In less than 24 hours I'll be home.
I pulled an all-nighter on Tuesday, but on Wednesday afternoon I went with the host family to Tivoli for a couple of hours, went on a few rides, etc. Promptly crashed by 9:30 and slept for like 12 hours. Then I had my last final on Thursday, which went okay I guess. Afterward I shopped for a little bit.
I met up with Anna and Caitlin on Friday early afternoon and we walked about the botanical gardens a bit, then split up, and as I had some time to kill before the closing ceremony thing, I decided to pay to go into Rosenborg Castle, which I had neglected to do. It houses the crown jewels, and a bunch of other cool stuff, and the throne room -- the Long Hall -- was pretty impressive.
Then I went over to the place for the closing ceremony, where we heard unecessary speeches, several of them (inlcuding those given by two DIS students) were painful to listen to due to their clichéd-ness. But that ended, and I headed home to (maybe) start packing. I did a little bit. But then we had dinner -- my host family gave me a charm-bracelet type thing as a going away gift -- and then I left to go to the DIS farewell party thing. Met up with Anna and Caitlin and eventually Kathryn, and we stayed there for awhile, and it was pretty fun, but then we decided to leave to go to Vega. Anna ended up just going home, so we said our goodbyes as we went to different bus stops. Then Kathryn, Caitlin, and I got to Vega and waited in line for a pretty long time (ended up not getting in before 1, so we had to pay, but we wanted to go, so), and then stayed there and danced to the the techno-DJ tunes for a while, and eventually figured out the roundabout routes we needed to take home. We also made our goodbyes at Rådhuspladsen as we went our separate ways for night buses!
I finally made it home around 4, and there was already sunlight on the horizon.
Today it's rainy and gross and I've just been packing away. I'm getting to the point where most of the stuff I have left to pack is the annoying toiletries/small item stage. Grr.
See you soon.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A few days left
I leave in like four days. It's crazy.
Things we've done recently: went out again to the Dubliner and Nørrebro Bryghus (from which I may have... appropriated a glass with their name on it), went to Tivoli this afternoon with the host family, been writing papers and taking exams (last one tomorrow), went to Bakken, another amusement park, for a few hours last weekend.
Things I still need to do: consider packing/do laundry, buy gifts (for people at home, and for my host family), hang out with my friends, take pictures of some of my favorite places (Sankt Peder's Bageri, for example), savor the rest of my time in the city.
Things we've done recently: went out again to the Dubliner and Nørrebro Bryghus (from which I may have... appropriated a glass with their name on it), went to Tivoli this afternoon with the host family, been writing papers and taking exams (last one tomorrow), went to Bakken, another amusement park, for a few hours last weekend.
Things I still need to do: consider packing/do laundry, buy gifts (for people at home, and for my host family), hang out with my friends, take pictures of some of my favorite places (Sankt Peder's Bageri, for example), savor the rest of my time in the city.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The rest of Heather's visit (and beyond)
On Saturday, we got off to a sort of late start, and headed out to the Carlsberg Brewery, arriving there around noon, I think. As we're walking to go toward the visitor entrance, this group of mostly middle-aged (I think) Danish guys call over to us, and ask us if we're going in. Well we are, so they tell us to come in with them because they are one short of 15 people, thus getting a reduced group rate (40kr instead of 60), so we're like "Okay..." 
Anyway, then we go in and as Heather and I are getting money out of our wallets the guy who is paying just waves us off and tells us not to worry about it. So, sweet! We basically ended up getting two free drinks out of this (they give you vouchers). Anyway, the brewery is interesting. You see mostly historical stuff, including a really detailed timeline that starts with the first recorded brewing of beer and then moves on to get more into Danish brewing history and then the Carlsberg history. Most of the rooms 
and such are historical representation about how the process would go in like, the early 20th century. Also: massive beer collection! When you are finished the tour you can go to the bar to redeem your vouchers -- Heather ended up trying the Carlsberg Elephant Beer and I got one of the specialty Jacobsen beers called Saaz Blonde, and then we both got sodas as it was only like 2 in the afternoon! Then we wandered out to find the elephant gate and take some pictures. Afterwards we headed back into the center of the city. We stopped at a gift shop on Strøget and Heather picked up a few things, and then I think we got bagel sandwiches again and then... possibly sat in a park for a bit? Not sure. Eventually we made our way home to have some dinner, and then went out to meet Anna and Caitlin at Palermo. We each had a drink there, and then decided to try this cocktail bar and cafe we had passed by a few times by Nørreport. They had a ridiculous drink menu. I ended up getting a Japanese Slipper. There were these two girls (sisters) sitting next to us, one of whom had worked for DIS at some point, and they invited us to go a club with them after we had our drinks, so we went with them to this place called L.A. Bar and danced for some hours -- when we got there they were playing songs like "Surfin' USA" and "Blue Suede Shoes" and it was highly amusing that the Danes there knew all the words to every song, when we didn't, and by the time we were leaving they had gotten into playing like, late '90s or so pop/rap. It was amusing! We took the night bus home and went to bed around 4... at this point we had given up on our hopes for Legoland as we didn't think we could get up early enough, and it was going to be like 1200kr a piece or more for the whole shebang. But oh well.
We got a reeeeeally late start the next day, but traveled over to Christianshavn and walked through Christiania a bit. Christiania -- for those who don't know -- is a sort semi-autonomous commune within Copenhagen. It was formed when some people squatted in
the abandoned military barracks in the 1970s, and for some reason the Danish government just let them take it over. It's weirdly separate from Denmark -- as you leave, there's a sign saying, "You are now entering the EU." It's kind of an artist's paradise -- there's graffitti murals and cool art everywhere, but they don't let you take any pictures. So we wandered around there for about a half an hour, but we both felt really out of place, so we just headed back in the direction of Christiansborg and sat by one of the canals soaking up the sun for awhile.
We got dinner at a place in Gråbrodretorv, and then met up with Katy and got some hot drinks from a 7-11 and chilled with her in one of the squares in the city for a while. Then we headed home, watched a movie, held a short video chat session with Amy, and went to bed.
I went in to my 8:30 class on Monday, and Heather met me in town afterward. We mostly sat around outside, as she had her backpacker's backpack with her and there was no where to store it. We met up with Katy again to grab a quick lunch, and I deserted Heather in the DIS library for an hour and half or so to go to the beginning of my afternoon class, then jetted from that, we got ice cream, went in a few stores, and then took the Metro to the airport and said our goodbyes!
So that was two weekends ago now. Last week, we had a field study to the Politiken offices. Not that enlightening. On Friday, I didn't have any classes, and arranged to meet up with Anna and Caitlin at Fælledparken, near the stadium, because we had heard that was something that Danes do on May 1. We were expecting it to just be a bunch of people chilling, having some drinks and snacks. How wrong we were! It was like a festival -- there were rides and stages and food stands and massive amounts of people. It took us about an absurd amount of time to locate each other, because when Caitlin told me they were near an inflatable giraffe, I thought I knew where they were. Turns out there were at least three inflatable giraffes in the park that day. But eventually I met up with them, and we met up with a (male) Alex from our program, and Kathryn, and hung out there till it started getting too chilly, and I had a bagel sandwich I had bought and a crepe and some popcorn and a couple of ciders. 'Twas fun! Caitlin and Anna biked back to their kollegium and Alex and I walked and took the bus to get there, and then we decided to watch the Lindsay Lohan version of "Freaky Friday" which I relentlessly made fun of, but it was still a good time!
Then on Saturday we took a short day trip to Malmö. We had heard the shopping was cheaper, because the e
xchange rate is better ($1 = apprx. 8kr Swedish and 5.5kr Danish), but prices are about the same (so something could be 98kr in Sweden and Denmark, so it's a little cheaper to buy it in Sweden). Also, we just wanted to say we had been to Sweden! We all ended up getting something -- I got a top and some brown sandals from H&M, but when we left the last store we went to around 5:30, everything else was closed already! So we walked around a bit and then got dinner at... a Pizza Hut, but it was the fanciest Pizza Hut any of us had ever seen. Do they serve you your pizzas in the deep dish they cook them in, in America? And Anna got an absolutely massive salad, which she took slightly more than half of back with her. We stopped in a convenience/gift shop on the way out of town, and I was disappointed that they didn't have Swedish fish in their candy section. Our train got back into CPH around 8, but I didn't get home till nine because when I got off the Metro around 8:05 and saw that there was a 10-minute wait for my bus, I decided to walk a little bit... and then I decided I should just walk to the ice cream place... and then I had to walk while eating my ice cream... and by the time I finished I was almost home. And, I think only three buses passes me that whole time, the last one not even until I was almost at what is my home bus stop, so I didn't feel to absurd that I had walked.
