Eurotrip Log Thing

Some is as it happened, some is after the fact. Tense should hint. This is unmodified except for fixed spelling and grammar, or clarifying.

Day 1 - August 13, 2009

Plane ride was ok, a little turbulence but nothing major. Flight took a long time (6 hours 20 minutes) and consisted of us waiting in line for the wrong flight only to get called on the PA system to board our flight as it's departing right now.

The bag lady basically told us the wrong gate so yeah.

Overall impression of the Quebecois airport system is that it's utter shit. Inexperienced, lazy, and mostly not giving a fuck attitude... This is better than the French airport in all meanings. Essentially, this place seems to be running a competition of who can do less with more time. Baggage comes in when they feel like it, their queue system doesn't work, and the rental car we got from here seems to have so many things wrong with it I don't even know where to begin. Missing headlight, scratches everywhere, and the like. The guys servicing it, Europcar don't seem to give a fuck either.

Also my dad is missing. We're tired, cranky, irritable, and now this. Whee.

They just gave us a Citroen to replace the shitbox they gave us before. A Citroen Berlingo, it’s called. The shape is the same as the shitbox, only a much better vehicle overall.

Okay so we're in Reims or something. We're staying at a shithole of a hotel/motel thing, where the room is smaller than my dorm room in first year. We bought some vegetables, cheeses, and food from the farmer's market (where they also have convenient amounts of extremely cheap wine), and we ate in the hotel room.

Time to sleep.

Day 2 - August 14, 2009

I passed out shortly after typing the above, and now I'm in a much better mood. The food here (cheese and wine especially) is dirt cheap compared to what we'd pay for in Canada. The quality is a bit better too cause I believe it's still fresh.

We left the hotel shortly after breakfast at 5:30 in the morning (we couldn't sleep any more, and it was frankly too humid to force sleep anyway). As we packed up, I had the light from above the washroom door fall and almost hit me. It shattered on the ground behind me and luckily I had thick socks on or else I would have had quite the cut.

No one here wakes up for work until 8:00, and the streets are literally empty at that time. We went to see the cathedral in the area and it was quite grand, though closed at the time. I think mostly under renovation. On the way back from our walk to the cathedral, we stopped by a bakery and bought a crunchy baguette, some raisin bread thing, and more croissants. All quite good, but there are no shops open so I haven't eaten anything since then.

We're currently on our way to Strasbourg and the going so far is ok. I've noticed a TON of toll roads all over the place, and Europe seems to have this system set up where every 5 km there is a rest stop with washrooms on the highway, and every 10 km is a rest stop with gas stations and restaurants, coffee, and the like. It's surprisingly useful, though the food is quite expensive.

Every car has its place of origin in the EU listed, i.e. France has a big F on it (for FAIL), D for Deutschland, etc.

I'm really hungry right now, and we'll be eating once we get to Strasbourg, which is where I'll be updating this next.

We took a pit stop on the Rhine River crossing of Strasbourg, on the German side. We all had schnitzel and my brother and I each had 0.5 liters of beer to go with it. Was delicious.

There is a huge difference between the French and German side, where the Germans are visibly more focused on function and the French more on form. Also, the German side is much more clean and maintained.

The streets on the way to Munich were extremely crowded and it was a good idea that we ate at the border crossing.

We grabbed a hotel on the outskirts of Munich, and drove into town. We wandered for a little while, and realized it looks a lot like Toronto. We stopped at a restaurant that was a ridiculously high class one, and I ate a 26 euro dish. It was almost gourmet but delicious and presented splendidly. Of course, still hungry, but meh. Just never again.

We're now returned to our hotel, hotel Blutenberg. The woman that we got the keys from spoke broken English, and we spoke broken German, so it was all well and good. This town's almost bilingual in German/English for at least the people my age, so we can get by here. France was not as welcoming.

Day 3 - August 15, 2009

We woke up at six in the morning local time today, and we're preparing to have the longest trip of the route. This arm will take us around Munich, into Vienna, and through to Arad, Romania. The mapping software is telling us about 13 hours of driving, we'll see how long this really takes...

Right now we're preparing for breakfast. We're already 1 hour late. The Germans must think we're French now.

