I have been watching them incessantly for the past 16 days. Even when I was in France, I found the channel on my hotel room's TV that showed the Olympics--there was even a second channel that showed it in German in case you didn't understand French. I'm not staying up to watch the closing ceremony tonight, but you can bet that I'll be checking all tomorrow to see if they have a recap on the BBC.
We had Sunday night dinner at my place today, but I had barely any food. I ended up making pasta and some cookies, Alice brought scones, Courtney brought a pie, and Miriam and Jackie brought nothing. We didn't stuff ourselves like usual, but it was still fun. Alice cut Miriam's hair while we watched the Olympic men's hockey final, then she cut Courtney's hair again (she did it a couple days ago, but took off a lot more this time).
Besides that, the rest of my day was quite tame. I got up late-ish and read my book while watching TV and eating breakfast in my PJs, then worked on some homework for Celtic Civ while baking cookies. Really not an exciting day...I never left the house except to go on the deck briefly.
I have a lot of errands to run tomorrow, and since I have not even enough food for lunch tomorrow, I need to do some grocery shopping really badly. I've got this whole big list that I'll have to find and then lug home. I'm excited to have milk again and maybe even bread--oh the shock!
I'm still feeling under the weather with this cold and blisters and all, so I'm going to head to bed. Good night.
Feb 28, 2010
Feb 27, 2010
Home Alone
I'm home alone right now, writing this very early in the morning (I spelled "writing" wrong at first, so clearly it's time for bed). It's really nice to be here without other people for once. I don't think I'd want to live like this all the time, but I can walk around and be as loud as I want to and turn on whatever lights I want and wash the kitchen and not have it immediately trashed. It's pleasant.
I woke up this morning pretty early, especially considering I didn't get to sleep until about 1:30 a.m. After showering and throwing some laundry in the washer, I left to take a long walk around Galway. I ended up taking the usual path to school, then walking along the river and going in to town.
On the river path, the water was empty today. This is a shot from under the bridge.
This is also from under the bridge, but you can see the houses that line the road on which I walk to school every day--even days that I don't have class, it seems.
This is the bridge itself, a lovely concrete highway.
And the path that runs under this side of the bridge. I've not yet walked on the path on the other side of the river.
The usual swans were floating around today.
Farther along the path, these random stones are set up all fancy. I don't remember them being here a few days ago, but I probably just didn't notice them.
This is part of Canal Road, where the canal from the river to the ocean runs between two rows of houses. It's a really beautiful walk, especially on sunny mornings like today.
The water currents right after the canal deepens.
This used to be a working loch (spelled like that?) on the canal, but now it just holds back the water so it doesn't flood all of the buildings later down the road.
See? Big important gates are missing now.
That's how beautiful little yards and houses like these stay dry.
A final view down the canal. This leads out to the area where the kayak polo tournament was a couple weeks ago.
I've never been out to visit the bay in the morning, I guess, so I was really surprised when I saw how low the tide was this morning. Normally these boats are way up in the water, floating several meters above the ground. I was quite confused when I first walked by. Usually I have to be careful not to walk too close to the edge so I don't fall in to the water, but today I had to try not to fall on to the rocks.
This is where a lot of famous pictures of bright Galway houses and boats are taken. Not so impressive when there's no water to hold up the boats...
So many birds. Gotta watch out for the swans.
The bay area at low tide. Bizarre.
Lobster traps, I believe? A whole mess of them.
There are a lot of fields down by the bay, used for soccer or rugby or what-not.
Looking out towards where the bay opens to the Atlantic Ocean. It was really bright and windy today.
There's a lighthouse in the distance in this picture.
Again, the tide is really low. I would have found lots more seashells today had I been looking.
On the way in to town, I saw several monuments like this that were erected for mariners or fishermen lost at sea.
In town, I walked past the weekly Saturday market and the statue man who has been hanging around for several days, then saw a special display in the mall in the city center. It was all of these individually decorated, 6 feet tall angel statues that were supposed to be raising money for something, I believe.
