We'll Always Have Paris, Part 2

Here begins part two of my post about last weekend in Paris.

Saturday morning we knew the first thing we wanted to do was head to Les Catacombes. Quick background on Les Catacombes: In the late 1700s the Council of State decided that the remains from The Cemetery of the Innocents needed to be removed due to the health hazard it had become for locals. There was a maze of unused quarries beneath Paris that they decided to place the remains in instead: now known as The Catacombs of Paris and open to the public for viewing. None of us had been to the catacombs before and we didn’t really know what to expect. Like many things in Europe: it required a lot of stairs. After going down what felt like an endless spiral staircase we found ourselves in tunnels, not yet lined with bones, that made us feel as if we were in Harry Potter. Like any other mature college aged students, we played the Harry Potter theme song as we ran through the dark tunnels. After our short time at Hogwarts, we arrived at the entrance to where the bones were located. The area had been blessed and above the entrance there was a sign that read “Arrete! C’est ici l’empire de la mort.” Which translates to: “Stop, this is the empire of the dead.” Creepy. Looking at the bones was a really weird experience, at first I thought it was cool but then I thought it was really sad and I guess my emotions ended up somewhere in between realizing that they were the bones of real people. Anyways, I would absolutely recommend checking out the catacombs if you are in Paris, but they are definitely not for the faint hearted.

After the catacombs we hopped on the metro to head to Montmartre and the Sacré Cœur. The only time I had been up to the Sacré Cœur before had been in the evening so seeing the view from all the way up there in the daytime was really nice. We walked around the shops, looked at the little artists’ area where they sell their work, drank some hot chocolate and walked around the inside of the church. After that we walked down the hill in search for the Moulin Rouge. Truthfully, other than the Sacré Cœur, I really dislike Montmarte. I know there is a lot of history there especially with many famous artists, but what it has turned into is not impressive. I feel that in a city as beautiful as Paris, there are much better ways to spend your day than walking around there.

So following Montmarte I really wanted to go to the top of the Arc-de-Triumph. Last time I was in Paris two of my friends and I attempted this but ended up accidently taking the metro to The Grande Arc which is outside of Paris; and following a serious of unfortunate events ended up being our worst day in Paris. So I was determined to get to the top of the Arc this time. While standing in line we (okay it might have just been me) misread the sign and thought entrance was only free to students from the EU. What came out of that misreading is something I will never forget. We decided to put on our best British accents to try to get in for free. Meghan went first and used what was THE WORST British accent I had ever heard, but she was committed. While she was being interrogated about where she lived, went to school and why she didn’t have any identification from her home country: I had decided to give the lady I was talking to my US identification and hope I wouldn’t have to pay. It worked. Apparently, entry is free to US students as well: the other 6 of us received our tickets before the guy Meghan was talking to finally pitied her, laughed in her face, and gave her a ticket. The view from the top of the Arc was really beautiful, you can see the entire Champs Elysees and the Eiffel Tower, we didn’t stay up there long because it started to rain, but now I can say I successfully made it to the top.

While are meat eating friends went to get steak frites for dinner at a famous restaurant, Meghan and I went on a vegetarian dinner date back at The Frog, which I mentioned in my previous post. We had a really good veggie burger, made with real vegetables and a falafel wrap, followed by a cobbler served with sour cream on the side: strange, but good.

Sunday morning we packed up all of our stuff, checked out of the hotel and then headed to Palais Garnier- Opéra national de Paris for a tour. I had talked about the architect, Garnier, briefly in my post about Monaco. The Palais Garnier is a must see if you go to Paris, it is so elaborate, elegant, beautiful and full of history. The ceiling of the opera was painted by Marc Chagall and incorporates all the important elements of Paris; the stage is where the dancers that Degas painted would perform; booth number 5 was the booth of The Phantom of the Opera; and every aspect of the opera was depicted by a famous impressionist artist.  

After the Opera we only had about an hour and a half until the bus left for the airport, so we grabbed a quick lunch at a Pizza Pino on the Champs Elysees: the pizza with goat cheese, honey and red peppers was absolutely delicious. Then it was off to the airport to head home. It was so fantastic to be back in Paris again, it will forever be one of my favorite cities and I can’t wait to go back, hopefully in the near future, and make it to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Friday I leave to spend spring break with my parents traveling all around Ireland! I am so so so excited and will try to blog as we go. I am also going to try to get another blog in about the trips I went last week to the Chagall Museum and Aix-en-Provence before I leave!

