Guten Tag Vienna! (Part I)

Backlog:
Before I start this story, I feel that there is a backstory that I need to explain to my readers.  I did not move to the DC area until I was in 4^th grade (Spring of 1999) and was born/raised in Columbus, Ohio.  When I was in second grade (1996-1997), we had a foreign exchange student come live with us from Vienna, Austria for the year.  Her name was Mury and she was 15 at the time and went to Upper Arlington High School in Columbus (for my Ohio readers) until she moved back to Vienna.  Her parents escaped Vietnam in 1975 to avoid the war and moved to Vienna, Austria where she was born roughly 5 years later.

Over the years, we have continued contact and she and Oliver (then boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend and her close personal friend still to this day) have come to visit us in DC several times over the years.  As Oliver continued to come to visit (without Mury), I started to grow a strong personal friendship with Oliver and we have meet up in: Philadelphia, Niagara Falls (Canada side), Orlando, and even Boston last summer. 

So last summer, Oliver was saying there is a plan in place to ask the big question to Marlene (his girlfriend of ~7years) and was wondering if I would be able to possibly make the wedding.  It was during this time when I was getting my plan together for Europe and I said that I would very much do anything in my power to plan around being in Vienna during his wedding and count me in.  And in October (if I can remember), he asked the question and she of course she said yes (I believe she had been waiting for some time) and the date of the wedding was booked for Friday, July 20^th.

In late Feburary and early March, I sent a random facebook message to Melissa (Stephanie’s best friend from Boston University who I had never meet) and asked her to go to the wedding with me.  Now this may seem odd, however she was studying abroad in Vienna at the time of the wedding and I was thinking it would be fun to have someone to speak English with and do some damage on Oliver’s bar tab.  She said yes and we sent facebook messages over the months leading up to the event to update each other.

Now the other part to this story is that my parents have also gotten to know Oliver very well (and Marlene as well on her one trip to DC) and around my birthday, I convinced my Mom and Dad to join me in Vienna for the wedding.  So it was set, the plan was to stay at Mury’s apartment (who was also going to the wedding) and I had very much been looking forward to this event for some time.

I plan on being in Vienna two more times to visit them and have a free place to live.  Thanks Mury/Alex/Oliver/Marlene!

Wednesday (July 18^th):

Well I did talk about the train trip on my last blog, I did not include the pictures of the Swiss Alps and thought that you guys might enjoy (I know I did).  Although it was an 8-hour train ride, it was stunning riding through these babies, but that wasn’t the highlight of the day.  When I arrived in Vienna, I was greeted by my parents, Mury, Oliver and we all went out to dinner.  During dinner, Marlene joined us and both Oliver and Marlene asked me to read a poem called I Carry Your Heart with Me by EE Cumings at their wedding on Friday.  Of course I said yes, and although I would never call myself a poet or a romantic, I felt honored to be a part of such a special moment with these two great people and of course I said yes.

View from My Train Seat of the Alps I

View from My Train Seat of the Alps II

Thursday (July 19^th):

On our first day in Vienna, Mury, my parents, Mury’s sister Sri, Juno (Sri’s daughter), and myself decided to visit the Schönbrunn Palace which was the home of the Sisi and Fernando during the peak of the Hapsburg Empire.  We talked through the garden in front of the palace, enjoyed the views from the breakfast room, and took an audio guide tour of the palace itself. 

Payne's at the Schöbrunn Breakfast House

After the tour, we made our way to the famous Hotel Sacher where we had cakes, snacks, drinks and got a break from the heat.  We then walked/ran (as it started to rain) to Saint Stephens Cathedral which is located in the center of downtown Vienna.  We tried to wait for the rain storm to pass inside of the Cathedral but ended up taking a taxi to the other side of town for a traditional Viennese dinner.  We ate classical Viennese food, beer, and deserts. 

Payne's Eating Sacher Cakes

Dinner the Night Before the Wedding

And as I explained in my note above, I had never seen her before so we decided to meet the night before the wedding to introduce ourselves.  So Oliver then picked me up, gave me a copy of the poem, and drove me to meet Melissa at an Irish bar called Sheebeen.  After about an hour and a half, she had to study for her final (which was taking place the following afternoon) so I handed her Mury’s address (which was only a 10 min walk from the castle where Oliver was getting married) and 20 euro to pay for her taxi ride to Mury’s place for tommow.  I had some time to kill before Oliver was planned to pick me up so I practiced the poem but I couldn’t stop laughing on the second line “anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling.”  For those of you who didn’t know, I didn’t know until Melissa told me that evening, the poem was also made famous in one of the most girly chick flicks of all time In Her Shoes.  But I knew how important it was for Marlene (and therefore Oliver, by association) so I practiced until I got a rhythm down and was no longer laughing.  I must have been a sight to see for the random Viennese people walking by, although I did try to stop reading out loud when people where approaching me. 