I think we are going to go out for a bit tonight... possibly to a karaoke bar? Purely to observe and mock, though!
Anyway, then we go in and as Heather and I are getting money out of our wallets the guy who is paying just waves us off and tells us not to worry about it. So, sweet! We basically ended up getting two free drinks out of this (they give you vouchers). Anyway, the brewery is interesting. You see mostly historical stuff, including a really detailed timeline that starts with the first recorded brewing of beer and then moves on to get more into Danish brewing history and then the Carlsberg history. Most of the rooms 
and such are historical representation about how the process would go in like, the early 20th century. Also: massive beer collection! When you are finished the tour you can go to the bar to redeem your vouchers -- Heather ended up trying the Carlsberg Elephant Beer and I got one of the specialty Jacobsen beers called Saaz Blonde, and then we both got sodas as it was only like 2 in the afternoon! Then we wandered out to find the elephant gate and take some pictures. Afterwards we headed back into the center of the city. We stopped at a gift shop on Strøget and Heather picked up a few things, and then I think we got bagel sandwiches again and then... possibly sat in a park for a bit? Not sure. Eventually we made our way home to have some dinner, and then went out to meet Anna and Caitlin at Palermo. We each had a drink there, and then decided to try this cocktail bar and cafe we had passed by a few times by Nørreport. They had a ridiculous drink menu. I ended up getting a Japanese Slipper. There were these two girls (sisters) sitting next to us, one of whom had worked for DIS at some point, and they invited us to go a club with them after we had our drinks, so we went with them to this place called L.A. Bar and danced for some hours -- when we got there they were playing songs like "Surfin' USA" and "Blue Suede Shoes" and it was highly amusing that the Danes there knew all the words to every song, when we didn't, and by the time we were leaving they had gotten into playing like, late '90s or so pop/rap. It was amusing! We took the night bus home and went to bed around 4... at this point we had given up on our hopes for Legoland as we didn't think we could get up early enough, and it was going to be like 1200kr a piece or more for the whole shebang. But oh well.We got a reeeeeally late start the next day, but traveled over to Christianshavn and walked through Christiania a bit. Christiania -- for those who don't know -- is a sort semi-autonomous commune within Copenhagen. It was formed when some people squatted in
the abandoned military barracks in the 1970s, and for some reason the Danish government just let them take it over. It's weirdly separate from Denmark -- as you leave, there's a sign saying, "You are now entering the EU." It's kind of an artist's paradise -- there's graffitti murals and cool art everywhere, but they don't let you take any pictures. So we wandered around there for about a half an hour, but we both felt really out of place, so we just headed back in the direction of Christiansborg and sat by one of the canals soaking up the sun for awhile.We got dinner at a place in Gråbrodretorv, and then met up with Katy and got some hot drinks from a 7-11 and chilled with her in one of the squares in the city for a while. Then we headed home, watched a movie, held a short video chat session with Amy, and went to bed.
I went in to my 8:30 class on Monday, and Heather met me in town afterward. We mostly sat around outside, as she had her backpacker's backpack with her and there was no where to store it. We met up with Katy again to grab a quick lunch, and I deserted Heather in the DIS library for an hour and half or so to go to the beginning of my afternoon class, then jetted from that, we got ice cream, went in a few stores, and then took the Metro to the airport and said our goodbyes!
So that was two weekends ago now. Last week, we had a field study to the Politiken offices. Not that enlightening. On Friday, I didn't have any classes, and arranged to meet up with Anna and Caitlin at Fælledparken, near the stadium, because we had heard that was something that Danes do on May 1. We were expecting it to just be a bunch of people chilling, having some drinks and snacks. How wrong we were! It was like a festival -- there were rides and stages and food stands and massive amounts of people. It took us about an absurd amount of time to locate each other, because when Caitlin told me they were near an inflatable giraffe, I thought I knew where they were. Turns out there were at least three inflatable giraffes in the park that day. But eventually I met up with them, and we met up with a (male) Alex from our program, and Kathryn, and hung out there till it started getting too chilly, and I had a bagel sandwich I had bought and a crepe and some popcorn and a couple of ciders. 'Twas fun! Caitlin and Anna biked back to their kollegium and Alex and I walked and took the bus to get there, and then we decided to watch the Lindsay Lohan version of "Freaky Friday" which I relentlessly made fun of, but it was still a good time!
Then on Saturday we took a short day trip to Malmö. We had heard the shopping was cheaper, because the e
xchange rate is better ($1 = apprx. 8kr Swedish and 5.5kr Danish), but prices are about the same (so something could be 98kr in Sweden and Denmark, so it's a little cheaper to buy it in Sweden). Also, we just wanted to say we had been to Sweden! We all ended up getting something -- I got a top and some brown sandals from H&M, but when we left the last store we went to around 5:30, everything else was closed already! So we walked around a bit and then got dinner at... a Pizza Hut, but it was the fanciest Pizza Hut any of us had ever seen. Do they serve you your pizzas in the deep dish they cook them in, in America? And Anna got an absolutely massive salad, which she took slightly more than half of back with her. We stopped in a convenience/gift shop on the way out of town, and I was disappointed that they didn't have Swedish fish in their candy section. Our train got back into CPH around 8, but I didn't get home till nine because when I got off the Metro around 8:05 and saw that there was a 10-minute wait for my bus, I decided to walk a little bit... and then I decided I should just walk to the ice cream place... and then I had to walk while eating my ice cream... and by the time I finished I was almost home. And, I think only three buses passes me that whole time, the last one not even until I was almost at what is my home bus stop, so I didn't feel to absurd that I had walked.I think we are going to go out for a bit tonight... possibly to a karaoke bar? Purely to observe and mock, though!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Heather came to visit!
SO. What been going on since travel break finally ended? Well Easter weekend was basically recovery weekend. Classes started up the Tuesday after Easter. I accompanied Anna and Caitlin when they went to rent bikes (in lieu of getting transportation passes). I almost beat them back to DIS (on foot) on their first bike ride in Copenhagen. That Wednesday, I went with my Danish politics class to Parliament (where we had a short lecture/discussion from the woman who is the chair of the foreign affairs committee). We were meant to have a tour of Christiansborg but apparently our group was too large and they wouldn't split us up. Then we had a break for about an hour and a h
alf, and then went to the Copenhagen Police Department. We had a short tour of their building, then a talk about how they handle demonstrators/protests, and then a quick demonstration/tour from the riot squad (they got into their riot gear in well under five minutes, and then they showed us some of the weapons). On Thursday I went with Anna over to Amalienborg to watch the royal family wave from the balcony because it was the queen's birthday. I think that weekend was relatively uneventful. Had to pull an all-nighter on Monday the 20th in order to write a paper for Danish politics (got an A, though).
Then on Thursday, Heather arrived! I met her at the airport around three, we got her a klippekort, and then we took the Metro into the city center. Heather got a pastry from Skt. Peder's and we went and relaxed in a park for awhile, as the weather was beautiful. (In fact, the weather has been absolutely amazing ever since I returned from Krakow.) We headed back home and Heather met the host family, and then we had dinner, conversation, etc. I was amused that my host mother has trouble saying "Heather" -- it's something about the soft "th" sound -- but Caroline could say it perfectly. Heather and I ended up hanging out and watching The Office and some other stuff online, then turned in for the night.
