Parisian Renaissance and Funny French Kids

I'm sorry that there aren't any pictures in this post... I might post some later but I don't have any internet access on my laptop here at the U of Sussex.

Paris was my favorite city of the trip thus far. After a frustrating morning with Ryan Air (DO NOT fly them with significant checked baggage), Maryse and Martha greeted us in Paris. We dropped our bags off and went to a perfect French lunch at this fun place in Montmarte, where we were staying. It was a beautiful, but really hot day. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower.

The first thing I thought when it suddenly appeared was... "It's perfect." I like it more than the Arch, which is saying a lot. We met up with a couple girls from our program, which was great, and we went to the top of the tower.

The next morning Maryse and I went to the Musee d'Orsay, which is probably my favorite museum. The Van Gogh room, and pretty much then entire ground floor blew me away. I just wish I could have spent more than two hours there.

But I got to go to Maryse's English class! She TA's once a week for a class of French 10-11 year-olds. I really enjoy reading her posts, so I was excited to meet all the kids. But I didn't realize that I would be the focus of the class. The teacher thought it would be great to have me tell them about California, and to let them ask me anything about myself. We were talking as the class was coming and and she said, "I thought you could tell them about the wine in California." Remember, this class is full of 10-11 year-olds. Then she said "Maybe you could also talk about the history." I immediately tried to recall fourth grade when we learned about the missions but before I could get very far she finished her sentence: "... the history of wine in California."

It began with simple questions that I could not answer.

"How tall are you?" one asked. I had no idea what to say. I know that I'm about 5' 11", but that means nothing to them. I do not know my height in meters, so I had to respond, "I do not know how tall I am." That was a little depressing.

"What do you want to be?" another asked. "Good question!" I responded. I said that I didn't know, but that I am studying history.

"Do you have a gun?" the weaponds-obsessed kid asked me.

"Do you like the song, 'Let it Be?'" I told her I did, and that I saw Paul McCartney sing it once. So then I ended up talking about the Bridge Concert for about 5 minutes. The teacher asked me who else played, and I told her Neil Young. One girl had heard of him because her brothers listen to him, but everyone else was confused.

Finally, the teacher brought up wine. She thought that the students would be shocked to learn that wine is made in places other than France, and she was right. They started chattering in disbelief, and I was able to hear a conversation between two girls close to me about whether white or red was better. At least they were practicing English.

The rest of my time in Paris was really nice as well. Maryse and I had a picnic and wandered around a lot. We also went to the Orangerie, which is a museum that has rooms of Monet's water lillies. There was also a couple cool exhibitions downstairs, and I enjoyed the museum even more because my Czech student ID got me in for free.

Now I'm staying with Audrey at the University of Sussex. We've been exploring Brighton and London, which I'll talk about in a few days, probably when we get to Scotland.

Thanks for reading!

Belated Pictures...

I don't know what order they will show up in, but they are of Maryse and I, the Eiffel Tower sparkling, and the CET reunion.

A Busy But Disappointing Roman Holiday

I’ve gotta say, Rome was built up a bit too much for me. Before I came abroad, I thought of it was a cool place with so much history, but not as an exciting modern city. And then everyone started talking about how amazing of a city it is. But I’ve gone back to what I thought before. The historical sites are spectacular, but the city just seems to be missing some element that makes it less interesting than Florence, and much less interesting than Athens. Maybe it’s something to do with a lack of authenticity, but I’m not really sure.

In 24 hours, we pretty much did Rome. The Piazza Venezia, Trajan’s Column, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the main park, back to Piazza Venezia/Pantheon/Trevi/Colosseum at night, St. Peter’s Square (both at night and during the day), St. Peter’s Basilica (inside and on top), and the Vatican Museums (including the Sistine Chapel).

I really liked Trajan’s Column, and going inside the Pantheon, and pretty much all of the Vatican. St. Peter’s Basilica is THE Church, if there ever was an ultimate church, and the museums there are so overwhelming (and long) that by the end everyone walks by Chagalls and Dalis without even caring.

On Day 3 we went to the Colosseum, where we signed up for a tour which turned out to be very worth it. Our guide inside was this ridiculously buff/tan/sunburnt Italian who was probably a gladiator. Then there was a free additional tour around Palatine Hill with a delightful British woman named Claire. We also walked through the forum quickly, and my favorite part was seeing the Arch of Titus, because there’s a menorah sculpted inside. Even though it’s showing Titus returning from conquering Jerusalem, I still liked seeing an ancient depiction of a menorah.

But three days was just too long for Rome. We really should have done two there and four in Paris, but oh well. Seeing the sights was great, I’m just not a huge fan of the city as a whole.

Sunsets, Brown Beauty, and Art in Florence

Sorry for the delay! We had no internet in Italy.

