Last Day in Paris

today we spent our last day in paris in the latin quarter.

we first went to the panthèon (of paris that is) and saw foucault's pendulum, which proves the rotation of the earth, and then visited the crypt below which houses the tombs of louies braille, victor hugo, jean jaures, jean-jacques rousseau, voltaire, andrew dumas, marie curie, and lots, lots more.

afterward, we walked the length of rue mouffetard, a pedestrian friendly street with tons of little shops and cafes. we had lunch at a creperie and then walked to the jardin luxembourg.

this very large park has garden areas as well as a natural history museum, a geological rock museum, and a cute little zoo.

we went to the zoo and for only 5€ had an afternoon of fun along with a gigantic cotton candy to boot! : )

Paris - pt. 2

we have been having a great time in paris (but not such a great time with french keyboards!! so, this will be a semi-short update!)

the days here have been filled with monuments, palaces, parks, and cafes. we have been picnicking at least one meal a day and have liked finding different parks to nap and rest each afternoon.

on wednesday night (after updating the blog) we took the elevator to the top of the eiffel tower, to see all of paris. we went around dusk which was nice because it wasnt too hot, but it was still light enough to take pictures. we also lucked out because we weren`t really planning of going since the line is so, so long, but we happened to walk by and saw it was unusually short. we only had to wait in line about 15-20 mins!

afterward we had a late dinner (another picnic) under the tower all lit up.

yesterday, thursday, we went out to the famous roland garros tennis complex and watched the qualifying matches for the french open that starts next week. there wasnt anyone famous playing (they all get to bypass the preliminary matches) but it was fun to see where all those tennis greats will be in just a few days, and we still got to watch some really great players.

after leaving the tennis games we went to a really pretty park named parc andre citroen, to rest, nap, and snack on stawberries.

today we traveled out to versailles (about a half hour by train) to see the palace and gardens and then came back into paris to go to invalides to visit napoleons tomb (a VERY large tomb for such a little man).

we are going to spend tomorrow in the latin quarter and then we catch a night train to munich, germany - leaving around 10pm.

Paris

we arrived in paris yesterday morning on a night train from madrid. like we mentioned before we were unable to book tickets together in the same sleeper car so we were hoping to ask someone in one of our cars of four to switch beds with us. well, we soon found out after boarding the train that in spain it is illegal to put men and women together on a night train! grrrrrrrr. so, michael was in an all male cabin with 3 other guys: a frenchman who spoke no english at all, a frenchman who spoke great english due to his love of american sports and american televised poker, and an 18 year old boy from arkansas traveling europe with his girlfriend. i was in a female room with a french mother and her daughter (around 8 years old maybe) neither of which spoke any english, so i did a lot of reading.

our first day in paris we spent trying to get to know the city. we first went to the eiffel tower (of course) and had a late breakfast/eary lunch at a near by cafe. after lunch we traveled around the city to see the arc de triomphe, walked along the avenue des champs-elysees, and more.

later on, as we headed back to the eiffel tower we stopped at a fruit stand for strawberries, a bakery for bread and a final store for a wheel of brie and we picnicked on the lawn spread out from the eiffel tower. it was a delicious, cheap, perfect dinner.

today we went to the louvre after stopping at a bakery right near our hostel for croissants. after the museum we went to see notre dame where we had lunch at a side walk cafe near the church and then took a long walk along the river.

Madrid pt.2

Last night was not a very successful one!

We went to the bullring in madrid around 5pm to see if we could find tickets to buy off someone since the man at our hotel told us the fight was already sold out and that he had tried to get tickets yesterday for another guest and was unable to, so our only chance was to try to buy some there.
well, when we got there, we saw a line at a ticket window... we thought it was probably just for pickup of already purchased tickets, but thought we would try anyways. well, we got to the front and were able to buy two tickets! (we have no idea why the man at the front desk of the hotel was told it was completely sold out? maybe they reserve some for day-of purchases?)
so, we were VERY excited we were going to see our bullfight after all, and since it was starting at 7 and lasts about 2 hours, we thought afterward we would still be able to go to the park to see the drum circle, which plays until around midnight.

at 6pm they opened the doors and we went and found our seats... and they were pretty good seats too! only about 20 rows up. we waited and watched them prepare the ring (take off the tarps, draw the chalk lines, etc.) and then, out of nowhere it began to sprinkle (well, it had been overcast all day, but didnt look like it was every going to amount to anything). and then it began to rain... and then it began to POUR! we were two of the only people there without ponchos or umbrellas and got soaked!

