onto München

The bed was very comfortable, or maybe I was that tired after 1 day of my journey! Nonetheless after a good sleep, shower, and continental french breakfast I went back to the train station (walking this time...it was just a couple of blocks) to go to Keil, Germany! I had an open ticket, so fortunately there was one leaving in a few minutes. A short and pretty ride across the border (with NO customs) I arrived in Germany.
It had a different feel, eveing from neighboring Strausbourg. I can't explain it. In keil the buildings were mcuh more modern, though still over 75 years old I'm sure. After taking to the ticket office (thank God in English) my train was in about an hour...but I decided to go to München (Munich) instead of directly to Füssen so I knew I would have an easy time with trains. A few changing of trains (karlsrule and stuttgart) and it was no problem. The country side was BEAUTIFUL! Keil is at the foothills of the mountains. They looked like the Appalachians, but with a German twist. Many of them had vineyards going straight up, but on the ICE train going so fast I couldn't snap a picture. I even saw a castle on top of a mountain (in ruins) but I just got a tree in my picture. :( After a few hours I saw (what a thought was) my stop: Passing-München. After walking around the area for 5 hours, trying to find where I was on my map of München I was finally able to intrepret a sign in German that said this was the FAR west side of München. Very aggrivated and very tired and sore by now for walking for 5 hours worth of miles with a 50 lb bag on my back, I ate some McDonalds and got back on the damn DB train to the next stop = the REAL München. That's all I have to say about that, except I did see a Confederate flag flying there. odd. People gave me weird looks walking around the middle-of-nowhere Germany with a bag on my back. Anyway after getting to München at nearly 7:30pm I started waking to find the hostel I found online. It looked to be pretty far (and it was starting to get dusk). I walked just a few blocks and saw a ** Hotel/Hostel. Excellent! 18 euro and 3 euro for bed sheets is not a bad deal for the night. Glean bed, fairly clean bathroom and shower, contental breakfast, and close--yet 14 ppl to a room, ok so this is real hostel living.
So with only a few hours of daylight I attempted to see München--all of it. Which I was fairly sucessful ! Of course I couldn't go into the cathedrals, but it was pretty on the outside. I saw all the sights lit up by the lights, Where Hitler started froming his plans, the big building with teh awesome clock where figures dance around (which was under reconstruction, just like the rest of Europe this summer. I couldn't find the hofbrauhaus, even though I'm pretty sure it was right under my nose. Oh, well Seeing a lot in a few hours, now it was time to sleep.