After I got back from the walk, I started to clean the house and cook some lunch. I mopped the floors after sweeping them and cleaned the counters and dishes, but didn't get a chance to do my room and bathroom. I'll have to catch up with that tomorrow.
Afterward, I walked over to Courtney and Alice's apartment, where we dyed Courtney's hair a light chocolate brown. While we were at Dunne's buying the dye, we had to go to the bakery and get a snack to keep up our shopping stamina...yum. My three miniature gingerbread men were delicious. Alice and I met up with Miriam in town while Courtney's hair dried. We went to Coyote's, a bar with a mechanical bull to ride (we didn't get to, alas) to watch the rugby game--Ireland beat England, but it was close. I was rooting for England, but obviously couldn't show it in a bar filled with Irish people.
In between that trip and the get-together later, I made supper and watched as much Olympics coverage as I could find. I'm still watching them at 1:30 in the morning...
So the party we had was only 8 people (a 9th came for a little while), and we played Twister, Never Have I Ever, watched the Olympics, ate sausage rolls, listened to Miriam and Ryan sing and play guitar, and otherwise just relax. It was really low-key and pleasant. At first, no one was showing up, so Alice and I went around the apartment complex and invited as many of my random neighbors as we could find, but none of them ended up showing up. Oh well.
Anyway, these are the sausage rolls ( so delicious!):
Twister board/BBC announcer for the Olympics.
Miriam singing and playing.
Inaki, the Spanish exchange student, Alice, Courtney, and Ryan in the background.
Ellie and Lena, two other American girls who aren't in API.
And that was basically today! Good night, finally!
I woke up this morning pretty early, especially considering I didn't get to sleep until about 1:30 a.m. After showering and throwing some laundry in the washer, I left to take a long walk around Galway. I ended up taking the usual path to school, then walking along the river and going in to town.
On the river path, the water was empty today. This is a shot from under the bridge.
This is also from under the bridge, but you can see the houses that line the road on which I walk to school every day--even days that I don't have class, it seems.
This is the bridge itself, a lovely concrete highway.
And the path that runs under this side of the bridge. I've not yet walked on the path on the other side of the river.
The usual swans were floating around today.
Farther along the path, these random stones are set up all fancy. I don't remember them being here a few days ago, but I probably just didn't notice them.
This is part of Canal Road, where the canal from the river to the ocean runs between two rows of houses. It's a really beautiful walk, especially on sunny mornings like today.
The water currents right after the canal deepens.
This used to be a working loch (spelled like that?) on the canal, but now it just holds back the water so it doesn't flood all of the buildings later down the road.
See? Big important gates are missing now.
That's how beautiful little yards and houses like these stay dry.
A final view down the canal. This leads out to the area where the kayak polo tournament was a couple weeks ago.
I've never been out to visit the bay in the morning, I guess, so I was really surprised when I saw how low the tide was this morning. Normally these boats are way up in the water, floating several meters above the ground. I was quite confused when I first walked by. Usually I have to be careful not to walk too close to the edge so I don't fall in to the water, but today I had to try not to fall on to the rocks.
This is where a lot of famous pictures of bright Galway houses and boats are taken. Not so impressive when there's no water to hold up the boats...
So many birds. Gotta watch out for the swans.
Lobster traps, I believe? A whole mess of them.
There are a lot of fields down by the bay, used for soccer or rugby or what-not.
Looking out towards where the bay opens to the Atlantic Ocean. It was really bright and windy today.
There's a lighthouse in the distance in this picture.
Again, the tide is really low. I would have found lots more seashells today had I been looking.
On the way in to town, I saw several monuments like this that were erected for mariners or fishermen lost at sea.
In town, I walked past the weekly Saturday market and the statue man who has been hanging around for several days, then saw a special display in the mall in the city center. It was all of these individually decorated, 6 feet tall angel statues that were supposed to be raising money for something, I believe.
After I got back from the walk, I started to clean the house and cook some lunch. I mopped the floors after sweeping them and cleaned the counters and dishes, but didn't get a chance to do my room and bathroom. I'll have to catch up with that tomorrow.
