3 Days, 3 Cities

Another weekend of travel!

For the first time we took advantage of RyanAir flights for cheap. We took the train to Charleroi and then the airport. The plane was a relatively good size with 3 seats on either side of the aisle. There are tons of ads on the overhead storage compartments. Everything is made out of the plastic and to our dismay; the seats don't recline at all. I knew I was in Europe when after the traditional smoking is not allowed messages, RyanAir proceeded to offer smokeless cigarettes that you are allowed to have in the plane and in public areas.

 

Two hours later we found ourselves in Bratislava, Slovakia. We took the bus in to the city from the airport. As a friend from Calgary said, "It is like Hamilton". I would say it is like Hamilton, only drearier and the people look more depressed. Once we got downtown things were better, but relatively grey. We found our hostel with ease. It used to be an apartment building that they converted into a hostel. That was great because we had a much bigger room than we are used to in hostels. The furniture, sheets and windows were all new. We were lucky that the six of us were able to have a room for us to stay in together. It is the nicest hostel I have stayed in – and also the cheapest.

Thursday night we went out. A lot of things are cheap in Slovakia, including food. We went out for a really delicious meal. Based on the décor inside the restaurant, we would not have been able to afford the food if we were anywhere else. I had gnocchi with asparagus and shrimp which was absolutely awesome. Later, we found ourselves at the bottom of the rock face looking up at the castle on top. There was a bunker built into the mountain during WWII which they have now turned into a bar/club.

 

Friday we got up to tour around Bratislava. As it turns out, it doesn't take very long to see all of the historic sites in Bratislava. We took out our guide book and proceeded to look around the old part of town. The Town Hall and the Castle were rebuilt in the 1960s. The castle dated back to 907 but burnt down in 1811. It was rebuilt in the height of the communist regime. I was disappointed to see that one of the top two things to see in Bratislava was built less than 50 years ago. I also found that they didn't do a good job with the castle – it is very simple and boxy. It does not fit well with the wall that surrounds it. But oh well…

We proceeded to race to the train station to head to Vienna. There were no automatic machines so we all had to wait in line last minute to try and get tickets and then run to get the train. Eleven euros and two hours later we found ourselves in Vienna. Vienna is definitely one of my favourite European cities. It is absolutely beautiful. We spent time walking around looking at all the buildings and found ourselves in the Christmas market in front of the Town Hall. Everything was lit up and we spent an hour and a half walking around the market. We made sure to pick up some strudel.

Saturday morning we got up and took the train to Budapest. Three hours and 16 euros later we found arrived. We were able to see 7 of the top ten things to see in Budapest in one day. We started up at Hero's Square and worked our way down to St. Stephen's Basilica and the Parliament. We were about to just walk past the church when I thought we might as well go inside. I am glad we did because it was absolutely gorgeous. I found it less overwhelming than St. Peter's Basilica and the ceiling was so much closer. We headed over to the Parliament building which I have to say is very different from the Canadian Parliament or any others that I have seen because of its Gothic architecture. My favourite part by far was standing on the embankment and looking across the water to Buda where you could see the castle and St. Michael's Church and a whole bunch of older buildings. A delicious dinner later, and it was back to Bratislava.

Paris, je t’aime

Paris is by far my favourite of the four major European cities that I have visited so far. Even the back streets are gorgeous with their black balconies and architecture.

Before meeting up with a friend from home, I got off the subway to find myself standing in front of the Louvre. It was beautifully lit. I am still undecided as to whether or not I like the pyramid. It doesn't quite fit, but it adds something to a square that might otherwise seem empty. We took lots of pictures and then headed off for a late dinner. I made the decision upon my arrival that if I was coming to Paris; I was going to eat French food. We found ourselves a little restaurant and had a three course meal, quite different from the student dishes and never ending ham sandwiches that I have been having in Louvain-la-Neuve. We were the last to leave the restaurant. I started with a crab soup, which was absolutely delicious. I chose to have chicken with leak in a cream saffron sauce, also very good. The waiter suggested that we all share a piece of chocolate cake. As the awesome Canadian girls that we are, we each had our own piece. J

With very little time in Paris, on Saturday we started the big loop of Paris. We first went to the Louvre to see it during the day. We made our way up the Champs Elysées (trying to blend in at the Louis Vitton store) to the Arc de Triomphe. We discovered that if you go to the far side, there is no one there and we were able to take lots of pictures. We made our way down to the Eiffel Tower and stood there staring at how cool it is. We took the subway to Notre-Dame, which was of course beautiful even in the rain, with water pouring out of the gargoyles' mouths. Either my friend and I look like terrorists, or the armed officers had nothing better to do, but we were followed around by armed men as we toured around Notre-Dame and the back garden. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go in. Next time!! We went to the Jewish memorial which is located right behind Notre-Dame. It was a completely different way of remembering all of the people who were put in internment camps. They tried to be very symbolic in terms of narrow passageways and other architecture made to represent the confined spaces and barbed wire.

