Paris, Part Deux

On Saturday, the 3 of us got up early so do some more sight-seeing. None of us slept very well, unfortunately, but that's life. Someone was snoring loudly in our dorm, and people kept coming in and out at all hours of the night, opening up the creaky lockers under the bunks and waking us up. Oh well, that's the price you pay for saving a little money and staying in a 10-person room.

The first thing we did was go to Montmarte. This is one of the most famous areas in Paris, as it was the center of the Bohemian Revolution during the late-1800s and early 1900s. It is also the location of the infamous Moulin Rouge and Paris' red light district. The first thing we checked out was the Moulin Rouge. It was cool to see it in person, especially after watching the movie probably hundreds of times in the last 10 years (I can't believe it has already been that long since its premier...my mom and I saw it in the theater! And I don't care what anyone says...it's one of my favorite movies of all time!).

Anyway, it would have been amazing to catch dinner and a live show there, but unfortunately this costs a minimum of 150 Euro per person, which doesn't exactly fit into a teacher's salary. Instead, we took lots of pictures of the outside and also read the history that was posted in the facade. We stepped inside for a few minutes to ask where the gift shop was, and saw some of the original, personal items from some of the first women of the Moulin Rouge. There really was a "Sparkling Diamond" who was the star of the show...and her shoes, elaborate diamond necklace, and perfume bottles were on display.

The gift shop was definitely a disappointment. It was tiny, and everything was locked up in cases and extremely expensive. Don't bother going there if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods.

Just down the street (still in the red light district), there is the "Museum of the Erotic," which had been recommended to Margie as something we should check out. It was definitely a unique adults-only display...something you would never find in Montana! Needless to say, there were many sexually-explicit objects, sculptures, artworks, gadgets, pictures, paintings, films, etc. from cultures all around the world and from the earliest times to the present. My favorite was the French section from the late 1800s-early 1900s, especially about their brothels. For some reason, this is always fascinating. We also watched parts of a pornographic 1920s silent film...hahaha. It is a legitimate museum over 7 floors that is worth checking out if you aren't too prude and can handle it with a mature and open-minded attitude. Otherwise, it may be too uncomfortable.

Next, we were off to the Catacombs. Back in the 1700s and 1800s, the cemetaries of Paris were overflowing. There were too many people and not enough enough space, which led to unsanitary conditions and disease, causing even more death. The solution: to exhume over 6 million bodies and place their bones in catacombs, or special underground cemetaries with tunnels, rooms, and other recesses dug out as a second resting place. This saves a ton of room, and frees up space in the normal cemetaries for the "more recently dead." We were quite surprised at how far we needed to go underground and how long it took us to get through the series of tunnels that led to the bones...and I was starting to think it was just a hoax. However, just around this time we found them....and it took us an hour to walk through the corridors. The bones were arranged in patterns, alternating leg and arm bones with skulls, while the rib, spine, hand, foot, and pelvis bones were scattered over the top. It is hard to fathom 6 million dead, but walking through the catacombs helps give you an idea. Read more about it here, it's really interesting! Catacombs

After this, we walked through the Luxembourg gardens....although it was a little bit dead due to it being winter. I think that's more of an activity for any of the 3 other seasons in the year.

Next was the Notre Dame cathedral. It was unbelievable how many tourists were crammed into this church...it kind of made it a little bit harder to enjoy, but oh well. It really is a beautiful gothic cathedral...so beautiful in fact that it even inspried Victor Hugo to write his classic, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." There was a house next to it that appeared to be part of the church, and Nate was convinced that this was where the hunchback lived. Who knows?

Achieving our goals for the day, we headed back to the hostel. After relaxing for a few hours, we went to a very quaint, very French bar/cafe. Margie and I wanted to try some French cuisine that wasn't crepes, so we ordered foie gras (duck liver) in an egg sauce, as well as veal with mushroom sauce and noodles. This was way too much food. I wasn't so much a fan of the duck liver...it basically dissolves as soon as it falls in your mouth, but the veal was good. Nate stuck with steak and fries, although he couldn't escape some Frenchness thanks to the bleu cheese sauce over the top.

