Mom comes to Paris--volcanos erupt

Two Mondays ago, my mom arrived in Paris for a two week visit. The first week she stayed in Paris and the second week, which was my spring break, we were supposed to spend in Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. The second week didn't go as planned, but I'll get to that part later.

Monday around noon I met my mom at her hotel in Republique, a 2 stop metro ride from my school. We were both a little teary-eyed when we saw each other--it had been almost 3 months since we said goodbye in the

Philadelphia International Airport. Soon enough though it felt like we had only been away from each other for only a few days. We had a great lunch at the hotel and then she decided to take a nap. Later that night we met up with Libby, my best friend from college, and her parents, who had flown over to Paris a day earlier than Mom. I had gone out to dinner with them the previous night nearby the Eiffel Tower but it had been too cold to go up the parisian landmark that night. We went back to the Eiffel Tower and ascended it, much to the dismay of my mom and Libby's. They reached the top, looked out for a second, and quickly went back to the elevator to go down. Libby, her dad, and I took lots of pictures and gazed into the sunset and the beautiful view we had from the summit of the 324 meter structure. Afterwards we went back to

place de Republique and had a delicious Alsatian meal at Chez Jenny, which I highly recommend to anyone going to Paris who wants authentic food from Alsace, the area of France close to Germany.

The next few days we did some sightseeing, including an open air double decker bus, which was great because the route of the bus took us to every major landmark in the city. We also went to Versailles one day with Libby and her family, which was utterly breathtaking. On Thursday, I actually went to class for the first time since early Monday morning, so my mom and I did a little shopping in the morning and then met up with two of my friends for falafel at our favorite place. My mom went shopping by herself while I was in class and we met up later at her place.

Now this is where things go awry. I got to the room and my mom was watching SkyNews, a british news station. They were reporting the shutdown of UK airspace, as well as those in Norway, Sweden, and Ireland. What was the cause of the shutdown? A volcanic ash cloud from Iceland was hovering over Northern Europe 30000 ft up in the air. Of all things that could have happened, no one would have ever thought that a volcanic eruption could cause the cancellation of thousands of flights. Initially we thought that this all would blow over, literally. Libby and her parents had a flight back to the US the next day so we were still hopeful things would go as plan--but they didn't. Paris shutdown all its airports around 9pm Thursday night. They begin to open back up til midday Tuesday and all flights did not resume until Thursday.

My mom and I were supposed to be on a plane to Mallorca Saturday, which was cancelled. I booked a flight for the next day, Sunday, and it was also cancelled. Iberia's next available flight for us was Wednesday night. So we had an extra five days in Paris, not so bad. We were disappointed that we would have to shorten our trip to Spain but we made the most of our time together in Paris. Saturday we went shopping in Galeries Lafayette, the biggest department store in Paris--it's similar to Harrod's in London. We also shopped at the boutiques nearby.

Sunday we took it easy, just walked around the area near the hotel and watched some movies.

Monday was the best of our extra days in Paris because we went to Disneyland! My mom and I

felt like little kids as we walked into the park. The excitement was contagious and it made us feel like we were home in the US. The park is smaller in comparison to Disney World, but it definitely takes the best aspects of the American parks and also adds some of its own things to make it more European, yet still very true to the Disney way. The funniest thing about the park was that the characters in the rides spoke in both english and french! Seeing Buzz Lightyear yelling in french made my mom and I burst out laughing while waiting in line for the ride. I was pleasantly suprised to see popcorn vendors and fountain soda dispensers at the park as well--things very odd for the french to have.

Tuesday, a day after our magical time at Disneyland, we did not do much. Most of the day was spent walking around the area we live in, getting my clothes from my apartment, and going to see "Remember Me" at the cinema (I highly recommend this movie!). We were eager to hear good news about the re-opening of airports and were delighted when we saw on CNN that most flights were operating once again. Wednesday we packed our bags, had a leisurely lunch, and headed to the airport to catch our late-afternoon flight to Madrid where we would connect to Palma de Mallorca.

Well that's all for now. I'll leave Spain for another entry.

Au revoir :)

Prague--escape to Central Europe

This post is long overdue, but you will understand why I haven't had time to write it after you read the next two postings.

The weekend after Easter my friend Kathryn and I flew to Prague, Czech Republic. I had heard great things about this city in Central Europe, but honestly was not sure what to expect. Upon arrival in Prague (Praha in Czech), we met up with Kathryn's friend Alison, and her two friends from Torino, Italy, where she is studying

abroad this semester. The first thing we did once we left the airport was to get money, as in the Czech Republic the currency is the koruna, not the euro. The value of their currency is about 18 koruna to the dollar so the prices of things were pretty inexpensive and the bills we received were 1000koruna bills,

which seemed pretty crazy to us! After we went to the ATM, we tried to figure out how to get to the centre of Prague. We were a little confused about using the public transportation system because everything was in unpronounceable Czech! We finally figured it out and made our way into the city and to our hotel-apartment, near the centre of town.

From our accommodations we were able to walk around the whole city--Wenceslas Sq., the old town, and up to Prague Castle, but first we stopped at Starbucks--you can take us out of America, but can't take the American ways out of us! After a delectable Caramel Macchiato, my first in three months, we headed to get

some lunch at one of the food vendors on the street near Wenceslas Sq.

The food in Prague is amazing--something totally different from the food in Western Europe. I bought a huge hot dog-looking sandwich, which was delicious. Beer is everywhere in Prague, after all the Czechs are the biggest beer drinkers in the world (I know you thought it was probably the Germans). I sampled a few different kinds of beer, my favorite being the Pilsner Urquell light colored beer.

