Day 20 - Notre Dame 1

As the title aludes to, I'm headed for Notre Dame today. But not the one in Paris. There's a place called Chartres to the north where the greatest Notre Dame, nay the greatest of all cathedrals is supposed to be. It's about an hour away and is open until 7:30PM, so I should have some time, despite my late start today.

Part of the reason for said late start was because I mailed back a couple books about the Lourve and D'Orsay. Crap. I forgot to mail my memory card. Oh well. One more trip. The post office in France on Saturday is just as fast as the post office in the states on a Saturday. Heh. Oh well.

So let's see, when I rushed back to the Louvre yesterday, I spent a little more time with the antiquities, trying to see if I could actually remember the cultures connected to the pictures I took. I couldn't, so I bought the antiquities book and sent it home. :) Here are a few more things I do remember.

• Stella of Mesha of Moab. Stellas are like headstones and commemorate the deeds of an individual. In Mesha's case it was his victory over the Israelites and kingly reign. The mention of the Israelites on his stella was the first mention of them ever. Predating the bible, which sort of glosses over Mesha's victory.
• Stella for an even earlier king. He united four kingdoms, which at that time constituted the entire civilized world (we're talking fertile crescent time around 4000 years ago). He was deified. I suppose he was the model for every Alexander, Caeser, and Napoleon since.
  
• Roman statues. I hope they kept all the good stuff in Rome, because most of the roman stuff I've seen so far is really dull, like the romans were too bound by some kind of rule system to do anything creative. I saw a statue of Hadrian and his wife that was just awful. They made Hadrian as Mars and his wife as Venus, but they stole the models from different periods in greek art, clothed the wife but not the husband for some bizarre notion of modesty, and just generally contributed nothing to art. Oh yeah, and Hadrian had a tiny package. :D
• Art of Islam. I have no doubt that the artisans of some of these pieces went blind. The detail, on the metalwork especially, is just dazzling. And I got a good snap of the earliest celestial globe (showing the position of the constellations) known to exist.

Anyway, I better mail my memory card, fill up on some lunch, and head out to Chartres. Adieu.

Day 19 - Louvre: Round 2

Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment. But I was on a quest! Heheh. I believe I have found some of the earliest dragons. They're on babylonian artifacts from roughly 4100 years ago. I looked at some even older stuff, but they didn't have dragons. For any of you who don't understand my need to do dragon research, observe this fascinating presentation on dragons by a skillsed artist.

Other than that, the Louvre has been somewhat less interesting today. The ancient stuff usually explains itself, but the more modern works are fraught with symbolism and stories behind their patronages that just float in the ether. Seriously, there are more than a few paintings in the Louvre that are figures from classical times, painted to look like characters from Greek mythology, and so covered with different symbols of countries, royalty, and just general symbolism that it boggles the mind. I sprung for the handset in english. It helps some. I find myself far more inclined to take pictures of works after I've heard their descriptions. I don't really understand enough about brush technique and composition to fully appreciate the workmanship. But if it has an interesting story, is part of a familiar myth, or has a monster in it, I'm there!

Okay, okay. Enough about art. What about travel? I forgot to include my decision to head for Rome. I may take a stop or two along the way (It's a long way by train.), but I'm determined to minimize the tourist crush.

All right. It's time for dinner, then back to the Louvre. It's open late on Friday. After that I need to figure out when to with my last remaining days in Paris. I still haven't been to Notre Dame, and Versailles is calling. A day trip by rail to the countryside may be in order as well. It's definitely time to find a rail office.

Day 18 - I Louvre You

Note: This update was late because I've been trying to get to the museums earlier.

Yep. I decided to head to the Louvre today. No doubt about it, it's an amazing museum. I headed for the antiquities first. What can I say. I love context, and chronological order helps a lot.

• Some of the earliest sculptures of humans, about four thousand years old
• Some of the earliest trinkets designed by humans, about six thousand years old. There was a wall of arrowheads that were probably much older (like over a hundred thousand years old), but I draw the line at arrowheads. They're just dull. It seems like everyone draws a line somewhere though because the antiquities never seem to be as crowded as the more modern works (with a few notable exceptions).
• Venus de Milo
• Winged Victory of Samothrace
• Mona Lisa
• Two of Michaelangelo's slave sculptures one of which was the basis for a sculpture by... Rodin! It's cool to enter a room in a museum and know the author and name of a sculpture you've never seen before. :)
• Lots of cool stuff by societies I'd barely heard of before. Palmyrans, anyone? I hope I can remember the captions for all my pictures!
• Cool stuff from Iran well before it was Iran.
• Plenty of Egyptian stuff. Too much in some cases.
• A quick trip through the current special exhibit about France during the Roman years. There was some interesting stuff there, but for me the best part was that I was only allowed in by mistake. I didn't have to pay to see it. :) There was an interesting column head there with some dragons on it. It got me to wondering when dragons were invented. There are chimera and sphinxes early on, but dragons don't seem to have shown up until the middle ages. Now I have to go on a quest to find the first Burninator!

