January 05, 2007

The City of Lights (and Luxembourg)

Three countries and five days have passed since I last wrote, but c'est la vie. In this entry, I will attempt to summarize the remainder of London, four days in Paris, and a day in Luxembourg faster than I blazed through all those countries.

Our third and final day in London, we culminated our British experience with a visit to Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery. I was once again pleased to see the graves of all the famous poets from British Literature, especially Lord Byron (George Gordon). Through various trips in the Tube and to Waterloo Train Station, I was left with only one question: why is that when you drive in England, you drive on the left, but when you stand on the escalator, you stand on the right? Could this be an implicit acknowledgment by the British that in fact the right is the more appropriate place for slower moving peoples?

Paris went by extraordinarily fast, despite the fact that two of our days were severely restricted by New Year's Eve/Day falling within our time there. Our first night in Paris, we walked through mild rain for more than a mile (both ways up hill, mind you) to our hotel, a place not recommended by Lonely Planet (and thus, immediately suspect). Though the hotel was close to the Metro (a fact we discovered only after said walk), the shower (if you could call it that), left much to be desired: it did not have a curtain, guaranteeing that the entire bathroom would be wet upon use, and to top that off, was a hand shower, which I totally do not know how to use.

My second time in Paris was much better with respect to sight-seeing (in significant contrast to my first time). Once again, I went up the Eiffel Tower (though it was so cold, I could hardly recommend doing it in the winter), saw the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etiole, and was bored by Champ-Elysées. New to this visit was the Louvre Museum, Musée d'Orsay, Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame, and my personal favorite, the Paris Sewer Museum (Musée des égouts de Paris). Perhaps most importantly, I can now say that I have officially sampled a Royale with Cheese—twice. It's just as disgusting in France as it is in the States. And finally, my parting thought for France: can someone please film a couple of those Truth Out commercials for Paris? The amount of smoking that goes on there is absolutely abhorrent.

After our exhausting tramp through Paris, we took a night train to Luxembourg. Here, we spent most of the day wander around the Old Town Center and resting from our previous exertions. The highlight for me was Bock Casemates, a medieval castle structure built by the Spanish. It was like the world's best playground, sporting a river, castle, towers, and much more. All that was needed was (long-range) Nerf guns. You've got to see it to believe it.

Next is Brussels, Antwerp, and Bruges, in as many days, followed by two in Amsterdam. We'll see if I find time during then to write another entry. Au revoir!