We headed to the hotel national des invalides (musée de l'armée) where we walked around the main courtyard as well as the second floor. I was touched by the number of plaques that lined the walls recognizing the participants and the hundreds of thousands who died in the First World War including the nurses, polish volunteers and Moroccan volunteers, to name a few. The one I found most striking was the plaque that had been mounted to recognize the Jewish volunteers during the war. Underneath was another plaque which explained that during the WWII, the Germans stole the plaque and placed it in their own war museum as a trophy of their victory. In 1946, once the war was over, as part of the mission to rebuild Europe, the plaque was reclaimed and put back in the war museum in Paris.

Saturday night we took the train the small city of Arras in Northern France. Sunday morning we took a taxi up to Vimy Ridge for the Remembrance Day ceremonies. All of a sudden as we headed up towards the monument, the ground was suddenly bumpy with all of the craters from all of the mines. So much of the land is still closed off because of unexploded munitions. A few seconds later, everything opened up and we could see the huge monument in the middle of the field and you could see out for miles over the ridge.

A bunch of bureaucrats were attending the ceremony including the Canadian Ambassador in France, some French politicians as well as the Canadian keynotes, the head of the Canadian Space Agency and Gilles Duceppe. There were maybe a hundred and fifty of us in total. I was surprised that the ceremony was mainly in French. I understand that we are in France and French was the first language for many of the speakers, but there were still many Canadians there who spoke no French at all so much of what was said went over their heads.

After the ceremony, we were approached by a reported from the Canadian Press as well as some other people who found it was quite odd to see a bunch of young people there. The visit to Vimy Ridge was organized by someone I know in Commerce at Queen's and we had each brought a couple of Canadians that we had met on exchange. On our tour of the trenches they asked us again about how we had ended up at Vimy. Usually it is older people who visit Vimy, or people who from the armed forces who are currently serving overseas. One particular older Quebec man visits Vimy every day. Apparently during WWII he was captured by the Germans, we weren't sure if it was a prisoner of war, but he was forced to mine and dig for the Germans. Either way, having people our age at Vimy is very unusual. We could see that the tour guides were also happy to have people their own age around.

We toured the trenches that have been maintained as well as the section of the tunnels. I found it interesting that there was a completely different methodology in how the trenches were built. On the German side, the trenches were set up in a more permanent way, with wider, more systematic trenches with certain parts made out of cement. The Germans had gained this position and were going to maintain it. On the Allies or Canadian side, it was all about moving forward. We only wanted to be there as long was necessary. The soldiers survived in the mud and were always pushing forward, it wasn't about being comfortable. Before the attack, the soldiers had to stay in the tunnels underground for 36 hours without moving, with only 12 hours worth of rations before attacking. I don't know how they did it considering how little room there is in the tunnels. I barely clear the overhead support beams and you could barely put two of me standing shoulder to shoulder in some of the sections.

I had always thought that the Vimy monument had been built after WWII and found it incredible that it had been built in 1920 and was able to withstand WWII. We discovered in the tour that while other monuments throughout Europe had been destroyed during WWII, Hitler respected the Vimy monument and did not want it destroyed. The monument wasn't about a celebration of victory or beating the Germans, but about commemorating lost soldiers during war and peace. He specifically ordered that it not be destroyed.

As my friend said, being at Vimy was like being home. We were surrounded by friendly Canadians, discussing where we all came from, why we were in Europe etc. Not to say that the French or the Belgians aren't friendly – but it's not the same. We also got to see some good old Canadian politics at work. We were down in the tunnels, and after being down there less than 10 minutes, we were told that we would have to back up because the next tour group wanted to come down. So, the 25 of us cut our tour short and headed back outside. Who was waiting to go down? None other than Gilles Duceppe and his 3 assistants, completely oblivious. We all looked at each other and shook our heads – even the guys from Montreal were laughing. We later found out that he had also requested a francophone tour guide. Not an Anglophone who can speak French, not a bilingual from Ottawa. Nope, it had to be the one francophone who works at Vimy Ridge.

