Post-France Reflection

I loved Paris. But the Parisians are another ballpark.
The culture is so interesting - Parisians are very fashionable, and I think they know it. Many, not all, walk around a bit arrogantly, actually. And man purses are everywhere! But not just any purse - it must be designer. You know, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton. Get ready, America. Our sports-crazy men may soon be using man purses. Hey, it could happen.
The cafes are eveywhere - people have cafe (coffee) every afternoon, without fail. There are so many bakeries, so many breads, and so much ham and cheese. The food was great.
But the metro SMELLS. As told by Leslie, the French do not regard bath a daily activity like many Americans do. In fact, when her family hosted a French student, he went a week without bathing, believe it or not. But they walk, jog, and sweat, and then they put on clothes - no shower needed. And we experienced the evidence first hand.
The other thing that I noticed in Paris was the high populations of Africans. I think I remember learning a little about this in one of my Poli Sci classes, but Leslie and I were talking about the issues that France has with immigration - very similar to Arizona's border issues with Mexico. It was interesting to see that our countries clash politically, but are having similar domestic problems. Hmm.
And the lines in Paris! SO LONG, tourists everywhere, the city was just absolutely inundated with visitors from other countries and other areas of France. I could not believe it. But that is not the first place we would experience that.

Dachau, Munchen

We had a total of about 7 hours in Munich before our train left for Prague, so we decided to see the first concentration camp built by the Germans. (dismal, I know).
Honestly, when we arrived on site, I was disturbed.
It's so strange to think how an event like that can permeate the air for years after most of the evidence is gone.
The Holocaust Museum in D.C. is sombering and sometimes difficult, but Leslie and I both agreed that Dachau different. It was a cold, gloomy and disturbing place to be.
We made our visit a quick one.
Remains of the pathway that led the Nazi captives to the camp are still there. The gate still remains intact, reading ARBEIT MACHT FREI, or the common Nazi slogan throughout concentration camps, "work will make you free."
A couple of the buildings are still there, and there are several monuments standing throughout the camp comemorating the suffering of all victims of the Nazis.
We actually walked through the same building where incoming prisoners were forced to remove their clothing and take showers. Chills.
We saw the area designated for the crematorium, and we saw examples of what a barracks would have looked like.
Dachau was built to hold 6,000 prisoners. When the camp was liberated, there were 32,000 people there. Unbelievable.
And the people in the town never understood until bodies were uncovered. They actually showed us video of townspeople being shown (I apologize for being blatant) the piles of the skeletal deceased. They were shocked, looking away and then back again as though it was unreal. Some even wept. But the events of that war were very real, and it was really hard to be there.
So we left, headed for Prague.

Would you like some cheese with that wine?

Last day in Paris, we spend the whole morning figuring out what to do with our study abroad baggage, and end up leaving it at the train station in lockers. Hopefully it will still be there when we return. =)
Lunch from a crepe stand - herbs, tomatoes, feta and ham. Delicious.
We journaled, slept, and read on a bench in the Luxembourg Gardens nearby for a couple of hours. Then we did some window shopping, and finally got some wine, cheese and bread.
We wanted to have an authentic Parisian experience on the bridge used in the Sex and the City finale.
So we joined groups of people leaned up against the railing, layed out a blanket, and set up our dinner.
It was a perfect way to say "au revoir" to the city of lights.

And then we hopped on our overnight train to Munich (or Munchen as it's known in Europe).
We slept in a room with 6 beds, three on each side. We were the only females, accompanied by two young German guys and a French man with his three kids. (Who, I must say, were very well behaved. I was impressed).
We spoke with each other in Spanish just for fun (Leslie's first language) - because everyone understands English pretty well. One of the beds was high up on the wall, about a foot under the top bed, and we were trying to figure out how to move it down. The German guys, wanting to help, actually asked us if we spoke English. Haha, suckers. =)
It was an interesting experience, our first overnight train, and the German ticket collector was really mean, but we enjoyed it. And we slept so well!

Paris and Fat Tire Bike Tours

Okay, by far the coolest thing we had done up to that point on the trip.
We took a bike tour starting at 7 pm through Paris for about five hours.
Biking was the perfect way to see little niches of the city and appreciate some of the more common, but beautiful architecture. And the guides took us to so many cool places.
To start, we saw one of Johnny Depp's residences, the tunnel where Princess Di was killed, where Marie Antoinette was held prisoner during the revolution, and where she was eventually hung in the middle of the city.
We also saw the building where the original crown of thorns was displayed along with a part of the cross that Jesus Christ died on. We saw the bridge from the Sex and the City finale, where people gather with wine and cheese and french bread to just hang out in the evening. So cool, right?
We saw the building where the French National Society works to preserve the French language. They actually create words in French that translate new words invented in English. The computer, for example, is la ordinator in French because they are so intent on preserving their language. It's quite admirable actually. No...Frenglish?
We rode through the Louvre at night - which was beyond comprehension. The guide said if a person looked at each exhibit for one minute 24-7, they still would not be finished in 200 days. Whoa.
We saw the Pont Neuf, the first bridge in Paris and rode to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was actually cleaned within the past decade. Apparently it used to be black, but was cleaned with special lasers. Everything except for the steeple, which was left black to remind people of what once was.
The tour ended with a boat cruise in the Seine, complimentary wine - as much as you can drink.
So naturally, we took two bottles each and crashed our bikes the whole way home. Ha, just kidding.
But some people did go a little overboard - we just laughed and sipped our little cups.
Starting at 10 pm, the Eiffel Tower glitters for 10 minutes, every hour, on the hour, until 2 am. Neither of us knew that, and was so cool to see.
The tour was a blast, with or without the wine. =)

