Why I Could Never Be a Palace Guard

My thought process while sightseeing sometimes goes like this...

"Wow, that's a beautiful palace, a bit smaller than I imagined for the Queen of England."
       "Oh man!  There are the guards that I always see pictures of...how awesome!"
             "Dang, I could never be that stoic with all these people staring and me and taking pictures."
                   "Good thing I'm an American and never will have to guard a queen."

Day #1 in UK, Day #15 traveling

This guy made me appreciate
my current career choice.

After falling quite ill in London, I sorely neglected to keep up my blog up to date with my wanderings.  So for my own memory's sake, I'll be filling in the last week of my travels.

Per usual, I started off my London sightseeing with a free walking tour.  The tour covered the City of Westminster part of London.  Westminster is the "royal" side of London, containing Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and Big Ben.  However, since the tour didn't start until 11, I amused myself with a stroll through Hyde Park (No, I don't fully comprehend how awesome it is to say "I was bored so I went to Hyde Park").

According to the tour guide, the Queen doesn't really like Buckingham Palace (perhaps the ungodly number of tourists in her backyard on a daily basis?) and usually resides in Windsor.  I was a bit disappointed in the size of Buckingham...I was expecting something a bit grander for the queen of England.

Another day, another palace

Well, my disappointment had an explanation.  The part of Buckingham that's most famous is the backside.  It was built by Queen Victoria as a nursery for her fourteen kids and NEVER meant to be the part everyone saw.  However, as most of us would probably would be annoyed, the queen disliked all the journalists and tourists on her front lawn and banished them from ever photographing the front of the palace...or seeing it ever really for that matter.

Big Ben!

While standing outside of the palace, a bunch of goofy looking guys on horses road by.  Apparently, they're part of the Queen's Guard and are responsible for making sure things stay safe.  It's really weird in England...even police officers don't have guns.  And I'm pretty sure these soldiers were also unarmed.  Unfortunately, during the off-tourist season, the Changing of the Guards only happens every other day so I missed see it.

I was pretty disappointed that 10 Downing Street is mostly blocked by police barricades.  Seeing as two of the greatest politicians of modern times lived there (Churchill and Thatcher), I was hoping to get a cool picture of myself with the house or something.  Alas, Great Britain might be the only European country who rivals the U.S. in security precautions (See: no trash cans near the Palace).  Outside the prime minister's residence, is a giant field...where the beach volleyball competitions in the London Olympics happened!

The second half of my sightseeing day was in the City of London part of London.  This is where the mayor of London lives and most of the country's banking and financial sector is located.  There's some strange ceremony where the Queen of England has to meet with the mayor before she can enter this area of the country to try to raise funds for different programs.  I was a bit unclear on the whole thing, just remember it sounded very strange.

Marks made by German bombs

One of our first stops here was St. Clement Danes.  It's the one of the only parts of London that still bears the scars of the German blitzkrieg during WWII.  Built in the 9th century by a Danish community, the church was rebuilt on numerous occasions over the course of history.  In 1956, the Royal Air Force adopted the church and to this day care for its upkeep.  They decided to keep the marks on part of the building as a reminder of the horror London underwent as a monument to their fallen ranks.

Perhaps the funnest fact of the day was given during our visit to the Royal Courts.  The lawyers in England still wear white wigs when arguing cases in the court.  It's SO old fashioned and I made the tour guide repeat himself because I wasn't sure I was hearing him correctly.

Royal Courts of Justice

The tour ended at the Tower of London...it was quite dark by this time so I didn't get any great photos.  Most of the interesting sights cost literally an arm and leg to get inside.  So I passed up the $35 entrance fee to the Tower of London and just enjoyed a view from the outside.

After all this walking (around 6 hours of tours) my brain was fried, my feet were wet, and I was cold!  And thus, on this day, London got me sick.

Last Day in Paradise

Day 5 in Morocco, Day 14 travelling

Spice Market

My favorite part of Morocco wasn't the camels (they were surprisingly uncomfortable), but the markets and just wandering through the sunny streets of Marrakech soaking in chaos.  Our last day in Marrakech was filled with more shopping and some solo wandering through the twisting streets.

Understandably, some people get incredibly overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the market, uncertainty of the narrow roads and motorcycles, and often touchy shopkeepers.  I was not one of those people.   This meant I had some rather incredible experiences with some of the shopkeepers.  Wandering around, I ran into the man who sold me scarves my first day in Morocco, we chatted for a little bit about Moroccan life and then he pointed me towards the spice market.