Strausbourg

I awoke late, with Manuelle (my madame's {read: crazy lady} son) telling me to wake up so I could give him my key at 7:30. I was mostly packed from the night before, so a few minutes later I rushed out the door onto the metro all the way across Paris to Gare de l'Est. I'd be dammed if I wasn't 2 minutes late. Off to a great start. Fortunately, Eurail will let you take the next train. SO after changing my ticket to the one in a few hours, and 16 euro difference in cost, I would be off to Strausbourg. I walked around teh neighborhood trying to find a Orange telephone place to recharge my phone with minutes for emergencies. Finally, after carrying my, what came to feel, heavy bag around for a couple of hours I found a Tabac that would actually do it. So off to the train station to take a nap until my train. It was a short night because the rest of the group wanted the last few hours to spend together, then I had to pack. ONly a few hours of sleep...ahh. Finalay on my TGV to Strausbourg which was filled with occasional naps throughout, I saw the terrain to the East of Paris to Strausbourg. Very PRetty. Finally, just a little over 2 hours later on the very fast train ( over 120 mph ?? ) I was in Strausbourg. First things first: buy my ticket to my next location: Fuessen, Germany. Well after waiting for an anglophone person, she told me all the trains were full to Fuessen the next day. Anyway my pass would not cover a ticket that I bought in France, so I would have to buy it. Darn. All she told me to do was buy a ticket across the border and I could try there which would be free with my Germany-Czech Eurail pass anyway. So 1.50 euros was all I needed for a pass/ticket on a train in the morning. Great!
Onto find my hostel for the night. I had directions which were easy: take the #10 buss in front of the trains station 3 stops. Easy. Found the bust, but eh lady insisted on speaking French with me, not a big deal, which it was France now and not Germany or Czech later! After finally finding the hostel and checking in, it was just early afternoon. An 8 person hostel room, that was actually nice and clean. There was an Australian in teh room that I had a small chat with, then off to sight see.
The city was very beautifull. A very heavily German-Rhine river influence in the buildings. I saw the huge Notre Dame Strasbourg and St. Paul's protestant churches. There was a choir practice in the latter and I talked with the organists for a while after he approached me. The organ in the church is actually very famous, he told me. Many people have played it--including Mozart!. The echo of teh choir and organ was great sound. The city has a small tream running through it whcih had boat locks for a difference in the height. Ver small, but cool. I saw the island where they kept the people with Syphillis (long ago). What a great place to eat dinner, as it was getting that time--said my stomach. I asked a lady at one of the restaurants the guide book suggested...they don't start serving until 7h45. Damn Europeans! They eat soo late. We off to do stuff for 2 hours more. I went back to the Cathedral (Notre Dame) to actually go inside. I Somehow forgot to actually go in. It too was beautiful, better than Notre Dame de Paris I thought but I like the Chatres Cathedral better still. I watched the clock do it's thing @ 7pm, which (I'm sure) wasn't as good as teh noon showing; whcih I missed because of the train problem...my fault. After walking more in the town, I realized it was fairly small, after living in Paris for a month!
Finally dinner tiem I found another restaurant just down the smae road from the other I asked earlier. I saw people eating here: good sign. I was starvign by now. Starging with a "Salad Strausborgean", which was lettuce topped with a mound of swiss (?) cheese some white creamy salad dressing, tomatoes, onions, and a radish. Not bad, actually. Then came teh main course, I really didn't know what it was when I ordered it, but it said it was traditional regional food--so I wanted to try it. Turned out to be stereotypical German food. You've got to remember that these eastern regions of France were German before teh WW's for a long time. Only after the US kicked Nazi butt did we give it back to France. ANyway, it was sauerkraut with a few types of sausage and a potato. I ate as much as I could tolerate. The sausages were good, but it was just too much odd food for my stomach, namely the the sauerkraut juice on everything. For dessert I has some cheese and bread. Very good. I wanted to go see the UN Parlament before turning in for the night. It was a bit of a walk as it is on the outer part of town. nice & New glass buildings. As I was heading back I saw the huge cathedral tower lit up, so I started walking towards it to take a picture but 1/2 way there they turned off teh lights @ 10:30. Oh well, to the Hostel for some sleep!

Friday Week 2 - Versailles

TO COME SOON!!

Chateau de Versailles

Day 11

Not a lot happened today. It was fairly chilly. After class we all went to go to lunch together on Bastille. We decided to finally eat at the restaurant Indiana. We found out that Indiana served Tex-Mex. hmmmmm. I didn't know that!! Somehow I think French people are confused on geography of Indiana vs. the Mexican border. It wasn't quite don pablos or taco bell. It was ok, but I didn't have a strong urge to return.
We were to all meet up after a while to go to the IMA (Instiut de Monde Arab, or Institute of the Arab World) museum for class. It was supposed to be a museum for the muslium people in Paris. It was really boring and didn't have a lot in it. The artifacts were really ancient and showed nothing of the current Islamic peoples. The outside of the building was really cool and actually has pieces of metal that look like a camera sutter that open and close throughout the day. I didn't take any pictures, because there 1) was really nothing to take pictures of 2) I didn't really feel like I wanted to remember this pathetic museum.

Day 11 - Thursday

Day 10 - Wednesday week 2 (Musee d'Orsay)

