TravelStream™ news feed for member swisherd on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/swisherd en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:21:59 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/x-mas06/1194920700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/x-mas06/1194920700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/x-mas06/1194920700/tpod.html Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:21:59 -0500 Christmas in Nice-An alternative Christmas in which I toured France going from Nice, Monaco, Strasbourg and Paris

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Strasbourg, France

New Year's Day-As you can imagine, I felt sick the next day! Because I didn't sleep well the following night, I was still tired so I slept in till about noon. Also since I had drunk too much the night before, I was dredfully hung over. I had a throbbing head ache, and I had a horrible stomach ache. I was so sick that I actually threw up. Luckily I had a bathroom in my room, so that wasn't so bad. To help wake myself up and also to just help myself feel better, I decided to take a shower. After my shower I got dressed, ate some kuglehopf for breakfast and drank some abricot nector, and then I went outside to do some sight seeing.
Since it was New Year's Day, I decided to see if I could go to mass in the cathedral. Luckily, I had gotten up in just enough time to catch the last 30 mintues of the mass. I felt bad that I came in so late, but it was worth it. I sat in the very back so as not to disturb anyone, but no one seemed to care. Besides, even though there was a large sign in the middle of the aisle that said in French, English and German "Do not take pictures and be quite; we are participating in the mass. The church is closed to visitors" many tourists were coming in constantly, taking pictures and talking loudly to where it was almost impossible to hear the priest give his homily and say the mass. Also people kept on coming in to sit down as if to watch what was going on, as if they were watching a performance of some sort, and once they realized that they were attending a mass they got up and walked out after a few mintues! As a Catholic I found this to be very rude and disrespectful, but I admired the priest and those of us participating in the mass for not letting them disturb us. Out of all the cathedrals that I had been in during my time in Europe to attend mass, I must say that attending mass in that cathedral in Strasbourg was among the most memorable. It was my first time in the cathedral, and I must say it was beautiful and spetacular.
After the mass ended, the tourists flooded in like cattle just unpenned from the barn and allowed to graze on the grass. Between the floods of parishoners leaving the cathedral and the tourists coming in to visit the interior, I don't know how but I managed to find a way to tour the inside of the cathedral and take some pictures. I didn't take too many, because I kinda think that taking pictures, especially too many inside of a cathedral is disrespectful. Let's face it, it's God's house, not some tourist attraction; I don't care what you believe in, a cathedral is a place of worship no matter what and not a tourist attraction and it must be treated with respect. But despite this new feeling towards taking pictures inside of a cathedral, I couldn't help but to take at least 1 or two inside this one; after all, it was just gorgous and I wanted to remember what it was like attending New Year's day mass there.
After the mass, I really had nothing else to do. Since it was New Year's Day, all of the museums were closed. The Marche de Noel had just ended and there were some shops open, but not many. Also I had already seen most of what Strasbourg had to offer and the things I hadn't seen yet were closed due to the holiday. One good thing though was that there was a little tourist boat cruise that went down the river and gave a tour of the city for like a euro. Even though I don't like touristy things like that, I figured it would be a nice relaxing way to end my trip and pass the time I had since there was nothing else to do. So I purchased my ticket and got on the boat. As I waited to get on, I noticed a few swans, both white and black swim past me and the boat. One of them was trying to swim against the current and kept on getting caught in it. He (or she) looked at me with pleading eyes, as if begging me to help it swim away from the strong current. Eventually, the swan turned around and started to swim with the current and head in the opposite direction of the boat down the river.
Finally we were allowed to board the boat and I found a seat. The boat was very long and thin and had a glass concave ceiling so as to allow us to see the sights. There were several rows of seats that fitted at least 5 people (or more possibly) in a row. On the arm rests there were some headphones for the audio guide, and you changed the channels according to what language you spoke. Finally the boat hauled anchor and started to head down the river.
Even though the cruise was very touristy, I thought it was well done. The ride itself was very relaxing, and was a really nice way to see the city. The audio guide was also very informative and I not only got to see sights that I had not seen on foot (nor that I was able to due to the holiday and because they were far away) with the cruise and I also learned more about the history of the city. Supposedly the river there in Strasbourg has a canal system that dates back (I think the 15th century but I don't remember) but the audio guide explained to us how the system works and is made up and how it was unused until recently and that many of the locks were closed or destroyed. The tour also pointed out a lot of old homes and locations for old prisons, etc. where a lot of bad things happened. I know that one of the homes that had been pointed out to us that dated from the 15th century was the location of several murders, a suicide and also a fire and that there were a few serious prisons (yeah, Strasbourg seems to have had a very turbulous history in its day!) I also learned that 60% of the city had been bombed during WWII and that during the '60s I think there had been some debate over whether or not the French would return Alsace and Lauraine (the regions) back to Germany and supposedly there had been a lot of serious protests. Also I saw this garden that had been originally built for Josephine (Napolean Boneparte I's wife), as well as the EU parliment and other offices. I also saw other sites such as Petite France, the palace, etc. as we drifted down the river. Most of the sites I had already seen, but still it was nice to see the sites that I hadn't seen. Like I said, the cruise was kinda touristy, but it's worth your time, and is a good way to orientate yourself with the city.
The cruise lasted for about 2-3 hours I think. After the cruise, I decided to go get some lunch. None of the restaurants, particularly the one I had eatten in yesterday were not open so I ended up getting lunch at this small sandwich stand on the street near the boat dock. At this shop, I ordered a flamkucker (or tarte flambee, sorry if I mispelled that other word!) but basically that's what I ordered for about 4 euros. A tarte flambee is like a very thin pizza that is traditional to the Alsacian region. Traditionally it is topped with creme fraiche (which is like sour cream), onions and bacon and sometimes with cheese. I ordered the tarte flambee gratinee which had on it creme fraiche, onions, bacon and cheese. When my tarte flambee was ready I found a table in front of the shop so that I could stand and eat my food. It was very tasty actually; I really liked it and it was well done. I know that the topping combination sounds a bit odd, especially for the American palatte, but I really enjoyed it. The combination of the smoky bacon or "lardon" with the bite of the cheese and onions with the cool refreshing taste of the creme fraiche with the crispyness of the crust was dynamite. For desert, I went over to a stall nearby where I ordered a sweet "bretzel" or pretzel. It was basically a large, homemade soft pretzel with sugar on top. I paid about 2 euros for one, and it was very good. The pretzel was soft and sweet and tasted almost exactly like a doughnut.
After my lunch I decided to browse in some of the gift shops that were open and then I headed home. I had a very simple dinner of cheese, kouglehopf and meat again and I called my mom before going to bed. I went to bed fairly early that night because tomorrow I was going to leave for my next destination: Paris, in particular, Disneyland Paris (more info later). I had a long journey ahead of me tomorrow that would start early so getting a good night's rest was very important. Tomorrow my trip to Strasbourg would be officially over, but my Christmas vacation was not over yet. Tomorrow would be the official start of the New Year (yeah yeah I know, it was Jan. 1 but you get the idea) the mark of the beginning of the end of the holiday season, but I was still not done celebrating....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/x-mas06/1188180000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/x-mas06/1188180000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/x-mas06/1188180000/tpod.html Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:09:27 -0500 Christmas in Nice-An alternative Christmas in which I toured France going from Nice, Monaco, Strasbourg and Paris

