Parisians? Nice or not?

Nice... or not? The first question I am always asked when people find out I have been to France is "Were they mean? I heard French people are mean." In my experience no one I encountered in France was mean or rude. Parisians could be pushy but never unkind.

In this post I am going to share some experiences I had when I was able to immerse myself in the culture.

First, my trip to Notre Dame. I am a Catholic and my group visited the church on Sunday so we were able to attend mass. It was the largest mass I had ever been too until I went to Australia. At Notre Dame you can climb the tower and look outside from the roof which is a great site; however you must be 18 or have a chaperone to climb the tower.

An interesting historic part of Notre Dame is the architecture and stained glass. Notre Dame has what is known as flying buttresses on the sides of the building. The stained glass has a special blue that was created before WWII. During that time the recipe for how to make that special color of blue was lost so it is found only in a few churches around the world and Notre Dame is one of them.

At mass it was a new experience. The mass was given partially in French and partially in Latin. The Catholic community is an amazing one though because since there are so many traditions even though I didn't understand the language I understood the mass. Interestingly during the mass tourists were still allowed in. So during the entire mass people were just roaming around while the middle section was reserved for actual mass participants. This is unlike Westminister Abbey in London which closes to tourists on Sundays.

During my time in Paris I was also able to take a tour of the old Veteran's Hospital. It is an impressive place and looks nothing like a hospital. It included a beautiful chapel.

The main difference between America and France in terms of veterans is how they are cared for. In America veteran's often say that they do not have enough benefits. In France this is not a problem. If you are a French veteran you never need to worry about care. Anytime during your life if you need healthcare of a place to live the veteran hospital is required to offer you a home for life.

Lastly, I had an amazing meal at a place called FLAM. It was a huge meal with the people constantly feeding us. FLAM was sort of like a French pizzeria. Unlike American pizza though, this pizza was incredibly thin with a sweeter sauce. The sauce was also white not a red marinara. The toppings ranged from mushrooms, ham, sausage, and various others. For dessert pizza was also served but this pizza had banana with cinnamon or chocolate chips for toppings.

A Walk to the Arc...

The Champs Elysee

During my time in Paris one of my favorite activities was exiting the beautiful Louvre and walking down the historic Champs Elysee toward the Arc de Triomphe. Directly outside the Lourve is a street that is built in essence through the museum. This street was built because the Louvre, being quire large, caused many traffic difficulties. Thus, a street was built for easier access and believe me it's a busy one. Wait for the walk sign!

Also outside the Louvre and before you reach the street there is a miniature Arc de Triomphe. It looks very similar to its larger arc down the street. This is because they were both built in honor of Napoleon. While the large arc does not have animals on top, the smaller arc has green horses atop. These horses were not always green however. These horses are made of copper and after several years atop the arc have eroded and are now an interesting shade of green.

Once you have crossed the street make sure you take a look straight toward the large Arc de Triomphe. From here you will notice that the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and small Arc de Triomphe all line up perfectly.

As you walk along towards the Champs Elysee there are several interesting sites. On your left will be the large sports center with red and yellow flags atop. Almost directly across from this on your right is the presidents house. When I was in France the president was still Jacque Chirac. Close to this home but behind you slightly is the American Embassy.

About half way to the actual street of the Champs Elysee is a fountain plaza where you can sit and rest. Many of the cities people were out feeding ducks and relaxing in the sun. After you finally reach the street; note the walk from the Loure to the Arc is a long one. We stopped in the middle to see a movie it was that long.

When you reach the street you enter an expensive shopping district, or expensive for a college student at least! As you travel further you see many movie theaters. These theaters are famous for hosting premieres of new films. Since we were there on the off season tickets were relatively inexpensive although more expensive than American theaters. Do not let this discourage you though; you want to spend that much believe me! My group saw a Chinese film that was of course in Chinese and then had subtitles in French. It was a rough movie. I had no idea what was going on, and it didn't help that the movie was strange to begin with.