I skipped classes on Friday to make the most of it. We planned on doing a bunch of stuff and
going to Carlsberg today. We ended up taking the train out to Østerport, walking through some of the grounds of the Kastellet, and over to the Little Mermaid. No adornments this time! Then, we walked on and found the Gefion Fountain, which I had not seen turned on yet and was pretty cool. Heather got a hot dog with everything on it from a pølsevogn -- I've not even had a hot dog from one of the carts yet, but oh well. We then walked along the water all the way down to Amalienborg, where there was also a cool fountain switched on, and briefly into the church that's right across the way. Its dome is pretty impressive but photos were frowned upon -- I took a couple of illicit ones of the altar. We then made our way down to Nyhavn, and ended up getting some smørrebrø
d at a little restaurant. Afterwards we made our way to the Round Tower; it is what it sounds like, and there are (almost) no stairs inside, it's just a winding incline up to an observation platform, so you can see a nice view of the skyline, and even Sweden! We got the first of several bagel sandwiches, ate them, and made our way over to Tivoli. We decided to suck it up and pay for the price of the multi-ride wristband on top of the entry fee, instead of paying singly for each ride we wanted to do. So, in order to get the best bang for our buck (or the most bang for our 285kr), we basically went on all the major rides. None of them are particulary big, so Heather somehow managed to drag me on to the rollercoasters and this ridiculous ride that I think we both ended up hating that spun around and then twisted you up and down and was completely crazy. But we did the freefall ride and bumper cars and the giant swings. The couple of really tall rides give you great views of the city as well. We stayed for quite some time, as there was to be a concert; we listened to about half of it before we decided we were cold enough, and headed for home!
alf, and then went to the Copenhagen Police Department. We had a short tour of their building, then a talk about how they handle demonstrators/protests, and then a quick demonstration/tour from the riot squad (they got into their riot gear in well under five minutes, and then they showed us some of the weapons). On Thursday I went with Anna over to Amalienborg to watch the royal family wave from the balcony because it was the queen's birthday. I think that weekend was relatively uneventful. Had to pull an all-nighter on Monday the 20th in order to write a paper for Danish politics (got an A, though).Then on Thursday, Heather arrived! I met her at the airport around three, we got her a klippekort, and then we took the Metro into the city center. Heather got a pastry from Skt. Peder's and we went and relaxed in a park for awhile, as the weather was beautiful. (In fact, the weather has been absolutely amazing ever since I returned from Krakow.) We headed back home and Heather met the host family, and then we had dinner, conversation, etc. I was amused that my host mother has trouble saying "Heather" -- it's something about the soft "th" sound -- but Caroline could say it perfectly. Heather and I ended up hanging out and watching The Office and some other stuff online, then turned in for the night.
I skipped classes on Friday to make the most of it. We planned on doing a bunch of stuff and
going to Carlsberg today. We ended up taking the train out to Østerport, walking through some of the grounds of the Kastellet, and over to the Little Mermaid. No adornments this time! Then, we walked on and found the Gefion Fountain, which I had not seen turned on yet and was pretty cool. Heather got a hot dog with everything on it from a pølsevogn -- I've not even had a hot dog from one of the carts yet, but oh well. We then walked along the water all the way down to Amalienborg, where there was also a cool fountain switched on, and briefly into the church that's right across the way. Its dome is pretty impressive but photos were frowned upon -- I took a couple of illicit ones of the altar. We then made our way down to Nyhavn, and ended up getting some smørrebrø
d at a little restaurant. Afterwards we made our way to the Round Tower; it is what it sounds like, and there are (almost) no stairs inside, it's just a winding incline up to an observation platform, so you can see a nice view of the skyline, and even Sweden! We got the first of several bagel sandwiches, ate them, and made our way over to Tivoli. We decided to suck it up and pay for the price of the multi-ride wristband on top of the entry fee, instead of paying singly for each ride we wanted to do. So, in order to get the best bang for our buck (or the most bang for our 285kr), we basically went on all the major rides. None of them are particulary big, so Heather somehow managed to drag me on to the rollercoasters and this ridiculous ride that I think we both ended up hating that spun around and then twisted you up and down and was completely crazy. But we did the freefall ride and bumper cars and the giant swings. The couple of really tall rides give you great views of the city as well. We stayed for quite some time, as there was to be a concert; we listened to about half of it before we decided we were cold enough, and headed for home!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Krakow
Saturday April 4
Got up around 6 and left around 6:30 to take the bus and the Metro to the airport. Everything went smoothly, and I landed in Krakow around 10:30. Here also I decided to take a cab rather than deciphering the public transportation, and then I just basically been chilling/napping in the hostel all day. But I guess I need to leave and find some food… I did eat, at a restaurant about half a block from the hostel, because they had their menu posted outside in Polish and English. I ordered chicken breast with spinach because I wanted a vegetable (spinach is gross). And, I was randomly served some sort of alcohol (a type of vodka?) when I asked for the check.
Sunday April 5
I got up and made some toast and tea for breakfast, then waited around until the one shower/bathroom was free – I waited for awhile. Then I took a shower and putzed around here on the Internet for quite some time. Around four I decided to wander around outside, checked out the main square, saw a street breaking group called “Missionaries of Rhythm.” Also need to locate something cheap to eat and then figure out how I am going to get to the airport to meet MaryElise. Should I brave public transportation or should I just take another cab? I should find the cheapest option (the bus, I know, but bus systems are sometimes challenging enough even when you do speak the language) or the train and just go.
Ended up taking the train there, and we took a cab back (which was doubly expensive because it was Sunday, ugh). And then basically hung about for a bit and went to bed.
Monday April 6
We got up around 10:00 and tooled around having a light breakfast and checking our emails at the hostel, then decided to just wander about the city. It’s an oddly small city, we covered pretty much the whole of the Old Town in a couple of hours going at a leisurely pace. We grabbed some “pizza baguettes” from one of the many kebab stands – basically a whole half of a baguette toasted with cheese on it, and you can get more things put on as well, and ate them in the main square. We wanted to branch out a bit outside of the Planty but we really had no idea where we were going. So we went back to the hostel to recoup a bit (and I took a shower), and then wandered out again to find somewhere relatively inexpensive for dinner. We ended up at a place that had some Italian foods, I ended up getting lasagne. Then we went out to locate an ice cream shop, grabbed small cones and headed back to the hostel as we ate them.
Tuesday April 7
I had to get up around 6 (but I didn’t actually until 6:30) in order to register for classes for next semester. Then I of course couldn’t really fall back to sleep. I sort of dozed on and off for a few more hours, and finally got out of bed around 10. We finally made our way over to the Wawel Castle, to check out what sort of admission prices there were. Kind of annoyingly, they charge you separately for every exhibition. So we picked one – the crown treasury and armory. Emphasis on the armory. Tons of spears, guns, swords, cannons. And then the treasury consisted mostly of golden goblets, plates, decorative items, etc. Also – no pictures allowed inside, though I took a couple illicit ones before I was informed of that rule. It’s a nice little castle. We wandered around in the beautiful weather some more, and then I think we went over to the Galeria Krakowska to browse the shops – it’s just a giant shopping mall, but whatevs. Oh also, we located one of the many organized tour places that had the lowest price we had seen for a trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau (60 PLN), so we paid for that for the next day. We stopped back at the hostel and went out again to find food – we went to a place whose name I can’t pronounce for pierogis (with meat, not cabbage!), and they were tasty.
Wednesday April 8
We got up early to grab a bite to eat and walk over to the meeting point for the bus. After stopping at the other meeting points and picking people up, we got on the road to Auschwitz-Birkenau by around 9:30. They showed a 50 minute video/documentary on the way there, which was kind of unnecessary as the tour guide went over most of the information that had been covered. Anyway, we started the tour at Auschwitz I, where most of the blocks have been turned into exhibitions. Probably the most striking things I saw was the display of two tons of human hair that was cut off upon arrival to the camps and from the bodies of those who were almost immediately gassed – they used the hair for various things, rope among them, I believe. They have rooms and beds and washrooms set up as they were when they were used – also creepy was the cutesy little artworks on the walls of one of the washrooms – which of course we completely unsanitary when in use. We also walked through one of the crematoriums, which was kind of indescribable.
We then had a short break and then a short bus ride over to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Birkenau is so much bigger, but less well preserved than Auschwitz I. Most of the wooden barracks were destroyed, but a lot of their chimneys were left, and you could get an idea of the number of them. We went into one of the barracks, which housed the latrines, and another that was living quarters, and then we were able to go up into the main watchtower and get an idea of the size of the camp. We were only at the Birkenau camp for about 40 minutes – I wish we had had longer because I believe at one end of the rail tracks there is a memorial that I would have liked to see.