Our two days in Florence consisted of art art art art art art. Which is what I expected. We got in and immediately went to the Uffizi. Everything I’d heard about the museum said that it is so huge and there’s no way you can see it all so just pick what you want to see most and go for it. Well, I really don’t understand that. Almost the entire thing is on one floor and you walk around the horseshoe, passing through every single room, and then you’re pretty much done. Yes, the horseshoe is huge, but it’s pretty doable in 2-3 hours.

The Botticelli works were my favorite. Of course the Birth of Venus, but also a series of paintings he did with women sitting with legs apart like men which I found amusing. There was also a really cool statue room that very few people seemed to find interesting. I found a couple works that I knew where there from my art history class, but two that I wasn’t expecting — Da Vinci’s incomplete Adoration of the Magi and Raphael’s Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals were my other favorites.

Right after the Uffizi, we began our gelato binge, which is still going strong. It’s just too good, I’m sure I will have it every day this summer. We managed to catch the climax of the sunset right after dinner, although the one the next night was way better.

The next day we went on a walking tour, which was fantastic. Our guide was from Northern California (Sebastopol), so I liked her immediately, and she told really good stories. We went to see the David after that. Again, I’d heard that the line to get in is hours long, so we made reservations, but there was NO line. And there were probably less than 100 people in the entire David section of the museum when we got there. Maybe it was just a fluke. Well, David is pretty cool. I noticed a lot of things about him that I did not pick up on from looking at pictures, and being able to walk all the way around him was amazing (especially with a light crowd so I didn’t have to bump into people like I have had to all around Rome).

The second night the sunset was one of the best I’ve ever seen. And the gelato we had each night (from Gelateria de Neri) was the best gelato I've ever had.

The other highlights of Florence:

The Duomo — SO big. I had no idea the façade would be so beautiful, and the dome itself was extremely impressive, especially since Brunelleschi was inventing techniques to make it possible as he went along.

Aperitivo — The Italian tradition of early evening drinks (meaning 7-9pm) where you order a drink and get a free finger food buffet. The Tuscan wine was excellent.

Ghiberti’s Doors (close-up pictured above) — I did a project on these in high school so it was really exciting to see them, both the replicas on the Basilica and the originals in the Duomo Museum.

Donatello’s Mary Magdalen — I found this at the last minute in the Duomo Museum. Definitely the scariest statue I’ve ever seen, but also really cool since it’s carved from wood.

Cruisin around Milos

Our last day in Milos was as amazing as the first two. We took a boat halfway around the island with 11 other people from around the world. Our captain was a really great guy named Elias, who was assisted by his father-in-law. Everything is a family business here.

We saw some incredible rock formations and the turquoise water was beautiful. The father-in-law (whose ringtone is "My Humps" in Greek) made us all Greek salads, and we had wine to go with them. It was so relaxing to just lie down on the boat and stare at the water for hours. We stopped in a couple places and got on a lifeboat to explore caves and other hidden areas.

The boat got reaaaaaally rocky at times, and both Erik and I almost rolled off the boat. And the other passengers were quite the cast of characters. There were three from Mississippi who were friends back in high school, a couple from Argentina, a cute old French couple, and a couple from Munich. The German man was a photographer so he became quick friends with Erik, and he also found it hilarious that I was lying down on the boat while we were rocking from side to side.

Elias was a fantastic captain and a great guide. Apparently this was their first busy day of the year, because usually they take everyone on one boat but today there were two. He said tourism had actually increased this year. He took us to pirates' hiding places, told us stories about getting drunk on his boat as a teenager, and was a genuinely good guy.

Tomorrow is my first and only pure travel day. We're all flying to Athens and then Hilary and Yael fly to Barcelona and Erik and I fly to Milan. We take the train to Florence on Wednesday morning, so I think this concludes my daily blogging.

5K to the Moon

Today was the story of 2 trips.

The first was to the very small village of Klima, which pretty much consists of a row of houses along the water. All of the houses have colorful doors and windows. The locals were out and about, chatting with each other, pushing a boat into the water and cleaning it, rolling some sort of water storage container around, and we also saw some rugs tied to the pier, washing in the Mediterranean.

It was super relaxing, so we spent a lot of the morning sitting at the end of the pier. This place is so incredibly un-touristy. I think there are probably fewer than 100 tourists on the entire island. At the same time, they speak way more English than the average Czech. After a semester in the Czech Republic, I am no longer used to any sort of customer service, so these Greeks are quite a shock. It's so nice to have people smile when talking to me.

The second trip was to Sarakiniko aka. the Moon Beach. It all started with the map that the family which owns our hotel lent to us. And by map, I mean more of the type of treasure map you might expect from a pirate. It consisted of a series of lines with distances written between them. It noted which roads were "asfalt," and at one point told us to turn at a "House," which it showed as a square with four quadrants. On the way there, we saw the wrong house, turned the wrong way, and ended up 2 kilometers off course. So the 30-minute walk to the beach turned into a 90-minute 5K. In sandals, on a highway.