And soon enough, Oliver and Marlene were there to pick me up and dive me back to Mury’s place.  I wished them well on their last night as “single” adults, although I probably should have at least offered to go to the strip club with Oliver.  I mean, what are friends for?

Friday (July 20^th):

Well the big day was finally here: Oliver’s wedding!  My parents, Mury and myself had a small breakfast before heading to the grocery store and a café for lunch.  We were taking our time, enjoying each other’s presence and realize we only had 40 minutes to get ready for the wedding!  My dad and I took 5 minute showers (my dad’s was cold as the hot water heater ran out, sorry!) and I quickly made a card for Oliver’s wedding gift.  At the same time I was facebook messaging Melissa who was having some troubles getting a taxi to take her to Mury’s apartment.  Apparently the downtown taxis didn’t know where Mury’s address was and after three failed attempts, was finally able to get someone who was willing to take her (it was only 15minutes away).

Melissa and I at the wedding

But this time, our group was running late and my dad was telling me to move on as I was involved with the ceremony and he would wait for Melissa.  Now my dad was just trying to help out, but I felt like this was one of those times where I had to step up and take responsibility for the situation.  I told him that I did not want him to wait, and that I would take care of the situation.  And although we were ~5 minutes late, it was no problem in the end.

Oliver and Marlene

The wedding was just amazing.  It took place at an old castle/mansion on the outskirts of Vienna because Oliver is half Iranian and half Viennese, traditional food from Austria and Iran were served.  Although we didn’t understand most of the ceremony, my poem went over well and is posted below (although I don’t have enough guts to watch it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMnThLn0eKg&feature=youtu.be

Mury, Mom, Dad, and I at the wedding

My parents were catching a 6:15am flight to Berlin and headed home early (~9:00pm) while Melissa continued to help ourselves to the bar, terrace, and dance floor.  We got to interact with almost all of Oliver’s friends throughout the night and talked, danced, and laughed all night.  Both Melissa and myself agreed that night had been a highlight of our respective trips so far.

Mury and I returned back to her place around 4:15am when my parents were just waking up for their flight.  I wished them good luck, skyped a bit, and immediately passed out.

Melissa, Mury, myself ~2am

Bride, Groom, Nico (bestman), and Jay!

Saturday (July 21^st):

After sleeping in till 11:00am, Mury and I went to the “Oliver & Marlene Brunch” where we had a brunch buffet (I had a few nutella crepes to say the least) and then off to Mury’s sister’s coffee shop to say happy birthday to her sister.  At the coffee shop, we just chilled and relaxed, had some coffee, and talked to a few of Mury’s friends who were stopping in and out.  We made plans to meet up for dinner to enjoy “one of the best schnitzels in town” and then we both went back to Mury’s apartment for a nap.

Once we woke up, we made our way to a restaurant called "Finkh" where Oliver, Mury's friends, Melissa, and two of Melissa's friends meet up with us.  I gave Oliver a second wedding gift (4 sticks of Red Spice deodorant, his favorite) and then we were off for our first night on the town in Vienna!

Our first bar was called “25 Hour” which was a rooftop bar on top of a hotel that had a fantastic view of Vienna’s lighted government city center at night.  Then we moved on to the international dance party at the Vestibule and waited for Alex (Mury’s husband) to join us after just getting back from his surfing/work trip (hes a photographer).  Mury, Alex, and Melissa’s friends left for the night (~2:30am) so we decided to move on to some sort of garden bar that had trees going in the middle and a nice big gravel lot.  It was somewhat of a disco (I think they have to be to serve alcohol past like 3:00am) and we stayed there for like an hour and watched the sun come up.  Luckily Melissa’s place was only a 10 minute walk so I just crashed there.

Sunday (July 22nd):

Sunday was a very unproductive day.  Mury had emailed me which METRO/Bus route to take so I blindly made my way to her place and crashed on the couch for about 5 hours from about 3:00pm to 8:00pm.  Mury went to go pick up my parents at the airport who had just gotten back from Berlin and returned for a nice family meal with all of us.

Monday (July 23rd):

Monday was a bit more eventful, we woke up around 8:00am to pack, eat breakfast, and travel to meet Mury’s parents.  I had meet them four years ago when I came to Vienna in the summer of 2008 but my parents had never had a chance to meet in person as they had talked several times over the phone in 1997-1998. Mury’s mom made us some sort of sweet sponge cake while Mr. Voo told us stories about his upbringing and about how the escape the war in Vietnam in 1975.  

