Fontainebleau March 20, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Paris , add a comment
Today we went to a Chateau that is so nice the person who had it built was imprisoned because it rivaled the king’s Chateau. Fontainebeau is far enough away from Paris that most international tourists don’t know that it is there, so we had no lines to wait through. Also, it’s fairly inexpensive, only four euro each and two euro each for people between 18-25. In the price you get an audio guide which was rather hit or miss. Although it did let you know what the “hidden” doors went to.
We went with Jan and Maria which was very nice. Maria gave us some history about the place and the people in it and Jan made a lot of clever jokes. One of the jokes had to do with Napoleon; makes you not want a king size bed (his bed is smaller than a twin).
Most of the items, decorative or utilitarian, are covered in gold or a floral design. The building itself was given its final name in 1100′s (it had two before this one).
Also, a word for fellow travelers: when in an old building, look up when you enter the room. I have found that the most stunning of most places is the ceiling
. I sometimes think that perhaps looking up was their favorite past time back then (I mean why else would you put so much on the ceiling otherwise?).
Anyway, we had a great time at Fontainbleau with Jan and Maria. We learned a bit of history and made some jokes along the way.
Random Encounters in Paris March 19, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Paris , 2commentsOn our trek today in Paris we saw many things, the most unusual part was the encounter with a high school friend, Joseph Clifton, but more about that later.
The day started at the Eiffel Tower today as we thought about making the hike to the top; however, the crowds were so bad that we decided not to wait 2 hours in line to pay to hike up the tower.
Despite our disappointment at the Tower, we went from there to the Musée d’Orsay by metro next. Upon our arrival to the museum, we noted the copious amount of students lounging on the steps in front eating sandwiches. Unfortunately, we had eaten earlier and so were not interested in having sandwiches at that moment.
The museum was stocked with metal detectors for security; however, I was wearing steel-toed boots that the security guards did not care about, they waved us through even after I set off the alarm. As we were buying tickets, we noticed the sign stating that photography or recording was not allowed inside the museum so you will have to bear with me as I describe our experience with many thousands of words to equal the normal amount included in a post with pictures (what with a picture being worth a thousand words and such) (Although I really doubt that I actually will give you many thousands of words, it’s getting a bit too late for book writing (and you have to visit it for yourselves)).
After passing the ticket desk and getting a check mark on our tickets, we strode into the entry hall of the museum and observed the statue-filled hall, we began to stroll through the halls on both sides of the main hall, filled with such artists as Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, and more. Following the main hall down to the end revealed a welcome surprise, a small model of the city built under a plexi-glass floor!
Enough talk about the Musée d’Orsay, we actually have some pictures to look at!
After the Orsay, we decided to have a traditional Parisian snack, crepes with bananas and Nutella. They were fantastic!
After our thoroughly delicious snack, we walked around a bit and noticed that we were right across the river from the Louvre so we decided it was worth a walk over to.
Crossing over the Seine was about as adventurous as ever but very worth it nonetheless.
The Louvre was as fantastic as always, greeting us with a giant park, glass pyramids, and fountains. While we didn’t go inside the Louvre today (we decided that 2 art museums in one day was a bit much), we did mill about outside a bit and people watch, our favorite sport.
Heading back towards the Eiffel Tower from the Louvre, we noticed a circular pond with many small boats on it being guided by children. We met a friend from school, Joe, there and he informed us that it is a very traditional Parisian scene!
Joe has been staying around Paris a while now and suggested that we see Sacre Coeur, a new church by Paris standards but beautiful nonetheless. We walked through the church, observing its magnificent stained glass windows and artwork.
After Sacre Coeur, Joe took us down the hill towards the Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge was a fun place to see but is very expensive according to their prices outside: around 100 Euros a ticket to a show!
Well, it’s been a long day and it’s time for me to go! Oidhche mhath (Good night, Gaelic)!
Versiallis, Paris March 18, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Paris , 1 comment so farToday we went to the Chateau Versiallis. My expectation was that the Chateau would be about the size of the castles we saw in Scotland, and I was dead wrong!