The breakfast was a nice spread, featuring local meats, emmental cheeses of three varieties, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and at least three types of rye (and various other buns). For the price of the room for the night, it was quite expensive, but the place we stayed at is spotless and quite well maintained. No Wi-Fi though. Last step of preparations are going on right now, and then we leave for our incredibly long journey.

We're on the road traveling towards Romania now, stopped at the Austria-Hungary border. The difference between Austria and Hungary is huge - the clean, sterile look of Austria is quite the opposite of the cold-war era styling seen on the other side. Abandoned buildings at the border that once served as the border control offices are now collecting dust and cobwebs, and even the glass barriers are shattered, moldy, and decrepit. It's a good thing we stopped to eat before crossing over to the Hungarian side - I don't think I'd eat anything from here.

We were stopped at the Romanian-Hungarian border, and asked for a lot of papers. Apparently, on this side of Europe, the old soviet-era methodologies are still in place. Intimidation, bureaucracy, etc, still stand as the method to get anything done. Travelling over the border was a terrible experience, and is probably going to be the first of many reasons I have for never visiting here again.

Additional reasons: Crazy drivers that try to pass other vehicles even though there is oncoming traffic traveling at 130 KPH coming at you and narrowly misses you. Crazy streets with people that are quite hazardous to themselves or you if you're driving. Theft. Etc.

We arrived at my grandparent's place after about 15 hours of continuous driving, and had a hasty meal, with lots of talking and discussions with my grandpa and grandma (of which my brother says my grampa blew his mind), and it was pretty good. Still, it's almost 3 in the morning here and it's time to go sleep...

Day 4 - August 16, 2009

I said I'd like to be woken up at 10:00 to get some stuff done and my grandma came and woke me. I then promptly fell asleep again until noon. We had breakfast here, farm fresh eggs, sausages, and even fresh milk, and we talked about a lot of things.

My grandfather is a very interesting person. He has stories for everything, and he also wrote a lot of poetry, stories, scientific books, and the like. I have made a copy of all he's done so far, and though I've asked his permission to do so, I'm not going to tell him I did. Instead, I think I'll tell him I'll wait until he gets it published to read them. This way, he might find a bit more strength to keep going.

He's quite old as it stands, and he's very in his own world. When he gets focused on a topic, it still is very interesting to hear. He has probably forgotten more things than I'll ever learn. His library collection is quite nice as well, though mostly in Romanian. I'm still taking a few books with me when I go to read over, and talk to him about in the future.

Although he's not church man, he is still very spiritual. In the sense of he is trying to follow the footsteps of the Greek scholars in trying to discover just what we are here for – Archimedes and the like. Still, it makes for very interesting conversations, as I have arrived to some of the same conclusions he is, though without the literary and scholarly background for many of them.

We took a tour of the town today as well, where we saw where my mom and dad worked (where my dad's company is still using the same gate my dad built), the beer factory (which has English all around it), my grandma's workplace, the wine research center, and my grandfather's school where he was the headmaster. We also saw a 600 year old tree (at least), and the location of the unification of Romania as a country (and then later, the location of their first democratic election following communist rule). Additionally, we saw some naked women sunbathing. And the few guys hiding in the bushes watching them.

Additionally, we stopped by and saw our old house before my grandparents sold it, which is now completely different and no longer 'ours' at all. We also saw gypsy kids jumping over someone's fence to steal their grapes, and had one of them ask us for money. Horses on the road, some just left wandering alone to feed, and also a lot of stray dogs everywhere.

We also learned today that my dad not only built an entire house for my grandparents, but he also completely rebuilt the interior of the apartment that they are living in right now, which shows in comparison to all other apartments I've been in today (relatives, etc). It's impressive how much he accomplished before he was even 20, and here I am with nothing to show.

I've been snacking on grapes all day, fresh off the vines outside. They're terrific but not quite ready for most people to eat them yet. I just like them sour.

Oh, we also visited my grandpa (maternal)'s sister, and her caretaker, which is also a family member. They're both unmarried, and keep themselves company.

My brother and I have concluded that although Romanian girls are really hot in general, when they hit that magical age of 30 they just get ugly. It's like they have a genetic ticking time bomb. Oh well.

It's 4:57 PM in Toronto now, and it's 11:57 PM here. About time to turn in for the night.

