On our last morning in Florence, Italy we woke up in relief to finally check out of that run down bug infested hotel. We had breakfast at our favorite sandwich shop around the corner and then a quick breakfast snack at a small Italian cafe before heading to the train station to locate our airport shuttle bus. Since there was (of course) construction going on around the train station since we had arrived the pick up location for the airport shuttle bus had been moved and after attempting to ask several bus drivers which bus we needed to take I finally spotted the sign "Aeroport" on the top of a bus. We ran to catch it and headed off to the airport to fly back to France. We had to wait about an hour for check-in to open for our SwissAir flight. When we were getting our boarding passes the middle aged coule at the counter next to us were having a rather harsh confrontation with the airline attendant working on their boarding passes. We aren't entirely sure of the situation but at one point the airline attendent threatened to call the police to settle the dispute. I think the husband had either not checked in all his luggage online and they said he'd have to rebook his flight or he booked his flight for the wrong day. Either way it was a little scary. When we got to our gate that same couple some how talked their way onto our flight. The wife was very pissed starring down her husband (I thought she might burn a hole in his head...). SwissAir is by far one of the best airlines I have ever flown with. That day Chad and I ate swiss chocolate flying over the Swiss Alps on a SwissAir flight.
Once we landed in Paris (and called our mothers) we struggled a little to locate the correct bus to drive us into the heart of Paris where we then took the metro to our hotel. The hotel we stayed at was conveniently located right next to a major metro stop. If you've ever been to Paris and tried to battle the 15 something metro lines that intersect that city from underground you'll understand just how important a well located hotel is. Even though we were placed on the 5th floor we could take an elevator to the 4th floor and then climb the final set of stairs. Our room was very Parisian, small but quaint. Our only complaints about this hotel were that there was some sort of blackish brown mold like substance coming out of the air vents in the ceiling of the bathroom and the fact that the cleaning staff left our door open one day. Thank goodness we made a midday trip back to the hotel and notice the door was left open before someone else did. Don't worry nothing was stollen. After dropping our suitcases off in our room we quickly changed clothes into something fancy and headed towards to the Notre Dame to make our 10pm dinner reservation at a swanky restaurant off the Seine. Chad treated me to a fancy French dinner at a restaurant called Le Reminet. We got there a little early and weren't allowed to wait in the restaurant so we briefly strolled along the Seine. We were seated in the basement cave with our fellow anglophones. Chad explained to me that he had heard it's not uncommon for snobby restaurants like this one to seat the non-natives in the farthest possible table from the front door and keep the native Frenchies closer to the front of the restaurant for authenticity. Regardless we had a great dinner starting with a cheese plate and a scallop mouse appetizer, followed by duck pate and crusted cod fish. We each had a glass of Bordeaux red wine- you can't eat a French dinner in the heart of Paris without real French wine. We were exhausted and stuffed after dinner so we made our way back to the hotel for a long night's rest before a jam backed day of sight seeing and New Year's Eve partying.
Our first day in Paris started out with breakfast at a pastry stand in the metro station and then a trip to the Notre Dame. It was pretty packed with people, but since it was free to enter we queued up and waited to enter. I think Chad found it rather impressive to see the size of such a large cathedral that dates back several hundred years. We walked along the Seine for just a little while admiring the architecture. Chad wanted to find the St. Etienne Church where a part of the movie "Midnight in Paris"was filmed so we climbed the hill towards the Pantheon and finally located the church. We weren't sure of the exact spot where Gil (the main character) waits outside the church on its steps when all of a sudden an old car pulls up taking him back in time. Next we walked around the Pantheon, but didn't go inside. We walked a short distance down the hill to the Luxembourg gardens. I had bought a double pack of Bueno candy bars in the metro for only 2 euro! So we promised ourselves if we could navigate our way to the Louvre Museum we could treat ourselves to a Bueno bar each. Before taking the metro to the Louvre we walked passed the Sorbonne University. I of course ate my Bueno bar at this point.
We finally navigated our way to the Louvre museum and decided that it would be a good spot to see the Eiffel Tower for welcoming in the New Year at midnight. We skipped the Tuileries Gardens and went straight for the Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower in all her glory. We bought a panini and a chocolate banana crepe for lunch and ate it on the wall of the Trocadero with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. We walked through the Christmas market at the base of the Trocadero on our way to the tower. We didn't realize the line to go up the tower would be so long but we ended up waiting well over an hour to buy tickets to go up to the second story. Once we finally got our tickets it was a pretty quick line to enter the elevator that took us straight up to the second story. We decided not to go to the very top since there was a 45 minute wait for that elevator. It was freezing and windy so we quickly walked around the platform and made sure to sneak in a kiss on the Eiffel Tower.