But when we finally arrived, we were stunned. We'd seen pictures, but like... it's real. There were fewer than 10 people there, probably because it had been overcast the whole day but the sun came out during our epic hike. We swam a bit and spent most of the time exploring the rock and taking pictures. I could try to describe the beauty... but pictures can do that better.

Akropolis + Milos Day 1

Another day, another amazing day, another post. First, here is a picture from the rooftop bar at our hostel last night (Akropolis in the background).

We woke up this morning and headed right for the Akropolis (after devouring free bread at our hostel). We walked through the Agora on the way there, which is an ancient marketplace. Since it was only 9 am, it was pretty much just us and the Agora, which was amazing.

Being on the Akropolis is something you really have to experience to understand. The Parthenon was so cool to see, especially after studying it for 2 weeks in Art History last semester. But what really stunned me were the unbelievable views of Athens. It is definitely one of my favorite cities.

This afternoon we flew to Milos... and I've never been on an airplane so small. I think it fit about 50 people. It was only 25 minutes, but that was plenty of time to serve us chocolate-filled croissants. Flying in, I was really surprised by how big the island is. We landed on the runway, and about 10 seconds after touching down, came to a complete stop and did a U-turn on the runway to go to the terminal (if you can call it that). It was crazy.

I don't think anyone actually works at the airport. A woman sprinted past us as we were walking from the plane to the terminal, and then after we got our bags (which took about 2 minutes), she sprinted back to the plane, as passengers boarded to fly to Athens (the flight left about 20 minutes after we touched down). The whole thing was really amusing.

We walked out to the parking lot to wait for a taxi. There weren't enough, so one of the drivers called another driver before leaving and said a driver named Demetris would be there in about 6-7 minutes. About 5 minutes later, a cab came up and Hilary said, "Are you Demetris?" He said No, and drove off. We thought we were pretty stupid for not just taking the cab, but Demetris came a couple minutes later. And thank god we waited for him.

He looked all all of our bags, which were clearly waaaaaaay too much for his car, and said, "No Problem!" His solution was to stick two of them fully in the trunk, and then have the other two stick out of the trunk, so that half of each was completely out of the car. And he left the trunk completely open and said, "No Problem!" I was crying from laughing so hard, and then we got in the car. He asked where we were from and we said "America." He said, "America! Bravo! Bravo!" and I started crying again. Our bags were fine and he got us to the hotel pretty quickly.

The hotel is wonderful. We have a big room at the front and a porch with a shaded table and a few chairs. Tonight we walked down to the water (about 2 minutes) and then took a cab to Plaka, the capital city which is about a 10 minute drive from Adamas, where we are. It was beautiful. We had a great dinner at a restaurant where they were getting ready for a Christening ceremony, so family and friends kept coming by and it was a really fun atmosphere. It made me want to be Greek.

Tomorrow we're going to a colorful waterside town and then to a beach that has moon-like rocks!

Athens!

I wasn't planning to post this quickly... but this first evening in Athens was unbelievable. Our trip started a bit shakily when right before we boarded the plane, our terminal was evacuated. But then we were allowed back in within 10 minutes. So no biggie. The flight was fine but since the Athens metro is under construction it took us 3 hours (!) to get to our hostel by bus/metro.

But the hostel is amazing (more on this in a bit). They recommended a good dinner place only 2 blocks away, and during the 5 minute walk there, I think all four of us took pictures of every single street we saw. It was SO beautiful. We sat outside and had delicious Greek food, and even though we didn't get there until after 8, we were way early. Apparently most people go out to eat dinner around 9:30 or 10 here. We walked around after and got some delicious zmrzlina (I will never stop using the Czech word for ice cream).

The other thing is... the Akropolis. When we got out of the metro by our hostel, I was looking at a map to try to figure out where to go, and when I looked up, the Temple of Athena Nike was staring back at me from the Akropolis. It was one of those jaw dropping moments. Our hostel was only a few minutes from the metro, but that was plenty of time to witness a guy being hit by a car (he was knocked down but walked away). I think it happened because they don't have crosswalks here. At least I haven't seen any yet.

After dinner we walked a close to the Akropolis as we could get, which was pretty close. We passed a bunch of ruins on the way which looked really cool at night. We came back to the hostel and just spent some time on the rooftop terrace bar that has an absolutely incredible view of the Akropolis. And since it's on the 6th floor, you can actually see a lot of the Parthenon (you can only see the very top from the ground view).

Tomorrow we're walking up to the Akropolis, and then we have to head straight to the airport for our flight to the island of Milos. I'll try to post some pictures from tonight while I'm there.

