Aunt Anna

Many thanks to Benny's aunt Anna who has been taking great care of Ginny and I here at her home in Vaudevanne (not sure about the spelling). She moved at here about 4 years ago at the advise of friends and doctors who told her she needed to live more stress free or she would have a heart attack. So now, she lives in the country and lives stress-free.

Today she took us around to some really old villages. Noyers was really amazing. Everything was very old, starting from the 12th century. A small river runs through the town and we were there around dusk so it was even more beautiful.
Im still sick so i was coughing a lot and drinking a lot of water on our little excursion so my bladder filled quite quickly. But it being Sunday and all, everything was closed. So i had to do something i haven't done since i was a child. I peed on the side of the road. Luckily i had tissues and Anna had little sanitary wipes. The funny thing about doing it was that i had to pee so bad that i couldn't be modest or embarrassed about it. I just let it go =)

Tomorrow Ginny and I are going to go on a hike through the woods nearby and pack a picnic. It's so incredible out here.

more walking

So, more walking today. Ginny, Mayra, and I left the hostel around 10 this morning and took the metro to the Pablo Picasso Museum. That was really great, except it was too short. We went around the place and then ending up back where we started. The upper levels were roped off for some reason. But it was wonderful anyways. After that, off to the Pompidou where there is a modern art museum. That was a little hard to negotiate to get to the right floor, but once we found it, it was huge and took a couple hours. For me, modern art can be really exciting and interesting, but i really can't remember anything in paticular that i really liked. Oh well. Next on the list was some shopping on our way to the Louvre. The day before, Ginny and I found some great coats at this one store but decided to buy them later on our trip when we return to Paris. But today, every store, and i mean EVERY STORE, was having a huge sale. The store only had two coats left, one in gray (the one i liked) and one in brown (which Ginny liked) and they both happened to be our sizes that we tried on yesterday. And to top it all off, they were 50% off. It was fate. So Ginny and I came home with great coats and at an unbelievable price. After some more shopping and not purchasing anything, we went to the Lourvre. It was pretty empty. No lines at least. We were able to walk right up to the Mona Lisa. But my favorite was the Wingged Victory stature (not sure about the name there) and Cupid and Psyche sculpture. It was so soft and delicate looking. We didn't get to see everything since that would take days, so we headed home knowing that Ginny and I would return next month and finish it.

As far as the Eiffel Tower goes, aparently the top is closed for a month, so Ginny and I will try again when we come back.

TTFN

love,

grace

sore feet

Today Ginny and I went on a walking tour, thanks to Rick Steves, of Notre Dame and the surrounding area. Jesse and I started this tour when we were here last week but never finished it due to a lack of daylight and a lot of snow. So Ginny and I walked around Notre Dame. I gave here the few tidbits that i rememebred from the audio tour i took. Then we walked around the neighborhood, she went to Saint Chapelle, then more walking and ending near the Lovre. So we decide to continue and walk to the Lovre. Turns out, the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. So i take out the map and the Pompidou isn't very far so we walk there and stop and try on some great coats. We make it to the Pompidou and that is also closed. Then after some more walking around the neighborhood we decide to take the metro to the Eiffel Tower. So we walk back to the metro and arrive at the Tour Eiffel after sunset, so the tower is all lit up. We deciede to take the stairs up instead of the elevator even if our feet are already sore. In addition, Ginny has got some sore calves and my knee and acheilles heal are hurting. But we take it slowly and eventually arrive at the 2nd floor about 400 feet up. The top is 1000 feet up. Now, im not sure if the stairs don't go to the top at all or what, but we couldn't find any stairs. Then we wait by the elevator but nothing shows up. I asked a guy in the souvenir shop about it and he said the top was closed. I was extremely upset. We walked almost halfway up the tower and get DENIED. We stood around for along time feeling like idiots and then had to head back down. So we opt for the stairs since there is a massive crowd waiting for the lift back down. We get down to the first level and find the stairs closed to get to the ground floor. So then we had to wait for the elevator anyways to get down all the way. That made me even more upset. So after that we retreated home very tired and not have accomplished much for the day except a lot of exercise. I guess our litttle adventure today is definitely worth remembering if only for how unclimatic is was. Anywho, im not sure what we are going to do tomorrow since everything will be open. So many choices.