It is very large with an equally large amount of gardens behind it. We ended up not paying the 12 euro each to go into the castle and, instead, we took a three hour walk around the gardens (without seeing even half the gardens). Unfortunately the water features are not on at this time of year and the majority of the sculptures are covered in the winter time. Also there
was a lot of construction going on in the gardens, but it was nice all the same.
There was a reflection pond ( I call it a lake) with ducks (Mallards) and swans. The males were all being territorial towards each other which was particularly fun to watch. We grabbed a bag of chips and picked a
spot to watch them (we ended up feeding them). By the end of it we had three swans begging for the chips and an empty bag.
You could rent boats, golf carts, or ride a trolley through Versiallis’s gardens. All of which are pretty expensive for two people. We watched a lot of young people play around on the boats ( the song “rock the boat” comes to mind). There were no boats tipping over, just many close calls and shoats from the youths.
Paris, France March 17, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Paris , add a commentWe arrived in Paris yesterday evening and basically had enough time to eat and go to bed.Today is the official first day in Paris to us since we got to 
explore.
We basically took a walk through the city. Starting at the Notre Dame cathedral which is free to enter, but everything costs something(including lighting candles and prayers). There were many things to see including this saint that is holding his own head!
Also a new addition since the last time I was in Paris is the Notre Dame Archeological Site which is located in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. It has some artifacts from when Paris belonged to the Romans and also the remands of buildings, cellars, and roads. It was rather inexpensive ( 2 euro each for people under 25 years old) and interesting to look at.
Then we maneuvered through the city to the Eiffel Tower (approximately an hour’s walk). One of the lifts was
under maintenance and there must have been a hundred people in line fo
r both the stairs and the one working lift, so we ended up not going to the top today. Price is another issue we’re considering; 13 euro for the lift each and 3.50 euro to take the stairs (how privileged you’d be to climb all those stairs ). Perhaps another day we’ll convince ourselves it’s worth it.
We also took the Metro to the Arc De Triomphe. It was lovely, there was a memorial service so there were many people in the armed forces there, flags, flowers, and a fire. Apparently we could pay a small amount of money and go up the Arc De Triomphe where there is something like a museum from what I can tell and perhaps a good view of the city.
The funnest event of the day happened right as we exited the Metro. There was loud music coming from a street performer that was break dancing. There was a large crowd watching which made it hard to see what was going on, and then the music cut off. A police officer had come over and was questioning the performer, checked his passport, and issued him a citation. All the while the crowd was arguing with the officer and booing her for stopping him!
Week in Photos, 17 March March 17, 2010
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From Paris with Love March 16, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Uncategorized , 3commentsWe will be uploading photos and writing a new post for your viewing pleasure soon; we just got into Paris and are about to go to sleep so we will see you guys tomorrow!!
Camera Obscura March 15, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Edinburgh , add a commentToday we took a day trip to Edinburgh to visit the Camera Obscura. We had a great time in the galleries and taking a different kind of tour of Edinburgh in the top floor of the building.
The Camera Obscure is located just down the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle and across the street from The Scotland Whiskey Experience.
The show consisted of a tour of Edinburgh, having some laughs with the hostess, and learning how camera obscura works. We were very fortunate that today was not very rainy since the show is apparently fairly lame if the weather’s bad (the mirror fogs up or low visibility due to precipitation). That was not the case for us and it was amazing!
The Camera Obscura is one of several around the world, they are each large pin-hole cameras that project an image in a manner similar to an old film-style camera.
The tour feels like a cross between seeing the city from a low flying plane and being an omnipotent being. We got to see all the major sights in the city plus (since it was a clear day out) we saw islands and the hills outside of the city! And since it’s a real image that’s constantly changing, we got to see the people moving around the city. This is truly people watching in style! We pretend to pick people up off the street with a piece of paper, give them a shake, and put them back (those poor pedestrians, if they only knew).
The galleries are three floors of purely interactive exhibits.
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The first floor of exhibits consisted of all sorts of demonstrations of light play, from holograms to pin-hole photography. 