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Strasbourg, France

Due to a slight hangover I woke up the next day a bit later than I normally do when I'm on vacation. Normally, I get up around between 8 AM and 10, but today I got up at about 11 PM. After getting up I ate some of my kugelhopf and I left my room for the day to start doing some more sight seeing...
In regards to sight seeing, I didn't do anything special. I looked around the Marche de Noel one last time, drank some more vin chaud (mulled wine) and jus du pommes chaud (spiced warm apple juice). As I walked around I noticed there were some street musicians performing so I decided to watch them for a little bit. It was a guy and girl performing the Medival type music on the bagpipes and some sort of drum respectively. The both of them were dressed like gothic pirates (well that's how they looked at least) which I found to be quite strange but they were very good. After watching the performance, I gave the musicians a euro and told them good job and I decided to do a bit of souvenir shopping. Ever since my arrival in Strasbourg I had been eyeing the traditional pottery and some of the cookbooks of the local cuisine. I love to cook and I also love ceramic ware and pottery so I was looking forward to the chance to buy some pieces. I wanted to buy some of the casserole dishes they had, but the only problem was that most of the shops had ones that were either too touristy in design, too big or too small, or were too expensive. I finally found some shops though that had traditionally Alsacian pottery, particularly the casserole dishes for a good price. I ended up buying two of them: one green and one blue, both of them with a stork motif and with some geese/ducks, flowers and leaves painted along the sides and lids. For those of you unfamiliar with the Alsacian pottery tradition, pottery is still handmade in this part of France and the region is fairly well known for it. Each city and area within the region has their own distinct design and usage of color, and the design themes are normally associated with the country and farm life (birds, flowers, fauna, etc.) The stork is also a common motif found on this pottery as well because the stork is the symbol of the region (why I couldn't tell you, but you see the stork everywhere). Supposedly the pottery made in the region is also very useful, and you can not only cook with the pottery in the oven and microwave, but you can also put it in the dishwasher I believe (go figure!) I haven't cooked with the casserole dishes I bought yet, but I love them. I also bought a very small kuglehopf pan, which basically looks like a bundt pan. It also was made with pottery. I also got some cookbooks including a nice Christmas in Alsace cookbook (all in French) but still it was a nice souvenir that I look forward to using when Christmas comes along!
So after my souvenir shopping it was time for me to go eat lunch. Even though this region of France is famous for it's cuisine, I was a bit hesitant about lunch that day, particularly since a) Alsacian cuisine is strongly influenced by German cuisine and I don't like German food and b) My restaurant experience the day before in Strasbourg was not very good. I think my problem was that I decided to eat in a restaurant right in the heart of the touristy area of town, and also I ate in a restaurant that looked like an old German tavern on the inside and outside, so I guess I was paying for the nice atmosphere rather than the quality of food. Yesterday I had ordered this chicken in a cream sauce and mushrooms with spaztle and local wine in one of the more popular restaurants in town, and the food was just horrible. My spatzle was dry, mushy and illprepared and my chicken and the sauce was good, but kinda bland and my chicken was a tad tough...one of the few really bad meals that I had ever had in France, and of all things, I had to have a disasterous meal on my birthday. Aweful wasn't it? So as you can imagine, I was a bit nervous about lunch, but I decided to give Alsacian cuisine a second chance. So this time, I went to a restaurant that was on a street facing the cathedral. I was still in the touristy part of town, but the menu looked really good and there were a lot of people in the restaurant so I decided to give it a try.
So, I went inside and I was led by a waiter up to the second floor. Once I was seated a waitress came by and took my order. For lunch, I ordered the baekoffer (I think with some wine or just water) and for desert a piece of black forest cake and I finished my meal off with an expresso. A baekoffer is a traditional Alsacian stew made with beef, and also lamb I believe, potatoes, carrots and other vegtables. My baekoffer was served in one of the traditional casserole dishes, which was placed ontop of a plate. The stew was actually very good....it was very tasty, the meat was tender and the vegtables and potatoes nice and soft. One of the best meals that I had during that trip actually....my cake was also very good as well. I was served a very large piece, topped with whipped cream and a cherry. The cake was moist, soft and flavorful...you could really taste the chocolate and the cherries.
After eatting my delicious meal, I was stuffed...I was so full that I didn't feel like walking at first but I knew that I needed to work off all that food I just ate! So, after paying my bill I left and continued my sight seeing. I walked away from the Place de la Cathedral (which was where the main part of the marche de noel was and where the grand cathedral was) and I went over to check out Petite France, and some of the other older neighborhoods in Strasbourg. Petite France is actually an old neighborhood that dates from the Middle Ages (or is it the Renaissance) and it's called that because this was where all the French artisans lived and worked. You see, Alsace was originally part of Germany for most of its history. That's why the architecture, the food and also the Alsacian dialect (they do speak a dialect in the region but barely anyone speaks it, so if you speak French you'll do fine) have such a strong German influence, and even to this day, Alsace has more of a German than French feel, even though you are in France, but you're right along the German/French border here, so that's why I guess you still have that influence. So anyways, that's why Petite France is called that...because it was Strasbourg's French neighborhood during the years when Alsace was a part of Germany. I basically looked around and took some pictures, nothing special, but I thought it was a really nice and pretty part of town.
After exploring Petite France, I decided to head back to Place de la Cathedral to go look at some musuems. On my way there, I passed by another area where the Marche de Noel was being held, as well as the book market. Strasbourg has this book market that is held (I think on the weekends, I know on certain days which I can't remember...ask your hostel or hotel) and at this market you can buy old books, both antique and out of print for a good price. I looked around for a little bit but I didn't buy anything. Also, on my way back to the Place de la Cathedral, I walked along the river and went over some bridges.
I finally arrived at the old Palace. (I think it's called Palace Rohan, forgive me for not remembering correctly) but this was the old royal palace that was used by the French (and German royality I believe) as a retreat, etc. Also I think a prince or something lived there, I don't remember. All I remember is that the same architect who built Verseille also built this palace and that Marie Antoinette did used to come there from time to time. Now, it is the home of like 4 musuems. The bottom level is home to the musee archeologique, which has artifacts from all over the Alsace region and a history of not only the region but of Strasbourg. The second musuem is the Musee des Beaux Arts, which features art not only from the region but from all over the world. The third musuem is a textile museum, which was really cool and also you got to tour the palace and learn about its past. Sadly I don't remember any specific details about each museum, but I remember that all of them were very well done and that I enjoyed them and are definately worth a visit. The Musee des Beaux Arts had some really nice paintings, the Musee Archeologique had some really cool artifacts from the Gaullic and Galo/Roman periods as well as some interesting artifacts from the Middle Ages and the textile musuem was cool because you could see the original furniture (or at least some from the period) from the palace and see the rooms as they would have looked during the 17th century. The palace itself was very lovely in the inside; it wasn't the best palace that I saw but it's worth seeing. I don't remember if I saw the other museum, or maybe I didn't see it because I wasn't interested, but sadly I don't remember what that other museum was. You have several options in regards to tickets depending on what you want to see. I think I purchased a ticket for all of them, which I think was about 4-6 euros, or maybe it was free because of a student discount, but I think I remember paying a fee.
After visiting the museums in the palace, I went next door to another museum. This musuem was dedicated to the history of the cathedral as well as to religious art. I remember that the entrance fee to the musuem was free and you were given instructions on how to tour the museum. It was located in an old 15th century home overlooking the cathedral, and the museum featured drawings and stauette fragments and pieces that either contributed, were a part of or used to be found in and around the cathedral. Eventually, the theme of the museum changes to religious art, particularly from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. I remember being very impressed with this museum; it had some really good pieces that were both rare, different and intriguing and the museum was very informative. Also the building itself was lovely inside and outside. I would say it was also worth my visit as well, and I think I enjoyed it more than the other museums.
Finally, it was time for me to go home. On my way home, I decided to purchase some last minute things to help ring in the new year. I stopped by a boulongerie near by my hostel to purchase a New Year's Eve cake. Since I didn't get to have a proper birthday cake, I decided that I would make up for it by buying a proper cake for New Years. The cake was chocolate with coffee icing and fondant, with a moustached figure of a man in a suite and a top hat. The cake was small, but I thought that the motif was very cute and figured it would be perfect to help celebrate the new year. I also bought some cheese and some meat (I think I bought some ham) and I bought some cups so that I could drink the "bubbly" I had waiting for me back at the hostel. After buying my last minute food for my New Years celebration, I went back to the room.
After a long day of sight seeing I felt very tired, but I was ready to celebrate the new year. Since I had had a late lunch I ate my cheese, the rest of my kugelhopf and cake about 8 or 9. As it started to get closer to midnight, I finally cracked open the bottle of rose Crement du bourgogne that I had purchased in Nuit Saint George back in October (Refer to the "First Explorations" blog for more details). It wasn't champaigne, but still, Crement du Bourgogne is a sparkling wine, so at least it was something close to the real thing, even though I was drinking a rose. I don't remember how many glasses I had of the Crement, but I remember drinking too much but somehow I finished the entire bottle (I don't remember if I had had it all the same night or I had stretched it out over a few nights; I believe that I had had some on my birthday as well so I think this was night number 2) but I do remember finishing it all. So I rang in the New Year alone, but that was okay. I feel that I threw myself a good little celebration and that I was enjoying my time. Sooner or later midnight arrived; 2007 had now begun. I could hear people shooting fireworks and I could see them from my window. I watched the displays as I drank my bubbly. I called my parents and other family and friends and wished them as well a happy new year.
All in all I felt good and happy. 2006 was officially over; my first New Years alone and in a new country, but I was okay with that. 2006 had been a troublesome yet fruitful year, but I felt very hopeful. 2007 was going to truly be the beginning of a new start for me; In 3 weeks I would be leaving Dijon for Aix en Provence, and I would be beginning a new life and chapter of my study abroad year. Even though I was a little hesitant and fearful of what the future held due to the negative trends that my life seems to take, but something in my heart told me that this year would be the beginning of better times and days ahead. Little did I know how right my inclinations would soon turn out to be, but I was hopeful.
Drunk and tired, I finally went to sleep. I had a very restless sleep; I couldn't fall alseep, I guess because I was too drunk and I also started feeling sick to my stomach (once again the alcohol) but I did manage to get some shut eye. How I managed to get up the next day I'm not really sure, because I somehow I managed to get up a decent hour the following day....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1188432120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1188432120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1188432120/tpod.html Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:59:06 -0500 Second tour of the Riviera: A weekend field trip with IAU in Aix en Provence to Nice, Monaco, Cannes, and St. Paul de Vince

