Thursday, December 21, 2006

:: [deux femmes] : paris, day 2 - sunday, december 10, 2006 ::


Waking up was difficult due to the extreme lack of sleep and exhaustion we experienced, traveling to another country and then going to sleep at 5 am seems to have that effect. We were pretty excited to have our first full day in Paris, so we forced ourselves out of our tiny bunk beds on the 5th floor to go down to our corner
patisserie (that's a bakery for you non-Frenchies) and picked up some fabulous pastries and then ate them with an espresso in our hostel bar/cafe on the main floor.

We attempted to follow Rick Steves' walking tour (it's the guide book we brought with us,
Rick Steves' Best of Europe 2007, I would highly recommend it), which included the Notre Dame, Deportation Memorial, Ile St. Louis, and other stops that we didn't quite make it to.
  • Notre Dame - This was pretty fantastic, however the wimpy Christmas tree in front was quite the let-down. It was full of tourists in the square oustide of it, and eventually we maneuvered our way through the crowd of Japanese schoolgirls to make it inside, which was beautiful and dark (apparently they didn't have electricity back in the 12th century).
  • Deportation Museum - this was a memorial to 200,000 French victims of Nazi concentration camps. Very tastefully and artistically done. We also learned the origins of the gay triangle symbol, which was pink, it came from the badge the Nazis made homosexuals wear on their arms (the light bulbs represent each of the French victims).
  • Ile St. Louis - located across from the Notre Dame on another island (Notre Dame is also on an island). The first thing we see is this Parisian street performer, who looked absolutlely ridiculous. He gave us tiny chairs to sit on, made for 2 year olds, and then he proceeded to embarass tourists watching, perform bicycle tricks, make fun of himself and others and rode around on a tiny bike.
The island itself was very cute, very Parisian, very expensive. We wandered, ate gelato, then proceeded to the right bank.Apparently there are 2 islands in Paris, which we had no clue. This caused us to wander about on the right bank of the river later, thinking it was the left, but it was fine, we ended up seeing a side of Paris we otherwise would have never experienced. It was full of stores and boutiques, and we even stumbled upon an indoor farmer's market with crafts, cheese, and wine, whcih we of course bought a bottle of. The guy selling it said he knew of Oregon becuse of our Pinots!
  • Eiffel Tower - Paris' landmark, we took the metro since it's kind of a long walk. We strolled along a park to get there, and Carly happened to step into something not so fabulous. Apparently stepping in dog crap is good luck if you step in it with your left foot, Carly was not so lucky :( It was gorgeous once we got to it. We didn't feel like waiting in the 2 hour line to go to the top, so we just stayed to admire the 5 minute light show when the entire tower glitters every hour. This apparently costs the French about $200,000 a day.
  • L'Arc de Triomphe - this was our last stop for the day. It was freezing, but still incredible. It is in the middle of a huge circle of cars and streets shooting off into different directions, so there is an underground tunnel you take to walk to the arc. We were starving and on Champs Elysees, the ritziest street in Paris, so we caved and ate some delicious French McDonald's. Forgive us please.


Friday, December 15, 2006

:: deux femmes : paris, day 1 ::

Wah wah wee wah! (See Borat please) The flight to Frankfurt was fine (except for the lack of any TV screens and the personal lights being out - i.e. forced sleep time for a long time), and we eventually got on a train to Paris after some drunken German night shift workers helped us find the right train. We don't speak any German, and German isn't exactly easy friendly for the "just read it and try to figure out what it says..." approach.

Our hostel in Paris (Peace & Love) was good. Everything in Paris is very small, so our hostel was fine in comparison. The main floor of the hostel was a bar, which is filled with residents of the hostel, locals and random people - it was always an interesting mix. Unfortunately our room was on the 5th floor (elevators are very rare in Europe, so stairs it is with our luggage), but needless to say it helped us get in shape for our trip. We did have a nice view from this high up of the Seine and the surrounding area.

Even though we were tired we were determined to see what Paris had to offer. We walked around Place St. Michel, which is central to Paris and houses many of the major attractions. Our first French meal consisted of the richest pizza ever and an amazing raspberry tartlette, along with overpriced Coca (its like gold to th-ese people - ranges from about 2.60€ to 5€, which is about $4 to $8 for 50cl, less than a 20oz bottle...) and French cafĂ©. We attempted to do a boat tour by night of the Seine, but we were too late. Instead, we walked around Paris and met some lovely boys (American, French and Uzbekistani, all who currently live in Paris) who we went to see Borat with. During the movie Michelle caught the boys speaking Russian, which is how we discovered the Uzbekistani Eduardo. Michelle proceeded to speak in a language unknown to Carly and the other American for a while, which was pretty sweet. After the movie the boys gave us an amazing night tour of the City of Lights. We saw pretty much every major attraction that night from the outside, it was so beautiful! What a great 24-hour day.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

:: [michelle] : is this for real? ::

Hey everyone! I am seriously in denial that I am going to be in Europe for a month, I can't wait! However, this makes it incredibly difficult to study for my last final. After that, it's just packing and anticipation. Hope everybody has a great winter break, and we promise, our forthcoming posts will be far more exciting...Corvallis doesn't quite hold a candle to what's to come in Europe. Ciao!

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

:: [carly] : ready to go! ::

we've successfully booked all of the remaining hostels for the rest of our nights in europe! right now we are both in the midst of finals, so we're trying to fit laundry and packing into our schedules. i still can't believe its happening - we'll be in paris in a few days! i'm very excited, but also a bit sad i will be away from family for the holidays, i've never been gone for christmas before! i will miss you guys! however, i am very much looking forward to an old european christmas in austria. next post will be from europe! au revoir.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

:: [carly] : preparations ::

so far, we have our routes and itinerary planned out. we have also booked hostels for the holidays - vienna, austria for christmas and prague, czech republic for new year's. we are both getting SOOOOO excited! right now we are trying to figure out the confusing eurorail passes we have to buy. you'd think for $300 you would get your tickets, but no, you have to pay more every time you make a reservation! the websites are quite confusing, but luckily they are in english. :)

please be sure to check out our route and schedule. there are links at the top of the right nav bar. i posted the route map above as well.