Europe Day 4 - Versailles Kart

Our last day in Paris started a bit later than the day prior. We slept until midmorning and headed down to get breakfast before packing up our stuff and heading out. The trip over to Versailles was a fairly long one; from the hotel, we had to take the shuttle to the Orlyval light rail, ride that to Antony station where we could transfer to RER B, head up to the Saint Michel station to transfer to the RER C, and then take that all the way to the end of the line.

We arrived at the palace around one in the afternoon, and it took another forty-five minutes to get tickets. The line wasn't too bad, though - it moved quite quickly and we got to the ticket counter right before the novelty of the amazing scenery wore off.

After receiving our tickets, we tried to check in our bags, but because they contained laptops, the folks at the counter wouldn't let us. No worries, though, we'd just have to deal with carrying them along with us. We received our English tour guide thingies, which resembled cell phones, and headed into the exhibit. Fortunately, the guides also had headphone jacks, which Dana and I both utilized in order to not look like tools holding phones up to our heads.

The tour began with a section devoted to paintings done by Baron Louis-Francois Lejeune, a general and painting during the Napoleonic era. The audioguide explained the subject and significance of each piece and did a pretty good job at presenting everything. One of Lejeune's most well known paintings is known as The Battle of the Pyramids and depicts a battle which took place for Cairo in 1798 between local forces and Napoleon's army.

The next portion of the tour took us through the various rooms that Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI used to entertain guests, consult with his advisers, and even eat and sleep. Though the palace dates back to the eleventh century of before, Louis XIV is known for expanding its bounds during the 17th century. His heirs, the next two kings, resided in and continued work on the construction of the palace. After the reign of Louis XVI and subsequent French Revolution, the palace was designated a museum.

Many of the rooms were named and designed for several Roman deities. Included were the Venus Room, the Jupiter Room, the Mars Room, the Diana Room, and the most important to Louis XIV, the Apollo Room. Also featured was the Hall of Mirrors, a huge hall filled with chandeliers and mirrors (a luxury object at the time) that once served as a throne room.

Ceiling painting

Artemis/Diana, Goddess of the Hunt

The Hall of Mirrors

After walking through room after room of absolutely stunning architecture and artwork, we were ready to sit down for awhile and escape the crowds lumbering through each room. Fortunately, there was a small cafe within the grounds of the palace called Angelina's, which had been highly recommended by a friend of Dana's. We grabbed some rather expensive hot chocolates before moving on to the outdoor area, the gardens of Versailles.

The moment we first saw the gardens, it was clear how expansive they were. We had been carrying around our backpacks all day and didn't really feel like continuing to walk around on our sore feet. Fortunately, the entrepreneurs of Versailles offered a solution: little electric golf carts that could be driven around the grounds, for the low low price of thirty euro. I paid up and they gave us some ground rules and took my license for collateral, and off we went!

ACTION SHOT

Unfortunately, due to the season, most of the statues were covered to prevent wear and tear, but as can be seen above, some of them were on display. The little cart was our for about an hour, so we raced back to return it before the five o'clock deadline. It worked out perfectly! By the time we returned it, the sun was setting and I got some good shots of the palace's back side.

We boarded the train and headed back to the Eiffel Tower to bid a farewell to Paris, for this trip anyway. We got to the Champ de Mars station just in time to take a few nice pictures of the tower before it got dark. Sadly, we elected not to go to the top, as the line for the lift would have taken more time than we had, and the idea of hiking to the top was not appealing after such a tiring day at Versailles. We elected instead to grab some dinner near the Trocadero before we hopped our train back to London.

The Eiffel Tower while the sun sets

View of the tower from the Trocadero

Dinner was quite good. We decided on a little cafe adjacent to the tower, obviously well-trafficked by tourists. I ordered the famous croque-monsieur, very similar to a grilled cheese and ham sandwich, and Dana elected for the steak and fries. I asked what the waiter recommended for a red wine and ordered what he suggested. Did I mention that I didn't have a single bad piece of food in France?

