Pere Lachaise

On my second to last day in Paris I went to one of the most famous cemetaries in Paris, Pere Lachaise. Pere Lachaise is a gorgeous old cemetary; most people know it for some of the famous people burried there: Oscar Wilde, Edith Pilaf, and Jim Morisson.

I walked around the entire cemetary and was shocked when I wandered by Jim Morrison's grave. It was packed with people! There were at least 20 or 30 people hanging out there. I know I have the musical intellegence of a porcupine but I can't name a single song by The Doors. I saw so many beatiful stained glass windows, old grave stones, and met a 11 kilo cat names Fifi while there. I wonder how many people enjoyewd the cemetary or just went to take a picture with Jim and post it as their facebook profile picture?

For some creepy reason I actually really like cemetaries. I mean I also liked reruns of the Addams Family as a kid but that's a different conversation all together. There is something about the stillness that appeals to me. There is also an interesting cultural point about cemetaries; obviously someone cared enough about that person at some time to errect a stone but then over time they are completely forgotten. I don't really have an end conclusion to this point, but it´s something that I do think about while I am walking around.

I want to share some of my favorite pictures of the cemetary with you my loves:


Fifi the 11 kilo cat

My favorite picture of stained glass where you can see through the broken glass to the trees outside (turn your head to the side to see it because I can´t figure out how to rotate it on blogger, soooowwwwyyy)

And last but not least, my two favorite pictures I took the entire day:

updates updates updates!!

My oh my I certainly have been MIA lately!

Where were we last? Paris? From Paris I took a train to Frankfurt, Germany and have been in Germany and Austria for the last week and a half.

I met Chris, Allan, and Eddie in Frankfurt where we immediately got on a train and headed to Munich and Oktoberfest! The boys' friend from college, Audrey, and her sister, Jill met us in Munich. The 6 of us had an amazing time prost-ing, eating way too many sausages, and belting out the cheesiest American music playing at Oktoberfest (Achey Breaky Heart-- can you top that?)!

After 4 days in Munich Jill and Audrey returned to Spain where Audrey lives and the boys and I continued on to Salzburg, Austria. Yes, the birth place of The Von Trap Family Singers!!! While we didn't take the Sound of Music bus tour like I wanted to do I was mentally running through the SoM soundtrack in my mind the entire time. With an afternoon trip to the German Alps and a day full of bike riding we had a great time in Salzurg.

Don´t worry I´ll give you the full scoop on all the stops, including Oktoberfest, in seperate posts!

once again, I'm awesome

I downloaded more photos!

http://tinyurl.com/mertravelsphotos

only about 200 more to upload to the website.... I evidently take a ridiculous number of photos a day.

Check out the photos! Still unedited!

I love you all!

p.s. there are 2 girls sitting next to me and they are bickering so badly about choosing a train and it's HILARIOUS and you know me: I love listening in to other people's convos!

xoxo,
M

The Paris Overview

Paris has been great. I arrived 6 days ago and have been really busy walking around the city, seeing the sights, and trying not to break my budget!!

Day 1
After taking the world's most expensive cab ride in the history of all cab rides my flight to Paris was perfectly smooth and I arrive in my hostel around 12. The first hostel I stayed in was in Montemarte so I walked through Sacre Coure Cathedral and the surrounding neighborhood. While I was walking I stumbled into some sort of French festival complete with French singers and some sort of renamactment.

Day 2
I went on a great free 3 hour walking tour provided by NewEurope. We saw all of the major sites and I definitely got a better lay out ofParis in my mind. I also walked around the Latin quarter. This area is where the prestigois French school Le Sorbonne is located.

Day 3
I saw Notre Dame Cathedral. The stained glass windows are beautiful; actually the entire church is mannificent. When I am in these churchesI always try to image what it would be like to be present in the church right after it was built. These were built before cranes, computers, and modern architecture and engineering. The construction just completely blows my mind. After Notre Dame I went to an area of Paris called the Marais; it's the old Jewish area of town and is filled with delicious falafel stands, amazing bakeries, and tiny winding streets. This night I also went out to bars with some Californians from my hostel and stayed out way too late.

Day 4
While battling feeling tired from the night before I went to my favorite museum in Paris, and I might dare to say the world, Le Musee d'Orsay. I treated myself to a giant bowl of amazing soup in the cafe and then spent the next 5 hours in the museum. I'm going to write more about the museum later.

Day 5
I went to the Louvre, l'Orangerie, and a really cool English bookstore called Shakespeare and Company. I then had a little dinner picnic in front of the Eiffle Tower

Day 6
I was going to go to Versaille this day but after a hostel crisis (note to self: do not leave booking a hostel until that morning!) left me scrambling for a place to stay until 12:30 I had to change plans. So, instead I went to Pere Lachaise cemetery where Heloise and Abelard; Jim Morrison; Oscar Wilde; Edith Pilaf and others are burried.