Day 5 - August 17, 2009

Today was a pretty eventful day. We're still waking up as usual to farm fresh foods, but we're being overfed by our grandparents, which I suppose is their pleasure.

This morning we went to Alba Iulia, a town within our province, so that my parents can get their pension stuff out of the way. This is basically because they have a few years of work in this country that would get them at least some money from the government here as part of a pension, and my dad figures it might be enough to pay for gas and the like for whatever trips they'll make when they retire.

We also had a continuation of the tour from yesterday of where my dad and mom grew up, and where their parents grew up as well. My dad seems to remember every street, every nook and cranny of this place, including many towns that aren't even on the map. He's walked(!) on all of it.

Additionally, we stopped by and visited some friends of my parents (my aunt, as well), and saw their adopted child. Apparently the child is my uncle's sister's (uncle being not blood relative), and she's under their care because her mother has a touch of the crazy mixed with alcohol, and cannot take care of her anymore. She's only twelve now I think. Both aunt and uncle have a plethora of health issues, but they, like many others, are making the best of what they have. They definitely are putting on a brave face for the girl.

After leaving their house, we had a discussion about the state of affairs of the country, and how the whole place is pretty much too busy putting food on the table to fix itself up. Seems like everywhere in this part of Europe is like that.

We stopped by my mom/dad's niece in the sense of they baptized her... I suppose godparents is what they are to her? She's 18 now, and she's actually pretty cute. My dad, in the middle of a conversation, turned to her and asked her how the boys are treating her. She turned beet red. Since we were already late getting home, we left quickly, after almost being plowed into by a car. Whee.

After getting home, we decided to cancel our reservations with the restaurant because we were too full (my grandpa having made reservations the day prior), and we all gathered at my paternal grandparents' house to just have fun. We talked a lot to my grandpa (paternal) about his life while the others were gone, and he had a very heartfelt opening-up moment about his wife (he told me to never tell her any of it). He says if it weren't for her, he probably wouldn't be around now. And he told me about how he almost got married to a whore early on because he just didn't know what was going on... and other things. Everyone here led a pretty colorful life.

By this time my grandparents (all of the others) and parents came back, and we set up the table and had some food and drinks and stories. My dad entertained his parents with the real versions of many of the stories from his past, many of which they were never really privy to. I've also never seen my grandpa so lively, it's like he gained back ten years tonight. Laughing, joking, and just having a lot of fun.

For all of the dirty things in this country, for all the bad lives, the misery, the theft, and so on, there are still honest people trying to live their lives the best way they can.

It is a nation of survivors.

Day 6 - August 18, 2009

Today we spent most of the day visiting relatives again, so not much to say, really. A lot of people know my dad and mom, and a lot of people insist on kissing us on the cheeks even though their breath makes halitosis take a step back.

Still, the people are very friendly and polite, and don't hesitate to offer us what little they have.

I've noticed a lot of people do the fake smile, however, especially when confronted by something foreign. I've seen a few looks now and then with respect to my dad's viewpoints or ours as a whole. Apparently we make things up because things can't be that good in Canada while it's so bad in Romania.

The phrase "ah well, what can we do" is starting to drive me nuts, as is the pessimism by all old people, with respect to their lot.

At night time, we spent a lot of our time with my parents' classmates. I had a few interesting discussions with people, especially about the stuff that's going on in the country (corruption/survival/farming/etc) but the message I'm getting is that they're barely scraping by and what can they do?

Sigh.

Some of the people got pretty far in life, as far as Romania is concerned. One was a mayor. Another is a lead manager at Bosch. Still, it feels like they feel they've done little in comparison to us, and they try very hard to talk about their lot only, never asking us anything.

Day 7 - August 19, 2009

We spent today visiting the graveyards of my grandparent's parents (both sides). A lot of history from my father’s side of the family, as his grandparents were rulers in their own right. My mother's family, half of it being adopted, was much smaller.

Both graveyards were unkempt, as I don't think anyone watches over anything after having performed the initial burial. The on in my hometown had significantly less weeds at the entrance, however.

We spent the rest of the day visiting our old house (which has been completely renovated now), and our neighbors. Their girl, now 12, used to run up and demand we open the door for her so we can play with her when she was 4. She's now much shier, though she still has little outbursts now and then.