What interested me about the whole experience was the theater itself. Inside the theaters are not so large as American theaters. And the chairs are AMAZING! I kid you not the chairs are each an individual seat and like a lounger you would have at home. It's like going to your own personal home theater. France has followed America's lead and begun to sell concessions at the theater. Before that time however, the theaters in Paris brought around snacks at an intermission half way through the movie. And another thing, if you decide to go to a movie go late. All the Parisians showed up at least 20 minutes late.

Once we left the theater we were about 2/3 of the way to the Arc. It is very pretty at night. Once we reached there we hopped the metro because our feet wanted to fall off.

Bonjour mon ami!

My time in Paris, France was spent touring some of the most famous sites but also experienceing the local culture. In this blog I will be sharing my expereinces at the Eiffel Tower, the Lourve, and a river tour of the Seine.

The Eiffel Tower tour was in retrospect much like taking a tour of the Hoover Dam but going up several levels rather than down. When taking a tour of the tower you can choose to travel to the first floor, second floor, or to the top. To go to the top you purchase a ticket for 12,00 euros, for group rates check http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/pratique/acces/page/tarifs.html?id=2_3#individuels. To take a tour visitors ride these massive elevators, just like at Hoover Dam. The lines are massive and there is a gift shop full of trinkets you can buy at a cheaper price in the tourist shops near the Eiffel Tower. Also I wouldn't totally disregard the venders directly in front of the tower. Some sell tiny Eiffel Tower key chains for very cheap!

Almost better than taking forever to get to the top of the tower was taking a river tour of the Seine. It was at night and you could see many other sites as well as the Eiffel Tower all lit up which is an amazing site. Although if I lived in Paris and a gigantic tower was lighting up every hour for a good ten minutes it would get old pretty quick. On the tour I was also able to see Napolean's bridge which has a giant N on it. The tour was on an outside small tour boat. You float past the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame. Most importantly if taking a tour like this make sure to bring an umbrella. This is not only for shelter from the rain but also in case someone dumps items from atop a bridge your way.The Louvre is bigger than I had ever imagined. I spent one day there but I could have spent several days and still not have seen everything. I was able to view the catacombs which is the area below the main levels of the Louvre, the famous pyramid, and famous art such as the Mona Lisa, Aphrodite by Venus de Milo, and amazing art on the ceiling. The Louvre costs 13 euros. To find out more go to http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=enww.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en.
<= The Catacombs

The Ceiling
















The Pyramid

Giant TortoiseDingo

Echidna

Emu

Kangaroo

Koala

Maury the Crocodile

Birds

Asian Elephants: Siam, Sabu, and Little Bimbo

G'day Mate!

During my stay in Sydney I was able to eat, shop, and experience a little of Sydney's culture.

FOOD: While in Sydney I was able to experience some of the best and most interesting food of my life! The most interesting thing I consumed on the trip was kangaroo and squid pizza. Yes Aussies do eat their national animal. I know many of you are making disgusted faces but the kangaroo tasted like beef jerky and actually made for a good pizza topping. This pizza was made in a wood fire oven so it was thinner than most American pizzas. Another great pizza spot was Wilson's pizza which offered not only pizza but also handmade gelato. Interestingly in Australia they do not have a standard sauce for pizzas. You have to specifically ask for the margarita style which would be like our red sauce. There is also a buffalo sauce and white cream sauce.

SHOPPING: Shopping was also a different experience as well as what people were wearing. Fortunately Australia does have Target but no WalMart. Unfortunately their Target is slightly more pricey than our own. The only grocery store chain they have is called Coles. It offers everything you would find in the states plus some other excellent goodies such as Tim Tams which are a type of cookie. Places like 7-Eleven are not gas stations but more convenient stores located nearly on every corner. An interesting fact I learned at such stores was that while they still legalize cigarette use they put horrible pictures of what cigarettes can do to you on the cartons. Those pictures would really make me think twice before buying. However, in contrast to this there is a Tobacconist located on nearly every corner as well.

Australians, I noticed, also put high concideration in dressing well, at least in the larger cities. I did not see many sweat pants, cut-off jeans, or grungy clothes. What I did see was a lot of fancy boots, high class bags, and well-dressed people.