After buying a couple last minute souvenirs and taking one last glance at the illuminated Eiffel Tower before riding the train back to Gare du Nord station. It took quite a while to board our train, and after slogging through the line, we were finally off about fifteen minutes late. Fortunately, the train served a rather substantial meal of spinach/goat cheese, chicken, and chocolate mousse for dessert. After an episode of Hoarders, we were beat, so we took naps while the train raced across Europe and through the channel tunnel back to London.

After our diversion to Paris, there's so much left to do in London! Coming up this week:

• The Doctor Who Experience
• A trip to the House of Commons and surrounding landmarks
• A drive out to Stone Henge and the Salisbury Cathedral
• The British Museum

For the weeks, I think I'll consolidate them to once big post, since they'll be markedly less action-packed than the weekends. Stay tuned!

Europe Day 3 - Talkin' About Butts in the Louvre

After the rousing success of our landmark sightseeing yesterday, today was museum day. We planned to first visit the most trafficked art museum in the world - the famous Parisian Louvre. Yep, that one - who knew I'd be going to the LOUVRE in 2012?! We got up about forty-five minutes later than we'd planned, but managed to squeeze in breakfast. Since I'm HHonors Gold, breakfast is complimentary, and this was probably the best spread I've seen; tons of pastries, the standards eggs, bacon, and sausage, and amazing French bread with several types of cheeses and cold cuts. So great I look forward to breakfast at the hotel tomorrow!

After taking care of our dietary needs, we were off. We took the train up to central Paris, and after some trouble with Dana's Paris Visite travel pass, we managed to make it to the museum. The sight of everything in Paris is overwhelming, as every building seems incredibly old and beautiful, despite being apartments or offices or what have you. The Louvre blended right in, though it was a bit larger than most, so it was reasonably easy to spot.

The Streets of Paris

Inside the Louvre

The Louvre's Iconic Pyramid

The museum cost us about €20 for the two of us, and it was well worth it. The Louvre is filled with some of the most famous paintings and sculptures in the world, and exploring it would literally take days. Dana and I managed to thoroughly explore the Italian and Spanish Renaissance section, the Greek/Roman Sculpture section, and much of the French section, leaving several sections completely untouched. The guide for the museum specifically says you have to prioritize, though - that the entire museum is impossible to see in one day.

First of all, some of the best pictures from the Italian and Spanish section. Of course, this section features the most famous painting in the entire museum, the universally-known Mona Lisa painted by Leonard DaVinci. The painting was very crowded, but we managed to elbow our way up near the front to gather some camera shots.

The largest hall in the Italian/Spanish Renaissance Section

Mona Lisa; yep

After the paintings, we felt like taking a look at some sculptures. We sauntered over to the nearby Greek and Roman-dominated sculptures section that featured another well-known piece - the Venus de Milo. The section featured hundreds if not thousands of sculptures, most featuring leaders or gods and goddesses of the two related pantheons. It was overwhelming and absolutely gorgeous, to say the very least.

Venus de Milo

Moia

The rest of our visit was strolling through various other sections and standing in awe of the magnitude of the collection. It was overwhelming! We grabbed some drinks from the museum cafe as an intermission, and then hit up the French sculpture section for a stroll. After that, we headed out in search of our next landmark!

Next up, it turned out, was the famous cathedral of Notre Dame. It's within pretty easy walking distance from the Louvre, but it still managed to sneak up on us a little. Rounding a corner treated us to the sight of the cathedral towering over the Seine:

Notre Dame

The cathedral was incredible and gigantic, and pictures were forbidden inside. Fortunately, tons of people were taking pictures anyway, so I managed to snap a couple of the huge stained glass windows inside. The cathedral was cavernous and contained a ton of different areas for prayer and reflection. We wanted to go to the top, but the line was a bit longer than we wanted to wait, so we made do with just the internal tour.

After Notre Dame, we walked in the direction of our final stop for the day, the Centre Pompidou. The Pompidou serves as one of Paris' modern art museums, and came highly recommended from Dana's friend Richie. The building, first of all, is more than imposing. It's huge and decorated with variously colored tubes which rise from the ground to the top of the building in, tracing seemingly random paths at times upward. As you enter the museum, you work your way back outside, where you take escalators upward through the tubes on the side of the building, as seen below.