In the spice market, I met up with this crazy spice shop owner.  We met him on the first day and he sells the normal spices along with little turtles and a lizard.  I wanted to buy some more "magic" lipstick.  It's a green stick of lipstick that changes colors based on your PH level...and TOTALLY awesome.  I showed it to my mom the other day and she was freaking out about it.

Moroccan Mosque

When I tried to leave, he asked where I was going.  I had to find a specific gift for someone and so he told me to wait, and went to his friend's shop to bring me back some examples.  Since I didn't have enough cash, I had to go to a bankomat.  When I came back, the guy had tea waiting for me and I bought the souvenir.   Customer service in Morocco is fantastic if you're willing to take the time to chat and potentially drink tea.  Moroccans are incredibly friendly and awesome.

After finishing my shopping, I decided to walk through some more of Marrakech because I had about two hours until we had to meet at the hostel to get in our taxi back to the airport.  I ended up in the more residential part of town, which looked exactly the same as the markets, without all the craziness of shopkeepers yelling at you.

When I was heading back to the hostel, a crazy henna lady grabbed my hand.  On our first day, our tour guide warned us that they overcharge and do poor work.  So I politely refused her, and when she said come back to me next time, I (without thinking) said "Insha'Allah" or "God Willing".  She freaked out about how I could speak Arabic (all eight words of it).  And offered me free henna.  Fr. Will's Fourth Rule of Pilgrimage (which I adapted for normal traveling), "if someone offers you something, take it," applied here without a thought.

Car, motorcycle, donkey
ONE ROAD!

One of the craziest parts of Marrakech is transportation and roads.  In one part of the city, there is an open square filled with pedestrians and things like snake charmers and henna ladies.  Vehicles aren't prohibited in this area though, so close to the people sitting on the ground you'll find lots of motorcycles.  Further out in the square, away from the stationary people, motorcycles, cars, vans, pedestrians, donkeys and pushcarts all occupy the same spaces WITHOUT anyone getting hurt.  Makes me wonder if the traffic laws of the west are a bit over the top.  I definitely stopped being surprised when I saw four or five people crowded onto one motorcycle zooming through the narrow side streets.

I said it before, and I'll say it again.  Morocco was my favorite stop on this trip.  It wasn't just because it was warm and sunny...or that I got to ride a camel.  It was filled with excitement from the moment you walked out of the hostel door.  Moroccans are welcoming and accommodating.  If you invest time into learning about their culture, they'll talk to you for a solid hour.  Life is entirely different there than anywhere else I've visited and it was spectacular to have to opportunity to learn more about it.

Arabian Niiiiiiiights...My Night in the Sahara Desert

Day #3-4 in Morocco, Day #12-13 traveling
(Like my previous Morocco post, scroll to the bottom for some great pics.)

We woke up waaaaaay early, talking 6 am, to begin our trek to the Sahara desert.  Marrakech is really far from the Sahara, so our bus left at 7 in the morning from the KFC.  Two more Polish Fulbrighters joined us, along with a couple from Brazil.

Driving in Morocco is something else, thank goodness we had a native driver.  There aren't really lanes in the cities, especially in the market places.  Cars, bikes, motorcycles, donkeys, horses, pushcarts, and pedestrians all occupy the same spaces.  I view it as a small miracle that I didn't witness anyone getting hit by a vehicle.  Although, at one point, a guy stopped his bike in front of me (purposefully) causing me to fall on top of him.  All my games of Frogger growing up definitely came in handy, as well as years of fearlessly crossing the streets of Detroit!

The way to the desert goes through the High Atlas Mountains via the Tizi-n-Tichka pass. If I hadn't been frightened of roads in Poland or backwoods Louisiana  I was terrified a few times on this trip.  We'd be barreling up the mountain side on a two lane road that's twisting and turning with numerous blind spots and our guide just zipped around a slower truck in front of us.  Or, a few times a semi truck would be coming the opposite way and our bus would be in ITS lane, and magically we passed each other on the proper sides of the roads without a problem.

