England

My experience in England was a little bit different than France and Ireland. I was only able to spend one day in England because I had to fly back to Israel to then go on the Nativ trip to Poland, so for my one day, we did things that I wanted to do, or made sense for the group. So after getting in really late at night, we just decided to get a little dinner and then go to sleep in our hostel towards the outskirts of London.

The next day, we make it into the heart of London for yet another free walking tour of the city. We had a little trouble finding it, and had to do a lot walking, but eventually we made it to the start. The guy we had as our guide was a lot of fun. He is actually a trained actor, so while some of his talking was way over the top, in general he was a lot of fun. One really fun moment we had with him was in front of the parliament where we were discussing old torture methods, so he was demonstrating the method that would be used on people who committed treason. Naturally he needed a volunteer, and naturally I volunteered.

In general, we saw a lot on the tour and it was a good tour, and I’m glad I spent a chunk of my one free day doing that. In fact, towards the end of the tour, we ran into another person on Nativ who was in London with her sister who lives there, so afterwards we went to this pub to get lunch, and obviously I got fish and chips. They were delicious.

After lunch, we went as fast as possible to the British Museum, because that was the one thing I’d wanna see if I could. There was soooo much there. We only had an hour and a half, so I did what they recommended and I saw a bunch of really amazing things.

That night we went on a Tower of London/East London tour. It was basically a tour about the history of Jack The Ripper. Very interesting. Very creepy, and very odd that it was basically a story of Jews. 

London is a really cool city, and one day is most certainly not enough.

Ireland

Ireland was quite nice. Right away while we were flying into Ireland I thought it was incredibly pretty. Even more, once we landed and got into a cab, the cab driver was so friendly and nice. We then got to our hostel. It was the Generator Hostel in Dublin, and it was absolutely amazing! It was possibly the comfiest bed I have slept in all year. It also just had a cool atmosphere.

Highlights from the trip:

                Cliffs of Moher: We went to the Cliffs of Moher which are on the western coast of the country. That day we went on a full day trip that included the cliffs. It started out with waking up at 5 in the morning to walk to the start. We almost missed the bus because the starting point was incredibly difficult to find. The lady wanted to get to know us, so when she got to my name, she asked if I knew of any famous Brian’s. Naturally I answered Brian Barou who was a high king of Ireland, and she was incredibly impressed with my answer. We then continued on a bus and went driving throughout the country and it was absolutely gorgeous. Even on a cloudy and rainy day, the green was beautiful. We ended up at the tour guide’s cousin’s house (this trip was a “family” trip where you see their old home and farm) and we went on a short easy hike throughout their farm. It was pretty interesting.

We then got to the actual cliffs themselves and they were absolutely unbelievable. The sight was breathtaking and was a great picture scene as well. We then toook a long drive back which ended up just being a nice 2 hour nap.

National Leprechaun Museum: On Friday the 13^th, we were all pretty tired and were looking for things to do on our last day there. After going on a free walking tour where we did learn quite a bit of general Irish history as well as seeing cool sights in Dublin and Dublin history, we ended up going to the National Leprechaun Museum. Unfortunately, we did not learn about the museum until it was closing. Luckily, it was Friday the 13^th, and the managers decided, for the first time, to do a Friday the 13^th exhibit/tour of luck and omens. It was really fun, but also really creppy. At the end, we did bloody mary on a mirror that our guide told creepy stories about, and I broke a mirror with a horse shoe.

Guiness Storehouse: We went to the Guiness Storehouse one day, and while we were disappointed that we couldn’t go to the brewery, but it was still interesting. It was a very interactive tour of Guiness history as well as how Guiness is made. We were also allowed to get a complimentary pint, and one of the options was to “Pour Your Perfect Pint”. Naturally I did that, and it was quite exhilirating, but I also learned that pouring Guiness from a tap is not just flipping the tap, but there is in fact more to it. While some may say it was just a bunch of American tourists wanting to go to a brewery, and it probably was, it was still quite interestnig.

Old Jameson Distillery: On the same day as the Guiness Storehouse, we were planning on going to the Old Jameson Distillery. The girls in the group didn’t want to go, and since they couldn’t “go shopping” while we were in France, they wanted to go shopping in Dubling, so Blue and I went to the distillery. We learned specifics to their whiskey as well as differences in other types of whiskey. We were then able to have a taste test, but there was also an “official taste test” where 8 people were chosen to taste 3 different types of whiskeys: Jameson, Johnnie Walker Black Label, and Jack Daniel’s. The whole experience was really interesting and fun.

We also just had general walking around in Ireland and saw a lot of cool things. I’m really glad I could go, and I can’t wait to go back one day to see more of it. 

Winter Break: France

FRANCE

My first impression of France (well mostly Paris, the only time we technically left Paris was when we went to Versailles which is about 10K or so outside, but is on the same train system as Paris) was dark and dirty. That is probably because when we arrived, it was still dark out, and well, Paris isn’t necessarily the cleanest city there is. Eventually we were able to make it to our hostel, which was pretty nice.

That first day we first off took a nap because we didn’t really sleep at all the night we spent in Geneva, we mostly just hung out in our rooms. We eventually got up and found that there was a nice free walking tour that we could get on. Obviously, it was about an hour away at a place that is not super easy to find. We leave with about 90 min to spare but don’t end up making it. Instead we just do some walking around ourselves, and see Paris in our own eyes.