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Cannes, France

We all got up the next day bright and early in order to see the view from our window as one of the institute's staff had recommended to us. Supposedly the view of the sunrise from our hostel was very pretty...which I'd say that it was. After watching the sun rise for a couple minutes I finally decided to head downstairs to the cafiteria to get some breakfast. After breakfast one of IAU's staff members encouraged some of us to go look at this Ancient Greek style Amphitheater that was on the premisis. The theather had been built in the '60s and is now used today as a venue plays and jazz concerts I believe....
Well after looking at the ampitheater for a bit I went back to my room, gathered up my belongings and headed outside to wait for the buses. Eventually all of us got on board and our buses headed on the way to St. Paul de Vince.
When we arrived in town, the buses stoped and we were given instructions. We had 2 hours to visit and enjoy St. Paul de Vince, and we had a choice of visiting this famous art musuem or of visiting the town or both. Due to the small amount of time, I chose to visit the town. St. Paul de Vince is this charming little city in the midst of some hills. The old city looked like something out of a children's fairy tale book. The heart of centre ville is surrounded by the old Medival walls. The small, winding, cobble stone streets are narrow and buildings were so close together, any closer and they would have been "kissing". As I walked down these ancient streets, I noticed quite a few art galleries...supposedly St. Paul de Vince has always been a haven for artists and there are a lot of art galleries in and around each other. I know on some streets I saw like 10 art galleries in a row. One could see the vibrante colors of the many paintings and scupltures of these galleries from their shop windows, adding color to somewhat of "bland" looking streets.
I didn't do much in St. Paul de Vince due to the horrible 2 hour time limit: I just walked around, bought some souvenirs and chatted up with some of the shop keepers. In particular I had a long conversation with a vendor on different santons, while with another she and I talked politics. Santons are basically small ceramic scupltures depicting everyday people, life and religious figures. Santons have been made in Southern France since the Middle Ages, and are traditionally made to accompany a nativity scene below a Christmas tree. There are supposedly three different "schools" of santon making: Grasse, Marseille and somewhere else (forgive my memory people!). The santons of Grasse are very plain looking (they have a color sceme of white and beige), are simple in subject matter and are less "realistic" looking-supposedly the santons of Grasse are true examples of the artform when it started in the Middle Ages. The Marseille style santons are very bright, colorful, very realistic looking and the subject matter deals a lot with capturing a moment, a time and place you might say. The other school of santon making is similar to the Marseille style in regards to the fact that it's very colorful, but like the Grasse school of santons are less realistic and have a very simple subject matter.
During my tour of St. Paul de Vince I encountered a small little square where I saw some elderly Frenchmen play a game of "boule". For those of you who are not familiar with boule it is a game sort of like bowling, but with smaller balls and no pins. I believe that the balls are made out of some sort of metal, and sadly I don't know the rules behind the game, but traditionally it is played by men of all ages actually but in the case of my visit to St. Paul de Vince, the players were all elderly men. While the men were playing their game of boule children were running in and around the square under the watchful eye of female family members, who were sitting comfortably at some of the cafes that surrounded the area. I watched this scene for a few minutes, but eventually I decided to move on. As I walked furthur town I came across what looked like the reminants of the city's Medevial walls. From the little, yet well preserved part of what remained of the old city walls was a small opening which led to the heart of centre ville. After passing through this opening, I felt like I had been transported into another time.
St. Paul de Vince's centre ville has extreamly narrow, cobble stoned streets, so narrow that it is impossibly for a car to drive down them, which explains why this area is for pedestrians only. The streets of the city went up and down inclines, and winded through the city almost endlessly. The buildings in this part of town were very compact, were similar in design and look, and looked as if they had not changed in style for over 800 years. What had changed about these buildings was the interiors of course. St. Paul de Vince has a well known artist community, and all these old buildings now house art galleries. I didn't go into any of these galleries because I knew that I couldn't afford the art nor did I have the time to really look at their pieces, but I did window shop a few of them and the work look beautiful. I saw a lot of modern/modernesque art...primarily paintings and some sculpture. After walking around for an hour or 2 it was time to get back on the bus and head over to Cannes.
After an hour or 2 our bus finally arrived in Cannes, the last destination on our trip. Our bus parked in front of the harbour and we were instructed to meet back at the bus in 2 hours. As you can imagine, I couldn't see much of Cannes in 2 hours but of course, I'm sure there's someone out there who would beg to differ. As soon as I got off the bus I walked over to this little artist/antiques market in this little square. The square was located right across from the harbour, where our bus was parked. I walked around the market and admired the antiques and art. They had a different array of antiques, from furniture to china all in fairly good condition. The art ranged from modern to surrealism, and from realism to romanticism, to paintings to sculptures, all done by local artists either from Cannes or from the surrounding area.
After talking with some of the artists and purchasing some pieces for myself (their art wasn't that expensive but not bad) I went over to a sandwich shop to eat my lunch. After eatting my sandwich and sipping a little of my Orangina, I decided to go take a promenade along La Croisette and check out the beach. As I headed over there, I saw the famous theater where the Cannes Films Festival is held. I didn't realize that the theater was located along the beach, but I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, Cannes is famous for its beach. After taking some pictures of the theater I finally found myself along La Croisette and began my promenade. La Croisette is basically a long boardwalk, and is Cannes' equivelant to Nice's Promenade Des Anglais. After walking down La Croisette for a while (I can't remember how long actually, but I'd say after walking a mile or so) I decided to go check out the beach.
I noticed along La Croisette that there were several ramps and stairs that one could use to access the beach, so I started to look for the next ramp or stairs as I passed by. I finally encountered some stairs and walked down. Even though it was cold that day, I remember it being a very sunny, beautiful day. The Mediteranean Sea looked very calm, not too rough. I didn't take my shoes off, though I wish that I had, but I bent down and placed my hands in the sand. The sand was slightly cold but very fine and soft to the touch, almost the texture of granulated sugar. I have never felt sand so soft or fine in my life. The sand was a very dark tan, almost a light brownish color. I've never seen sand that dark before, but of course I'm used to the sandbeaches in FL and SC which are very light tan in color and are much course to the touch.
Eventually I started to look for sea shells to add to my collection back home. Whenever I visit the beach, I always like to take home with me a shell (or a few) as a reminder of my visit to that particular beach, but so far during my trip to Europe, I hadn't had much luck with finding any! In Nice, for example, I ended up gathering a few of the pebbles, which that was expected and I was okay with that but I didn't find any shells on the beach at Cannes! I couldn't understand why, after all I was on a sand beach, one should be able to find shells on a sand beach, but after thinking for a short while I began to think of a reason why...as fine as the beach was I wasn't going to find any because all the shells evidently had already contributed to the make up of the beach.
Realizing that my search for sea shells was folly, I decided to walk over to the edge to place my hands in the Mediteranean Sea. I should have taken my shoes off; I regret not doing so now, but I think I didn't because it was February and still quite cold. The only thing that mattered to me was that I could at least touch the Mediteranean Sea. I stuck my right hand in for a few seconds and then took it out. The water was fairly cold; I would not have gone for a swim in it but still it I got to "dip" my hand in the Med. Sea...fair enough. After "dipping" my hand I decided to promenade for a little bit along the beach. As I walked along the beach I admired the scenery. Even though it was February, there were a lot of people, both tourists and locals along La Croisette and the beach. Many of them, were just promenading like myself, sitting along the benches along La Croisette or along the beach. There were quite a few tourists along the beach and along La Croisette, taking pictures and admiring the sites; in fact, there were more tourists when I was there than I was expecting, but still it was all good. Towards the end of my promenade I was asked by some Asian tourists to take some photos for them.
After taking those photos and walking along the beach, I decided to head over to Vieux Cannes for a few minutes. I didn't have a whole lot of time to really explore more of Vieux Cannes because it was close to when I needed to get back to the bus, but I walked down some of the old Medival streets, took some pictures and looked through some of the souvenir shops.
Finally it was time for me to get back to the bus. I got back before anybody else, but sadly I wasn't allowed to get back on the bus until it was officially time for us to leave. When everyone in my group was finally all accouted for our faculty shaparons and the bus driver allowed us to get back on. Finally it was time for us to go back home to Aix-en-Provence. During the ride home I think I took a nap; I don't remember exactly, but I do remember feeling tired. I had really enjoyed my weekend. Even though I would have liked more time to really explore these cities, especially the ones that I had visited for the first time, still I had a great time. I enjoyed visiting my old favorites, as well as visiting new cities that I plan to visit again. Someday I will return to the French Riveria, hopefully soon enough....
We arrived late afternoon back in Aix. The bus dropped us off in front of the Tourist office. From there I walked over to my bus stop off, and took bus number 6 back home. I arrived home just in time for dinner. Camille and I talked for a long time about my weekend, as well as other things. After dinner we watched some TV, and eventually I called my mother. After talking with my mother and watching some TV, I went to bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/poland06/1188405660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/poland06/1188405660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/poland06/1188405660/tpod.html Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:13:53 -0400 Into the unknown and beyond: In search of my Polish heritage on a 14 Day Tour of Poland

