Redirection

In case there is still anyone following this blog, I've switched it over to Wordpress. I haven't written anything new, but I hope to start posting new items soon. So here is the newest incarnation of European Memoirs.

Hiatus

My apologies to those of you who may be coming back occasionnally to read about places I had visited while in Europe. Since the first of the year, my free time is much more limited. Plus I like spending extra time when creating posts for this blog between the writing and the photos. So it may be a while until I post something. But keep checking back. I still have a strong desire to finish documenting my experiences from that time, so I'll very likely continue it at some point. In the meantime, I'll continue to write on my primary blog and post pictures from my time in Europe on Flickr. Thanks again for stopping by.

Not Homesick

I can't say I ever really got homesick in the traditional sense. A yearning to go back. It was not that I did not miss those at home, but rather that I was really enjoying all the new experiences. But I did have a couple things similar to homesickness.

First there was a day where I had enough of the Versaillese. They are not the most welcoming people in the world and something really got me down about it. So I rebelled against it and dressed up in the most un-bourgeouis garb I had. Black leather jacket, bandana on my head, Chuck Taylors, and earrings. Nothing too extreme. Then loaded my walkman and blasted industrial music during a walk through the city.

The other thing was ongoing. I had a yearning to share all of this with people close to me. And for them to love and enjoy it as much as I did. To share it on a level that we could make inside jokes. That kind of closeness. Unfortunately I wasn't close to anyone who came along on the program and I never really did connect with anyone of the level of friends and family back home. With the exception of my roommate Robin, but we never travelled together and we came from fairly different backgrounds. But that ability to share the experience was really missing. It was really something I yearned for.

I guess that is why I am so excited to finally recount much of that time here. Family and friends can read it as their time and interest dictates. Plus there are many others out there that may find this interesting also. I've already had quite a bit of feedback by people I have met and others that I haven't.

The Paris Pantheon

One Saturday morning we were given a tour of the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The tour was given in French by one of the professors in the French school. My level of French was not much more advanced that an astute tourist so I didn't catch much of what he said. Though, one of our professors gave brief summaries as we went along. This article in Wikipedia contains about as much as I remember from the tour.

The tour started on the main floor. We were only allowed to poke our head out to peek into the main space because pieces had recently fallen from the ceiling. We then climbed up to the clerestory where the above photo was taken. We continued with a tour around this level viewing some of the remaining mechanical devises used to construct the building and the butresses for the main arches.

From there we made our way up through the dome to the crowning cupola. We entered the dome through the doorway you see in the photo above. The climb up the dome was similar to the climb up St. Peters in Rome. You are sandwiched between an inner dome and an outer dome, climbing up at an angle.

The view from the top was one of the best in Paris. It was in close proximity to many landmarks and they were mostly to the north. So the sun was behind us instead of in front of you like at Montmartre. It was a very bright morning, but incredibly smoggy. You can barely see La Defense in the distance in the photo above.

It a great to see the building along with some of the behind-the-scenes elements. We had another tour in the spring of another Parisian landmark.

Chartres

Our school had a class day trip to Chartre which is not too far from Versailles. The day basically consisted of a tour of the cathedral and some time to wander around the city. We didn't do much with our free time, but just before we were to leave we found this quaint little section of town behind the cathedral. There is a river with some nice stone buildings as you can see in the photo below.


The rest of the city was very nice, though similar to many other French cities of the same size.


But it was the tour of the cathedral that made the trip so memorable. Our guide was Malcolm Miller. He is a scholar who has been "reading" the cathedral statues and stained glass windows since 1958. He compares the cathedral to a library with each stained glass window and statue arrangement being a book. During the tour, he walked us around and read some of the stained glass windows along with an assembly of statues. Some are graphic representations of stories from the bible complete with symbolic iconography. Others like the rose window also spell out numerous symbolisms and etymologies. If you were raised Christian or have a fair knowledge of it, the tour probably has your head reeling at the end. It is astounding how the creators of the elements of the building infused it with such a rich network of imagery and meaning. The tour was one of the highlights of my stay in Europe and a tour or lecture by Mr. Miller is highly recommended. Especially if you have time during a stay in Paris for a day trip to Chartres.

Leeuwarden, Netherlands

I had mentioned during the Copenhagen entry of the October travel break that we had met some women from Kansas who were studying in Holland. I had exchanged contact info with Lisa from the group and had stayed in contact with her. So the weekend following the trip to the French Alps, we planned that I would come up and see her.

The plan was to take the 11pm overnight train Friday night to Amsterdam. Then we would have most of each Saturday and Sunday and I would catch the overnight train Sunday night arriving Monday morning. Well I missed the 11pm train, then I missed the 7am train the next morning. So I ended up taking the 10am train. In the train car with me were an Australian family, a Dutch couple, and a French woman. The woman got off in France, the couple in Holland, and I continued to Amsterdam with the family.