I also filled up my first memory card. That's 2/5ths memory used in the first 1/5th of the trip. I think I may have underestimated my camera needs. I think we'll have to figure out how the whole general post thing works so you can send my memory cards back, mom. (You can buy a $20 device to transfer the current contents by USB to your PC first. I'll pay you back.)

Okay. This hostel PC has eaten all my coins, so I'll catch up with you all tomorrow sometime. Be well.

Day 17 - Hostel Shuffle

Well, I'm temporarily homeless until I check into my new hostel. I don't think the room is open until three, so I'm not in a real hurry. I'm spending a lot of time thinking about my next destination. Part of me keeps saying "Rome. Rome. Rome." If Paris is already this crowded, Rome would be a madhouse by the time I was originally planning to go. On the downside, I was kind of hoping to keep the "most likely to be robbed" destinations towards the end of the trip when losing my passport wouldn't screw up everything. I'll decide tomorrow.

In the meantime, let's talk d'Orsay. That's a pretty sweet museum. They were going to tear the building down, but public outcry forced them to find another use for it.

• The "original" plasters of some of Rodin's great works are there. Rodin never really took chisel to marble or poured bronze. In those days the sculptor worked in clay or plaster and then assistants took billions of measuements and used special tools to reproduce the work in the less forgiving final materials.
• There are lots of impressionist works. In fact there's a whole upstairs gallery I didn't even have time for. I may have to go back. It's got to be against the law to just walk by that many Van Gogh's, Whistler's Mother, etc.
• There was an Art Noveau display that was pretty cool. It was a noble idea, but didn't seem to have the necessary practical considerations to ever be adopted by normal humans. Some of it was almost Gigeresque. (In the style of H.R. Giger, creator of the monster in the original Alien movie.) [quickly surfs to discover the H.R. Giger museum in Giger's native Switzerland is a possible destination for later]

After d'Orsay closed, I headed back to the hostel. I decided to make a compromise and do something a little more french for dinner. I grabbed some funky french vegetable cake for the hostel microwave. It was pretty good, but not something I'd seek out later. The truth is, I don't know enough about french food to know where a vegetarian should begin (outside of the obvious baguette, cheese, and fruit).

Well, that's about it for today. I don't really know what I want to do today. I think every other day is the most for museums. Perhaps it's finally time to visit Notre-Dame (Our Lady).

Day 16 - A Good Idea While it Lasted

I dearly love slack days. Eulah let me peruse her copy of Europe for Dummies while I rested in the hostel room. Since the only chair is metal, that means I spent the majority of the day under the covers. It was very nice. Even the fact that a road work crew with jackhammers has been added to the elevated train and traffic noise didn't stop me from napping profusely. If the day had stayed that restful, it would have been fabulous. I would have gotten to chat with Eulah about her day, written down all the interesting sites that were in her book, and just generally felt refreshed.

As it now stands I spent the better part of my time between midnight and 2AM last night navigating the streets. It all started when I had dinner. The hostel disallows eating in the rooms (a reasonable policy), so I went to the courtyard to eat my yogurt and bread. There I met some fellow americans. It was fun to speak fluently for a while and be goofy. Josh in particular was a lot of fun, with a goofyness I miss over here. Eventually, most of the hostel seemed to be in the courtyard, with a lot of fluent English speakers, four from Canada, five from the states, and four from Australia. It was just like a party back home.

Then we decided to go view the Eiffel Tower at night. Every hour, they flash a bunch of strobes around the tower. It sparkles and is very beautiful. We were hoping to catch a quick metro and train and get there with time to spare. Groups of more than ten are never that quick. Plus there was a miscalculation regarding the trains, and five of us only made it two stops before our train shut down for the night. (Trains shut down before the metro.) So we walked a quarter mile or so to the tower, where we met up with two of our group. They said the rest were coming back for the midnight sparklies, but it was ten till and they were nowhere in sight. So we walked onto the Mars du Champs (the park next to the tower) to get a good view. It was delightful. Our friends apparently missed it. We took off for the metro (which runs until one), but weren't nearly fast enough. We were stuck at the Arc de Triumph, nearly all the way across town. We trudged until about 1:45, then broke down and got a taxi. That's the best 5.40 Euros spent so far. And because there's only one key per room, I had to knock and wake up Eulah to get back in and get to bed.

