Paris in a Nutshell

Hello again my faithful readers!! Thanks for taking interest in my Paris adventure- I visited for two days and one night and pretty much hit all the main attractions so this is pretty much a quick sweep of Paris.  I hope you enjoy every last word!
When we first arrived to Paris we immediately set out to find our hostel.  My dearest travel companion/roommate Paula took the liberty of Google mapping the directions from the train station to the hostel the night before we left, so we had it all figured out. Or that’s what we thought.  If I could explain Paris in one word, that word would be “confusing.”  What we basically faced was walking down one road in search for the next in our directions, then that road branching into literally four other roads all with similar names in French.  After about an hour of walking and guessing roads and guessing directions we found a Paris road map and decrypted it only to find out… we went the wrong direction when we turned out of the train station.  Surprised?  Yeah, I wasn’t either.  So after we traced our steps back and carried onward in the right direction we finally found our hostel after another hour.  This might sound unfortunate Reader, but honestly I’m not all that upset we had to walk that much. I felt like I really got to experience the streets of Paris, and overall it was a pleasant little adventure.  The picture below is a small demonstration of such streets, basically just picture another street on each side of the photo and that's what we had faced.

BUT even though I appreciated the walk through Paris, let you not be mistaken of my relief to finally arrive at the hostel.  We arrived to check-in around 10 a.m. and… you guessed it!  Check in time wasn’t until 2 p.m.!   Perfect.  Well we were starving anyway so we figured that we would get some breakfast then figure out the Paris underground (subway) system and find something cool to do.  We went to a café next our hostel and had breakfast.  We each got coffee, orange juice, a croissant, and a piece of bread.  Side note: there’s a reason the French are known for their bread and croissants…. They are delicious.  Let me also make it known that I thoroughly enjoyed French coffee whilst I was in Paris also, something I didn’t expect to be fond of there.  One very popular way of drinking coffee (which can be seen in the US, just usually isn’t) is to drink espresso shots.  So often you’ll see someone sitting in a café with a little tiny mini cup of coffee, a shot.  After that we headed to the nearest underground station.  The Paris equivalent of London’s “Tube” system is called the Metro.  I was not a huge fan of the Metro.  Compared to the Tube, the Metro is very dirty, smells (a lot of times like pee, which my roommate and I tend to use to describe the smell of Paris) and a bit older.  There’s also a lot more beggars in Paris and on the Metro people would beg sometimes by playing instruments then asking for money, or simply by walking around seat to seat asking people.  It was however the easiest and cheapest form of transportation so we made due.

After our morning wanderings we decided to visit Notre Dame first, the place where, indeed, the Disney story "Hunchback of Notre Dame" was based.  Whether or not that's based off of a true story I cannot say, but it's fun to imagine.  It's basically... a really big cathedral.  We didn't go on a guided tour so I'm sad to say that I do not know much more about this piece of history. :(

After we went inside (which was beautiful of course) we went for a walk and sat on a bench behind Notre Dame to take in the scenery.  A lady then approached us and shoved a piece of paper in our faces.  Paula, being the nice person that she is, agreed to sign the paper which at first sight looked like a petition of some sort.  Apparently the cause was for mute and deaf people, and when you signed it you had to pledge money.  I’m going to end the story here simply because it’s embarrassing and shameful but we got ripped off and we’re pretty sure that lady wasn’t mute.  After that experience Paula and I promised ourselves we would be more aware of beggars and cheats.  But back to the happy- after that we got crepes!!  This was exciting because France is known for crepes and they were delicious!!  We wandered around the area a little bit longer then headed back to check into our hostel.  Our hostel was livable… but definitely not my favorite experience so far.  So in order to spend as minimal time there as possible, we set out on another adventure; after all we were only there for two days.  We used the good ole’ smelly metro to make our way toward the Eiffel Tower, we both really wanted to see it lit up at night.  The Eiffel Tower was, of course, incredibly beautiful and I got to see both in the day time and the night time!  After studying it from a distance we made our way to the base of the tower and there we sat… for about an hour and a half.  It was quite cold but we bought hot chocolate and enjoyed where we were.  That is, we enjoyed it aside from being harassed by people trying to constantly sell you dinky little Eiffel Tower souvenirs… so annoying. We stuck around for so long so we could see the Tower sparkle (as it does about once every hour once it’s dark) and it was beautiful!  The first photo below is the tower sparkling, and the second was earlier that day in all its cloudy glory. 

