Day 67, 3/28/2010

Day 55, 3/16/2010

This was our last full day in Paris. I was kinda sad to see it go but it was still the best day that we had there. I loved it. The first thing we did was ride the train to the island near Notre Dame. We decided that we wanted to walk over there. Actually Catie decided and we went along with it. We walked along the first island and looked around then when we got to the end we had to cross the bridge back to the main land then walk down where we could cross the bridge again to where Notre Dame was placed. When we got there it was about the time that the line was starting to get long to go in. We immediately got inline because we wanted to go to the roof. It was worth it for Trisha. She wanted to see it more than Catie or I did but it was cool to go up there. Eventually we got inside and walked up the multitude of steps to the top. We got about half way up and there was a souvenir shop inside. I milled around a little too long because before I could by the book I wanted I had to check out and then run up the remaining steps to catch up with them. So we got to the first part of the roof top. The level with all the Gargoyles. That was cool you were right at the same level as them so you could really look at them if you wanted to. We were completely happy about it because it was exactly what we wanted to see. All Trisha could think about the entire time was Hunchback of Notre Dame. While we were on this level we were able to go inside and see the bells. It was awesome. We went through the hunchback door which was a tiny door leading to the bell tower. The bell tower was made entirely out of wood to help absorb the vibrations from the bells because if it was stone, the stone would slowly crack down because of the vibration. It was awesome to finally get to see what I have only seen in animations. It was beautiful. After we saw the bell in the tower we walked up more flights of stairs up to the very top of one of the West Work Towers. We were only allowed to stay up there for 5 minutes because of how small the area was. I walked around and took as many pictures as I could because it was beautiful. It was also a beautiful day so we could see for a long way. It was amazing to be at the very top of Notre Dame. I walked around and looked at everything. Since I had already been up that high I was able to enjoy it a bit more. Then it was time for the 6 min decent down to the bottom. This time to go inside the cathedral. So down we went, down, down, down. By the time I was at the bottom I was fairly dissy. We ended up talking to the people in front of us because they were also from America. We also ended up singing one of the songs from Hunchback of Notre Dame. When we got to the bottom we immediately went inside to the main sanctuary. This was beautiful as well. It was interesting because the movie made it seem so much bigger than it actually was. I was still happy to get to see the inside. It was another cathedral that I had learned about in my class with Vivian Paul my first semester at Texas A&M. So I walked around the inside and took pictures of what I wanted pictures of. A lot of them didn't turn out but I'm ok with that. I plan on coming back to Paris someday anyway. So we walked around and looked at everything then we headed outside to figure out what to do next. I was a little behind Catie and Trisha because I wanted to get something from the shop inside so they went out without me. After I finished I met them outside and Trisha had been feeding the pidgeons. This was hilarious. They were all over her. So she was feeding them straight from her hand. I asked if she had any more bread so I could do it too. This part was so much fun because you could just hold out your hand with the food and they would fly up and land on you. At one point Trisha had a bird on her head. I found it to be completely hilarious. I loved watching the birds fly onto her or onto my arm. Soon a man came over and showed me what to do. He took my bread away and gave me some rice So I could feed them better. It was so cool. We also didn't get pooped on, although it was still kinda gross because they were pigeons. Those birds are gross. After we were finished with the birds we went on our way to the next place. We wanted to go to Sant' Chapelle however when we got there the line was very long. Catie and Trisha didn't want to wait while I wanted to. I didn't say thing though because I was still on their good side. So instead we decided to find some lunch which we got at a shop right there near the Sant' Chapelle. I got a sandwich. So then we found a shop that we stayed at for a little while outside of the metro stop we would be taking. Catie ended up finding a miniature of the Rodin sculpture that she loved so much. The same one I mentioned in a previous post. She really really liked this thing. Since we couldn't go into Sant' Chapelle we decided to head for the catacombs. Catie really wanted to do this because she wasn't able to the last time she was in Paris. This place wasn't very big. We got there and the opening was literally a door in a wall. We got our tickets and then went down. The first part of it was just a quarry that was there before the catacombs. They buried all these people down there because they had all these bodies and didn't know what to do with them. So we got through the quarry then it was the actual catacombs. This was really weird because it was just stacks and stacks of bones. Mostly leg and arm bones that made up the walls. They used the skulls to make different cross designs. The whole thing was really cool but at the same time really morbid and creepy. Like Trisha my favorite bone was the tail bone that we found right at the beginning as well as the skull we found that wasn't quite fused together yet so it must have belonged to a very young person. So we finished with that. At the very end we saw an interesting arch that was put in there to keep the top from caving in. I liked that arch a lot I wish it would have been bright enough to really look at it. I took a picture of it and we started our ascent to the top up these stairs that were slightly too tall. That part sucked because our legs were tired. When we got to the top and exited I turned around and took a picture of the exit but a guy that was there at the end was standing in the door way. He made me delete the picture because he was in it. After that we left on our way to see the opera house. Trisha really really wanted to see this because of Phantom of the Opera. It was a very pretty building I liked it a lot. We walked around this building and looked at the different angles. I wanted to walk farther away from the front but Catie and Trisha were determined that we were at the back although I knew that we weren't. So we walked around to the other side. Lo-and-behold its the back. I told them so... Well they were being lazy and didn't walk back so we decided to mill around the shops and look to see what they had. We found a hat shop for Trisha. She bought herself an artists burre. After that Trisha and Catie did me a favor by allowing me to find the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris so I could get a pin for Sean. He used to collect them and I'm helping him collect them again. Right after that we stopped by the hostel and dropped off our stuff. Then we headed to the Eiffel Tower for sunset and to just sit there and enjoy it. That was how we spent the end of the day. We just watched the sun set and took lots of pictures. Trisha and I also watch a girl friend basically torture her boyfriend because he wanted to go and she kept wanting to take pictures over and over again. We got a good laugh out of that. Then when we were tired and wanting to go we headed back to the hostel so we could pack to leave the next day for Rome. When I was done packing and I had all my stuff placed how I wanted it I went down stairs to talk on my comp. Then to bed so I could have some sleep for the next day of traveling, we were off to Rome next.


