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.
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!
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.
Kyleakin and Kyle March 5, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Isle of Skye , add a commentToday, the first full day on/around the Isle of Skye was a cloudy one, just clearing up in the late afternoon, with a wee bit of rain.
Despite the weather, we enjoyed a continental breakfast before taking the bus over to Kyle, just across the water from Kyleakin.
We walked around the town, stepped into a couple of shoppes, and even had a great lunch at a small restaurant, toasted sandwich with ham, mushrooms, and brie.
After lunch and some more browsing, we stopped in The Cooperative, a local grocery, to do some shopping. about 23 quid (pounds) should hold us for a few days, saving us a bundle on restaurant eating! We found a package of braised beef at about 1.5 lb for 4 quid; we’ll be adding it to our spaghetti we bought, to something for breakfast, and who knows what else!
After we finished up in Kyle, we went back to the bus stop and realized that we’d be waiting for 2 hours for the next bus so we decided to walk across the tall bridge back to Skye. We were afraid that the walk would be more than we wanted to do but were glad to have walked once we were done. 
The views from the bridge were stunning and unobtainable riding on a bus. Several of the views of Skye seemed to be picturesque Scottish Highlands.
About halfway through our walk from Kyle back to Saucy Mary’s in Kyleakin the sky started to clear up, showing a bit of sun for the first time today and letting us warm up a bit. While the top of the bridge was windy, it wasn’t too cold to not feel great!
In response to Tiff’s computer issues, we saw a shoppe in Kyle that does computer repair so we’re planning to head back there tomorrow morning to see about getting her computer looked at, hopefully they can help (I don’t have any tools that can open a computer-_-).
No matter what you’re looking for, I doubt that you expect to see Sheep Droppings in a shoppe in a small town like Kyle. We saw these and had to take a picture because it was too funny to see in a small shoppe selling woolens.
Isle of Skye: Home of The Sleepy Little Town March 4, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Isle of Skye , add a commentWe arrived in the Isle of Skye today after a pleasant bus ride (there we four people on the bus including me and Chris and we were given an excellent view of the mountains).
The town (village actually) that we are staying in is called Kyleakin and it is so small that: the grocery store, the Post Office, and the gift shoppe are one building. You blink and it’s gone, but it’s not alone; there are many more along the route the bus took to get us there.
The up side is that the locals are very willing to help you. Everyone was happy to see outsiders come in. For the record, we are the only guests in the
hostel for the night. Needless to say, they are very willing to help and give discounts (I think they’re just happy to see new faces and new business). Even a cat that we dubbed “George Boots” greeted us in the road!
There are amazing views of the mountains that we will probably do some exploring of later this week. There is a bike rental in the village across t
he bridge to the main land which we will probably take advantage of.
The Real Mary King’s Close February 26, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Edinburgh , 3commentsSo, as it turns out that deciding to take a short cut up never ending stairs in an ally, called a “Close” (don’t worry mom, it’s not dark or deserted), was very beneficial. We ran into a historic attraction called The Real Mary King’s Close, which takes groups down, under the city to what was once Edinburgh.
It turns out that the city was basically used as pre-made foundation for new government buildings.As you walk through the original roads of Edinburgh, you discover the treatment of the plague, myths, ghost stories, and other nifty tid-bits of what life was like in the 1600′s.
The tour was more than we expected and all of the employees were very welcoming. The tour guide acted the part of a 1600′s lady and her spiel was very entertaining. We had a great time.
By the way, All people with the surname of ‘King ‘ get free admission if you show them your ID.
P.S. Burgess, Katherine, tell your mom, means free to vote. Edinburgh was one of the first places that allowed women this right.
Day 3:Edinburgh February 26, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Edinburgh , 2commentsSo our second stop is much more expensive than Glasgow for things even so simple as sleeping quarters or food, cooked or otherwise.
The Edinborgh Castle, as gorgeous as it is, is 22 pounds for the both of us to enter(with a tour guide). There is a great view of the city from the castle even if you choose not to pay for admittance.
Also, a nifty place to see(from the entry way and gift shop, I cannot promise a good show past there) is the Camera Obscura And World of Illusions. The gift shop is like a show all by itself with everything novelty from ice cube trays to optical illusion puzzles and books.
Food runs approximately 4.50 pounds each. An up side to this price increase is the pub-tenders are much more outgoing(possibly because they’re used to tourists and understand that we may be clueless to how to order or what things are on the menu). I still don’t know what a Frog In a Hole is but I now know how to order food(after 30 minutes of Chris and I wondering if the waitress was purposely avoiding us and then going to the pub-tender to purchase the dinner in Glasgow ). The lunch we ate today went off without a hitch and the pub-tender came over,mid-meal, to see if we were doing OK. Talk about a sweet heart.
Beds are anywhere from 109.99 pounds a room-12ppn (pounds per person per night) in a hostel. You can bet the option we went with. A life saver we ran into is the work for boarding at the Brody’s Hostels on High Street/ The Royal Mile. They want a mere 2-3 hours of our lives cleaning the hostel and making beds to save us 24pounds a night. Sounds like a winner! Hopefully we don’t pull the short straw and get bathroom duty(I not sure if that’s an option).
For tomorrow, I have my eye set on a small mountain in a public park that, according to a cab driver, has a great view of the city. The best part- it’s free!