My Family With the Voos

Payne Family in Vienna's Airport

We then left the Voo family’s apartment and dropped off my Dad at the airport and wished him goodbye as he traveled back to DC.  Mury and Alex then drove my Mom and I up the hills, and into the “Heuriger” district where the wine-taverns are.  We went to the very top where we had an entire view of the city, had a coffee/desert, and then headed back to the airport as my Mom and I had a 5:30pm flight to Venice.
 

My Mom and I at Vienna's "Heuriger"

Au revoir Vienna! (we'll be back in 10 days)

Jay

The Groom (wearing a stunning Hugo Boss suit)

The Beautiful Bride (after us remembering our first time meeting over skype)

Kickin’ It in Southern France (Feet Up, Eyes Closed)

Don’t you guys just love my titles?  I’m so original and cool.  

Well for those of you who are traveling I've got some big news.  I am currently in the process of purchasing a flight from Prague to Moscow, Russia from which I plan on traveling to St. Petersburg.  This wasn't in the original plan but after a visa issue with traveling in Europe for longer than 90 days, it seemed like the perfect solution.  Jay Payne is going to Moscow!

Monday (July 16^th): 

Well after an all-night bus to Axe-en-Provence, I got to “Arc Hotel” at 6:30am where I entered my single hotel room, checked my email, and fell asleep.  I woke up around 11:30am to the sun shining and after an exhausting, non-stop 3 weeks of travel up to that point, I decided to relax and chill for the day.  I changed into my bathing suit, brought my book (Pride and Prejudice), and went to the hotel’s sunny poolside where I read, sun bathed, jumped into the pool, and slept.  I came back to my hotel room quite relaxed and decided to take a bath (perhaps only the 2^nd bath I’ve ever taken since I started kindergarten, just for the record) and also fell asleep in the bathtub.  I woke up ~30 minutes later, a little cold and pruney, and decided to drain the tub and go back to sleep (~7:00pm) in my bed. 

Arc Hotel (my hotel in Axe-en-Provence)

Not much of a day, sorry to bore you all, but it was a much needed “holiday” on a “holiday.”

Tuesday(July 17^th): 

I awoke at 4:30am and well, was wide awake after my relaxing Monday.  I was a little stressed because my train to Vienna was leaving from Montpellier at 10:21pm and I didn’t know how I was going to get there, hadn’t seen any of the Axe-en-Provence sights, and didn’t really eat anything on Monday because I was too tired to even notice.

So I ate a few snacks I had in my bag, read a bit of my book, and at 7:00am, I checked out of the hotel.  I asked the hostess if they checked bags at the train station but she spoke little English and didn’t understand.  My hotel was about a 25minute walk to the city center, and I decided to bring everything had with me and hope the train station had a locker.  I hiked up the hill with my backpack and my daypack and was off to the train station.

After waiting in line at the train station, I found out that there were no lockers for my bags (which was a problem) however that there were lockers at the Montpellier station.  So I booked a train ticket from Axe-en-Provence to Marseille St. Charles, and then to Montpellier leaving me about 1.5 hours to go see the city of Axe-en-Provence.  Well, I knew I would regret not at least walking around the city for a bit, and I could just imagine Tom yelling at me for not seeing the city, so I put both of my bags on and walked around.  There are just some things you just gota do, and this was one of them.

I started at the “Cours Mirabeau” where there was a street market and of course the famous “Rotonde” and moved on to Saint-Jean-de-Malte , the Roman bath house, the statue of le Roi René, the “palais de Justice” (2^nd most powerful appeals court in France), the “Thermes Sextius” (message center for the Romans) and was on my way back down the Cours Mirqbeau, I saw a GE Money Bank and had a husband/wife couple from southern Illinois take my picture. My GE friends would understand this.

Le  Cours Mirabeau

La Rontonde

Me and GE Money Bank (btw "Generous Electric" has funded most of this trip)

Montpellier:  Well after an exhausting walk around the city with ~50 pounds of stuff, I made my way back to the train station and off to Marseille St. Charles/Montpellier.  When I arrived at 1:55pm, I had roughly 8 hours to kill so I decided to try and find a locker for my bags but again, was forced with the same decision, lay around with my bags or walk it.  I walked it.

Place de la Comedie

I went down the street to a café where I ordered the special of the day, and read my book.  After relaxing for about an hour, I walked around the “Place de la Comedie” but didn’t go on much further as I was afraid of getting lost and was becoming very tired/exhausted from carrying the bags all day.  And I had to put up with the weird looks as I looked like a fool.  So I made my way back to the train station where I grabbed a sandwich, some fruit, and fell asleep in a random corner on the second floor for about three hours.  Soon enough, my train was here and I boarded my sleeper car for the night.

