French Fries and Frog Legs: Paris - Day 1

I'm channeling Sofia Petrillo right now.

Picture it: Thursday, July 21st.  A young American law student leaves her adopted English town with her two friends in tow.  Their destination?

PARIS!

We took the Eurostar, which is really a relatively stress free way to travel from England to Europe.  My ears always pop in the Chunnel, but I can handle popping ears much better than being groped at the airport or paying gobs of money for a normal sized suitcase.  I highly recommend the train to anyone traveling in Europe and wish we had a better train system in the US.

The French were surprisingly nice.  Seriously.  When we got to Paris late at night, we descended into the Metro, with only Sidney and me speaking a smattering of French.  We found the ticket kiosk with no trouble, but unfortunately, it was only taking Euro notes, not coins.  None of our cards were working and we were all so worried until this French man bought a book of ten tickets and sold us three individually for one Euro each!  So kind!

Anyway, we got to our hostel's Metro stop, Republique, and attempted to follow our hostel's less than clear directions.  These were the directions:

So, you'll need to reach the metro station 'République ' ( line 3,5,8,9,11 ). And follow the exit number 4 : 'Sortie rue du Faubourg du temple', the street which makes the corner with a shop named ' Habitat',( rue du Faubourg du Temple ) on the back of the statue. After one block walking on that street, you'll see a Mc Donald ( ! ) we are accross the street...

Seriously?  We went in the complete opposite direction of where we needed to be.  Wandering around  Paris, just three girls.  Not ideal.  We decided then and there that we would be cabbing it back home each night from dinner.  Luckily, we finally found the place, thanks to a kind (again!) French woman who asked a taxi driver where we needed to go.  We had a three bed room again, like we had in Dublin, with an ensuite bathroom.  So it was just us - yay!  The bathroom was not Mama-clean, but maybe dorm-room clean.  Not bad, but not barefoot either.  There might have been a minor mold issue.

The beds were ridiculous.  They were so squeaky.  Like, keep you awake at night with every wiggle squeaky.  At least it was just us three and we were all so tired, that we passed out.

The next morning, we woke up around 9.  We wanted to grab a bite to eat and then do the Eiffel Tower early to avoid the lines.  HA.  Anyway, my croque monsieur was delicious.  I am not a ham eater at home, but I always seem to eat it like it's my job in Europe.  Jamon y queso boccadillos in España, ham and cheese toasties in England, and croque monsieurs in France!  Yum yum!

After brunch, we moseyed on over to the Eiffel Tower.  We had to pause, though, to try out some of our favorite poses that we've learned from our Asian tourist friends.  I use the word friends loosely, because we've never actually talked to any of them, just admired their spectacular poses.

Barb leaps for joy!

Sidney hops in excitement.

The next several hours (seriously, like three or four) involved way too much standing around in line.  Luckily, I managed to snap a few photos in the meantime and even a breakdancer!

When we finally got our tickets and reached the middle level via the elevator, we decided to get out and take some photos.  Paris is just huge, as far as you can see - city.  My fear of heights didn't act up too badly, but I got a little dizzy when I looked up to take a photo of the top part of the tower.  

At some point, the sky started to look a little questionable, so we decided to get in line to go to the very top before it started to rain.

An hour and a half and a few rain showers later...we get to the front of the line only to discover they had sold us tickets for the middle tier only.  We had two options: 1) get out of line, go buy new tickets, and come back to the front or 2) get our souvenirs and get the heck out of Dodge.

We chose option 2 and decided to seek out some yummy snacks, namely: crepes!  I love crepes.  Really, I do.  I still have dreams about this mushroom crepe I had in a cafe in a square in Germany...

Where was I?  Oh, right.  Paris.

Our waiter thought we were funny and we thought the same of him.  He did take a photo of us (not so flattering of me, but c'est la vie) and even hopped in on one with Barbara!

Following our snack, we needed to do a little shopping to pick up some essentials we'd forgotten to pack.  On the way, we found Heaven.

Everyone says Laduree is beautiful and delicious and wonderful and you know what?  They're spot on!  I have never seen such a beautiful pastry shop.  It's the Tiffany's of macaroons.  I was so in love, even though I'd known about it for ages.  Take me back now, please!

Swiped from Barb's blog - I forgot to take a photo!

