A Relaxing Last Day in Paris

Sunday was our last day in Paris. We had booked at late train, though, so we had all day to keep enjoying the city. Our first stop on the itinerary was Montmartre. Montmartre is the hill in the 18th arondissement that is the highest point in the city. Once we climbed up the hill to the top we got amazing views (better than from the Pompidou!) of the city and of Sacre Coeur, the large white church that sits at the very top of Montmartre. Here I am in front of Sacre Coeur!

After we got to the top of the hill, we started our search for the Espace Dali - a gallery featuring over 300 of Dali's sculptures, etchings, and paintings located in Montmartre. The gallery was well worth the 6 euro entrance. I never realized Dali made sculptures and most were of images directly out of his paintings (melting clocks, space elephant, etc.). My favorite was the space elephant sculpture:

How cool would it be to have this in your house?

 After the Dali gallery we wandered around Montmartre a bit before heading down the funicular (probably should've taken it up, not down!). Our next stop was the Moulin Rouge. We slowly navigated our way through the small streets of Montmartre until we found it! It was much less impressive (it seemed very commercial and less authentic) than I was hoping, though I'm sure inside it's beautiful. We stopped for a quick photo op before heading to our last meal in Paris.

After lunch we had about 5 hours to kill with nothing to do before our train. Ana suggested we find a pastry shop and go to the Jardin de Luxembourg to enjoy some treats. Surprisingly, finding a pastry shop open on Sunday in Paris is harder than you may think. However, we finally found one and took our pain au chocolat to sit in the park. We spent our last hours in Paris listening to live Catalan music and people watching. Here is a picture of the Palais du Luxembourg in the park.

What a beautiful way to end our trip!

Day Two: Pompidou, Hunchbacks and Macaroons

Day two in Paris! And boy was it a long one. I started off the day at Le Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum in Paris with Viveca while everyone else went to the Louvre. The views from the museum were amazing!

Me outside the Pompidou

The view from the 6th foor- see Sacre Coeur?

How cool is this installation?

After that we went to Notre Dame to meet up with the others. We waited in a surprisingly fast line to walk through the inside. I forgot how beautiful it was. However, there is something a bit eerie about the inside of an old church. Here I am outside...

Some of my friends outside Notre Dame

We decided to take the Metro over to Charles De Gaulle-Etoile to see the Champs-Elysees and L'Arc de Triomphe. Walking down the Champs-Elysees was amazing! It was a beautiful day and there were so many fun people and stores to look at! We also walked down the Rodeo Drive of Paris, Avenue Montaigne, and walked through Chanel, Dior and Chloe. So pretty! We also waited in a long line for the most delicious pastries and macaroons ever from Laduree (supposedly some of the best in Paris!). 

In front of L'Arc de Triomphe

Outside Laduree- they make perfume!

We then headed further down the Champs-Elysees to the Jardin des Tuileries to rest and eat our desserts. Boy were they delicious! We had every flavor of macaroon possible- vanilla, chocolate, rose, green apple, caramel, coffee, pistachio, and even mimosa! Eating them in the beautiful garden by the fountain made us feel like we were living in Marie Antoinette. (Yes, the Sophia Coppola version! Fun fact, all of the pastries in the movie were created by Laduree!)

Mmmmmmm!

Sampling a mimosa macaroon

The Jardin at dusk

At the end of the Jardin is the Louvre! Stopped for a quick photo op.

All in all a long but fun second day!

Notre Premièr Jour à Paris

Salut!

Boy did we have a long- but fun!- weekend. We decided to go to Paris for three days. We took a 7AM train so that we could have as much time as possible. This may have not been the most logical decision, as we were pretty tired for the rest of the trip. We got to Paris, navigated the Metro, and found our hostel. As it was only 11 and we learned we couldn't check in until 2, we decided to put our bags in lockers and start exploring.

We started the day with lunch at the cutest restaurant right by our hostel. Afterwards, our first day's itinerary had a lot planned! We started off our trip at the Catacombs! For those who haven't heard of the Catacombs, they are an underground ossuary in old mine tunnels under Paris. Basically, creepy, dark tunnels FILLED with bones. What made the whole place even creepier was a sign hanging just before the tunnel that read "Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la Mort!" (Stop, here is the empire of death!). Spooky, huh?

We decided to keep the creepy vibe going and head to the famous Père Lachaise cemetery. It got windy and dark just as we got there- how perfect! We wandered a bit then found maps and plotted a more direct route so that we could see all the graves we wanted to. We saw Balzac, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, and more! We missed Chopin's grave because the cemetery was closing. 

The Entrance

It was HUGE!

Jim Morrison's grave

Me kissing Oscar Wilde's grave!

Viveca too!

Edith Piaf's family plot

After the cemetery we took the long metro ride over to the Tour Eiffel. We decided to have a picnic for dinner our first night so we got bread, cheese, olives, and wine and set up. It was a bit chilly, but fun! A perfect way to end our first day in Paris!

Yum yum!

In front of the Tour Eiffel at dusk

I took this picture of my friends in front of the TE!

Things to Look Forward To....