I’ve never been in a sleeper train car before, so this whole experience was quite new to me.  Luckily, there were only two others in my compartment (holds up to six) and were both roughly my age and were giving me the low down of how to use my Eurail pass and get around on the European train system (it is quite confusing I must admit).

My bed on the sleeper train

I got about 5 hours of sleep (enough for me to function) and caught my connection at Mulhouse (France), then again in Zurich (Switzerland), and then finally Vienna at 6:44pm (almost 24 hours later).  I was greeted by my parents and my good friends: Mury and Oliver.  We went out to dinner where Oliver’s fiancé Marlene joined us and we all enjoyed catching up with eachother.  After we dropped my parents off at Mury’s apartment, Oliver, Mury, and myself went to the Museum Quad (a popular hangout area past 8pm) and had a few drinks and talked.  I called this: “Oliver’s Bachelor Party Part II” as his wedding was only two days away!

Stay tuned for my next blog where you can watch me read a poem from E.E. Cummings at Oliver’s wedding!

Au revoir Southern France,

Jay

¡Hola Barcelona!

First let me apologize in this later than normal blog posting, once I meet up with my family and friends in Vienna I have had very little down time.  I am currently in Florence with my Mom till Sunday when we leave and travel on to Rome.  

And sorry Kayla, we did not have a chance to visit your restaurant

Wednesday (July 13th):  

While on my train to Barcelona, I realized I had mistakenly made a reservation for a hostel for the following Thursday so when I landed in the train station, I made a v-line to the nearest McDonalds.  Panicked, I figured out where in Barcelona I was (where the train station was located) and quickly did a hostelworld search to find a place to sleep for the night.  After 30 minutes, I had a hostel booked, directions on how to get there written down, and was on my way via the non-ac ATM (Authortat del Transport metropolitan) when I saw my first mugging.  Just one car next to me, I saw a girl board the train with a rolling suitcase when a group of 4-5 locals surrounded her and demanded her phone in order to let her board/get away.  Although there was little I could do, it served as a good reminder and a foreshadow that I was no longer in Paris/London/Normandy, street crime is a real threat to tourists and believe me, I look like a tourist.

When I reached the hostel (only got lost for ~5min), I settled in and skyped with Steph for an hour or so and posted a blog while enjoying the open courtyard provided by the hostel.

Thursday (July 12^th): 

I slept in till 11am, showered, checked out, and was on my way to meet up with French Tom at 2:00pm in our hostel.  I took the METRO and got caught up writing in my travel journal but ended up losing track of time and ended up getting out at the “Licet” L3 stop.  I knew the general idea of how to get to our hostel and walked through the “Market La Boqueria” and made my way to our hostel.  Although this seems like a small adventure, I was 3 weeks into my trip and I would consider this my first successful solo navigation, with no map, and was quite proud that I was at our hostel at the correct time even with getting off at the wrong stop and had never been to the city before.

Anyways, Tom and I unloaded our stuff in the room and made our way to the pier where he was told the free hostel walking tour would take place.  He must have misunderstood because we waited for 30 minutes at the spot and not a single tour was taking place, we decided to walk around the city for a bit and get orientated in the city instead.

View of Barcelona's main beach with the W Hotel in the background

After our stroll about the city, we stopped by the Market La Boqueria and picked up baguettes, freshly cut ham, fresh fruit, and a 12-pack of San Miguel (a Spanish beer).  We took the food and drinks to the hostel rooftop where we ate, drank, and watched the sun with music provided by the hostel and interact with other travelers (a nightly ritual we continued all three nights of our stay).  While we were up there, we were approached by the hostel bar tour guide and asked us that if we wanted to participate in a small game, winner get discounted tickets to the hostel bar crawl.

Aggiungi didascalia

After we were done eating, we took a shower and made our way to the lobby where Tom, myself, and two other girls played a game of Wii bowling to compete for the discounts.  Although we split the teams in half so both groups received a discount regardless of who won, I had the highest score with 158 points (yep, beat that Tom, I know you’re reading this).  But I also enjoyed our conversation with the hostel bar tour guides as Ola (pronounced Hola) and Matt who were extremely interested in understanding the whole American “Fraternity” system that brought Tom and I together.

We started the first of four bars by simply interacting with the other travelers from the other hostels.  I befriended a group of German girls (one spent most of her life in Boston, MA) and keept an eye on French Tom who was hitting it off with two Australian girls.  I knew he was interested in one particular girl and he was doing an awful job keeping her friend engaged in the conversation so I would jump in and out to “take the grenade” for him and keeping the friend happy.   

