Christmas, New Year’s, Paris and London!

Wow, this is a bit of a late post. In my defense, I was travelling, and that was immediately followed by a very busy week, school-wise. So this post is going to be a long one! We went on break for the holidays, and I decided to take the time off to go visit some new places in the new year: Paris and London!

Also, I’d like to share the one second every day video from December!

Christmas

Christmas at the castle was actually really peaceful and nice. I think there was one other person who was still in the castle on Christmas, but I didn’t see anyone. I decided to try a cookie recipe that I had gotten at the grocery store, these vanilla cookies that you dip into Nutella. They turned out alright, but I’m more of a chocolate chip cookie person than a vanilla cookie person.

For the day after Christmas, I had been invited by my roommate to her family’s place in Gießen, for a Christmas celebration and gift exchange. Everyone invited brought food (I brought the cookies I had made) and a 5€ gift. We attended a church service, which I enjoyed. Several of the songs that were sung I recognized as popular Christmas carols, but I didn’t know the lyrics in German. At one point, my friend noticed I was mouthing lyrics along with the choir (though I didn’t know the German lyrics), and asked me if I knew the song, as she hadn’t heard it before. The song was Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and I found it kind of interesting how that’s a pretty recognizable and popular song in America, but in Germany it’s not.

The other guests at their Christmas party included some of her siblings’ friends, and a family of refugees. It was a good time, talking with everyone, eating food, singing some Christmas carols. I also got to play with my friend’s dog, a small, excitable poodle. I’m glad that she invited me.

New Year’s Fireworks

For most of New Year’s Eve, I wasn’t feeling too well, and so it took a while before I actually went to go join the festivities.

A cool new benefit of living in a castle on a mountain: you get the best views of the fireworks. I’ve heard that in the past couple of years, it was too foggy out to actually see anything, but we were lucky enough to have clear skies.

Not only were fireworks being shot off from several spots around the castle, people were shooting off fireworks throughout the entire city. We could see hundreds of them going off all at once, and they went pretty steady for almost an hour before they started petering out. It was beautiful.

Paris and London Trip

This was the first overnight trip to another country that I’ve done on my own, and I kind of feel like I’ve leveled up in adulting. It was a little stressful along the way, figuring out travel plans and finding hostels, but I’m really glad I got to go.

Paris!

On January 2nd, I took a bus to Paris from Frankfurt. It was a pretty long trip, but thankfully I had plenty of podcasts loaded up to get me through it. I planned to buy the 2-day Paris Museum Pass once I was in Paris, and to use it on Friday and Saturday, and spend Thursday visiting places that weren’t included on the pass.

Day One: From bones to books

I started off my first day in Paris bright and early to visit… the Catacombs! It might be a bit morbid, but I actually really enjoyed going to the catacombs. The history of the catacombs was really interesting, and the sheer size of them is astounding. All of the bones were carefully arranged, not just into rows, but also into various shapes, like the shape of a cross or an altar. The catacombs has the remains of more than six million people, and only a small portion of the catacombs is open to the public. As I walked through, I saw several different tunnels and paths that were blocked off. Partially due to preservation work they are doing in some areas, and partially because the network of tunnels is huge, and people could easily get lost.

After the Catacombs, I visited the most famous landmark of Paris, the Eiffel Tower. I wish I’d had slightly better weather for taking photos, but that’s alright. I didn’t actually go up to the top, because I didn’t feel like waiting in line or paying the money. Instead, I took a break from walking in the park across the bridge from the tower, and sat and watched people go by for a while.

Afterwards, I decided to go to the tourist center in Paris where I could buy the museum pass for the next couple of days. It was a pretty long walk there, but the entire way was along the Seine, and I’m glad that I walked it. Paris is a beautiful city, and walking along the Seine is a great way to view it. Plus, I got a better idea of where some of the places I planned to visit on Friday and Saturday were.

Unexpectedly, I found myself missing Vienna. Paris and Vienna are similar enough that comparing the two felt automatic. It might just be that I have more familiarity with Vienna, or that Vienna is smaller, or that their public transportation is better, but in any case, I definitely prefer it to Paris.

After buying the museum pass, I went to an English bookstore called Shakespeare & Co. When I had first started planning this trip, I had heard about this bookstore, which offers free rooms to people to stay at as long as they help work at the store for a few hours every day and write a one-page biography. The only reason I didn’t was because they don’t allow reservations and people need to stay for at least a week, and I couldn’t be certain I would get a spot.