EXPERIENCE: Sydney also offered two activities I had never experienced! At least not in the way I have traditionally experienced them. For a day in Sydney I was able to visit China Town, http://www.discoversydney.com.au/things/chinatown.html. The symbol that you have entered China Town is this tree. A word of advice for tourists in Sydney; avoid tourist shops in malls. Try going to the part of China Town under the large mall where there is a basement market. They have everything you could possibly want in a souvenir. There is fresh fruit and vegetables, food, jewelry, clothes, hats, trinkets, shoes. Basically anything you can imagine and I guarantee it is cheaper than tourist shops in other areas.

I was also able to visit the Australian Zoo which was located a ways out of Sydney. This is the deceased Steve Erwin's zoo, http://www.australiazoo.com.au/. The Crocodile Hunter's zoo was very different than zoos in the states. Instead of having large crevases seperating you from the animals you are actually allowed to get quite close to all of them. I first viewed a show in the Croceseum, yes that's its real name. Here I saw Steve's daughter Bindi preform with her Crocmen and also saw Steve's wife work with the crocodiles. There was all types of animals and the best part about it was you were allowed to feed, touch, or stand right in their habitat. There is elephant and turtle feedings everyday. Dingoes are walked around the park and everyone is allowed to cuddle with a koala. The best part is taking a trip into Roo Haven and being able to pet and feed kangaroos! I'll post another blog with pictures of all these animals!

Down Under in Sydney

I traveled to Australia this past summer for a month. During that time I spent about two weeks in Sydney. I was really there to attend World Youth Day, the largest Catholic youth gathering in the world. During my time in Australia I was able to see some amazing things including koalas, kangaroos, the beautiful Sydney harbor, and of course Pope Benedict XVI. My three top favorite spots in Sydney were the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay (pronounced key) and Darling Harbor, and St. Mary's Cathedral. These three can't be missed!

The Sydney Opera House was one of the most interesting structures I have ever seen. The story goes that when thinking of constructing an opera house a committee selected the sight for the opera house and named it after an Aborgine who was born on the sight and the first to speak English, Bennelong Point. The committee then set up a international competition for architects to submit their idea of what the opera house would look like. Danish architect, Jorn Utzon won the contest in January of 1957. Construction was only expected to take four years but was not completed until 1973. For more check out a sight all about the history of this amazing building at http://www.gids.nl/sydney/opera.html.

Tours and countless shows are available at http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/. Tours can be slightly expensive at $35 just to look around a building for an hour but it is definitely worth it. Plus you can get a reduced price if you order online!

During my tour I was able to see three of the five main performances areas. These are the Concert Hall, Opera Theatre, the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse, and the Studio. We were able to see the Drama Theatre, located below the two main halls. Then we journeyed upstairs to view the Concert Hall. The hall has 2,678 seats and excellent acoustics. Here I was able to hear the orchestra play. Then I viewed the Opera Theatre. This is the smaller of the two main performance halls. It only contains 1,547 seats. Here I saw a set change for "Our Fair Lady" being set up. In this theatre the set crew has to change the area with the aide of an elevator since both large halls do not have much backstage space. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the inside of this amazing structure since my tour was not allowed to take pictures.

Circular Quay and Darling Harbor is the place for shopping, food, cruise and ferry rides, and fun. While in Syndey I took the Coffee Cruise on the Syndey 2000 with Captain Cook Cruises to view the Syndey Harbor and famous bridge. Captain Cook Cruises offers several other cruises as well at http://www.captaincook.com.au/. It was very pretty. I also took a ferry through the harbor to a cute shopping district on the other side of the bridge. The ferry is the cheapest way to see the harbor since it is part of the public transportation system.

St. Mary's Cathedral was very beautiful inside and out. It had a gorgeous picture of the Virgin Mary or as they call her down under, Our Lady of the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross refers to a star constellation that you can only see in that part of the world. And you guessed it, its in the shape of a cross.

In a few days I'll take you a little further inside Syndey's culture with what they wear, where they shop, how expensive things are, and a quick peak into China Town.