From France to Spain
Well, we finally found access to the net again! Right at this moment I am in Spain! Near Plaza Mayor in Marid to be exact. We just checked into our room in a cute little family run hostal with a very nice lady owner who speaks fluent English. We are really looking forward to a wonderful Spanish lunch after this!
But to back up a bit. The rest of our trip in Paris was good. We were overwhelmed at the size, grandeur and sheer bulk of the art in the Louvre. Stared at the Mona Lisa and other works by the Masters. We saw a LOT of stuff from Egypt. The really interesting stuff was all the stuff from their everyday life like foot rests, makeup jars, clothing and board games. We were also stunned by the size and ostentation of Versailles, Louis the XIV´s pleasure palace. We were annoyed by the lack of toilets in Paris! I don´t know where these people pee but it felt like half our trip consisted of walking around doing the bathroom wiggle while desperately looking for toilet. And half the time when we found one we had to pay!
We have run into a lot of Japanese. We even saw Mitsukoshi department store in London and everything was in Japanese and there were lots of Japanese inside. There are a lot of sushi places in Europe but we havn´t tried any. A little expensive.
The highlight of the trip so far has been our one night stay in the small town of Chartres about an hour outside Paris. It is famous for it´s 12th cent. gothic cathedral. I have been interested in this particular cathedral for a long time, with it´s 800 year old stained glass windows and mysterious labyrinth on the floor. It was magnificent and there were hardly any tourists. It is surrounded by a town so old and picturesque you can´t believe it! We made our own dinners most nights in Paris so we treated ourselves to a nice French dinner in a 16th cent. building in Chartres. I took a lot of pictures and will never forget that place.
So, my overall impression of Paris was: a bit dirty, seedy in places, have to look out for dog poop on the sidewalks, great bread, cheese and wine, beautiful architecture and an arrogance to be expected. I wonder was southern France will be like.
Last night was an interesting experience. We waited at the train station in Paris for a few hours for our train to the Spanish border. We were in first class which was nice and had comfortable seats. We had brought some sandwich fixings but were not sure if we were allowed to eat at our seats. We decided we could but our cheese was quite stinky and one French woman was clearly not happy about it and stormed off to another car. About 9pm we arrived in Irun on the Spanish border and transfered to a 2nd class sleeping train. Damien and I were in a SMALL compartment with three SMALL beds one on top of the other, three on each side. We had the top to bunks facing each other. Damien couldn´t even stretch out! It was so tight and I had no water and didn´t sleep well on the 9 hour ride. I tell you what, if you were at all claustrophobic you would have been in trouble!
Anyway, we made it to Madrid this morning, figured out how to get to our hostal, had a bit of breakfast and have been walking around. So far I like it better that Paris. Don´t know what we are going to do today but whatever it is will be new and exciting!
I hope I can get pictures up soon but am not sure. I miss everyone and hope things are good in your corner of the world!
But to back up a bit. The rest of our trip in Paris was good. We were overwhelmed at the size, grandeur and sheer bulk of the art in the Louvre. Stared at the Mona Lisa and other works by the Masters. We saw a LOT of stuff from Egypt. The really interesting stuff was all the stuff from their everyday life like foot rests, makeup jars, clothing and board games. We were also stunned by the size and ostentation of Versailles, Louis the XIV´s pleasure palace. We were annoyed by the lack of toilets in Paris! I don´t know where these people pee but it felt like half our trip consisted of walking around doing the bathroom wiggle while desperately looking for toilet. And half the time when we found one we had to pay!
We have run into a lot of Japanese. We even saw Mitsukoshi department store in London and everything was in Japanese and there were lots of Japanese inside. There are a lot of sushi places in Europe but we havn´t tried any. A little expensive.
The highlight of the trip so far has been our one night stay in the small town of Chartres about an hour outside Paris. It is famous for it´s 12th cent. gothic cathedral. I have been interested in this particular cathedral for a long time, with it´s 800 year old stained glass windows and mysterious labyrinth on the floor. It was magnificent and there were hardly any tourists. It is surrounded by a town so old and picturesque you can´t believe it! We made our own dinners most nights in Paris so we treated ourselves to a nice French dinner in a 16th cent. building in Chartres. I took a lot of pictures and will never forget that place.
So, my overall impression of Paris was: a bit dirty, seedy in places, have to look out for dog poop on the sidewalks, great bread, cheese and wine, beautiful architecture and an arrogance to be expected. I wonder was southern France will be like.
Last night was an interesting experience. We waited at the train station in Paris for a few hours for our train to the Spanish border. We were in first class which was nice and had comfortable seats. We had brought some sandwich fixings but were not sure if we were allowed to eat at our seats. We decided we could but our cheese was quite stinky and one French woman was clearly not happy about it and stormed off to another car. About 9pm we arrived in Irun on the Spanish border and transfered to a 2nd class sleeping train. Damien and I were in a SMALL compartment with three SMALL beds one on top of the other, three on each side. We had the top to bunks facing each other. Damien couldn´t even stretch out! It was so tight and I had no water and didn´t sleep well on the 9 hour ride. I tell you what, if you were at all claustrophobic you would have been in trouble!
Anyway, we made it to Madrid this morning, figured out how to get to our hostal, had a bit of breakfast and have been walking around. So far I like it better that Paris. Don´t know what we are going to do today but whatever it is will be new and exciting!
I hope I can get pictures up soon but am not sure. I miss everyone and hope things are good in your corner of the world!
posted by Ana | 3:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home