Czech Me Out!!

So Alex, Leah and I went to Prague.  I would say we had epic adventures... but this would be a lie.  Mostly, we walked around, looked at art, took pictures, and read books.  My kind of vacation.

There were awkward baby statues.  We did not understand them.

Leah and I like shadow photos.

We found Mexican food and margaritas in PRAGUE!!!  Who knew?!  I was very excited about this.  My first margarita in 3 months.

The tomb of St. John - supposedly his tongue was found intact... but it was really his shriveled up brain.

I don't like beer.  I don't know why I thought I would order it.  But no.  I still don't like beer.

Alex and I eating traditional Czech food - friend dough balls, and venison.

Some of the tombs from the Jewish cemetery.  Basically the entire cemetery was built on top of itself, layer upon layer.

Beautiful view of the Prague Castle.

From the top of the Vysehrad monastery - this is a MUST DO if you ever go to Prague.

The monastery itself.

All of us, doing what we love to do.  We also created a new blog for all our other book nerdy friends out there http://3bbooks.blogspot.com

Another view from the monastery.

After the rain, the rainbow.  From the Charles Bridge.

Tyn Cathedral.

The Astronomical clock.

We took a haunted tour of Prague - and this was our guide.  Complete with a black cape.  Thank GOD we didn't pay for it.  

At night from the Charles Bridge.

Bottom line.  We went to Prague not knowing anything about it, and we left relaxed and in love with a beautiful city.  4 days was plenty of time to see everything and really just enjoy it.  So... go Czech out Prague if you get a chance!  (hehehehehe... that still cracks me up.)

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Nice is nice.

So Leah said, "Let's go to Nice" - so I said, "Why not?!"  The only sad part is that I was only there for a night, but it was totally worth it.  The French Riviera.  I mean... if you have a chance to go there, you don't say no.  And... I got to play with my new camera.  So ya... Nice (pronounced "Niece") is nice.

Le Côte d'Azur

I really like all the different patterns that are going on in this picture. 

Leah and I are into the whole "shadow" pictures.

Not to mention, this is like THE perfect beach... it doesn't have any sand!!!!

This is my version of "Wanderer Above the Sea Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich

And I'm just so excited about how awesome this camera is at taking pictures at night.

So our next full day, Leah and I decided to go lay out.  So this is while we were laying out... I'm not going to take pictures of the sunburn that I currently have because it is too painful and I don't want to remember it. So when the blisters go away - this will be a great picture to remember our fun on the beach.

Bottom line: Go to Nice.  Lay out.  Put on sunscreen.  

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Things I Like

So... I decided that I live in a beautiful, photographic city.  I need a camera to go along with it.  So I splurged and bought myself a really nice camera.  It is incredible.

I feel like the pictures speak for themselves - although uploading them onto this site lowers the image quality, so you may just have to take my word on it.  Leah has allowed herself to be my model for the last few weeks... she's taken to calling me the paparazzi.  Faycal has also been subjugated to my random picture taking as well.

But seriously...  here are some of my faves - a lot are from the top of the Tour Montparnasse.

But I feel like you know its a good camera when it even makes McDonald's look good.

These are the before and after pictures of our "feast."  (Disclaimer: This was the first time I've had McDonald's in about a year... but when in Rome... I mean, France... I mean... somebody give me an excuse for eating McDonald's...)

My other toy is much less expensive, but I would say brings just as much joy to my heart.  I decided a few weeks ago to become a snob.  A coffee snob.  With as much coffee as I drink, I should know more about it, and, more importantly, make coffee in the way that all true coffee snobs know to be the very best - by using a French press.  

And where better place to buy a French press than in France.  My days of drip coffee are over.  Not only do you get all the flavor out of the beans, BUT you get 98% of the caffeine out too (and lets face it, that's what I'm really going for) instead of the normal 65%.  This is the way to go.  Plus its the "green" way of making coffee.  Mom & Gran... don't knock it till you've tried it. :-D

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My Parisian Bucket List...

So... I'm officially leaving Paris at the end of September to start - something else.  Here are my answer to the most common FAQ's:

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) What do you want to do?

- I would like to go into Public Relations.  I'm looking into PR firms at the moment, and I'm hoping to start calling them in the next few weeks.