We found our essentials and decided to try to make it to Notre Dame before dinner.  It was around eight at night at this point but still very well lit.  Even though the church was closed, there were still tons of people around, making the perfect opportunity for Sid and I to show off another favorite Asian pose.

We walked around the back of the church and into the little garden behind it, with me snapping photos the whole way.  Such a shutterbug.  I'll spare you most of them, but let's just say that between the above photo and the below photo, I took around 40 shots.

After we said Au revoir! to Notre Dame, we went back to the hostel to wash Paris off our skin and change for dinner.  Sid's pal Gwyneth had suggested a couple of places, but unfortunately we could find none.  We finally ended up poking out heads into a cafe, and I asked in my meager French "Est-ce qu'il être encore possible...?"  I didn't even have to finish before the guy shook his head and said they weren't still serving food.  He did tell us to go to Cafe Louise, though, and oh my gosh!  What a recommendation!  The food, the service, everything was great!

I even tried escargot!  And guess what?  I really liked the flavor!  I could only eat one, though, because I couldn't get past the mental block of "There is a snail in my mouth right now."  Maybe if I hadn't had to yank it out of the shell myself?  I don't know.  It was tasty though, and I'd consider eating them again.  Sidney and Barbara liked them so much that they ordered another round!  After dinner, it was time for bed.  We were so exhausted, we didn't even mind the squeaky beds!

Coming up?  We take on the museums of Paris and Sacre Coeur!  Stay tuned, my friends!

Hail, Britannia!

We finally made it to Bath, and oh, what an adventure it was!  Don't let the exclamation mark fool you into thinking it was more fun than it was.  It was miserable.

We collected our bags from the hostel and walked to the bus stop.  We were expecting a bus to come round every twenty minutes or so.

Forty minutes later, we decided to suck it up and pay the €7 it cost to take the AirCoach.  It's bigger, the driver puts your bags under the bus for you, and really, it was worth the peace of mind.  We were getting snappish with one another, which is never a good thing, particularly when you're on a six week journey with each other!

We finally get to the airport and make our way to check our bags, which we're all terrified will be overweight.  Sidney and I were safe, but unfortunately Barbara had to pay an overage.  :(  But she wasn't the only one with suitcase issues.  The extendable handle on my case would not, um, de-extend, so I had to take it to oversized luggage.  Luckily there wasn't a fee charged, but I was worried the handle would get broken during the flight.  Given that there wasn't anything to be done, we went through security with no issues and walked to our gate with ample time to spare.

We all grabbed some sandwiches in Cafe Cú in the terminal (so good - ham and cheese!) before going to sit at our gate.  It was at this point that we discovered our flight was delayed.  Not good, since we were already going to be cutting it close to make the train from Bristol to Bath, where our hostel was located.  However, as there was nothing to be done about it, we stood around until we finally boarded.

I had heard how miserable RyanAir was, but oh my gosh.  They never stopped talking, offering us drinks and candy and magazines and lottery tickets (seriously?!)...all at a very "reasonable" price - HA!  All I wanted to do was finish Room.

We made it to Bristol, disembarked QVC-Air, and walked through to go through customs and collect our bags.  Unfortunately, we walked right past both baggage claim and security, having followed the folks who had no checked luggage.  Of course we realized this two seconds too late and had to wait for security to bring our bags to us.  No catching that train now, especially when I saw what had happened to my bag!

Just as I had feared, the handle had been snapped off.  This meant I had to pull it by the little handle on top of the suitcase, causing it to hit the back of my legs with every step.  I also had to take baby steps to avoid hitting my heels on the bag, which made me go much more slowly that my travel pals.

After realizing our train was gone and the buses were finished for the night, we debated on the cost of taking a taxi versus booking a hostel in Bristol.  After learning the cab ride would only close us £48, however, we decided to press on.

Our cabbie had been to Las Vegas and about 30 of the 50 United States.  He had also been made to disappear by David Copperfield in Las Vegas in this trick:

Well, not this group, but this same trick.  He wouldn't tell us how it happened, though.  Oh well.

We got to Bath Uni and tried to follow the directions on the e-mail they sent Barbara when she booked the rooms.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the place we were directed to go was closed.  Luckily, Barbara and Sidney spotted some guys who were able to take us to the library to collect our room keys instead.  Twenty minutes later we were all securely in our rooms.  Well, almost all of us.