Things were going great, and after a few drinks/shots, we were on our way out to the second bar when a small misunderstanding was suddenly escalated.  Tom and I were grabbing a shot from the tray (apparently the tray was for a new incoming group, not our group which had already received ours) and the bar tour guide hit Tom’s arm which caused him to drop the shot as it hit the floor.  After a few moments of quarrelling, we were leaving the bar when Tom shouted “real good business, I’m for sure coming back here you asshole” and had one foot out of the front door when all of a sudden, the tour guide he had just yelled at, grabbed his shoulder from the back (ripping his Hugo boss shirt in the process) and was in mid swing towards Tom’s face.  Tom avoided the punch, and I quickly took Tom in an arm lock and pulled him out of the bar before things got too crazy.  After 10-15 minutes of yelling at the bar owner, we walked back to the hostel so he could throw away his shirt and put on a new one.  We were wandering the streets for 15 minutes looking for our hostel bar crawl group and luckily ran into them as it was heading to the third bar.

At the third bar, I again did my friendly duty to keep the Australian girl’s friend company while Tom did what Tom does best.  We were then off to the fourth and final destination, The Apollo Disco Club, where we danced for roughly and an hour but Tom lost his Australian girl once inside and I’m not much of a disco-kind-of-guy (plus I was lucky to get in scandals, who knew Europeans would be so strict on that kind of stuff) so we called it a night and walked back around 3:30am.

Friday (July 13^th): 

After sleeping in a bit, we found the correct meeting location of the hostel walking tour and took a tour of the “Gothic District” of Barcelona.  We started at the “Placa Reial” and saw the old Roman wall, Casa de la Cintat (City Hall), Palas de la Generalitat, the “poor man’s Catheredral” and other sites along the district area.  After the tour, we took a break at a grass square by the beach and pier and walked back to the market to continue our nightly routine of sandwiches, beer, and rooftop view.  I could get use to that.

 Superior School of Fine Arts in Barcelona  (Pablo Picasso studied from age 13-18)

We then meet up with Tom’s London roommates (“flatmates” in English English) Hamish and Danica for drinks on the beach and we listened to his experience about running with the bulls just a few days earlier.  Danica also talked about how “dreadful” Spanish men are and their views of how to treat a lady.  I guess their views are different in Spain than in the “British Empire” to say it nicely hahaha.  Then we finished our night at a bar far from the tourist spots, filled with locals, and served beers for €2, my kind of bar.

Saturday (July 14^th): 

After another late morning, we went to “La Dolca Herminia” for paella which was brown in color and fresh, right-from-the-ocean, seafood all for 8 euro.  Yes, and check please.  We then continued our day by taking the hostel walking tour of the Gaudi (famous Barcelona architect) buildings.  We saw 4 of the 5 major sights and ended at “Sagrada Familia” where Tom and I went inside and took the “lift” (elevator in American) to the top for a sight to see of the city.  This cathedral is easily the coolest cathedral I’ve ever been in.  Because it is so new (still in the process of being constructed), the ceilings are 5 stories tall, lots of natural light (didn’t even need lamps), and plenty of vivid stained glass to provide the nature feel it was intended to have during its planning phases in the late 18^th century.  Expect date of completion: 2040.

Tom and I at Sagrada Familia

Inside Sagrada Familia

That night (after our sandwiches/beer/rooftop view), we meet up with Hamish and Danica one last time where we went to a Spanish music festival at the National Catalan Museum and listened to Spanish hip-hop, rap, and rock music till 2:30am.

Rooftop of the hostel (dinner time view)

Sunday (July 15^th): 

Tom and I checked out of our hostel after being woken up by the two girls also staying in our hostel room who were searching (unsuccessfully) for their passports.  We rented a storage unit on the 2^nd floor of the hostel, and we took the METRO up to see Gaudi’s park which lies on the outskirts of town and gave a holistic view of the entire city.  We then returned to our storage unit, changed into our swimsuits, and spent the afternoon soaking up the rays while people watching with a pair of sunglasses (good thing I brought them, as my eyes were darting around the whole time, trying to understand the whole topless sunbathing thing).

View of Barcelona from Gaudi's Park

Famous Gaudi Lizard (or at least thats what people tell me)

Leaving our hostel

After the beach, we walked back to the Rombla and listened/watched people sing and dance to Spanish Romba music.  Once we were all packed up, I said goodbye to Tom, and I was off to the train station to catch my 7hr overnight bus to Aix-en-Provence.  While waiting for my bus, a random Spanish man waved me over and offered a sandwich which I first refused, but accepted after he insisted.  I returned to my spot when he walked over with a plate with another sandwich and a bunch of nutella squares.  I stood up, thanked him with a handshake, and reflected from what I’ve seen. 