Sorry to sound all wet blankety, but if I'd just repaired to my room, I'd have had a much better evening. I missed Eulah's last evening here, and I'd grown rather fond of her. Ah well. I've still got a week in Paris ahead of me. I need to plan out the next leg of my itinerary and make train reservations. My eurail pass still hasn't been activated and I need to get the hang of train travel. I think I'll arrange a day trip to Versailles just to get some train training. But not today. Today d'Orsay. My first museum since Rodin. It's concentrated on French art as opposed the the broader perspective of the Louvre (which is closed today).

But first, breakfast! Well, at least after a small meditation on my eating abroad.

Food in England wasn't as bad for me as most people make it out to be, but then I didn't even bother eating out that much. It's so much easier and less expensive just to find a local market and get dinner stuff there (especially in the Astor Museum Hostel where there is always good company in the kitchen). I did have a nice pastie. But other than that, I left British cuisine for the brits. I've done pretty much the same thing in Paris. The first night I had a lovely veggie pizza and some wine. I thought it was the thing to do in Paris. But I just don't like alcohol. For me personally it provides no benefit. Lag sucks.

Otherwise, I've very much enjoyed my bread and cheese and fruit that most of my meals have been made of. But I suppose I should be more adventurous. After all, who knows when I'll be back?

Day 14 - Paris is Closed

Sunday is not the day to do much in Paris. Lots of shops close at 1PM, and many don't even open. This is a different internet place. Same rates and you can set the keyboard to respond like an english one, so I'm not complaining. Let's see. What the heck did I do yesterday.

• Made my reservation at the new hostel. It looks like kind of the AOL of hostels (a cafeteria as opposed to a kitchen, vending machines for everything from toiletries to maps), but I think it'll be a nice change of pace from the constant press of street vendors and the elevated train right out the window. It's pretty far out of town (practically the suburbs), but that's nice too because it lets me see a different side of the city.
• Took the subway (also called the metro) across town to the Arc De Triumph. It's big.
• Walked down the Champs Elysees. It's totally touristy with beaucoup movie theaters and expensive stores. Meh.
• I sat outside the Grand Palais (Palais = Palace) for a while. It didn't seem like the right time to hit another museum, so I kept going. I went around Palais de l'Elysee. It must also be a government building of some kind. You can't even walk on the same side of the street with the wall that surrounds it. The whole area around it is what I call a high security shopping district. Jewelry mostly. Southeby's. They only let customers in the door one at a time. If there isn't a free salesperson to help you, you probably don't get in.
• Then it was on to the Jardin des Tuileries. (Jardin = Garden or Park) It's a huge public space. I had fun wandering around, trying to find all the sculptures. It was really cool to run into a little cluster of Rodin's work.
• Finally I headed back to the hostel. I chatted with my latest roomie, a gal named Eulah who works with developmentally disabled adults. She was nice. We headed up to the church at the top of the hill near the hostel (Sacre Coeur). I'd been up there two days ago, but it was really fun to experience it for the first time again through her eyes.

You can probably sense a reduced level of enthusiasm. I've got to learn to watch for tourist burnout more vigilantly. Truth be told though, I don't really know what to do with myself when I'm not tromping around in search of whatever site is closest on my map. Today has already been a long day (9AM to 5PM of walking and trying to find places to buy food that were open). And I don't really feel the richer for it. It's definitely time for another slack day.

Day 13 - Mmmmm. Internet.

Yesterday's walk was fantastic. There is more amazing architecture than I have time to see or photograph. And in truth, photography never does a space justice. It never does a sculpture justice either, which was part of the problem at the Rodin museum yesterday, surely the highlight. They had handsets much like the Churchill museum that made it possible to hear English commentaries on the works. It was very cool. I now know more than I'd ever have expected to about Rodin. And even though pictures don't do the sculptures justice, I'm already looking forward to sharing them when I get home. I wonder if I'll remember what I learned by then. I'll definitely need a refresher on his giant bronze "Gates of Hell" (strangely not a reference to Bill Gates). Rodin liked to reuse figures, so you can point out lots of other famous sculptures inside of it.

Let's see, where else did I go yesterday? I mostly went by a lot of places.

• The Eiffel Tower is way too crowded
• The giant park next to it (parc du champ de mars) was nice

(The english do gardens. The french do parks. Considering how many of those english gardens are private, I think I prefer the French approach.)

