Pictures from yesterday

To accompany Daves blog below






Climbing up the arc




Me at top with Champs Ellyses in the background




Boys with tower




The Louvre from inside




Me scolding a bust of Lucius (the bad guy from Gladiator)






Dave fell asleep and steve and I had fun

Just another day in Paris

*Written by Dave*

Today was a nice relaxing day. We woke up early to have breakfast in our hotel. Some cereal and bread with greg's favorite... Nutella. We then headed toward the Arc de Triomphe! There we bought a Paris Museum pass for two days which will get us into a bunch of other places for free. The sight from the top of the arc was great. Paris really is a beautiful city and from a high point, such as the one we were looking from, you are truly able to get a feeling for the architectural history. There is a "new-age" business area with high rises but for the most part you are seeing renovated/maintained buildings from hundreds of years ago. Something you really can't get yet in America. Next stop was The Louvre! After a long walk down the Champs de Élysées we entered a huge garden surrounded by a magnificent u-shaped palace. I saw this place when I was 14 years old but today, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time. We learned that it took centuries for the three sides of the palace to actually connect, crazy. Our museum experience was made by following a walking tour on our iPhones from a Rick Steve's app. Without his clear explanations and quirky comments we would have been roaming around this place for hours mindlessly looking at paintings. Sorry to offend any major art goers but the three of us need a little help to appreciate such fine art. We saw the Mona Lisa and other famous works of art and were throughly impressed by our one hour visit to one of the greatest art museums in the world.

After a quick and cheap lunch we went to the Army Museum which holds Napoleon's Tomb. Countless jokes can be made about this emperor doing things to compensate for his small stature and his resting place is no different. His tomb is the size of a studio apartment in New York. But, to each his own...right? We are truly getting our fix of war museums, seeing the two world wars through British, and now French perspectives.

Next we took a well deserved rest in the yard in front of the palace under some trees for shade. FYI, it was sunny and hot here all day. After a nap and more hackey sack we went to the Jewish Quarter for falafel. Needless to say it was delicious. Greg talked to a guy working there and through his broken knowledge of Hebrew found out this guy grew up near where his uncle lives in Israel...small world. We got a few drinks at a bar and got into some heavy conversations of life, love and business. Now we are getting ready for bed for tomorrow we go to Versailles! Hope all is well back in the states. You are now caught up with our adventure

So this is Paris...

What a truly awesome day.

We slept in and relaxed this morning, grabbing fresh fruit and some nuts at the small grocery right next to our hotel in the north of Paris. After a quick Metro ride we arrived at Pompidou, the museum of modern art here in the city. The building is world renowned because it is built inside-out; everything from the air ducts to the electrical wiring and even the stairs is on the outside of the building with only the exhibit halls on the inside.



Unfortunately, because we all lack in the common sense department, we forgot to check whether or not the museum is actually open, and found out that on Tuesdays in Paris most museums are closed. Instead, we headed south to the Ile de France to do a few hour-long Rick Steves walking tour of the best sights in historical France. We saw the famed Notre Dame cathedral, the Latin quarter all while walking along the beautiful river. While we were on the tour we passed a great looking Greek shawarma stand that I knew I had to have. When we finished our tour we walked back... And it was soooo worth it. Huge pita, lamb shawarma, white Greek sauce and a mountain of french fries. I was in heaven.





In the afternoon we walked to the museum on the holocaust as well as visited a "deportation monument" dedicated to the 200,000 French men and women who were deported to Nazi camps from occupied France. This was a particularly moving monument for me. According to Rick, the monument is built to put the viewer in the shoes of a deportee. You descend from street level into the monument, cut off from views of the city around you. The only thing you see is the sky below you and, through a grate in the ground, the river beneath you. Cut into the island is a small chamber that houses memorial candles as well as a tomb of an unknown deportee. I thought the entire thing was very well done.


We had a few hours to kill after all of this, so we went to a great little parkland just relaxed. We played hackie sack, I took a nap on a park bench and ate an apple. At one point, while steve was juggling the hackie sack ball by himself I decided to try and make some money for him. I turned my hat upside down ob the ground in front of him and put sone euro coins in, trying to pass him off as a street performer.


Finally, at 7:30 we met our good friend Chloe's parents, who live in a beautiful apartment overlooking the river. This is a view from their living room:




They took us out to this amazing French-Chinese restaurant on the left bank. We enjoyed great food and great conversation and were sad to leave them a few hours later.

Overall, a great day. Tomorrow, climbing Eiffel tower and seeing the famed Mona Lisa. Could this get any better!?

Bienvenue Paris

I love stark contrasts like this... England and France are separated by a narrow channel and yet they might as well be on opposite sides of an ocean.

We arrived this morning on the Eurostar train from London. Brownie and I slept the entire time, literally being woken up by the conductor alerting us that we were minutes from arriving in Paris. Everything is different; the architecture is completely... Parisian... long ornate buildings with beautiful balconies everywhere. The language of course is different (I certainly miss English).

After finding our hotel this morning at our hotel in North Paris, we dropped our bags and got going. We bought a Carnet, a pass good for 10 trips on the Métro, and set out for the Eiffel Tower. 20 minutes later, after we emerged from the subway, the tower was out in front of us. It was truly incredible. There are things in this world that you see in pictures your entire life... to be able to actually see it with your own eyes and stand in front of it is a truly awesome experience. The Eiffel tower has always been something I have wanted to see... It was so great to finally be there. We walked down to the tower, underneath it and played some hacky sack on the lawn in its shadow.

We walked all the way from the tower to the Arc d'Triomphe and the Champs-Ellyses. We walked all along the famous avenue, stopping for a typical French baguette lunch, eaten on a park bench on the side of the road. After more walking, we finally headed back north to check in to our hotel.