The Accommodation Services folks had given a key to poor Sidney's room to someone else!  So at 3:45 am, while she is enjoying a deep slumber, in busts a random guy, drunk, who wants to know what she's doing in his room.  She tells him it's her room and shows him her key.  He is goodnatured enough to go to a friend's room (and invite her to breakfast - she declined!).  Too bad he wasn't thoughtful enough to keep it down so Sid could go back to sleep quickly, though she did say she eventually fell back asleep.

Our days in England were not off to a promising start, but surely things would get better.

Dubh Linn - Part I

By the time I went to bed last night, I had been awake for 38 hours straight, but it was totally worth it!  I've had such an amazing time, and I've been here for a day and a half.  After (finally) arriving in Dublin around noon on the 7th, my friends and I took the Aircoach from the airport to the top of O'Connell Street.  Our hostel, Abigails, was at the other end, just on the south side of the O'Connell Street Bridge on Aston Quay.  It was a pleasant ride, even after what felt like years on a plane.

The bus dropped us off and we had a reasonable walk, maybe half a mile, through Dublin.  We had to keep reminding ourselves to Look Right!, but luckily, there were reminders spray-painted on the street.  We made it to our hostel around 1:00 pm, and our room wouldn't be ready until 2:00, so we stored our luggage and headed out to find some lunch.  Right around the corner (we're staying in the Temple Bar district) was Oliver St. John Gogarty Pub.  It's also a hostel, apparently, but it was perfect for a quick bite.  My appetite's been kind of off - I barely had anything since I left home until this morning - and I had some pureed vegetable soup with bread.  It was good though, and the pub had live Irish music (although they clearly cater to the foreign crowd - Danny Boy, anyone?).  By the time we finished, our room was ready.  We headed back to the hostel, got our keys and beds in order, and then headed out.

Barbara was interested in going to Mercy House on Baggot Street, as she attended a high school run by the Sisters of Mercy.  So off we went!  On our way, we walked through Merrion Square, where we spotted some little Irish Madelines, complete with the Madeline hats.  Super cute!

Outside and a couple more blocks and we made it to Mercy House!

On the way there, I snapped a pic of one of Dublin's famous doorways!

Mercy House, now known as Mercy International Centre, complete with a statute of Catherine McCauley herself.

After Mercy House, we walked along the canal back toward the river to see the Famine Statutes.  

On the way, we stopped at St. Stephen's, aka The Pepper Canister.

I'm legitimate Potato Famine Irish - my family emigrated in 1845 - so of course I wanted to see that.  I'd seen pictures, but the reality was so much sadder.  The elongated figures with their exhausted, hopeless expressions really touched me.

After that, it started to get chilly (the sun was going down), so we stopped off at an ATM to get some Euros before dinner and headed back to the room to freshen up.  We chose to have a nice dinner for our first night in Europe, so we headed to Fallon & Byrne.  Like I said, my appetite has been off, so I had a Caesar salad for dinner with grilled chicken that was actually very good.  For dessert, there were three options.  Three options + three girls = we each ordered one and shared.  I had a chocolate and orange mousse with orange ice cream.  It was so delicious; I love the combination of chocolate and orange!

I ate it all!  Yum!

Unfortunately, by the time I was finished, I was very nearly falling asleep at the table.  I was exhausted, so while Barbara and Sidney went to the pub where we had lunch for a drink, I headed home and fell fast asleep, ready for a long relaxing night...

Until 4:00 am and a fight broke out on the sidewalk in front of our hostel!  There was a lot of shouting in thick Irish accents.  I lay there listening for a while, until I heard a soft "Are y'all awake?" from Barbara's side of the room.  I answered yeah and crept over to the window to peek out.  Barbara went first and was spotted by one of the guys!  He called out drunkenly, offering to "shag" her.  Barbara dropped the curtain immediately, and we both giggled.  After that, I was too scared to poke my head out and take a good look.

Apparently one of them had been hit over the head with a bottle and was very put out about it.  I can only assume it was the noise that caught the attention of the Garda, the Irish police, who told the group to move along, despite protests about "simple conversations on public sidewalks."  After a quick observation that "The Irish are very passionate," I fell back asleep and woke up at 8:00 am, ready for another day!