TTFN

love,

grace

Dublin (in review)

This is in fact the second time i am posting this blog. Somehow i lost the first one. So i will try and recapture the magic of the first.Right now I am writing from Paris as I have just arrived from Dublin his afternoon.

We arrived in Dublin on the 5th and Casey, our fearless leader, got us from the airport to our budget hotel. It was more of a hostel than a hotel, except the fact that they didn't kick us out during the day. The four of us shared a room with a guy named Ben, an american studying guitar in Brussels. We also shared our room two of our nights there with a really smelly dude. We barely saw him as he appeared in the middle of the night and left early in the morning (not showering I should add). We did manage to smell him, even if we couldn't see him. The second night we made sure to sleep with the windows open despite the cold weather and the noise outside. We stayed in a very busy neighborhood with lots of great food and lots of pubs. People were out late and all the noise came through our windows. The worst past was this guy downstairs who was emptying all the pub's glass bottles into the recylcing. He would toss one botle at a time into the conainer. So it was a constant clang/crash every 5 seconds.

We explored the city mostly on foot and some by bus. Our first day we started with the Modern art Museum and then we went to an old jail that housed common criminals and the political prisoners during the revolutions for indepence from the British. After that we went to the Guinness factory and took the tour. The tour ended in the bar at the top where you can see all around Dublin and drink your complementary pint. I couldn't finish mine since i just had a hot chocolate minutes earlier. We also saw Christ Church, the oldest curch in Ireland from the 12th century and the National Art Museum. Our last day we took a tour ouyt of Dublin to see old tombs and old celtic sites. We went to this one tomb that was older than the pyramids. We learned a lot about old Irish history and the current history between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The tour was great and our guide was this great old man named Patrick who even played us a tune on his flute. It was a great experience.

The next morning, we packed left for he airport, took a bus for an hour and a half into Paris, took two metro trains to the hostel and found Ginny safe and sound waiting for me here.

Tonight is Jesse's last night here in Europe and I have to continue without him, which is going to be really sad. He's been a great travel companion and guide. Im sure we will all go out and celebrate Jesse's last night.

TTFN

love,

grace

Amsterdam

Jesse and I arrived in amsterdamn in the late afternoon on January first. We met up with his friends Casey and Mayra and went out for dutch pancakes for dinner. It's just a weird pancake with food on top. It was a little weird, not the best thing ive had along my trip (the food in paris was wonderful). Casey, who has been living here for a year, said that the Dutch are known for their bland food. After dinner we went back to his studio where the 4 of us are sleeping. It may sound cramped, but it's better than a hostel. Later that night we went to a local bar here whose walls were covered in great graffiti art. Aparently they change the art on the walls constantly. It was really nice hanging out in the the amsterdam bar except that most of the beers here have twice the alcohol content as the beer back home, so i definitly had to slow down. I only had 2 beers the whole time we were there.

The next day we got a late start. We left the house around 2pm. We went out walking around the neighborhood and all the popular streets around here. The funny thing about the streets here is that there is the road for cars, a bike lane for bicycles or a sidewalk for bicylces, and then a sidewalk for pedestrians. Everyone here rides around town on one-speed bicycles. For dinner that night we went to this great restaurant with great food with some swedish friends of Casey. Sweden sounds really great. Beatiful country, free health insurance, they pay you to go to college. Later that night we rode our bikes over to the casino. I had a wet bike seat and walked around all night with a wet butt cheek. Maybe it brought me luck though, since i won 50euro at roulette. After the casino, time for the late-night snack around here. French fries. Mayonaise is pretty popular with your fries, but Mayra and I opted for ketchup instead.

It is now tuesday around noon, and my butt is very sore from riding aorund town last night. Not sure what today holds for us. I think Casey has some museum passes, so i think we are going somewhere. I really don't know much about Amsterdam so it's kinda nice just having a tour guide tell us where to go. TTFN. Ta ta for now.

love,
grace

NYE

New Years Eve in Paris was much different than I expected. During the day, Jesse and i left early and went to the musee d'orsay, napaleon's tomb, and the eiffel tower. After a day of walking, i opted for a nap. Jesse skipped his. Turned out to be a bad choice. Later that night, we found the least expensive restaurant on our street (everything was marked up 35%-50%) and i ordered escargot and enjoyed it as long as i wasn't looking at it. Jesse was soo tired he could barely hold his head up. He left me at the restaurant to take care of the bill while he tried to take a power nap since everyone else in the hostel was ready to go to the eiffel tower. I came back to wake up Jesse and he can't be budged. So i went out with 12 other people to the eiffel tower.

