Paris France

Good, bad or ugly, everyone has something to say about France and the French: chic, smart, sexy, rude, racist, bureaucratic whatever. I had many preconceived notions in regards to the people of France and I went expecting the worst. Prior to my trip to Paris I was told that the French were among the snobbiest people in the world. To my surprise I did not have one bad encounter with one of the local Parisians. I learned that as long as you attempt to speak there language they are willing to help you out. So with every French encounter I started out with “Bonjour parlez vous anglais?” and ended with “Merci” and “s’il vous plaît”. My time in France was spent in Paris, the city of lights. Paris, one of the most elegant and romantic cities in the world, probably has more familiar landmarks than any other city in the world. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time in Paris and cannot wait to go back.

One of the reasons we traveled to Paris was not only to explore the city but to spend Thanksgiving with one of our friends that is studying in Paris, Katie Sell. Before we had arrived Katie Sell had mentioned that it was important that we remember the first time we had seen the Eiffel Tower. Well my first encounter was on my way into Paris from Beauvais, the airport that good old Ryanair flies into. As an aside Ryanair never flies into the main airports, but rather smaller airports that are about an hour outside the city. Although I guess that’s why the flights are so cheap. Anyways I was sitting on the bus as we began to enter the city of Paris from the autoway and we were in one of the more industrial/sketchy areas of Paris driving to bus drop and I looked to my left and there its was peeping above the old communist like office buildings into the blue sky. So my first encounter may have not been as stunning as others but it is something that I will always remember. Another part of Paris that I will always remember is the food. I think Paris boosts some of the best food in Europe. Almost every morning before we began to check sights of the town, we would hit up a local bakery and got Quiche fromage. They were so good and I think we were all addicted to those things. Also on the last evening of out Parisian adventure Katie took us to eat at a restaurant that, in her opinion, made the best French onion soup. And she was right, that soup was probably the best soup I have ever had. The broth was loaded with good oniony flavor, loaded with cheese that had the perfect oozy consistency and you could tell the bread had just been made ten minutes before being served … SOO GOOD. Normally when we travel we attempt to pack as many cities into a trip as humanly possible but for our time in Paris we strictly stayed in Paris. We spent 4 days in Paris and it was a nice change. We hung out with Katie who has a really nice apartment in the Latin Quarter of Paris. We all felt as though we got to experience the Parisian lifestyle by hanging out with Katie and doing some of the things that normal Parisians do every do like get fresh groceries from the local food vendors. For those that plan on traveling to Paris in the future beware because Paris is an expensive city! When we travel we tend to take the metro everywhere that is not walkable. In most cities that we have traveled to an all day metro pass has been no more than €5 but in Paris an all day metro pass was €11,60. However the wine is dirt cheap, one could get a bottle for as little as €2. I am glad that I had the opportunity to travel to Paris as it is somewhere that everyone should venture to and Paris's beauty is quite overwhelming, especially at night, when it truly is the City of Light.

THE EIFFEL TOWER

Caitlin and I on the Metro

Thanksgiving at Katie flat in the Latin Quarter. For her first dinner she did an awesome job everything was really good. Watch out mom you may have some competition for the best Thanksgiving meal.

I am sitting in a chair that looks like Santa in the Renault Showroom. Renault is a type of French car.

The Louis Vuitton Store

(Just for you mom) You can tell how important Louis Vuitton is to the Parisians even from the address. 1 Champs-Élyées, coined as the most beautiful boulevard in the world, in the 1st Arrondissement (Paris is broken up into different areas or arrondissements). Its as if the LV store is at the center of Paris.

The Arc de Triomphe - This monument honors all that have fought for France

A view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe of the Champs Élyées

The Eiffel Tower from the Arc

The Place de Concord - One of the largest squares in Paris and at the center of Paris

Me on a bridge over looking the River Seine

Notre Dame

The Louvre - This museum is HUGE! It was calculated that if you spent 30 seconds looking at each painting without taking a break it would take one 2 weeks to go through the entire museum.

The Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is the Louvre most recognizable painting. She is behind bullet proof glass as well as guarded by two guards to the right and left of her.

One of the 5 pyramids in the Louvre. The movie the Da Vinci Code popularized the Louvre's pyramids.

The Moulin Rouge

Sacré-Coeur - The Sacred Heart Church

The oldest windmill in Paris.

The Wall of Love - This wall says "I love you" in over 300 different languages and is in the Montmarte district, the very artsy area of Paris.

The night we went to the Eiffel Tower there was an unexpected light show coordinated to music. We thought it might be for the holiday season

Caitlin and I at night behind the Eiffel Tower

Our crazy yet funny tour guide. There is a company, New Europe, that gives free tours in certain major European cities and I went on the one in Berlin and enjoyed it so much that I went on the tour in Paris.

The Pont Neuf - The oldest bridge in Paris

This building is dedicated to maintaining the French language. The main purpose is to prevent any English, German or other foreign words from assimilating into the french language. Apparently when the computer was invented the French began to use the world le computer but this institute wasn't happy and decided to change the word to l'ordinateur. So now the French must officially refer to a computer as l'ordinateur.

Me holding the Obelisk in the Place de Concord

Now for an update for my life back in Ireland. I can hardly believe that I have to end my European adventure in a little over two weeks. I am looking forward to going home but will truly miss my European lifestyle. Even though I want to stay in Europe my bank account, or lack there of, is forcing me to come home and get a job. All is well in Cork and the Irish are working hard to restore the city after the flood. The school is back open and students are beginning to prepare for end of term exams. I have been writing papers like mad. So recently my time has been spent in the library on Q+3 hiding in a corner with my computer writing papers on the ethics of torture and European integration with regard to the formation of the European Union. I intend on taking more pictures of Cork city as well as picture of my flat. Recently it has been raining a lot in Ireland. In Cork there has been non stop rain since Wednesday. Tomorrow is the beginning of the Christmas festival and Christmas market so I plan on checking that out to see how the Irish celebrate Christmas. So far it seems that they have many of the same traditions as we do in the U.S. According to the RTE news this year Ireland will have a shortage of Christmas Trees, just a little fun fact.

Stockholm Sweden - The Capital of Scandinavia

After our Polish experience we hoped on a plane for the capital of Scandinavia, Stockholm Sweden. I had many pre-conceived notions of this place, for instance I envisioned it as being the land of the snowbound winters with lots of meatballs, herring, Vikings, Volvo's, and Ikea. However my notions were both confirmed and confounded. There is so much more to Sweden than Volvos and Vikings. In fact Sweden is the sight where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. After arriving in Skavsta we caught a bus that took us through some of the Swedish countryside to Stockholm, and I was mesmerized by the pastoral beauty and visions of intense green countryside, impenetrable forests, wooden red roofed houses atop remote islands and Sweden’s famously clear blue water. That bus ride made me wish that I had the opportunity to travel throughout the Swedish countryside, but we eventually ended up in Stockholm, Sweden’s capital. Stockholm, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a mirage of terracotta-colored buildings dotted with light in the winter. Stockholm is a vibrant, modern city, famous for producing sleek designs, edgy and trendy fashion, and world-class nightclubs. One thing to note about Sweden is that because of its high latitude on the globe it gets very few hours of sunlight in the winter and many hours of light in the summer. Thus, while we were in Stockholm the sun came up at around 8am and was down by 3pm so needless to say we had to pack a lot of sightseeing in a few hours. We arrived in Stockholm late Saturday evening and after arriving we walked down the main part of town known as Sergels Torg on our way to our hotel, which by the way was the smallest hotel I have stayed in. One thing I noticed is that Swedes love to shop in that I have never seen so many shopping centers in one city. I know that Tayler would love Stockholm since there is a five level mall next to a seven level mall next to an underground mall and H&M is literally all over the place. Sweden is a member of the European Union but has not adopted the Euro and are still on there own currency, the Swedish Kronor ( kr or :- ). So €1 will get you 11kr and a burger at Max, the Swedish version of In ‘n’ out costs about 29kr or €2,50. Max, by the way, had the best fries because they pile cheese, bacon, and jalapeños on top. Overall Sweden is a place that I want to go back to, not only to explore Stockholm more since we clearly did not have enough time or daylight, but also the countryside which is among the most stunning I have seen so far in Europe.