2) Where are you going to do this?

- Tallahassee, Florida.  :-D

Any other questions you may have, feel free to contact me.

Now that we've cleared that up, I feel like there are a lot of things that I still need and want to do while I'm here in Paris.  A "Bucket List" of sorts.  I feel like once I leave, it'll probably be quite a long time before I make it back to Paris - so I need to make the most of my time here, and see everything that I want to see in the next 3 months.  

  

So, just as a warning.  If you come to visit me in Paris anytime soon, don't expect me to go with you to the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, or anything else "typically Parisian."  I am going to take you on the "obscure sights of Paris" tour.  Leah was the first to fall victim to my new form of "showing my friends around."  Since she'd already been to Paris, I didn't feel too bad about this.  

Sight #1:  St. Denis Basilica - where most of the kings of France are buried

I just like this picture because you can see the reflection of the stained glass windows.

Feet.  Of Kings.  King's feet. 

Me and one of my favorite French characters - Catherine de Medici.  She is so cool - I love her.  Despite the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre thing.  It wasn't her fault.  She was just misunderstood.

" I have the heart of a little boy - in a jar on my desk." - Stephen King

I'm not sure if HE really has a heart of a little boy in a jar - but the Basilica of St. Denis does.  This the heart of Louis XVII - the 10 year old boy who died in the Temple prison during the French Revolution.  His heart was stolen during the autopsy to be passed around for many years while wild rumors of his uncertain escape from prison circulated during what would have been his lifetime (including a character in Huck Finn who claims to be Louis XVII).  In 2000, they finally did DNA testing on the heart and proved it to be the son of Marie Antoinette - the real Louis XVII who actually died in prison.

Sight #2: The Catacombs

So back in the day, cemeteries started to cause major health problems in major cities - especially here in Paris before and during the French Revolution when they were killing thousands of people in a matter of months and dumping their bodies rather unceremoniously into mass graves.  So to solve this problem, the French exhumed these graves and dumped the old bones into a big pit underneath the sewers of Paris, and in the early 1800's they made them all pretty so that tourists like myself could go and see them.

As you walk the 500 meters to the catacombs, you head down a long semi-dark hallway which gets progressively colder the deeper you go into the ground.  As some points, you have to walk single file by narrow side passages that are gated, padlocked, and inexplicably dark.  If this was a movie, the ghost of a pirate would jump out and make ghoulish noises at you - but this is real life... which makes it that much more creepy.

Finally, you reach the catacombs and this is the first thing you see.

I took the picture below of Leah - I think its one of my favorites.  Is it a ghost revisiting its body?  Or is it one of my dearest friends who was about to throw up at the sight of so many skulls?

Not only that, but the deeper you go, the colder it gets; and condensation begins to form on the walls and ceiling and, if you're not careful, drips onto your head and shoulders.  Ghost slime? Or unshed tears for the thousands of lives that were lost during the Great Terror?  

You can't really leave the catacombs without feeling like you've somehow glimpsed into the fabric of destiny.  The future becomes the present becomes the past.  Dust to dust.

Sight #3: the Kandinsky exhibit - not so obscure; but I probably wouldn't have gone without someone else - so I'm glad she let me drag her along.

So... looking back, I guess this was kinda a macabre day - I tried to get her to do the Sewer Tour with me, but she x'ed that one pretty fast.  Some other time.  Any volunteers?!

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FriendSHIP Goes Travelling

Dear VC,

The friendSHIP has come to Europe - but I have been terrible about taking it to visit Paris, until some of our fellow comrades came to visit.  Justin and I took the friendSHIP to the Versailles market.

It sailed through a sea of humus, chevre, baguettes (we had 5), strawberries, chorizo, and jambon.  Trop bien.
It also developed a healthy relationSHIP with Nutella (and wine, and Les Invalides).
Then Alex came... she took the ship with her to... wherever else she went.  Then we did manage to get the ship to Prague... but no pictures were taken... so you'll just have to take my word for it.  
Alex then took the ship home... I've had it long enough.  It needs new adventures in the states.  Ally - take it to see DC.  Aubrey - take it to Qatar.  

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