Paris, je t'aime!

After Dresden we took an overnight train to Paris. We rode in a couchette, which is (according to Webster) a train car with, and I quote, "sleeping berths." I slept like a rock, even though I didn't really fit into my "sleeping berth." I even slept through the two hours we were stalled on the tracks. We had to transfer in Mannheim, but we were scheduled to have just over two hours there, so we made our next train with minutes to spare.

So, after around four hours of sleep, we were in Paris! Amelia and Chrissy wanted to do a walking tour of the city, and I wanted to visit the Institut du Monde Arabe.


The Institut
It was around €4 for students, which is I found very typical for Paris. It was awesome. I even bought Al-'Amîr Aṣ-ṣaghîr (engl. The Little Prince - how much more French/Arab can you get?) in the book store there. ****

Then I went to the Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée in the Jardin des plantes. Entrance again was €4 - and definitely worth it! ****


Rue Morgue or Planet of the Apes? No one knows.
(entrance hall to the Galerie)


me in the hall of comparative anatomy
Behind me is a whale's baleen-filled mouth - enormous!


I enjoy this shot.

The paleontology exhibit was not as good as the comparative anatomy one, but it was still cool.

Then I met up in front of Notre Dame with Erik, my roommate from Olaf, and we went to his friend's apartment on the Place d'Italie. His apartment is awesome - he has a kitchen, a bathroom with a nice shower, a bedroom, a living room, a hallway and a guest room! That's where Erik and I stayed. Plus the guy, Mark, was really cool. It was definitely quality housing.


Erik and I spent a significant portion of the next few days eating our way through the Parisian boulangeries and pâtisseries. French food is definitely the greatest thing ever. For example, one night I stopped at a boulangerie near Mark's place, and I grabbed dinner consisting of a tuna and cheese crepe, a massive chocolate brownie/cake thing and an Orangina. (NB: Orangina in Paris has one of the strangest ad campaigns I have ever seen. Check it out!) I'm giving French food - regardless of expense - a perfect *****.


massive dog


Notre Dame is beautiful.


Then one day Amelia had this brilliant idea: picnic in the Tuileries gardens! Pictured: French baguette, French wine, French strawberry (from a farmer's market that morning). Not pictured: French rotisserie chicken, French cheese, French plastic silverware.


My lovely friend Kelly Hamren, who is spending the year studying in France, came up to visit for the day.

After our picnic, we went to the Louvre (it is apparently free on Fridays for anyone under 26). At first I didn't want to go; I though, "I've already been to the Louvre, and it's just a mass of paintings by stuffy old white men". Stupid, jaded ass. The Louvre is spectacular. Even if you've been there a thousand times, I'm sure you'd still love it. I'm not positive how much entry usually is, but even if it were €20, it'd still be well worth it. Also, if you are an art history student or have a fake art-history-student ID like Mark, you get in free every day of the week. *****


Plus while we were there, they had live music playing in many of the rooms. AMAZING!


"Winged Victory"


And then of course we had to go to the Eiffel Tower.

The next day Erik and I went to the Grande galerie de l'évolution, also in the Jardin des plantes. This was slightly more expensive (€6 or €6,50, I'm not sure), but it was also awesome. ****

The first floor consisted of exhibits on marine wildlife, and it had an actual, plasticized giant squid.


The second floor was full of terrestrial animals (here as seen from the third).

The third floor was called "The Evolution of Man." This name, however, is more than a bit misleading. Instead of following the descent of humans from apes, it detailed the destructive impact humans have had on the natural world.


One hall on this floor was dedicated to the species that have gone or are going extinct because of humans. Above is a preserved specimen of the (in)famous Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine. This part was kind of depressing, but it was cool to see an actually Tasmanian tiger. They also had a dodo on display.


On a more positive note, we're bringin' haute-y back!
Erik bought this bottle of slightly alcoholic cider, and we drank in the Tuileries on our way to…


L'Orangerie! I think it was €5,50 entrance, but it was awesome! ***** A definite must-see. Monet's massive paintings of ponds stretch around the circular rooms upstairs. In the center of each room there's a bench, so it's just like you're sitting in the middle of the paintings. Extreme quality.

And downstairs there's a very decent collection of other Impressionist art.


a Modigliani for Dad

In conclusion, Paris was spectacular!

Well, I have class now, so I gotta run. Look soon for a post about life back in Constance and the beginning of the regular semester.

Frankfurt und Bacharach

as promised!
So I realize most people probably don't read my blog once a day, but this is the best way I could think of to play catch-up with my trip. So as I mentioned in my last blog, each stint of the "Reise" will get one post. Today I'm posting about my trip thru Frankfurt and Bacharach.

We were only in Stuttgart for one day, unfortunately. We spent the next afternoon in Frankfurt. We stored our luggage in some lockers at the train station for €4,00.