After the first and only (thank goodness) night at the hostel, we woke up and packed our stuff since we wouldn’t be going back to the hostel before we left Paris.  We took the Metro to one of Paris’s main streets where on one side stood the Arc De Triomph and on the other was the Louvre.  First we made our way to the Louvre, one of the the biggest art museums in the world; home of Mona Lisa. 

 The picture above is the entrance to the Louvre.  You have to go down an escalator, and there's actually a HUGE mall under ground, as well as an art museum.  I didn't actually go see Mona (I heard it was pretty overrated) but I had fun exploring the area.  A fun fact, they filmed part of "The Da Vinci Code" here with Nicholas Cage.  Good movie, I definitely recommend it. 

After the Louvre, we walked the strip aaaall the waaaay to the Arc De Triomph, but I’m glad we did. We had to sit down a couple times to recoup for the rest of the walk, but it was worth it.  

 The photo above shows the monument and the traffic driving around it.  The monument was built to commend French troops under Napoleon's rule that died in war.  Around it you can see (but not very well from my picture) one of the biggest round abouts in the world, and also one of the most dangerous.  There's about 12 lanes of traffic (ish) and no lines to separate them... needless to say, there's been lots of wrecks.

After we got our fill of Paris sight seeing we went to the bus station.  We ended up hanging out at the bus stations for a little longer than we probably needed to before we departed, but Paula and I were extremely exhausted and needed some down time.  So we had some coffee (yum) and played mash (haha) and just relaxed until it was time to check in for the train.  As awesome as the things I saw were, and as glad as I am that I got to experience them, I was certainly ready to go home and was glad my Paris adventure had come to an end.

Hope everyone is doing well and still enjoying my posts!!

Next blog will be about Germany and Prague!

-KYRA:)

Wonders of the World..

Before I get too behind- allow me to fill you in, my faithful readers, on my recent adventures! :) On March 12th I went on a guided tour trip to Bath, Stone Henge, and Salisbury with my roommate Paula.  Up bright and early we headed to the bus station where we departed for the day at about 7:45 a.m. I'm glad to say that our tour guide was quite funny, and a joy to listen to.  It's always a toss up when it comes to guides, friends of ours had gone the weekend before and ended up getting a really monotone guide for their trip.  Anyway, we were off straight away to our first stop, Stone Henge!  I was really excited for this part of the trip simply because it's so famous and I've seen pictures of it and heard stories.  For those that don't know, Stone Henge is one of the biggest mysteries of the world for more than one reason.  Now don't quote me on anything I say here, because I don't claim to be a historian, but I'll inform you to the best of my knowledge (which isn't a whole  heck of a lot.)  First of all, Stone Henge was constructed before written language was even a twinkle in someone's little eye, so unlike early Egyptian  constructions like the pyramids where they had a form of written language to document they ways in which they built, the people that built Stone Henge (said to be around 3000 BC) had none so the mystery in HOW they constructed the boulders is a mystery to us.  Now that may not sound like a very big deal, but considering the lack of tools and the size of the boulders that were moved hundreds of miles (how in which we have no idea) is absolutely amazing to fathom today.

Among the confusion is how the people then stood the boulders up right, and stacked others across the top.  My tour guide informed us that the most common reasoning to the transportation and formation of the rocks was due to EITHER the flying devil bringing the rocks to this spot (which is in the middle of NOWHERE might I add) or, of course, it was aliens that did it. Modern science, though will never be completely accurate for lack of knowledge and proof, can justify the possibility that the people propped up the stones, piled earth and dirt up around the pillar like stones, then rolled the top stones up the earth in order to get them on top of the others.  This makes sense, but can never be proven.  Now the stones are in a VERY specific formation and this also adds to the puzzle of which we will never know.  Amazingly, the stones are lined up in perfect symmetry to match the solstices of winter and summer and also acts as a calendar.  And to do this required great, great knowledge of those that constructed it.  This is where my omniscience falters so if you're more interested in the subject I'd suggest looking it up, it is absolutely amazing. 

