Day Seven (April 18, 2009)

I have decided that Brussels, while an important city as it houses the EU and the European Parliament, is not the city for me. I haven't found much in this city that interests me. This morning Molly and I set out to find the famous Mannekin Pis, a statue fountain of a little boy peeing. When we found it it was slightly disappointing and really quite small, it couldn't have been more than a foot and a half tall on its perch. We found our Belgian waffles and set out people watching. We have tried to have the local drink and famous food of every place we have gone. In Berlin we had beer, got chocolate, and had a bratwurst. In Paris we drank wine, got crepes, and had drinks at a cafe. In Brussels we got chocolate, beer, waffles, and fries. I found out that french fries were actually invented in Belgium but popularized by the French. We got pretty bored pretty quickly today and ended up doing a lot of people watching and wandering around Brussels. In our wanders we came upon an English bookshop. We spent a considerable amount of time poking around there. I ended up buying a copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle because I found a section of classics for between 4 and 5 euro. I chose between that, Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I knew that I needed something to read to keep me busy at the airport tonight seeing as Molly and I are spending the night here. Getting to the airport was a trick though. We caught the metro to the train station and then couldn't figure out where the shuttle was going to pick up to go the hour drive to the airport. We thought we had missed the last one and didn't know what to do so we asked information at the train station and he directed us straight to the bus, which was in the opposite direction we had been looking and even though it was supposed to leave at 8:30 it was 8:45 and it was still there, we actually waited until 9:00 to leave and Molly and I ended up being the only ones on the shuttle. We are now in the airport with many other travelers spending the night. It is 2:15 am and right before I wrote this I woke up from my nap since Molly and I are only sleeping one at a time for an hour at a time. I can't wait to be back in Maynooth!

Day Six (April 17, 2009)

Brussels has absolutely nothing to do in it. Well it does, but not a while lot of interesting things. This morning we walked out of our hostel in the rain and made our way to the Comic Strip Center which is a museum about comic strips. This year is the year of the comic for some reason, I'm not terribly sure why. The museum was kinda cool but there were like two comics I recognized, Tintin and the Smurfs. It was a great place for pictures though because there were a lot of sets like comic backgrounds. One of the greatest things is that since Brussels is the capitol of the European Union the descriptions either had the English translation on them or the receptionist gave me a binder with the English and it was in there. In that case I was actually able to understand everything but most of the actual comics because they were either in Dutch or French. For some reason there was a collection of Czech comics and all of those were actually in English, I don't know why they weren't in Czech but whatever, I was able to understand those. After we finished at the Comic Strip Center we went on a search to find the office of the map company we were using. There we were able to use free internet and figure out where the Chocolate Museum was in Brussels because we couldn't find anything on it. I was right though, there is one in Brussels. I also figured out why it wasn't advertised much, it wasn't that great. We went to it and it didn't take much time. Once we finished that we just took a walk and ended up at Grand Place, which is the most famous square in Brussels. It is lined with some pretty buildings. After the Chocolate Museum we really wanted some chocolate so we went on a search for a chocolatier. We found a cute one and got ourselves some chocolates. I got a raspberry praline, an orange praline, a couple mint pralines, a caramel one, and then I wanted to try something random so I tried a chili pepper one, it was actually pretty good. We also found a store that only sold Belgian beer so we each got one of their fruit beers. I got strawberry and Molly got passionfruit. Unfortunately we didn't think about the fact that we needed a bottle opener so that became a mission later that night. We also went to the supermarket to get other chocolate because we got a tip it was cheapest there. Lastly for dinner we had a Belgian original, Fries! Tomorrow we are going to find Mennekin Pis and walk around.