After leaving Vimy, we spent some time around Arras. In the old part it is very quaint. As we put it, its architecture is very Belgian. Yes, we are starting to recognize different architecture styles. Its Grande-Place is actually much bigger than the Grande-Place although much simpler with less gold and no columns.

Sunday night we returned to Paris and went by Moulin Rouge and walked up over 100 stairs to Montmatre, where we accidentally ended up sitting through a mass. We got out early enough that we were able to see the Eiffel Tower light show. It was beautiful to see from up the hill. That night, I got my final French meal consisting of Onion Soup and Boeuf Bourguignon. I have to say, Mom's soup is better J

London

This trip started as they all do…..with terrorist attack warnings. France had suggested that its citizens not go to London. If they had to, they should stay away from tourist areas. Good to know.

Upon my arrival in at King's Cross, I went to the British Library. In the centre of the library is a giant glass-encased bookshelf known as the King's Library. In it you can find all kinds of old volumes of value; atlases, dictionaries, literature, etc. I visited the special exhibit with some of the oldest editions of various books. There were several Qur'ans, as well as pages from early editions of Greek bibles. One of the first ever printed books from China can be found here as well as Jane Austen's hand-written "History of England" which she wrote when she was sixteen. You can find books from all of the different cultures and religions in this room. This includes the napkin that the Beatles wrote some of their initial lyrics on and the step by step written developments that became the different versions of the renowned Alice in Wonderland.

I got to meet my Scottish companion (friend from Queen's) at King's Cross although we weren't able to meet at Platform 9 ¾ as planned because of construction. If you need to ask where Platform 9 3/4 is, you should probably start reading a little more, or learn how to count. From here we began our two day London sprint.

We got our metro passes and headed on the underground to the Tower of London and London Bridge.

 

We headed to Picadilly Circus for dinner in search of Fish and Chips which we found in great abundance and walked around Trafalgar Square.

Saturday we got up and headed on a three hours walking tour of London. This is the second time that I had taken one of these tours that are offered all over Europe. They are free, and you tip the tour guide however much you deem appropriate. Of course we saw Buckingham Palace and heard about the one drunken guy who was able to break in. We saw the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square (this time learning about the pigeon contraception), Nelson's Column, 10 Downing St., and Big Ben (which is the bell not the clock)…….the whole nine yards. In the afternoon, we headed up to Notting Hill in the hopes of seeing Hugh Grant – he wasn't there. But, we got to go through the Portobello Market which is so long we couldn't get through the whole thing. We saw all kinds of clothes, trinkets, and junk. We then started to walk through the neighbourhood to find ourselves a cup of tea. It is absolutely gorgeous there and I decided that I would live on Orchard Gardens Rd.

    

Saturday night we returned to Picadilly Circus in the hopes of seeing a show while in London. Unfortunately we arrived too late and most tickets were booked up. We found ourselves on the steps of the play "Deathtrap" featuring Jonathan Groff (lead in Tony Award Winning Spring Awakening, Glee) and 5 minutes later had prime seats at student price. This was a very odd play within a play and we have never asked ourselves so many times "where is this going". But, we got to see a play in London, England.

Sunday morning we took the train out to Greenwich. We walked through the Naval Academy and up to the Meridian Time clock. There was a museum filled with lots, and lots of clocks as they evolved. The park was beautiful and we returned to the market to find something to eat. They have cuisine from all over the world, anything from curry, to perogies, to spring rolls and crepes. You can get set lunches for 5 pounds – not a bad deal.

The afternoon, we returned to London to Harrod's, one of the biggest stores I have ever seen with everything imaginable and all of the most elite clothing, jewelry and accessory brands. They had delis and candy stores, absolutely everything. This was the perfect opportunity to pick up some tea. English Breakfast. Check. Afternoon Blend. Check. Earl Grey. Check. Outside were also the most Mercedes, BMWs, Range Rovers, Aston Martins and Porsches I have ever seen in one place. The next stop was the British Museum where unfortunately we were only able to spend an hour and a half before it closed. We were able to see the Rosetta Stone, its copy, a bunch of pottery as well as some of the traditional ancient Egyptian mummification artifacts. We ended our weekend in London with a stroll through Hyde Park where they still have Canadian geese.

 

We arrived safe and sound at home. We only saw one protester with a peace flag in Trafalgar Square over our three days in London. I would however like to add that my train to Louvain-la-Neuve from Brussels was delayed because of protestors.