Unfortunately that (above picture) is about as close as you could get to the rocks.  Apparently it used to be free to go and you could walk right up to the stones.  But because of idiotic people, vandalism, and the governments love of money- you know have to pay and have to stay outside of a ring of rope.. or else.  We stayed at Stone Henge for about 45 minutes (which is fitting because all there really is to do is look at the rocks from different angles...) then we headed on to Salisbury.  

In Salisbury (not to be associated with steak) we saw the Salisbury Cathedral, a very beautiful building.  Right now I'd like to emphasize how many cathedrals, churches, and religious buildings I've been in since I've been here!!  They're all so beautiful that they're beginning to all run together in my mind.  At least I have pictures to tell them apart ;)

This is a cool picture because you get the jist of what the cathedral looked like, and you can see the way the tallest part leans (because it does in fact lean, and its not supposed to... uh oh).  Inside the building there is a "fountain of tranquility" which is really neat because water is pumped into it and as it overflows it gently goes over the sides and into drains on the ground.  While Paula and I were taking pictures with the fountain, a little girl skipped (seriously, skipped) right up to the fountain of TRANQUILITY and ran her stupid little hand right through it!!  We were shocked... but she skipped away and left us with a not so tranquil fountain :(

My roommate sort of cut off my reflectional head... but thus behind me the evidence of the very monster that tainted the waters of tranquility! Skipping in all her ruin!  Anyways, now that I've made my point and presented the evidence I'll move on.  But I'm still not happy about it.  The best part about this experience was seeing the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta (there were 12 copies) which is something equivalent of the American Constitution... kinda.  A little different, but an important document of such all the same.  No pictures were allowed to be taken of it, but being in the presence of a document created in 1215... amazing.

After we left the cathedral, we went to a pub for lunch then boarded our bus once again.  This time our destination was Bath.  Allow me to stray from my oh-so-professional recollection of events to say... this place was frickin awesome!!  I had no idea before I got there how much I would enjoy it.  Bath is famous for, of course, the Roman bath house built during the Roman Empire in England.  Bath houses were very popular in Roman culture and one was built in this area in England because of the hot springs the dwelt in the ground.  The Bath house was very impressively designed with pipes to direct the natural water into the baths.

The above picture is one of the biggest main bath of the whole bath house.  Yes, the water is green and yes it is very disgusting.  You're advised and asked not to touch it before you go in, but some people still do... gross.  This is a pretty big building and there were a lot more baths, but some of it was in ruins and other parts had been turned into gift shops and exhibits. 

The above picture is a different bath in the same bath house.  There's so much to say about this beautiful piece of history, but I only know so much.  I learned a lot while I was there, but sadly forgot most of it.... and that's how my relationship usually goes with history.  Oh!  I also drank the bath water! Sounds gross huh? After I told you that people aren't even supposed to touch it.  Don't worry... I'm not that fearless.  There's a special fountain of purified natural spring bath water that is available to drink.  So it's not super unsanitary... but it's actually still very disgusting to drink, especially because they serve it to you warm (or as is.)  It was a bit of a struggle but I finished every drop that they poured me!

And a photo of yours truly in all her beauty (not...) standing by the main bath! And there used to be a roof, if you can't tell there isn't one now, because it caved in at some point.  Like I said, a lot of the bath house is in ruins.  Unfortunately this is where my adventures of March 12, 2011 come to an end.  I had an absolutely amazing time on this tour and would suggest it to anyone touring England!  How many people can say they've seen Stone Henge, looked at the Magna Carta, and drank Bath water all in one day?! I can!  And I'll never forget it!  I'd also like to take this opportunity to mention the little drive-around tour we got on our way out of Bath.  As our tour guide specifically asked the driver to go to a certain area (of which was a circus, and here a circus basically means... a circle) and take a couple trips around it.  According to my tour guide, a few select people lived in the very area we were driving.  A guy you may have heard of... I think his name is Matt Damon or something.  And this other dude who's name I forgot... wait no, I think it's Nicholas Cage, yeah him.  Also... another bloke who goes by the name of Johnny Depp?  Yeah, those three men allegedly have homes in the very circus we drove round.  I might've had my doubts, but the price range of a place in that area is in the millions so I very much believe that someone of that nature may have a get-away home there in Bath.  It is after all, that beautiful.

