L&P DLC: Roll Credits

It's currently uncomfortably hot in Paris, like "I'm sitting and perspiring" kind of hot (cold shower tonight). It has been all day. It's also been a packing day, which went a lot easier than I thought. My souvenirs have been packed nicely way into my checked and carry on luggage. I only have a few waking hours left in Paris. It's 10:06PM as of right now and still pretty light out, twilight I think. All three of us guys are sitting in the room on our respective gadgets.

Minus one, eight of us went to go see Notre Dame. The line was infinitely shorter than the first time we tried to go in. We were going to climb the towers, but it cost money and the line was far too long for any of us to want to stand in. After that, it was a lame day in terms of doing things. I worked on packing and watched Game of Thrones clips on Youtube until 5:30 when the entire group went out for a group dinner.

It's all almost over. In about 14 hours, I'll be on a plane back to the States. Back to family, friends and responsibility. I want to leave. I've grown weary of travel life and ready to relax, but I know that won't be the case when I return. That's the part of me that wishes I could stay in Europe and away from all the work that's waiting for me. This is all a rather depressing/whiney end to a fantastic adventure. I returned to the city I fell in love with and got to adventure a whole new one I barely knew nothing about. I've had a great time abroad, and I have people back home that I miss. I have jobs that need fulfilling and life that needs to be living. 

I guess this is it. The actual end to my blog. I don't foresee myself going on any more trips through my university, seeing that I have already graduated. 

Huh, I guess this really is...

The End.

L&P DLC: The Palace of Versailles and Musee de L'Armee

Today we took a quick trip to the Palace of Versailles and when I say quick trip I mean a quick trip. Not counting the unknown amount of time that we spent standing in the extremely long, winding line into the palace, we were probably there for just an hour. We all did a pretty quick run through the building, snapping pictures, a stroll through the garden and then back to the train that brought us there.

I got off the train a couple stops earlier than everyone else because I wanted to go back and see something we'd visited prior, so as everyone went and did their thang, I went to see the Musee De L'Armee (Army Museum/Museum of Army?). It was awesome seeing a nunch of ancient armor from the 12th-17th century, weapons and history about the French and WWI. I've also finally learned the differences between wheellock and flintlock pistols. 

I decided to have a really nice meal tonight and splurged, spending 17€ on a burger and lemonade, which was actually just Sprite but loaded with lemon and lime slices. It was super delicous and worth the money. Once again, I've exhausted my leg muscles walking and standing the entire day, so I'm just hanging out in the room. It's not even 9:00PM yet and it's still light outside.

Tomorrow is packing day. I have a bunch of souveniers I need to make room for. Crossed fingers everything fits, and I won't have customs issues *crosses fingers*!

     

                                                          Palace of Versailles

    

                                                          Inside the palace

     

     

                                                          Area of the garden

                               

                                                    Photo taken at 8:39PM.

L&P DLC: Shopping spree and skulls everywhere

Went shopping today! We went to two different shops, Shakespeare and Company and Mariage Freres. Both were beautiful and both didn't allow photos in their establishments. Shakespeare and Company was an amazing looking English bookstore. They had a wide selection of both Shakespeare's works and other books. The problem I have is that I own the complete works of Shakespeare, so I can never validate purchasing any books that he wrote. There was a little cubbyhole that had a typewriter in it and tiny notes written in various languages all over the walls. There was another wall that had messages and photos on it too. Messages from writers, visitors to the store, visitors to Paris. It was so neat. The other place, Mariage Freres, was a fancy tea store. There was a wall of these giant tins, each in their individual cubby, that contained tea. They also sold tea pots and tea cups, it was so cool, I wish I could've taken pictures. I smelled a really great Earl Grey, but it didn't come in bags and that's all I know, so I got a different kind recommended to me called Marco Polo. It's supposed to be fruity and flowery, whatever that means. After shopping, we had lunch and then from lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a half hour to collect ourselves and drop off our purchases.

      

                               Shakespeare and Company bookstore from the outside.

When 2:00 rolled around, 9/12 of us headed off to the catacombs. We arrived to a pretty long line and had to wait in the rain for about an hour. I passed the time playing Hangman with some of the people, huddled around the umbrella making sure the notebook we were writing in didn't get too wet. Once it was our turn in line, we made our decent into the the earth. The entire time we were down there, I had this gnawing idea in my head, "Today is the day that all of the things necessary for these tunnels to cave in will happen." The corridors were really narrow and my head almost touched the ceiling. It was both cool and uncomfortable to be as deep in the ground as we were. 

On top of that, there were walls of bones and skulls too.

Having breezed past most of the info. cards (I'm growing weary of reading those things. I used to read everyone that came my way. Today, I just quick scanned/ignored them) I don't know anything behind why there are bones in the catacombs, but there were bones. A ton of bones.

