Thursday, January 25, 2007

Part 2 (Dec. 20 - Dec. 23)

December 20, 2006



In the morning we took the metro and got off on the St. Michel metro stop (pictured left). From there we crossed the street and visited the Notre Dame. Surprisingly enough you can take as many photos as you like inside the chruch, which isn't that common in Europa. In fact, it isn't much of a church at all, more like a museum of sorts, but that's just my opinion.





Afterward we wanted to climb to the belltower but we got lost looking for it because the entrance to it isn't obvious. Once you exit, with your back facing the Notre Dame, the entrance will be on your right, around the corner of the church. We then climbed to the top and saw the famous bell that fictional character, Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame used to ring.

Afterwards we found a boulangerie and finally bought a real French baguette. Once inside though we were confused as to what to get because, almost all the breads in there could literary be considered a French baguette, right? Melissa spotted one that read, "baguette tradition". Perfect I thought, so I used my fake French to order, “bonjour, le baguette ‘tra dee si oh’”….the woman was like, "ah oui le baguette tradition" ( oui, that’s how you spell yes in French which sounds like 'wee').

We then took the metro to the Louvre Museum and took some silly pictures. We didn't go in because apparently if you opt to go after 6, the ticket is almost half the price of the regular admission, so we bought the cheaper after 6pm tickets for the Louvre which provided us a great opportunity to go to the palace of Versaille. Here now are more pictures of the Notre Dame and of the Palace at
Versaille.

Notre Dame











Palace of Versaille


















We returned to the Louvre and ate dinner at a great eatery upstairs. We entered the museum around 7pm and made a bee line to the Mona Lisa. Take the Denon access route if you're like me and want to see that first. Let me tell you something about that painting. For all its glory and hype, it is not all that it is made to be. The painting is located in this huge room and has an entire wall dedicated only for that painting. The painting itself is relatively small surrounded by guards that do not let you take pics of it.
Let me tell you a story about
this picture, once I took it, a woman guard walked toward Melissa and I and was yelling at us in French….uh, how do you say I don’t speak French in French? (answer: Je ne parle pas français) She was actually yelling at Melissa by the way, which I found to be quite funny because it wasn't her who took the photo, I did! While this was happening though, some older man was standing 3 feet away from the painting taking multi shots with his pro SLR camera. My face must have said a thousand words because the lady turned around and started screaming at him. The entire time I was in the museum I kept feeling nothing but envy. I took out my frustrations and took some other illegal yet funny pictures in the museum . Take note, getting out of the Louvre is a mission on its own so plan your fast get away before anything.

The Louvre Museum (mostly Egyptian stuff though)















December 21, 2006

In the morning we checked out of our hotel and caught a train to Genève, Switzerland. Take note here because in Switzerland they do not use the Euro, they use their own currency, the Swiss franc. You’ll see CHF written on the currency which stands for Confoederatio Helvetia Franc (don't ask me how to pronounce that), which is just a fancy was of saying Swiss national currency. Also, in Switzerland they speak almost three languages, French and German being the most common, Italian being the least. We arrived in
Genève, walked around and saw some quick sites.

The Flower Clock (which wasn't that flowery, but I guess you cannot expect much in the Winter)

Monument to 'Le Peuple Genevois'
Monument to Native Americans
Strange trees
Swans swimming in what had to be ice cold water

Lake Geneva

The main reason for going though was to see the Jet d'Eau (that is French for water jet) which was not turned on. I was really disappointed so to feel better I wanted to eat something. We ended up eating at La Pizzeria da Paolo. This place was great, and I was able to get along by speaking Italian. Whoo hoo! What was even better was their pizza all’nutella. If you ever go to Genève, go there even if its just for that pizza, yes, its worth it, trust me here because if I know anything, it's good food. As we were making our way back to the train station, the Jet d'Eau was turned on so we stayed a while longer to take some additional pictures.

St. Pierre Cathedral

The façade of St. Pierre Cathedral (I love the Greco-Roman type columns)

Inside the church


The chappel within the church


Strange art


Clock Tower


Jean-Jacques Rousseau


The Duke of Brunswick Monument



We then caught a train to Lausanne, Switzerland. The sun was setting which meant that the day was coming to an end. We on the other hand weren't finished.