The Swedish countryside on our way from Stockholm to Skavsta to catch our flight back to Ireland.

Sergels Torg -Both of the high rise buildings are shopping centers and bellow the circular square is an underground shopping center.

The Gamla Stan - Meaning old town in Swedish. Since Sweden remained neutral throughout both world wars the Gamla Stan is considered on of the most in tact old towns in Europe.

A view of the Gamla Stan from the bridge that enters this area. Stockholm is built upon 24 islands and the Gamla Stan is on its very own island.

Entrance to the Gamla Stan.

The Riksdag. The house of Swedish Parliament.

Stora Hopegränd or the dank alley - the narrowest street in the Gamla Stan

Stockholm by night - The entire city was decked out in lights and there were Christmas trees everywhere preparing for the Christmas season

The Absolut Ice Bar - Where everything is made of ice including the glasses that you drink out of.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

There is no single European country that suffered as much as Poland did during World War II. Millions of Poles, and nearly the entire prewar Jewish population of over three million, were killed in concentration camps. It is important to note that Hitler did not only target the Jews but also the Poles, where his Nazi ideology considered the Poles to be inferior to the Germans. With that our second day in Poland was spent seeing Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was about an hours bus ride outside of Krakow. The Auschwitz extermination camp was established in April 1940 by the Germans in the prewar Polish army barracks on the outskirts of Oświęcim. Auschwitz was originally intended for Polish political prisoners, but the camp was “repurposed” as a dedicated centre for the wholesale extermination of the Jews of Europe. For this purpose, the much larger camp at Birkenau was constructed. Auschwitz is largest of the Nazi extermination camps, and the scene of the largest attempt at genocide in human history, as well as the world’s largest cemetery. This experience was almost overwhelming in that the site, the conditions, and the actuality of what happened there was far worse than what I expected. The terror and horror of that place is unreal its almost difficult to explain. As we walked through some of the exhibits in Auschwitz, on display were people’s suitcases with their names and addresses on them. Viewing the suitcases makes one realize that an innocent person owned each suitcase. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed to be taken within the different barracks so I have nothing to show for these horrific exhibits. Therefore it is important to be aware of history and the past so that nothing like this is ever repeated again.

The infamous gate of Auschwitz with the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" German for work makes one free or work shall set you free.

Within Auschwitz there are two camps including Auschwitz and Birkenau. This picture is of some of the barracks in Auschwitz. Auschwitz was a concentration camp where Jews, Poles, Communists, and Prisoners of War were forced to work.

Death Wall - where many people working in Auschwitz were shot.

The entrance to Birkenau. Birkenau is several times larger than Auschwitz and is the site where millions of Jews were gassed to death in the gas chambers.

Inside Birkenau

On the left hand side is the train car where Jews were unloaded after days of travelling, and on the right is the site of the selection process where Jews were either chosen to work in the camp or to be sent straight to the gas chamber.

The Gas Chambers. When it was evident to the Germans that they would lose the war it was important that they destroy any evidence that would lead the rest of the world to believe that the Germans were committing a mass genocide. So there is not a single gas chamber and crematorium that is still intact in that the Germans destroyed them using dynamite. The Germans were very good a hiding what they were doing in the extermination camps from the outside world in that they simply said the camps were strictly prisoner of war camps. As well as the cyclone B that was used to kill the Jews in the gas chamber was delivered in red cross cars.

Inside one of the buildings where Jewish women would have lived. The living conditions were horrific. For example it was colder in the building than it was outside and about 10 women would have slept on one of those plank beds.

The larger side where men would have been kept. Since the building were made out of wood many of them have broken down over the past 60 years and only the brick furnaces remain.