At night, we had dinner at my mother's parents' house, and then went to where my brother and I were staying to pack. After that, we spoke to my grandparents for a while longer, about memories past and the like and my grandmother finally managed to convince my grandfather to go to sleep until we leave. I then asked her a question that turned into a three hour conversation about everything... From our immigration to Canada, my father's upbringing, my grandfather's declining health, and so forth.

I went to sleep at 1:30, after showering.

Day 8 - August 20, 2009

Today we left our home town at 4:30 in the morning, in hopes of avoiding traffic on the streets. For the most part, this worked, as we didn't see many cars until we got closer to 6:00.

The crazy drivers were still on the streets though, and made driving quite stressful. We drove nonstop through Romania, and Hungary, and arrived in Vienna at 8:15 AM Toronto time (I believe that would make it around 2:15 PM local time.)

There are hotels everywhere but most are booked solid. We luckily found a Holiday Inn near the center of town, and my father's elite client card saved us about 150 Euros for the stay. We chose to spend two nights here, so that we can walk around the town tomorrow.

We just came back now from walking around town, accidentally stumbling into some promenades, watching break dancing shows, listening to live music, and stumbling into some castle plaza, with horse drawn carriages ferrying people around. All in all a fantastic little walk.

We also ate at a Chinese buffet... Sigh.

Day 9 - August 21, 2009

We went to visit the castle today, going through the gardens, the obelisk, the gates, and the castle interior itself. It's nowhere near as impressive as Castle Peles from Romania, but that castle was built after this one was, and probably improved on the existing designs.

The castle grounds were enormous, and walking from one end to the other took about half an hour. Lots of people from all over the world seemed to have come to visit it, as noticeable by the multilingual tour-guides. There was even a dedicated Mandarin and Cantonese guide.

We walked around for the majority of the day, till my brother got a bit of heat stroke and we had to go back. We decided to go out to eat but we were too sore to move, so we found a nice little place three blocks from our room recommended by the locals and tasted true Viennese cuisine for the first time. Quite excellent food.

We got back home at around 10:00 and crashed for the night.

Day 10 - August 22, 2009

We spent the morning eating breakfast we shouldn't technically have gotten (the hotel guy assumed when we asked for a room for four, it was my father and I and two young kids?) and therefore charged us accordingly. The other girl at the counter started bitching about it when we asked for this morning's breakfast vouchers the night before, only giving us two, but a janitor delivered four to us a few hours later.

We then left for Venice, and went through the mountains to get into Italy. Really cool tunnels (some 5km long!) through the mountains, and fantastic views.

We then hit the main highway itself, and spent 2 hours sitting in traffic. Apparently, when thy merge two highways, they figure having only half of the lanes of the two summed highways is a perfectly good idea.

People started laughing when they saw our car because it stood out so much and they kept running into it. Meant they got nowhere.

Hopefully Venice has some hotels to stay at, as we haven't booked anything yet and we're very late according to our schedule.

We just arrived at the Hotel Holiday (not a Holiday Inn even though our map says it is) in Venice. A gypsy kid accosted cars at the entrance to buy flowers. My brother and father are looking to get us a room at the moment. The place looks shitty, overall. Italy so far looks like Romania would five years from now, but not much better. Hopefully tomorrow's trip to actual Venice makes up for this.

Oh, we ate at this hotel (I had some pasta and a cheese platter), and overall it was a pretty good meal. Apparently a bus will take us from this hotel right to the city itself, though it looks like a gaggle of Asian tourists are joining us as well...

We're getting free internets from the hotel, which is good, and it's not bad on the inside, so hopefully coming to Italy wasn't a mistake. Only it sucks that there's only one plug in total that is useful for laptops...

Day 11 - August 23, 2009

Today we spent all day in the sinking city of Venice. To summarize our trip, there was lots of water, no cars, plenty of humidity, smells of piss, and so forth.

The place itself is very nice to look at and very photogenic... if you're in the tourist spots and if no other people are around. It's essentially very photogenic in the right light and situation.

In our case it was scorching heat, overwhelming throngs of tourists, and the need to pay 1.50 Euros to drink water, then another 1.50 Euros to piss it out that annoyed us.