The outside of the Centre Pompidou

The tubes that transport visitors skyward

Dana on the escalators

The museum was a welcome change of pace after a day filled with the Louvre. Modern art hits all the notes that antiquated art does not - confusion, eccentricity, playing with and mixing mediums. The first piece we were treated to was a Warhol, and there were a ton of interesting sculptures and paintings.

Warhol painting featuring Liz Taylor

Chair

One of several Picassos

After spending a couple hours at the museum, we were worn out and ready to head home to the hotel. Before the journey, though, we decided to grab a quick supper and ducked into a cafe. Our waiter was nice and spoke perfect English, so I asked him to recommend his favorite red wine. I ordered a dish which consisted of duck on toasted bread with cream cheese and nestled in a bed of greenery. Dana ordered a croque-monsieur, a selection of several cheeses layers on bread and then grilled. Both were excellent!

We managed to make it back to the hotel fairly early, and I managed to grab a fairly long nap while Dana worked on her paper due the next evening. When I woke up, she was nearly done, and we spent the rest of the evening mocking French television and uploading the multitude of pictures I had taken.

Tomorrow we do one last tour of the City of Lights by visiting Versailles and then heading back to London.

Europe Day 2 - Bourguignon

My first full day in Europe kicked off reasonably early. We roused out of bed just after nine in the morning after a late night, got ready, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Despite the claims of the receptionist the night before, the two of us were admitted to the breakfast restaurant without incident. The food was pretty good, as was the spread - eggs, bacon, waffles, fresh fruit. All the standard fare.

Our first destination of the day, after checking out of the hotel, was to stop back at Dana's flat to drop off our excess luggage. The walk went quickly, and we managed to make it to St. Pancras station afterward well before our departure. We got our tickets from the machine and after a quick hop through security, we were on our train and bound for France!

London Underground, aka the TUBE

Streets of London

St Pancras Station

British Coke and French Coke

Gare du Nord in Paris!

It only took a little over two hours for the trip, and I slept away a good bit of it. Of course, jet lag was starting to get to me, but additionally, we didn't get to the hotel until quite late last night and I only got five or so hours of sleep. Either way, a nap did me well, and we were immediately off!

...But not so fast. We disembarked from the train and Dana had to use the bathroom. No problem, right? Well, when we got to the toilets, they apparently charge €0.70 to use them, and we didn't have any of the currency. So, after walking around aimlessly for a bit and eventually stumbling across a money changer, we managed to finally get money for the bathroom. Crisis averted!

After that business was taken care of, we managed to purchase two Paris Visite passes for zones 1-5 for the next three days. The passes are valid on virtually any form of transit within the greater Paris area, including the light rail service that goes to the Orly airport and our hotel. It boiled down to a little less than €15 (~$20) per day for unlimited travel, and considering a one way trip to or from our hotel is a bit more than €10, it's completely worth it.

Our first stop was intended to be Trocadero to get a good view of the Eiffel Tower, but after a couple wrong turns on the trains, we ended up emerging at the Champ de Mars station. After rounding a couple corners wondering where the Eiffel Tower was, we were treated to this, suddenly:

Pretty cool! The rainy day made it look a bit like a post card, and it's always a bit surreal to see something as iconic as the Eiffel Tower (probably the most recognizable symbol in all of Europe). We meandered about a little and took some pictures, gawking up at the huge tower straight off the television before we decided to move on. We'll be back, Eiffel Tower, hopefully on a clearer day!

Next, we took the local metro to the Charles de Gaulle stop and it happened again. We emerged from the station to find the Arc de Triomphe looming over us, and my reaction was fairly similar to seeing the Eiffel Tower: it was just sitting there, in the middle of the urban spread!