Afterward, I walked over to Courtney and Alice's apartment, where we dyed Courtney's hair a light chocolate brown. While we were at Dunne's buying the dye, we had to go to the bakery and get a snack to keep up our shopping stamina...yum. My three miniature gingerbread men were delicious. Alice and I met up with Miriam in town while Courtney's hair dried. We went to Coyote's, a bar with a mechanical bull to ride (we didn't get to, alas) to watch the rugby game--Ireland beat England, but it was close. I was rooting for England, but obviously couldn't show it in a bar filled with Irish people.
In between that trip and the get-together later, I made supper and watched as much Olympics coverage as I could find. I'm still watching them at 1:30 in the morning...
So the party we had was only 8 people (a 9th came for a little while), and we played Twister, Never Have I Ever, watched the Olympics, ate sausage rolls, listened to Miriam and Ryan sing and play guitar, and otherwise just relax. It was really low-key and pleasant. At first, no one was showing up, so Alice and I went around the apartment complex and invited as many of my random neighbors as we could find, but none of them ended up showing up. Oh well.
Anyway, these are the sausage rolls ( so delicious!):
Twister board/BBC announcer for the Olympics.
Miriam singing and playing.
Inaki, the Spanish exchange student, Alice, Courtney, and Ryan in the background.
Ellie and Lena, two other American girls who aren't in API.
And that was basically today! Good night, finally!
Feb 26, 2010
Making Up For Yesterday
Yeah...I forgot to post yesterday...oops.
It's honestly the first time that I've forgotten to do so. I never write myself sticky notes or anything to do it, which is completely odd for me, as all my past roommates can confirm. It's just my ritual every night: check email one more time and post a journal entry so Mom and Dad know I'm still alive. I went to bed early last night after staying in--so there's no excuse!
I was supposed to do a lot last night, like I usually do on Thursdays, but rock climbing was canceled because they had to redo the walls for their competition this weekend, and then my friends wanted to go to a house party for international students instead of pubbing like usual. I'm not big on crowds, and since I don't drink, even pubs aren't fun for me, so I stayed home instead. It turns out that they went to pubs after a couple awkward hours at the party and didn't get home until 3 a.m., so I'm really glad I didn't go. My roommate would have shot me for waking her up then!
As it is, the Irish roommates in my apartment are starting to get fed up with the other two American girls. Amanda and Jackie are so loud, even by American standards (most Americans are louder than Irish people, it seems, especially Anya and Emer). When they talk at all in their room, Anya and I can hear every word in ours. They always wake us up when they get home from clubbing or whatever, and normally Anya shrugs it off and tells them it's no big deal. Yesterday, however, they woke her up the night before she had to write her fifth midterm in a week, and she got pretty upset and sort of confronted them. I'm hoping that since Amanda and Jackie never take me seriously, the Irish girls confront them big time and get them to shape up. I know that sounds horrible, but it's obnoxious.
Wow. That was a rant. Lo siento. Other than that, yesterday was a good day. Today was really nice too. I slept in till 8:30, late for me, and then read in bed for an hour before going downstairs and eating breakfast in front of the TV in my pajamas. In the eight weeks I've been here, I've never done that. I hate walking around in my pajamas. That's how lazy I was today.
I met up with Alice after her class and we went down to the bay again for a walk, and then ended up going to Tesco's (the big grocery store) and buying hair dye (for her, don't worry), a huge baguette, and a frozen pizza. We pigged out in my apartment while watching Sponge Bob, then went back to hers to dye her hair a deep red color. She also trimmed mine, since I was getting a lot of split ends, and apparently layered it slightly. We made scones with jam and then fiddled around online for a while before making plans to go out with Miriam. The three of us walked around town for a bit before ending up where we always do--at the Roisin Dubh pub.
Tomorrow we are going to watch a rugby game on TV with Miriam's crush and then go to a Twister/sausage rolls/scone party at Miriam's apartment. The nicest thing about that is that she lives thirty seconds from me, so I can go home whenever I want to or run back and forth if I forget something. I'm pretty excited.