Would I visit it again? Probably not.

The majority of the city is just old European housing, crowded and with all grass/lawn/extra space taken up by water. Really cool to see once in your lifetime, I guess.

We then came back home, and everyone but me passed out for the night. I played some Transport Tycoon Deluxe, and then slept as well.

Day 12 - August 24, 2009

Today we left Italy and headed towards Vaduz. Leaving Italy was a pleasant experience (only one wrong turn), and plenty of mountain scenery. As soon as we saw the mountains, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief... And then held our breath as we went through a total of about 25 km of tunnel underneath mountain. We also crossed one of the longest tunnels in the world, measured at 14.6 km long, continuous.

We stopped at Innsbruck before this tunnel however, and thought that we'd originally stop over here to sleep (as the place is beautiful under the Alps), though we found that the rooms cost 250 Euros for a night, at their cheapest. The streets in Innsbruck were not built for people either, and as such, the innkeeper just assumed we would be taking transit and taxis throughout the city (something my dad didn't like).

We decided to keep going, which is what took us to our next stop.

We arrived at a random city in the middle of the way towards Vaduz, as we couldn't find any way to get a habitable hotel in either Vaduz or Innsbruck, and it was by far the best find we have stumbled upon to date. It's a place called Feldkirch, which has a beautiful city center, as well as a a fantastic restaurant overlooking the city itself and the old town center. Most of the buildings here were built from 1200 onwards (many rebuilt after the war, or repaired), giving it a terrific atmosphere.

It's clean, pleasant, and very nicely structured, and as such a hearty recommendation to visit. We stayed at the Old Post hotel for the night (which has neither AC nor internet, but is very well maintained), for reference. Mostly because the holiday inn across the street was full for some kind of event, though none of us regretted staying here.

Tomorrow we're planning on going all the way to Geneva, so sleep is important now.

Day 13 - August 25, 2009

Today was a very good day, in so far as scenery goes. We left our hotel in the morning, and walked around town for a bit, and we ended up buying a cable to let us listen to our music in the car (finally). After that, we left the town behind and proceeded through Lichtenstein.

Lichtenstein is essentially three cities merged into one continuous strip about the size of my neighborhood, and passing through it was interesting. On our right was the farm complex that fed the entirety of the country, and the river separating us from the Swiss; on our right was a mountain that served as the border to Austria.

Leaving Lichtenstein, we found ourselves in Switzerland, which is a gorgeous country to go through, provided that you're on the Austrian/German side. As soon as you cross into the French/Italian area you're more or less on your own.

We climbed through the Alps with the car (my dad driving up at least a few km of mountain), and we ate at the topmost restaurant in the area (great food).

After leaving, and descending a lot of mountains, we went further on to Geneva, where we got lost (and our GPS doesn't work there either because the whole city seems to be equipped with scramblers). We spent the next hour and a bit in the city looking for hotels and getting more and more lost, until we finally gave up and left, missing our exit to France the first time, but hitting it the second time. Had we stayed in Geneva for the night it would have cost us around 400 Euros per day minimum for a 'decent' hotel. The Ambassador that we stumbled on early on in this visit quoted 980 Euros per night.

Travelling through France, we decided to try our luck at the first major town that had more than one hotel, and found the town virtually dead upon entering. Every hotel apparently closes at 5:30 PM, and additionally, every service that is useful also closes at that time. In all of France. Whee.

Travelling further, we ended up stumbling into a Mercure hotel at almost midnight, and were fortunate it was a trucker stop and the receptionist was still there.

Day 14 - August 26, 2009

This day was mostly still travelling. We drove all the way through France to Brussels, where we spent the night. The tri was very uneventful, mostly filled with insults towards the French, and ignoring scenery because after being in the Alps, nothing quite compares.

Day 15 - August 27th, 2009

Today, we left Brussels and went to Amsterdam. We got into our hotel at 1:00 PM, and signed in. We left the hotel shortly after, and visited the town, including the world famous red light district (of which my mother wanted to see it the most... odd).

Lots of people were in the area, lots of coffee shops, and other souvenir shops. We had crepes, and ate ribs and rare steak for dinner, my brother had his smoke, and it all seemed to go pretty well.

