Many of us have this image of small cafes lining cobblestone streets where the people speak only French, smoke foreign cigarettes and the wave their hands as they speak loudly leaning over small tables in order to hear what the other is saying. Everyone is too engrossed in their own conversation to notice what is going on around them. Words ending in "zuh" and "kuh" create a cacaphony of sounds that echoes all around the smoky, crowded room. Most are slightly buzzed and what once was a room full of reserved and somewhat uptight French men and women has now transformed into a lighthearted escape of the traditional, accepted well-behaved cliche French people.
I have discovered such a place, but not on my own, of course. Olivia and her friend Fran, took me and my new American friend to this place (i will get to that later) last night in what appears to be a very artsy part of town not far from Moulan Rouge.
having a hard time tiyping on this keyboard - I have so much to say on this topic, but i think it will have to wait until i get home.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
From Italy to Spain to France
Since i last wrote here, I did a wonderful couple of days in Venice. I loved Venice. There is nothing in the world like it! My tourguide Franco gave us good advice when he said "the best way to see the real Venice is to get lost". So thats what i did!" The back roads of Venice are quiet, quaint and show the true soul of the city! I spent the day on my own, which was really nice. I treated myself to a nice meal, walked to the Academia Bridge and back to St Marks Square. I went to the top of the Bell tower. The view is breathtaking! I recommend it to anyone as a MUST SEE, no matter how long the wait. While i was at the top of the tower, the bells started going off which was really freaky. The enormous old fashioned bell swung side to side and rang through out St Mark Square. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was not that loud up close.
Venice then Asissi....then back to Rome. That marked then end of my Tour in Italy which made me very sad. We had a really great group of people and i wondered how the rest of my trip could possibly get any better than it already had been the last 10 days. I already miss the wakie wakie song that Franco played each morning to get us going on the bus. I will write more about this another time, when i am less limited on time.
So i arrived in Spain on Monday afternoon, took a taxi into the city and found a hotel. I suddenly realized how LITTLE i know of the Spanish language! Go figure! Cute city! Pretty easy to walk almost everywhere (about 20 minutes to the Palace and Prado - thats 10 minutes for Franco for those of you from Trafalgar). Its been a little overcast here and even an occasional drizzle, but it didnt even warrent my umbrella. The first evening i took a stroll over to the Palace and sat in the park for a while. I people watched for a while... some Indian guy tried to ask me out for drinks. Um no thanks. On my way back to the hotel i decided to get something to eat. I didnt want to spend the money to sit down in a restaurant so i searched for a tapas bar along the way. I felt quite intimidated by the fact that every bar i passed had ALL men in it... no families... and NO single women. Nevermind the fact that i had no idea what to order because i knew very little about Spanish food. I did a little reading here and there but it did not prepare me for the menu on the wall.
I decided to dive right in and so i entered a bar near Puerta del Sol, near my hotel. Nice enough area, still daylight... They guy behind the bar asked me what i wanted and i must have looked like a foreigner with a blank face. In my best Spanish i asked for something with meat. The other bartender came over and offered me ham and potatoes. Perfect! Next thing i know i have a HUGE plate of ham and a couple of potatoes. It was really good actually. It was a nice change from all the carbohydrates in Italy.
Next thing i know a nice, older gentleman comes over to me and asks me if i am American. We talked in general for a while about his place in Miami and where i was traveling in Europe. Then he starts giving me a sob story about how his wife is in a wheelchair blah blah blah.... and then he starts asking me if i am married... boyfriend...what hotel am i staying in... blah blah blah... I suddenly realized he was hitting on me. YUCK! I man older than my own father is propositioning me. He wanted to pay for my meal.... no thanks. He wanted to buy me a drink... no thanks. I then decided to be quit forward with him. "How come American women have a reputation of being easy and fast?".... he looked at me and smiled. I said, " They do dont they?"....he smiled again. I said, " well not me". He then said, "Well you are unusual i guess". EW! Go away. He asked if i wanted to meet him the next day... i thanked him for his kindness and said "no thank you".
I was so exhausted from my travel that i crashed in the room and decided to start fresh in the morning.
The next day, I got up, showered and began my day with one of those cheesy doubledecker buses. I road almost the whole 1st route, occasionally meeting various travelers, until about 1030am i departed the bus at the Prado museum.