Today
Today I walked to the oldest still existing flea market in Europe, wandered around the stalls, and then just walked around Paris taking it all in.


I leave for Frankfurt tomorrow and will meet Chris and our friends Eddie and Allan there on Monday before we all head to Munich for Oktoberfest. I am so excited to see friends and to go to Oktoberfest.

I'll be sure to keep you updated about our progress along the way! I'm trying to upload photos as we speak but who knows how it will go on the hostel's computer. If not I'll fork out the 5 euro to have all of my photos downloaded to a CD just for you my loves!
Xoxo,
M

Paris

Paris is going well.

I tried to do to the Museè d'Orsay today but there was a 2 hour wait. So instead I went Notre Dame and then to the old Jewish neighborhood of Paris saw the Jewish History museum, ate falafel, had a pastry, and saw a flower market.

My French is definitely not as good as it was 4 years ago when I was in Paris last. I know enough to get by, but only that. So usually what happens is I try to buy something or go into a museum and can say the basic statements but as soon as someone says something to me that I'm not expecting I'm completely lost!

I'm changing hostels tomorrow and I will give you all the scoop about living in hostels.

For my NC loves, by random chance in my six bed dorm late night the 2 guys in the bunk next to me were from Raleigh and Fuquay-Varina and went to State! Of all of the places to run into some random North Carolinians!

I promiss to post again tomorrow morning!

big x's and o's to you all!

"Oh, wow, do you take credit cards?"

Oh, I had one hell of a morning.

the back story:

For some inconceivable reason I booked my flight for this morning at 7:50. Which meant I needed to be at the airport at 6:30. At the time of booking I didn't thinking about needing to take public transport at an ungodly hour to get to the airport. Also to add to the difficulty of this morning, the airport my budget airlines is located was about 40 miles outside of the city and would take an hour and 40 minutes on three different buses across London. So, my only decent option was to take a cab.

the night before:
Last night I called a cab and asked the amount of time a cab would take and how much it would cost. I gave the dispatcher my address and post code IN London (this will be important later) and he said it would take 30 minutes to the airport and cost between 20 and 22 pounds. Awesome! 20 pounds? Done!

this morning:
I wake up extra early, head out to the street in the dawn light, and wait for the cab. Well, then I wait some more and then wait some more, and by more I mean 5 minutes. I call the cab company and they say these words to me:

"What's your postal code? That's not possible. You are in East Hampstead? Oh, you're in Hampstead in London? Oh. Oh. You're never going to make it to the airport in time.... uhhh or we can send another cab to you."

I wait 10 more minutes getting more and more annoyed and then get this call

"the cab who was on his way to you got in a wreck and no one can come now"

And this point I'm starting to slightly panic and really just want to kill the cab company. So Allyson and I walked down to the high street and pulled a cab off the street. When I tell him Luton Airport this convo happens:

Mer: "Luton airport please"
Cabbie: "That's a long way love"
Mer: "How long? How much will it cost?"
Cabbie: "130 pounds or so"
Mer: "OH MY SWEET GOD WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?"

okay, that was just in my mind. What I really said was:

"Oh, wow, do you take credit cards?"

I made it to the airport on time and got on my flight and am now in Paris but goodness did I learn some important lessons this morning about booking early morning tickets!!

Food Friday 2 (Saturday edition)

Hello my loves!

This week has been a little out of the norm because I have been staying with a college friend and her parents for the last week. So, I've only done a little cooking, but don't worry I've been doing a lot eating!

I brought you photos this week! And, how fabulous am I?

We have had traditional meat pies and mash

It was delish! The meat pies are filled with minced beef and they are pies not pot pies so there is just meat and none of the extra yummy ingredients of veggies or gravy. The mashed potatoes were great too (not as good as my mom's though), the server put then or really scraped them onto the plate with a giant spatula. The green sauce on the side is called liquor and I really cannot explain it to you; it's some sort of cream and flecks of green? Who knows what it is but it was quite tasty! We shared a long table with some English people who told up the best way to eat it is with a dash or two of vinegar and a giant spoon. And at 2.80 a plate it's an amazing deal from one of the oldest still existing pie shops, M Manze.

I've also eaten some amazing Indian food this week

from Spicy World

Chinese food in London's Chinatown

And have eaten some delicious fresh fruits, veggies, delicious prosciutto, and amazing cheese from the local Borough Market

I'm headed to Paris tomorrow and will start cooking again soon!

xoxo,

M