Krakow Poland

Yesterday I reached the one-month mark for my return back to the U.S. I am getting excited to venture back home to see my family, but I have realized how much I enjoy living in Europe and having the ability to travel around the different regions and experience the vastly different cultures. Recently I returned from Krakow Poland and Stockholm Sweden. Although while we were away there was a bit of a natural disaster back in Cork. Apparently due to the increase in rain over the past couple of weeks the dam that controls the water levels in the River Lee was reaching capacity so some Irish engineers decided to lets some water out but after doing so it caused some of the quays to burst flooding the entire city. Basically most of Cork City was knee high in water and in return the flooding damaged most of UCC so school has been cancelled for the entire week and is expected to resume next Monday. Many of my friends living in on campus housing were relocated to accommodations outside of the city. In my own flat complex in downtown the entire ground floor was filled with water up to one’s knees but since I live on the floor above the first floor no water got into my room so luckily we returned from Sweden to a dry room.

Nevertheless, those of us that were not in Ireland but in Poland and Sweden had a great time traveling around Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. On our way to Krakow Poland we spent another night at our home away from home, The Dublin Airport. This was our second time where we arrived in Dublin the night before and had a flight early the next morning. Thank God Dublin Airport has a Starbucks because they have the most comfortable couches to sleep on compared to the wooden benches over at McDonalds. We arrived in Poland the next morning at around 10am. Poland is one of the poorer countries in Europe and thus is cheaper than many other European Countries. Poland is a recent member of the European Union but has not adopted the Euro as their currency and instead they are on the Zloty (zl). For €1 one would get about 4zl. For example we got a kielbasa for 5zl or €1,25 from a street vendor in Krakow and in Cork one could get a sausage for €3.

Poland is a country that has been overrun countless times by marauding aggressors, subjugated to overbearing foreign rule for centuries, the Polish nation has endured more than most. Yet Poland, a country crushed flat so many times it has become indestructible, is shaking off the last vestiges of forced slumber and rushing with great abandon into a modern 21st century. We began our trip in Krakow, Poland’s most sought after and intact city, which boasts so many unique buildings giving us a sense of what Poland was like before WWII. Another reason we traveled to Poland was to experience Auschwitz-Birkenau, a notorious Nazi concentration and extermination camp. The hostel we stayed at in Krakow was by far the best accommodation we have stayed in while traveling in Europe. Upon our arrival we were greeted by Ana and Slawek, the two owners of the hostel who toasted shots of Polish Cherry Vodka to welcome us. Na zdrowie is the Polish equivalent for cheers. Upon our arrival to the hostel each day after sightseeing Ana would welcome us with some Tea, Coffee and small appetizers. We were truly treated like Polish Royalty and the best part is that we only paid €8 each evening. With that Poland is a country that most skip over while venturing through Europe, but I am glad I had the opportunity to go and experience this dim yet very unique place where the people are among the friendliest and hospitable.

A very typical street in Krakow. Since Poland is high is latitude the sun goes down really early in the winter time. So by 4 pm it is completely dark outside. To the right of this walkway was a little stand that sold the best Kielbasa sausages

Rynek Glowny - The main square in Krakow and the largest square in Eastern Europe.

St Mary's Basilica - This Church was located in the main square and every hour at on the tour left hand turret a trumpet player opens the window and plays a song to signal the time of day.

A picture of me in the Main Square

A Church with some pretty creepy statues out front

Another Church - St Peters and Paul's

Wawel Castle - We never got a chance to go inside because the walls of the castle because it was to dark

We attempted to go and find Oskar Schindler's Deutsche Enamelware Fabrik, like in the movie Schindler's List. But we were unsuccessful and ended up in the former area that was once the Jewish Ghetto, where Jews were kept bofore being transported to concentration camps around Poland. There were chairs in the middle of the square most likely as a memorial but we were not sure what the memorial represented.

Another Church that we stumbled upon right outside of the Jewish Ghetto.