Time to Go!

Classes are over, and I'm leaving Prague in 2 days. But I'm only slightly more than halfway done with my time in Europe. On Friday, the traveling begins.

It starts with Greece. Erik, Yael, Hilary and I are going to Athens for a day (Akropolis etc.) and then heading to the island of Milos to lay on a beach for 3 days. Then Erik and I head to Italy for about 5 days, half in Florence, half in Rome. After that, we go to Paris (Maryse!) for three more. Erik and I split and then I take the train to London, and stay in Brighton (Audrey!) for a few days. Audrey and I go to Scotland, and then I fly to Nice and take the train to San Remo, Italy for my camp orientation on June 8.

I'll try to post updates as I go!

10 Things I'll Miss About Prague

1. The Czech Ladies

Having Ivana, Martina, and Jitka around might be the best part of my program.

2. Kozel (and the other beer)

It tastes way too good to be beer. Imagine a sweet, carmelized beer.

3. Korunas

I am going to suffer mightily under the Euro.

4. Architecture

I'm sure it's nice in Western Europe as well, but I will miss the Prague style.

5. Czech words

See: The list I posted a while ago.

6. Relatively stable weather

It has been a little crazy lately, but it is NOTHING like St. Louis, where it can go from 70 and sunny to snowing in 2 hours (and all of Wash U kids know, this did happen).

7. Oldness

I'll miss walking by random towers and churches that have been standing for hundreds and hundreds of years.

8. Color

When Maryse was here, she compared all the buildings to different colors of food. I think that's a good way to think about it.

9. Goulash

I'll have to find a Czech/Hungarian restaurant in the US.

10. Food stands

When I'm coming home late at night, there's nothing better than stopping at one of the 24 hour food stands in Wenceslas Square and picking up a smazeny syr (fried cheese sandwich) or chicken sandwich.

Beyonce Recap

Beyonce was B-Rilliant. Really, I could just sit and listen to her sing anything for any amount of time and be happy because her voice is so amazing.

Unfortunately, the Czech audience Sucked. When Beyonce sings, you dance. And if you don't dance, you at least stand. She opened with "Crazy in Love," and NO ONE was standing (except for those on the floor). It was actually painful to see/hear the song and be sitting. After a few songs she said, "You may not have been to one of our concerts before, but when I dance, YOU dance." So then people stood for about 5 minutes before sitting again for most of the rest of the show. Two girls in front of me were dancing to one song, and the lady next to me leaned over and actually pulled one of them down.

But a Czech audience member did provide the funniest moment of the night. Before "Say My Name," Beyonce leaned into the crowd and asked a guy, "What's my name?" His reply: "Lukas!" So Beyonce, this probably isn't the best thing to ask when most of the people in the audience don't speak English.

I was really happy she sang that song, along with "Jumpin'." I assume she'd stick to her solo stuff, so I was surprised when she reached back and pulled out some Destiny's Child.

Some other notable moments were...

Interrupting "If I Were a Boy" with about a minute of Alanis Morisette's "You Oughta Know." It was wonderful.

"At Last" with a video showing civil rights movement footage and then jumping to Obama footage. I don't think 90% of the crowd knew what was going on, but it was really cool.

Single Ladies Video Montage. Before she sang/danced it, they showed clips from about a hundred YouTube videos of people doing the dance, as well as Justin Timberlake's SNL imitation, Barack doing the handflip, and the flash mass of single ladies that did the dance in perfect unison in England about a week ago.

Beyonce hanging from wires and flying from the roof above the stage to a stage set up in the middle of the floor.

I stole the picture from my friend, Liza. Notice the three jumbo Beyonce's and the mini, real Beyonce at the bottom left.

Olomouc, A City of Beautiful Churches

One last trip in the Czech Republic. Two of our beloved Czech buddies took a group of us to Olomouc, a city a few hours from Prague where they go to school.

It was a really laid back and nice, short trip. Mostly we walked around and Martina and Ivana showed us the major sites and their favorite places.

When we arrived, we immediately went to the main square, where there was a May Day Festival. It was fun, although I enjoyed going up to the top of a tower and looking out across the whole area more. Here's one picture I took of the huge plague monument in the square.

We walked around, stopping at beautiful church after beautiful church. Here is my favorite of those we passed on Friday.

On Saturday we went to Holy Hill, which is a little ways outside the city and has an incredible view. The church there was unbelievable, and it was one of those places that should be filled with tourists, but hardly anyone was there (except for a wedding).

The whole two days, we kept passing these bright yellow fields. Every time I saw one it stunned me... I just can't believe something natural can be so bright.

Now I'm back in Prague until it's time to leave for good. I want to do all of these things that I wrote about before... but it's not easy when I have 3 final papers and 5 final exams. The next 9 days should be interesting!