I am planning on getting up early and going in to town by myself just for some alone time. There is a market on Saturday mornings that I could visit and I want to finally make it back to that ruin in the city center. I know where to find it now, so I just need to go do it!
Besides that, my only plans for this weekend are to read some articles for class and to clean the house. After the American girls leave for Scotland tomorrow morning, I will be alone in the house until Sunday night-ish. I'm going to sweep and mop the main living areas, clean the kitchen all over, clean my bathroom, vacuum my room, and do lots of laundry. I'm really excited about that whole business too, which is odd...but I've been feeling very domestic this week. I'm ready to clean!
That's all that really went on for the past two days. Oh, except yesterday was sunny but still sprinkling on the walk home from class, so there was a big beautiful rainbow that ended at McDonald's...oh well. It was pretty nonetheless!
So good night!
It's honestly the first time that I've forgotten to do so. I never write myself sticky notes or anything to do it, which is completely odd for me, as all my past roommates can confirm. It's just my ritual every night: check email one more time and post a journal entry so Mom and Dad know I'm still alive. I went to bed early last night after staying in--so there's no excuse!
I was supposed to do a lot last night, like I usually do on Thursdays, but rock climbing was canceled because they had to redo the walls for their competition this weekend, and then my friends wanted to go to a house party for international students instead of pubbing like usual. I'm not big on crowds, and since I don't drink, even pubs aren't fun for me, so I stayed home instead. It turns out that they went to pubs after a couple awkward hours at the party and didn't get home until 3 a.m., so I'm really glad I didn't go. My roommate would have shot me for waking her up then!
As it is, the Irish roommates in my apartment are starting to get fed up with the other two American girls. Amanda and Jackie are so loud, even by American standards (most Americans are louder than Irish people, it seems, especially Anya and Emer). When they talk at all in their room, Anya and I can hear every word in ours. They always wake us up when they get home from clubbing or whatever, and normally Anya shrugs it off and tells them it's no big deal. Yesterday, however, they woke her up the night before she had to write her fifth midterm in a week, and she got pretty upset and sort of confronted them. I'm hoping that since Amanda and Jackie never take me seriously, the Irish girls confront them big time and get them to shape up. I know that sounds horrible, but it's obnoxious.
Wow. That was a rant. Lo siento. Other than that, yesterday was a good day. Today was really nice too. I slept in till 8:30, late for me, and then read in bed for an hour before going downstairs and eating breakfast in front of the TV in my pajamas. In the eight weeks I've been here, I've never done that. I hate walking around in my pajamas. That's how lazy I was today.
I met up with Alice after her class and we went down to the bay again for a walk, and then ended up going to Tesco's (the big grocery store) and buying hair dye (for her, don't worry), a huge baguette, and a frozen pizza. We pigged out in my apartment while watching Sponge Bob, then went back to hers to dye her hair a deep red color. She also trimmed mine, since I was getting a lot of split ends, and apparently layered it slightly. We made scones with jam and then fiddled around online for a while before making plans to go out with Miriam. The three of us walked around town for a bit before ending up where we always do--at the Roisin Dubh pub.
Tomorrow we are going to watch a rugby game on TV with Miriam's crush and then go to a Twister/sausage rolls/scone party at Miriam's apartment. The nicest thing about that is that she lives thirty seconds from me, so I can go home whenever I want to or run back and forth if I forget something. I'm pretty excited.
I am planning on getting up early and going in to town by myself just for some alone time. There is a market on Saturday mornings that I could visit and I want to finally make it back to that ruin in the city center. I know where to find it now, so I just need to go do it!
Besides that, my only plans for this weekend are to read some articles for class and to clean the house. After the American girls leave for Scotland tomorrow morning, I will be alone in the house until Sunday night-ish. I'm going to sweep and mop the main living areas, clean the kitchen all over, clean my bathroom, vacuum my room, and do lots of laundry. I'm really excited about that whole business too, which is odd...but I've been feeling very domestic this week. I'm ready to clean!
