Paris

Paris. What more can be said about the place? I’ve been only once, ten years prior, with my family instead of my girlfriend. At 13 years old, that would have been odd to have a girl with me back then. Because both Sarah and I had previously visited here, we could pick and choose what to see. There were the obvious tourist spots to hit: Louvre, La tour Eiffel, Champs Elysees, Sacre Couer, etc. Sarah wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower the most, and I was more than happy to oblige.

First, we had to find our hostel. I bought two tourist passes, giving us two days of unlimited travel on Paris transportation. And I ordered them en francais – the lady even understood me. I find that I learned a great deal studying the language from the age of 12 to 20. Over the next two days, I used it more than I probably ever will again. After getting to the metro stop we were instructed to go in order to find our hostel, we were a bit lost. A nice Frenchman stopped us on the street and tried to help us, even going to ask a few other people where the road was that we needed to find. It wasn’t that hard after we had our directions, and we dropped our stuff and headed towards the metro.

It was going to be lunch (dejeuner) and then Notre Dame. We ate at a restaurant by the side of the road – ordering in French again. Notre Dame was crowded, swelling with tourists. I sometimes forget that thousands of other people are in the same city as myself, looking to go to the same places. It didn’t take too long to get in, and we took a quick lap, stopping to admire the pristine stain glass windows adorning the walls of the cathedral. It was quite the view to take in. No sign of the hunchback, the story that probably made this place more famous than it should be. Not to take away from the luster of it at all.

With the weather seeming quite decent, our next stop was the tour Eiffel. This was after going to the Louvre and realizing that we could go for free after 6 PM on Friday night. Unfortunately, we left and saw that it was raining. We killed time, rode the metro to l’Arc de Triomphe, stopped for a bite to eat at a café, and then when the weather cleared, moseyed over to the Eiffel Tower. To nobody’s surprise, it was quite crowded, and the wait to get up to the top was a miserable experience. It started to rain, and the rain mixing with high winds you get a few hundred feet in the air made it quite cold. Not helping me was the fact I had left any kind of cold weather clothing I had with my luggage. Fortunately, by the time things cleared up, we were at the top, able to see all of Paris. Definitely a worthwhile wait.

The rest of our first day was dinner, then both crashing back at the hostel, ready for another day of Paris.

Day two was going to start at Versailles. The massive palace built by Louis XIV (I think), it was the one thing I really wanted to see. And it was worth it. After going to Hampton Court a few days before, Sarah and I decided that going into the palace wasn’t all that worth it. It was going to be nothing more than Hampton Court times 10. More of the same ridiculousness of that time period. But a walk around the Versailles Gardens, along with being free, was much more relaxing. No lines to wait in, no people to walk through, and no hassles. Once we were satisfied with a couple of hours spent there, it was time for Sacre Couer.

I wasn’t sure if I had been there before (turns out I had), but it was another mob scene. People were everywhere, snapping pictures and watching the street performers. The view from the top made the hassle worthwhile, and after just 20 minutes there, moved along to the Louvre.

This was another spot the two of us had seen already. So it wasn’t going to be a long stroll. Plus, I don’t really like art all that much. You see something like the Mona Lisa, and it just screams overrated. The painting is great and all, but I prefer the large paintings done by the French, such as Lady Liberty leading the People or the painting of the Wedding at Cana. Stuff like that is much more inspiring, as you wonder how someone can paint something that big. We walked around for about an hour total, trying to hit the big displays: the Code of Hammurabi, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and a few other works of art. It was definitely time well spent, and as a bonus, free of charge.

That was the essence of our whirlwind trip of Paris. Tomorrow morning was a train ride to Interlaken, where we would get a day and a half of the Swiss Alps.

London - Part Two

Thanks to a variety of reasons – lack of extra time, battery power, or anything else – I have given up in my quest to bring a daily update to my blog. And that’s ok, considering our journey is almost over. So I’m using this last post to update where we are. Right now, we’re on a train from Bern to Geneva, where tomorrow we’ll be flying out to Dublin, where our last two days of Europe will be spent.

Our last two days in London were some of our best. We went to Hyde Park, saw bits of Westminster Abbey, and went to see the Lion King on the West End. All three were quite brilliant. The weather finally turned nice, giving us a chance to sit under the sun, and not have to run for cover from the rains. The show on Wednesday night was a brilliant way to end what had been a successful first trip (for me at least) to one of the world’s most famous cities.

Thursday was an early morning, as our Eurostar train was leaving London at 6:30 AM. Our tickets were purchased, and I thought we would simply buy, get on the train, and be off. That was no the case. We go to St. Pancras station with 20 minutes to spare, got our tickets, a snack, and went through security. Unfortunately, the French guy manning the X-ray machine decided it would be fun to take all my electronics out of my bag and scan it for explosives. I was a bit panicked, and the guy wasn’t the nicest about my urgency. The scan seemed to take forever, and when it was done I jammed everything in my bag and headed towards Passport control. We were through that quickly, and had to have a train official hold our train for us – but we made it with probably seconds to spare.

The journey was quiet and the two of us slept practically the whole time. Up next: Paris.

London - Part One

Well, we've been in London the past few days. I've given up on trying to keep a daily recounting of the trip, so I'll highlight a few things from the past few days. On Thursday we got up in Dubai super early to catch our 7:30 flight to London. Things went smoothly, and we met Sarah's parents at the Pimlico Underground station. It was a happy reunion, and we dropped off our belongings at the flat they are renting for the week we were staying in London.

My first impression of London was that it is super crowded, especially compared to Sydney. The Underground doesn't have air conditioning either. Which really sucks, because it'll end up being much hotter on the train than outside. Bummer.

The Binghams have already been here, so it was hard to determine what sights we would go see. On Thursday we ate lunch at a pub, hung out at our flat, and then went to meet Jess' flatmates for dinner. I was quite knackered, having woken up at around 1 AM London time. It was a pleasant sleep that night.

Friday we took a train to Greenwich Village, home of Greenwich Mean Time. The area surrounding the Royal Observatory provided a lovely view of the Thames and the city proper. It was a nice day trip, considering I felt overwhelmed by the crowds. A highlight of the day was taking a boat from Greenwich to Westminster, then taking the tube back to our flat.

Saturday I got the chance to head to Emirates Stadium for Day One of the Emirates Cup, which featured Arsenal playing Juventus and Real Madrid against Hamburg SV. The experience wasn't the same as it would have been seeing a regular season EPL match, but it was awesome nonetheless.

On Sunday we went to All Souls, Jess's church and took in the morning service. After we visited the Royal Museum, home of the Rosetta Stone, and meandered around the city. It has been a fairly touristy experience, but worthwhile seeing as though we are tourists. Only one more day left tomorrow, then off to Paris.