We got back on the bus, and after an early morning and suitably draining day, I dozed for most of the ride back into Krakow. We decided to go into St. Mary’s Church (it was 8 PLN for the entrance and photo permission), which was a good choice because it is a pretty beautiful church. We also decided to get an early dinner at one of the restaurants on the main square (called Sphinx) which had large portions for a not terribly unreasonable price. I got a Carlsberg and was carded, and I was trying to be helpful and show the waiter where it said on my license that I was over 18, but he was confused and just wanted to see the birth date, whatever. We ate, and got ice cream, and chilled in the square a bit, then came back and went to bed early.
Thursday April 9
We got up pretty late today – not until like 11. And then we both took showers and had some light breakfast, then wandered over to the Jewish district called Kazimierz. It was… kind of like every other part of the town. There’s apparently a bustling market in the main square over there on weekends and mornings, but we were there in the early afternoon, so everything seemed kind of dead. We decided to go into the Old Synagogue, it being the thing to do when in the Jewish district (?). They just had some interesting cases of not too old artifacts and religious paraphernalia. We got pizza and smoothies at a restaurant we located, then wandered back and chilled in the main square for an hour or so. Now we are taking a break at the hostel and will probably go back out in a bit to find something to eat for dinner, then likely ice cream again. Or maybe cotton candy.
Friday April 10
The last full day in Krakow! I’m glad, as I miss being in Copenhagen at this point. I didn’t really think I missed it after Paris, but as I took the cab home from the airport that night, I was really happy to recognize places on the streets, and know the rest of the route home. Didn’t end up doing anything extremely exciting today, we both bought something from the market on the square, and looked in shops, and then chilled and packed.
Saturday April 11
Flight back to Copenhagen! All went well.
Got up around 6 and left around 6:30 to take the bus and the Metro to the airport. Everything went smoothly, and I landed in Krakow around 10:30. Here also I decided to take a cab rather than deciphering the public transportation, and then I just basically been chilling/napping in the hostel all day. But I guess I need to leave and find some food… I did eat, at a restaurant about half a block from the hostel, because they had their menu posted outside in Polish and English. I ordered chicken breast with spinach because I wanted a vegetable (spinach is gross). And, I was randomly served some sort of alcohol (a type of vodka?) when I asked for the check.
Sunday April 5
I got up and made some toast and tea for breakfast, then waited around until the one shower/bathroom was free – I waited for awhile. Then I took a shower and putzed around here on the Internet for quite some time. Around four I decided to wander around outside, checked out the main square, saw a street breaking group called “Missionaries of Rhythm.” Also need to locate something cheap to eat and then figure out how I am going to get to the airport to meet MaryElise. Should I brave public transportation or should I just take another cab? I should find the cheapest option (the bus, I know, but bus systems are sometimes challenging enough even when you do speak the language) or the train and just go.
Ended up taking the train there, and we took a cab back (which was doubly expensive because it was Sunday, ugh). And then basically hung about for a bit and went to bed.
Monday April 6
We got up around 10:00 and tooled around having a light breakfast and checking our emails at the hostel, then decided to just wander about the city. It’s an oddly small city, we covered pretty much the whole of the Old Town in a couple of hours going at a leisurely pace. We grabbed some “pizza baguettes” from one of the many kebab stands – basically a whole half of a baguette toasted with cheese on it, and you can get more things put on as well, and ate them in the main square. We wanted to branch out a bit outside of the Planty but we really had no idea where we were going. So we went back to the hostel to recoup a bit (and I took a shower), and then wandered out again to find somewhere relatively inexpensive for dinner. We ended up at a place that had some Italian foods, I ended up getting lasagne. Then we went out to locate an ice cream shop, grabbed small cones and headed back to the hostel as we ate them.
Tuesday April 7
I had to get up around 6 (but I didn’t actually until 6:30) in order to register for classes for next semester. Then I of course couldn’t really fall back to sleep. I sort of dozed on and off for a few more hours, and finally got out of bed around 10. We finally made our way over to the Wawel Castle, to check out what sort of admission prices there were. Kind of annoyingly, they charge you separately for every exhibition. So we picked one – the crown treasury and armory. Emphasis on the armory. Tons of spears, guns, swords, cannons. And then the treasury consisted mostly of golden goblets, plates, decorative items, etc. Also – no pictures allowed inside, though I took a couple illicit ones before I was informed of that rule. It’s a nice little castle. We wandered around in the beautiful weather some more, and then I think we went over to the Galeria Krakowska to browse the shops – it’s just a giant shopping mall, but whatevs. Oh also, we located one of the many organized tour places that had the lowest price we had seen for a trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau (60 PLN), so we paid for that for the next day. We stopped back at the hostel and went out again to find food – we went to a place whose name I can’t pronounce for pierogis (with meat, not cabbage!), and they were tasty.
Wednesday April 8
We got up early to grab a bite to eat and walk over to the meeting point for the bus. After stopping at the other meeting points and picking people up, we got on the road to Auschwitz-Birkenau by around 9:30. They showed a 50 minute video/documentary on the way there, which was kind of unnecessary as the tour guide went over most of the information that had been covered. Anyway, we started the tour at Auschwitz I, where most of the blocks have been turned into exhibitions. Probably the most striking things I saw was the display of two tons of human hair that was cut off upon arrival to the camps and from the bodies of those who were almost immediately gassed – they used the hair for various things, rope among them, I believe. They have rooms and beds and washrooms set up as they were when they were used – also creepy was the cutesy little artworks on the walls of one of the washrooms – which of course we completely unsanitary when in use. We also walked through one of the crematoriums, which was kind of indescribable.
We then had a short break and then a short bus ride over to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Birkenau is so much bigger, but less well preserved than Auschwitz I. Most of the wooden barracks were destroyed, but a lot of their chimneys were left, and you could get an idea of the number of them. We went into one of the barracks, which housed the latrines, and another that was living quarters, and then we were able to go up into the main watchtower and get an idea of the size of the camp. We were only at the Birkenau camp for about 40 minutes – I wish we had had longer because I believe at one end of the rail tracks there is a memorial that I would have liked to see.
We got back on the bus, and after an early morning and suitably draining day, I dozed for most of the ride back into Krakow. We decided to go into St. Mary’s Church (it was 8 PLN for the entrance and photo permission), which was a good choice because it is a pretty beautiful church. We also decided to get an early dinner at one of the restaurants on the main square (called Sphinx) which had large portions for a not terribly unreasonable price. I got a Carlsberg and was carded, and I was trying to be helpful and show the waiter where it said on my license that I was over 18, but he was confused and just wanted to see the birth date, whatever. We ate, and got ice cream, and chilled in the square a bit, then came back and went to bed early.
Thursday April 9
We got up pretty late today – not until like 11. And then we both took showers and had some light breakfast, then wandered over to the Jewish district called Kazimierz. It was… kind of like every other part of the town. There’s apparently a bustling market in the main square over there on weekends and mornings, but we were there in the early afternoon, so everything seemed kind of dead. We decided to go into the Old Synagogue, it being the thing to do when in the Jewish district (?). They just had some interesting cases of not too old artifacts and religious paraphernalia. We got pizza and smoothies at a restaurant we located, then wandered back and chilled in the main square for an hour or so. Now we are taking a break at the hostel and will probably go back out in a bit to find something to eat for dinner, then likely ice cream again. Or maybe cotton candy.
Friday April 10
The last full day in Krakow! I’m glad, as I miss being in Copenhagen at this point. I didn’t really think I missed it after Paris, but as I took the cab home from the airport that night, I was really happy to recognize places on the streets, and know the rest of the route home. Didn’t end up doing anything extremely exciting today, we both bought something from the market on the square, and looked in shops, and then chilled and packed.