Day Five (April 16, 2009)

Not a whole lot happened today. Molly and I started out our day by going to the Grand Palais and going to that Andy Warhol exhibit. It was amazing. I didn't really realize the number of famous people he portrayed. I also didn't realize that he was a commissioned portrait artist. I really do love modern art like that, bright colors and no necessarily clean lines. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit, It would have been great to take pictures of Marilyn Monroe, or Jackie, or Judy Garland. Those were my favorite portraits he did. Once we finished the exhibit we ended up at McDonald's for a cheap meal. After our meal we got McFlurries and walked down and people watched at the Arc de Triomphe again. Molly and I started to wonder how many people's pictures we ended up in. I decided that my favorite was when we were eating crepes at the cafe by Notre Dame an Asian woman stopped and blatantly just took a picture of us and then continued walking. It was pretty funny. Now back to today. It started to rain so we made our way back to the hostel to get our luggage and go to the train station. The train ride was very relaxing and I even took a nap on the way to Brussels. Once we got to Brussels we grabbed our Metro and then had to search for our hostel, which took us a while to find. Once we got there it was like a hotel, I actually think that we may be staying in the hotel portion. We have a private room and it is exactly like a hotel room. Even if we were in the hostel portion it still would have been the nicest hostel I had ever been in. Tomorrow we are going to go to the Comic Museum because Belgium and Brussels is where the comic was born. We are also going to look up information on the Chocolate Museum because for some reason none of the maps or brochures we grabbed even mentioned it. We can get free internet at the tourist office so we are going there tomorrow (we paid for it at the hostel to email home).

Day Four (April 15, 2009)

Today was a short day. We got up a little later and headed out to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line and finally went all the way up, it was beautiful but it was windy and cold. When we originally got our ticket the top floor was closed so we only went up to the 2nd stage. While we were walking around the 2nd stage the top floor opened again so we got a ticket to that floor and headed up. The panoramic aerial views of Paris are absolutely beautiful. What I love about this city is that it doesn't have many high rises or skyscrapers so it really looks like an old city. We came back down to the ground where it was warmer and went to Monoprix to get some lunch. We then found the metro and went to see the Arc de Triomphe. It is very cool to stand on the little island amid the sea of cars zipping around the roundabout. To get to the island you have to take a tunnel underground. It wouldn't be safe to get there above ground. We walked around and took pictures and then sat and people watched for a little while. Then we decided to go to the Grand Palais because there were two great exhibits, one on Andy Warhol, the other about Graffiti from all over the world. As we walked down the Avenue de Champs Elysees we walking in a few stores including Louis Vuitton, we wanted to just look at the pretty and very expensive purses. We also went into the Disney Store where I ended up buying the cutest Minnie Mouse Paris shirt. Once we made it to the Grand Palais we found out that it was too expensive to go to both exhibits so we ended up deciding to just go to Andy Warhol, but the line was so long and we figured they would be closed by the time we got to the front that we would to it tomorrow. I had wanted to sip coffee at a French cafe since we got here so we found one just off the Champs Elysees and sipped while people watching. The Avenue des Champs Elysees is really beautiful even thought it is full of stores. We made our way back down to the Arc to people watch and kill time. While there Molly decided she wanted to get a souvenir we saw at a ship over by Notre Dame so we metroed back there and people watched at Notre Dame for the rest of our time out tonight. Tomorrow we are going to go to that Warhol exhibit and then take the train to Brussels!

Day Three (April 14, 2009)