After class, I went by myself to visit Musee d'Orsay. With little hype compared to the Louvre, I didn't know very much about it. After waiting in line for a while, I realized I didn't have to because I'm a student with a pass. After a few minutes trying to figure out the horrible map, I decided to forget it and just wander around. So I started off in the big main area. The building used to be a train station, so on the wall above my head was a HUGE highly decorated clock. Walking around the main area, there were a lot of sculptures, many by Rodin which I'd seen at the Rodin museum anyway--so that was a fast part. There weren't many people here at all compared to the Louve. Considering there are more famous paintings here by more of the famous artists, I was quite suprised. I was just looking around a room with some cool paintings, by guys I'd never heard of when I saw my first Monet painting. It was really weird and exciting to actually see something in person I'd only read about and been taught about in art class back in midddle school. There was a fairly good sized cut-away model of the paris Opera House (where the Phantom of the Opera lives). Which it was a good thing I took time to look at it because that was the one thing I didn't ever get to see in Paris (arrrg!) It was always closed.
There was the actual drawing done by Eiffel of the planning of the tower. I liked the paintings here much better than the Louve.
Later I walked into a room of just Monet. It made my heart beat fast just to actually be standing right next to these really famous, really amazing paintings.
Then I walked into the next room. Van Gogh! I absolutely loved this room.
After spending several minutes just looking at them, almost in disbelief of what I was actually seeing, I moved on and saw some huge toulouse latrec paintings. Unbelievable. Down the hall there were lowly lit rooms with pastels and watercolors, which were interesting. There were also some pointalism.
Afterwards, I met up with the other at, what was becoming 'our' bar, Kilty's. We sat outside and met locals passing by. Fun people they are. We saw this guy walking around in a red dress, heals, and a blonde wig. He was walking around with a few other guys who were all laughing at him. A couple of the girls went over and found out that it was his bachelor party. Quite funny hazing!

Day 10 - Wednesday

Week 2 - Tuesday

So today we got out of class early to go to the Centre George Pompidou, the modern art museum. We walked through the Luxembourg gardens to get there. I had walked outside of them a few days before and didn't know what the big place was, other than some kind of park. It's really pretty cool. A lot of locals walk around and come here for lunch to relax. We walked to the metro and got off at Chatelet station, which I think is probably the biggest in paris. With Gladys leading us around to find the museum, we got lost. After walking through some interesting neighborhoods, we found a bus stop and realized it was only a couple of blocks away, so with it being pretty hot we'd just wait for the bus.
We finally got there and found out that this, as most museums in Paris--except musee d'orsay, are closed on Tuesdays. You would think Parsians would know that...Considering Nadege set up the day we would go with class. Anyway.
So we saw a gelato place at the top of the hill, so the class took a "field trip" there. And we found the best gelato place in Paris! Amazingly good. So after we stayed there...they were all taking, while I took a cat nap haha. And I awoke to them deciding to split up and go to more sights. I went with a few to go see l'Arc de Triomphe.
We found our way up to the Etoile. Which is the circle/star road around with arch, with 12 roads radiating out. Under the tunnel and up to the base. We got our free tickets, thanks to our school museum pass. We walked around looking at it up close first, and the eternal flame underneath. Then up the narrow stone spiral staircase, we found ourselves in the first floor in the middle. It was a tiny museum, but was under renovation (of course). It did have some pictures which were really interesting.
Continuing up to the top, we found a wonderful 360 view of Paris. With the design of the city having the streets radiate out from this point, there were no obstructions to get in the way. It was a bit windy, but not too bad.
Coming back down we ran into a military procession, which I guess happen nearly everyday, paying respect to the eternal flame.
Afterwards, we we to get some lunch at a cafe we'd gone to before. The sandwiches are great and cheap--not to mention the excellent desserts.

Day 9 - Tuesday

Monday - Week 2

After class, we had a scavenger hunt to find things in Montmartre area of Paris (around the Sacre Coeur to the north) This is a really fun part of town. There were 15 questions and 9 of us...so we thought team work was needed and divided them up between us to meet later to collaborate. Good plan to save a lot of time. There is some weird things in Paris we found out. Also there is a big painting square with many painters painting live and you can buy their pictures. There are some really good ones, and I might go back to get one. After meeting back up with the whole group, a few of us went inside the Sacre Coeur. No pictures allowed inside. It was nice, but nothing like any of the older gothic churches. We went up to the top, with very narrow spiral staircases. Getting to about the roof level, we had to go outside up and over the roof (on stairs) to get to the second set of spiral staircase to get to the top. It was a great view. Coming back down, we went underground to the crypt to see some of the church's collections. They had a lot of gold hearts (sacre couer means sacred heart). There was also another sculpture of St. Denis carrying his head, similar to the one we found earlier on the scavenger hunt. After we got done we wandered around over to Saint chappel to find it closed. Another Day.

Day 8 - Monday