Versaille - Part deux

So, there is more to Versailles than long lines and pigeons.
After buying tickets and then standing in another line to enter the palace, we finally got to see the exquisite decoration inside.
I just could not believe it. Monarchs investing in all of these beautiful, but frivolous, interior designs. We went through room after room of intricate chandeliers, decorated walls, huge portraits and paintings. It helps you understand the complaints of the French during the revolution. I have no idea if the peasants understood what was being spent and how, but if so, I know I would be angry.
Regardless, the appreciation for art and desire for luxury and impressive decoration in France's royalty prior to the revolution was evident, and wonderful to look at.
Most of the palace was said to be developed by the king Louis's in the 16th through 18th centuries. We saw the room where the king slept, and the room where Marie Antoinette slept. So incredible. Not my piece of cake (pun intended) but it was gorgeous.
I loved the interior of the Versailles Palace, but nothing beat the gardens behind the palace. The greenery seemed to go on forever, pleasantly interrupted by arrangements of flowers and fountains. The flowers were so pretty, so colorful, and complemented the area so well.
I could just see Marie Antoinette and other women of the court leisurely strolling through the grounds. Wow.
I wish the weather had not been cloudy and cold, because the gardens were so inviting that all I wanted to do was lay down and daydream. Or sleep.

France: Versailles and Paris

Even though I haven't finished day two, I had to start the day 3 blog.
Leslie and I took a train to Versailles to see the palace, which I've heard is amazing. The lines are so long, we can't believe it, so we hop behind the last people in line and hope it moves quickly.
We break out my beginner's Italian book and start going over some basic phrases, then Leslie runs off to find a bathroom.
And then it happened.
While that sucker leaves me in the long lines, I have the invaluable experience of getting pooped on by a pigeon. In my hair.
Let me just say that again for affect. A pigeon, flying above, decides to release a present to the earth below, and it lands on me. In my hair.
Clean wipes are the greatest invention since sliced bread. Forget computers, they can't do anything for you while you've got pigeon excrement in your hair. Clean wipes saved my life.
Welcome to Versailles.

Paris by day, Eiffel Tower by night

So we rushed into the city, having overslept. We bought tickets on the city bus tour and hopped on until we arrived at the Opera house where we decided to get off.
We weren't sure what the inside was like, but we decided to shell out the 4 euros per person anyways and check it out.
No words could describe what we saw. It was so incredible! Definitely worth every euro cent. The careful detail and gold decoration just catch you off-guard. Chandeliers everywhere, paintings, statues, mirrors, it all comes together so well.
The grand staircase leads up to the boxes where royalty and nobility must have sat only centuries ago.
The actual stage room was undergoing renovation in places, but that did not take away from the design and luxury inside. The deep red of the seats, curtains and walls, the magnificent ceiling, it was almost inspiring.
Leslie and I read that Romeo and Juliet is starting there in October, and we are determined to get tickets. It was that amazing.
Then we headed farther north to visit Montmartre, a part of the city that Leslie loved the last time she was here.
It is this huge cathederal up on a hill. It was quite a climb, and some African men tried to tie braided bracelets onto our hand when we were walking up to make some extra cash. I got away by giving a stern NO as I walked quickly up the stairs, but Leslie practically had to football tackle the guy that approached her.
Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but the motions she had to make to avoid the man were somewhat characteristic of a dodgeball player in the heat of the game.
From the top of the hill, just below the cathedral, there is an excellent view of the city - we just sat down and watched for awhile, while people of all nationalities swarmed around us.
Then we did some tourist shopping just a few streets away.
After purchasing almost identical scarves (unintentional) and adding to our pin collection (we are collecting pins and postcards everywhere we go) we headed back into the center of the city to see the view from the Eiffel Tower by night.
Standing in line, we were able to watch the tower slowly light up as the sun set over Paris. So amazing.
I remember it was so windy and so cold. We did our best to bundle up in light rain jackets, our new scarves and the light sweaters we had.
We were the first two onto the elevator, which was amazing because then we got to pick prime spots to watch the city as we ascended.
Once you get to the second floor, you have to buy tickets to get to the top. So after some more standing in good old lines, we boarded the elevator to the top.
So windy and so cold! But worth it.
It was strange to think that we were so high up, because it did not feel that way. But the view was incredible - we could point out things we had seen, or things that Leslie knew from her last visit. The city lights were just beautiful.