(Mis)Adventures of a Crazy Plant Lady: February 2011

If you have seen the movie Anastasia, you know what I'm referring to with the title of this blog. Between when we had finally booked everything and while in Paris, this song was on repeat in my head. Just in case you need a refresher, here is the song, courtesy of YouTube:

Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart

Paris was the first stop on mine and Jane's week-long holiday from our "studies." Our overall plan went like this:

Friday after class: get to Paris

Saturday-Monday afternoon: see Paris and Versailles

Monday evening: catch a flight to Barcelona

Tuesday-early Thursday morning: see Barcelona

Thursday morning (6:15am): fly to Sevilla

Thursday-Sunday morning: chill in Sevilla and see the sites

Sunday morning: return to de Nederlands

I have never tried to plan a trip before and nor had Jane, so this was our first big attempt and we probably could have done something a little easier...but it was lots of fun and a learning experience, to say the least. We also had our fair share of misadventures, which was inevitable because I was traveling.

Originally, we were going to take a high speed train from Amsterdam to Paris. We booked those tickets and were good to go...until our instructor told us we should go from Rotterdam to Paris because it would save us time. We were going to re-book our tickets until we found out that one of our French friends, Pauline, would be willing to drive us to near Paris (she was going home) and we could take a train from there. Jane looked up information about our tickets and figured we would be able to get a refund on them (we also tried calling the customer service number multiple times, to no avail). We also wouldn't have to worry about when our class finished on Friday because the French girls (Pauline was also driving Laure, another one of our friends) would wait for us.

Me, Lauri, Herbie, Kim and Solene
Awesome group with an awesome poster!

Just a little tip about packing: if you don't have a clothes dryer, don't do your laundry the day before you need to leave on your trip. You can't pack anything wet (well, you could, but it wouldn't be the best idea) and thus last minute packing ensues. Not a good idea when after your class, there are free drinks and snacks, which make you even more late. Oops.

We were able to begin our road trip to France around 6:00 pm or so and shortly thereafter I fell asleep. After a week of lab work and a 3 hour exam that morning, I needed some decent (ish) sleep. It was also dark outside, which made the trip a little less exciting.

Herbie, ready to rock n' roll!

Soon after crossing into Belgium, we passed a car that was pulled over by a policeman on a motorcycle. No big deal, right? No big deal until he (or another one) put his lights on and got in front of us, signaling for us to continue following him. Jane and I were completely confused because Pauline wasn't speeding, but Pauline and Laure said that French cars traveling through Belgium often get pulled over to do a drug check. Yes, a drug check.

Apparently, the French are fond of driving to the Netherlands, picking up drugs in Amsterdam or elsewhere and then driving back to France with said drugs. Thus, the Belgians try to stop this from happening by stopping cars with French license plates. Prejudice? Maybe, but it happens. So, we follow the policeman to the exit and towards an area full of police vehicles (vans, cars and the like), police persons and a drug dog. When we came to a stop, flashlights were shown into the back seat, where Jane and I were sitting, and Pauline rolled her window down. We all handed over our passports, and it was probably kind of suspicious that there were two French and two American passports.

A man asked me if I spoke English, to which I answered yes. He then proceeded to ask if we had been in any coffee shops in the Netherlands (I thought of Amsterdam but decided not to complicate things) and I answered no. He also asked if we had any cannabis, marijuana or other drugs. That was also a negative. Lastly, he asked if we were hitchhiking. This question made me laugh a little, which I had to quickly suppress. That also was a no. The same (or similar) questions were asked of the French girls and all their answers were, obviously, the same.

My failed picture attempt--you can still sort of see the people

I guess we weren't all that suspicious, because they let us carry on with our journey after the inquisition. It was all kind of ridiculous and funny, really. It also makes for a pretty good story. I tried taking a picture as we were leaving the area, but it kind of failed due to the moving car and it being dark outside.

We finally made it to Pauline and Laure's college, where Laure's dad picked her, Jane and I up to go to her town and take a train to Paris. Unfortunately, it was about midnight (we also got detoured in Belgium and made it into France on some random back roads) and we were going to miss the train. It was also probably a bad idea to try to get to a city you're completely unfamiliar with around 2 am on a Saturday morning. Thankfully, Laure's family offered to have Jane and I spend the night so we could take a train in the morning.

First night @ Laure's house

This was the first place we lost money on our trip: we had reserved our hostel for Friday night in addition to Saturday and Sunday because we thought we would be there. Whoops.

Where Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises

We made it to Paris on the train and to our hostel just fine (with the directions of Laure and her father). One thing that I've come to really appreciate is the fact that the metro in Paris and Barcelona is very efficient and it's not a big deal if you miss one train because another will come in 2-5 minutes. It does suck a lot when you want to go out at night (and it's not a weekend) because the metro shuts down at 12:30 am.

The Egyptians figured that the French didn't know how to build an
Obelisk...so they included instructions.

Jason Bourne, anyone?