                                 

                                            Hallway early on in the catacombs

       

                                                                       Bones

        

                                                                  More bones

                                     http://youtu.be/Gm4ae561Sj0

                                                             Video of bones

L&P DLC: Off to a rollicking good start!

The day began with a downgrade. For hotel reasons, we had to switch rooms in the hotel. We went from Room 8 on the 2nd floor to Room 32 on the 6th floor to a room constructed only for a minimum of two people. I'm going to be sharing a bed for the next 4 days. I apologized in advance to my bed buddy if I cuddle him by accident. He told me he'd push me off the bed...

      

                                             Our new abode on the 6th floor.

Today was definitely an...interesting day...Today we went to a cemetery, Pere Lachaise. Our intention was to go see the grave stone of Jim Morrison from The Doors, but then turned into a rollicking adventure! Practically 5 minutes walking in the cemetery, we became lost. We asked a group of older people who had a map and a simple "Can you show us where Jim Morrison's grave is?" turned into maybe two hours of walking through the cemetery, looking at a bunch of graves that aren't Jim Morrison's. And to top it off, they only spoke French, so the language barrier was at full strength between us. Eventually we did arrive at Jim's grave but BOY was that a long time. Walking through the cemetery had a depressing effect on me. Just walking amongst all of the gravestones people who were once alive and are now dead got me thinking about my own inevitable death. When I'm dead and buried, how many people are going to visit my grave? How many people are going to just walk by it in search of the Jim Morrison of my cemetery? It was a very deep moment for me.

       

      Our spontaneous French cemtery guides (denim man on the left and the other guy on the right.)

                Oscar Wilde's grave. It was covered in lipstick kisses for whatever reason.

                                   

                                                         Jim Morrison's grave...

                               

                                               ...and for reasons, gum on a tree.

After finally seeing Jim Morrison's grave and his impressive collection of chewing gum that has accumulated near his grave, we had a small class session and then off to Sacre Cœur, apparantly a chape/church on a hill. To be honest, I'm actually getting really tired of relgious houses of worship. Being the world traveler I am, I have been to SO MANY they're all practically the same. Same cross layout, same dome, same ornate depictions of Christ, no phototaking, pretty windows. I'd almost say the same for museums except they actually offer a varying amount of stuff in terms of what they have to show inside.

                                 

                                                                  Sacre Cœur

    

                                            Candid shot of the group at lunch/dinner

As of right now, I'm sitting in our new tiny room. I have been for maybe two hours now? I'm realizing why I spent so much time in the loft last time and not just going out all of the time. It's not out of lack of trying, but lack of energy. I am tired! You are walking and standing for the entire day. You aren't properly hydrating yourself and you're trying to conserve money, so no random, overpriced snackies to munch on whenever. I get it now. I understand why I wasted so much time just sitting in the room on my electronics and it's because I wore myself out. I don't want to walk everywhere, nor do I want to pay for transport. So I'm staying in for the night. Blogging, writing, reading, spent some time playing app games, getting ready for tomorrow. Apparently we're seeing some more resting places and the weather will match the mood.

L&P DLC: The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower

As of right now, I'm in the Louvre. We all got up and left the hotel at 10:30 and went to find food. The free baguette breakfast just wasn't cutting it anymore. People were looking for something different. We stopped at a small hole in the wall shop and got tea, croissants and for me, a quiche. After breakfast we made our way here, to the Louvre!

All of my Da Vinci Code fanboying came back once I was standing outside the glass pyramid. As a group, sans one, we made our way to see the Mona Lisa. The crowd/line to see her wasn't as bad as I'd thought. People crowd forward, they get their picture and a quick look and then move out of the crowd. I got a decent picture of it and a good long look. After that, we've all pretty much separated. I was a part of a group but one quick stop to look at a painting and they were gone. I told them ahead of time that if they ever lost me, I'd be okay. That happened yesterday and gave the group a slight scare. I'm alone now.

     

                                                                 The Louvre Museum

                                        

                                                     Walking down a hallway of the Louvre

                                        

                                                      The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci

The second thing that happened today was going up the Effiel Tower. The group split up into two times an early and a later group that wanted to see it light up at night. I went in the early group which comprised of myself, our program leader, her daughter and her niece. She and her daughter walked up to the 1st floor of the tower while her neice and I took the elevators all the way to the top. It was her birthday and she wanted to do something memorable, despite her fear of heights. I did my best to reassure her on the elevator ride up, but once we were at the top, her fears went away. It was mostly the elevator ride that freaked here out. We took a bunch of pictures from the top and saw the Louvre and Notre Dame from above. We took the elevator back down. Did our best to attempt the "touching the top of the Effiel Tower" perception photo and then took the bus back to the hotel.

                                     

                                                         The Eiffel Tower from afar

                                     

                                                             Eiffel Tower closer up

        

                         Look at that view. You can see the Louvre and Notre Dame from here.

       

                                                                       Look out below!