When we arrived at our metro station, we got hopelessly lost in a not-so-great part of town. We walked for awhile, trying to get our bearings straight. We finally decided to just head back to the main train station (because we knew how to get home from there). It was a tense few minutes as we tried to figure out where the hell we were, but we kept our cool. Later in the day, we would find out that we had popped out of the subway literally like 20 yards from our hotel but didn't realize it and headed in the opposite direction. Woops.

This evening, we went to Sacre-Cœur, the huge Catholic Cathedral in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris. It is set up on a huge hill overlooking the city and is absolutely gorgeous. We set up shop at the base of hill and had a great dinner watching the light slowly go down on the structure above us. 4 glasses of wine later, we headed up the steps toward the huge church.

When we got up there and looked behind us, the entire city was sprawled out before us, the sun hitting it as it was setting. It was truly a great sight.

























Talk tomorrow!

Greg

The bear's london

As I sit on the train, having just popped out of the Chunnel, it is quickly apparent how truly different it is to be in Europe. In the U.S. We travel from state to state all the time. But over here, the continent is almost like one big country in that way. A quick 30 minute train ride through a tunnel and I'm in France instead of England. Though we call the U.S. the big melting pot, Europe is a true melting pot.

All of these cultures seemed to merge into one in London. As Greg or Dave mentioned, we heard more foreign languages than English in London. You can try to pick out who's from where based on how they look or act, but you would struggle. Everyone here seems to be of one big, melded society. And on that note, there was a lot of our culture in London as well. I'm excited to see the differences and similarities as we move on to more and more foreign places.

On the lighter side, I loved the English culture. They all seemed to go to the pub after work to "grab a pint.". This means that on a Friday evening after work, they go to the pub from 6-11 and are in bed by midnight. Sounds much better than waiting until 11 to go out like many people do at home. There are lots of cask ales there, which is beer that is not pressurized or carbonated in any way and must be pumped out of the tap, it's delicious. I know of one place back home where you can find it called tbonz, as annie farber about it if you'd like to go there.

Updates:
-The bear's clean shaven face is now some solid stubble
-the backpack varieties have not yielded any problems or benefits as of yet
-and for the record, I have more than 1 pair of pants...i have 2. And some shorts

Cheers
-The bear

Goodbye London

It is really hard to believe that we have already come to the end of our first city. Our four days in London flew by incredibly fast as we got going on our European trip and did as much as physically possible.

I loved London. As I said to the guys over a beer tonight, this was one of the easiest places to travel to; the language is the same and the culture, while different, is very relatable to that of the US. The British are charming, chivalrous, and sometimes dry people. On the very first morning here in London, literally right after I got off of the plane, I was already arguing with the guy who was selling us our Tube tickets. They don't take your shit here, they say what they think- especially when they know you're American.

More than anything else, this is truly an international city. While they proudly claim that they are the originators of the English language, there is as much French, Italian and Arabic as there is English. It is a real-life melting pot of different cultures and philosophies, and it was really fasiciatig to walk through each of the small neighborhoods that made up each respective demographic.

I have always wanted to come here to this city, and while I am sad to go, I had an amazing few days here with the guys and can't wait to come back one day soon.

Tomorrow, we head to the city of lights, PARIS.

Talk to you from the other side of the channel, enjoy the photos.

Greg

Ps. Dave just posted a blog at the exact same time, right below the pics.




The Tower of London in the background of the tube station




Tower Bridge with three handsome gentlemen







I really was happy to buy that ice cream cone.







Dave took certain liberties with The Bear while he was busy looking at the steam engine at the tower of London.




...Steve was so distraught he buried himself in his drink

Last day in London

Today was a perfect last day in London. We went to Hyde park, had a nice breakfast and played hackey sack for a while. Then went to The Tower of London and did a tour of Tower Bridge. By 5pm we were on our way to dinner which we were told would be quite an experience. Brick lane is a street where loads of Indian restaursnts compete for your bussiness. We naturally elected Greg our point man as he knows how to make a deal. We ended up going to the third place we went to because they added some rounds of free beer to an already cheap meal. Although the portions were on the small side, the meal was delicious(thanks sami). After dinner we headed back to our area and steve bought a round of beer. One of many traditions that have been solidified is that everytime we leave a city, someone knew has to buy a round. Greg bought before we flew from NYC which means i will be buying a round( of wine) in Paris.

Closing thoughts on London. Well first of all, for only being here for 4 days we all agreed, we kicked London's ass. We hit all the major sites and then some, had an unlimited subway card which made us kings of the tube, and saw a a show. To top it all off we had the typical English food of fish and chips, meat pie and hot roasted nuts on Tower Bridge.

I've learned a few more things... Sharing is key. The three of us have been great with sharing foods, drinks and money if need be and it's great. So crucial to be able to do this on a trip such as the one we are on. We have also been great with watching each other's back. In return for me helping Steve buy jeans he knew i really had to pee so he asked someone where a bathroom was and it was the cutest thing ever, haha just joking( about the cute part, but it was nice). Another thing is that Steve is a great alarm clock. Every morning around 9am i feel this big bear claw grab my leg and like clockwork i give a thumbs up to let him know i'm up. As for Londoners go, we have met a mix of very nice helpful people but have also interacted with short, scarcastic and to the point people. These are the people who could care less about you and what you want. But ya know what, those people exist everywhere so i guess its nothing knew. In general, we seem to be getting into a groove of how we work together, which is great because we are really just starting out. But if ya think about it, the three of us have lived in a tent, won and lost color wars and cooked bushels of live crabs together so this trip is nothin, haha. Enjoy the pics Greg is about to post. A special thank you to Patty and David for purchasing tickets to the show the other night. It was great! Goodbye London, hello Paris...