• I took a snap or two of some vaguely military buildings (ecole militaire; tourville)
• I made sure to get some nice shots of the incredibly gauche gold statues on tourville and Pont Alexandre III
• I was going to take a shot of the Assemble Nationale (which judging by the police presence is a working government building), but the giant "We want the games!" sign for sucking up to the Olympic committee kind of wrecked it
• I took a couple shots of the Leuvre from across the street, not even knowing what it was, just that it was beautiful and massive. Pray for my poor feet when I begin tackling that beast.
• I went by the Orsay (another museum). The line out the door convinced me I should probably go. It's so hard to decide in Paris. There are 23 museums and 22 monuments listed just in the fold out map I got at the traing station when I arrived. And many of those monuments include tours, so it's not like you just snap a few photos and keep walking. Well, I do, sometimes.
• I wandered through the Garden of Luxemberg. That's probably misspelled, but I fear reading nothing but British and French spellings has permanently damaged my already shaky spelling abilities.

Okay, that pretty much sums up yesterday. Whew. I'm starting to get the hang of the french keyboard. I've found a nice internet shop where I can take my time. It feels really good to share with all the different friends, relatives, and aquaintences back home. And I love hearing from you as well, so don't hesitate to comment! :)

Today is pretty drizzly, so no good outdoor photos today. Searching for my next hostel has been a chore. I keep hitting the same three names and they don't look any better than where I am now. I'll be looking into Hostelling International's offerings today. They're a separate network, so we'll see. If all else fails, I can survive my current residence another week. Paris is worth it.

Day 12 - The Streets of Paris

I intend to start at the far end of Paris and walk my way back today. The far end is pretty near the Eiffel Tower. I think I still want to stay in Paris an extra week, but possibly not at this hostel as my quaint room overlooking the street is very noisy and two eggs and my bottled water were stolen from the fridge last night. I think I'll check online for a new place.

Day 11b - Vive le France!

I'm not entirely sure about this hostel yet, but I'm digging Paris. Shops of all kinds everywhere, lots of friendly people, and everything's way cheaper than Britain (though more expensive than the states, still). Most keyboards here are a pain though. Most have French letter positioning which is a pain for a touch typist. These hostel keyboards have US positioning, but nasty metal keys that aren't very comfortable. Oh well. Cest la vie. You'll just have to get used to short updates.

Day 11 - On the move

Just a teeny update to let you know I'm safe and sound in Paris. I had a single hotel room last night and need to make tracks for the hostel where I'll be spending the rest of the week.

Day 10 - Off to Paris

Well, my chunnel train leaves in less than two hours. I'm going to try to stop by the post office first to mail back various tickets, souveneir guides, some police tape I swiped at the London Marathon, etc. I haven't managed to fill my 512 MB camera card yet, so that'll stay in the camera.

I didn't end up doing the art blitz yesterday. Just two hours in the National Gallery and I knew I wasn't going to have any fun doing that. So I went to the War Cabinet, a reinforced bunker and set of rooms under a building between Parliament and Buckingham from which Churchill conducted much of the defense of Britain during World War II. They've taken advantage of many different technologies to make it an interesting experience. You get what looks like a super long phone handset. You punch numbers you see on the wall into it to hear about what you're looking at. They also have lots of touch screens. There are digital binoculars you look through to see weapons they were trying to develop at the time. There are maps with big markers you move around to explore different regions the fighting was going on in. And a huge portion of the museum is dedicated just to Churchill himself. He was an extraordinary man. And he was 65 at the start of World War II. So just remember dad, you have six more years and still have World War II to manage. :P

Anyway, it's off to the post office and chunnel now.

Until Paris,
Blain

Day 9 - Last Gasp

Well, this is my last day of sightseeing. I better make it count. I think the art gallery circuit will be the order of the day.

• Victoria & Albert Museum
• Saatchi Gallery (500 Salvador Dalis!)
• Tate Modern
• National Gallery

Hopefully they'll even let me take a picture or two! Wish me luck! :)

Day 8 - A Little Day Music

First a little housekeeping, apparently this blog was forcing people to register somehow before they could make comments. I think I fixed that.

Now onto new business. It's been a lovely day in London. I stayed up a bit later chatting with the hostel residents. They're a really nice bunch. Peter, the french architect who stays here because he flys back to Paris every week, shared some key sights to go see. They're both holocost memorials, and I don't want this to turn into the all holocost excursion. I'll definitely check out the one behind Notre Dame, since I'll be there anyway, but I'm not really planning to go to Berlin at all, so we'll see.