The Prado houses many famous Spanish, as well as Italian and French, paintings such as Goya. Goya takes up a good chunk of the museum and it was very interesting to see where he had many different moods in his life and how it showed through his work. I rented one of those recorded headphones set to hear more information about the paintings and was really glad i did since all the informational boards next to each painting was in Spanish. I spent about 3 hours in the Prado, including a quick lunch and a short snooze at the table.
I then road on the second route on the doubledecker bus which took me into the modern part of the city. Did you know the French Embassador has a residence here? Neither did i!
Overall, the city is nice, but i am just not diggin´it. Thats why i am sitting in the trainstation getting ready to head off to Paris. My friend Olivia, who lives in Paris, is graciously opening her doors to me. I will stay with her for a couple of days to rest. I think i am still recovering from Italy.
Venice then Asissi....then back to Rome. That marked then end of my Tour in Italy which made me very sad. We had a really great group of people and i wondered how the rest of my trip could possibly get any better than it already had been the last 10 days. I already miss the wakie wakie song that Franco played each morning to get us going on the bus. I will write more about this another time, when i am less limited on time.
So i arrived in Spain on Monday afternoon, took a taxi into the city and found a hotel. I suddenly realized how LITTLE i know of the Spanish language! Go figure! Cute city! Pretty easy to walk almost everywhere (about 20 minutes to the Palace and Prado - thats 10 minutes for Franco for those of you from Trafalgar). Its been a little overcast here and even an occasional drizzle, but it didnt even warrent my umbrella. The first evening i took a stroll over to the Palace and sat in the park for a while. I people watched for a while... some Indian guy tried to ask me out for drinks. Um no thanks. On my way back to the hotel i decided to get something to eat. I didnt want to spend the money to sit down in a restaurant so i searched for a tapas bar along the way. I felt quite intimidated by the fact that every bar i passed had ALL men in it... no families... and NO single women. Nevermind the fact that i had no idea what to order because i knew very little about Spanish food. I did a little reading here and there but it did not prepare me for the menu on the wall.
I decided to dive right in and so i entered a bar near Puerta del Sol, near my hotel. Nice enough area, still daylight... They guy behind the bar asked me what i wanted and i must have looked like a foreigner with a blank face. In my best Spanish i asked for something with meat. The other bartender came over and offered me ham and potatoes. Perfect! Next thing i know i have a HUGE plate of ham and a couple of potatoes. It was really good actually. It was a nice change from all the carbohydrates in Italy.
Next thing i know a nice, older gentleman comes over to me and asks me if i am American. We talked in general for a while about his place in Miami and where i was traveling in Europe. Then he starts giving me a sob story about how his wife is in a wheelchair blah blah blah.... and then he starts asking me if i am married... boyfriend...what hotel am i staying in... blah blah blah... I suddenly realized he was hitting on me. YUCK! I man older than my own father is propositioning me. He wanted to pay for my meal.... no thanks. He wanted to buy me a drink... no thanks. I then decided to be quit forward with him. "How come American women have a reputation of being easy and fast?".... he looked at me and smiled. I said, " They do dont they?"....he smiled again. I said, " well not me". He then said, "Well you are unusual i guess". EW! Go away. He asked if i wanted to meet him the next day... i thanked him for his kindness and said "no thank you".
I was so exhausted from my travel that i crashed in the room and decided to start fresh in the morning.
The next day, I got up, showered and began my day with one of those cheesy doubledecker buses. I road almost the whole 1st route, occasionally meeting various travelers, until about 1030am i departed the bus at the Prado museum.
The Prado houses many famous Spanish, as well as Italian and French, paintings such as Goya. Goya takes up a good chunk of the museum and it was very interesting to see where he had many different moods in his life and how it showed through his work. I rented one of those recorded headphones set to hear more information about the paintings and was really glad i did since all the informational boards next to each painting was in Spanish. I spent about 3 hours in the Prado, including a quick lunch and a short snooze at the table.
I then road on the second route on the doubledecker bus which took me into the modern part of the city. Did you know the French Embassador has a residence here? Neither did i!
Overall, the city is nice, but i am just not diggin´it. Thats why i am sitting in the trainstation getting ready to head off to Paris. My friend Olivia, who lives in Paris, is graciously opening her doors to me. I will stay with her for a couple of days to rest. I think i am still recovering from Italy.
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