I had a great talk with our program leader about her job as a professor, how she has two books of poetry published as well as my own personal apprehensions about the future. Everytime a new person talks to me about this upcoming summer and all of its responsibilities, it gets easier to think about it all. They all have the same message of "It's all a learning experience. Don't let yourself get too worked up about it. You just do the best you can," but they all say it differently and offer their own versions and perspectives on it. My professor, my sister, my study abroad roommate, my girlfriend, my London friend have all given me their own takes on what this summer has for me when I'm done travelling, and each have helped to make it a little more bearable and all of that compiles into one thing.

We have a late start tomorrow in the afternoon, which means I can sleep in. Me and the guys actually have  to switch rooms for whatever reason. Crossed fingers it's an okay room. We already have to share a community toilet wit hthe other people on the floor.

       

                                            A quick look at our living quarters in Paris

L&P DLC: Winding down

Today we went to Napoleon's tomb and the Musee D'Orsay, home of the works of Vincent Van Gogh. Sadly, there was no picture taking allowed otherwise I'd have plastered this update with paintings. I was surprised by how many paintings there were. I didn't realize Van Gogh had created so many paintings and how different they all looked! There were four selfportraits hanging in a row and they all looked different from each other, despite having been painted by the same man. It was really cool to see all of his works on display, despite his lack of popularity when he was alive. As you, the reader, may not know, I am an aspiring aritist myself. My medium being the written word. I wondered if the same would ever happen to me (if I could motivate myself to get more of my works out in the world). Not at all well known in real life, but famous in death. This is actually the same as Jane Austin, who's historical center I went to while I was in Bath. Her works weren't popular when she was alive, but after, her works have been adapted into movies, plays, webseries (even a musical, I think.)

      

                                                               Musee d'Orsay

       

       

                                                              Napoleon's tomb

I walked back to the hotel by myself, having unceremoniously broken off from the group without their knowledge. They told me they looked for me a bit, which made me feel bad, but all was forgiven. Later, I went with a group of three to a crepes restaurant and had I think the most satisfiying meal since I've been in Paris.

The whole group went on a night boat ride tonight except for me. We've done a ton of walking in the past few days, so I needed a day to myself to just relax. I'm also growing weary of the whole travel life, having to hide my money from the maids, keeping constant vigilance on my wallet and needing to find a place to eat every single night. I'll still be making the most of my time that I have left though. Tomorrow is the Louvre. Crossed fingers we can take pictures there! (I'm pretty sure we can.)

L&P DLC: What I failed to mention (the last days in London + Paris)

Because of of crappy wifi in our old inn, updating the blog was extremely difficult, but now I'm in Paris and at a hotel that has infintely more reliable wifi. This post will be a quick recap of what happened in the last three days of London and what's happened in Paris so far.

The top two things to mention are Stonehenge and the London theatre. As people who read my blog way back when, I never got to see Stonehenge. Everyone told me that Stonehenge was a lot smaller than you think, so when I saw it, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was as big as I thought it was!

       

                                                                  Stonehenge

      

After Stonehenge, we went to Bath (again for me) and saw the Roman Baths (again for me). I spent 55 minutes at the Jane Austin Center but other than that, nothing really else worthy of mention.

Moving on, the group went to the Tower of London and then we all broke off to buy tickets to the London theatre. We were given £50 for tickets to the theatre. 2/3 of the group went to see Wicked (all for the first time), one went to Once, another went to Les Mis and I was going to go to Matilda again. Once, Les Mis and I went on our own to buy our tickets. We went on a rolicking adventure to a coffee shop, clothing stores, Hamley's (super toy store) and to our respective box offices. I changed my mind after having bought my ticket and did a switchero for a drama show, Let the Right One In, which was terrifying! It's a horror play and scared me a couple times (they freaking jump scare you!) I was super close to the stage in seat D13 (fourth row form the stage.)

      

                                   The stage for Let the Right One In from my seat.

I spent my last day in London as a day of contemplation (as you may have read earlier.) Now, it's time to move on to Paris. Our time in Paris was off to a rocky start. Foreign language, new tube system, new map, reaching our hotel was a struggle, especially for those who had big luggage bags that had to be rolled on the uneven streets. Lately, I've been just standing off to the side when it comes to navigating the city. When we were in London, I was trying hard to not be too "I know everything about the city, listen, look, and follow me!" and letting everyone have their own adventure. I also don't know anything about this city, so I can't offer a lot of help anyways.

So far, we've walked along the Pons des Arts, the bridge covered in lovers' locks, we saw Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and went into the Centre G. Pompidou. We have much more scheduled for our last week of this special Study Abroad Downloadable Content. Stay tuned for more!

   

                               Ponts due Arts, and a wall of locks along the bridge

                                 

       

                                                               Our group lock

        

                                                  Our first look at the Effiel Tower

                                 

                                                               Notre Dame