art (like they had at the Musee D'Orsay), but found the tour only gave information by room. There were a lot of fascinating pieces that I would have liked to have heard an explanation of, but was sorely disappointed. The placards were en francais and so we only understood a bit of it.
After the Louvre, we headed to Ile de Cite, which is where Notre Dame is located. Outside of Notre Dame, we toured an underground room that showed the ruins of previous civilizations and their cities. I cannot remember what the exhibit was called, but it was very interesting. It was literally the uncovered buildings of Paris' history a few dozen feet under the grounds of the Notre Dame courtyard.
Our favorite part of the day was Notre Dame. We waited in a line for about 30 minutes, which wasn't too bad, to get in. It was GORGEOUS! I was very impressed by how much access the tourists were given. The detailing in the work was beyond description. And it was just HUGE! It looked big from the outside, but then you got inside and WOW -- it was huge!!! The church was built over the course of almost 200 years and on the backs of the citizens (mostly for free) -- talk about building something to the glory of God! It gave me goosebumps standing in the church.
After visiting Notre Dame, we went on to tour the Consierge, which was once a prison and where Marie Antoinette was held and decapitated. I wouldn't highly recommend this tour, as it was expensive and short and a bit contrived (most of the exhibit was a recreation and was a bit hokey -- mannequins and all). Still, there was a pretty good history lesson on the tour.
So, now I must confess -- I don't particularly like Paris. The people are RUDE. A "pardon" seems to be an acceptable introduction to a shove in the back. People are just RUDE RUDE RUDE! It is busy and noisy and dirty. I'll give that the city is beautiful, too. The architecture is amazing. The food is fabulous. On a whole, though, I've about had enough of Paris. Epernay (and the Champagne region in general) was much more to my liking.
Friday, April 2, 2010
And now for today's news!
So, today started off with less than a stellar note. Seriously, I had asked Jeremy to take me home before we made it onto the metro. And I meant it.
We ended up over sleeping by quite a bit. It was 8:30 before we woke, so about 9:30 before we headed out. Our first obstacle -- the metro. Now, everything I had read and heard said "the metro is great, the metro is a fantastic way to get around...blah, blah, blah". Yeah, not so much for us. Before we even got started, I told Jeremy we should go ask for help at the desk because I didn't understand the system. His response? "No, no, no -- it is easy, it will be okay." So, we end up with three tickets (bought from a machine that wouldn't take our charge card because we don't have the chip in it that the Europeans have in theirs), enter the system and get thoroughly lost. Our error? We went into the wrong turnstile, mostly because we didn't understand the difference between the RER trains and the metro. We walk around for A LONG TIME (reminiscent of last nights car trip in), before we find a very nice metro employee who offered help (yes, offered -- we really looked that confused). Turns out, we needed to exit the system (which voided our tickets) and go into another gate. I was thoroughly teed off at Jeremy at this point (what is so hard about asking for directions?). Luckily, Jeremy went and asked for help and they gave us new tickets (since we hadn't gone ANYWHERE). This took us a good 45 minutes. Ugghhh....not a great way to start the day. We've got the metro down pat now, though.
Today our agenda was to walk the Champs-Elysees, see the Tuilleries (gardens near the Louvre), tour the Musee D'Orsay, walk to the Eiffel Tour and then take a Seine River cruise.
We got the walk of the Champs-Elysees in before the rain started. It was a beautiful walk. The architecture along the street is beautiful. The street is lined with shops (most of which were very high end), restaurants and offices. We only went in a few shops. Louis Vuitton had some gorgeous purses, though I was afraid to ask what they were priced at, seeing as the coin purses were $200+. The store was very heavily guarded, which is something I'm not used to, though not surprised by considering the location and the merchandise. It was neat to see, none the less. We went in a few shops with children's clothes, though I didn't buy anything. I LOVE the dresses they have here for babies and toddlers. I'm regretting not buying any Lucy now that we're back at the hotel.
On one end of the Champs-Elysees we stopped a the L'Arc de Triomphe. We elected not to go up in it, due to the long line and the fact that we have more things on our list to see than we can possibly get finished. It was gorgeous, of course, and interesting to stand in the middle of the traffic circle from hell and watch the drivers. I'm not sure how anyone gets out of that thing alive.