As soon as I landed in the city, I saw a robbery, and apparently Tom and I were the only ones not to have our wallets stolen in our entire hostel.  Things are bad for tourists, but the heart of the people are kind, generous, and willing to help with no reward asked.  Just as I came to that conclusion, I saw a man try to steal a bag from a 30-year-old  lady whose husband had just left to use the restroom.  I heard her shout “Put that down you mother fucker!” for which he complied and ran away.  I went over to her and greeted her, tried to get her to calm down (as she did get her bag back), introduced myself, and offered some of the nutella bites I had just received.  It turns out, the couple was on their honeymoon and were from Newton, MA (a suburb of Boston) and the husband worked at the MIT labs where a friend of Steph’s use to work. 

I continued to talk to the couple for an hour and a half, and after talking on a deeper level, they were very impressed with my aspirations, personality, and intelligence and recommended me a few books that I plan on reading when I return to the states (books about soul searching and discovering one’s self).  As much as I don’t need compliments to feel good about myself, knowing I can make that kind of an impression (that’s not my mom or dad) at the age 23 within 20-30 minutes of conversation, I felt a stronger connection to the purpose of my adventure and has become one of my highlights of the trip.

We parted ways at Aix-en-Provence as I continued to my hotel, but I recommended them visiting the “Chinese restaurant with a large 90ft street sign” and wished them well on their honeymoon travels.  I hope to have more experiences such as this, and that one day, I will be that couple exploring the countryside of France with my wife.

Summary: I am happy to be one of the few tourists to leave the city with my wallet, passport, camera, and iPod.  I am glad I saw the city, however I would classify it as the “west coast” of Europe.  Very fun-loving, slow-moving, party-enjoying people and although it was good seeing, it doesn’t really match my personality.  I guess I’m more of a boring kind of guy, who enjoys seeing the rich culture and digging deeply into intense conversation.­­­

Au revoir Barcelona

Jay

Adventures With The One and Only: Junkyard Dog

Monday (July 9^th):  Tom walked Brad and I to the correct METRO line in Paris and then we were off to the train station “Saint Lazare.”  We got to the train station with plenty of time and we bought a few items for breakfast/lunch for our two hour train ride.

Brad and I boarded the train at the second to last compartments and took a seat and ate our breakfast.  As the departure time kept getting closer and closer, more and more kids started to board our compartment.  Then I noticed all of these parents holding up their iPhones right next to Brad’s head on the outside and were taking pictures of the kids across the row.  Then just as the train started moving, a lady wearing a bright neon jacket was making all the “adults” move, apparently we were sitting in the kids section.  We quickly moved up to the last compartment and we were able to find two seats across the row from each other at the four person table seats.  Apparently, someone gave Brad “an evil look” that caused him to feel uncomfortable and we were off to find some new seats.  While walking through the kids section to find a new seat, a little girl vomited all over her seat, aisle, and the door to get out.  The smell was foul and we quickly ran through it in search of a seat far away from that compartment.  We found some seats two carts away however we were only able to enjoy them for 10 minutes before a group of teenagers claimed the seats were theirs.  So here we are, trying to find new seats, and we come across the storage area outside of the bathrooms.  We just decide to sit down there for the remaining 1.5 hour train ride and I passed out cold on the floor of a storage closet for the entire train ride. 

Upon our arrival to Bayeux (“Bay-yo”) we drop off our bags at the hotel and walk to the tourist information center at the center of this small town.  With only having Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday to explore Normandy and we wanted to make the most of our time.  Once we got to the tourist information center, we found out that we had just missed out of the last D.Day tour for Monday and would have to dedicate Tuesday to visit the beaches of Normandy.  This would have been fine, but we were planning on going to go see Le Mont-Saint-Michel on Tuesday as it was a 3 hour train ride and was HIGHLY encouraged by all of the friends.  So we were asking the attendant if there is any way we could catch one of the last trains to see Mont Saint Michel and after spending 5 minutes looking into alternatives, she said “well I guess you could rent a car” with a “if you’re crazy enough” expression.  Brad and I exchange glances and we say “yeah, actually that sounds perfect.”  I know how to drive stick so we quickly stop in the grocery store to pick up some lunch materials and head to the town’s car rental dealership.  We book the last open car, wrote down the directions, and we were off to see Mont Saint Michel!

View of Bayeux Main Street

View of Bayeux Center River

Our Rental Car

About 1.5 hours later, we found ourselves unable to take our eyes off of Mont Saint Michel.  It was constructed on an island and has limited access when the tides come in as a natural mote is created.  Brad and I agreed that it was one of the most unique and beautiful scenes we had ever seen.  The site was very “tranquil” as we found it quiet, peaceful, and majestic with the abbey being the perfect insight for our explanation.  At sunset, we drove back to Bayeux and parked the car at the car rental agency.

