And just like that, I was back

I got back from Paris on Friday and suddenly my last weekend in Milan was upon me. I had no big plans, essentially packing, canceling my internet, eating a ton of gelato and going up on the roof of the Duomo one last time. On Saturday I wound up going to a waterpark called Gardaland with my friends Chloe, Olympia and Andriana. We got a little lost on the way (the directions on the website were far from perfect) but found our way there after asking a few very helpful Italians for directions, who told us we were not at all near where we wanted to be. So we eventually figured out where we needed to be, made it there and then had a fantastic day at Gardaland, going down every single slide (legitimately every one) and then going down them a second time. And sometimes a third. A perfectly exhausting day.

The next day I woke up and knew I needed to get my internet canceled. I went to the internet place next door and found out that in Italy you must 1) Notify the company 30 days in advance of your cancellation and 2) Pay 65€ to cancel said internet (even though no contract is involved). So that was a great start to the day. I decided to ask my landlord about it later that night. Deanna and I met up later to finish our respective Milan bucket lists. First order of business? The Duomo Roof. While I had been up on the roof twice already, she had never. So I escorted her up the stairs and the roof was the best it had ever been (except for the fog on the horizon blocking the Alps from view) with the sun shining and a nice breeze blowing in. After we had our fill of the roof we went down to Cioccolati Italiani and I had one of the best gelato combos ever (blood orange and shortbread), then headed over to Parco Sempione and strolled, like the Italians we are.

And then we parted ways, Deanna for Milano Centrale -> Florence and me for my apartment, to finish packing and get the deposit back for my apartment. Unfortunately, because of all the blood stains on the walls from the copious amounts of mosquitoes we killed during the semester, I had to pay 150€ to get the walls repainted in my room and ended up with only 80€. After this devastating blow I finished packing and cleaning, and went to bed, completely unprepared to leave Milan behind. I got up anyway, grabbed a cab to Cadorna, awkwardly shuffled to the Malpensa Express (with my unwieldy duffle bag, two stuffed rolling bags and mostly empty bookbag) and arrived at Malpensa one last time. I checked in to my flight, doffed my incredibly awkward bags and went shopping at Duty Free, almost lost my carry-on when I left it in the Duty Free check-out line and then sat at my gate (the same gate I took to London). I hardly remember the flight, and Newark was the same as always. Except my jar of Nutella got confiscated because it's a cream and I forgot that food can be a creme and who confiscates Nutella?? On that note, who would weaponize Nutella?? What a waste of that delicious hazelnut and chocolate spread which really should be more popular in the United States (suck it, George Washington Carver).

I boarded my plane for Cleveland, got there in the blink of an eye and all of a sudden was home. The home where English is the native tongue, not Italian. Where I can't just hop on a train and go somewhere beautiful and historic and unique. I'm not sure how to sum up my whole experience abroad, but it was the greatest thing I've ever done. I may be completely bankrupt right now, but every penny was worth it. I do not regret a single thing I did abroad, I just wish I'd had more time to see everything. All that means is I have to go back. I would end this with some awesome Italian folk phrase I learned abroad, but I didn't learn any. So here's a random Looney Toones reference:

The Billion Dollar Palace

We woke up really late on our last full day in Paris, thankfully refreshed but hurting for time. We got packed up and headed out, checked out of the hotel (with nowhere to stay that night) and hopped on the train to downtown Paris.

We got downtown and decided to make Versailles our first visit of the day. We headed down in to the RER station, and saw for the next train to Versailles was to arrive in about 10 minutes. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And got no news until about 40 minutes later, when an announcement was made that a fire had broken out at a platform east of us, so there would be a further delay. Perfect. So after an hour and a half of waiting the train finally arrived to take us to Versailles (remember we had our bags with us this whole time, still nowhere to sleep). We got there about 30 minutes later and ran off the train (we just wanted to see the gardens, then go back to get a final bit of Paris in), stopping only for a mediocre crêpe. We finally got to the Palace and got a little confused trying to figure out where we could check our bags (we knew it was free, but that's about it). I went in to the information office where one of the clerks told me that it was free for EU students (it being the whole palace, which would cost around THIRTY EURO otherwise. FREE!). Since Deanna and I were quite practiced at faking being actual Italians (as we had faked the whole week to get in to the Louvre and Rodin museums for free) we got in nice and quick and easy. We took a quick spin around the incredibly lavish palaces, pausing only in the Hall of Mirrors (where the various Treaties of Versailles have been signed) and the former throne room, where the former throne is still housed. Here are some pictures!

The Sun King's Gates (Louis XIV being the Sun King because he was awesome, like the sun)

Hall of Mirrors

Queen's Bed

King's Bed (I think. There were a lot of rooms)

Coronation of Napoleon (when he crowned himself emperor. Copy)

Something Glorious

The Old Throne

We had our fill of the Palace and then headed out to the gardens, which were beautifully sculpted. And enormous. We walked around for a bit but eventually just sat down on the grass and did nothing. It was great!