We stopped for lunch at a little boulangerie. Ordering was interesting, because the items were very spread out, it was very busy and none of the employees could speak English. I, by mistake, ordered a hot dog. It was actually very good, but I was not expecting a hot dog. And this was a hot dog like none I've ever seen. It was on a baguette and topped with yummy mustard and melted cheese (so much cheese that you couldn't see the hot dog inside, which is how I ended up with it). It was REALLY good -- I might actually eat hotdogs at home if I could have them that way.
At the other end of the Champs-Elysees was the Tuileries. This is when it started raining -- raining hard enough that we were going to get pretty soaked through. The gardens will probably be gorgeous in a few weeks, though right now they are pretty bare. The trees here are just starting to bloom and the bulbs and other spring flowers are just coming in. It is too bad that this trip wasn't a few weeks later, as the gardens are almost more interesting to me than the buildings.
We then headed off to the Musee D'Orsay (in a hurry, I might add, due to the rain). We got there only to discover that every other tourist in Paris had seemingly done the same thing (I can't blame them). So we waited in a very long line (45 minutes - one hour) to get in the museum. We waited in the rain -- the pouring rain. Luckily, we all had rain coats. Unluckily, we only had one umbrella. Our pants were soaked. And poor Jeremy had a wet wet face.
The museum was okay, though I'm going to admit now that I am not an art person. Most of it was just paint on canvas to me. A few caught my eye and made me wonder what the artist was thinking when he was working. It was interesting to see, and I'm glad we did it, but it certainly won't be the highlight of our trip.
Luckily, it had stopped raining by the time we left the museum. We headed towards the Eiffel Tower, walking through a cute little area of shops (and I have no clue what the area was called). We ended up with a fabulous treat (did I mention the food is the best thing about France?) on the way. I got a lemon tart with meringue, Hannah got a chocolate eclair and Jeremy got a strawberry tart. MMMMMMM!!!!! It was worth the walk to the Eiffel tower just to get the treat!
When we got to the tower, all but one of the "legs" were closed due to some kind of incident earlier in the day. We waited in line for a while to walk up, but then it started pouring rain again, so decided we'd rather move on. If we can, we'll go back, but I'm not sure that will be possible in 3 days in Paris. We went to take a river cruise, but would have had to wait 30 minutes in the rain again, so we moved on to something from one of our other days itineraries: Trocadero.
Trocadero is an area with shops and restaurants. We ate dinner at a (and I'm ashamed to admit this) British restaurant. It was GREAT! Our waitress was British, so we were able to converse without charades or confusion or a brain hemorrhage. They also had the best darn beer I've ever had! We hung around Trocadero after dinner until it was dark, so that we could check out the Eiffel Tower in the dark (beautiful) and then caught the metro back to the hotel (without incident).
On a whole, we had a pretty good day. Paris is gorgeous. However, I doubt I'll ever want to come back to Paris (or France for the matter), though I know time may change my perspective. This not being able to understand the language thing is killer for me -- I don't like it!!!
We ended up over sleeping by quite a bit. It was 8:30 before we woke, so about 9:30 before we headed out. Our first obstacle -- the metro. Now, everything I had read and heard said "the metro is great, the metro is a fantastic way to get around...blah, blah, blah". Yeah, not so much for us. Before we even got started, I told Jeremy we should go ask for help at the desk because I didn't understand the system. His response? "No, no, no -- it is easy, it will be okay." So, we end up with three tickets (bought from a machine that wouldn't take our charge card because we don't have the chip in it that the Europeans have in theirs), enter the system and get thoroughly lost. Our error? We went into the wrong turnstile, mostly because we didn't understand the difference between the RER trains and the metro. We walk around for A LONG TIME (reminiscent of last nights car trip in), before we find a very nice metro employee who offered help (yes, offered -- we really looked that confused). Turns out, we needed to exit the system (which voided our tickets) and go into another gate. I was thoroughly teed off at Jeremy at this point (what is so hard about asking for directions?). Luckily, Jeremy went and asked for help and they gave us new tickets (since we hadn't gone ANYWHERE). This took us a good 45 minutes. Ugghhh....not a great way to start the day. We've got the metro down pat now, though.
Today our agenda was to walk the Champs-Elysees, see the Tuilleries (gardens near the Louvre), tour the Musee D'Orsay, walk to the Eiffel Tour and then take a Seine River cruise.