Well, I hope that you are having a fabulous day/night, reader.  And I hope that by indulging in my adventures via my blog has made it even better.  Less than two months until your world traveler comes home!  Miss you all, muuuuucho love to you all!!

-KYRA:)

YES... I'm also going to school in London..

I know what you're thinking "What does Kyra do besides go awesome places and do awesome things?"  It can't be all fun and games right?  Well at ease, envious reader, I do indeed have to go to school while I'm here and there is in fact responsibility involved in this experience of mine.  I'm taking four classes which are British Politics, British Novels, British Empire History, and Shakespeare.  England is such a historical epicenter that I'm able to learn about a lot of things that we talk about in class, first hand.

My novels class is great because we get to read these famous pieces of literature then just discuss the story in depth.  The novels we will have read by the end of this course include Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Mrs. Dalloway,  Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and The Buddah of Suburbia.  I'm currently almost done with Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, which didn't strike my fancy at first but I can now admit it's a very captivating story and I can't wait to finish it.  Speaking of Mr. Dickens...

This (picture above) is a photo of me on the doorstep to one of the homes of Charles Dickens which happens to be just around the corner from my school building.  Like I said before, the accessibility to such famous places is one of the best parts of studying in London.  I took a tour of Dickens' house and learned a bit more about his life both privately and as a writer.  To walk up and down the very stairs that he once had, and visit the rooms where he slept, ate, and.... bathed really put into perspective what a great opportunity I have and I'm glad to be making the most of it.

My British politics class is very interesting indeed.  Politics isn't really my favorite subject, and a very complicated one at that, but the differences between what I know from living in America and comparing that to the system that Britain is interesting in itself.  Especially with the Monarchy and the history of Royal rule, learning the ways of the Parliament is an experience in itself.  Speaking of Parliament, I have visited the British Parliament (unfortunately without my camera) and saw the beautiful buildings and Big Ben all up close and personal!  We took a class trip specifically to Parliament and got to go in and watch a live debate over welfare.  We also, which I don't think I mentioned, visited the Scottish Parliament when we visited Edinburgh and watched a debate there as well.  My professor in that class is pretty brilliant when it comes to British politics so I feel like I'm learning quite a bit.

My British Empire class is on.. well.. the British Empire! I've never been too keen on history classes either (noticing a pattern?) but living in London makes this a desirable topic to learn about.  We're pretty much going through all different countries that Britain had rule over at some point in time.  I'd go into further detail but it really isn't necessary or particularly interesting to read in a blog.  Recently, as a class trip we visited Portsmouth, England where Henry VIII's famous Mary Rose ship sank and (about 30 years ago) was recovered.  Unfortunately the Mary Rose is in the process of having a special museum built for her so we didn't get to see her.  We DID however get to see/tour a couple of other famous British battle ships.  We visisted the SMS Warrior

 and...

The HMS (Her Majesty's Ship) Victory!  Led by the famous Captain Nelson who fought and died in the Battle of Trafalgar in this very ship, coming out on top with a victory over the French and Spanish.  We took a fully guided tour of this ship and saw everything from the storage areas at the bottom of the boat to the captains cabins at the very top.  After going on that tour all I have to say is... the life of a sailor was HARD.

And lastly, the course of which there was no ability of passing up (since I'm in the very roots of this subject as we speak)... Shakespeare.  This class is honest, simple, and absolutely enjoyable.  Course work includes reading the play, discussing the play, and watching the play. I've read and seen live performances in London of Comedy of Errors and As You Like It so far.  I've experienced both pub theater (which was amazing) and professional theater at an actual theater establishment.  The last play we read was The Tempest, Shakespeare's last composed play, and we watched that one in the cinema since there was a recently filmed version of the famous play.  Later in the semester we will be taking a class trip to Stratford where Shakespeare was born, as well as pay a visit to the Globe Theater which was Shakespeare's own theater where he wrote and produced many of his plays.  I feel so lucky to be able to experience Shakespeare's work this way, leaving no room to allow me to take his wonderful work for granted.
And (though unrelated the Mr. S) I also recently experience Opera for the first time... a full fledged Gilbert and Sullivan production in the heart of London.  Another fascinating event that I enjoyed.