One of the most visually stunning parts of this floor was the room of lights- a room with a transparent wall blocking a lot of lights, causing the light points to move outward to infinity. Another fantastic aspect of this floor was the stairway to Australia!
The second contained varied optical illusions: everything from Escher prints to ways to visually exchange facial components/faces.
The third floor of exhibits had many fun gadgets and devices including a gigantic lightning ball and other fun toys! There was a crackle ball and a flat lightning ball like thing that responded to noise.
The exhibits mentioned above were fantastic but are merely a way for you to pass your time until your show on the top floor is ready to begin, the camera obscura.
Click to learn more about Camera Obscura.
Camera Obscura gave us free admission to write this review.
Glasgow Science Center March 14, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Glasgow , add a commentToday we went to the Glasgow Science Center just to look around and we ended up spending close to four hours there looking, playing with the interactive activities (the whole place is interactive basically), and taking a tour of the sky!
My personal favorite was the tour of the sky. Perhaps it 
was made to be considering the machine to imitate the sky cost them a million pounds! It was well worth the extra two pounds on the entrance fee.
Chris and I went on a date night (sort of speak, considering we’re always together) and we went to go see Alice In Wonderland 3D. This is one thing we would’ve done differently; seeing Alice In Wonderland 3D at the IMAX at the science facility instead. We were told it’s cheaper and apparently higher quality than a theater. We dubbed the IMAX the “Cocoon”, for obvious reasons.
Click to learn more about the Glasgow Science Center.
Glasgow: Tour By Bus March 13, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Glasgow , 2commentsWe ended up taking the Glasgow City Bus tour for nine 
pounds each for two days of hop-on hop-off enjoyment. It’s an hour or so tour that we turned into a five hours.
We hopped off at The People’s Palace which is a museum that shows life in Glasgow from people of all ages and places in society through the history of Glasgow.
There was a lot of paraphernalia from as far back as the 1800′s. We learned a lot of nifty facts such as: Glasgow was a very wealthy city in the 1800′s but for roughly 60 years starting in1939, there was a depression!
It’s also the home of the Winter Gardens (a really fancy green house). The plants are very common to Houston; Sago Palms, Palm Trees, Hibis
cus, and many others that for the average person who is from areas closer to the equator, are not very exciting. It was nice, however, to have lunch in the gardens.We also walked to a candy shoppe and a open-air market. There were many interesting antiques such as a baby buggy(the old ones that are much more like bassinets on wheels), cameras, and books. It’s open only on the weekends so maybe we’ll go back tomorrow and see if there are any small something-or-others we may
like.
Glasgow: The Living And The Dead March 12, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Glasgow , add a commentWe have returned to Glasgow for five days before we move on to Paris, France. Today we wondered around the other side of the bus station which we didn’t do before because of the side ways snow (always in the face for some reason). But today was beautiful, partly cloudy, and was relatively warm in the sun, so we stayed outside more.
The Necropolis is chalk-full of people both dead and alive. Most of the tombs and graves are home to wealthy merchants from the 1800′s. However, it is
not treated as a grave yard; people jog there, tours are conducted there regularly, and one couple was having a picnic on a bench. It really is city of its own.
We went to the Merchant’s Square which is apparently where wealthy people live and a lot of shopping is done. It looks as though it is brilliant at night because all the trees are wrapped in lights and in one part the entire outside area has a canopy of Christmas lights. It is the perfect place to people watch, so we grabbed a cup of coffee and sat in the outside seating for about an hour playing Games such as “Spot The Tourist” and “Guess The Profession”.
We also went to two museums in that area and learned that all museums in Glasgow are free of charge (they do however love donations).
The first was St.Mungo which is focuses on teaching people about religions from around the world. It was gorgeous and it touched on many religions, from birth to death, explaining many unique ways of life.
The other in located in The Merchant’s Square and is the GoMa. It’s all interpretive and abstracts art(things that make you scratch your head and question it being art). An entire floor of the museum is under renovation, so we did not get the whole experience of the place.