That afternoon (Saturday), we did a "free" walking tour of the city. The tour is technically free, but the tour guides get paid based on tips. Our tour guide's name was Daniel, and he was actually from Amsterdam. He was pretty awesome--he showed us the bookstore where Hemingway wrote his book The Sun Also Rises. We also saw Notre Dame (and got to go inside for a bit), Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris), the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Obelisk, the building that was in one of the Jason Bourne movies, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower (from afar), two palaces built for the World Fair, and many other things. I was surprised to learn that Paris was saved by a Nazi general in WWII. Hitler knew that he was going to lose the war and made a call to this general telling him that if he (Hitler) couldn't have Paris, no one could (Hitler lurved Paris). However, this Nazi general also really liked Paris and didn't want to actually blow it up, so he made a plan to make it seem like Paris was on fire to satisfy Hitler. By bombing only one area of the city and making one of the palaces for the World Fair on fire, he was able to make it seem like Paris was burning and thus satisfy Hitler.

Pont Neuf: the faces are the result of a night of carousing with the King
(maybe)

After the tour, Daniel offered to take whomever was interested to a cafe for some delicious french onion soup. It was really cold outside and being outdoors for 3 1/2- 4 hours will make
you want anything delicious and warm. I got hot wine (like a red wine with spices and oranges in it, delicious!) as well as the french onion soup (a little salty, but also delicious). We had made friends with two Brazilian girls, and after eating, we all walked to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures and see the light show. It was really awesome to realize that I was in Paris and right next to the Eiffel Tower, as well as near the myriad of other historical places.

Arc de Triomphe!

Once we made it back to the hostel, we talked with the other girls in our room (it was a 10 bed room) and realized that there was a girl who had graduated from UW-Madison last May staying there, too. Her name was Hannah and she had been teaching French in Marseilles (in the south of France) for the past several months. She was very cool and had some excellent stories about her students (they're all in elementary school).

We ended up just going down to the hostel bar and met a bunch of other Brazilians as well as an Australian. That was the cool thing about staying in a hostel--we got to meet people from all over the world. Our hostel was also really nice, and as it was our first hostel experience, we were kind of spoiled.

First glimpse of the Chateau at Versailles

Sunday, we went to Versailles. For your reference, Versailles is closed on Tuesdays and it is also basically a day trip. There is the Chateau that Louis XIV made into the Chateau (it was a originally a hunting lodge built by Louis XIII) because he wanted all the focus of everyone to be on him, so he picked up and moved from Paris to Versailles. And took everyone (important) with him. The Chateau is HUGE. HUGE as in enormous. When you get off the train, you follow the signs to get to the Chateau (and the hordes of people) and it is at the end of a really wide street. Although I was really far away from it, it just blew me away. The entire thing is just so extravagant and elaborate and ornate and all things luxurious. The sun was out for the first time in a while, and Louis the XIV really liked gold. This is important because a lot of the front of the palace has gold gilding and when the sun was shining on it, it made sense that Louis XIV was known as the Sun King. Everything glowed. It was pretty awesome.

Entrance to the Chateau

More awesome (sort of) was the fact that Jane and I got in for free with our visas. That's the thing with Paris and other cities that have historical places that charge to get into; if you have a long stay visa and proof you're a student, you generally can get in for free or at a reduced rate. (Also, you generally have to be under the age of 26).

You do a lot of looking up when you're in the fancy rooms--a lot of the ceilings are painted and have very elaborate decoration.

We spent about 3 hours in the Chateau, and going through all the rooms was really cool, but after seeing the King and Queen's rooms and then seeing the dauphin's apartments, it was obvious who was more important. Also, the French are very into where all the furniture came from and who designed it and blah blah blah--basically stuff that isn't terribly interesting about the furniture and such.

One of the coolest places is the Hall of Mirrors. Back in the day, mirrors were super duper expensive, and King Louis XIV had an entire hall of them. There are chandeliers and giant candlestick things everywhere--very impressive.

Hall of Mirrors

Looking out on the main garden area

There are also very expansive gardens (and when I say expansive, I mean you probably couldn't see them all in a few hours). While we were walking around, I couldn't help but to think how people would probably ride a horse around the grounds and enjoy the days....it's just so much fun to think about how things were when old places were actually being used.

Ain't nobody getting up these stairs

Also on the grounds is Le Petit Trianon--it was a gift to Marie Antoinette from her husband, Louis XVI. It wasn't anything too special, just her own space so she could not intrude on Louis's space (as it is rumored she did) and get away from everything else at Versailles. It was originally the king's but after giving it to Marie, she had some renovations done. She also had a little English hamlet built so she could pretend to be a peasant and milk cows and such--this was especially cute. We kind of stumbled upon it because we were walking around the garden area and heard something that sounded like a dying cow. Well, it wasn't a dying cow, it was a perfectly live one but it still sounded horrid. We just followed the noise and there it was: cows, ducks, geese, chickens, grape vines and thatched roofs included.

English hamlet area

Paris basically shuts down on Sunday--Hannah said that though the French don't go to church really, everything still shuts down. If anyone has any ideas what it is the French do on Sundays, let me know. We wanted to go out, but due to the fact that it was Sunday evening when we got back, that didn't end up happening. Instead, we resorted to the hostel bar again. It was Jane, Hannah, our friend Ana (Brazilian), Gabriel (Brazilian) and then two Australians joined us.