Today was a nice light morning. I went to the British Library and saw:

• the oldest existing copy of the new testament
• the first (handwritten) edition of Alice's Adventures under Ground (later Alice in Wonderland)
• the libretto used at the first performance of Handel's Messiah
• the 400th anniversary of Don Quixote display

I'm sure I saw a lot of other amazing stuff, but it's all just a big blur at this point. Then I went and heard the free Monday Recital at the Royal Opera House. It was a little dull, but still very cool. I particularly liked five Swedish songs they did. I don't know the composer, but I have the lyrics on the program they gave out.

In the meantime, I guess I should be learning enough French to get from the train station to the hostel, and reserve the hostel. :)

Day 7 - Chewy Chewy Scroll Bars

I laid down for a nap that turned into a very early night's sleep... again. I swear, this city is practically deserted until seven. Maybe it's just because I'm in the museum district. Maybe the artists district is still jumping at five.

Ah well, I should grab breakfast soon and figure out where to catch the marathon from. The reason the marathon is as long as it is is because of the London Marathon. They lengthened it so that it would go by / end up at Buckingham Palace.

Day 6 - Back Into The Breach

Well, I wasn't entirely lazy yesterday. I went food shopping. You can use the kitchen here at the hostel, and it was strangely thrilling to find my way around a foriegn supermarket, comparing products I'd never heard of before. It was like I lived here. I could have easily been grabbing a few items to take back to my flat for dinner.

It feels so much more indulgent to waste a day in a city you'll never see again, but I enjoyed it. I watched most of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon on the hostel DVD player. I don't recommend it, but it fit my existence at the time with its indulgence and indolence. Today I'll still take it easy in the early morning hours, but one the Museum opens, me and my camera are having another go. Also, I need to see about Julius Caeser tickets at some point.

Day 5 - Slacking

This hostel fills up tomorrow, so today I'll try and make a reservation for the rest of my stay. I accidentally ended up near the start of the chunnel yesterday, so I may pick something close to make that transition easier.

Stuff I saw yesterday:

• Trafalgar Square
• Entrance to Downing Street
• Big Ben
• Parliament
• Random Statues of Important Brits (most notably Churchill and Cromwell)
• Westminster Abbey
• The Eye (a giant ferris wheel I didn't bother to ride)
• Various stretches of the Thames
• Shakespeare's Globe Theatre recreation
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• "National Anthems" starring Steven Weber, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Kevin Spacey (It was pretty good.)

Today I'm looking to find a new hostel, relax, and maybe see if I can find out where gamers gather in old London town. There was a reference to the Atari 2600 in the play that made me nostalgic. :)

Day 4 - To See the Sun

It's been true to London form here, overcast and drizzly. I can see a little blue through the clouds today though. That, coupled with the fact that the British Museum has beaten me down to the point that if I never read a little yellow card again it will be too soon, means it's time for a walk. I'll be strolling down Charing Cross Road to Trafalgar (where I will _not_ be entering the National Gallery) and proceeding down Whitehall and Millbank (London streets change names every two blocks or so) to Downing Street, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. If I've still got a will to sightsee, Buckingham Palace will be a few blocks away.

By the way, if anyone has anything they want a picture of while I'm here, let me know.

Oh my god. It's full of stars.

Welcome to the Astor Museum hostel, located in... um... London near Russel Square. It's very early here, but I can't sleep for the jetlag, so you get an update. Let me just say that the British Museum is absolutely everything it's cracked up to be. You know how long it's been since Christ was around? Well, the museum has more than a few artifacts from twice as long ago. I've been looking at the Egyptian exhibit mostly. I'm looking forward to locking my bag up at the hostel and just going nuts over there. I mean, you have school children having dust blowing fights across egyptian sarcophogi. Any room in that building would be the most amazing museum back home. (Well, we might take the totem poles for granted.)

After the British Museum, the National Gallery is just a few blocks further on. The history is just as unbelievable as I expected. Yay London!

This hostel is full on Saturday, so I'll need to find another before I leave. Heheh. Yay Internet.

Day 2

Where did day one go? The plane ate it!

I'm in Heathrow airport and will update once I reach a friendly hostel.

First Post!

I guess there's no prestige to making the first post to your own blog... but I'm making a big deal out of it anyway! In your face, Flanders!

This is a blog for me to update from Europe so my folks and friends can keep track of me. I don't know if it'll be of much interest to anyone else as I'm not really keeping this as a journal, posting pictures, etc. But hey, if you happen to be where I am, maybe we'll join up to see or do something!