Today was fun but as of right now my feet are killing me. We started the day off at Notre Dame, also bright and early. We walked around the Cathedral while morning mass was going on. I lit a candle to the health of everyone in the family. We then climbed the tower, those are a lot of steps but less than I remember. We ended up getting to climb for free because we were under 26. It really was gorgeous up there. After Notre Dame we found a cafe and sat outside and got banana chocolate crepes. They were absolutely delicious. It was fun to just sit and people watch and it was a great spot because it over looked Notre Dame. After our crepes we made the walk along the river to Musee d'Orsay. The museum is cool but the Louvre is still my favorite. I thought that Van Gogh's Bedroom was at d'Orsay but I must have been wrong because I didn't find it. After d'Orsay we made out way back toward the Eiffel Tower to get tickets for our tour and I finally got my Fat Tire t-shirt. We then headed back to H&M to get my dress. We grabbed some food and we back to the hostel to charge my camera and grab more layers because we were going on a night bike tour. Now, for the best part of my trip so far, the night bike tour. Our tour guide was named Billy and he was amazing. Since I had said that I had done a Fat Tire Bike Tour before he asked Molly and I to be his very first "Ass women" (they had always been men). This just meant that we needed to pull up the rear. He told the group that if they could see our asses they needed to speed up. We were also definitely the youngest ones on the tour. We started with a really long ride to Notre Dame, then we went to an ice cream place. The ice cream was absolutely amazing, it is only made at that shop, every morning. You can't buy cartons of it and the flavors change everyday. Tonight it was all fruity flavors, I got strawberry and cocktail exotic. We ate it on a bridge and there was a band playing and an old woman dancing. I taped them as they played "What a Wonderful World" and the trumpet player sang (I will show you the video this summer if I see you, it won't fit on flickr). We continued on and saw some pretty churches and a couple cool bridges, then we rode our bikes into the Louvre at night. You have no idea how cool that is. Everything is lit up and then when we got to the pyramids it was even better. We then made our way to the river and boarded a tour boat and Billy had brought wine (it was part of the tour). So we sipped wine, talked, and took in the scenery of Paris at night. It was beautiful. Our tour was pretty much finished after that, we saw the memorial to Princess Diana over the bridge she died in and headed back to the Eiffel Tower just in time to see it sparkle. We ended back at the office and I grabbed a couple of brochures so that when Ian and I take the tour in London we get a discount. Molly and I then headed back to Eiffel because Billy had told us that at 1:00 am the back lighting of the Tower is turned off and it just sparkles and the tour didn't end until 12:15 so we weren't too far away from that. It started to rain while we were in Champs de Mars, but we found a covered bench and watched it from there. After it quit raining we wanted to go back to the hostel but little did we know that the metro quites running at 1:15 am, so we had to take a taxi. The taxi actually only cost 10 euro, which is a lot less than we both thought it would. Tomorrow we are going to Arc de Triomphe and we are finally going to go up in the Eiffel Tower!

Day Two (April 13, 2009)

1st full day in Paris! Woke up early and headed out at around 8:30 am. We wanted to get to the Louvre early to try and beat crowds. We ended up getting our tickets by 9:17. I was all ready to pay for my ticket and it turned out that today the ticket was free for all people 25 and under. That was pretty cool because we unintentionally saved money. We of course saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo but we also saw Psyche and Cupid and Napoleon's apartments. Those apartments were very elaborate and beautiful. It was an absolutely beautiful day in Paris so we walked all the way from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower. The walk was beautiful because for a good portion we walked along the Seine River. Once we got to the Eiffel Tower we took a break in the park and I actually napped for about 20 minutes (Molly was awake writing the whole time). We then walked out farther and got some pictures then went on a hunt for ice cream. We found a Haagen Daas and got ice cream cones. H&M and GAP were on that street so we went in, at H&M I found the most adorable dress for only 30 euro and tomorrow I am going back to buy it. We walked back to the Eiffel Tower to figure out what we wanted to do next. We decided to find a grocery store and have a picnic dinner in the grass by the Eiffel Tower. We had a great picnic and decided we wanted to up in the Tower, we got in line and then decided to wait for another day. We stayed around until after dark and we watched the Tower light up and then twinkle. We then went back to our hostel and I can't wait until tomorrow for Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, and Fat Tire!

Day One (April 12, 2009)

Currently I am sitting in a hostel in Paris for my Easter Break. This hostel isn't bad, kinda tiny, but it isn't in the greatest part of town, at least not from what I've gathered thus far. I can't wait to explore Paris again and tomorrow Molly and I are going to make our way to the Louvre. There is so much to see at the Louvre, it is going to be so much fun. I have found that the worst part of traveling is getting from the airport to the hostel. Most of the time it is very trial and error unless you have very specific directions. Today for instance was fun since we had a bus ride that was like an hour long and then we had to take two metros to get here. We have to take two metros tomorrow to get to the Louvre. Luckily the Paris metro system isn't hard to understand.