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Krakow, Poland

The taxi driver arrived in front of my "hostel" and on my street in no time. At first, he and I were confused, because there happened to not be a sign saying that Cracovia Guesthouse was there, but the address was correct and I informed him in Polish that yes it was the address. It was too late to do anything different, so I told the driver that I would get off here and pay him. So I did and he drove off. After he drove off, I walked up to the door of the "apartment building" where krakow guesthouse should have been. Sure enough, it was the address, 56 krowoderska, but there was no official "sign" that said it was there. I walked up closer, and I saw on the call button area that supposedly the guesthouse was located there. So, I pushed the button several times, no one came down. "That's strange, " I thought, "There has to be a front desk." I tried again. No answer still. Now I started to get scared. It was close to 11 PM, it was dark out, and here I was standing on a street with all my things in a strange country, where I barely spoke the language and I was alone. I was definately starting to get concerned about my personal safety right now, but I figured I'd wait a little longer. 20 minutes passed and still no sighn of anyone. At least there were quite a few people on the street, which didn't make me feel too bad. Eventually, I started getting a feeling that I probably should talk to one of these pedestrians.
Not far away from me I came across this middle aged woman walking alone with her dog. I asked the woman in broken Polish if she could helped me and I explained to her my dilema as best I could. I showed her the address and she and I walked back to the apartment building. Sure enough, she walked to the same apartment building that I had tried earlier, had confirmed the name of the place on the call button like I had done and tried it several times like I had...still no answer. Eventually the woman used her cell phone to call the proprietor and for several mintues she talked with her. After the conversation on the phone had ended she informed me in English that the proprietor would arrive in 10 minutes to let me in. That sounded odd to me, but I thanked the woman for her help and we parted.
10 minutes later I see a white "taxi" pull up. As soon as it pulls up, this tall, thin middle aged woman with black hair comes out. She calls to me in English and introduces herself to be the proprietor. "What the hell's going on?" I thought. She explained to me that I should have called up ahead of time in order to arrange for a time for her to "pick me up" at the train station because coming on my own was impossible due to the fact that there was no front desk nor was it impossible to get in without a key. As you can imagine, I was starting to feel scared, especially since I had interpreted the "pick up" as something optional from the website, and here according to the proprietor when I met her that the pick up had been obligatory. "Odd" I thought. But anyways, she led me up to the room, showed me around and I checked in. The room itself was actually very nice-clean and simple but none the less was decent. The only thing that bothered me was that the inside of the apartment was very old looking; almost looked abandoned really. You wouldn't have known that this was supposedly the location of a "guesthouse." She showed me where "breakfast" was provided-supposedly I had breakfast provided at this guesthouse which basically meant that there were breakfast makings in my fridge. So I finished checking in, but there was a catch...she wanted me to pay for my room, and at the time I didn't have any cash on me so I asked her if I could wait until the morning or before I checked out to give her the money. When I said that, she insisted that she take me to an ATM to get out the money and pay her. I didn't feel comfortable with the idea, especially since it was about midnight when we decided to do this, but I had no choice. So, we went over to her personal "taxi" and drove over to the nearest bank. I went into the ATM, extracted the money I needed to pay her plus some extra cash and handed her the amount as soon as I got out. After that, they drove me home. Before parting she gave me a map of Krakow for me to use the next day and after that she drove off and I was left alone.
I went back into the apartment to go take a shower and go to sleep. I had had a long day and was tired but I was also a little shook up. From the moment the taxi driver had dropped me off from the train station I had had a bad feeling. I was starting to regret my choice to stay at Cracovia Guesthouse; nothing had gone right nor as I had expected it and the entire setup just bothered me. I didn't like the fact that there was not a front desk, nor was it a standard "guesthouse" or hotel, hostel, etc. I didn't like the fact that earlier that evening I had to wait all alone in front of a strange complex on a strange street in an unfamiliar city in a foreign city all by myself in the dark, and the fact that my proprietor wanted me to pay her for my room at midnight was also a problem. Everything about the place just bothered me and I had a feeling that things were going to get worse but I figured nah...I'm probably over exaggerating. I decided it was time to go to bed; sleep was the main thing on my mind. After watching some TV (which there was really not much on) I went to sleep, and hoped that in the morning I would feel better, and that my nagging doubts about my lodging would go away.....

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/italy2007/1188775260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/italy2007/1188775260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/italy2007/1188775260/tpod.html Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:06:57 -0400 La Dolce Vita: A 10-day Tour of Central and Northern Italy, Feb. 2007