We left for the hotel as the shops started closing, taking the same route back.

There's a lot of bikes everywhere here, and people use them regularly in place of cars and buses, with the occasional moped.

Day 16 - August 28, 2009

Today was another day of travel, this time leaving Amsterdam and heading into Paris. We were to spend a few hours on the way visiting Dunkirk and other historic sites, but the roads on the way were closed and the detours in France are horrid, so we chose to skip the visit and head off into Paris anyway.

Paris is a nightmare to drive through. City streets are crowded with jaywalkers, people ignoring traffic signals, and generally driving like idiots. I'm amazed no one died or hit us during our trip through the city core looking for our hotel (of which we went to the wrong side of town for the first time and had to go through the center once again to get to).

There was not a single car that wasn't hit or nicked or scratched on the road. Even the busses looked like they had parked car damage. It's amazing my father didn't get hit or hit anything the entire time, even when we went into a one way, too small for our car garage by accident.

After finding our hotel, we went out to eat and realized a bit too late that france closes at 5:30, and ended up going to a grocery store to pick up some food to eat (camembert, a kilo, for 2 euro...), half litre beer bottles, and so forth. We left just as the store was closing, ate in the hotel room, and went to bed.

Oh, by the way, the hotel dinner menu ends at 4:00, as the hotel's restaurant closes for the day then. Like most of France. What the fuck.

Day 17 - August 29, 2009

Today involved visiting all of Versailles, which turned out to be more of a tourist fad than anything. Excessively long lineup to see what amounts to the living rooms of old, dead people, and art works dedicated to their lineage. I like art, but this was just self fellation, I think. Behind Versailles is a little hamlet that Marie Antoinette used to visit/get away to that had farms, still functioning, and the like. A very interesting visit at this site, to say the least, and probably the only worthwhile part of Versailles to me.

We ended up finishing our visit of the rest of the area, and left Versailles while watching the cops chase after the scam artists that were trying to sell their wares to us.

We managed to get home without incident today, and parked in the parking spot on the other side of the hotel, as the one we parked at was 25 euro per night, whereas the other was less than half that.

My mom forgot the camera, so we had no pictures of all of this day.

Day 18 - August 30, 2009

My father took the car back this morning, managing to get us back about 500 Euros because it was returned early. The guy running the parking lot also tried to scam my dad by charging him more than necessary for the overnight parking, and my dad caught it. He said it would be fourteen Euros, but my dad was a bit angry and then told the guy to turn the monitor around, and the number was 8.11 Euros. Needless to say my dad was a bit pissed.

In any case, he took the car back, got back to us at a bit before eleven in the morning, and we then left to see the Louvre.

This was another inflated ego place, I think, where not one person seemed truly interested in what was being shown; only taking pictures to show they were there. This is especially true for the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa, where none of the people in the crowd were observing the art, but were just taking pictures confirming their proximity to them.

The cafeteria was abysmal (we were hungry and got horrendously ripped off - by a margin of at least 100%), but nothing special to say about that, save for the food was horrid.

The rest of the Louvre was essentially a larger ROM, with armed guards on the outside of the compound. Many pieces of art that were again viewed not for their merit, but for their age, and a lot of artifacts from various cultures were treated the same. The exhibits ranged from very good (the Egyptian/Mesopotamian ones), to really bland (the French history ones, where the topic of interest was simply portraits, banners, living rooms, and the like).

Nothing else to say about the day except after we got back home, we found ants in the hotel bathroom (and a mouse in the front lobby). We ate food from the only open boulangerie of the day.

Not much left to this trip. In the end, I don't really like France at all.

Day 19 - August 31, 2009

This is the second time I'm writing this because this laptop screwed up for some reason...

Today we planned on visiting three places - the Catacombs, Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe, of which we only really managed to visit two.

We woke up rather late, as my brother, mom, and I were up late last night talking and joking around, and so we left the hotel room at around eleven, after visiting the bakery from yesterday for breakfast.

We arrived at the catacombs and were immediately lost. Nowhere was a sign pointing towards it, and the map's location, when we arrived to it, was a Marriott boutique. This is, of course, after a bus driver that we asked told us it was in the opposite direction we were traveling in. In any case, the guy at the Marriott gave us directions, and we trekked back and across from where we exited the subway, and thought we might as well ask someone from there to see if they knew. They didn't really, but told us it should be around a green building on the other side of the street.