Le Tapis Vert (Green "Sidewalk")

Apollo's Fountain

Fleur-de-Lis

After we finished relaxing in the gardens, we grabbed our bags and headed back to the city and back in to the Louvre. We checked our bags at the door again and then did a tour of the Denon Wing (the most famous), as guided by Rick Steves. Here's a bit of what we saw:

Mona, Tiny

The Original Coronation of Napoleon

Façade of the Pantheon (remember Athens?)

Crown Jewels

The tour took about an hour and a half and so we headed to the Musée d'Orsay one last time to see if we could find Lucie (my Parisian friend who I met in DC last summer, and who had agreed to house us if we could meet up) who we were supposed to meet outside the museum at 6. We had a bit of time to kill so we got dinner: quiche lorraine and these two for dessert:

So delicious

I didn't see Lucie anywhere so we headed in to the museum and started perusing the greatest collection of Impressionist art anywhere (unfortunately all moved around/in storage due to renovations going on at the museum) which was a welcome respite from all the renaissance stuff we had seen throughout Europe. No pictures allowed however. After about an hour in the museum I checked my phone and saw that Lucie had texted me quite a few times, and was apparently outside the museum waiting for us (and had been since 6. Oops) We headed outside and met up with her and a friend, finagled another 45 minutes of museum time and then headed out to the Marais District (the one place left in Paris we hadn't really visited). On the way we stopped at Notre Dame one last time:

We are still about 300 feet away from the building. It's huge!

The color of the sun on the bricks was incredible

Then we headed in to the Marais District (Lucie's favorite) and got a quick tour. We saw the Pompidou Center (the one museum I didn't go to in Europe) which is an inside-out building (aka all the pipes and such are on the outside) and got crêpes and wine at a crêperie nearby. And thankfully we had somewhere to stay too! We slept at Lucie's (her dad's house in the Paris suburbs, reallly nice), got up at 6 am and grabbed our train back to Milan. An eventful week in Paris, to say the least. These three posts do not nearly capture the ridiculous amount of stuff we saw, and how exhausting every day was. But it was all entirely worth it. Especially because every museum was free (except Sainte Chapelle/Conciergerie). Paris, je t'aime!

Cramming Paris

The next morning we got up, grabbed the train in and went straight to the Musée d'Orsay, which ended up being closed again. Thanks, Parisians.

So we went to the Louvre instead, and took a quick look around. We saw Mona Lisa (tiny) and the Marriage at Cana (huge. opposite the Mona Lisa, dwarfing it ridiculously) and a bunch of other famous stuff (like the Code of Hammurabi, the first written laws). Here are some pictures:

Not sure what it is about this painting but it's one of my favorites

Someone religious

Woah, dude. Statues!

Conforming to American Boorish Tourists stereotypes, one imitated statue at a time

Sun!

When we saw it was getting nice out we left for the Île de la Cité, the center of Paris. We followed Rick Steves' guided tour of the island, and it was perfect. We started at Notre Dame, which somehow managed to make me slightly less cynical about churches for a little bit. Pretty much breathtaking. We walked around the outside as Rick narrated, pointing out various architectural bits and giving a history of the island itself.

There's a gargoyle up there on its elbows, looking out. 

So pretty

Huge Amazing Rose Window

We walked all the way around, admiring the flying buttresses and gargoyles, and then headed south to the Rive Gauche and the Latin Quarter. Here we were guided to Shakespeare and Co., an old independent bookstore, a small but beautiful park and multiple more churches. We also saw the Place Saint-Michele, with a cool fountain and an art-nouveau Métro entrance (I'm not really giving the latin quarter the time it deserves, but I really want to finish this blog. SORRY). We made our way back on to the island and headed for Sainte-Chapelle, Louis IX's private storeroom for all his Jesus stuff (and with an enormous amount of stained glass). Sun streams in to the room constantly, and the stained glass itself was incredible. The amount of detail that is included in each and every panel was mindblowing. The most amazing part about all of it is that the whole building was finished in around five years, which was completely unheard of at the time. This kind of thing gets Rick Steves really excited, and he went on and on about the architectural harmony of the church/glorified storage space. Here are some pictures:

(One of these was taken by my phone. which one is it?)

After basking in the glow of stained glass light, we made our way down the street to the Conciergerie, an old prison where tons of famous dead people were held before they were dead. These people include Marie Antoinette, Maximilien Robespierre and a bunch of the aristocrats he had killed during the French Revolution. Definitely a break from the norm, there was no religious imagery to be seen and it had a much different feel than the churches and museums I had been spending time in throughout Europe.