As We're Approaching Mont Saint Michel

Brad and I On the Top of Mont Saint Michel 

Abbey of Saint Michel

View of the Surrounding Area with the Tides

Tuesday (July 10^th): We woke up at 8:00am to drop off the key at 8:30am, and got breakfast at a nice open porch on the main street drag.  We went to visit the Tapestry of Bayeux which explains how “William the Conqueror”, the Duke of Normandy from Bayeux, conquered England in 1066.  I had just seen his castle in London’s tower, and knew the story so we decided not to pay to see the 11^th century 70 meter long tapestry.

We then walked to see the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux.  I particularly liked this cathedral because the organ music provided an odd and somewhat unsettling aura to the cathedral, especially while walking in the crypts while someone was playing the organ which was kind of creepy.  Afterwards we grabbed a quick bit to eat and prepared for our D.Day tour.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux

We were picked up in an unmarked van where we joined with an older couple (upper 50s / lower 60s) and two guys who recently graduated students from University of Florida.  Our first site was the German Cemetery which I enjoyed as all the elements contained on the soil were from Germany (grass, stone, trees, flowers, everything).  We then headed to “Pointe du Hoc” and saw our first “German nest” which provided a view of Utah and Omaha beach and gave us an understanding of the integrated lookout military system the Germans had maintained to protect the coast.  The cannons have a range of between 12-15 miles when used correctly.  

 Crater By the German Nest (from Allied Bombing) ~30feet in Diameter

A "German Nest"

Then, we off to Omaha Beach where our tour guide explained, in detail, the layout of the attack on June 6^th, 1944.  

Omaha Beach

After spending some time on the Beach, we made our way to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial where we walked around for roughly an hour just absorbing the magnitude of the cemetery.  I walked through the memorial and saw quotes like “When I got to the doorway (of the paratrooper’s plane) I looked out to see what looked like a solid wall of tracer bullets” and “the ocean was blood red for hours, with over 1,500 dead within the first hour.”  Very emotional.

Picture of the Thousands of Graves

I'm currently relaxing in a small town in Southern France called Axe-en Province where all I did today was sit by the pool, read, listen to music and took a bath.  Tomorrow evening I get on a train and join my parents in Vienna to celebrate our friend's wedding.  Let the good times roll.

Jay

Two Weeks In!

Paris

Today marks 2 weeks into my 12 week trip and the time is flying by!  Every day is full of walking, learning, eating new foods, making decisions with limited information (sometimes good outcomes, sometimes not so good), and having a few drinks or with some old friends.  Keeping up to date with my travel journal is my main source of tracking my adventures and I have decided to update my blog at the end of a city so that I can include pictures which take a bit more time to transfer.  This edition features involves my trip to Paris, France.

Thursday (July 5^th):  With Tom off to work for the day, I was assigned to visit the main museums which he had visited numerous times over the ye­ars .  After a quick bite to eat (a baget of course), I was able to find the METRO just around the corner and purchased a few tickets.  I took the METRO to the Louvre where I saw Nike of Samothrace, Venus de Milo, and of course the Mona Lisa.  The Mona Lisa was smaller than I thought (well I mean it was smaller than it is in the movies) and there were many tourists so I quickly left after fighting my way to the front to snag a picture.  At the end of my stay at the Louvre, I determined that the glass pyramid at the start sets a fair expectation of the uniqueness and beauty that can be found in the museum.

Notre Dame

The Louvre on my First Day

The  Louvre 

After the Louvre, I went to Musee National de l’Orangerie des Tuileries which is an impressionist gallery in the Tuileries gardens outside of the Louvre.  It was here where Monet’s Nympheas can be seen.  Nympheas is a huge painting of a pond all along the circular walls (~30 feet long) and I have been told can be seen in the movie Midnight to Paris.  After Musee de l’Orangerie, I was off to the Musee d’Orsay which is one of my favorite art museums so far.  In d’Orsay, I saw paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Pissarro, Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Seurat.  Seurat and Van Gogh were my favorite because of the bright colors with the attention to details (using small dots to paint a picture) which helped me visualize a familiar scene but with a different perspective by using untraditional color combinations that make the scene look more lively.

Friday (July 6^th): Tom was able to take a day off of work so he conducted a walking tour of the main sites in Paris.  Tom is somewhat of a history buff and was able to explain the overall themes with times, dates, and reasons for specific buildings that we came across.  On this walk, we walked to Motel de Ville (Paris’ City Hall), Notre Dame (didn’t walk up on this visit), Saint Chapel, Louvre, Palles Royal (Tom’s favorite place in Paris, a small garden just outside of the Louvre), Place de la Concode (the Egyptian monument  which was NOT stolen from Egypt, Tom was proud of that point), Petit Palais & Grand Palais (Small and Big Palaces, now museums), Bridge Alexandre 3^rd les invalids (we saw a Russian model doing a photo shoot at the end) and then had lunch along the river.  After lunch we walked to the Eiffel Tower and walked up to the top where we befriended two Australian girls.  On our way down, it started to rain quite hard (hail) so we escaped to the café/bar halfway down where we talked and enjoyed a nice glass of wine amongst the four of us.