This green building was across the entrance to the subway we just got out of an hour ago. It was unmarked. And closed. Only on Mondays. Unadvertisedly so. Sigh, France.

We got annoyed, and moved on to our next destination - Notre Dame. The island this cathedral is on is interesting, and my father and I think if the subway were to flood here, the entirety of the subway system of Paris would flood, as they have no blocking mechanism.

As soon as we got to the cathedral itself, we noticed it wasn't as impressive as the ones in more Germanic countries on the outside, and there were a lot more gypsies around accosting people for money. We entered the cathedral, and went around. A few things caught my eye as we wandered through - firstly, that indoctrination starts very early. Kids as young as 3 or 4 were being told they absolutely must believe in this or that, and so forth (in the languages i could understand), and it seemed extremely cultish.

Next, the diorama of how the entire thing was constructed caught my eye, as it showed actual people working on it, and the various stages of construction. My brother and I were wondering if this cathedral saved nearly as many people as died building it. Probably not.

Lastly, we noticed that while entering the cathedral is free, going into the treasury segment involves adding to said treasury. They also suggest donations in actual denominations for various services/things. Under the big, red, advertised money amount, they had the gall to say "suggested donations, please give as much as you wish" in microprint. Sigh French Church and/or Catho/Christi/whatever.

Upon exiting the cathedral, we were immediately accosted by Gypsies begging for money (some even tried to get into the building itself, but were kicked out when the caretakers realised they were just there to beg for money.

One group in particular asked my dad twice if he speaks English, to which he replied to with "no" (they're really dumb), and we watched what they did when someone says yes. They give them a pamphlet off the internet, and while the person reads it, a younger, smaller, more casually dressed member sneaks up behind them and picks pockets, while the person handing them the pamphlet talks about random stuff and provides a distraction.

After leaving the area (and stopping by the 'park' behind the cathedral), we stopped and ate at a restaurant right across the river. The cops came and started ticketing random scooters parked illegally, and we saw our waiter (and chefs, and others working in the area) running madly to pull their own scooters away). Our meal was pretty decent, and there was a man on the bridge playing music on his accordion, so it was pretty nice overall. Very 'rustic', whatever that means.

On a side note, why the hell do the French, and many other Europeans, not know how to cut steak? They cut it following the grain, making it horribly tough, and don't know how to marinade it, and so forth. Ugh, Europe.

Moving on, we walked from the cafe all the way to the Louvre, took a restroom break (inside the Louvre no less), and then proceeded to walk through all of the Champs Elysses towards the Arc de Triomphe. We got to the outside of the Arc, noticed a shitton of people waiting to climb to the top, took a few pictures, and called it a day.

I'm sore as hell.

Tomorrow is the Eiffel Tower, and try number 2 for the Catacombs.

Day 20 - September 1, 2009

Today we ended up finishing our tour of Paris by going through the catacombs and visiting the Eiffel tower.

The catacombs themselves were by and large the best thing I saw on the trip (in France), and the only reason I'd ever go back to this country would be to visit them again.

Bones, neatly arranged to form patterns, walls, arches, and the like, filling in at least a meter and a half of wall space on either side of you. Many of the skulls told the story of how the person died, with visible deformities, cracks, hasty patchwork, and so on (from the ones that were intact), and added to the ambience.

An artist stopped halfway through the trip to sketch, and glancing over his shoulder it looked quite Lovecraftian in nature, which put me in the mood for the rest of the trip.

133 steps down, and 83 steps up (due to their step height), for the whole, and 1.7 km distance into the catacombs.

We left the area, and headed towards the Eiffel tower. On the way, we stumbled into a cafe and had probably the best pizza of the whole trip (the Italian pizza sucked when we were in Italy), and then visited the tower itself.

Half of the tower was closed off, though the two elevators were still working. The line being long, and the upper parts being filled solid, we decided to just take some pictures from the ground and walked towards the Champs Elysses one last time, stopped at the Louvre again, and left for the hotel.

Less than 24 hours till we're going home.

Current Location: Canada, Peterborough

Current Mood: relaxed