We got the walk of the Champs-Elysees in before the rain started. It was a beautiful walk. The architecture along the street is beautiful. The street is lined with shops (most of which were very high end), restaurants and offices. We only went in a few shops. Louis Vuitton had some gorgeous purses, though I was afraid to ask what they were priced at, seeing as the coin purses were $200+. The store was very heavily guarded, which is something I'm not used to, though not surprised by considering the location and the merchandise. It was neat to see, none the less. We went in a few shops with children's clothes, though I didn't buy anything. I LOVE the dresses they have here for babies and toddlers. I'm regretting not buying any Lucy now that we're back at the hotel.
On one end of the Champs-Elysees we stopped a the L'Arc de Triomphe. We elected not to go up in it, due to the long line and the fact that we have more things on our list to see than we can possibly get finished. It was gorgeous, of course, and interesting to stand in the middle of the traffic circle from hell and watch the drivers. I'm not sure how anyone gets out of that thing alive.
We stopped for lunch at a little boulangerie. Ordering was interesting, because the items were very spread out, it was very busy and none of the employees could speak English. I, by mistake, ordered a hot dog. It was actually very good, but I was not expecting a hot dog. And this was a hot dog like none I've ever seen. It was on a baguette and topped with yummy mustard and melted cheese (so much cheese that you couldn't see the hot dog inside, which is how I ended up with it). It was REALLY good -- I might actually eat hotdogs at home if I could have them that way.
At the other end of the Champs-Elysees was the Tuileries. This is when it started raining -- raining hard enough that we were going to get pretty soaked through. The gardens will probably be gorgeous in a few weeks, though right now they are pretty bare. The trees here are just starting to bloom and the bulbs and other spring flowers are just coming in. It is too bad that this trip wasn't a few weeks later, as the gardens are almost more interesting to me than the buildings.
We then headed off to the Musee D'Orsay (in a hurry, I might add, due to the rain). We got there only to discover that every other tourist in Paris had seemingly done the same thing (I can't blame them). So we waited in a very long line (45 minutes - one hour) to get in the museum. We waited in the rain -- the pouring rain. Luckily, we all had rain coats. Unluckily, we only had one umbrella. Our pants were soaked. And poor Jeremy had a wet wet face.
The museum was okay, though I'm going to admit now that I am not an art person. Most of it was just paint on canvas to me. A few caught my eye and made me wonder what the artist was thinking when he was working. It was interesting to see, and I'm glad we did it, but it certainly won't be the highlight of our trip.
Luckily, it had stopped raining by the time we left the museum. We headed towards the Eiffel Tower, walking through a cute little area of shops (and I have no clue what the area was called). We ended up with a fabulous treat (did I mention the food is the best thing about France?) on the way. I got a lemon tart with meringue, Hannah got a chocolate eclair and Jeremy got a strawberry tart. MMMMMMM!!!!! It was worth the walk to the Eiffel tower just to get the treat!
When we got to the tower, all but one of the "legs" were closed due to some kind of incident earlier in the day. We waited in line for a while to walk up, but then it started pouring rain again, so decided we'd rather move on. If we can, we'll go back, but I'm not sure that will be possible in 3 days in Paris. We went to take a river cruise, but would have had to wait 30 minutes in the rain again, so we moved on to something from one of our other days itineraries: Trocadero.
Trocadero is an area with shops and restaurants. We ate dinner at a (and I'm ashamed to admit this) British restaurant. It was GREAT! Our waitress was British, so we were able to converse without charades or confusion or a brain hemorrhage. They also had the best darn beer I've ever had! We hung around Trocadero after dinner until it was dark, so that we could check out the Eiffel Tower in the dark (beautiful) and then caught the metro back to the hotel (without incident).
On a whole, we had a pretty good day. Paris is gorgeous. However, I doubt I'll ever want to come back to Paris (or France for the matter), though I know time may change my perspective. This not being able to understand the language thing is killer for me -- I don't like it!!!
In Paris!
Ugghhh...we had a long day yesterday. I tried to do this last night, but we couldn't get the internet to work in our room (due to the fact that they gave us the wrong password and the staff at our hotel were less than helpful).
We drove through the Champagne region, which was gorgeous. We started our day with the drive from Reims to Epernay. When we got to Epernay, our first order was breakfast. We ended up at a little Patisserie and Boulangerie for some of the most amazing baked goods I've ever had. I can't remember what mine was called, but it was a croissant with cheese and ham....mmmmm!!!! I think I'll have one of those everyday for the rest of this trip, thank you!