Saturday April 11
Flight back to Copenhagen! All went well.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Paris Day 5 and 6, 1 Day of rest in Copenhagen
Wednesday April 1
I got up and did my thing at the hostel, then met Heather after her class at the Catholic Institute. We bought sandwiches from a boulangerie before we headed out to spend the day at Versailles. Luckily our IDs got us in for free there as well, or that would have been 20 euros we were both out. Versailles is ridiculous. Every room is insane. And we just couldn’t believe that hundreds of people actually lived there at one time. We took our time walking through all the various chambers, including the Hall of Mirrors, and then went out to the gardens to find a spot to settle down and eat our sandwiches (rather late at this point, near 3). Oh you know, we were just chilling in the gardens of Versailles eating our lunch. Nothing special. !!! We took some toolish pictures and basked in the sun (seriously, the weather was beautiful the entire time I was there), and then went to get the train back to Paris. We didn’t realize until we were on the train back looking at our maps of Versailles that the garden extend so much farther than we knew. And it was a good thing we didn’t realize it, or we would have felt obligated to explore and we were tired. I nodded off a bit on the train.
We had dinner at a little café right across from the hostel, then went to meet up with people at the Smile for drinks. We stayed there for a couple of hours, then went and had some dessert (nutella) crepes, and went our separate ways for the evening.
Thursday April 2
I checked out of the hostel but left my large suitcase in the luggage room. We met up to try to go to the student cafeteria again, but they were checking IDs, so we bought sandwiches and ate them in the Luxembourg Gardens, which the Senate building is also on.
Then we walked quickly through Le Bon Marche and Le Grande Epicerie before running some errands. Heather bought some eyeliner, we picked up my computer and things from her home, went somewhere to print out my flight confirmation, picked up my luggage at the hostel, bought another bag of Surf Fizz (for me, as I’ve opened one and ate a bunch of them), and then went on a ridiculous trek to a Metro station. We bought my Orlybus ticket and found a café near the bus station to get something to drink and, as it turned out, ice cream. I got vanilla and a coke and it was glorious. Then we said our goodbyes (but not for long as Heather is coming to Copenhagen in a few weeks!), and I got on the Orlybus. It was a lot shorter than either of us knew, so I waited for check-in, then did all the security and more waiting, and it was midnight by the time I got my luggage and all at the Copenhagen airport. I decided to suck it up and pay for a cab, but I had to withdraw more kroner to do so. It was probably the best choice I made though, otherwise I would have had to take a train, then the bus, then walk a couple blocks. So I was home by about 12:30am, and in bed by 1 or so.
Friday April 3
I got up at 10, awake naturally as I had forgotten to turn on my alarm. My host mother was actually home, as her brother-in-law had come to help her take some measurements in the kitchen, she’s getting ready to redo it in the summer probably. But she went back to work shortly, and I popped in the first load of laundry. I basically spent the whole time this day when I wasn’t hanging laundry or taking a shower catching up on the TV shows I watch. So it was a nice relaxing day. And the weather was also beautiful in Copenhagen so I was able to hang my things outside. Packed up most of my things. Had my own pasta dinner as my host mother came home from work and then went to IKEA with a friend. Went to bed in preparation for an early morning.
I got up and did my thing at the hostel, then met Heather after her class at the Catholic Institute. We bought sandwiches from a boulangerie before we headed out to spend the day at Versailles. Luckily our IDs got us in for free there as well, or that would have been 20 euros we were both out. Versailles is ridiculous. Every room is insane. And we just couldn’t believe that hundreds of people actually lived there at one time. We took our time walking through all the various chambers, including the Hall of Mirrors, and then went out to the gardens to find a spot to settle down and eat our sandwiches (rather late at this point, near 3). Oh you know, we were just chilling in the gardens of Versailles eating our lunch. Nothing special. !!! We took some toolish pictures and basked in the sun (seriously, the weather was beautiful the entire time I was there), and then went to get the train back to Paris. We didn’t realize until we were on the train back looking at our maps of Versailles that the garden extend so much farther than we knew. And it was a good thing we didn’t realize it, or we would have felt obligated to explore and we were tired. I nodded off a bit on the train.
We had dinner at a little café right across from the hostel, then went to meet up with people at the Smile for drinks. We stayed there for a couple of hours, then went and had some dessert (nutella) crepes, and went our separate ways for the evening.
Thursday April 2
I checked out of the hostel but left my large suitcase in the luggage room. We met up to try to go to the student cafeteria again, but they were checking IDs, so we bought sandwiches and ate them in the Luxembourg Gardens, which the Senate building is also on.
Then we walked quickly through Le Bon Marche and Le Grande Epicerie before running some errands. Heather bought some eyeliner, we picked up my computer and things from her home, went somewhere to print out my flight confirmation, picked up my luggage at the hostel, bought another bag of Surf Fizz (for me, as I’ve opened one and ate a bunch of them), and then went on a ridiculous trek to a Metro station. We bought my Orlybus ticket and found a café near the bus station to get something to drink and, as it turned out, ice cream. I got vanilla and a coke and it was glorious. Then we said our goodbyes (but not for long as Heather is coming to Copenhagen in a few weeks!), and I got on the Orlybus. It was a lot shorter than either of us knew, so I waited for check-in, then did all the security and more waiting, and it was midnight by the time I got my luggage and all at the Copenhagen airport. I decided to suck it up and pay for a cab, but I had to withdraw more kroner to do so. It was probably the best choice I made though, otherwise I would have had to take a train, then the bus, then walk a couple blocks. So I was home by about 12:30am, and in bed by 1 or so.
Friday April 3
I got up at 10, awake naturally as I had forgotten to turn on my alarm. My host mother was actually home, as her brother-in-law had come to help her take some measurements in the kitchen, she’s getting ready to redo it in the summer probably. But she went back to work shortly, and I popped in the first load of laundry. I basically spent the whole time this day when I wasn’t hanging laundry or taking a shower catching up on the TV shows I watch. So it was a nice relaxing day. And the weather was also beautiful in Copenhagen so I was able to hang my things outside. Packed up most of my things. Had my own pasta dinner as my host mother came home from work and then went to IKEA with a friend. Went to bed in preparation for an early morning.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Paris Day 3 and 4
Monday March 30
We got up, borrowed some tape from the hostel, borrowed some scissors from the Metro information desk, and voila! I am an art history student named Emily. We went to the modern art museum, the Centre Pompidou, where my new identity worked like a charm. Pretty cool stuff in here too, Picassos and Braques and more. Then we picked up some lunch (panini and a drink and dessert) and at it in the gardens/park behind Notre Dame. I hesitate to say it, but that chocolate banana tart I had may have been the best thing I ate while in Paris. After that we walked in Notre Dame. It was of course crowded, but still amazing! We discussed how neither of us really liked the animated “Hunchback of Notre Dame” movie. And I just realized I should have tried to climb up to the bell tower and shout “Sanctuary!” Heh.
Then we went to Saint-Chapelle, a (I believe) Gothic chapel with these crazy stained glass windows. They are literally like fifteen or twenty feet high, and there are fifteen of them, not counting the rose window. The pictures I have are just like, walls of stained glass.
Then we Metro’ed it to the Montmartre area, to go into the Sacre Coeur and see the view of the city from the hill. We also wandered over to take a picture of the Moulin Rouge, then headed back to the hostel area for a drink and talking at The Smile. We decided to go to dinner at Breakfast in America, wherein I had some delicious pancakes and bacon. Mmm. My diet has been sorely lacking in bacon since I came to Europe. We went back to the Rue Mouffetard and had another drink at a place called Studentbar (they put glowsticks in our drinks!), then I went back to the hostel and Heather headed home, as she was booked just for the weekend in case the place was uber-creepy or something.
Tuesday March 31
I traversed the bus alone with detailed instructions from Heather, and met her a student cafeteria for lunch where we got a freshly made personal pizza and a dessert for under 3 euros. Technically you need an ID for this place, but they weren’t checking that day, so. Yay cheap! And good. Oh and also I discovered that a bird had apparently, at some point while I was waiting for Heather, shat on my purse.
Then we headed over to the Musee d’Orsay. There was kind of a long line through security, but once again, no waiting to buy tickets. Heather left me here to go to class, which was fine. There were so many artworks I recognized in there I was astounded. Mostly from that one art history class I took. And the building was really beautiful too, as it was a converted train station that Heather tells me they at one point were planning to tear down. The weather was so beautiful that when I finished in there I decided to walk outside along the Seine and down to have a look at the Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris, but it’s called the new bridge, isn’t that hysterical). Had to do some texting with Heather when it wasn’t clear where I had ended up, but we met back up and sat for like an hour soaking up the sun along the Seine.