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Florence, Italy

So I arrived back at the hostel. It was fairly "late" like 8 PM, 7 PM, normally I come back to the hostel earlier than that because I'm by myself and am a young female and since I sadly fit the age and gender of horrible statistics I over exaggerate in regards to my safety so I try to get in before dark. Before going inside though I stopped by this little internet/phone place where I called mom to tell her about my day and how I was. After talking with her I went back to the hostel. I walked up to my stairs up the the 2nd floor, where my room was. During my stay in Florence, I was to be in a 6 bedroom all girl dorm. This was the first time I had ever stayed in an all girl dorm; before hand I had always stayed in a mixed dorm or in a room to myself, but due to my "odd" experience with the mixed dorm situation when I stayed at a hostel in Nice (refer to my "Christmas in Nice" blog for more info) I figured it would be best to try out staying in an all girl dorm for a change.
So I arrived in the room, expecting to find myself alone (which normally was the case) but some of my roomies were there. In my room were two girls from Brazil (they weren't traveling together actually) and there was a girl from Germany. There was also a girl from Canada and another from South Korea I believe. The Canadian and the South Korean wanted to sleep, and the other Brazilian (the other Brazilian was actually half Italian/half Brazilian) decided to go out for the night. Before the other two girls went to sleep and the other Brazilian went out for the night, all of us sat in a circle in front of our beds, and talked about literally everything: Florence, Europe, Italy, traveling, our home countries, college, history, science, boys, friends, family, current events, personal perspectives, food, etc. We talked and laughed with each other for several hours. I seemed to hit it off immediately with one of the Brazilian girls (she was from Brazilia) and the German girl (she was a classics major at university).
Well, when the three of us noticed that some of the girls wanted to go to bed and the other Brazilian girl (the half Italian one) wanted to go out for the night, we decided to go downstairs and continue the conversation there. So we went downstairs and sat oustide at the hostel's little "garden" patio area. Even though Archi Rossi Hostel looks small from the oustide, it's actually pretty big on the inside, and it's amazing to think that in the middle of a small, urban part of the city that you would find a hostel big enough to have a small garden/patio area. It was a nice relaxing place to hang out at-they had patio furniture, copies of famous Greco/Roman statues depicting the different ancient gods, and there were some plants and all. The three of us (the Brazilian from Brazilia, the German who was a classics major and myself) were the only ones there, but we talked for a long time about varied subjects and all while the German smoked her cigarette and finished off her can of Henikan and we laughed the night away. Finally, somehow the three of us started to talk about Italian food and gelato got mentioned. None of us had tried gelato yet and all of a sudden the German girl suggests "Well, why don't we go get some? There's a gelateria down the street let's go get some!" The three of us agreed, but I wanted to go up stairs and put on some decent shoes, get a jacket and also get my money (I wasn't expecting to go out again as you can tell) but once I got my things I went downstairs to meet them.
This was around 9, 10 PM when we decided to go out for gelato and as we walked down our small little street it started to drizzle softly. In no time we arrived at the gelateria (which was just down the corner) and the three of us ordered cones with three different flavors. After placing our order and paying for our gelato, we walked outside, stood right outside the door of the gelateria and ate our gelato. Even though it was drizzling and was a tad cold (a bit too cold for gelato actually, I remember shivering even though I had a jacket on, but hey that's what I got for eatting ice cream!) we enjoyed ourselves. The three of us continued to laugh and talk, and ate our gelato as if we hadn't eatten in days. As we stood outside the gelateria and ate, several umbrella salesmen walked by us, cooing a "chao bella" and asked us to buy an umbrella from them which we replied no to each time, but we didn't care...we were with each other eating real, tasty, creamy gelato in the rain....odd yet wonderful.
When we were partially done with our gelato the three of us headed back to the hostel, talking and laughing the entire way. Eventually we got back to the hostel, which by that time we were ready to go to bed.
Out of all my previous trips before Florence, I had not been invited to really "go out" with anybody until this particular night. I had always managed to make friends on my trips and I did do some "socializing" while in Poland, but normally in the evenings I was normally at the hostel, by myself. Well, during my previous trips most of the people that I had encountered had been traveling with other people, while everyone in my dorm in Florence were traveling by themselves and since we were all in the same boat I guess that's why everyone was so willing to hang out with each other. What ever the reason was for why I hit it off so great with everyone in my dorm, particularly those two, I don't think it matters. My first day in Italy, and in Florence in particular, ended with a bang...I had not expected such a successful first day; normally I'm trying to "get my barrings," but this time everything seemed to be going as planned and then some. As you can imagine, I was feeling very happy and alive right now; I was living la dolce vita and la vita bella in Italy...hopefull it was going to continue and sure enough, this first day actually ended up setting the tone for the remainder of my trip in Italy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/italy2007/1186646100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/italy2007/1186646100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/italy2007/1186646100/tpod.html Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:20:57 -0400 La Dolce Vita: A 10-day Tour of Central and Northern Italy, Feb. 2007

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Florence, Italy

For breakfast, the three of us were eatting snacks that we had purchased in France beforehand for practical reasons I guess. My two new friends were eatting some small pain au chocolat while I was eatting some prepackaged low fat waffles (yes you can get low-fat, pre packaged diet food/snacks in France). As the three of us sat in the cafiteria of the hostel, we all looked at our maps and guide books to determine what we were going to do for the day. Originally I was going to go with my two new friends around Florence, but I didn't because they were girlfriend and boyfriend and her boyfriend didn't speak barly any English or French, so I would have been a "third wheel." Besides, he came all the way from Japan to see her, they really needed to spend the time together with each other rather than with each other and then me.
So after I finished my breakfast and looked over my information I decided to leave the hostel and start to do some sight seeing. So I started to walk down the very narrow, small, cobble stone streets of the heart of old Florence to begin my tour. It was still fairly early, so there weren't that many people around and about, but people were starting to get out onto the streets. As I walked around I stumbled across some of the leather market as well as Florence's indoor food market. Florence is famous for its leather and during the weekends (I had arrived on a Saturday) there is a very large leather market that covers quite a bit of the old city; not all of it but it's a pretty big market. I looked at some of the stalls and admired the leather, but when I caught sight of the indoor market I had to check it out. For any of you that have been reading my blogs from the beginning or who know me, you've probably learned by now that I love to cook and that I adore food so seeing a market or having something to eat at a local restaurant is just as much of a priority as visiting the landmarks and the great museums for me.
So I go into the market-it's huge! The market is two stories and is filled with some of the most amazing meat, cheese, seafood and vegtable stalls that I have ever seen in my life! Also one sees a lot of sundried tomatoes and dried porcini mushrooms in large baskets, as well as rice, dried fruits, nuts, and spices and cured olives. I also remember seeing a wine stall (after all I was in Tuscony) as well as some tacky souvenir shops with Tuscan food and gifts. During this first trip to the market I basically walked around the absorb the scene, went into the wine shop and bought some wine and also asked the clerk about the basics of Tucan wine and what to look for, and I tried my first real Italian cappuccino.
In this market there were a lot of restaurants, and among the restaurants was a cute little coffee bar. Like most Italian coffee bars, it had no seats you stand and it had a small case with Italian pastries like custard filled croissants etc. I was not going to leave Italy without trying a real cappuccino so I decided to go for the cappuccino which was very cheap-only 86 cense in euros. It was very good cappuccino-I believe it was the best cappuccino that I had during the trip. So I stood there and enjoyed my real capp. and listened to the proprietor and his wife gossip with their customers who were all regulars and friends of theirs. I had been in Italy for only 4 hours and here I was sipping a real cappuccino in a real Italian coffee bar owned by a husband/wife that seemed to fit the stereotypes of the typical Italian-the happy, loving, loud and vivacious Italian just loving life and what they do and they seemed to. For 86 cense, I had the best cappuccino of my life.
After enjoying my cappuccino I left the market and decided to explore the leather market more and I started to go into some of the leather shops. In Florence one can find a leather shop on every corner, and the owner in the store normally makes his/her own jackets and handbags and will even go as far as to cure the leather his or herself. The first store I went into, Max's Leather Company I believe was it's name, was expensive and even when with bargining I couldn't get a decent price...but I talked with the propriertor for a long time and I tried on a few jackets and fantasized that I could own the jacket I was wearing (they looked really awesome on me by the way). Eventually I went to another store, but the jackets didn't fit me right and the owner was a pain in the butt. Eventually I found another leather jacket store where they just sold them and I was able to get a really nice chocolate brown one for around 110 euros..but I had to wait for my jacket because they were going to hem the sleeves to fit.
In the mean time, I decided to go back to the indoor food market to go get something to eat. I went to this one little restaurant in the market (like I stated earlier there are several) and I ordered a "bruscetta" with roasted eggplant and mozzerela-it was really more like what we'd Americans refer to as a French Bread Pizza than we think of to be bruscetta, but I really enjoyed it. With it, I had a glass of spumanti. After eatting my lunch I walked around the market some more, exploring more of the stalls and I got some capicolla and some pecorino toscano (capicolla is a type of Italian cured pork meat while percorino is a type of cheese and there are several regions that make it). After eatting my lunch and getting my dinner for later, I went outside to explore more of Florence and the leather market. As I walked around the leather market, I heard a voice call out to me in English: "Florida!" I turned around, it was the leather vendor from Max's Leather Company. He asked me how I was enjoying my day...before I could tell him that I had gotten another jacket though (he had asked me what my mom thought of the price for one of his leather jackets) he told me that he had some friends at another shop near by that would be willing to sell me a jacket at a cheaper price. So, since I couldn't say no (especially since the family made the jackets themselves by hand, even cured the leather themselves) I could resist. So I was directed over to the family's store which was very small and owned by a husband and wife team. The wife sold the jackets while her husband makes and cures the leather for the jackets-he had been making jackets for over 30 years and it showed. Lots of locals, not just tourists were coming by their shop, as well as others, to try on jackets. Everyone in Florence seems to have a leather jacket which makes sense, because this is Italy's leather capital of the world.
After trying on a few jackets, we found a very nice black leather one with a zipper that I was able to bargin down to about 110-not bad. Once again I had to wait for the sleeves to be adjusted because my arms are so short, but it was worth it. As I waited, I talked with the owner's wife about Florence and the leather craze here. She was telling me that leather is very important here and that everyone, even the locals shop for it here. She was also telling me about some of her customers and was asking me about my time here in Italy, how I liked Florence, and about the US. Eventually her husband came back with my jacket and I tried it on one more time-looked fantastic. By the time my jacket was fitted it was time for me to go and get my other jacket at the other store, which sadly wasn't ready yet. In the meantime, I went into a media store that sold movies and CDs, and I got 3 cds by Italian artists. When I travel to other countries, I have made it a tradition to buy a number of cds that equal the number of destinations that I've been to in that one country, and Italy was no different. Since I was going to be in Italy for 10 days and travel to 3 different cities, I bought 3 CDs by 3 different, contrasting Italian artists...sadly I wouldn't be able to listen to these CDs till I got back to France but they were worth the wait.
After visiting the CD store and walking around some more down odd streets and in other shops, it was time to go in the leather store to check on my chocolate brown jacket. It was ready, so now I could take it and go back to the hostel. By now I was exausted and ready to crash in my dorm, at least for a while. But once I got back to the hostel, I realized that that wouldn't be for too long...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/oslo07/1186544700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/oslo07/1186544700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/oslo07/1186544700/tpod.html Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:59:44 -0400 A Weekend Trip to Oslo, Norway, March 2007