We strolled around the town a bit after that, compiling a picnic lunch to take with us. We had an interesting conversation at the fromagerie (cheese store). The woman didn't speak a lick of English and I, unfortunately, don't know any French words that are helpful when picking out cheese. There was a huge selection, most of the varieties I'd never seen or heard of before. So, we went blindly, pointed and said "s'il vous plait" and managed to get out of there with what we needed. We ended up driving down the Champagne route, stopping along the way for our picnic. Again, I could do that every day for the rest of the trip -- cheese, fresh bread, some fruit and, best of all, CHOCOLATE!
We took a tour of a winery, De Castellane, in Epernay. It was pretty interesting -- what I could understand of it, anyway. The tour was in English, but the guide had such a thick accent that I had problems understanding if he spoke too fast or if there was too much noise. The caves that they store the wine in were absolutely fascinating (and covered in mold, by the way).
After leaving De Castellane, we headed towards Paris. We have my aunt & uncle's GPS (lovingly nicknamed "Le Garcon" for the trip -- our GPS at home is nicknamed "Bossy"). Le Garcon said we would get to our hotel by 7:30, so we were planning on checking in and eating a late dinner. Um, yeah, that didn't happen. Let me say this now -- DO NOT DRIVE IN PARIS!!!! I can't say this enough -- don't even consider it!!!! The GPS was great, until we went into a tunnel -- a really long tunnel -- and came out on the other side with a dis-oriented Le Garcon. We then missed our turn while Le Garcon was figuring out where we were again. Then we ended up in a tunnel for something like 5 miles (and got stuck with a lovely toll of 7.70 euros -- about $10.40 right now), which took back under everything we had just driven through and ended up back where we started. Then we got to the block where the hotel was and COULD NOT FIND IT. Seriously, we were just 50 yards from it and still couldn't find it. CRAZY!!! It was 10:00 before we got checked in and by then everything was closed around us, except one greasy little diner that was more American than French. Eh. C'est la vie, I suppose.
Our hotel here in Paris is really nice and is close to the metro, so that is good. As of bedtime last night, however, that was all I could say nice about Paris.
We drove through the Champagne region, which was gorgeous. We started our day with the drive from Reims to Epernay. When we got to Epernay, our first order was breakfast. We ended up at a little Patisserie and Boulangerie for some of the most amazing baked goods I've ever had. I can't remember what mine was called, but it was a croissant with cheese and ham....mmmmm!!!! I think I'll have one of those everyday for the rest of this trip, thank you!
We strolled around the town a bit after that, compiling a picnic lunch to take with us. We had an interesting conversation at the fromagerie (cheese store). The woman didn't speak a lick of English and I, unfortunately, don't know any French words that are helpful when picking out cheese. There was a huge selection, most of the varieties I'd never seen or heard of before. So, we went blindly, pointed and said "s'il vous plait" and managed to get out of there with what we needed. We ended up driving down the Champagne route, stopping along the way for our picnic. Again, I could do that every day for the rest of the trip -- cheese, fresh bread, some fruit and, best of all, CHOCOLATE!
We took a tour of a winery, De Castellane, in Epernay. It was pretty interesting -- what I could understand of it, anyway. The tour was in English, but the guide had such a thick accent that I had problems understanding if he spoke too fast or if there was too much noise. The caves that they store the wine in were absolutely fascinating (and covered in mold, by the way).
After leaving De Castellane, we headed towards Paris. We have my aunt & uncle's GPS (lovingly nicknamed "Le Garcon" for the trip -- our GPS at home is nicknamed "Bossy"). Le Garcon said we would get to our hotel by 7:30, so we were planning on checking in and eating a late dinner. Um, yeah, that didn't happen. Let me say this now -- DO NOT DRIVE IN PARIS!!!! I can't say this enough -- don't even consider it!!!! The GPS was great, until we went into a tunnel -- a really long tunnel -- and came out on the other side with a dis-oriented Le Garcon. We then missed our turn while Le Garcon was figuring out where we were again. Then we ended up in a tunnel for something like 5 miles (and got stuck with a lovely toll of 7.70 euros -- about $10.40 right now), which took back under everything we had just driven through and ended up back where we started. Then we got to the block where the hotel was and COULD NOT FIND IT. Seriously, we were just 50 yards from it and still couldn't find it. CRAZY!!! It was 10:00 before we got checked in and by then everything was closed around us, except one greasy little diner that was more American than French. Eh. C'est la vie, I suppose.
Our hotel here in Paris is really nice and is close to the metro, so that is good. As of bedtime last night, however, that was all I could say nice about Paris.
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