Eventually we walked to the Ile de St. Louis to try to get some ice cream that Heather says is the best in Paris, Berthillon. The main store was closed, but there are several vendors in the area. We ended up getting cones of raspberry sorbet and going back to the park behind Notre Dame to sit in the sun some more after we were done eating. Here, a random Spanish tourist must have though we were French, and wanted to take a picture with us. We totally didn’t get what was happening at first, and then when we finally did we were like, “uhhhh.” So that happened. Then we moved to a bench further away because it was more in the sun, even though we knew it looked like we were running away from the creeper. Whatevs.
Heather and I had crepes for dinner again at another creperie, then met up with her friend Emily in Bastille for a bit.
We got up, borrowed some tape from the hostel, borrowed some scissors from the Metro information desk, and voila! I am an art history student named Emily. We went to the modern art museum, the Centre Pompidou, where my new identity worked like a charm. Pretty cool stuff in here too, Picassos and Braques and more. Then we picked up some lunch (panini and a drink and dessert) and at it in the gardens/park behind Notre Dame. I hesitate to say it, but that chocolate banana tart I had may have been the best thing I ate while in Paris. After that we walked in Notre Dame. It was of course crowded, but still amazing! We discussed how neither of us really liked the animated “Hunchback of Notre Dame” movie. And I just realized I should have tried to climb up to the bell tower and shout “Sanctuary!” Heh.
Then we went to Saint-Chapelle, a (I believe) Gothic chapel with these crazy stained glass windows. They are literally like fifteen or twenty feet high, and there are fifteen of them, not counting the rose window. The pictures I have are just like, walls of stained glass.
Then we Metro’ed it to the Montmartre area, to go into the Sacre Coeur and see the view of the city from the hill. We also wandered over to take a picture of the Moulin Rouge, then headed back to the hostel area for a drink and talking at The Smile. We decided to go to dinner at Breakfast in America, wherein I had some delicious pancakes and bacon. Mmm. My diet has been sorely lacking in bacon since I came to Europe. We went back to the Rue Mouffetard and had another drink at a place called Studentbar (they put glowsticks in our drinks!), then I went back to the hostel and Heather headed home, as she was booked just for the weekend in case the place was uber-creepy or something.
Tuesday March 31
I traversed the bus alone with detailed instructions from Heather, and met her a student cafeteria for lunch where we got a freshly made personal pizza and a dessert for under 3 euros. Technically you need an ID for this place, but they weren’t checking that day, so. Yay cheap! And good. Oh and also I discovered that a bird had apparently, at some point while I was waiting for Heather, shat on my purse.
Then we headed over to the Musee d’Orsay. There was kind of a long line through security, but once again, no waiting to buy tickets. Heather left me here to go to class, which was fine. There were so many artworks I recognized in there I was astounded. Mostly from that one art history class I took. And the building was really beautiful too, as it was a converted train station that Heather tells me they at one point were planning to tear down. The weather was so beautiful that when I finished in there I decided to walk outside along the Seine and down to have a look at the Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris, but it’s called the new bridge, isn’t that hysterical). Had to do some texting with Heather when it wasn’t clear where I had ended up, but we met back up and sat for like an hour soaking up the sun along the Seine.
Eventually we walked to the Ile de St. Louis to try to get some ice cream that Heather says is the best in Paris, Berthillon. The main store was closed, but there are several vendors in the area. We ended up getting cones of raspberry sorbet and going back to the park behind Notre Dame to sit in the sun some more after we were done eating. Here, a random Spanish tourist must have though we were French, and wanted to take a picture with us. We totally didn’t get what was happening at first, and then when we finally did we were like, “uhhhh.” So that happened. Then we moved to a bench further away because it was more in the sun, even though we knew it looked like we were running away from the creeper. Whatevs.
Heather and I had crepes for dinner again at another creperie, then met up with her friend Emily in Bastille for a bit.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Paris Day 1 and 2
Saturday March 28
Got up and checked out, then back to King’s Cross/St. Pancras, where I waited around for hours as my train wasn’t until 1:30, I couldn’t check in until around noon, and I had to be out of the hostel by ten. So I finished reading “Fire Watch,” bought some flip flops for use in hostel showers, had a crepe (right before going to Paris), eventually checked in and went through security (which included a dog sniffing all bags), then waited for the train to board. Found my seat and relaxed for the just over 2 hour ride. I got to the train station in Paris and only waited about 20 minutes for Heather to arrive!
Heather wowed me with her French skills as she figured out what type of Metro pass would be the best option for me to get. Bought a five day pass (which I couldn’t use until Sunday) for unlimited travel on the Metro and buses, as Heather had some other tickets I could use in the meantime. We dropped off my laptop and iPod/headphones at her home and so she could grab a bag of clothes, then headed to the hostel. It was about two blocks from a Metro stop on Rue Mouffetard, a pretty hopping street/area. Checked in and dropped off our stuff, then wandered the streets of Paris! Saw Notre Dame at night, and went to a creperie for dinner and conversation.
Afterwards, we met up with some of Heather’s friends outside a bar they frequent (The Smile) which was literally down the street and around the corner from the hostel. I don’t think either of the two Emilys recalled the most hilarious situation of the night, wherein Emily 1 (who shall be called Emily) crepe-slapped Emily 2 (who shall be referred to as her initials, EHC) with a nutella crepe, and then ran off to get another crepe but it had to be from a different crepe stand. Wandered some more, but ended up that Heather, myself, her friend Jess and her visiting boyfriend went briefly to a place in Bastille called The Hideout. We had one drink, but we weren’t really feeling it, so we headed back to the hostel area, got some nutella crepes and ended up talking for a couple of hours in the hostel lobby area. It was three by the time we went to bed (damn daylight savings time), but it was an auspicious start to the visit!
Sunday March 29
We got up in time for the hostel breakfast (of rolls and croissants, some cereal if you wanted it, orange juice and tea) and to take showers. The showers were kind of gross, but not overly, and shower shoes make all things tolerable. Heather’s program gives them passes that claims they are art history students so they can get into museums for free, and EHC never attached her picture to hers… so we went to pick it up for a little temporary doctoring. We intended to use it that day for the Louvre, but we couldn’t find a photobooth, and we didn’t have scissors or tape, so I sucked it up and paid for the Louvre (well worth it). Saw amazingly famous works of art up close and personal!
We took a break from the Louvre to go to Angelina’s for pastries and hot chocolate – but this hot chocolate was no watered down crap. It was basically like, pure melted chocolate. And then they give you a type of whipped cream to stir in yourself. Almost went into a sugar coma. Then we sat outside in the Tuileries gardens for a bit before going back into the Louvre to check out some of the Egyptian stuff. Also very cool!
After we were finally done with that whole scene, we went to the Arc d’Triomphe. How ridiculous is it that I can just type that? Oh, the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Arc d’Triomphe. No big deal. We walked a bit on the Champs Elysees, and when it threatened rain we headed back for a break at the hostel to use their Internet, and also to buy some soap and some Surf Fizz (a candy Andrew specifically requested). We met this girl who had just arrived from Canada who was going backpacking around Europe. So we invited her to come with us to get dinner and head our to the Eiffel Tower after. So we got fondue and wine, thenwent to the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars to see it all lit up and chill there. So we did that, and all of a sudden the Eiffel Tower starts sparkling! It was crazy, crazy, awesome. After that wound down, we headed back to the Metro as it was getting a bit chilly, and went to bed.
Also at some point this night, I took my photobooth pictures in order to doctor myself up an ID. Oh yeah.
Got up and checked out, then back to King’s Cross/St. Pancras, where I waited around for hours as my train wasn’t until 1:30, I couldn’t check in until around noon, and I had to be out of the hostel by ten. So I finished reading “Fire Watch,” bought some flip flops for use in hostel showers, had a crepe (right before going to Paris), eventually checked in and went through security (which included a dog sniffing all bags), then waited for the train to board. Found my seat and relaxed for the just over 2 hour ride. I got to the train station in Paris and only waited about 20 minutes for Heather to arrive!