Later we hopped on a tram that took us to the top of the hill where Prague Castle is located. This is where the head of the government lives now, but where the king used to live in the olden days. The castle is magnificent, as is the cathedral next to it. From there we walked down the hill towards the old town, which was very lively.

We tried more Czech foods like Bramborák (potato pancakes) and trdelnik (dough wrapped around a metal bar and roasted then spun in sugar and sliced almonds and then nutella is spread inside it if you so choose). Souvenir shops and stands are abundant in old town Prague. The big souvenir items are hand-painted eggs (I bought six), matrioshki dolls (nesting dolls), paintings, and of course, lots of t-shirts. The rest of the day was spent shopping. For dinner, the group found a wonderful authentic Czech restaurant. I had goulash which was out of this world. It tasted so good! We were exhausted after dinner so we headed back to the hotel and just hung out there.

The next morning we wanted to walk around town some more and see the Charles bridge. We walked across the bridge which is only for

pedestrians. On the bridge there are lots of statues of saints and lots of people trying to sell you souvenirs. On the other side of the river we found a long street full of shops. I found one shop that sold skin products made of wine and beer. I was a bit skeptical at first but I tried them and they were wonderful! I bought a beer body butter and a wine hand cream as well as two kinds of bath salts.

After walking around all day, Kathryn and I felt the need for a spa treatment. We found a nail salon and had a pedicure. It felt so good after walking on cobblestones the past two days! That night we found another Czech restaurant and had goulash once again :) I really want to make it at home because it is so delicious.

Sunday morning we slept in a little and then went to get coffee before heading to the airport to catch our 1230pm flight back to Paris. I really enjoyed my time in Prague and it definitely makes me want to discover more of Central and Eastern Europe!

Au revoir for now :)

Easter in the land of gelato, pizza, and pasta

I started writing this post about three weeks ago, sorry!

So I know I haven't updated in a while, but that just means I'm having

too much fun, right? :)

Last Thursday I left for Italy with my friends Sam, Julie, Jill, Lindsay,

and Sara. We flew Ryanair out of Beauvais, a small (like really small) airport an hr north of Paris. We arrived in Pisa an hour late because of air traffic control issues and managed to get very lost before finally finding our hotel. We stayed within walking distance to the Leaning Tower, the famous landmark located in

the centre of the city. After checking in we headed to dinner for our first italian meal. The pasta was just as good as I had remembered it being.

The next day we took the train to Riomaggiore, the first of the 5 Cinqueterre (translation: five lands). I had been here before, about 3 yrs ago with my family but only for the day. The weather was gorgeous the day of our arrival--sun shining, waves gently crashing into the rocks, seagulls everywhere. We were slightly worried about our accomadations because I had read reviews of the hotel and the majority of them were not good (70% of the customers had NOT recommended it!). We were pleasantly surprised when the owner's son led us down the hilly main street of the town to a seaside apartment. The views were incredible and worth every euro-cent. We walked around town the rest of the day and laid out on the rocks next to the sea. We didn't want to do too much since we would be hiking the next day.

Saturday was the great hike. There are many hiking trails that begin in Riomaggiore and go all the way to the last village, stopping at the three others in between. The first leg of the trail, from Riomaggiore to Manarola, is called the "Via dell'Amore" (the walk of love). This was an easy hike, more like a walk on a flat, cement path. After arriving in Manarola, we started thinking that this hike wasn't going to be too bad. I had read the entire hike takes 5hrs, but we didn't think it could possibly take that long to get to the last village of Monterosso al Mare. HOW WRONG WE WERE!

Let's just say that we were all misled by the easiness of the first leg. The rest of the hike was pretty exhausting and arduous. My friends Lindsey and Julie, both athletes, hiked together, while my friend Jill and I lagged behind, stopping every so often to breathe. My friend Sara left Riomaggiore over an hour and a half after we had begun the hike and still managed to catch up to Jill and I during the last leg of the hike (to be fair, the four of us stopped at each town be came upon for 15 mins or so, and Sara did not, so we weren't that slow).

The length of the trail was only 11km, but the part that was difficult and scary was the height of the trail. We would climb and climb and climb, only to descend the hills, and then climb back up. It was difficult! The scary part was the fact that the trail, at times, was only a foot or two wide, with nothing to catch you if you fall. Jill slipped twice and grabbed onto the grassy hill to

keep her balance. This was not a trek for the clumsy (apparently, I'm not as clumsy as people say I am!) We made it to Monteresso with minimal injury and feasted on pizzas made by a Californian girl who had married a guy from Italy and moved to Cinqueterre. The hike took a total of 6hrs, maybe a little more. By the end of it we were tired but feeling pretty accomplished and proud of what we had done :) We took the train back to the first village, had a late dinner, and slept like babies.

Easter Sunday we slept in until 11am. We met up with Julie's friend, Alexis, and some of her friends, who are all studying in Greece. We took the train to the last town and shopped around a bit. The villages are very small and full of Americans. The shops were very good--Sara and I found a really cute clothing store and a perfume store. When we had exhausted the shops in Monterosso, we headed for Vernazza, the biggest and , in my opinion, most beautiful of the Cinque terre villages. This is the town I had visited 3 years ago, so I was mildly familiar with it. We did some more shopping and then headed back to our town for nap and later, some dinner.

Monday morning we took in the last hours of our time in Cinque terre. We found a rocky beach and tanned for a few hours in the warm sunny weather. In the afternoon, we made our way back to Pisa to catch our flight, which was around 730pm. We were sad to leave Italy, but were ready to go back to Paris, the city that we now comfortably can call home.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

Au revoir :)