Go Play in the Dirt: June 2015

I spent an hour and a half writing this update ~~last week~~ two (three?) weeks ago, and then it proceeded to delete itself when I tried to publish it. Round two is not as good. So here it goes.
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It has been a wonderful couple weeks. I'm not even sure where to begin.... chronologically, I suppose.

Paris
Our journey to Paris had two purposes: meet up with Colin (!!!) and celebrate my 25th birthday. We accomplished this by hanging out with Colin for 4 days, wandering around Paris (we rapidly decided that the touristy areas suck (not actually surprising) and are best avoided to the largest extent possible).

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Things I really need to remember when traveling
1. Pretty much all big European cities are the same: some beautiful structures and history, insane number of tourist traps, narrow streets, and lots of cigarette smoke.
2. Also, lots of people.
3. I strongly dislike large groups of people.
4. Tourist attractions are not worth it. Sorry, entire family, but they're not. The shear number of people alone makes them unpleasant, and, honestly, there are usually other things to see that give a better feel for the actual city.
5. You can get discounts on tourist attractions when you're an EU resident under 26.
6. Cities are really, really dirty. And smelly. Probably because at some point you have to vent the sewers to avoid buildup of gases that can, ya know, combust in large enough quantities. Also, I would put money that most of the storm water drains straight into the sewer, cuz storm sewers aren't a thing.
7. I really need to travel to places where I can get away. From people, from cities, from everything.
8. I really need to stop traveling to cities.
9. I miss vast quantities of nature where I can dawdle off and not see another person for days. And mountains.
10. I should probably get screened for lung cancer when we move back to the States.

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We arrived in Paris and met up with Colin. I came to terms years ago that I'm the other woman, and probably always will be. Oh well. Such is bromance.

We stayed in an Air B&B apartment in the Latin Quarter. Fyi, if you're staying in Paris, the latin quarter is the way to go. It's super close to the Bastille, Pantheon, and Notre Dam.

Our first night we decided to pick up a bottle of wine (because France) and sit on the Seine. We didn't have glasses, so we were super classy. But we fit right in.

Thursday (the 14th) was my birthday. Naturally my parents messaged to wish me happy birthday and ask what we'd be doing. Dad was amused by my response. Mom... well, she had a bit of a problem with our lack of glasses.

I had to tease my dad a bit, since he managed to not once, but twice mess up my birthday this year.

My birthday mission was simple: find this cholocatier and get some delicious French chocolate and find a nice bottle of champagne. So off we went on a 'wander around Paris and see the sights' adventure. As we walked through the square at Notre Dam, we noticed that there was no line and it was free. So we said what the hell and checked it out.

Cathedrals are pretty cool. They tend to get built in parts over loooooooooong periods of time, so the architecture from different periods blends into the facade. We were pretty lucky to make it in before the crowds arrived. I have personal space issues.

The stained glass was pretty fantastic. Cathedrals tend to be pretty dark (duh), and the stained glass adds a bit of color (although not as much light as a regular window)

And then we wandered.

The Pont des Arts bridge is estimated to have millions of 'love locks' on it. On 1 June Paris officials started cutting them off because the weight of the locks is causing structural problems on the bridge. That is a lot of locks.

We also managed a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower. We pretty much used the day to scope out the Louvre, Arc de Triomph, the Luxor Oblisk, and the Champs Elysees among other things.

Friday morning we struck out on my annual birthday run. For the last five years or so, Ev, Colin and I have got for a run on my birthday. This year we were a day late, but it was worth it.

We started running around 9am figuring we'd go for an hour or so and meandered through a nature park/zoo near the apartment. Then we crossed the river and ran along a canal. Eventually we decided it was time to turn around and get some breakfast. We were 45 minutes out from the apartment but figured we could navigate ourselves back. We wound through back roads, crossed a couple bridges, and got royally lost. Finally we broke out Google Maps and proceeded to be 5km away from the apartment for the next hour an a half.

We got back a little after 1.

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Reasons I love running
1. You can go as long and far as you want. You can push yourself until you want to pass out, or have a leisurely pace you can maintain for a marathon. It's incredibly therapeutic.

2. Runners are super supportive of each other. You nod when you pass, give a thumbs up or a smile, maybe an encouraging word. Who needs a support group when you can have a complete stranger give you the extra little push you need.

3. You can explore parts of cities and places you would never see as a regular tourist. And it's awesome.

4. It's not a big deal when you get super turned around. Worst case scenario you walk a bit.

5. You talk about your bowel movements. A lot. Every time you go out.

6. Did I mention you get to explore? And talk about poo?

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After our little detour(s), we all took a nap. When we woke up we grabbed some bread and cheese and a bottle of wine and headed over to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. It was pretty fantastic. After we finished we dawdled up to the base of the tower towards the insane number of people to check out the line to take the stairs up.

The line was freaking huge.

We didn't stand in it.

Look, Mom, glasses!

Walking back into the park, we noticed the no alcohol sign. Oops.

Saturday morning we got up early and went to the Louvre. We'd talked about getting the fast-track passes to avoid lines and get into a bunch of museums and stuff, but apparently we all hate tourist attractions and decided it was a much better financial choice to just show up early.

It turns out that under 26 EU residents get discounts on stuff. Ev and I got into the Louvre for free.