We went up this tower to get a view of the city. It cost about €3,50. Frankfurt isn't very pretty. Although it was kind of cool and surreal to be up so high, it certainly wasn't worth the money. I give it *.


For my schweester! HA!


Then we went to the Goethehaus, where Goethe apparently was born. There's even a "so-called birth room". This is Amelia at a so-called desk. She's being inspired thru osmosis. I can't wait to read her next Goethe-esque novel. Entrance cost a bit over €4.


I took a seminar on Goethe's Faust, and last semester I read The Sorrows of a Young Werther, so I was pretty excited to see this so-called plaque!

Then we went to Bacharach. This city is undoubtedly my favorite stop so far. It's small and basically unknown, but it's beautiful! It's near Cologne (or if you're really good with German topography, only about a half hour train ride from Koblenz).

We stayed in a castle up way on top of this mountain/hill! It was a 20-minute walk up steps with my massive amount of luggage!


gorgeous church/memorial to the Jews on the way up to the castle


The next day Amelia and I hiked up to the top of another mountain. This is on the way up. I like the lines, but you can also see a butterfly on one of the logs. Oh, also the weather was spectacular! Probably about high 70s, but windy enough that it was never hot.


me and my view
That's the Rhine down there, and that itty-bitty town is Bacharach.
We would never have known about Bacharach except that Chrissy had stayed here with a class trip in high school. Three cheers for Chrissy!


blossoms, because it's Spring here!


artsy-fartsy


After sitting up on top of the mountain for hours, Amelia and I decided we had to go down, otherwise we'd explode from exposure to too much beauty.


It was a steep hike down, with not too many steps or handrails. It was also thru a mass of vineyards. (Bacharach gets its name from Bacchus, Roman god of wine.)


And since the region is so well known for its wine, we decided it would be remiss not to partake in a local wine-tasting. It was around €4/person and well worth it. I love wine. I give it a ****: not quite a fiver, because most of the wine was white.


On the hike back up to the castle, we passed a goat farm. (That's Chrissy on the left, not a blond goat.)


view from our castle/hostel the day we left

So as I mentioned about a hundred times, yes we stayed in a castle. It was awesome (except for the heinous trekk up the mountain). It was also really cheap, at about €18-19 a night. It also came with a free all-you-can-eat breakfast. You could also purchase an all-you-can-eat dinner for €6. And on the way down we took a cab. It cost €8. If you can split that up several ways like we could, it is definitely worth it! I give the hostel (Hostel Stahleck) ***** - that's right, five stars!

So what do you have to look forward to in my next post? My travels around Germany continue as I visit the northern cities of Hamburg and Kiel!

Exkursion Meersburg

I've got more photos!

I've had free time recently to doodle a little!

This one you might recognize from somewhere. Anyone? I've also painted a little, but no photos yet. Here's a shameless plug: If you haven't checked out my website yet, click here to see more of my loverly art!

On Wednesday we went to Meersburg, a small touristy town only a 15 minute ride by ferry (Autofähre) from Constance.


This photo is of Kirsten and me on the Autofähre. It was chilly on the ride. It was probably only 40°F that day. It's not a very good photo, but I know you all like seeing my smiling/grimacing face.


Here's a photo of Burg Meersburg, a somewhat redundant name. In English it would be "Castle Castle on the Sea." Here is where our tour of the ridiculous structure began. This time the German tour was led by this hilarious man. It was a blast. He teaches one of the sections of the language course. The tour itself was much better, but the subject of the tour (mainly these two castles in Meersburg) was really trashy.


So this is what I mean by "ridiculous" and "trashy." This young man was dressed up in what is apparently supposed to be garb from the Middle Ages. He was also wearing jeans, and that sword is definitely plastic.


These are skulls of very, very small deer. The Burg had skulls and animal heads all over, but they were very poorly kept up. There was also this moose head whose hide was almost completely decayed off. It was sort of disgusting.


Then there were these bizarre putti-babies with antlers for legs. (It's a chandelier, too!)


Here I am in a room with just suits of armor. And yes, that is the infamous Sir Pumpkinhead on my right.


Did I mention Meersburg is actually really pretty, tho?


This is the shoreline on the way back to the ferry. Five seconds after I took this photo, two swans swam up. Swans are all over Lake Constance.


And this one is for Teri. Not only is the region warm enough for magnolias, but also for palms. But yeah, I concede, it wasn't very warm at all during our tour of Meersburg.


And here's a photo of Germany giving the finger to political correctness.

Well, happy Easter all (or Frohe Ostern, as they say in my country)! Rolf Egenberger is coming down from Augsburg to spend the day with me in Constance this Saturday, and then I'm probably going back with him for an Egenberger family Easter celebration! He told me they're having something like a "small Oktoberfest" in Augsburg for the holiday.

So my language course is almost finished - only one week left! Next up is my tour of Germany, and then back to "real" life: The semester begins April 19! Expect another post after Easter holiday is over, and things open up again (ie, so I can use wireless).