It was a wonderful bookstore, and I think I spent more than an hour in there, and could’ve spent a lot longer. It was quite crowded, but cozy. In addition to it being a book store, they also had a number of older, antique books that were not for sale that you could sit down and read in one of the several reading rooms. I picked up a book that was an archive of National Geographic magazine issues from the 50s and 60s. I think everyone should be a little proud of me for resisting the urge to buy half the books I saw in there.

Day Two: Stained glass

On my second day in Paris, as I left the hostel, I found a farmer’s market and bought some clementines. It was only one euro for a kilo, and only after I had bought them did it occur to me to be worried about security stopping me from bringing them inside of various sites. Thankfully, no one noticed, or if they did, didn’t care to confiscate them.

The first place that I visited was the Notre Dame Cathedral, followed by the Sainte Chapelle. I didn’t go to the top of Notre Dame — I would have, if it weren’t for a complicated system to register for a time to go. The stained glass in both was breathtaking.

For lunch, I bought some cheesy bread and some clementines in the Luxembourg Gardens. They were pretty, but I’m sure its an attraction better viewed in the spring or summer time.

I then went to the Louvre, and was never as grateful as I was then for the museum pass I had bought. Instead of waiting outside in an hours long line to get into the museum, I entered in two seconds through a side entrance specifically for people with passes.

This museum was giant, and a bit of a maze to get through. I did see the Mona Lisa (thankfully, it was near where the entrance I had used), although I never did make it all the way to the front of the crowd of 30+ people trying to get a view of it. The further I went into the museum, the farther away from the Mona Lisa, the less crowded the museum got. I enjoyed going through it, but after going through about half of it, I stopped to take a break. My feet were hurting, and I was tired, and sitting in one of the cafes for an hour and a half to rest was the right decision. I don’t think I would have been able to see the rest of the museum, much less enjoy it, if I hadn’t taken that break.

I ended up spending another two hours in the Louvre after that break. Although it was very cool to see so many famous paintings, I think my favorite exhibits were the sculptures.

Day Three: Locked in

Although I got up early enough to go see Arc de Triomphe and the view of Paris at sunrise, my third day there was unfortunately overcast. Despite the clouds, it was still an impressive view.

That afternoon, I visited the Musee d’Orsay. It was was probably my favorite museum that I visited in Paris, if not on the entire trip. It’s the museum that has the most works by Monet, who is one of my favorite artists. I love impressionist art; it just makes me so happy, with all of the colors. There were so many beautiful paintings, both by Monet and by other artists, that I could’ve spent hours more inside that museum. There were so many amazing paintings, I’ve tried to limit myself to sharing just six of them here.

I did end up spending hours more at d’Orsay, except not quite in the way I had hoped. Originally, the plan was take a short walk to L’Orangerie and see the exhibits there (I’d heard there was even more Monet over there). But while I was still wandering d’Orsay, a voice came over the loud speakers announcing “Ladies and gentlemen, for your safety, please remain inside the museum.” And when I went to the front of the museum, there were large metal grates blocking people from the exit and main lobby area.

Over the next several hours, we learned that the museum had shut down because the Yellow Vest protests/riots were in the nearby area. At one point, they started releasing people through a back exit, but I decided to stay. The other museum I was planning was also going to be closed anyway, so I might as well stay to find out what happened, maybe spend more time looking at the exhibits. Unfortunately, they started closing down all the exhibits, having everyone stay in the center atrium after retrieving their items from the cloakroom.

They ended up keeping us there for another two hours after that, until the museum’s closing time. At that point, I decided to just return to the hostel, and ended up having to walk most of the way there, as the metro stations near the museum were all closed down, too. The walk back was punctuated by police cars and ambulances speeding past, and at one point a helicopter flew overhead. On the bright side, I got a great view of the Seine by night, and if it wasn’t for my phone’s low battery, I would’ve taken more photos.

London!

The plan was to leave Paris early Sunday morning, and arrive in London in the afternoon. Things rarely go to plan, however.

The bus I was taking actually broke down at the border between France and the UK, and we were stuck at this weird food court/mall at the border for nearly seven hours before the replacement bus arrived. As a result, I didn’t arrive in London until 11p.m., at which point it was too late to do anything but go to the hostel.

However, few things can make me as happy about humanity as the discovery of how people travel across the English Channel. I knew there was a tunnel involved, but I had thought that people merely drove through the tunnel. The reality is much cooler than that. You drive a car or bus onto a train, which goes through a tunnel underneath the ocean. I just think that’s incredible.

Day One: The castles

The hostel I was staying at was a short walk away from Kensington Palace, so I started off my day there. Honestly, my first impression of Kensington Palace was that it was a lot less fancy and a lot darker than the palaces that I had visited while in Vienna. I suspect most of that is due to the respective time periods in which they were built, but I’m not sure. In any case, I thought the history was interesting. One thing that I liked were the models they had showing the types of clothing the nobles had worn when the palace was first built. There was also an exhibit with costumes from the movie about Queen Anne, called The Favorite, which I found interesting. They also had an exhibit that displayed many of the dresses that Princess Diana wore during her life.