The waiter was really nice to us, which was nice. He must have thought we were Canadians.

Oh, that reminds me...on the subway, we accidently made some people a little mad because we sat down in the chairs before them, even though we were there first. They ended up getting some seats next to us anyway, and were obviously talking about how much they hated us in French. At this point I loudly said, "I GUESS WE SHOULD JUST GO HOME TO ENGLAND NOW....".

I hate being slightly embarassed to admit that I'm an American thanks to the douche bags that ruin our reputation. It's not fair, but hopefully someday the damage can be undone? I don't know. Whatever. Europeans will continue to simultanously love and hate us until the end of time.

Paris, Part Un

On Friday morning, I flew to Paris to meet up with Margie and Nate for the weekend. I was really worried that my flight would be cancelled because of the snow and cold weather, but luckily it wasn't. However, I did have to wait an extra 2 hours for the plane to be de-iced, which sucked...especially because we just had to sit in the plane the entire time and wait. Oh well....it gave me a chance to read a few more chapters in my mystery novel, "Die Zahlen der Toten."

Going through security was a pain in the butt this time, but just because I had my purse with me in addition to my backpack. This has never been a problem for me in the past, so I was a little irritated when the man at security told me (rather rudely, I might add) that I could only have one bag, and that I would have to put my purse inside my backpack if I wanted to continue. Otherwise I would have to check my backpack. This wouldn't have been a problem if my small backpack wasn't already stuffed almost as full as physically possible. Luckily, I managed to squish everything in a little tighter, and just barely jam my purse in without it exploding. Stupid easyJet.

The flight was fine, and I didn't care about being a few hours late, because I was still at the hostel over an hour earlier than Margie and Nate were.

My first impressions of Paris were lukewarm. It smelled kind of disgusting and the metro system is totally dirty and ghetto compared to Berlin's S-Bahn (although you never have to wait longer than 3 minutes for a train, so that part is great). I was also really surprised to see so many ethnic peoples...I mean, even though I know Paris is a major metropolitan city, I still expected that there would be more white people. (I'm not saying I have a problem with it, and I don't intend to sound racist at all. I'm only making an observation, so don't get too excited.)

Margie got to the hostel before Nate, and while we were catching up, we had ordered a pizza in the bar/restaurant that was also part of our hostel. It was good, except that they try too hard to be "hip" and appealing to young people by playing their music WAY TOO LOUD. It really irritated me, because you couldn't ignore it if you wanted to. And heaven help you if you didn't like the song, which I didn't 90% of the time.

After Nate arrived and we all had a chance to relax a bit, we headed out to the Eifel Tower. It is so beautiful at night, and took our breath away. It was glowing with yellow-orange light, and looked stunning. There was a cool Christmas market along the way that we walked through, which also had some beautifully lit, vintage-style merry-go-rounds.

All around the Eifel Tower, there are men who try to sell you small knick-knacks and souvenirs, and they pester you at every stop. You literally have to yell "No!" at them and keep moving. There we so many of them, wandering aimlessly around in the cold and dark with their giant key ring of little metal Eifel Towers, muttering some half-English, half-French nonsense, that they reminded me a lot of zombies. And of course, my first gut instinct to zombies is SHOOT THEM ALL!, but unfortunately they weren't real zombies and I didn't have a gun, so I just had to ignore them instead.

We waited in line for about 20 minutes before getting up to the 2nd level via elevator. We actually wanted to climb the stairs, but they were blocked off for some reason, and the top was closed. Probably had to do with the weather, because it started to snow. It was cold, but also very beautiful. The view from the 2nd level was breathtaking, especially with the snow and all of the Christmas lights.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at a tent in the Christmas market for some hot chocolate. Unfortunately, we didn't speak much French and they didn't speak much English. This resulted in 1) us making a few French-sounding noises that we hoped would make sense to them, 2) all of us looking confused at each other and pointing at various things, and 3) EPIC FAILURE. Eventually, the lady just chose a cup size, poured in some hot chocolate, and asked for 4 euro. lol.

We stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner along the way, and had some awesome food. I might eat there again today before I leave, actually...

More to come.