Voltaire!

Is it weird to take pictures next to people's
tombs?
(Marie and Pierre Curie pictured here)

Monday, Hannah, Gabriel, Jane and myself went to the Pantheon to see the tombs of famous dead people such as Voltaire (I thought his heart was there, but nope, just his body. and a statue.), Marie and Pierre Curie and Louis Braille, among others. As a forewarning: I suppose it can be kind of, really expensive to heat a massive stone building in the winter, so apparently the Pantheon isn't heated. It was quite chilly all throughout it and so it wasn't really much a reprieve from the outside, besides the fact that it shelters you from the wind.

The Pantheon

After this, we all got delicious hot dog things from right outside the Louvre. They were pastry-like things with hot dog-type sausages in the middle and bread stuff and cheese and horseradish sauce on them. They were AWESOME. And then we went to the Louvre.

Smiling with your eyes = unattractive

Jane and I didn't have much time to see the Louvre due to the need to: return to our hostel and pick up our baggage, take a train to a bus and then take that bus to the airport to catch our flight. We saw the Mona Lisa (of course)--she's quite small and they have put her on this giant wall, thus making her appear even smaller. We decided that the Mona Lisa is smiling with her eyes, so I got a picture of myself "smiling with my eyes." As you can see, it's kind of scary.

Something you shouldn't miss if you go to the Louvre is the excellent photo opportunity that this painting provides, for obvious reasons. No one knows why the girl is getting her nipple pinched (the girl is actually a queen or duchess, I believe), but a proposed idea is that she is pregnant, so her sister is doing it to show that she's fertile. All I know is that this is a weird painting, and that's all there is to it.

Now we come to what was the most nerve wracking part of the day, for me at least: getting to the airport. Our flight was at 7:40 pm out of Paris-Beauvais Airport. If you look up where Beauvais is on a map of France, you will see that it is located a significant distance from Paris itself. This is what you get for flying with Ryanair. Ryanair is an Irish airline known for its low-cost fares and stringent policies regarding carry-on luggage and flight check-in. In order for us to make our flight, we should have been at the bus station place to take us to the airport 3 hours and 15 minutes before our flight. Hopefully I'm not the only one that thinks that seems a little excessive. However, as Jane and I found out the hard way, it's really not.

Why the locks? Your lover puts a lock on this bridge with both their a
and your initials on it and your love is supposed to last forever. Or until the Parisian
police come around and cut locks off, which happens monthly.

If we wouldn't have been so putzy at the hostel getting our baggage and what not, we might have been a little better off. It still took a little while on the trains to get to the bus stop, and then once at the bus stop we had to wait for the bus to fill up in order to leave (we got there right as one filled and left). This is a Monday afternoon in a major city. What happens on any weekday afternoon in a major city? Rush hour, that's what. First, we got delayed going out of the parking lot due to some construction work and second, we got delayed on the way to the airport due to the general traffic congestion. I went to sleep because I was getting so stressed out and there wasn't anything I could do once I was on the bus (except hope and pray we got to the airport in enough time to get on our flight).

Herbie being naughty in the Chateau

Ryanair closes baggage check-in 40 minutes prior to flight take off and closes the gate 30 minutes prior to take off. The deadline we needed to meet was 7:00 being at the airport (6:55 in the best situation). We got off the bus at 7:11. When we got to the check-in place, the lady wouldn't let us check in and we went to talk to the information lady. Our options? Pay 100 euro to get on the next flight to Barcelona (but it was going to Barcelona-Reus Airport...1 - 1 1/2 hours away from Barcelona itself) which left at 9:20 or find a hostel, buy tickets for the earliest flight out the next day (9 am), and return to the airport the next day. Jane and I decided to (unwillingly) dole out the 100 euro to have our tickets switched to the flight leaving at 9:20 pm to Barcelona-Reus. All in all, it probably would have cost just as much to wait until the next day. For the record, the Paris-Beauvais airport is super sketch. There are about 3 doors that lead to the outside and you have to walk to your airplane (kind of like the President, but without all the prestige). It's very small and I was glad to leave it behind.

Herbie waiting (patiently) next to Jane's candy at the
Paris-Beauvais airport....

Once arriving at the Barcelona-Reus airport, we had to wait for/take a bus to Barcelona. That dropped us off at a bus station thing and then we took a taxi to Jane's friend Joanna's apartment. If you go to Spain, it's probably a good idea to know some Spanish. Despite the fact that the Spanish you learn in the States isn't Castellano (Spain Spanish), it will at least allow you to, at a basic level, communicate with the locals. Such as when you have to take a taxi. In Barcelona (and other near parts of Spain), the main language that is spoken is Catalan. Catalan is a crazy Spanish-French-ish mixed language. People in Barcelona also will refuse to speak Spanish to you if you speak in Spanish to them because, although they know it, they feel they are above it. Frustrating, to say the least.

Finally, around 2 am on Tuesday, we were in Barcelona and at our temporary home for the next couple of days. Adventures and misadventures in Barcelona and Sevilla are next to come!