We stopped in Ait Benhaddou, a popular site for movie and tv show filming.  The most famous movie filmed in this city was Gladiator and the most recent season of Game of Thrones.  A fortified city slash miniature castle, Ait Benhaddou was built for the children of a Moroccan man who had numerous wives.  Whenever a new child was born, he added onto the city, creating the massive structure that we got to explore.  Borrowing from my sister's adventurous spirit, I explored a few hidden doorways that led out onto thatched roofs, a few of which were not in good shape so I had to turn back.

Arriving in Zagora, a city on the edge of the desert, we met our camels and guides.  Morocco is home to two groups of people, Berbers and Moroccans.  The Berbers are a nomadic people, many of which still live in the mountains and desert.  Morocco is home to around 32 million people, but the majority of them live outside the major cities.   Local guides are Berbers, also called Saharawi, who build camps for tourists on the edge of the Sahara

Mounting the camel was one of the most hysterical moments of my life.   It's an incredibly strange feeling...and since I was the first one, I had NO idea what to expect.  My camel was quite a silly guy...he kept making weird gurgly noises and spitting...the only camel that was doing this.  Also, for future reference, camel tongues are HUGE!  At first, I thought he was just blowing really weirdly colored spit bubbles because it was a giant growth out of the side of his mouth.  I soon realized that it's his tongue though.

After about an hour on a camel (painful but rewarding) as the sun set on the desert, we arrived in our camp.   Since we only had two days, we didn't get to see the "proper" desert with lots of sand dunes and such, but we were still IN the Sahara!  It was dark when we arrived in the camp, but it was kind of easy to make out the circle of tents (permanent tents) situated around a camp fire.  There was one tent designated as the restaurant, and in typical Muslim style, we didn't wear our shoes into the tent.  In terms of roughing it, our accommodation were quite wonderful...we even had proper toilets!

Dinner was prepared in traditional Berber style as a chicken tagine and the most delicious bread in the world.  There are many different types of tagine, but this one was vegetables and chicken.  After dinner, we were treated to some mint tea, which I keep raving about Moroccan tea.  And then the Saharawi men started the fire and we hung out under the stars while they played their drums and sang.  The Arabic singing definitely made me miss my late nights with my Saudi friends at CMU when they'd start singing and dancing randomly at three in the morning after we were done with dinner.

The campfire was necessary because it was FREEZING outside.  I couldn't believe how cold the desert got at night.  Our guide, Andy, said that during the summer, it stays warm enough to just sleep on a dune.  While I wouldn't want to deal with the heat during the afternoon, sleeping on a sand dune sounds like great fun.  Perhaps the best part of the night was looking at the stars.  It's so dark, the stars just sparkle so brightly.  It's absolutely incredible...and I even saw a shooting star.

It was a long day, so everyone went to bed pretty early.  I stayed up chatting with a Moroccan guide, two Spanish girls, and two of the Berber guides (although the Berbers didn't speak English very well).  The Berber guys let me play with their drums, which was fun even though I wasn't anywhere near as good as they are.  We talked about a lot of different things.  The Spanish girls visited the U.S. last year and talked about how much they loved different parts of the states, which was nice to hear.

Sleeping was hard because it was so cold.  It's probably one of the worst nights of sleep I got on my trip (which is saying a lot seeing as how there were guys in Vienna stumbling into my hostel room at four in the morning wasted out of their minds and turning on the lights and whatnot).  There were a ton of super thick, soft blankets so once you snuggled up it wasn't so bad except for my poor nose!

I rolled out of bed early the next morning to watch the sunrise over the desert, which was beautiful.  Everything on this trip was spectacularly beautiful and stunning.  My pictures capture a fraction of the real life image, and looking through the pictures my breath was still taken away.  So you will have to imagine what it was like in real life.

After the sunrise, we grabbed a quick breakfast prepared by the Berbers and were off to the camels again.  This time, I mounted the camel beautifully!  But...my camel was a bit more stubborn this time and slipped out of the rope holding it in line, stopping in the middle of the desert as the rest of the group continued on!  Since I was the last one, it took a second for them to notice me calling out that the left me.  The Berber guide shouted, "Bye bye!" from the front of the group, which concerned me a little bit because last night, he told me I should come live in the desert to have babies.  At this point, I was already convinced that I want to come back to Morocco, but I definitely didn't want a solo camel ride in the desert!  He eventually came and retrieved my camel, tying me back up to the group.

