Mike D Goes to Europe!

Hey there, sports fans. Sorry I haven’t written in a few days. I have either been ludicrously busy seeing stuff or completely exhausted from being ludicrously busy seeing stuff. Since I last wrote, I have been to the Louvre, Montmartre, the Orsay gallery (note the photo below of me and my pal Vinny), Saint-Chapelle (really old church which, if I read the French brochure correctly, is a monument to comedian Dave Chapelle), the Conciergerie (prison where Marie-Antoinette was held before she was executed), some house in the burbs where a bunch of guys named Louis all used to live (see photo of me strolling through the small garden they have out back), the Arc de Triomphe (just like being in Vegas, only not as hot), and countless cafes and restaurants where the locals were surprisingly friendly. Most of the time.

Oh, and I also saw some big cool pointy building. Didn’t catch the name, but I’m including a picture.

Overall, Paris was pretty damned impressive. Despite my list above, I didn’t get a chance to see everything I wanted to see. But that’s okay. I intend to come back.

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
Paris - General
The Louvre
Versailles

I arrived in Paris yesterday afternoon and I’ve barely stopped moving since I got here. After a quick (and delicious) lunch at a cafe near my hotel, I went out and saw Notre Dame, then walked around Ile St. Louis and the Latin Quarter.

My good friend Dave Schulz was kind enough to connect me with his Parisian friend Anne-Cécile. I met her and a few of her friends for an English-style tea at her apartment, which is not far from my hotel. After tea, her friends left, and she and I went for a long walk all over the city center, bringing along feisty Austin, the Jack Russell she is taking care of for a friend. We walked for a good three hours and saw so many places that I can’t possibly remember them all.

A lot of tourist destinations can be a bit anticlimactic. You go, you take a picture, you check it off your list, and you wonder what the big deal is. There is nothing anticlimactic about Paris. The place is like one giant museum. Everywhere you go, there is something beautiful and historic. I think you could live here your whole life and never see it all.

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
Paris - General
Notre Dame

I’m a little behind with the entries because I have been trying to cram 4 days of sightseeing into a day and a half. Here are the highlights of my time in Provence…

Stayed in Arles. This time of year, it’s pretty empty, as Summer is the real tourist season. The lighting at night is flourescent and, on my hotel’s street, pink. That and the lack of people makes it a bit creepy at night. There is an excellent coliseum here (see photo), built by the Romans around fortysomething AD. They still use it for “bull games” (humane bull fighting). There’s also an awesome medieval church (St. Trophime) and a lot of stuff related to Van Gogh, who lived here for many years, but none of his actual paintings.

Today I day-tripped to the Pont du Gard which is a big section of a Roman aquaduct, built from 38 - 52 AD (see photo). I had an interesting adventure on the way back…

The Pont du Gard is not a real easy place to get to. I had to take two trains and two buses to get there. Upon trying to return, the bus stop was at a roundabout some 300 yards from the site’s entrance. In waiting for the bus, I was joined by an 18-ish year-old girl from Montreal, whom I had seen on the bus on the way there and around the park. We chatted briefly in a combination of broken French and broken English. Eventually (15 minutes late), the bus stopped on the opposite side of the roundabout. We waved at him and hurried to cross to the other side but he just shrugged his shoulders and drove off. Dick.

Since the next bus on the schedule was not for another 3 hours, we resolved to go back to the Pont du Gard parking lot and try to bum a ride. After a few minutes, a group of 3, clearly American, girls in their early 30’s, came walking out and I successfully negotiated passage to Avignon for my young quebecoise cohort and myself. Avignon’s not Nimes, but they have a train station, so good enough. The ladies in question, Candice, Liz, and the other one (can’t remember her name), were from Chicago, and were very kind to help us out. Thank you, ladies!

After that, got a train back to Nimes, where I was determined to see more sites. My new friend was headed that way as well, so she joined me for my quick and dirty tour of the town. I won’t go into the siteseeing details here but it was my overall impression that Nimes was a more pleasant town to see and hang out in than Arles. If I were to come back, I would want to stay there.

Around 6:00-ish, my new friend (Catherine) and I parted ways as I headed back to Arles. It was interesting and enjoyable partnership, brought on by shared hardship and a desire for two lone travellers to have a companion, if only for a few hours.

Perhaps it could be said that one has not truly travelled until they have been lost in a foreign country. It takes some resolve and resourcefulness to find your way out of such a pickle. In this case, I took advantage of a nearby hub of tourist activity, which is probably a sound general strategy. But I feel it was something of a defining moment. Hopefully future defining moments will be less stressful. But the stress is probably what makes them defining. C’est la vie.

Update: here are my photos from this part of the trip:
Arles
Pont du Gard
Nimes

So, yesterday was the longest travel day on my agenda. I left Vernazza at 10:30 and arrived in Nice at around 16:30 (or 4:30 PM for you Americans). Unfortunately, that killed most of a day for me. After settling in, I got back on the train to go to nearby Antibes for the evening, as mentioned in my previous post. That train ride was an interesting experience. Rather than the inter-city trains I had taken so far, this was more of a commuter train and it was an entirely different crowd (i.e. I was the only foreigner). On the way back, the train station was closed which, needless to say, was something of a concern. Luckily, I noticed a small sign indicating how to get directly to the platform at night. It was a bit nerveracking sitting out there in the dark with a few questionable characters, but the train did eventually come and I did make it back to Nice.

Today, I started out by visiting the Chagall museum, which was interesting, if a bit small.

In the afternoon, I walked along the Promenade des Anglais at the sea shore (see photo below), and explored the old city.

Since I arrived in France, I have surprised myself with my knowledge of the French language. I have managed to speak it almost exclusively, except when the conversation goes a little deeper and my limited vocabulary is exhausted. I even got stopped by some sort of petition-toting activist who clearly did not know that I wasn’t French (as soon as I told him, he apologized and went away). So I guess I’m doing a decent job of blending in.

Ended up having dinner at a restaurant full of English-speakers again. I’m afraid Rick Steves has a few too many avid readers, as several copies of his guidebooks could be seen on the tables there. Everywhere I go, I run into these people. I guess I’m one of them. It’s like a club. We should have a secret handshake or something.

I sat between a couple from Ireland and another from Scotland, all good folks. The adjoining tables were chock full o’ yanks. Out of all these people, I was the only one speaking French to the waiters (which clearly makes me a better person).

Tomorrow, on to Provence.

Update: here are the photos from this part of the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/therealmiked/sets/72157608736735176/