That's all that really went on for the past two days. Oh, except yesterday was sunny but still sprinkling on the walk home from class, so there was a big beautiful rainbow that ended at McDonald's...oh well. It was pretty nonetheless!
So good night!
Feb 24, 2010
Feels Like Being a 50s Housewife
I was quite productive today...in a domestic sense.
I went to my four hours of classes today, then came home and had lunch. Then decided to stick in some laundry. Which made me sweep. And wash all the dishes and counters. Then I felt like making cookies. I did my Celtic Civ homework while deciding on a recipe, then cooked supper and made raspberry thumbprint cookies. I had no eggs or chocolate or oatmeal, so that was the best thing I could do under the circumstance. I'm trying not to spend any more money this week, so I had to improvise a little. They came out great, though, I have to say. I'm definitely pigging out on them for lunch tomorrow.
On my walk to school today I saw a loon where the swans normally are on the River Corrib. I watched it for a while and thought of Canada.
Irish class today was quite fun, surprisingly. The professor, Daithi, explained that the airline I took to get over here (Air Lingus) gets its name from the old Irish "air linn gus," which basically translates to mean "a strong leap in the air." I feel like I'll be on a giant leaping goat or something when I fly back home.
After finishing the lesson, which are becoming more and more informal, Daithi started to tell us a traditional Celtic myth. He would say a couple lines in Irish, then translate it for us (or just do the motions with it like charades). He's going to start up where he left off next week. It was quite fun--and funny. I wish I could record him speaking: he has a British accent in English but speaks fluent Connemara-dialect Irish. Awesome.
Besides that, classes were the same as usual. I only have two tomorrow, and I'll also get certified to climb on my own tomorrow, and otherwise I'll just sit around the house and do work or go for a walk or something.
So for now, good night!
I went to my four hours of classes today, then came home and had lunch. Then decided to stick in some laundry. Which made me sweep. And wash all the dishes and counters. Then I felt like making cookies. I did my Celtic Civ homework while deciding on a recipe, then cooked supper and made raspberry thumbprint cookies. I had no eggs or chocolate or oatmeal, so that was the best thing I could do under the circumstance. I'm trying not to spend any more money this week, so I had to improvise a little. They came out great, though, I have to say. I'm definitely pigging out on them for lunch tomorrow.
On my walk to school today I saw a loon where the swans normally are on the River Corrib. I watched it for a while and thought of Canada.
Irish class today was quite fun, surprisingly. The professor, Daithi, explained that the airline I took to get over here (Air Lingus) gets its name from the old Irish "air linn gus," which basically translates to mean "a strong leap in the air." I feel like I'll be on a giant leaping goat or something when I fly back home.
After finishing the lesson, which are becoming more and more informal, Daithi started to tell us a traditional Celtic myth. He would say a couple lines in Irish, then translate it for us (or just do the motions with it like charades). He's going to start up where he left off next week. It was quite fun--and funny. I wish I could record him speaking: he has a British accent in English but speaks fluent Connemara-dialect Irish. Awesome.
Besides that, classes were the same as usual. I only have two tomorrow, and I'll also get certified to climb on my own tomorrow, and otherwise I'll just sit around the house and do work or go for a walk or something.
So for now, good night!
Sunday: Wrapping up the Trip
Sunday: the final installment. Kind of sounds like a Star Wars movie...how epic.
After all of the walking on Saturday, I woke up tired, but after having to figure out the shower I woke up quickly. The dial was controlled by picking the actual temperature (in Celcius) that you wanted then pulling a plug thing. And the glass wall to the shower only went halfway down the tub, so the rest of the bathroom got sprayed with water while I was sudsing. It was definitely an experience...
Alice and Courtney met me to go have another delicious, croissant-filled breakfast, then we took the metro to Notre Dame. We had to get on at a different station on our street and then figure out how to find the cathedral once we were on the island--it was not too hard, but it made me feel accomplished that we did it without asking for major help.