                                                 

We'll Always Have Paris, Part 1

Last Thursday we left for Paris for the weekend. After our arrival in Paris at Orly Airport we were taken on a bus tour of the major sights before heading to our hotel. Seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance as we got closer and closer to town made me so happy to be back. The 5 weeks I spent in Paris over the summer were some of the best weeks of my life and I couldn’t wait to see some of my favorite places again. Our tour guide, who was very energetic and entertaining, told us a ton of facts about many sights that I had never heard of before. As we drove by Les Invalides, which holds the Military Museum of the Army of France as well as Napoleon’s body, she told us about how Napoleon’s body was held by the English for twenty years after his death and when it was finally returned it was missing a piece. That piece of his body is now held, in a jar, in a private collection in New Jersey. If you are curious as to what piece of his body was missing: Google it.

Thursday night after checking into the hotel our program planned a dinner boat cruise for us. When I was in Paris before, I spent time drinking wine on the edge of the Seine watching with envy as dinner cruises went by with people eating fancy dinners; needless to say, I was beyond excited when I found out we would be going on one. The dinner was a delicious salmon with yellow rice and peppers covered in a cream sauce. YUM. The boat went up and down the Seine past the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the second Statue of Liberty, and many other famous Parisian sights. The boat dropped us off a short walk from the Eiffel Tower and we did a serious power walk to make it underneath the Tower for when it began to sparkle.  For those of you that don’t know: once it is dark, the Eiffel Tower lights up and every hour, on the hour, thousands of light bulbs sparkle for 5 minutes. Personally, I think it is one of the most beautiful things to see in Paris. After watching the sparkles, we walked up to Trocadera to see the Tower from afar and catch the metro back towards our hotel. Once back in the Bastille area, where we were staying, we headed to a bar I can't describe with any word other than “hipster.” So hipster, I don’t believe the bouncer thought we were worthy, but he let us in anyways. Inside was a live band and Jack & Coke, so I was happy.

Friday morning we went to Musée d’Orsay, which is by far my favorite museum in Paris. Not only does the museum hold my favorite artists; Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Caillebotte but it is also located in an old train station in the heart of Paris. My absolute favorite part of the museum is the Impressionist exhibit on the 5th floor, I could spend hours in that room and still not want to leave. Over the summer I had visited d' Orsay and loved it then, but now after taking my French Art History class and learning about SO many of the paintings that are held in d'Orsay I appreciated it even more. Pictures aren’t allowed but I was able to sneak one photo in the Neo-Impressionism exhibit as well as take a photo out of the clock tower. 

After d’Orsay we headed back to Trocadera, in the daylight this time, to snap some photos and grab some crepes from a street cart near there. After our photo shoot and crepes we searched for a café to sit and have some coffe, hot chocolate, or in some of our cases: vin chaud (hot wine.) We had never tried hot wine before but it was actually very good, it tasted like warm sangria and they served us cinnamon on the side to mix in as we pleased.

Following our café break we hopped in line for the Eiffel tower. Because it was too windy the top was closed and I was so upset, but I guess now I have an excuse to go back to Paris. After waiting in line for about 45 minutes we climbed the stairs (ouch) to the middle level. It was extremely cold and windy so we didn’t stay for long, but being able to see all of Paris from up there was well worth it. After grabbing dinner is St. Germain de Pres we headed back to the hotel, took a short power nap, and then headed towards Bercy Village for drinks at The Frog. The Frog at Bercy Village is one of a few “Frogs” located throughout Paris that my friend Meghan spent a lot of time at when she studied in Paris. I had never been to the one in Bercy Village but I had been to one; The Frog and Library, which was closer to where I lived in Paris.  The servers all speak English as well as fluent french, so this is a great place to go if you can’t speak french at all or if you are looking to practice your french. They have their own brews, my personal favorite was Parislytic, and really great pub food, like fried camembert, SO GOOD. I definitely recommend it if you happen to find yourself in Paris.

Okay, so because this post is already really long and only covers half of the trip I am splitting Paris into two parts. Part 2 will be up in the next couple of days!

Milano, Italy!

Whoever said you can visit Milan in a day lied. I could have spent an entire week in that city and still want to go back.