Stained glass in Marie Antoinette's former holding cell

We left the Conciergerie, walked through Place Dauphine (constructed by Henry IV and representing his larger body of work in planning the city of Paris) and to the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. We took a quick break here and then headed over to the Champ de Mars, where we relaxed for quite a bit more before heading up the Tour Eiffel. Because it is cheaper, Deanna and I climbed the stairs to the second of three observation decks on the tower. Both of these had pretty fantastic views. I waffled a bit on if I wanted to go up to the very top of the tower, but Deanna convinced me I should. She stayed behind (she had already been up and didn't feel like paying another five euro) so I bought my ticket and hopped in line. While the very top is boxed in (more confined than the second observation deck, which is pretty much wide open) the view was still fantastic. I could see for miles all around, beyond the limits of Paris and maybe even all the way to Versailles.

10 Euro Champagne? Who would buy that?

Oh.

After I took it all in, I headed back down the tower and met up with Deanna. We headed to the RER to get some more sleep after the last two very full days, planning on Versailles and (hopefully!) the Musée d'Orsay.

An exhausting walking tour of almost all of one half of Paris

Suddenly, I was on my last train out of Italy. Deanna and I making our way to Paris for the epic conclusion to our European adventures.

The train left Milano Centrale at four, and Deanna and I had 7 hours of sitting to look forward to. I didn't do anything particularly productive (big surprise) then 7 hours just flew by and we were in Paris! Deanna and I grabbed our bags, got off the train and headed straight in to the Métro and used our substantial experience with subways to figure out the best route to the hostel, up in the 18eme arrondissement. We hopped on the next train north, changed in Châtelet-Les Halles (the largest underground station in the world) and made it to the hostel, a tiny place right outside the Barbés-Rochechouart station. Got checked in, the guy at the desk was incredibly rude (least friendly hostel I've ever stayed in. I was so used to the amazing hospitality offered by hostels everywhere else I went, and this place was the polar opposite), dropped my bags off and then Deanna and I went for a midnight stroll in the neighborhood, which turned out to be the Red Light District. So we saw the Moulin Rouge,

and then hiked up to the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, on top of the Montmartre hill,

and enjoyed some authentic Parisian street music. We also watched the Eiffel Tower light show from up on the hill (every hour on the hour for five minutes),

but never saw it again that trip (the light show that is). Deanna and I made our way back down the hill and started heading back to the hostel; along the way I got a nutella crêpe that changed my life. I went to bed and slept heavily, then got up around 7. Deanna and I headed out about 8, got breakfast from a bakery in the 7eme arrondissement (just south of the Musée d'Orsay, our first destination). We got to the museum and it was 8:30, about an hour before it opens. There was a short line already forming but we decided to go wander around the Tuileries Garden (the garden in front of the Louvre) to kill some time. It was pretty overcast and a little wet out but the gardens were still impressive. We walked around there for a bit then got a closer look at the Louvre itself. The museum is closed on tuesdays (which it was) but looking at the building was still allowed. I always knew the Louvre was big, but the Louvre is HUGE. It takes time to walk from one wing to the other. And the pyramid in front, designed by I.M. Pei, is a very out of place, very cool looking architectural feature.


We walked back to the Orsay, found a huge line waiting for us, and got in. After we waited about an hour an announcement was made that the museum was closed for the day due to a strike (which we later found out was also over at Versailles) and so we groaned and figured out a plan B: the Musée Rodin, a museum dedicated to the works of Auguste Rodin, the most famous/prolific sculptor since Michelangelo. His famous works include The Thinker

The Gates of Hell

and The Kiss

After we finished perusing the Museum, we headed out in search of that most Parisian of gustatory delights: French Onion Soup (Soupe à l'oignon). We walked up and down a few streets comparing prices and touristyness of different restaurants trying to find the best possible soup on our meager budgets. We eventually chose a restaurant not far from Les Invalides, where Napoleon's Tomb is housed. The soup was fantastic, and we got a beer called Panaché to go along with it.

We enjoyed both slowly to rest our feet and figure out the plan for the rest of the day. So after lunch our next stop was the Champ de Mars + Eiffel Tower:

View down the Champ de Mars

Inside looking out

View from the Trocadero

When I finished gazing at the Tower we made our way up to the Trocadero and saw some pretty atrocious street performances, then walked up to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées. The Arc is in the middle of a huge traffic circle where 12 streets intersect, so we had to take an underground walkway up to it. I was stunned by the hugeness of it; it dwarfs the Arco della Pace in Milan by ten-fold. It was even too big to capture with a camera, but there were some incredible architectural details we saw:

We finished marveling and then walked down the Champs-Élysées itself, looking at all the incredibly expensive things that we absolutely could not afford. We eventually made it to the Place de la Concorde, the square right outside of the Tuileries Gardens, and hopped on the Métro to grab our bags from the hostel and then head out to the hotel. When we got off the train at Barbés-Rochechouart we saw people crowding around on the street taking pictures, and when we got closer the burned out husk of a building and firefighters still sifting through the rubble. While we were out the grocery store next-door to the hostel had caught on fire and been completely gutted.

Burned out husk

Somehow the hostel was perfectly fine and we went in to grab our bags. We headed to the nearest RER station to head out to our new hotel (booking places in Paris was impossible) out in the Parisian 'burbs. Next time, The Louvre!