Day 56, 3/17/2010

This was a very long day. We didn't do anything more in Paris we just packed our stuff and headed to the Airport. This was the day that we discovered how horrible Easy Jet was and also the day that I lost some drawings that I purchased the night before at this stand near the Eiffel. I was quite upset about it because they shouldn't have been lost in the first place. They just fell out of my bag and I didn't see them again. I wasted 12 Euros with those. I really wanted those drawings so I found it quite upsetting. Well we sat at the airport after going through the usual stuff, security and what not. After a little while we started boarding and it was like sheep running for food. Because this plane company doesn't assign seats, it is first come first serve. Which creates more problems than it helps. So we were just about to go through the gate and the told us that there would be a delay because of a minor problem. This sux because some people had already gone and they had to come back. So we just sat down, right next to the entrance and waited till the delay was over. When it was time to go again we grabbed our stuff and waited till all the people who had already gone through the gate went again. Then we were through. Now finally we were on our way to Rome. The flight was short and when we got there it took forever to actually get into Rome. The first thing was that we had to wait on a bus to take us. That took an hour and a half. Then from there we had to get our Roma Passes. These took a little time to find because they were in a shop that was kinda hidden away. Once we had those we got a train ticket for 24 hours so we could start our Roma Passes the next day. So we got our tickets and headed to our hostel. When we got out at our stop we had no idea which direction to take so we started walking. Turns out it was the wrong direction so we went back the other way. When we got to the corner that it was suppose to be on we couldn't find it. We looked around a little mad because it was hidden. Finally Catie spotted this tiny little sign on the door that said Ciak Hostel. So we had to climb the stairs to check in because it was on the second floor which in Europe means the third floor. So when we got up there and checked in we had to turn right back around and head down again because our rooms were actually in another building. So she showed us over there and we got our rooms. They were actually really nice rooms almost like a hotel. Actually I think it really was like a hotel because they made our bed every day and cleaned. Also if we asked we could have had breakfast brought to us. We didn't do that because we would be leaving too early for that. So we settled in and un packed. After a little while Trisha and Catie wanted to go get some food. We had asked while we were checking in where a good pizza place was so we headed over there. When we got there they told us that they had the whole place booked and it was take out only so we ordered pizzas to go. We ate in my room while trying to decide if we wanted to go anywhere that night. Ultimately we decided to go to the Colosseum for the first night in Rome. It was only appropriate. So when we got to the metro stop Catie practically ran up the stairs because this is the one thing she has wanted to see the whole time shes been in Europe. We got out and walked around admiring this amazing building. We looked at it and walked all the way around it. We also looked at the Arch of Constantine because it was right there next to the Colosseum. It wasn't as big as the Arch de Triomphe but infinitely more impressive because it wasn't built in the 19th century. It was built more than a couple hundred years ago. Yet another thing that we learned about in our history class last semester. It was awesome to get to see that monument as well as the Colosseum. After a little while we decided to walk up one of the roads near by. It wasn't one that was really traveled but when we got near the top we met a very pretty black cat. We pet him a little and soon he found something more interesting than us to look at and we headed back down the road to walk a little ways and to find a different place to look at the Colosseum. After a while we decided to walk down the road to find a different metro stop to go to the hostel for the night. When we found it it turned out that it was the wrong side so we had to go back out and across the street to the right side to catch the metro home. That night we found out how dead Rome is at night. Too bad we didn't use that to our advantage. So we headed home to sleep and rest up for the long next day. I had free Wifi here too so I talked to Sean again before going to sleep.