I then made my way to Buckingham Palace, passing a parade of horses along the way. Unfortunately, Buckingham Palace is closed to visitors during the winter, so I didn’t get to see it beyond the front gates.

After lunch, I went to the Westminister Abbey. It was beautiful but had a strict, no photos inside policy, which is understandable. I found the Poet’s Corner, where many famous poets, playwrites and other writers are either buried or commemorated. Neither Shakespeare nor Jane Austen are buried there, but they are both commemorated.

The last place that I really visited was the National Gallery, one of the free museums in London. They also had some Monet and Van Gogh paintings, though not as many as d’Orsay. There was also an exhibit I liked that had several paintings with deer in them, but photos weren’t allowed.

To finish off the day, I had wanted to go to the London Eye, but it was closed down for it’s yearly month of maintenance.

Day Two: The fortress and theater

The Tower of London was definitely one of my favorite attractions in London, and I ended up spending most of the day there. The history of the fortress is really interesting. It held (mostly political) prisoners, and was also where Anne Boleyn was executed. At one point, the fortress also held a lot of exotic animals. Now, in addition to learning about the history of the Tower, you can also go see the Crown Jewels and other crowns and jewelry that were used by the monarchy in the past. (although photos were not allowed).

At one point, I noticed that several of the buildings inside were homes, and that people still live there. I thought to myself, “Wow, it must be weird to live at a tourist attraction. I wonder how annoying the tourists can get.” It was a solid five minutes before I remembered that I live at a tourist attraction (admittedly, a smaller one), and that yes, it is a bit weird, and yes, tourists can get annoying. (Actually, earlier today, two tourists stopped me as I was taking out the trash to ask if they could come inside the dorm.)

I then went to the Tower Bridge, one of the most iconic symbols of London. There are two walkways at the top of the bridge, and part of the floor is actually see-through, which was cool. I wish I had been able to see the bridge in action, but no such luck. Part of the tour included seeing the engine rooms that used to control the bridge. The original system controlled the bridge with hydraulics, but most of it has been replaced with an electro-hydraulic system.

I then went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which like Westminister Abbey, also had a no-photos policy. I did enjoy the visit there as well. Cathedrals like this are always so beautiful, and the ceiling was covered in gorgeous mosaics. One thing that I found interesting was a video art installation, called Martyr by Bill Viola. There were four screens, each depicting a martyr in a different element: water, fire, earth, and wind. The strange thing was that I actually recognized the piece. After some thought, I realized I had seen it while visiting an art museum in Rochester, New York, over Thanksgiving break last year.

I ended the day by visiting Shakespeare’s Globe. I didn’t expect to enjoy the visit there as much as I did. It’s not the original theater (the original burned down, and this one is a recent reconstruction), but it was made using the same techniques and materials as the original was. I know I’ve said this about  a lot of the places I visited on the trip, but I’ll go ahead and say it once more for this place: the history of the Globe theater and Shakespeare was fascinating. The people who would stand in the main open area were called “penny stinkards” because those tickets would only cost a penny, and they usually didn’t smell great. Now, the tickets for the open area are about 5 pounds, which is actually cheaper than what the prices were originally.

Someday, I want to be able to see a play performed at Shakespeare’s Globe. Ideally, Hamlet, or Much Ado About Nothing. Those are my favorite Shakespeare plays. If I had thought ahead, I could have seen Dr. Faustus or Macbeth in the indoor-theater they use in the winter, but I missed the chance to get a ticket for that day, and the only showings the next day would have been after I had to be at the airport.

Day Three: One last museum

My last day in London, and on the trip as a whole, I took pretty easy. The hostel I was staying at was right in the middle of Holland Park, and so after checking out, I walked through the park as the sun started rising. It was really pretty, and there were a lot of people out walking and playing with their dogs. At one point, someone’s dog decided to start following me, and wouldn’t listen to its owner telling it to come back to it.

I then went to another one of London’s free museums, the Victoria and Albert museum. This museum had a very wide range of art, from sculpture to clothes to video games. I particularly liked the exhibit on historical clothing. It’s always so interesting to me to see the various clothes and styles that people used to wear. One cool display had a video demonstrating how a wooden statue with gold leafing would have been made.

I decided to have lunch at the cafe inside the museum, and then I headed off to the airport for the flight back to Frankfurt.

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What I’m listening to this week: My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit. I heard the song playing in the hostel in London I stayed at and loved it.