Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Oktoberfest Photos
Here's another link to the photos I took while we were in Munich this weekend. In order, it's pictures from the Marienplatz, the Dachau concentration camp, the Hofbrauhaus, the BMW Experience building and the BMW Museum, then it's all Oktoberfest photos.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Link for the Nice Photo Album!
Here's a link to the photo album of everything I've got from Nice, Antibes and Monaco. I know that some of them are blurry and most of them won't make much sense until I get the chance to add captions and such. Have fun!
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| Me in Antibes, on top of the fort we visited |
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Nice Day 2: City of Nice and Museum of Modern Art
Saturday
We had all decided to rise early on Saturday so that we could get going, so we were all up at about 7 and ready to leave the hostel at 9. Our first idea was to climb up to the top of a rock outcropping where there was a chateau at one point. We didn't get up to see the chateau, but we got to some beautiful vistas and a nice fake waterfall (as far as we can tell) at the top.
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| Christina, Katrina, Amanda and Gregg at the top of the hill near the chateau we never reached |
Next on our itinerary was the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. There was a huge display that was about the Chinese artist that organized and envisioned the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies. He had been experimenting with using gunpowder and black powder for drawings. The video of all his assistants creating the piece was interesting, though he never really did a lot of work as far as we could tell. I also really enjoyed the pop art displays there, where they had a lot of really iconic and recognizable pieces, though I don't remember the names :)
Lunch was next, and we got fruit, bread and some bacon chips and took it over to a park in the middle of the city to eat in the grass. Amanda had been really set on finding a small pastry shop, so we all got a little pastry there and took it to a square to eat before we split up. I wanted to go shopping for a man bag, and Christina wanted a new top to go out later that night, so we split up. It ended up really conveniently since the girls also wanted to go to the Matisse museum, while Gregg and I wanted to go to the beach more. My shopping hunt was successful, and I am now the proud owner of a man bag from Jules, a guy's clothing store here in France. It's definitely proved useful since I've gotten it.
Gregg and I then hung out on the beach for a good two hours or so, and I worked on going from paper white to merely pale in the sun, though I'm not sure how successful I was. We met up with the girls after we had our time on the beach and a relaxing beer at the bar in the hostel's ground floor, and left for dinner. We ended up at the same square where we ate Friday night, but at a different restaurant. I had the menu option again, so that I could eat as much local food as I could. The appetizer this time was a salade nicoise, a salad topped with seafood. My entree was medallions of delicious duck, and dessert was the last pear tart that the restaurant had :)
After dinner, we wandered around a small market until we heard fireworks, so we went to investigate. Once we rounded the big hill with the chateau at the top, we could see the fireworks being launched over the port that we knew was there. Right after they ended, a friend called and started talking about moon bounces and stages and music and stuff, so he found us then led us to the port, where they were celebrating the 150th anniversary of something to do with this port. There were four stages or so, and people everywhere, so we walked around and enjoyed the music and dancing for a little. We again tried to find organize with the other hostel to go out, and we eventually did, but most of us got frustrated with the walking around and being turned down from a few places, so we went back to hang around outside our hostel before we went to bed.
Lunch was next, and we got fruit, bread and some bacon chips and took it over to a park in the middle of the city to eat in the grass. Amanda had been really set on finding a small pastry shop, so we all got a little pastry there and took it to a square to eat before we split up. I wanted to go shopping for a man bag, and Christina wanted a new top to go out later that night, so we split up. It ended up really conveniently since the girls also wanted to go to the Matisse museum, while Gregg and I wanted to go to the beach more. My shopping hunt was successful, and I am now the proud owner of a man bag from Jules, a guy's clothing store here in France. It's definitely proved useful since I've gotten it.
Gregg and I then hung out on the beach for a good two hours or so, and I worked on going from paper white to merely pale in the sun, though I'm not sure how successful I was. We met up with the girls after we had our time on the beach and a relaxing beer at the bar in the hostel's ground floor, and left for dinner. We ended up at the same square where we ate Friday night, but at a different restaurant. I had the menu option again, so that I could eat as much local food as I could. The appetizer this time was a salade nicoise, a salad topped with seafood. My entree was medallions of delicious duck, and dessert was the last pear tart that the restaurant had :)
After dinner, we wandered around a small market until we heard fireworks, so we went to investigate. Once we rounded the big hill with the chateau at the top, we could see the fireworks being launched over the port that we knew was there. Right after they ended, a friend called and started talking about moon bounces and stages and music and stuff, so he found us then led us to the port, where they were celebrating the 150th anniversary of something to do with this port. There were four stages or so, and people everywhere, so we walked around and enjoyed the music and dancing for a little. We again tried to find organize with the other hostel to go out, and we eventually did, but most of us got frustrated with the walking around and being turned down from a few places, so we went back to hang around outside our hostel before we went to bed.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Nice Day 1: Antibes
Well, everyone, it's a week and a day late, but here's all about my trip to Nice (which ended up including Antibes and Monaco).
When I opened up, it's pitch black for a moment, then I look down at my expected bunk, and there's a bald guy in it! He kinda looks at me, and mumbles something in French, so I step in the car and attempt to say "I don't speak French well", at which point he realizes I'm an American and turns on my reading light for me. So after I shut the door, and then comes a few minutes of eating my sandwich for dinner and wondering what comes next, all sitting Quasimodo style under the bunk above me.