The road on which we exited the metro on the island was filled with rows of vendors in a market, which sounds pretty normal. Except they were selling rabbits and all different types of birds and hamsters and guinea pigs and all the assorted accessories. It was...odd. And very noisy with all sorts of squawks and chirps and people running around. Craziness.
The cathedral was really busy as usual with tourists, especially since it was Sunday and Mass was going on.
I had completely forgotten that there would be a service there, and I felt so so guilty walking around when all those people in the middle were trying to have a peaceful hour of prayer. It spoiled the visit for me because all the tourists were snapping pictures and talking loudly and being obnoxious. I couldn't stand how rude it seemed, and I hated being part of it.
The building was quite beautiful, though, so I am glad we went, although I wished we'd picked a better time. We were thinking about going up in the towers, but there was a huge line and it was pretty pricey.
So instead we went to some of the million souvenir shops on the street and then got crepes at a cafe.
My first crepe ever! It has Nutella and bananas in it.
This is Alice's, which had some sort of caramel creme inside.
On the metro back to the hotel, we stood in the elevator next to this big burly man...with a miniature chihuahua in his pocket. It was so cute and cold! And then inside the station, while we were waiting, the woman next to us took a pigeon out of her purse and talked to it for a while before putting it back in to get on the train. I'm not so sure French people are normal after all.
We got back with at least an hour to spare before we had to leave to go home, so we decided to walk down the street to this church that we saw every time we walked past but hadn't gone to yet. You could see down the alleys, sitting on top of a hill.
Another carousel was next to it...
Once we got to the top, the view was great.
But getting there sucked. Every 10 or 15 feet, there was a group of African men (the one I talked to said he was from Senegal, Alice's said Nigeria) who grabbed on to tourists and wouldn't let go until you let them tie a bracelet on your wrist. Then they demanded that you give them five euros to pay for it. Courtney got left alone, but I got caught by a second one after I shook off the first and Alice got one too. They wouldn't let us go until we paid them, but neither of us had any money left, so they finally left us alone and walked on to their next victims. It was pretty annoying, but definitely would have been scary if it hadn't been a bright morning surrounded by tons of people.
Then, at the top of the paths on either side there were groups of deaf people who wouldn't let you pass unless you signed their form and gave them some money. Courtney and I slipped by, but Alice got caught once again and ended up just going back down the hill and waiting for us to finish snapping pictures up top. I really don't think these groups are allowed to do turn people away like that, but no one stopped them. It was so frustrating and ruined the morning.
We didn't have time to go up to the church itself and we didn't want to leave Alice on her own at the bottom, so we headed back down and then just went and sat in the hotel until it was time to leave.
The bus ride back was fun since we had only seen the area at night before. Most people were sleeping off their Saturday night exploits, but I enjoyed seeing the sights one last time.
The airport in France was so much less organized. We stood around for an hour trying to get in the right line and waiting for them to open lanes. It was a pain, but once we got on the plane I didn't worry about it anymore. It was so nice to be traveling back to my cute little Galway.
Alice and I played Skip-Bo on the plane, so I guess the acupuncture bracelets worked at least a little--normally that would make me quite sick. We also ate the rest of my sugary dessert and some M&Ms, so we were quite hyper. And then there was still the 1.5 hour bus ride back to Galway! I sat next to Alice again, so we listened to Disney music and rapped to Glee music.
And then--home! I made myself a nice warm supper of pasta and wrote out some postcards while watching the scarce Olympics that show here. I unpacked most of my stuff that night and got caught up on what I needed to do for the coming week.
Lastly, here is a candy bar that I ate recently. I've noticed that I have a tendency to go for caramel ones...yum.
And that was Paris! Hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories. Slan!
After all of the walking on Saturday, I woke up tired, but after having to figure out the shower I woke up quickly. The dial was controlled by picking the actual temperature (in Celcius) that you wanted then pulling a plug thing. And the glass wall to the shower only went halfway down the tub, so the rest of the bathroom got sprayed with water while I was sudsing. It was definitely an experience...