Heather wowed me with her French skills as she figured out what type of Metro pass would be the best option for me to get. Bought a five day pass (which I couldn’t use until Sunday) for unlimited travel on the Metro and buses, as Heather had some other tickets I could use in the meantime. We dropped off my laptop and iPod/headphones at her home and so she could grab a bag of clothes, then headed to the hostel. It was about two blocks from a Metro stop on Rue Mouffetard, a pretty hopping street/area. Checked in and dropped off our stuff, then wandered the streets of Paris! Saw Notre Dame at night, and went to a creperie for dinner and conversation.
Afterwards, we met up with some of Heather’s friends outside a bar they frequent (The Smile) which was literally down the street and around the corner from the hostel. I don’t think either of the two Emilys recalled the most hilarious situation of the night, wherein Emily 1 (who shall be called Emily) crepe-slapped Emily 2 (who shall be referred to as her initials, EHC) with a nutella crepe, and then ran off to get another crepe but it had to be from a different crepe stand. Wandered some more, but ended up that Heather, myself, her friend Jess and her visiting boyfriend went briefly to a place in Bastille called The Hideout. We had one drink, but we weren’t really feeling it, so we headed back to the hostel area, got some nutella crepes and ended up talking for a couple of hours in the hostel lobby area. It was three by the time we went to bed (damn daylight savings time), but it was an auspicious start to the visit!
Sunday March 29
We got up in time for the hostel breakfast (of rolls and croissants, some cereal if you wanted it, orange juice and tea) and to take showers. The showers were kind of gross, but not overly, and shower shoes make all things tolerable. Heather’s program gives them passes that claims they are art history students so they can get into museums for free, and EHC never attached her picture to hers… so we went to pick it up for a little temporary doctoring. We intended to use it that day for the Louvre, but we couldn’t find a photobooth, and we didn’t have scissors or tape, so I sucked it up and paid for the Louvre (well worth it). Saw amazingly famous works of art up close and personal!
We took a break from the Louvre to go to Angelina’s for pastries and hot chocolate – but this hot chocolate was no watered down crap. It was basically like, pure melted chocolate. And then they give you a type of whipped cream to stir in yourself. Almost went into a sugar coma. Then we sat outside in the Tuileries gardens for a bit before going back into the Louvre to check out some of the Egyptian stuff. Also very cool!
After we were finally done with that whole scene, we went to the Arc d’Triomphe. How ridiculous is it that I can just type that? Oh, the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Arc d’Triomphe. No big deal. We walked a bit on the Champs Elysees, and when it threatened rain we headed back for a break at the hostel to use their Internet, and also to buy some soap and some Surf Fizz (a candy Andrew specifically requested). We met this girl who had just arrived from Canada who was going backpacking around Europe. So we invited her to come with us to get dinner and head our to the Eiffel Tower after. So we got fondue and wine, thenwent to the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars to see it all lit up and chill there. So we did that, and all of a sudden the Eiffel Tower starts sparkling! It was crazy, crazy, awesome. After that wound down, we headed back to the Metro as it was getting a bit chilly, and went to bed.
Also at some point this night, I took my photobooth pictures in order to doctor myself up an ID. Oh yeah.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
London/Oxford (Day 5 and 6)
Thursday March 26
This day was kind of absurd. We were all supposed to be on the bus and on our way to Oxford by 9. Of course people are late, and we don’t even get going until around 9:30. Then there’s obviously ridiculous traffic, as London is one of the most congested cities, and I think it took us over an hour to get out of London proper. Also one of our teachers was annoying the hell out of everyone by playing at tour guide and telling us all about the things we had heard on our bus tour a few days ago, when all anybody really wanted to do was sleep.
When we finally get to Oxford and have mostly unloaded everyone’s luggage, we realize we’re at the wrong Holiday Inn (we were staying at the Express by Holiday Inn). So load back up and back on the bus for a bit. Finally make it to the right hotel (also, this whole trip took so long that we missed a guided walking tour of Oxford that I think I really would have enjoyed), and they don’t have our rooms ready? So they want us to leave our luggage in the lobby and they’ll put it in our rooms. Uhhhh, what? No. It’s somehow worked out that they give us our room keys so we can all drop our stuff off. Back on the bus to take us into central Oxford for lunch.
We make it slightly (15 minutes) late to the place we’re having lunch, the Vaults and Garden Café. It was apparently supposed to be a buffet, but since we were late they decided to take orders giving us options of like four dishes. I decided that the vegetable tart sounds most appealing. It was delicious (turned out to basically be a big slice of a quiche) and I think I may have gotten the last serving of it, as they were running out of dishes and having to redo orders. They also got us slices of cake for dessert, and promised us all a drink on DIS after our lecture.
So we got to a lecture by an Iranian born journalist, and it ended up largely being a lesson in Iranian history (which I didn’t need) and illustrative of the ignorance of select members of my group. So that happened and then we all went to a big Irish pub/restaurant wherein we ordered any drink we wanted (vodka and cranberry). Then Kathryn, Caitlin, Anna, Jenna, and I went to try to locate Christ Church (to see the Great Hall) – we found it but it was closed. Also stopped by the pub where C.S. Lewis did a lot of writing, then went back to the same Irish pub to get food as we knew it was cheap (and cheaper than anything else we had seen). Took a black cab back to the hotel and watched “Waitress” on my laptop, then went to bed.
Friday March 27
Get up and have breakfast and a “wrap-up” lecture from one of our teachers. Highly annoying. It ends up that we’re basically going to be able to have an hour or so in Oxford. They call cabs for us and pay for the cabs we take back to the hotel, we just leave our luggage in a holding room and they will load it onto the bus before we get back (I took my backpack with me though, wasn’t leaving my laptop to be flung into storage under the bus). Jenna, Lauren, and I go to Christ Church even though the Hall is closed, but the Cathedral and rest of the building was pretty cool. We also popped over briefly to the covered market, and I bought a cookie from what I had been told was the best cookie place in the world. It was pretty good, but I don’t know about best. Took a cab back to the hotel – it was amusing because there were like three cabs in a row all filled with DIS people. Hopped on the bus for the transport to Stansted Airport.
When we got to Stansted I left the group to wait for my bus back into London. Worked out well. Then I hopped on the tube to King’s Cross/St. Pancras. I found the Eurostar luggage services to make sure my bag wasn’t too big to take on the train (it wasn’t), and then walked to the hostel. Then I bought some Internet time and drained my battery completely, and went to bed.
This day was kind of absurd. We were all supposed to be on the bus and on our way to Oxford by 9. Of course people are late, and we don’t even get going until around 9:30. Then there’s obviously ridiculous traffic, as London is one of the most congested cities, and I think it took us over an hour to get out of London proper. Also one of our teachers was annoying the hell out of everyone by playing at tour guide and telling us all about the things we had heard on our bus tour a few days ago, when all anybody really wanted to do was sleep.
When we finally get to Oxford and have mostly unloaded everyone’s luggage, we realize we’re at the wrong Holiday Inn (we were staying at the Express by Holiday Inn). So load back up and back on the bus for a bit. Finally make it to the right hotel (also, this whole trip took so long that we missed a guided walking tour of Oxford that I think I really would have enjoyed), and they don’t have our rooms ready? So they want us to leave our luggage in the lobby and they’ll put it in our rooms. Uhhhh, what? No. It’s somehow worked out that they give us our room keys so we can all drop our stuff off. Back on the bus to take us into central Oxford for lunch.
We make it slightly (15 minutes) late to the place we’re having lunch, the Vaults and Garden Café. It was apparently supposed to be a buffet, but since we were late they decided to take orders giving us options of like four dishes. I decided that the vegetable tart sounds most appealing. It was delicious (turned out to basically be a big slice of a quiche) and I think I may have gotten the last serving of it, as they were running out of dishes and having to redo orders. They also got us slices of cake for dessert, and promised us all a drink on DIS after our lecture.
So we got to a lecture by an Iranian born journalist, and it ended up largely being a lesson in Iranian history (which I didn’t need) and illustrative of the ignorance of select members of my group. So that happened and then we all went to a big Irish pub/restaurant wherein we ordered any drink we wanted (vodka and cranberry). Then Kathryn, Caitlin, Anna, Jenna, and I went to try to locate Christ Church (to see the Great Hall) – we found it but it was closed. Also stopped by the pub where C.S. Lewis did a lot of writing, then went back to the same Irish pub to get food as we knew it was cheap (and cheaper than anything else we had seen). Took a black cab back to the hotel and watched “Waitress” on my laptop, then went to bed.