I had just over an hour layover in Amsterdam. So I grabbed some patat frites with mayo, which I really liked, and wandered around the city. It was dark by then and I was VERY paranoid about getting pickpocketed or accosted. So I kept my eyes open and my valuables in secure places that I could keep track of. Not an nice way to see the city. I didn't see much and returned to the station to catch the train to Leeuwarden.

I arrived in Leeuwarden in the late evening without directions on how to get to her place. In the original plan she was going to meet me at the station. Luckily I did have her address and the city had billboards throughout the city with maps on them. So I found the street she should be on and made my way to her place. It was drizzling like it had the weekend before and I was slowly getting drenched. Eventually I found the place at around 10pm. They were all pretty impressed that I had managed to find their place without directions. A couple of the other women we had met in Copenhagen were there and I met a couple of their Dutch roommates. We were up until 4am talking.


The next morning with our limited time left, we woke up late and they gave me a tour of the city. They showed me the Oldehove leaning tower (seen above), the surrounding countryside (seen below), and the main square. We also had lunch on one of the boats lining the canals (seen far below). We also went and saw a local band before heading to the train station.


My luck with trains continued. I made it as far as Rotterdam, but missed the connecting train to Paris. So I stayed at the local youth hostel. The next morning I tried to catch an early train, but there were none. So I returned to the hostel to have a proper breakfast, then caught the train to Paris. The train was packed so I was forced to sit in the aisles. Finally got home at 7pm missing the classes for the day.


Leeuwarden is a nice little town. Similar to the two from the previous weekend in that they are places to visit if you are in the area, but not a place to make your primary destination. I returned to Holland over the winter for a more formal sightseeing tour of Amsterdam and I returned to Leeuwarden in the spring to see Lisa again. We became friends and kept in contact for a couple years after returning to the states.

Chamonix

I arrived in Chamonix after a day of train travel and the discovery of a picturesque locale. It was early evening and I had yet to find a place to stay.

During the previous trip, we researched possible accommodations in the guide books. When we arrived we would locate them via the tourist office. Then we would find vacancy at one of the first two on the list. It was usually at the youth hostel since they had more than a couple in each place, it was off season, and they were big cities. In this case, it was a village and they had only one youth hostel on the outskirts of town.

I called the hostel and they said they were full with only a chance that a spot could open up. I decided that it was better to try my luck in town. I checked quite possibly every hotel in town. I was either quoted 288 francs ($58) or more or they had no vacancy. So I bit the bullet and paid the 288 francs. Quite a jump for me since I was usually paying half that. The upside was that I had a room and a bathroom to myself. I'm pretty sure it was the first time I ever had a hotel room to myself.

The next day after a big breakfast that was included with the room, I set off without any real plans. I found a slightly cheaper place to stay for 178 francs ($36) and wandered around the small village. It was not a very large town and it had no tall buildings. So it was composed primarily of three and four story buildings with primary streets parallel to the valley. All the while, the mountains tower over either side of the valley. Chamonix is at the base of Mont Blanc which is the tallest mountain in Europe. It is also a world-renowned downhill ski destination. But this was in between the summer tourist season and the ski season, so activity in the town seemed like any other. The style of buildings tended to be either traditional French stucco or alpine timber frames. A charming little town, but not really any more special than other small European towns.

After a tour of the city, I decided the thing to see would be the mountains. I returned to the tourist office to see if any of the ski lifts were operational. Unfortunately they were not in service because the forecast was for cloudy conditions later in the day which would prevent any chances to see anything. Having already seen the town, I figured I would try hiking up the side of the valley opposite Mt. Blanc to see if I could get up there before it clouded up or even get up above the clouds. So at 11:30am I started walking up one of the streets on that side of town until I found a trail. I had done quite a bit of hiking as a kid and I was a runner at the time, so I didn't have any concerns about the hike. I decided that I needed to be back by 4pm, so I split the available time in half and determine that I needed to turn around and head back down around 1:45pm.


The hike up involved a few different progressions. The scenery changed from deciduous forest to sparcely scattered conifers to steep rocky terrain with patches of snow. The oxygen got more and more scarce with my ears popping from time to time. I had to stop at each switch back to catch my breath. The weather went from partly sunny to cloudy to spitting drizzle. Not enough rain for an umbrella, but enough to get drenched over an hour or two. Plus it was starting to get pretty windy toward the top.


I just kept climbing thinking I would either get above the clouds or reach the top and see over the other side. Finally when it got to be half an hour past my turn around time, I headed back down. The top was very close, but I was drenched and cold. Water had even gotten into my camera. And I also did not want to head down in the dark. It took me 2 1/2 hours to climb 965m (4000ft). But it only took 1 1/2 hours to get back down. Although I wish I could have gotten to the top, the landscape was worth the climb.

The next day was bright and sunny for another day of train travel with multiple transfers. A nice ride with great views of the fall colors. Although my experience in Chamonix was less than perfect, it would be nice to return if I'm in the area.