My camel really didn't want me to leave the desert though.  When we got back to the city to get in our buses, everyone dismounted their camels...except me.  My guy wouldn't sit down for the guide and I was stuck up on the camel for a good five minutes waiting for the obnoxious camel to acquiesce to the guide's demands for him to lay down.

Another six hour drive back to Marrakech awaited us.  It was a really long time to sit in a van, but definitely worth the camel ride and night in the Sahara.  Next time I come to Morocco, I'll do at least a three day trip so I can go deeper into the desert.  Our guide told us there are entire Berber cities scattered throughout the desert and we stay at one of those.

The crazy windy mountain pass

The beginnings of the Atlas Mountains

This kid snuck into my picture...his traditional outfit was great
especially after I noticed he had an I-Pod cord sneaking out of it.

Seeing snow when I was wearing a t-shirt was rather odd

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with palm trees...but I think they're awesome!

The film location for Gladiator, and a great place to explore

Another shot through a missing door in the city

Photo from the top of the fortified city

I'm almost to the desert!

Zagora, an oasis of palm trees right before the desert starts

My camel!  Right before the Berber guide told me to jump on!

Sunset in the desert

Sunset in the desert part 2

A sing-a-long, except I didn't know the words OR the language.
So it was more like a listen-a-long

The sun's sneaking up the mountains

Found it!

Our small camp nestled in the edge of the Sahara

The fire pit surrounded by our sleeping tents

CAMEL ON THE LOOSE!
That's me on his back...

This guy's riding a motorcycle with one hand and using the other one
to hold onto his new television set.

Camel tongue...I saw a lot of them on the trip!

Camel kisses anyone?!?

"Hey lady, You Want a Boyfriend?"

Day #2 in Morocco, Day #11 traveling
(Pictures at the end because there are WAY more than fit artistically into my written words)

The streets of Marrakech are full of vendors shouting various things at us to get us into their shops.  My favorite thus far has been offers for a boyfriend and the claim that "Everything is free for you beautiful."  I'm fairly certain that the store is NOT free, but I'm curious what would happen if I ever followed through on the offer.

Our first day in Marrakech, we were met by Marcie, one of the tour guides from the company we booked our desert tour through.  She showed up to give us some guidelines for Moroccan life...always barter, ask before taking pictures (Islam forbids photos, but not everyone is a strict follower), and watch out for the motorcycles (I almost died a handful of times).  Marcie offered to show us around the city, which was wonderful because Marrakech is this crazy maze of clay buildings and pathways.

We started off at a shoe store...but with my large American feet, I couldn't fit into any of the little Moroccan shoes so it wasn't too exciting.  The fun part started with a visit to a pharmacy where we learned about all the different Moroccan spices, herbs, and natural remedies.  The first thing we learned about is Moroccan oil, apparently something very popular back home.  There are two ways to harvest the oils from the nuts.  First, you shell the nut, then roast it, and then grind it into a paste.  The second way is to let the goats eat the nuts and then harvest the oil from their poop (GROSS!)

Morocco is well-known for its oil and saffron.  Saffron is apparently this magical herb that is incredibly expensive almost everywhere else in the world.  I didn't buy any of it though because I don't know what I'd do with it!  The pharmacy had all sorts of cool things...herbal "Vicks Vapor Rub", orange blossom headache oils, almond creme for dry skin, and lots of Moroccan spices.  I bought three bags of mint green tea from the store because it tasted delicious.

The pharmacy also offered a few different services.  One was a quick massage using arnica oil.  That was awesome...but even better was the henna I got.  My sister Amanda turned me onto henna so this is one thing I really wanted to do in Morocco.  I figured I'd have to sit for a while because they do very intricate patterns and usually it takes Amanda a while to finish one.  The henna lady finished my entire hand in about two minutes.  It was CRAZY!

After the pharmacy, we headed to a giant store of Moroccan stuff...jewelry, bags, tea sets.  The tea sets really got me...they're gorgeous.  So, I walked out of the store with my first tea set...a beautiful tin and silver Moroccan tea set.  Part of the fun of the markets is haggling, I definitely got better at it as the vacation wore on.  This first store though, the prize goes to my friend Laura who haggled her own price so low, the owner just knocked my price down too.

When we left the shop, Marcie (tour guide) shouted "Harry Potter!" and ran up to this Moroccan guy and started chatting with him.  Habib (his real name) invited us into his friend's shop for some tea.  Marcie said this is what her life is like since she doesn't have an office.  She gets to hang out in cafes and work, which also means she can wander around some during the day and just hang out with her friends.  I can't say enough times how delicious Moroccan tea is.  