Turns out next locking my bag to the ladder in the room and then leave to go hang out with everyone else. We had a good time, even asking a few of the French people if they'd like to switch with few people. so we ended up with one compartment of all GTL students, so we could hang out and not disturb people.
We had lots of fun, and some good bonding time. We all were there until the power in the car went out, at about 11. I ended up trying to get in bed at about 11:30, and slept off and on until about 7 in the morning.
We arrived in Nice maybe 30 minutes late, and then went to a small diner for breakfast. I had my first real cafe creme there, and it was amazing!!! Nothing like the coffee I drank all summer long. It's understandable that everybody sits at a cafe and drinks coffee for hours a day when it tastes like that. After breakfast, we went to the hostel we were staying at and dropped our bags off. Christina, Amanda, Katrina, Gregg, Eric and I were all sharing one 6 person room, which was really convenient.
Eric split off to go to the beach and meet up with Mark and Chad (two other GTL students) there, while the other 5 of us went to Antibes for most of the day. We got there and were greeted with a beautiful waterfront as we oriented ourselves and walked around. The pictures I have can't to it justice because my camera can't really capture the amount that you can see from wherever you are. One of the first things we spotted Fort Carre on the biggest hill around. It was a fort from the Napoleonic era (I think) that was built in the shape of a 4 pointed ninja star. It's organized so that the artillery could cover nearly any land or water within a kilometer of the fort. We paid for a small tour of the fort that was in French, unfortunately, but we still enjoyed being able to walk around the fort some and see the beautiful vistas.
After the fort, we walked to through the old town of Antibes, where we had lunch at a small Lebanese place. We wandered around and enjoyed the views, then stopped at the Picasso Museum, which was fairly interesting. Once we were done with that, everyone was feeling pretty tired, so we made our way back to the train station and caught the next train back to Nice. Once we got there, we went back to the hostel and made our first trip to the beach for the weekend. The water was absolutely beautiful, even though it was quite a bit saltier than at Virginia Beach like I'm used to. I also kinda liked the pebble beach instead of a sand beach because I didn't get sand everywhere! :)
Dinner on Friday night was in Old Town Nice, where I got the three course menu. It's always a combo that has an appetizer, entree and dessert. My appetizer (or entree in French) was mussels with oil and garlic, which were great. The entree (plat in French) was lots of little squid topped with a tomato sauce and rice, and then I got an apple tart for dessert. After dinner, we tried to organize with the group at the other hostel to go clubbing, but I was having some intense leg pain, and a bunch of people had already gone to sleep, so nothing came of those plans.
Thursday Night
The start of the trip! We're all excited about our first real night train, and anxious about how it's going to go. I booked my reservations at a different time than everyone else, so I was a car ahead of everyone and didn't know anyone in my compartment. When I got there, the door is pitch black, and the door wouldn't budge (turns out that nothing on a train budges unless you throw your body weight into it).When I opened up, it's pitch black for a moment, then I look down at my expected bunk, and there's a bald guy in it! He kinda looks at me, and mumbles something in French, so I step in the car and attempt to say "I don't speak French well", at which point he realizes I'm an American and turns on my reading light for me. So after I shut the door, and then comes a few minutes of eating my sandwich for dinner and wondering what comes next, all sitting Quasimodo style under the bunk above me.
Turns out next locking my bag to the ladder in the room and then leave to go hang out with everyone else. We had a good time, even asking a few of the French people if they'd like to switch with few people. so we ended up with one compartment of all GTL students, so we could hang out and not disturb people.
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| Going clockwise from me: Gregg, Julie, Amanda, Curtis, Whitney's shoulder, and Kayla |
Friday
The train arrived at 8, so I packed up and left the compartment so I could get some light without disturbing my compartment mate. I walked down to the other groups car and bummed around there for a little, watching the beautiful landscapes go by. After we passed through Marseilles, the train ran right by the coastline for 90% of the remaining run into Nice. The French Riviera is absolutely beautiful along the route we took. Gregg, the guy next to me in the photo above, was blown away that the railroad got such great land to run train lines. We arrived in Nice maybe 30 minutes late, and then went to a small diner for breakfast. I had my first real cafe creme there, and it was amazing!!! Nothing like the coffee I drank all summer long. It's understandable that everybody sits at a cafe and drinks coffee for hours a day when it tastes like that. After breakfast, we went to the hostel we were staying at and dropped our bags off. Christina, Amanda, Katrina, Gregg, Eric and I were all sharing one 6 person room, which was really convenient.
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| A view from Fort Carre of the Antibes Port |
After the fort, we walked to through the old town of Antibes, where we had lunch at a small Lebanese place. We wandered around and enjoyed the views, then stopped at the Picasso Museum, which was fairly interesting. Once we were done with that, everyone was feeling pretty tired, so we made our way back to the train station and caught the next train back to Nice. Once we got there, we went back to the hostel and made our first trip to the beach for the weekend. The water was absolutely beautiful, even though it was quite a bit saltier than at Virginia Beach like I'm used to. I also kinda liked the pebble beach instead of a sand beach because I didn't get sand everywhere! :)
Dinner on Friday night was in Old Town Nice, where I got the three course menu. It's always a combo that has an appetizer, entree and dessert. My appetizer (or entree in French) was mussels with oil and garlic, which were great. The entree (plat in French) was lots of little squid topped with a tomato sauce and rice, and then I got an apple tart for dessert. After dinner, we tried to organize with the group at the other hostel to go clubbing, but I was having some intense leg pain, and a bunch of people had already gone to sleep, so nothing came of those plans.
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