The metro was packed, just like expected. everyone in town is going exactly where we are. I was pushed up against a pole with some people packed in so tight they had nothing to hold to. That meant that every time the metro started and stopped, i had the weight of 2 or 3 full grown adults pushing me into the pole. The best part of the train trip there was the soccer calls going on through out the car. Everyone was chanting and yelling.

Once all 13 of us met up at the station we immediately got separtated. So i spent the evening with a french canadian girl from Montreal, two mexican surgeons who work in spain, and a guy from argentina.

Once it was midnight, the eiffel tower lit up and sparkeled. And then everybody started to leave. We stayed for maybe a half an hour because i refused to believe that there weren't any fireworks. And then we learned from people there that the eiffel tower lights up every night at every hour. So new year's eve did nothing differnt than any other night. It was a huge let down.

The night really began once we tried to head home. The french canadian had to pee so bad she asked some SWAT looking police where the bathrooms were. We eventually found an empty street and she peed between to cars while i covered with my jacket and the boys stood on the corners looking out for people. After that we headed toward the next subway stop. On there way there, the eiffel tower lit up again since it was now 1 o'clock. Great.....We finally found the subway but it was so full of people we decied to walk home instead of being crushed to death in the metro station.

Once we left, it was a long walk home, since all the taxis were full. While walking we came across the only open restaurant we saw all night. We all decided a cup of hot chocolate or coffee sounded good. turns out, the didn't have anything hot there, only cold drinks. So i ordered an orange juice. When we got the bill, i found out that my OJ was 5.40 euros. That's like 6 bucks.

We finally got home around 3:30 and met up with everyone who we got separated from the night. Everyone walked home since the subways were either to crazy or closed. Some girls from Vancouver Island had an even worse night that included seeing a dead body and being accosted by an algerian kissing party.

That sweetest part was that jesse had woken up and come downstairs looking for me and apparently got very worried i wan't home yet and walking the streets of paris. So thanks jesse for worrying. =)

The next morning, Jesse and i headed to train station for Amsterdam. More on Amsterdam later when i get a better chance.

love,
grace

I have arrived

Today was our first full day in Paris. Jesse and I must have gone into 5 churches by now. We hit several by accidennt, but some on purpose. Luckily, we are pretty close to Notre Dame and walked there. For the first half of the day, everytime it began to snow, i emitted a small chirp of excitement. Luckily, it's snowing here instead of raining since it's so freaking cold. I've been told that it hasn't been this cold in Paris in a long time. So, on one hand it's really cold, but at least it's not raining.

The first place we went to this morning was the breakfast downstairs. I was pretty excited that they were going to feed us, but it was only bread, butter, and orange marmalade. So we bought some fruit on our way to the Patheon. It's the hugest thing ive ever seen. The pantheon that is, not the fruit. The dome on top just keeps going. We didn't know it but France's heros are all entombed there and you get to go downstairs to the crypts and walk around. Pretty cool if you ask me. And i know this is dorky and kinda weird but it was crazy standing at Marie Currie's tomb. It was kinda exciting since she was a childhood hero of mine, but kinda weird because i was standing beside her tomb, ya know? I think she was the only woman entombed there.

Then some more walking to Notre Dame, which was great. A mass started while we walked around which was crazy. Then we started a walking tour, thanks to Rick Steves. We came across some great little streets, got lured into a resturant by their rotisserie in the window, waited in line for Saint-Chapelle for an hour in the snow, and then rushed back to the hostel since it was getting dark and very cold. Saint-Chappelle was amaing even though we had to wait. The walls were all stained glass. Extrememly beautiful.

Anywho, im almost out of minutes here (which is really cool to say since you guys always said that in your emails when you were abroad)

Au revoir,

Grace

My European Adventure

OK, so my wishful plans are to make entries here from Internet Cafes along the way.
Peace,
Grace