At this point in the day we were starting to run out of energy so we headed back to the hotel for a short nap and then we got ready for New Year's Eve. We ate dinner at a restaurant right next door to the hotel called the Buffalo Grill. I think it was inspired by Utah and the French's attempt at Western American cuisine. We weren't impressed. We had bought a bottle of wine and a bottle of whiskey earlier in the day to drink while waiting for midnight. We loaded up my bag with all of our New Year's goodies and headed for the Louvre Museum to claim our spot. We soon found out it wasn't necessary to get there 2 hours earlier to wait in the freezing wind and rain since we seemed to be 2 of about only 30 people who had the same idea. Nonetheless we are troopers and waited out the New Year. Unfortunately there were no fireworks but still a pretty amazing experience to be in Paris for New Years. We did get to see a small fireworks display in a plaza just next to the Louvre. On the metro ride back to the hotel we met some pretty interesting Parisians who were pumped for the New Years (it was probably the alcohol talking).
We ate breakfast the next morning at a small cafe right across the street from our hotel (two apple croissants- chaussons aux pomme- and two chocolate chip croissants- deux suisses- with a coffee). Our day started out at the Place de la Concorde and walked up the Champs Elysee. Along both sides of the street were Christmas market booths selling food and Christmas gifts. We crossed the roundabout circling the Arc de Triomphe and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier. Since we were in the area we decided to take the metro out to the new industrial part of Paris to see the Grand Arch at La Defense. Next we headed back towards the Notre Dame cathedral and ate a quick lunch of sandwiches and french fries along the banks of the Seine. We had each brought a padlock with us and wrote our names on them. We took our padlocks to the lover's bridge behind the Notre Dame cathedral and attached them to the fence along the bridge. The symbolism of the locks is to show that the two people who attach the locks to the bridge will promise to be together forever, because you then throw the keys into the Seine river.
We walked back up along the Seine admiring the stalls of artist's work and old books for sale. We took the metro to the Alexandre III bridge where the end of the movie "Midnight in Paris" was filmed. From there we took the metro up to the Montmartre area (my favorite part of Paris). We walked passes the Moulin Rouge and with better judgement decided not to go inside for a show. We climbed the billion steps up to the Sacre Coeur and queued up to go inside. There was a mass going on while we walked around the periphery of the church. When I had visited Paris with my mom about two years ago we had spent what seemed to be the better part of an afternoon searching for this particular square in Montmartre where street artist will sketch portraits of people and there are cafes lining the streets. My mom and I had no success in finding this place but Chad and I just went for a little explore and easily found it. It was just as I had remembered it. We walked in and out of the souvenir shops and had a lite dinner at a small cafe I had actually eaten at once before during my first trip to Paris. We shared a cheese omelet and a crepe covered in caramel sauce. There was a pianist in the cafe playing and singing for tips. After dinner we decided it was time to head back to the hotel since it was so bitter cold out.
After our rather quick tour around Paris we took the train back to Lille for a night and then caught a 3:30pm coach bus from Lille to Amsterdam. Chad and I have a mutual friend (Adam Fer) living in Amsterdam working for his master's degree in economics. The bus ride took about 3 and a half hours. We crossed the north eastern border between France and Belgium, crossed the northern region of Belgium and then drove to the southern part of the Netherlands entering the southern province of Amsterdam. We took a the tram from the bus depot into the central train station where we met up with Adam. After dropping our bags off in his dorm room we went out for a quick explore of the city. Since we didn't get into town till around 7pm we decided to eat dinner right away. Adam recommended this really great pub down the street from his house. I ordered a lemon herb chicken with vegetables and was served a proper small chicken (or cornish hen). We walked along the famous canals of Amsterdam and saw the Anne Frank house. Unfortunately you couldn't see it very well at night time, plus there have been some building additions made to the original structure so it's difficult to see the actual building. We ended up meeting up with some of Adam's friends back at the pub where we ate dinner and stayed out with them till about 1 am and closed down the pub. Chad and I got to meet three girls from Greece, a guy from England, a guy from Australia, a guy from Italy, a guy from Luxembourg and a girl from Portugal. Quite the cultural mix.
The next day we ate breakfast at a small cafe around the corner from Adam's dorm and then headed out for a full day of sight seeing. Since we were in Amsterdam (the European capitol of sex and drugs) we decided to make the one museum we'd visit The Museum of Sex. Let's just say there are some things you can't un-see. It was amazing to walk along the canals and watch the locals interact or ride their bikes along the small streets. We went past Adam's university and then decided to head back to Adam's place for a nap before going over to one of his friend's apartments for an authentic Italian dinner. His friend was leaving the next day to go back to Italy since his semester in Amsterdam had ended so he wanted to cook an authentic Italian meal for all of his friends and Chad and I were invited since we were visiting for the weekend. He made mushroom risotto and some kind of pasta in a cream sauce. For dessert he made a huge pan of tiramisu. Chad and I figured we couldn't leave Amsterdam without seeing the Red Light District, which for those of you who don't know, that is where all the legalized prostitution and drug selling takes place. We really enjoyed visiting with Adam and really appreciate him giving us a tour of the city- Amsterdam in a day!
So sorry this was such a long post, but I had so many stories to tell! Thanks for sticking it out till the end (if you made it this far that is). Chad and I had a wonderful time touring around Europe together and found out that we can travel together and not kill each other, but seriously we actually get along rather well when sight seeing and being tourist. Back to the grind as of this past week and just two more weeks left with Chad before he heads back to the states. We've stayed busy with work, watching lots of movies and rock climbing at a local gym with my other teaching assistant friends.
That's all folks!