On our way back to the hostel, we swung back to the spice market to get some magic lipstick.  This lipstick is green in the tube, but it reacts with your PH level to turn into a unique color on each person's lips.  Maria's color is a light Barbie pink, while Alison's is more magenta, and mine is bright red.    The guy who we bought the lipstick from was craaaazy, but super awesome.  Most Moroccan people are incredibly friendly, especially when you're interested in their culture. He owned a chameleon and sold turtles, which we took some pictures of.  

After this, we went back to the hostel to freshen up for dinner. We took a pit stop on the roof of our hostel to watch the sun set over Marrakech (GASP, we could see the sun!).  It was amazing because shortly after the sun sets, the call to prayer starts.  Each mosque in Marrakech has its own time because the call to prayer happens at a certain amount of time after the sun sets and obviously if you're further west, the sun sets later.  So as the sun set, the city is just filled with rounds of the Muslim call to prayer and it's really pretty.

One of the things in Morocco that surprised me were the mosques.  I'm used to seeing mosques in the U.S. that are more dome-shaped, similar to the giant mosques in Istanbul.  However, Morocco has never been ruled by a wealthy empire, so their mosques were much simpler.  The shape and size of the mosques were much smaller than I expected for a Muslim country.  Although quite numerous, they didn't seem to have enough space for the number of people living in each city.

Instead of getting lost looking for another restaurant outside the medina (city wall), we decided to go up to the same restaurant as the night before.  When we were done eating, Alison and I went back to the hostel because I needed to figure out all my stuff for the desert and the other two girls stayed for some drinks at the restaurant.  It was an early night because we had to wake up at 6 am to meet our guide for the desert tour!

Overlooking the spice market 

Moroccan spices and herbs

My two minute henna!

Similar to the tea set I purchased

One of the mosques in Marrakech

Sun setting over Marrakech

Another Continent, Another Adventure!

Day #1 in Morocco, Day #11 traveling

Our hostel's terrace

I arrived in Marrakesh  yesterday afternoon where I met up with three other Polish Fulbrighters.  The ride from the airport was incredible taking in my first sights of not only a new country, but a new culture and continent.  It was crazy watching throngs of people walk around on the streets in traditional Moroccan clothing and pushing carts full of different spices and items.  We saw a camel being rode out of town by a woman in hijab and her child.  At one point, I saw a whole family of four on a motorcycle!

I am completely obsessed with these lamps!

Our hostel is spectacular, in traditional Moroccan style.  It's full of tiny courtyards, a small pool, lounge chairs, a spa, and a roof-top cafeteria.  The amount we paid for our trip does not equate in my head to the lap of luxury I'm living in now compared to my previous hostel in Paris.  I paid twice as much there for a stuffy room with five strangers, terrible beds, and no space.   My bed here is so soft and we get these gigantic soft blankets to cuddle up into when the nights get chilly.  It's really perfect.

For dinner, we visited our tour guide's suggestion across the main market square.  Walking around Marrakech is an interesting experience.  First, I'm a Catholic in a predominately Muslim country, so not wearing a hijab kind of sets me apart.  Second, I have blonde hair, definitely nothing close to typical Moroccan hair color.  It's the first place I've been to that I stick out before I even open my mouth.

Royal Couscous for dinner!

Consequently, when I walk through the streets, vendors instantaneously know that I'm a tourist and attempt to attract me into their shops.  "Hey sweetie, come here...looking's free" and "You want a boyfriend?" are two of my favorite lines called at me.  One time, a 16ish year old boy walked by wheeling a wheelbarrow and goes "This is my home," but never asked for money.  Just made the comment as he was passing by.

Scenes from the restaurant.

Anyways, back to dinner!  We had a dinner in a fancy Moroccan cuisine restaurant.  I felt a bit silly paying four times as much for food in a restaurant as it was in the market place, but the atmosphere was really great.  One of my favorite things in Morocco are the lanterns.  They're cut out of metal and cast awesome shadows on the wall!

All in all, day one in Morocco was pretty chill.  We came back to the hostel after dinner and I curled up in a lounge chair outside (weird being outside barefoot without a coat!) and caught up on my Internet activities.  Morocco's wifi situation is ten times better than when I was in Paris, at least in the hostel!  Morocco is the coooooooolest place ever!!