This is a picture of the street my school is on.  I thought it'd be fun to show a picture like this so you all can see where I'm getting my edumucation!  It looks like one big building on each side with a bunch of windows but they're very much separated, each apartment being about 4 or 5 story's tall (basement to top floor).  We have one of these style buildings and it's very... homey. :)

And the above picture is of one of the massive escalators I take to get to/from tube stops on my way around London.  On my way to school, I usually have about a 10 minute walk from my home stay to my neighborhood tube stop, then about 50 minute ride on the tube (train/subway) then a trip up/down these HUGE escalators and a 10 minute walk to school.  It's a good little commute but I don't mind it very much.

Well I just wanted to give you guys kind of an idea of all this schooling jazz and what I'm doing in that sense, since doubts seem to be upon me for my educational pursuits here in London.  Last weekend I visited Bath, Stone Henge, and Salsbury and tomorrow I'm going to Paris....... Be on the look out for my next couple blogs, they should be a bit more interesting!!!

Hope all is well with everybody! Mad love to everyone who takes the time to read my things and stuff!!

-CAPTAIN KYRA:)

Kyra's Blarney about Ireland :D

First of all, "Blarney" is not a word you hear every day (unless you're from Ireland) so let me clarify that it refers to blabbering or talking without point usually in a flattering sort of way- just so we're on the same page :)

I'd like to begin the recollection of my journey with a piece of advice: if you think you're prepared to travel, check again, then double check, and just to be on the safe side check one more time after that.  Kyra and friends learned this the hard way.  Somehow we managed to arrive to the airport in a somewhat timely fashion and leisurely make our way to... the wrong gate. What I mean by the wrong gate is actually a non-existent gate, on the opposite side of the terminal than we needed to be.  This is the part of the movie where they run through the airport frantically and make it to the gate JUST in time to board the plane, and that's precisely what happened.  Minus the "boarding the plane" part.  In our defense, a member of the staff at the airport told us gate 34 (which ended up being gate 84) so we plead not guilty for the catastrophe, HOWEVER it was very much in our power to double check to make sure we were headed the right way.  We might've even been able to read signs and draw the general conclusion that the way in which we were heading led to completely no where.  But not to worry, reader!! I was able to catch the next flight to Dublin an hour later :)

The flight was the fastest one I've ever been on, it took about 50 minutes to fly from London to Dublin.  My amigo's and I caught a bus to our hotel when we got in and we got settled in at about 10:00 a.m.  I am pleased to inform you that we got a hotel (as I've already said) instead of a hostel this time!

 The room was great and we even got T.V. and our own bathroom!  It was conveniently located very near, if not in, the city center of Dublin.  As soon as we got settled in we set out on foot to see what we could find!  We ended up walking for a while before we decided to do one of those cheesy tour guides on the double decker bus without a top.  It was actually a great way to see all the major aspects of the city like the Guinness factory, the Jameson distillery, Temple Bar, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral and MANY other things.  Pictured just below is St. Patrick's Cathedral. (yes THAT St. Patrick =p)

The tour bus had a "hop on hop off" system where you could get off the bus you were on if you wanted to see something in more detail, then catch the next bus that came to that stop and continue the tour.  We stopped at the famous Grafton Street shopping strip and had a look around.  I ended up getting this "Claddagh" ring because I love the beautiful story/tradition behind it-

Sorry it's blurry but I'll explain to you what it means.  As a token of enduring friendship this ring has two hands holding a crowned heart.  The joining of the hands holding the heart and crown represent a perpetual bond of friendship, love and royalty.  It's said that when you wear the ring with the heart facing inward that means that your heart is taken, and when you wear the heart pointing outward (like my ring is) then it shows your heart is open.  All three of us got one of these rings, I really love mine :)