Manneken Pis

One of the coolest things about Brussels is the little peeing boy statue named "Manneken Pis", probably the most famous Belgian landmark of all time.

In pictures, he looks like he is life-sized, but in actuality he is really only less than 2 feet tall. My first reaction when I saw him was, "This is it??" That's ok though...it is still pretty cool, even if he is small. Size really doesn't matter when it comes to this little guy. Here's a run-down:

In 1618, a French sculpter created the statue out of bronze, which was based on a similar stone version that had been stolen years before. No one knows the exact significance of the boy and his peeing, although there have been many theories. For instance, according to one legend, a rampant fire was raging through Brussels many centuries ago, and in an attempt to help extinguish it, a small boy started peeing on it. Another legend says that an infertile couple finally conceived a child, and right after he was born, he peed on the pastor who baptized him. Yet another legend suggests that the boy actually symbolizes a 2-year-old duke in the year 1187, whose troops were battling an enemy group. Supposedly the infant was placed in a basket and tied to a tree as encouragement for the troops, and as nature called, he answered.

Another widely accepted version is that a small boy was often seen relieving himself in this particular corner, whose acidic urine eventually burned a whole in the stone wall. When it rained, water would pour down and come out of the hole, and this looked as though the wall was also peeing. (The last part seems like a bit of a stretch to me, but whatever).

Every now and then on special occasions, the water in the fountain is replaced with beer, and people can go get their drink from his "flow". People get really excited about this...

One of the coolest things about Manneken Pis is that he has special costumes made for him that are changed every couple of weeks. His very first costume was made for him in 1698 by the prince of Bavaria: velvet with the royal blue Bavarian print. Since then, he has received an additional 800-some costumes through the years, many of them donated by other countries. You can see 100 of them at a time at the Museum of the City of Brussels at the Grand Place. They are switched out every couple of months. It really is quite fascinating.

This statue is a symbol of Belgium's unique culture and history. It is a statement of rebellion towards the many occupiers of Belgium throughout the years, as in, "You may be here and try to boss us around, but we'll still do wherever we want to." That is another reason why the statue has so much support and has weathered the centuries so well: people believe in his message, as unconventional and ridiculous as it may seem to us non-Belgians.

Brussels

After a few initial difficulties (see last post), I fell in love with Brussels. It is such a cool city. There are so many things to see, so many wonderful things to eat, and the people are very friendly. It truly is a one-of-a-kind.

Belgium has been under so many different occupations through the years that it has had exposure to a variety of cultures, which has led to its own unique cultural development. There are two official languages, French and Dutch; however, there is an area where Plattdeutsch is spoken (a northern German dialect), and of course English being the international language it is, it is also widely spoken and understood. From what I gathered from my short visit, there is still a conflict between French and Dutch that has yet to be resolved.

One interesting result from the presence of many languages in Belgium is the importance of cartoons and comics. Belgium is apparently famous for its cartoons, and creates more cartoons than any other country (something I didn't know before). This is a form of communication that can transcend language barriers; however, with my own experience, as well as the experience of my students, with foreign comics, this doesn't appear to be the case. Usually foreign language learners dread comics in the language they are learning. I guess the Belgian ones are just way better...they've mastered the art.

There are so many cool things to see in Brussels. The "Grand Place" is the original town square that has been there for centuries, and is surrounded with very beautiful, gothic style buildings that are 400-500 years old. In my opinion, this is something that you really have to experience in person, because pictures can't seem to capture the effect of standing there and looking at them with your own eyes. I literally spent 45 minutes in this square JUST looking at the outside of these beautiful buildings. They were so detailed, and even ornated with gold. I couldn't believe the work that the people must have put into creating them, especially 500 years ago when everything had be made with blood and sweat.

Of course, Brussels is famous for its statue of Menneqin Pis, a small boy peeing. This is actually pretty fascinating, so I'm reserving a special post just for him. :)

There is a very beautiful cathedral in Brussels that has been standing there since 1014. It is huge, not to mention absolutely breathtaking. I spent about an hour in the cathedral, really taking my time and enjoying it.