Alice and Courtney met me to go have another delicious, croissant-filled breakfast, then we took the metro to Notre Dame. We had to get on at a different station on our street and then figure out how to find the cathedral once we were on the island--it was not too hard, but it made me feel accomplished that we did it without asking for major help.
The road on which we exited the metro on the island was filled with rows of vendors in a market, which sounds pretty normal. Except they were selling rabbits and all different types of birds and hamsters and guinea pigs and all the assorted accessories. It was...odd. And very noisy with all sorts of squawks and chirps and people running around. Craziness.
The cathedral was really busy as usual with tourists, especially since it was Sunday and Mass was going on.
I had completely forgotten that there would be a service there, and I felt so so guilty walking around when all those people in the middle were trying to have a peaceful hour of prayer. It spoiled the visit for me because all the tourists were snapping pictures and talking loudly and being obnoxious. I couldn't stand how rude it seemed, and I hated being part of it.
The building was quite beautiful, though, so I am glad we went, although I wished we'd picked a better time. We were thinking about going up in the towers, but there was a huge line and it was pretty pricey.
So instead we went to some of the million souvenir shops on the street and then got crepes at a cafe.
My first crepe ever! It has Nutella and bananas in it.
This is Alice's, which had some sort of caramel creme inside.
On the metro back to the hotel, we stood in the elevator next to this big burly man...with a miniature chihuahua in his pocket. It was so cute and cold! And then inside the station, while we were waiting, the woman next to us took a pigeon out of her purse and talked to it for a while before putting it back in to get on the train. I'm not so sure French people are normal after all.We got back with at least an hour to spare before we had to leave to go home, so we decided to walk down the street to this church that we saw every time we walked past but hadn't gone to yet. You could see down the alleys, sitting on top of a hill.
Another carousel was next to it...
Once we got to the top, the view was great.
But getting there sucked. Every 10 or 15 feet, there was a group of African men (the one I talked to said he was from Senegal, Alice's said Nigeria) who grabbed on to tourists and wouldn't let go until you let them tie a bracelet on your wrist. Then they demanded that you give them five euros to pay for it. Courtney got left alone, but I got caught by a second one after I shook off the first and Alice got one too. They wouldn't let us go until we paid them, but neither of us had any money left, so they finally left us alone and walked on to their next victims. It was pretty annoying, but definitely would have been scary if it hadn't been a bright morning surrounded by tons of people.
Then, at the top of the paths on either side there were groups of deaf people who wouldn't let you pass unless you signed their form and gave them some money. Courtney and I slipped by, but Alice got caught once again and ended up just going back down the hill and waiting for us to finish snapping pictures up top. I really don't think these groups are allowed to do turn people away like that, but no one stopped them. It was so frustrating and ruined the morning.
We didn't have time to go up to the church itself and we didn't want to leave Alice on her own at the bottom, so we headed back down and then just went and sat in the hotel until it was time to leave.
The bus ride back was fun since we had only seen the area at night before. Most people were sleeping off their Saturday night exploits, but I enjoyed seeing the sights one last time.The airport in France was so much less organized. We stood around for an hour trying to get in the right line and waiting for them to open lanes. It was a pain, but once we got on the plane I didn't worry about it anymore. It was so nice to be traveling back to my cute little Galway.
Alice and I played Skip-Bo on the plane, so I guess the acupuncture bracelets worked at least a little--normally that would make me quite sick. We also ate the rest of my sugary dessert and some M&Ms, so we were quite hyper. And then there was still the 1.5 hour bus ride back to Galway! I sat next to Alice again, so we listened to Disney music and rapped to Glee music.
And then--home! I made myself a nice warm supper of pasta and wrote out some postcards while watching the scarce Olympics that show here. I unpacked most of my stuff that night and got caught up on what I needed to do for the coming week.
Lastly, here is a candy bar that I ate recently. I've noticed that I have a tendency to go for caramel ones...yum.
And that was Paris! Hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories. Slan!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)