So after a long day of shopping and site seeing we made absolutely sure not to get comfortable in our room because of past said events that involved Scotland and sleep.  Still don't want to talk about it.  Anyway, we were in the capital of Ireland on a Friday night... needless to say we took the liberty of partaking in traditional Irish socializing, it was only logical.  If you've ever seen the film "P.S. I love you" starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler (sigh) then you'll remember the scene where Gerry sings the song "Galway Girl" to Holly in the random Irish pub.  Well, that random Irish pub is called Whelan's and I DEFINITELY went there!  The pubs in Dublin are absolutely thrilling, they're everywhere and you can find different places for different people and the possibilities are just endless.  After having drinks at Whelan's and Flannery's and having lots of fun conversation with random Irish people we headed back to the hotel for the night because we had to be up early in the morning to catch a bus to Cork and Blarney!

Having learned our lesson from missing our flight on Friday morning, we were more prepared for our journey the next day.  Unfortunately the bus we took to Cork took four hours to get there then four hours back.  From Cork we took a bus to Blarney where the famous Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone are!  We got to spend a couple hours in Blarney at the castle and getting something to eat at a pub but other than that our bus left too early for us to get to spend some real time in Cork :(  But the Blarney Castle... something I will never forget.

The Blarney Castle (pictured above) is extremely old and kept up just enough to be navigatable.  Getting up to the Blarney stone is actually a scary trek.  You must take a steep stone spiral staircase all the way up and with one slip of the foot....... it could be very dangerous.  Luckily my knack for clumsiness managed cease long enough for me to survive the steps up and down the castle.  The picture below is the final product of the journey-

I made it nice and big so you can see it :) Some of you may know the legend, but for those who do not you're probably wondering why the hell I'm kissing a rock.  There's a lot of history, some questionable and some credible, but the jist of the quest to kiss the stone is the gift of eloquence.  The legend says that one who kisses the stone will gain the ability of powerful and persuasive discourse or way of talking, comparable to charisma.  At this point I'd like to mention that the night before Blarney I was having a conversation with a nice Irish man in the pub and when we talked about kissing the stone he assured me that I already had all the eloquence I needed. :)  From the top of the castle the view was absolutely amazing.  I can only imagine what the Blarney Castle grounds would look like in the summer!

After we got something to eat at a pub in Blarney we headed back to Cork and from there back to Dublin. I won't bore you with my faults, for I did happen to forget my pictures on the bus and realized after it had left... but don't worry, we thankfully got those pictures back with the help of a very, very nice cab driver whom we happened to hitch a ride with two nights in a row!  Did you know that Dublin has like 3 times the amount of cabs that New York City does?  I will absolutely vouch for this because... well, imagine a city filled with taxi's and ONLY taxi's... and thats Dublin on Friday/Saturday night.  They're very expensive though, I'm glad I don't need to take them all the time.  After we made the venture to get our pictures back from the bus station, we figured since we're already out we'll go have one last Irish outing before our departure early the next morning.  We went to a place called O'Neils and I enjoyed it a lot.  We actually spent a good hour or two being entertained by two Irish guys (about 22) and they were soooo funny and fun to talk to!  They tried to get us to stay longer of course, but we tried to keep in mind that we had to be up at 5 a.m. so we said goodbye to Chris and Shane and thanked them for their company.

This morning we got up EXTRA early and actually made our flight back on time.  I really wish I had been able to spend more time in Ireland, but I've got school and silly stuff like that to do otherwise I would have! Dublin is very interesting, busy city with lots to do.  The people of Dublin (and I'm assuming generally in Ireland) are very nice people and love to talk to us as much as we do to them.  Aside from some traveling hiccups and other small complications and situations I'd rather not dwell on, I had an awesome time in Ireland and I plan on going back someday and enjoying it to the fullest.

My roommate Paula took this picture with the River Laffey and the bridges and skirts of Dublin on each side, it's my favorite picture.  Well I think I've pretty much covered my experience!  I hope you enjoyed reading and once again THANK YOU for reading!  I love sharing this stuff and it's nice to get that positive feedback from ya'll :)  Miss you all, I'll try to write again this week (if I have time.)  Till next time!

-KYRA:)