Arc de Triomphe

Champs-Élysées, one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the world

Dinner consisted of boeuf bourguignon for Dana (it was excellent and I was quite jealous) and a Paris ham sandwich for me, made with awesome bread. It was in the Champ-Elysees area, so it was fairly expensive, but probably pretty normal for Paris in general. After we finished with dinner, our penultimate mission was to find a bakery Dana wanted to visit known as Ladurée. They are apparently famous the world over for confectionery treats known as macarons. They come in a rainbow of colors and flavors, and we purchased eight of the small ones for €12: lemon, raspberry, chocolate, "special" Columbian chocolate, coffee, vanilla, rose petal, and vanilla grapefruit. They're really great so far, even if they were a bit pricey.

Anyway, the way back to the hotel wasn't too difficult to tease out. Our passes cover the light rail line, known as the Orlyval, that takes us back to the airport. From there, we just take a shuttle back to the hotel and we're back home. The hotel room is fairly strange-looking in general, though not in a bad way by any means.

Macarons!

Hotel room for two days!

From top to bottom - Euro, Pounds, US Dollar, Yen

It's nearing 2:30am, so it's about time for sleep. Tomorrow's plans include breakfast, the Louvre, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Modern Art Museum, with lots of stops in between. Wish us luck!

London Calling

After a long day of travel, I think it's about time to kick off a blog for my new adventure - Europe! My journey began at four in the morning after two hours sleep. I drove the rental car I had picked up the night before to the airport and headed through security. My first flight was a short hop from Philadelphia to Newark on a tiny 36-seater turboprop plane. It went quickly, as I was asleep for the majority.

The second flight of the day was more of a doozy. Oddly enough, it was a fairly small plane for an international trip, a Boeing 757, but it had a nice OnDemand entertainment system. I didn't sleep much, instead opting to watch several episodes of Parks & Recreation and Curb Your Enthusiasm. We landed a little before 2100 GMT, but customs and immigration took an additional hour beyond that. After exiting the terminal finally, I only had to wait five minutes at the coffee shop before Dana showed up! She was a sight for sore eyes, most definitely.

Dana led me down to the famous tube, the London Underground. From there, we undertook the medium-length train ride to her flat. It was quite a nice little place, and Dana's roommate Megan was very friendly and excited to hear about my trip to Japan. I handed out a few gifts and we were off again, this time to head to the hotel and get checked in. We stopped by a KFC for a quick snack before undertaking the thirty-minute walking journey to the Olympia Hilton Hotel. Our room is pretty nice, though nothing wonderful, I suppose. Only staying here for one night this time, though!

Anyway, tomorrow: Paris! We're taking the Eurostar down to the City of Lights to spend the weekend. It's going to be amazing. Stay tuned!

Sunny Faces, Sunny Places

So, since I'm in the mood for finding destinations and things to see, and I'm going to Florida in about two days, why not one for there, too? Obviously there's less to see than most places, considering sanitized tourism took over the areas long ago, but there are still some gems left over!

First of all, a call back to a time without Disney's stranglehold on the region: The Citrus Tower. The tower is over 200 feet high, and when it was built in the mid-50's offered a stunningly beautiful view of the pristine orange groves in the area. Most of the groves are gone now, but the tower still stands to show off the development in the area. Eight counties are visible from the top. The tower is open from 9-5 Monday through Thursday, and costs $4 per person for the view. The Citrus Tower can be found at: 141 North Hwy 27, Clermont, Florida 34711.

The Monument of States serves as another old school attraction in the area. The Monument features a stone from every state in the union, a collection first begun in 1942 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The monument has stood since then in Kissimmee, topped with a model of the world and a bald eagle, and surrounded with stones from various world locations. It's free to see and open during the daylight hours. The Monument is located at: 300 East Monument Ave., Kissimmee, FL.

Next up is the Bok Singing Tower and Gardens. The rock tower opened in 1929 and features 57 bells of differing pitch. The tower is said to be pretty impressive, and the bells toll and play frequently. Also in the area is a nice garden with lots of local flora to entertain yourself while you wait for the music to play. The garden is open from 8 - 6 daily and is free. The tower is located at: 1151 Tower Blvd., Lake Wales, FL.