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Oslo, Norway

So I got into the first taxi that I found outside the airport. I had been warned that taking a taxi in Norway was very expensive and that I should have used the train to get from the airport to downtown, but I couldnt' imagine it being that expensive (ha ha ha) but boy was I soon to learn why my guide book advised against it. The taxi drive into Oslo was actually very pretty. I saw a lot of "mountanouse" terraine and trees, as well as lot snow patches and ice still on the ground. The taxi driver told me that a few days ago they had had some serious snow and that I had just missed it. Supposedly it was a bit warmer today, which I couldn't have told you the difference. The taxi driver was actually very nice and he and I were talking about Oslo as we headed into the old city. Supposedly we were driving through "modern" Oslo which had only been in existance until recently and that this was where most of the people of Oslo lived and that we were heading into the actual city of Oslo, which was older, etc.
It took us a long time to arrive to the hostel but when we did I had a very hefty bill to pay for the taxi driver. I didn't expect for it to be that high (close to about 100 dollars US) and it was heartbreaking for me to give all that money to the taxi driver just for a ride, but I had no choice.
So after paying the driver I gathered up my things and went into the hostel. For this particular trip I was staying at the Perminalen, which was actually a hostel/hotel. It was quite expensive I might add, but the staff was very nice, helpful and were very knowledgeable. It didn't take long for me to check in, but the staff informed me that the maids were behind in cleaning so my room wouldn't be ready for another 2-3 hours. So in the mean time I was advised by the staff to leave my backpack in the luggage storage area and possibly do some sight seeing.
So I walked out and decided to walk around and explore a bit before it was time to formally check into my room, and then I would continue my tour of Oslo after. As usual, I walked down streets and all that interested me. I believe during this brief tour of Oslo I stumbled across Karl Johann's Gate, which is basically a major street in the heart of old Oslo with lots of shops, cafes and restaurants. Since it was Saturday there were a lot of people about going in and out of the shops and hitting the restaurants. I spent several hours just walking down Karl Johann's Gate, taking in the atmosphere, going in and out of shops and I also walked around the grounds of the University of Oslo and of the Royal Palace which is there. Eventually, it was time to go back to the hostel and check to see if my room was available. On my way back to the hostel, I took my time to check out some more sights. Near my hostel was Oslo's old castle-it was a fortress during the Middle Ages and is now used today as a military base/museum/park and was also where the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. I just walked around the grounds, took pictures, and admired views of the city and the fjord until I started feeling hungry and thirsty. After touring the castle, I came across this little coffee shop, where I got some chocolate cake for later and something to drink (which I believe I got water...I don't remember or I might have gotten coffee...) After having my snack and my glass of water or whatever I drank, I finally headed back to the hostel.
Four hours had passed since I had checked in, but my room was ready. I was given my key and thus I grabbed my bags and headed upstairs to see my room and relax for a few minutes before going back out again. My room was actually very nice but simple; it was a four bedroom girl dorm that had nice wooden bunk beds, big lockers and a nice large ensuite bathroom for the 4 of us. The room was nice and big, something I couldn't complain about. After a few minutes of just sitting down and exploring the room I dropped off my things and headed out the door to do some more sight seeing.
Before doing anymore sightseeing though, I stopped by Karl Johann's gate to get something to eat. Since I don't speak any Norwegian (nor did I really study any before going) it was hard at first for me to find a restaurant that I wanted to eat at, but I eventually went to this "family" style restaurant." I don't remember the name of it, but the inside of the restaurant reminded me a lot of the family ones you see in the states. It had almost like a "cowboy" theme going on inside (not really but you had like lassos and all I believe inside and the design of the tables and chairs were all wood and reminded me of the inside of a Longhorn Steakhouse). There were a lot of people in this restaurant, particularly families with young children. At first I just looked at the menu, which to me had some very strange things: things like a shrimp sandwich and a "lunch special" with a friend meat pattie, a grilled tomato half, a fried egg, toast and a pickle on the side with coffee. A lot of the food combinations were like that, combinations I had never seen before in my life. Also I sat for a long time at the table and didn't realize that I had to go up to the bar and order my food, which I eventually found out after getting the English menu. So I decided to go with the "lunch special" because I figured if I could eat pizza in Poland with kielbasa, pickles and ham on it than I could eat this odd "lunch special". I also got it because it was cheap and I figured I'd never see a combo like this again on a menu. So the waitress finally comes with my food and she immediately spoke to me in Norwegian (which was a bit scary to me). I asked her if she spoke English and she said that she did, apologized for speaking to me in Norwegian like that and repeated what she was going to say. She wanted to know if I wanted butter for my toast or anything like that and I told her no thanks and she left. As weird as my meal sounded, it was actually quite good. The hamburger was actually tasty fried like that and the fried egg on to wasn't bad, the toast was simple yet good, the tomato was delicious and I'm not a pickle person normally, but the pickle was fresh, crisp, and sweet. Also my coffee was very good...they drink their coffee black Norway from what I could tell, but it was actually good. They seem to brew the coffee just until it's ready to serve, so the coffee isn't strong and for a Norwegian chain the coffee and the food was actually good.
After eatting my fill of lunch, I decided to walk around Karl Johann's gate more, particularly in this little shopping gallerie where the restaurant was located in. One thing I noticed about Oslo while I was there is that apparently the Norwegians like to shop and that they love chains and name brands. A lot of the stores were apparently that, chains but there were a lot of nice posh clothing stores from all over Europe in Oslo that I looked in that had some really nice stuff (sadly they didn't have good deals). I also came across some really interesting book stores (selling books primarily in English) as well as some Norwegian books of course. Eventually I wandered away from Karl Johann's gate towards the harbor, where Akker Brigg is (which is a huge mall/like) and to where the Nobel Peace Prize building is. On my way there I came across this important building that my guide book mentioned but I don't remember what it was called, I ran into all these little 7-eleven's; evidently the Norwegians have an obsession with 7-eleven's, and they have them on regular street corners which was strange to see for me! On my way to the harbor I also ran into this little Norwegian souvenir store where I bought some things to bring home and I also struck up a conversation with the shop keeper, who was actually a Russian immigrant, married to a Frenchman and the two of them were now living in Oslo-go fig. But she was very nice and we talked a long time about Norway (sadly I don't remember exactly what we talked about) but still it was a nice encounter I remember.
Behind this important government building there is this small "garden/park" like area all out of concrete blocks with bronze statues of naked men, women etc. all done by Norwegian artists. That was the cool thing about Oslo...the city seemed to embrace art openly and one saw many bronze statues, like the ones I saw here in this little "park" area and also when I arrived along the harbour/port there were a lot of bronze statues that were just there on display. Kinda cool I thought, like a living museum. Anyway, I took pictures of some of this stuff and eventually I decided to check out Akker Brigg. Akker Brigg was described in my guide book to be this large mall and that it's one of the largest of somewhere where I don't remember but it was cool. Sadly it was closing time, so I couldn't really enjoy it that much, but I got to look in some of the stores, which primarily sold clothing.
On my way back to the room, I stopped into a few 7-elevens to see if I could get some snacks for the room as well as something to drink; I ended up getting an orange soda similar to Orangina but Norwegian and a bottle of local spring water, which was very good. I also tried to see if I could get a calling card to use for the pay phone at the hostel, which I couldn't find any-people knew what I was talking about but no one seemed to have any. My final stop was at Karl Johanns gate, where I got some take out, which was basically a salami, cheese sandwich on flat bread and a waffle (which equaled to about 19 dollars by the way) back to the hostel. So I ate my dinner, talked with my roomates for the longest time (one of them was from British Columbia, Canada and was now living in Scotland with her husband while the other was woman from Holland on a skiing holiday) just about Norway and our travel experiences, and eventually we all went to bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1188420240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1188420240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1188420240/tpod.html Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:17:53 -0400 Second tour of the Riviera: A weekend field trip with IAU in Aix en Provence to Nice, Monaco, Cannes, and St. Paul de Vince