Friday March 27
Get up and have breakfast and a “wrap-up” lecture from one of our teachers. Highly annoying. It ends up that we’re basically going to be able to have an hour or so in Oxford. They call cabs for us and pay for the cabs we take back to the hotel, we just leave our luggage in a holding room and they will load it onto the bus before we get back (I took my backpack with me though, wasn’t leaving my laptop to be flung into storage under the bus). Jenna, Lauren, and I go to Christ Church even though the Hall is closed, but the Cathedral and rest of the building was pretty cool. We also popped over briefly to the covered market, and I bought a cookie from what I had been told was the best cookie place in the world. It was pretty good, but I don’t know about best. Took a cab back to the hotel – it was amusing because there were like three cabs in a row all filled with DIS people. Hopped on the bus for the transport to Stansted Airport.
When we got to Stansted I left the group to wait for my bus back into London. Worked out well. Then I hopped on the tube to King’s Cross/St. Pancras. I found the Eurostar luggage services to make sure my bag wasn’t too big to take on the train (it wasn’t), and then walked to the hostel. Then I bought some Internet time and drained my battery completely, and went to bed.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
London (Day 3 and 4)
Tuesday, March 24
Up again early for breakfast and setting out to another academic visit. Travel went much more smoothly, as none of us really waited for anyone, and met up successfully at the final destination – which was a PR firm, Edelman. The guy who spoke to us, Luke Pollard, was a pretty interesting guy; had trouble making his presentation about the company and PR very intriguing. I can’t honestly say that I learned much from the presentation, but I learned that Luke is into Twitter and thinks we should all try it, and is running to be an MP from Devon.
The visit was short and sweet and then we had the day until 4 (when we were to meet somewhere) free. Anna and I went direct to Buckingham Palace to take pictures and wait for our compatriots in the other section. We ended up waiting there a lot longer than I would have liked, as their presentation ran late as ours did. They eventually meet up with us, and we do a lot of things that mostly involved seeing the exteriors of buildings. Up close to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey. Then we went to Leadenhall Market, where Diagon Alley was filmed for the Harry Potter films, and had lunch at a random sandwich shop. After that we walked and saw the exterior/what was visible from the entryway of Saint Paul’s, as you had to pay to see it and couldn’t even take pictures inside. We walked across the Millennium Bridge, wanting to do a tour of the Globe Theater, but it was nearly 3 by this point – tours were 40 minutes long and we needed to be at the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising by 4 (in Notting Hill Gate).
So we followed some orange lampposts to the nearest tube station, and had a ridiculous time trying to find this museum. We ran into like ten other people from our group trying to find it. We were fifteen or twenty minutes late, so we “only” had an hour in the museum. We only needed like twenty minutes. It was lame. Just cases and cases of old packaging and such. Kind of interesting, but not in the way it was laid out.
Then we head back to Covent Garden area for dinner. Somehow my friends and I and a few other people ended up totally separate and way ahead of the group, so we got to the restaurant and were seated way before the others arrived. Roasted bell peppers for an appetizer, some weird fishcake thing for the main, and a type of cheesecake for dessert? I only tried the dessert and gave it (male) Alex to finish. Also, pomegranate and berry martini.
The last scheduled thing of the night! Performance of Chicago. It was good, I enjoyed the music and everyone had great voices, but the production itself was weirdly minimalist. And not really what I was expecting. Also really tired at this point, so when it was over Kathryn and I jetted out of there to the tube as fast as we could. Sleeeeep.
Wednesday March 25
Lecture by one of our teachers at the London School of Economics (basically like any other classroom ever). We were supposed to have a guest lecturer as well, but he had been called away to cover some story in Devon. Then we had a group lunch in some hole in the wall café nearby. It down poured as we tried to find the place and we got pretty soaked, which was annoying. After lunch, my section had about an hour free before we needed to head off to the offices of The Guardian, so Anna and I spent like 45 minutes in the British Museum. I really just wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, which was cool. Checked out a couple of other rooms really quickly, then traveled to The Guardian. Also kind of a boring visit – though we did learn that 40% of their online readership is from North America, which is pretty interesting. After this we also had the evening free, so Anna and I met Kathryn, Jenna, and Alex in King’s Cross to be tools and take pictures of Platform 9 ¾.
Then Kathryn, Anna, and I went on a quest to find somewhere with Internet, as the hotel’s had been down for two days. We tried the Holborn public library but the staff was incompetent, so we ended up tracking down a souvenir shop/Internet café in the area that we had heard about. It was really cheap – one pound for half an hour, so we split that and afterward tried to find some shops around Oxford Circus. Basically all just big department stores, so we grabbed some food at another pub (The Spread Eagle), and went back to the hotel.
Up again early for breakfast and setting out to another academic visit. Travel went much more smoothly, as none of us really waited for anyone, and met up successfully at the final destination – which was a PR firm, Edelman. The guy who spoke to us, Luke Pollard, was a pretty interesting guy; had trouble making his presentation about the company and PR very intriguing. I can’t honestly say that I learned much from the presentation, but I learned that Luke is into Twitter and thinks we should all try it, and is running to be an MP from Devon.
The visit was short and sweet and then we had the day until 4 (when we were to meet somewhere) free. Anna and I went direct to Buckingham Palace to take pictures and wait for our compatriots in the other section. We ended up waiting there a lot longer than I would have liked, as their presentation ran late as ours did. They eventually meet up with us, and we do a lot of things that mostly involved seeing the exteriors of buildings. Up close to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey. Then we went to Leadenhall Market, where Diagon Alley was filmed for the Harry Potter films, and had lunch at a random sandwich shop. After that we walked and saw the exterior/what was visible from the entryway of Saint Paul’s, as you had to pay to see it and couldn’t even take pictures inside. We walked across the Millennium Bridge, wanting to do a tour of the Globe Theater, but it was nearly 3 by this point – tours were 40 minutes long and we needed to be at the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising by 4 (in Notting Hill Gate).
So we followed some orange lampposts to the nearest tube station, and had a ridiculous time trying to find this museum. We ran into like ten other people from our group trying to find it. We were fifteen or twenty minutes late, so we “only” had an hour in the museum. We only needed like twenty minutes. It was lame. Just cases and cases of old packaging and such. Kind of interesting, but not in the way it was laid out.
Then we head back to Covent Garden area for dinner. Somehow my friends and I and a few other people ended up totally separate and way ahead of the group, so we got to the restaurant and were seated way before the others arrived. Roasted bell peppers for an appetizer, some weird fishcake thing for the main, and a type of cheesecake for dessert? I only tried the dessert and gave it (male) Alex to finish. Also, pomegranate and berry martini.
The last scheduled thing of the night! Performance of Chicago. It was good, I enjoyed the music and everyone had great voices, but the production itself was weirdly minimalist. And not really what I was expecting. Also really tired at this point, so when it was over Kathryn and I jetted out of there to the tube as fast as we could. Sleeeeep.
Wednesday March 25
Lecture by one of our teachers at the London School of Economics (basically like any other classroom ever). We were supposed to have a guest lecturer as well, but he had been called away to cover some story in Devon. Then we had a group lunch in some hole in the wall café nearby. It down poured as we tried to find the place and we got pretty soaked, which was annoying. After lunch, my section had about an hour free before we needed to head off to the offices of The Guardian, so Anna and I spent like 45 minutes in the British Museum. I really just wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, which was cool. Checked out a couple of other rooms really quickly, then traveled to The Guardian. Also kind of a boring visit – though we did learn that 40% of their online readership is from North America, which is pretty interesting. After this we also had the evening free, so Anna and I met Kathryn, Jenna, and Alex in King’s Cross to be tools and take pictures of Platform 9 ¾.
Then Kathryn, Anna, and I went on a quest to find somewhere with Internet, as the hotel’s had been down for two days. We tried the Holborn public library but the staff was incompetent, so we ended up tracking down a souvenir shop/Internet café in the area that we had heard about. It was really cheap – one pound for half an hour, so we split that and afterward tried to find some shops around Oxford Circus. Basically all just big department stores, so we grabbed some food at another pub (The Spread Eagle), and went back to the hotel.
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