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience in Paris!

Sacre Coeur

Usually when you're traveling, you make a plan and try to stick to it so you can see everything in a certain place you want to see.  However, I've learned that flexibility is the key to having a successful trip because sometimes opportunities come up that you couldn't have accounted for.  That's what today was, but it happened in the evening...so first my normal touristy day!

Small Parisian art show

I started in Sacre Coeur, or Sacred Heart.  The basilica was completed in 1914 atop the highest point in Paris.  The views from the front steps of the church overlook all the major Paris sights.  On the way up, some creepy conmen tried to tie things on my finger so they could beg me for money.  I really dislike that part of Paris because sometimes they try to follow you and whatnot.  It's quite disconcerting.

Notre Dame

When I walked into Sacre Coeur, there are signs everywhere talking about the Blessed Sacrament, Christ's love for each individual, and asking for quiet, decent clothes, and no pictures.  It might be the best "tourist" church I've ever been into because it demonstrates Catholic teachings in a very nonconfrontational way, while remaining an obvious part of the church's atmosphere.  One of my problems in "tourist" churches is with everyone talking and taking pictures, people don't realize that for me and my fellow Catholics, the place is HOLY.  It's a place of prayer, worship and transformation.  I noticed the Blessed Sacrament enthroned on the altar so I started to read the short tour guide I was given at the entrance...since 1885, there has been uninterrupted perpetual adoration, which was really cool.

After Sacre Coeur, I walked through the streets of the church's neighborhood, Montmarte.  It's an adorable neighborhood full of small shops and cafes.  I stumbled into a really cute square with all sorts of artists selling their paintings of Paris.  It was soooo stereotypically Parisian I couldn't help snapping a few pictures.  Also in Montmarte is Moulin Rouge.  While a typical show costs around 150 euro, seeing the outside doesn't cost anything, nor does taking a few pictures!

Inside the bell towers...gargoyles!

Strangely enough, my friend from Central was in Paris at the same time as me with her boyfriend on their 24 day trip across Europe.  So we decided to meet up for lunch at a small cafe outside of Notre Dame.  I had a delicious sandwich with ham and melted cheese and creme brulee for dessert.  After lunch, we walked over to the church and took some pictures outside.  Unfortunately, the interior was closed all day so I wasn't able to go inside (this is IMPORTANT!).  So we bid each other adieu and I headed to the line for the towers of Notre Dame.

My favorite gargoyle...reminds me of
my brother and sister!

Normally, I would've called the free view from Sacre Coeur good and not needed to pay five euro to go in the bell towers of Notre Dame...but I wanted to see if they were really like the passages in the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Don't remember what they looked like in the movie, so I'll get back to you on that after I rewatch it.  It was really cool to be up close and personal with the gargoyles too.  Unfortunately, because of the weather, the top bell towers were closed so I couldn't see where Quasimodo fictionally rang the bells.

Upon arriving on the ground floor, I noticed the church doors were open so I let myself get caught up in the crowd and get swept inside the cathedral.  The place was PACKED and it was nearly impossible to move anywhere.  The middle of the church was roped off with large bells inside and there were tons of small groups of children around them.  I was getting claustrophobic so I worked my way to the back of the church and asked a volunteer what was going on.

Celebrants of the Mass

For the 850th anniversary of Notre Dame, the diocese decided to replace the bells.  Today was a special Mass and blessing ceremony of all the new bells.  Well, if that was the case, I had to stay.  It's not every day that the oldest cathedral in Notre Dame rings its new bells for the first time in the presence of the Archbishop/Cardinal and three other bishops.  More like, once in a lifetime!  It didn't really matter that I couldn't understand the Mass (it seldom does), I could feel the excitement of the Parisians as they cheered when all the bells had been rung for the first time.

The Bells of Notre Dame!

Notre Dame at night

In my opinion, this was even better than being in the belfry seeing the bells because everyone usually gets to do that.  This ranks up there with my private tour of the Sistine Chapel in terms of things I will remember for my entire life and will be high up on my "favorite travel stories to tell" list.  There's really nothing else I would've wanted to do in Paris last night, other than maybe sit down.  The Mass lasted for 2 hours and I had already been standing for about 3 hours in line for the Towers, in the towers, and waiting for Mass to start.  My feet are happy that today's a travel day where I will be mostly sitting on public transportation, in airports, and on airplanes on my way to Morocco.