We wandered around for an hour or so, dawdling through the Egyptian exhibit and the Mediterranean section, then the French sections with furniture from Napoleon and Marie Antoinette and massive gold-plated mirrors and jewels. Crazy stuff.

The sections were deserted. I was reminded of Machu Picchu at 6am on New Years Day when we had the place to ourselves. It was magical to wander this huge site and not see another soul for hours.

Eventually we were ready to leave, but figured we had to go see the Mona Lisa because we were in the building and I'm not sure would have been able to live it down if we didn't.

It turns out everyone in the Louvre was in the Italian Art Gallery.

Taking pictures of the art instead of looking at it.

Hundreds of people, taking pictures of a painting instead of looking at it. What. The. Hell.

I worked my way to the front of the crowd at the Mona Lisa and looked at it for a couple minutes. It's a pretty cool piece of art, if a bit over-hyped. I actually got bitched at for looking at it instead of taking a picture to 'look at later.' Isn't the point of art to admire, rather than take a crappy photo of so you can prove you were there?

Ugh.

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All three of us were pretty shell-shocked after the Louvre. We're all from pretty small towns (well, Fairbanks isn't that small anymore, but you know what I mean) and have a hard time with big crowds. So off we wandered back into the Latin Quarter.

The wine shop we had been to the night before on our way to the Eiffel Tower had an amazing selection of very old, rare wines. Ev wanted to go back and look more, since he thought he had seen a bottle of 1970-something for a price we could (kind of) afford.

I cannot do justice to this shop. The shop owner remembered us and asked how the bottle from the previous night was. When it became clear that we were interested in a pretty nice, old wine he discreetly shut the door and proceeded to ask us what kind of wines we liked, what we were looking for, how old, price range... he knew how and where the wines had been stored. And then he made a recommendation.

1971 Chateau Haut-Simard Grand Cru St. Emilon Controlee (bordeaux blend).

So we picked up another baguette and headed to the river.

We neglected to consider that a 44 year old cork might be hard to remove. It only took about 20 minutes, 3 people and some serious paranoia.

See, Mom, we can use glasses!

The wine was fantastic.
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Sunday we got up early and walked to the Catacombs. Colin did a quick head count and we were an hour early and 150 people back. Sweet. Only 200 people are allowed in the catacombs at a time, so we figured we were good.

After almost 2 hours in line, we gave up.

Tourist attractions suck.

So we wandered some more, then got on a train and headed back to the Netherlands. And proceeded to have a looooooooooong work and school week.

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Paige showed up Wednesday morning from her trip to Israel and Berlin. She walked into our apartment, looked around and went 'I'm going to cook for you and clean your house.'

She then proceeded to feed us nonstop, do all the dishes and make our kitchen spotless.

I don't think anyone has cooked for use since we left Alaska. It was really, really nice.

Best houseguest ever.

Peanut butter pie. Kind of the best food ever.

I took her into Delft Wednesday since I only had once class and we wandered. It turns out Paige really likes cheese. And clogs.

Thursday she wandered around Rotterdam and checked out the zoo. Then came back to the house and made pretzels and pie.

It's probably a good thing Paige doesn't live here. We would get so fat.

Then we took her into Amsterdam for the full Dutch experience and put her on a plane back to the states. It sucked seeing her go. I really miss family and it was incredibly nice to see her. We'll see her again in July when we go to Denver to run a half marathon with her, but that feels so far away...

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The next two weeks consisted of school. Lots and lots of school. Exams are already upon us (next week is the study week!) and there's no lull in the homework and Matlab code that's been churning out all quarter. I'm kind of surprised Ev's still here, since I'm never freaking around and when I am I'm so fried I'm basically a vegetable.

Friday (yup, we're finally up to this past weekend!) Colin and his girlfriend Morganne arrived for the weekend. Saturday morning Owen arrived (I met him at Centraal Station and spent 20 minutes wandering around trying to find him. We really should have arranged a meeting place ahead of time). Owen is one of my closest friends from childhood (and onward) and I cannot express how awesome it was to see him, even if Bree didn't make it over because her flight got changed last minute. After finally finding each other, we all headed up the the beach in Den Haag. They managed to be here for the three nicest days of the year and we enjoyed wandering in the sun. We talked about going in to Amsterdam but were just as happy to stay home, drink some scotch and catch up.

I love friends. Even when their timing for a visit is... less than ideal. Stupid school.

Owen had to head back to Belgium yesterday morning (at the buttcrack of dawn) to catch his plane home, so Ev and I dragged Colin and Morganne around town while we ran a couple errands. Then we picked up some bread, a bunch of spreads, cheese, and veggies and had a lovely picnic in a nearby park.

Have I mentioned I love friends?

And now it's back to school and the terrifying rush before exams to finish up everything and freaking STUDY so I can actually pass everything this quarter.

I really don't know how much more school I can take. Hopefully the summer break helps some.

So there's the super-late update of basically the last month. Next week will probably be... well, let's be honest. Non-existant. But we'll see. Maybe I'll do some procrastination.

Go Play in the Dirt

28 June 2015

Guilt-driven, super overdue blog post

08 June 2015

The much-anticipated, super tardy summary of why friends are awesome.