Brussels (and Belgium in general) is also famous for Belgian waffles, chocolate, mussels, and French fries! I am happy to report that I tested all of these items, and they really are as good as they say. (I had no idea that French fries were actually a Belgian creation...how misleading! Too bad they eat them with mayonnaise...yuck.)

I bought sooooo much chocolate. The quality really was amazing. All I can say here is that Belgium chocholate = mouthgasm.

One of the best things I did in Brussels what eat at a restaurant called "The Lobster House." I happened to stumble across this place when I was just walking around. One of the waiters was out front, and when he saw me pause and contemplate going inside, he said, "Hungry?" with a big friendly smile. I said I was, and he led me inside to a table with a candle and fresh flowers. It was really charming, and the service was amazing (although admittedly, a bit too friendly for me at times). I had a 3-course meal of shrimp scampi and homemade rolls, a huge pot of steamed mussels and salad, and a Belgian waffle for desert. Everything was absolutely delicious. I loved it so much I went back the next day, and had an equally amazing meal. They really appreciated that I came back, and even gave me my Fanta at no charge. :)

Belgium is also known for stitchwork. There were some beautiful table cloths and doilies, as well as stitched parasols. I really wanted to buy a parasol, but had no way to bring it home. :(

All in all, Brussels is a really cool place, and I hope I'll have the chance to go back someday.

Arriving in Brussels

Once again, I have been doing a horrible job of maintaining my blog...I apologize to those of you who have been waiting on a new post! I'll get better about this, I promise. :)

So about a month ago, I visited Brussels, Belgium for a weekend (the capital of the European Union!). Margie and I had actually planned to meet there and check it out together, but unfortunately she had to work at the last minute and couldn't come. So, I ended up just going myself, and everything went fine...after a few initual difficulties.

My first impression of Belgium was one of chaos. The airport in Brussels seems to be huge, although it's possible that it really isn't....I was just extremely lost. First of all, I had no idea which direction anything was from where I entered the airport. There were NO SIGNS ANYWHERE, not even one of those little "YOU ARE HERE" maps. So I took a chance, and walked to the left. Eventually, I wound up in a line, which I assumed was customs (I didn't even consider the fact that when traveling within the EU, you don't need to go through customs). After waiting 15 minutes in a line of many "ethnic people", I got to the counter. "Boarding pass, please," the man said. I was confused, and gave him the one I just used to get to Brussels plus a confused look. He said, "I don't think you want to be in this line, Miss. These people are all going to Africa." lol...nevermind!

I was looking for the train that was supposed to connect the airport with the Central Train Station (Centraalstasion), but there were NO SIGNS ANYWHERE about trains!! Wtf? I literally walked around for an hour, until finally I gave up all hope and asked someone. I finally found it, and then had to wait 30 minutes in line to buy a stupid ticket.

With the airport ordeal finally behind me, I rode to the Central Station. I was prepared with printed out directions from Google Maps that would take me to my youth hostel. I made it to my metro stop (subway) with no problems...however, that was where my luck ended. From there, I tried to find the street where I was supposed to walk to next. First I walked in the wrong direction until I realized I was backward. Then I went back, found the street, and turned right, just like the directions said. However, then none of the directions made sense any more! I found myself in some sort of Middle-Eastern district where no one spoke English. I'm sure I looked like the best mugging target ever with my laptop, purse, and backpack swinging off my every limb. Well, at the very least, I was obviously very lost, and a man came up to me and asked me if I needed help. I said yes, I was looking for Rue d'Elefant, where my hostel was. He told me I was definitely in the wrong area, and that I should go back the way I came. So I did, more confused than ever.

Now, I had absolutely no sense of orientation, and just started walking down a random street. I was looking for a public map, like at a bus stop or something, but there weren't any. My next idea was to go to the bank and ask there (the only place that seemed safe in this area). However, it was closed. Instead, I went into a Pakistani grocery store and asked a worker for directions. He also didn't speak any English, so I attempted the little French I knew. "Oú est Rue d'Elefant?" Luckily, he understood me, and knew where I wanted to go. He drew me a small map that took me right there. Thank God!

So, I finally made it to the hostel, and got checked in. It was now 3 hours since arriving in Brussels. Thanks, Google Maps, for totally screwing me over.

More to come.