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Cap d'Ail, France

So we got on our respected buses and headed towards the hostel. On the way we came across some really beautiful scenery as we headed through Villefranche sur Mer. It was so beautiful that our buses decided to stop to give us some time to take pictures and enjoy the view. After taking some pics and streatching out our legs for a bit, we all hopped back onto our buses and headed to the hostel. Finally we arrived in Cap d'Ail and our hostel. Nothing much really happened there, except for the fact that we all had to pick our roommates (all of the same gender) to share our room with. We had to get into groups of 5 which wasn't that big of a deal. Luckily I found Carrine (she was the girl from New York that I had met in Aix on my second day. Her host mother was one of Camille's, my host mother, best friends.) and she was teaming up with some girls who ironically were in some of my classes so I got with them in their room.
So the five of us found our room, got settled and talked for 2 hours until it was time to go to dinner. We all went down stairs to the hostel's cafiteria which was serving us food as well as an alcholic cocktail, which we were restricted to 1 drink due to past "problems" with binge drinking from IAU's recent past with students. Dinner was simple; nothing special actually. It was so uneventful that I don't even remember what we had but the food was good but not spectacular. Afterwards I went back to the room to hang out and talk with the girls some more until it was time to go to Monaco. For this mini French Riviera tour we were supposed to go to Monaco this particular night for some reason to just walk around. They wanted us to see it at night because supposedly it's very pretty (which I'm sure it was, but due to my past trip to Monaco I had a different opinion that there was more to do there than to just "walk around." )
So the bus finally arrives in Monaco and they drop us off in front of the Casino de Monaco to look around for at least 2 hours. I basically took a picture of the casino (only 1 because as you may recall this was my second trip here and also my camera doesn't take very good pics at night) and I walked around with Carrine a bit until it was time to go back on the bus. When we arrived back at the hostel, Carrine and I just talked with the other girls until it was time to go to bed because after all, we had an early day the next morning for not only breakfast and to finish the weekend off, but also there was supposedly an incredible view to behold from our hostel of the Med. Sea....

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1186466040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1186466040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/riviera_07/1186466040/tpod.html Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:25:23 -0400 Second tour of the Riviera: A weekend field trip with IAU in Aix en Provence to Nice, Monaco, Cannes, and St. Paul de Vince