Eiffel Tower

After the rain stopped, we walked back down to the ground and made our way up Montaigne Ave (a street that has a lot of very nice, high end stores) where Tom made me stop and wait ~5min to go into the Abercrombie and Fitch store which just opened.  Although I gave Tom a lot of crap about stopping here, I must say that the store was THE nicest A&F store I’ve ever been in however all of the cologne made me a little sick towards the end.  On our way back, we picked up some macroons from Laduree (founded in 1862) and enjoyed them by the Triumphal arch (Victory Arch).  It was a long and exhausting day, and although I did want to go out and have a night on the town, Tom and I ended up watching a movie (21 grams) and fell asleep shortly afterwards.

Laduree Macroons

Triumphal arch

Saturday (July 7^th):  ­­­­­As if Friday wasn’t enough walking, Tom took me out again for a walking tour of the city.  We started at Muse du Luxembough and Palis du Luxembough (where the French Senate meets and a nice little garden outside) and then headed off to see the Patheon where a lot of famous French citizens have been buried.  We then walked through the Latin quarter where I saw a Hummer with a Florida license plates.  Tom was just as surprised as I was because he was under the impression that Hummers were banned within the City Limits and I was surprised because who ships over their Hummer from Florida?!  We then headed back to the Luxembough garden for a nice lunch and continued our ongoing political debate (I love talking about politics) and I was able to learn a little bit more on how the European Union works.

Top of Notre Dame

After lunch, we were walking up to meet up with some of Tom’s friends when we passed by an American band playing the USA’s national anthem.  We stopped to listen but it started to rain so we quickly took cover under a tree and listened to the band some more.  Then out of the blue, I see this girl walking towards us saying “Jay, is that you?”  I immediately recognized an old middle school friend, Claire McKennley.  I would have loved to catch up with her at that moment however it was raining so hard I told her I would give her a facebook message to try and meet up late.

Tom and I ran to a coffee shop to dry and avoid the downpour.  Once it stopped raining, we meet up with Tom’s friends and we decided to walk around and then ended up at Notre Dame again.  Brad’s flight wasn’t coming in until 4:00pm and nobody in the group had been to the top before so we all decide to wait in line and go up.  After a quick run up, we go back to Tom’s Uncle’s apartment to meet up with Brad.  Once we got him settled in the apartment, we set off to Bastille for drinks and Globo for a night out on the town.  After a long night of dancing and standing in the rain for ~20min trying to catch a cab, we decided to walk home in the rain and reward ourselves with a McDonalds run at 5:30am before going to sleep at 6:30am.  A good time with great friends.

Tom Welcoming Brad

Sunday (July 8^th): After a late night, we finally left the apartment at 2:00pm and went straight to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (a white church at the top of a hill that overlooks the city) and walked around a bit into Montmartre and Pigalle where we saw Le Moulin Rouge and other various sex shops in the surrounding are.   We hopped on the METRO and went to Opera de Paris (Napoleon’s Opera house) where I meet up with my friend Claire McKinney.  For the next hour or so, the four of us (Tom, Brad, Claire, and myself) walked around the Louvre and the park while Claire and I caught up.  Claire was meeting a friend at the newly opened first Paris Chipotle so we said our goodbyes and the three of us made our way to Bouillon Chartier for a peruvien dinner.  At the end of the dinner, we were heading out  and I mistakenly ended up going into the “Dames” restroom thinking it was “Mens.”  Turns out that was an incorrect decision and the woman waiting outside was very surprised, I laughed and simply moved on.  Makes me laugh just typing that story out.

Basilique du Sacre-Coeur 

Le Moulin Rouge 

Claire and I at the Opera de Paris 

After dinner, Brad had never been to the top of the Eiffel tower so we headed to see it at night and walked up to the top.  Apparently, every hour there is a lighting display on the tower where all of these blinking lights go on and off every second for about 5 minutes.  We were able to see this show from the base as well as from the top.  Of course the view at the top was amazing and well worth the 2:00am arrival back at the apartment with a 10:00am train departure to Bayeux.

Eiffel tower at Night 

My next blog entry will include my adventures with Brad in Bayeux where we saw Le Mont-Saint-Michel (via a last minute car rental, with me driving), Tapisserie de Bayeux, and of course a half day visit to the D-Day beaches of Normandy.  Lots of baguets, wine, and good times!

Jay