they came over the loud speaker and said that the fight would be postponed for 15 mins and would now start at 7:15. so, we went into covered hallway to stay out of the rain as we waited. 15 mins later, and they came back to say it would be another 10 mins. people were not happy! but everyone waited. then, 10 mins later they came back saying that it was canceled and would be rescheduled for june 10th!! obviously bad news for us!! we gave our tickets to a nice older couple to they could give them to someone to use them in june.

we made our way home in the rain (obviously the drum circle was surely over....) and went to the hotel room to dry off. it stopped raining a few hours later and we went to dinner, but all in all, a disappointing night!!

Today our main goal was to do laundry!! We took our clothes to a laundry place and they said they would have them done by 1:30. they lady didnt speak a lick of english and she kept saying something about being closed and 4:30, so i thought i understood that they close at 4:30.

we left our clothes to be washed and walked toward parque del buen retiro (roughly: the park nice retreat). this is similar to central park in nyc, as its a huge park in the middle of busy madrid. we stopped along the way to buy egg and cheese sandwiches and brought them to the park for lunch. we ate near the lake, fed the ducks, and walked around. theres a really pretty area at one end that is a rose garden filled will all different types of roses. very pretty.

at around 1:30 we headed back to pick up our laundry. we got there around 2 and realized they are closed until 4:30 for siesta! ooops! i clearly misunderstood her!!

so, we went and found this internet cafe. in a few minutes, we´ll head back to get our laundry, go back to the hotel to pick up our back packs and then off the the train station to catch our night train to paris!

wish us luck that we will be able to find friendly people to switch cabins with us so we can stay together!!!

Madrid

We have made it to madrid and are spending our last few days in spain trying to appreciate that we can somewhat decipher signs and menus before heading off to counties with languages very foreign to us.

we arrived in madrid this morning after taking our first night train of the trip in from lisbon. our accommodations were surprisingly ideal! we had our own private sleeper car for two with bunk beds that could fold up and convert into lounge chairs and a table, as well as our own sink in the room for brushing our teeth and washing our faces.
as we were waiting on the platform before boarding we could see these rooms through the windows and were saying to each other "oooh, look how nice those rooms are, thinking they were definitely not for us since we had chosen the least expensive type of sleeper car." so, it was a nice surprise that those were indeed the economy rooms!

as soon as we arrived in madrid this morning at the train station we booked our next train for tomorrow night from madrid to paris. its another night train and this time we were not so lucky! they had to split us up in´to two separate rooms with 4 beds each. we are really hoping at least one of us will have a single traveler in one of our rooms that will trade with us so we can stay together! : (

today in madrid it started out a bit dreary (as blair warned), but has since cleared up. it sprinkled just a little early on, but not even enough to bother with rain jackets.
this morning we walked around el rastro, the big flea market that appears each sunday. there were tons of makeshift stalls selling everything you could think of! there were some tables with nothing but nails and screws and others selling colorful socks and jeans. some people´s stuff they were selling looked like it was just a buch of junk they had pickpocketed or stolen (and we are pretty sure thats what it was)!

after walking the length of the market, we stopped for coffee, toast and orange juice (all over spain they make their oj with these weird machines where you put in the orange completely whole and out comes orange juice) at the plaza mayor near the puerta del sol.

after breakfast we spent the last couple hours at the museo nacional centro de arte reina sofia, as recommended by uncle luis, it is one of madrid 3 acclaimed museums. plus, it was free today as it is every sunday.
it was a great museum and michael had to drag me out because apparently i take, "waaaay to look looking at each piece and insist on listening to every explanation provided on the automated tour."

we are now at an internet cafe and michael is next to me trying to make sure we have a place to sleep in paris our first night there (if you havent noticed, we are a day ahead of our original schedule and hence, our hostel isnt expecting us until the day after we will arrive).

we are now going to head over to the bullring to attempt to find tickets for tonight´s bullfight.... although its not looking very promising. apparently its not very easy to buy tickets day of, and since you can only buy tickets on friday and saturday and in person, we werent able to figure out how to get tickets ahead of time.

if we cant go to the bullfight though, we are going to head to parque del buen retiro, a big park here that has a huge drum circle (with over 100 percussionists) that gathers every sunday night from 5pm to midnight.

hope everyone liked the pictures we were able to post! we have more recent ones, but we havent been able to transfer any pictures for the last week, so those will come later!