Part Deux

Day #2 in France, Day #8 traveling

Upper chapel of Sainte Chapelle

Today was designed to be a bit lighter on the walking and learning.  I had three main things I wanted to see...Sainte Chapelle, the Pantheon, and the Louvre (free after 6 pm for under 26!).  Paris gets an A+ on their public transportation system.  The metro and train are incredibly easy to navigate even though the signs are 100% in French.  There are enough lines that all the major tourist attractions are close to one, if not two, stops, but not so many that it's a madly confusing tangle of lines.

Sainte Chapelle was designed by French Saint/King Louis IX to house the relics of the Passion of Christ including the Crown of Thorns in 1242.  It's probably the most beautiful chapel I have been in my entire life (to put in perspective, I've been in the Sistine Chapel and about 203948230498 other churches around the world).  The chapel is constructed of mainly stained glass windows.  The 15 windows with 1113 different scenes from the Bible consists of about 70% of the chapel's walls.  When Sainte Chapelle was constructed, it was part of a much larger palace, but the palace was deserted in the 14th century and subsequently most has been destroyed.

The main floor of the Pantheon

Next I went to the Pantheon, designed in the 18th century to honor the patron saint of Paris, St. Genevieve.  The current building wasn't the first basilica dedicated to this saint at this spot, a church had been here since 512.  King Louis XV wanted to honor St. Genevieve from curing his serious illness and commissioned a new, grander church to be built.  It operated at a place of worship for just under 100 years, until Victor Hugo was buried in the crypts.  Since then, great French men have found their resting place in the National Pantheon.  Important people like Voltaire and Rousseau are buried here.  Perhaps my favorite though was Mr.and Mrs. Curie.  I was amused by all the confused people wondering why there were so many Polish gifts around Marie Curie's tomb.  Apparently they don't teach that she is Polish in schools any more!

Obligatory photo

These two trips didn't take as long as I thought they would, so I decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower for the obligatory photo session with the most recognized monument in the world.  Built in 1887 for the World Fair in Paris, the Eiffel Tower was HATED by the French.  They thought it was the most ugly thing in the world, and the original plans were to tear down the tower after 20 years.  Mr. Eiffel thought it was a shame to waste all his work and all the steel, so he set his mind to making the tower useful to Parisians so they wouldn't destroy it.  Thus, he constructed a weather station so new experiments could be conducted from such a high level.  There was also a radio tower on top.  The radio tower did it, Parisians realized that the Eiffel Tower could be useful and decided to not destroy it.  Today it's one of the most recognizable monuments in the world.    

Favorite painting in the Louvre

After the Eiffel Tower, I met up with Pierre again.  We spent a couple hours back in chaplaincy chatting and drinking some coffee.  While Pierre was doing his homework, one of his friends gave me the boiled down history of France's government.  When I say boiled down, I mean I learned about 22 different regimes and 17 Constitutions in about an hour.  It's incredibly interesting to hear about how the French government works today, and how the French Revolution and former monarchy continue to influence modern politics.  It was great being with political science people again...I really miss being with my friends back home who love politics as much as me.  And this was a great break from all the walking and sightseeing, because I learned a lot and talked about my favorite thing in the world!

When I left Pierre, I hit the road looking for some food before going to the Louvre.  On Fridays, after 6 pm, the Louvre is free for everyone under 26.  Since it's normally over ten euro, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  The Louvre was originally built as a palace for the King of France.  It was only converted into a museum in the 1790s after the revolution.  Obviously, the first thing I did was head for the Mona Lisa...mostly because now when someone asks I can say I've seen it.  I'm usually more interested in religious artwork and found some gems in the Italian paintings.  My favorite might have been St. Francis Assisi receiving the stigmata from Christ. I also walked through an exhibition on Egyptian Coptic artwork and Napoleon's apartments.

Eiffel Tower at night

It was dark outside when I was done with the Louvre, so I figured it was the perfect time to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up.  My guide had mentioned a light show on the hour and I wanted to see what it was.  It's a spectacular sight!  The Eiffel Tower starts sparkling against the night sky.  When I was at the Louvre, I noticed that above the Eiffel Tower, the clouds are significantly brighter than the rest of the night sky.  It was kind of neat that you can tell where the Eiffel Tower is pretty much all the time!