For all the lovers of giant statues built for the sole purpose of advertising stupid things (aka me), there's a giant golf ball on a tee in Kissimmee. Definitely pretty great. It's an advertisement for a mini golf course. Located at: US Hwy 192, south side at Florida Plaza Blvd.

In 1993, a theme park opened in the already theme park-saturated area of central Florida. This park was called Splendid China, and featured rides and performances based on this theme. Included was the rotating cast of acrobats visiting directly from mainland China - many of whom fled the park and applied for asylum in the United States. After the closure of the park in 2003, the property changed hands several times, and the park was finally destroyed for good in 2011. All that remains is a Winn-Dixie Supermarket filled to the brim with kitschy Chinese memorabilia fit for a theme park. The supermarket is open until 11pm most days and is located at: Formosa Gardens Blvd., Kissimmee, FL.

Finally, there's Celebration, Florida. Most recognize Celebration as the Disney planned "community of the future," and others were reminded of existence when the town of about 7,000 experienced its first murder a couple years back. The whole thing gives me a weird "Stepford Wives" kind of feeling that makes it irresistible to at least drive through.

Anyway, there are a few other interesting things to see, it seems, but quite a bit of driving away from where I'll be staying. If any of them seem a bit more enticing, however, I'll definitely be posting them here.

Coming Attractions: Paris

The day after I arrive in the lovely city of London, Dana and I hop a Eurostar train midway through the day and head in the direction of France. We're staying for a weekend in Paris (just missing Valentine's Day by two or three days!) and I'm compiling a list of things that could possibly be interesting. First of all, to get them out of the way, some of the more obvious ones:

- The Eiffel Tower (48.8583N, 2.2945E) How original. Built in 1889 for the World's Fair, it's Paris (and for that matter, France's) most famous landmark.

- The Arc de Triomphe (48.8738N, 2.2950E) Also very original. Commissioned by Napoleon and finished in the 19th century, it was the largest arch in the world until a knock-off was constructed recently in Pyongyang.
- The Louvre (48.8620N, 2.333686E) The most-visited art museum in the world. Contains the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and so many more iconic works of art. It originally opened near the turn of the 19th century.
- Parisian Catacombs (48.8337N, 2.3322E) The catacombs of Paris hold the remains of approximately six million people who perished in the 12th century and onward.
- Musée des Arts et Métiers (48.8658N, 2.3554E) Parisian museum of arts and crafts. Specifically, the Foucault Pendulum, which was the first experimental proof that the earth rotated.

Now, a few from the depths of Atlas Obscura:

- Fragonard Museum (48.8127N, 2.4221E) One of the oldest museums in Paris, opened in 1766, which is quite similar to Philadelphia's Mutter. Made up of the collections of Honore Fragonard, a physician who was declared a madmen for his flayed figures and displays of pathology.
- The "I Love You" Wall (48.8847N, 2.3388E) A 400+ square foot wall covered in lava tiles that each bear the words "I love you" in a different language.
- Arènes de Lutèce (48.8450N, 2.3527E) The remains of a Roman amphitheater inside Paris proper. Said amphitheater played host to the gladiatorial and animal fights that Rome was famous for. Since its rediscovery, it has been restored, the 17,000-person and 2,000-year-old piece of history standing as a marker of the city's past.
- Musee de Plans-Reliefs (48.8546N, 2.3124E) Starting from as far back as 1668, the French monarchy created over a hundred models of various cities a territories that were used by military planners.
- The Room of Endangered and Extinct Species (48.8433N, 2.3637E) Part of the Grand Gallery of Evolution, this room showcases over two hundred animal species that have been pushed to the brink of or past the brink of extinction over the years.
- Mini-Paris (48.7772N ,1.9634E) A miniature model of Paris meticulously built over twenty years by a single man.
- Pomze Paris (48.8750N, 2.3169E) A restaurant that resembles an Iron Chef competition with the special ingredient "apples." Over 120 apple-inspired dishes. Features the motto of "Let yourself be tempted and enter the world of apples."