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Nice, France

Bright and early the next morning, I got up somehow. After eatting my breakfast, I grabbed my backpack, parted with Camille and discussed final particulars on when and what time I would be coming back from the trip and then I went to go catch the bus to go to centre ville. I arrived in centre ville way ahead of schedule, but since I had lots of time I decided to get some magazines and a "mobie carte" at one of the tabacs, and get some money from an ATM. Time went by and eventually the buses arrived and it was time to go. There were two buses, since there were about 60 of us as well as some of the institute's staff members (who were acting as shaparons). After we all got on boad the housing director made us sign a "role sheet" and the rules, guide lines, and iternary of the trip were explained. After that was over we finally went off.
It took us about 3 hours to arrive in Nice, our first destination. Even though this was going to be my second trip to Nice, I was looking forward to it. Nice is probably one of my favorite destinations in France and I had really enjoyed myself while I was there at Christmas, so going back was something that I was looking forward to. The bus trip on the way was rather uneventful; I pretty much read a French magazine that I had purchased at one of the tabacs (tobacco store) that morning on the way and looked out my window from time to time at the scenery. Eventually when we arrived in Nice one of the professors from our institute began to give a little "spiel" about the city and some of its history. According to what he told us, Nice had been a part of Italy until 1860 and since then it had been a part of France and that it was also the "Miami of France" because everyone wants to retire there just like a lot of people like retired in Florida back in the US. He also mentioned that you see Nice in a lot of movies like the Bond films for example which I thought was interesting. Then he announced that we would have like 3-4 hours to fully explore Nice I believe and then after that we were going to head to our hostel which was in Cap d'Ail and later on go to Monaco/Monte Carlo and call it a day. So the bus finally stopped in front of Nice's Gare Routiere (bus station) and we all got off to start exploring.
I pretty much did the exploring (as usual) by myself, but since I had already been to Nice it was no big deal. Pretty much what I did was explore more of the Old City and I went into the stores that I had not visited during the previous trip. The shop I visited was this photograph shop owned by a local photographer, which as you can guess the shop sold pretty much film, frames, photos of Nice and of the surrounding area and one could get photos taken or developed there. I purchased some cool photos and moved on. I eventually ran into this little bath shop with some nice bath washes and perfumes that were made in Grasse, France which is the capital of the perfume industry. Eventually I needed to get something to eat so I started looking for a restaurant. To go look for the restaurant I started to head closer to the Promenade des Anglais because I remembered that there were a few Nicoise (the cuisine of Nice) restaurants around that edge of the Old City. Well, when I arrived there I came across this huge market. Now when I had come to Nice during the Christmas holidays, I had visited the supposed "flower market" but it had been nothing compared to what I was seeing during this visit. During my first visit, the market had only been of flowers and covered only a 3rd of the square; well this time, the market was more than flowers and covered the entire length of this "square" in the Old City. This time, the market had vegtables and fruits, seafood, cured and fresh meats and poultry, bake goods (both Italian style and Provencal) rows and rows of cured olives and other cured and pickled items of all different colors, shapes and sizes, nuts and dried fruits of all kinds (even whole pineapples), spices, provencal fabric and gifts, flowers, and the list goes on. During the 7 months that I had been in France, I had not seen a market yet that size nor that big (except for that flea market in Besancon, which was the biggest market that I have ever seen in my life) but this was basically the largest food/flower market that I had ever seen before in my life and was the larges that I saw during that trip. I spent a lot of time just wandering aimlessly through the stalls and listened to the sounds of the vendors yelling in French and Italian about their products, and took in the smells and the colors of the different spices, olives, anchovies, meats, fish, fruit, flowers, bake goods and rotisserie chickens that were all on display in large, open, wooden baskets, in plastic cases or on ice, on the tables, in crates or in the small industrial rotisserie ovens respectively. During this tour of the market I bought for myself some Italian and Nicoise style bakegoods-I purchased some Sicilian style cannolies which are more like the cannolies that we know of in the US as well as some Nicoise style cookies. One of the cookies I know, was made with almonds, cookie crumbs, pistacious, and was made with sugar and some other spices that I don't remember, and it was in the shape of a brick (very good actually.) The other cookie I believe was made with chocolate and was very good. I believe I might have purchased some fruit too from one of the fruit vendors but I don't remember, but eventually I came across a socca vendor and I got some of that for lunch. Socca basically is a special type of crepe made from chick pea flour and they cook it like a pizza in large pans or they cook it on a large, round, flat grittle like the one that I visited in this case. It is a Nicoise speciality, thus one can only find it in Nice. So I ordered a small thing of socca and some water, and sat down to eat. Believe it or not, socca actually tastes really good and was very cheap, even though this was the second time that I had had it. After eatting my lunch I headed back and started to do some more walking around and looked in more shops. I eventually ran into a shop that had some Provencal style table cloths and what not and so I purchased 2, one for myself and one for my mom for like 19 euros each which is a steal! I purchased the ones with the olive motif to help remind me of my visit to the market and of Provence in general, because you see olives everywhere. One cool thing was that the table cloths were handmade in the shop, (which I assumed due to the presence of an industrail sewing machine in the far back).
Eventually, I was interested in having some desert but I wanted to save my cannolies and all for later. So I went over to this gelateria that I remembered seeing in the plaza where the Palais de Justice is to try some of their gelato (I figured since I was close to Italy and since Nice had been a part of Italy for most of it's history I figured the gelato would probably be just as good and authentic as what you would get in Italy.) So I went inside and ordered some gelato (I forget what flavors I ordered but I remember that one of them was chocolate and I don't remember what the others were) but I ordered at least 3 flavors. So, after ordered my gelato I went outside and sat on one of the benches outside of the gelateria to enjoy my desert. As I sat there, I recognized some other students from IAU who evidentally had the same idea as myself for a gelato break. It was a mixed group of kids, most of them in my classes or friends with the one girl that I recognized for sure. This girl that I recognized had been my "OA" (Orientation Assitant) during orientation at IAU a few weeks ago and she was hanging out with her friends in front of the gelateria in one of the benches like myself. As we all ate our gelato all of us began to converse about our day and so forth. Eventually she and her friends invited me to join them on a little visit of the park where the old "chateu" was after we finished our gelato. I decided to accept the offer and once we finished our gelato we headed out of the old city and got on the Promenade des Anglais to get over there.
Instead of using the elevator to access the park, we used the stairs this time, which was a lot of work and I was very tired by the time we got up there but I needed the exercise. At least we took some breaks on the way up and talked the entire way. During these breaks I took some pictures of the scenery and what not but I didn't take that many because I had taken a lot of pictures of Nice during my previous trip and I didn't want to take duplicates (even though I think I had done that already lol!) Eventually we made it to the top of the hill and at first we hung out around the public park area. For a while we just sat and laid down and took in the scenery. While we were there, there was a soccer game going on and there were some kids playing on the monkey bars. Eventually one of the guys in our group decided to join in the soccar game while some of the girls started climbing on the monkey bars. Eventually some of the guys joined in as well...I didn't join in basically because it was my thing and I believe that I was wearing a skirt as well (don't remember actually) so that might have been my deterrant. But still I watched them play with the kids and challange each other to climb to the top which was very funny to watch and a lot of fun. Then after their climb they all came back, lied down and we all talked some more. Eventually we decided to go look at this grave yard that had a lot of interesting grave stones and all. I regret now that I didn't take pictures of this grave yard (yet I believe I didn't because I felt that it would be disrespectful to the dead spirits...I know I know I'm very superstitous) but it was very pretty and interesting. Seeing that grave yard I know gave us all a real sense of Nice's past and present. One thing we all noticed was that most of the names on the grave stones were Italian ones (which makes sense) and that most people were burried as a family, while in the US most of the time people are burried near family but separately, but I noticed that there was one grave stone for the entire family. Also a lot of the graves were highly decorated with beautiful, elaborate statues of women, angels, children, flowers and so forth. One could tell that some very rich people had been burried here by the quality of the art on the grave stones....beautiful stuff. There were a lot of old graves, I forget from how far back, but there were a lot of new graves as well which were simpler than the older but still they could be pretty elaborate as well. The location of the grave yard was spectacular. It was along the hill where the park was, so the grave yard was litterally clinging along this hill with an eat your heart out view of the Med. sea and of the city of Nice below. All of us were talking about how we wouldn't mind to be burried there once that time comes (though we all knew that to afford a plot there would be expensive) but it was a lovely experience. After our tour of the grave yard we went back to the park and napped some more and talked and eventually we went back to the Gare Routiere to meet up with our buses to head to the hostel in Cap d'Ail.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/poland06/1186553040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/poland06/1186553040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swisherd/poland06/1186553040/tpod.html Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:41:12 -0400 Into the unknown and beyond: In search of my Polish heritage on a 14 Day Tour of Poland

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Krakow, Poland

As soon as I got off the bus, I started to look for the entrance into the train station. I eventually found it, and went in. It was different from any of the other train stations that I had been in before, but of course, this was the first train station I had been in outside of France. The main hall was large with lots of space; there was some seating area but not much, less than what I've seen in France and I noticed that there were fewer kiosks and little sandwich/cafe/restaurants inside the train station like one sees in France as well. In fact, I remember only seeing 2 kiosks and 1 restaurant in the main hall: something you never see in France. Always see more than that normally.
Eventually I spotted the ticket booths at the far front end of the main hall. There was a pretty long line (but it was around 6 PM so people were evidently heading home for the day and after all I was in the capital) but I eventually got up to a booth and asked for my tickets in Polish. I would have figured that I would have misunderstood or said the wrong thing, but somehow I ordered my tickets correctly for that night to head to Krakow. Now I had to find the platform, which like an idiot I didn't ask where it was, and I probably wouldn't have understood what she would have said anyways! But I saw signs for what I assumed to be where the platforms were at the far back end of the main hall and headed in that direction.
I went down one flight of stairs to the basement like. There were more kiosks and restaurants down here than in the main hall: they were all in a tight row on my left while the other side had several rows of stairs that led to the different platforms. I didn't have time to grab my dinner so I started to look for my platform, which I had no idea which one it was and they weren't really labeled: but I looked on my ticket and I saw something about platform 3 so I went to platform 3 and decended down those flight of stairs there. When I got downstairs I found myself in what reminded me of a metro station stop and both sides of the tracks were labeled as platform 3. Because of this I was confused but I inquired a woman in Polish if this was for Krakow and she told me yes and informed me that I could get on the train on either side. Finding this to be strange I decided well, there has to be a method to the madness so I picked a side and waited. Eventually, a very small and also old train (train was most likely from the 60's or even 50's) pulled up on the right side of the two platform 3s. So I boarded without any sort of order or assigned class (in France normally you sit in a first or second class in this case, anything went) and so I found the first free compartment and sat in there.
The compartment reminded me a lot of what you see in the old movies: it was one of those large roomy compartments with the bench seats and the luggage racks above, yet despite the old design it looked like that the seats and all had been recently refurbished. In my compartment there was a middle aged woman reading a book and a young man about my age also reading a book (I believe he was reading Harry Potter) and listening to his MP3 player. I asked the woman in Polish if this train was for Krakow just to double check and she informed me yes. So I sat down and began to read as the train began to depart.
The train ride went very well. The ride was very smooth; for an old train it ran incredibly well, but the train ride itself was also very pleasant and peaceful. Since it was night, one couldn't see out of the windows because it was dark, but I spent the time studying up on some Polish, especially since I needed to know somethings to travel efficently to my "guesthouse". During the ride, several "refreshment carts" with coffee, tea and pastries I believe came by...I don't remember if the food and beverages were complimentary or you had to pay for them or if I partook in anything but I still thought that that was a nice feature and Poland was the only country where I saw that. Eventually the conductor came by to stamp our tickets.
Our train stopped only once before arriving in Krakow, but we arrived on time I believe. Once we arrived in Krakow I got off the train and headed outside. I now needed to look for a taxi to take me to the Krakow Guesthouse, which was to be my "hotel" during my stay. My "guesthouse" supposedly offered free transport to it, but I had assumed that that transportation was "optional" (as you will later found out in the next entry that that was not so) but since I didn't know that at this point I searched for a taxi and found one parked outside of the train station. I gave the taxi driver successfully the directions in Polish and we headed over to the "guesthouse" in the cover of darkness.
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