I realized then, Paris is one huge architectural masterpiece. Not only are there specific amazing structures and buildings, but everywhere you walk, the architecture is beautiful. I took so many pictures of random alleys and streets because they just so happened to look really cool.

Known things we saw:

                Notre Dame. That cathedral is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of surprisingly large amount of famous cathedrals after having been to Italy my freshman year in high school. There were almost no lights inside, so the natural lighting, while dim, accentuated the beauty of everything. Here were fantastic paintings, sculptures, and every other form of art. Truly a site to see if one is ever in Paris(granted, I would probably say that about everything we saw, but that’s just me).

                Versailles: I think I could be done explaining how amazing the Chateau at Versailles is by simply saying OH MY GOD!!!!! We went on a tour with perhaps the best tour guide ever. I fell in love with her immediately. She just had the most fun personality ever, which I can only assume made me enjoy going even more. This tour was just for the gardens which, I learned there, are about 1/100 of the size they were at the time of Louis XIV which makes it more incredible that it took 3 hours for us to go through the gardens. The gardens are unbelievable, and it wasn’t even spring or summer, so I could only imagine what everything looks like with more things in bloom and better weather. I am so glad we took that tour, for not only did we learn and see a lot about the gardens. We also learned a lot about King Louis XIV as a person, a king, and other French history. One fun part we learned was that there was a special way in which Louis XIV required people to walk while in the gardens. Naturally, when asked, I volunteered to be our tour guide’s dance partner(well, I was more volunteered for because everyone in the group at this point could kind of tell that I was in love with her as a tour guide, so after about 10 seconds of waiting, a bunch of people just told me to go and do it). After the tour of the gardens was over, there was the option of paying to also go inside the chateau. Naturally we did so, and it was worth it even just to see the famed Hall of Mirrors. Most rooms were restored in their original context, but instead there were placards describing what the room was for, and there was decoration that would have been there, so a lot of the rooms might have looked how they would have, but there was no guarantee of it. The Hall of Mirrors was absolutely gorgeous. You literally walk into a hall full of mirrors and amazing art all over the place. It was just this golden beautiful hall. The Chateau and Gardens at Versailles were absolutely wonderful, and a well spent day.

                Eiffel Tower: After our day at Versailles, we went to the Eiffel Tower. By the time we got into Paris it was night, so the tower was lit up making it look even more amazing. Also, every hour after sundown, there are lights that sparkle all over the tower for about a minute, and that looks really amazing. The 6 of us waited in line for at least an hour to get tickets to go all the way up, and it was totally worth it. The Eiffel Tower is a lot taller than it looks, and it looks tall. While it wasn’t too cool on the ground, with all the wind at the top it was quite cold. One really cool thing that is offered at the top is that you can get an extremely overpriced champagne flute. Naturally Adam and I took that opportunity because really, when am I going to be back? Something cool about it; it was really good champagne too.

                The Louvre: Another full day was spent at the Louvre. The 6 of us got there at about 10 am the day we went, and since it wasn’t tourist season, there was no wait. We walked right into the pyramid. There wasn’t really a plan on when we would leave other than to meet up for lunch at about 2. We all met up at the cafeteria they have. The 4 girls wanted to go shopping, Adam didn’t really want to stay, but wanted to more or less hang out around the outside because there was a really nice park outside. To the surprise of many, all I wanted to do was just spend the rest of the day walking throughout the Louvre, which I really could have done if we hadn’t all agreed to meet at the arch outside at 6:30. It was too bad, there was still so much I didn’t get the chance to see and it closed at 10. So to all who don’t know. I do love art, I just don’t like doing it, but I could have spent days and days in the Louvre.

                Arc de Triomphe: The Arc de Triomphe, first off, is HUGE! It is really really big. Secondly, it is such a pain to actually get to. It is easy to get to the circle that it is at, but in order to actually get to the arch, you need to find the set of stairs that lead underground and lead you there. That wouldn’t be so difficult if it weren’t for there being about 10 different segments of street to look and a bunch of the stairs leading to the underground instead. Eventually though, we were able to get there, and it truly is an architectural amazement. It really is very cool.

On our last full day, we ended up taking that free tour, which was good. Even though we had seen a lot from us walking around on our own, we did see some new things, learn some things (for example, what each position of the horse means when there is a statue of a man on a horse), and just had a good re look of the city. At the end of the tour, a bunch of the people from the tour went to this one café for a late lunch/early dinner, and it was really good. This was probably where I had the coolest meal of the trip. I had escargot with a wonderful rose wine. Now, I had escargot once when I was 10 on a cruise, and it was absolutely disgusting, thus making me almost decide to get the frog legs(you can tell that I was determined to get something unique and cool), but I decided to stick with my gut and get the escargot. It was prepared completely different this time, with the major difference being that the snails were still in the shell, so while they were not alive, I did have to work a little to get my food which I think help make it  more satisfying. Also, instead of being, I think, butter last time, the sauce/seasoning was completely different here. Yes there was butter, but there was some green seasoning in it which changed the taste completely and made it really good. Even more, Jess - another person in the group who never finishes her meal, nobody knows why, she just doesn’t – got a cheese plate, and the assortment of cheeses on her plate were delicious.

All in all, France was awesome. We were up early every day and late every night, so we were quite exhausted by the end, but it was definitely worth it, and while I wish we had at least another day to leave Paris and maybe go to Normandy, I’m glad we stayed in Paris because we didn’t run out of things to do which was nice.