Easter Break!

Hey everyone! I am going to do a bunch of entries to go over this week, I wrote in the journal that Danny gave me for Christmas to write about everyday on my trip to Paris and Brussels. So for every day that I was on vacation I will be writing a different post, even though I am writing them all today. The pictures will also be up in two different sets, one called Paris and the other called Brussels. So everyone enjoy my week traveling.

Hey! Just wanted to let everyone know that now my photos are organized much better. You can now just look at a trip if you want. There are sets that have titles that go along with the trip, Maynooth and Dublin are the only ones that don't pertain to just one trip. Hope this helps with the viewing of pictures! Also want to let everyone know that on Easter I will be heading to Paris and Brussels for the week so there should be some great pictures when I get home!!

Love you all! Happy Easter!

This past Saturday the SMC girls and I went to Clonmachnoise and Castletown House. Clonmachnoise was a monastic settlement that was set up by St. Ciaran before the Viking invasion and settlement of Ireland. He put it in a very good spot, on one of the largest rivers in Ireland, the Shannon, and on the Escir Riada. The Escir Riada was the way that the Irish were able to get around their boggy land back then. It was raised land that was there after the last ice age and it was their way of being above the bog. Clonmachnoise was set at the crossroad of the river and the escir. It became a great place for trade and everything else because of its location. Not much of it is left though. It was bombed many many times and Oliver Cromwell's troops finally finished it off and carried off most of the loot from the site. The ruins of the churches still stand and the place is now a large cemetery. It is still a place though that some of the Irish come to as a Holy site. There are services held there every year. In Pope John Paul II's last tour to Ireland he gave mass at Clonmachnoise. The doorway to one of the churches is called the Whispering Door. Because of the way it was made, which successive grooves, a person can whisper into one side and have another person standing on the other side and the person can hear them like they are actually whispering into their ear. They made it this way because at one point leprosy was so prevalent that the priests didn't want to contract it, it was their way of hearing confession without having to be face to face with the person. We also went to Castletown House, well us spring girls did, the full year girls had already been. Castletown House is pretty much just a huge mansion. For the first time it wasn't owned by the Butler family, most of the places we have seen were. I don't really have as much information about that, I also don't have pictures of the inside because we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. There are pictures of Clonmachnoise though if you want to check them out! Love you all!

This past weekend the SMC girls and I went to the Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle, and St. Brigid's Well. The Rock of Cashel is a hill that has a succession of churches on it. They date back from the 15th century. It was absolutely beautiful up there but it was so windy and cold. If you look at my pictures you will see a picture of The Devil's Bite Mountain, it is a mountain that kinda looks like a bite was taken out of it. The story is that when the devil flew over Ireland he took a bite out of that mountain and spit it out to make the Rock, where the Rock of Cashel is located. Also while we were at the Rock of Cashel we saw St. Patrick's Cross. There are legends that if you can touch your fingers together while wrapping your arms around the cross that you will never have a toothache again and that if you hop on one foot counterclockwise nine times around the cross you will marry in the next year. I didn't try the hopping, but I did try the arm thing. Surprise, surprise my arms aren't long enough...haha. Next we went to Cahir Castle. While we were there we learned all about how the castle was guarded, which was pretty boring actually. We saw all the courtyards and some of the buildings, then we were free to wander. It was pretty cool but there isn't really much to write about it. Lastly we went to St. Brigid's Well. St. Brigid is the patron saint of Ireland and so she has wells all over Ireland. This one happens to be special and I was able to bless myself with the waters. These wells are considered holy sites for the Irish. There were many trinkets around that people left while praying for their loved ones. It really was a great site. There are pictures up, and they are in a set called "Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle, and St. Brigid's Well" so enjoy. I go on another trip this weekend, we'll see how that goes. Love you all!!