Bay d'Ouchy


Olympic Museum


Torches of the past and present


Olympic bling bling


Olympic Insitutions all over the world


All the organizations that work with the IOC (its really the CIO)


Olympic Commemorative Medallions


A closer look


Cool cycling stuff on display



Cool Television Screens


Nanago Olympic Medals


Olympic gold, will I ever earn one? I wish!


Outside of the museum, the Olympic fountains


The International Olympic Commitee (but apparently it really the CIO)


The front of the CIO or IOC


Ah yes, again take note here, the buses and trams in Switzerland are apparently free to ride. Grant it, you risk the very unlikely event that someone will check for tickets (it never happened to us, but it ‘supposedly’ happened to someone we know). We caught a bus to the station and from there caught a train to Bern, which is the capital of Switzerland. The clerk at the hotel we checked into was very nice and kindly explained to us why the Swiss do not use the Euro. Apparently the Swiss are very proud and do not want to use the Euro because they feel that it is slightly beneath them….so go figure.

December 22, 2006

The following morning we woke up early to see some of Bern. Unfortunately when you’re in the northern hemisphere during the winter, the sun does not come out until 8 or 8:30 am, so we did as much as would could given the time constraints we had. We went down to the city zentrum (center) and walked around in the cold for a bit. For breakfast, Melissa and I ate Pretzels for breakfast which are called Brezel in German (Brezeln plural).




15th century Gothic cathedral, the Münster


A close up of the façade


The old Zytglogge clock tower


Rosengarten (Rose garden)


Cool glassware in a shop that we walked by


We then caught the train from Bern to Milano so that we could meet up with our friend Juan. His plane was delayed so it took him awhile to get to Milano Centrale. I caught him off guard when I spotted him by the entrance . We then dropped off our baggage at the US Consulate, which was a mission on its own, and took the metro to the famous Duomo of Milano.

How disappointing, after 6 years, they are STILL restoring and cleading the façade. I suppose I will never see Il Duomo the way it was meant to be seen. Afterwards we took a taxi back to the train station grabbed some AMAZING hot chocolate (quite possibly the best one in the entire trip). If you're ever in Milano centrale, go the the cafe they inside the station, and order a cioccolata in tazza...the best 2 euro you'll ever spend. We then caught the train heading to Venezia. Being very tired from the long day of travel, we all adjusted the seats in our cart and took a nap We got there really late, 1130pm and walked across the street to the nearest hotel which was a Best Western, quite possibly the best hotel I have ever stayed in.



December 23, 2006

We woke up and went down for the continental breakfast that was included....finally! Let me tell
you something, it was amazing!!!! Breads, meats, cheeses, juices, cereal and yes, even hot chocolate!! It was great, we then walked across the street and took a 10 minute train onto the actual island of Venezia. We slowly walked around seeing the sites, buying souvenirs and drinking some more hot chocolate. In fact it is the most delicious hot chocolate you will ever drink. The company is called Eraclea....make sure that you go to a bar in Italia with their logo posted out front, you'll be very pleased that you did. We then missed our 8 pm train to Napoli, so we had to wait for the midnight one. We were hanging in the train station drinking red wine, talking to a cool American couple and watching as our train went from 10 to 15, 30, 45, 50, 1 hr 10, to a max of 1 hr 30 minutes late. They eventually just hooked us up with a train that was headed to Roma which meant that there was a limited amount of seats, so we were all forced to sit with these Italian dudes....very unconfortable traveling/sleeping. Here now enjoy some photos of beautiful Venezia.

The first view once you get out of the train station


Walked through this AMAZING outdoor market



I love sundried tomatoes! I tried one and it was delicious, should have bought some though...


Churches



Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute


Clock Towers


St Mark's Campanile


St Mark's Clock


Piazza San Marco


Basilica di San Marco


A close up of the mural above the entrance


Different angles of the piazza





The pigeons of the Piazza


Palazzo Ducale di Venezia



A view of the bay


A real Venetian gondola (a law of Venice requires that gondolas should be painted black)


Gondola traffic


Strange babbo Natale (Santa Clauses) aboard a gondola


Romantic alley ways and water ways



Rialto Bridge


The Grande Canal


Juan and Melissa having one of their many arguements about life


0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home