Going on the London Eye this Wednesday*
Visiting Paris this weekend
Hopefully visiting Dublin next weekend
Trip to Bath and Stonehenge on the 26th*
Comedy club trip on the 28th*
Trip to Oxford October 10*


*Denotes NYUL Sponsored Event - I wanted to make a note of all the NYUL sponsored events so that my mother can see how well I'm traveling on a budget and so she can stop reminding me! :-)

Two Places at Once

This past weekend we visited Greenwich, CT. Just kidding! The real Greenwich! We took a boat ride from Waterloo (right by Big Ben, The London Eye, the Aquarium, everything!) and had some lovely boat people telling us all about everything we were seeing. I made a point of saying 'boat people' and not 'tour guides' because, apparently, in the UK (or maybe just England or London?) there are a lot of requirements to become a tour guide, and it's taken very seriously. Though our non-tour guide seemed a bit too knowledgeable to be "just telling us things he knew", he seemed to make a point of saying he wasn't a guide.

We spent about an hour cruising leisurely down the Thames to Greenwich. It started out as a cloudy day but luckily it didn't rain and wasn't too cold (off of the boat). Here I am in front of the London Eye!

We got to Greenwich hungry and cold from the boat ride. Luckily there was some sort of festival going on and there were food stands everywhere! Unfortunately, we were up for a 90 minute tour of the area courtesy of our lovely guide Richard with no time to stop. 

We got to land just in time to see the time ball rise and fall, which only happens once a day! Back when clocks were considered expensive (1833 to be exact), people would use the time ball to find out when it was 1:00, apparently. At 12:55 the ball rises half way then moves up to the top at 12:28, finally it drops at 1:00. The ball is oddly made out of leather and when it rains here (as it tends to do) it doesn't work. Here's the ball at the top!

Richard then took us all around the area and told us almost everything you could ever want to know about Greenwich (including a comprehensive history of the monarchy). It was interesting but we were hungry and getting grouchy! We ended up seeing the National Maritime Museum (the largest of its kind, I believe), the Queen's house (built for the Tudors), and the park. Here's a picture of me outside of the Maritime Museum.

Afterwards, since we were so hungry, we decided to eat before heading up the hill to the observatory. We picked the Trafalgar Tavern for its river views and history (Charles Dickens was a frequent patron!). I got fish and chips, mmm! As I promised my friend Pebbles back home, here are some pictures of me in the restaurant!

Can you find me?

After lunch we moved up the hill (much bigger than it looked) to the observatory. When we got to the top there was a line to stand on the line (the Prime Meridian)! We waited because why go if you don't get the photo op? 

Me in two hemispheres!

Me and my friends!

Some of my friends at the top of the hill

Me at the top of the hill!

Afterwards my friend Viveca rolled down the hill (at the promise of a milkshake) and we headed into town (for said milkshake). Here I am at the milkshake shop! Sadly, I wouldn't recommend it, for a place that only makes milkshakes they weren't very good.

And here are some final random pictures from the trip!

My ride

My new friend Ana!

Viveca hamming it up!

First Week of Classes

This marked the first week of classes here in London town! Monday I have three classes (one was cancelled, though) and Tuesday I have one.

My first class Monday is called Comparative Advantage from Operations. The whole class is about gaining an advantage over competitors (duh) using cost minimization, cost leadership, etc. It also deals with responsiveness to customer needs, time to market, businessey stuff.

Three hours later comes Gothic Literature- my fun class for the semester. The professor seems very interested in the subject and we get to watch lots of great old movies (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolf in London, etc.) and even visit a graveyard! It should be the perfect creepy-fall-London class.

Monday nights my Gothic Literature professor teaches a lecture class that all of NYUL students take. It was cancelled the first day so I can't say much about it yet other than we should have some interesting speakers come.

Tuesdays I have one class, London's Global Connections. I'm sort of on the fence about it but it could be interesting. The professor seems to treat it like a high school level class and it doesn't feel like it will be that hard. We also go on lots of field trips for LGC, which should be fun!

And that's my schedule! Now I'm off to take a nap because I'm a bit sick.

Fashion's Night Out London!

Today was the London version of Fashion's Night Out!

I didn't have class today (only Mondays and Tuesdays!) so I woke up later (for me 10:30 is "later"), had breakfast, took a shower, and hung out waiting for my roommates to get home. We all think we're getting sick so after some afternoon tea with honey we set off for the night. We left early to first hit up Primark. If you can imagine the busiest you've ever seen a store (think the Union Square Forever 21 on a weekend afternoon) multiply that by two and then add some of the rudest people ever. That's Primark! On a Wednesday! However, the shoving and stress was very much worth it. They have insane deals like belts for one pound, shoes for four pounds, and t shirts for under three pounds. I ended up getting a dress, a shirt, a sweater coat, two belts, a scarf, a knit hat, slippers, and two packs of face wipes for 50 pounds! I feel like it's going to be worth another trip or two as the semester wears on, but definitely not something I could handle often!

After we left Primark we walked down Oxford Street towards Selfridge's and Co for the FNO festivities. Our main stop was the Chanel beauty counter where they were giving away free manicures with their new colors. We waited about two hours but I still say it was worth it! We got free manicures, lipstick applications, and took pictures in the Chanel photo booth! We also stopped by Mulberry and got free totes and mini champagne bottles (with straws! so cute!) that for some reason came with Mulberry-branded Airborne...?

We finished off the night at our favorite- or should I say favourite?- pub the Yorkshire Grey for a late dinner. All in all a great Wednesday! 

Mulberry tote!

Mulberry Airborne???

Photobooth pics! Hopefully we can scan these so they're a bit better quality

Fancy Chanel manicure!

Off to bed!!!!

More Pictures of the First Week...

Hooray for Buckingham Palace!

Out at a pub!

Our awesome tour guide Ian!

In front of the London Tower Bridge