When we first arrived in Milan we were tired, hungry, and walking around in the rain looking for our hostel, which was not easy to locate: so everyone was a tad bit testy. After finding the hostel and dropping our stuff off everyone’s moods seemed to brighten when we realized food was in the near future. We were on the search for Luini, a small “fast-food” restaurant that serves pomodoro panzerotti, which I described in my last post as “a fried calzone like thing stuffed with mozzarella and tomatoes.” This was one of the top ten things I have ever tasted. I stuck with the mozzarella and tomato while some of my friends got versions with meat or spinach. There is also the option to have them baked instead of fried, but I wasn’t about to do that. Luini also offers sweet panzerottis but I wasn’t able to try any because when we went back on Sunday they were closed! Huge disappointment. But if you are ever in Milan you HAVE to go there, it is located a block away from the Duomo and there was a line of locals outside, so that should tell you something.

After the panzerotti we walked around the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the oldest shopping mall in Italy. While I couldn’t afford anything in the Prada or Louis Vuitton stores, I enjoyed staring up at the ceiling and seeing the artwork and architecture of the building. We headed to dinner soon after at a restaurant close by where I ordered the four cheese gnocchi I had been craving, it was a little pricey because we were in the main tourist area but definitely worth it because it was exactly what I wanted. After dinner we grabbed some gelato and hopped back on the metro to go back to the hostel, clean up and decide where we wanted to go for drinks.

We asked the receptionist at our hostel (Sofia Hostel) where a good area to go would be and he told us to head to Garibaldi, where there were bars and discotheques, so we would have our choice. This was actually a great recommendation because had we been in the mood to go clubbing, there were plenty of options: but there were also more calm, relaxed bars like we were looking for. We ended up at Rocking Horse Ristorante, which was actually a full service restaurant. I wish we had the chance to eat there because everything smelled so delicious and everyone was very friendly. Our waiter, who spoke very little English, told us “Sei bellissima,” which he then told us means “you are very, very, very, very, very beautiful.” We all got different things to drink but I had a couple of glasses of Roero Arneis, a wine I had never tried before but absolutely loved. We hung out for a couple of hours and then headed back to the hostel so we could get some shut eye before waking up early to go sightseeing!

When we woke up on Sunday we were extremely pleased that it was no longer raining, even though it was still a little cloudy. The first stop on our list was the Castello Sforzesco. The castle was originally constructed in the 14^th century and is a symbol of both happy and painful times for Milan. It has been damaged and reconstructed multiple times and has acted as a residency, a prison and a place to retreat when under attack. Today, the castle houses several museums and exhibitions. The castle and grounds itself are really amazing and I wish we could have been able to climb up one of the towers, but they are not open to the public. We purchased the ticket to view all of the museums inside the castle but did not have time to see all of them. My favorite part was the huge room with the tapestries from the 1500s. I sat and stared at two of them for about 15 minutes contemplating how one could possibly make something that large, beautiful and complex by hand.

After the Castello Sforzesco we headed towards the Duomo di Milano to get something to eat. We stopped at Pandino Caffè, about a two block away from the Duomo. While the food I ordered was good, the best part was the cioccolatoso, a drink that was a mixture of Italian hot chocolate and coffee. By the time we were done with lunch the sky had cleared up completely and the weather was amazing the rest of the afternoon. We walked back towards the Duomo to stand in line to climb to the top. The wait was only about 10 minutes so it wasn’t that bad. What was bad and painful was the climb itself; I have been battling a cough for about 2 weeks and 250 stairs did not help it. Once we were at the top though; none if it mattered, the view and the architecture of the Duomo were absolutely breath taking. We could see all of Milan and further because it was so clear. We took our pictures (looking like crazy American tourists trying to sit in the “window” like structure) and then just sat down and relaxed in the sun for a while. I wish we could have spent the rest of the afternoon up there just sitting and looking out over Milan.

When we finally did climb back down we grabbed some gelato while waiting for the cathedral to open up so we could go inside. I wasn’t supposed to take pictures inside without paying a 2 Euro fee, but I snuck a few anyways. The stained glass work was so enormous and detailed and beautiful, I don’t know what else there is to say about it. My other favorite element inside the cathedral was the giant organ, it was ginormous: all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Archbishop Alberto da Intimiano’s body is also preserved and located inside the cathedral.

After finishing up inside, we had one last mission before grabbing our stuff from the hostel and heading back to Cannes: find cannolis.  We went back to the restaurant we ate at the night before and bought all the cannolis they had left. It was the perfect way to end our trip in Milan.

On Thursday we are leaving for Paris! I am so excited to be going back and to show my friends some of my favorite places from the 5 weeks I spent there over the summer. I have a huge test tomorrow I need to study for but all I want to do is pack and plan what we are going to be doing. I know this post was really long and I can only imagine how long the one about Paris is going to be, so I will break it up into a couple of parts for next week!