Made it to Amsterdam in one piece
I've got about 20 minutes here, and it's about time I did a real update so I'll start with Paris and see how far I get.
Got to the airport in Paris and said a VERY difficult goodbye to most of the people from Jordan. One of the other people staying in Paris was supposed to stay with a friend, but due to a communications mixup, the friend wasn't there...so I figured rather than leaving her stranded in the Paris airport, I'd bring her back to my hostel where there was luckily still space. We were both very excited when we saw trees and grass in a little park as we came out of the Metro...you don't realize how much you miss that sort of thing until you finally see it again. We grabbed a very nice dinner of baguette, real cheese and ham (mmm...pig...we missed pig) and ate in the park along with a bottle of cheap wine. After that, I took a "nap" which turned into sleeping for 15 hours. Apparently Jordan had left me with a bit of sleep deprivation...
The next day we wandered around to most of the touristy sites with two other guys from the hostel. Saw the Eiffel tower, walked along the river to the Louvre and discovered that you can't buy tickets early and then went to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was really beautiful and we got very lucky that we just happened to go Sunday at around 4:30. What happens sundays at 4:30? Well, apparently this summer they've been auditioning new organists every sunday at 4:30, so we got to hear the organ in the Notre Dame being played. It was very exciting and very beautiful. At some point we also grabbed a few beers to drink in a park...I think that was before the Notre Dame. Did I mention it was ridiculously hot? Did I mention that it has been excessively hot my entire time in Europe? You would think I'd complain about the heat in Jordan, but I have personally discovered that what they say about dry heat is completely and utterly true.
After walking around we went for Sushi which was very tasty but I think I like Toronto sushi better. Unfortunately I then went to bed with terrible stomach cramps and other unpleasantness and didn't really do much of anything fun.
Monday we went to the Louvre. It was INCREDIBLE. Their Near Eastern area covered EVERYTHING including a lot of the stuff we'd been excavating! We saw the Mesha stele for real after seeing reconstructions in just about every museum we went to in Jordan. Ooh, and Hammurapi's law code!! We had such a fantastic morning there. We even had this really funny moment where I went "I wonder if there's any Nabatean stuff in here?" only to turn the corner and discover not only a Nabatean inscription, but one that came from Madaba! I could go on and on about how much I loved that part of the Louvre, but it would probably bore most people if I started saying "and they had red painted this, and ...blah blah" The only disappointment was that we were a bit late and we were supposed to meet up with someone else from Jordan (Mike) but he must have gone in already. It would have been good to see him.
We went for an expensive but tasty lunch and then returned to the Museum. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling particularly well and we were both really low on energy so the afternoon wasn't as great as it could have been. Also, the Classical ceramics section was closed which was a huge disappointment. We did see a lot of cool stuff from the classical section and of course the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa before heading off. I had another quiet night of not feeling too great and sleeping too much despite my best intentions of actually going out in Paris.
The next morning I went to Montmartre and stopped by Mike's hostel to see if he was around. He wasn't so I wandered to the Sacre Coeur which was really beautiful and had a fantastic view, then wandered around some cool parts of Paris searching for the Mokuba there. It was a great morning of just random streets and sights and whatnot. I did eventually find the Mokuba after going the wrong way for a good while...it was neat to see, but I do think the Toronto one is nicer. They're renovating there though so that will likely change.
I got back to the hostel where my friend had finally been in contact with her friend in Paris, so they headed off to her house while I headed to the train station to catch my ride to Basel. More on that later since I'm basically out of time.
I come home on the 30th around noon. I'm REALLY excited to get back. I've been so incredibly homesick my entire time here...both for home, and for Jordan so it will definitely be good to be back. People should come out for a beer as soon as I'm not too terribly jetlagged.
Got to the airport in Paris and said a VERY difficult goodbye to most of the people from Jordan. One of the other people staying in Paris was supposed to stay with a friend, but due to a communications mixup, the friend wasn't there...so I figured rather than leaving her stranded in the Paris airport, I'd bring her back to my hostel where there was luckily still space. We were both very excited when we saw trees and grass in a little park as we came out of the Metro...you don't realize how much you miss that sort of thing until you finally see it again. We grabbed a very nice dinner of baguette, real cheese and ham (mmm...pig...we missed pig) and ate in the park along with a bottle of cheap wine. After that, I took a "nap" which turned into sleeping for 15 hours. Apparently Jordan had left me with a bit of sleep deprivation...
The next day we wandered around to most of the touristy sites with two other guys from the hostel. Saw the Eiffel tower, walked along the river to the Louvre and discovered that you can't buy tickets early and then went to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was really beautiful and we got very lucky that we just happened to go Sunday at around 4:30. What happens sundays at 4:30? Well, apparently this summer they've been auditioning new organists every sunday at 4:30, so we got to hear the organ in the Notre Dame being played. It was very exciting and very beautiful. At some point we also grabbed a few beers to drink in a park...I think that was before the Notre Dame. Did I mention it was ridiculously hot? Did I mention that it has been excessively hot my entire time in Europe? You would think I'd complain about the heat in Jordan, but I have personally discovered that what they say about dry heat is completely and utterly true.
After walking around we went for Sushi which was very tasty but I think I like Toronto sushi better. Unfortunately I then went to bed with terrible stomach cramps and other unpleasantness and didn't really do much of anything fun.
Monday we went to the Louvre. It was INCREDIBLE. Their Near Eastern area covered EVERYTHING including a lot of the stuff we'd been excavating! We saw the Mesha stele for real after seeing reconstructions in just about every museum we went to in Jordan. Ooh, and Hammurapi's law code!! We had such a fantastic morning there. We even had this really funny moment where I went "I wonder if there's any Nabatean stuff in here?" only to turn the corner and discover not only a Nabatean inscription, but one that came from Madaba! I could go on and on about how much I loved that part of the Louvre, but it would probably bore most people if I started saying "and they had red painted this, and ...blah blah" The only disappointment was that we were a bit late and we were supposed to meet up with someone else from Jordan (Mike) but he must have gone in already. It would have been good to see him.
We went for an expensive but tasty lunch and then returned to the Museum. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling particularly well and we were both really low on energy so the afternoon wasn't as great as it could have been. Also, the Classical ceramics section was closed which was a huge disappointment. We did see a lot of cool stuff from the classical section and of course the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa before heading off. I had another quiet night of not feeling too great and sleeping too much despite my best intentions of actually going out in Paris.
The next morning I went to Montmartre and stopped by Mike's hostel to see if he was around. He wasn't so I wandered to the Sacre Coeur which was really beautiful and had a fantastic view, then wandered around some cool parts of Paris searching for the Mokuba there. It was a great morning of just random streets and sights and whatnot. I did eventually find the Mokuba after going the wrong way for a good while...it was neat to see, but I do think the Toronto one is nicer. They're renovating there though so that will likely change.
I got back to the hostel where my friend had finally been in contact with her friend in Paris, so they headed off to her house while I headed to the train station to catch my ride to Basel. More on that later since I'm basically out of time.
I come home on the 30th around noon. I'm REALLY excited to get back. I've been so incredibly homesick my entire time here...both for home, and for Jordan so it will definitely be good to be back. People should come out for a beer as soon as I'm not too terribly jetlagged.