Day 1: London >> Paris

Bonjour, mon amis!

Such a wonderful and exhausting day! I awoke after very little sleep around 5:30 this morning, and made my way to the reception desk at the Clink Hostel where the TopDeck crew had gathered to check us all in. It definitely seems like a fantastic bunch of people--mostly Aussies, a handful of Colombians, and only a couple of us from the States. Our tour guide is a bearded Kiwi, so obviously the tour is already off to a great start. After we had been checked in, we shuffled onto a bus which then took us on a two-hour drive to the port of Dover (white cliffs and all!). From there, we went through customs (getting possibly the only stamp we'll receive for this whole trip, sadly) and boarded a ferry. Crossing the English Channel was such a calming experience. In seemingly no time at all, we had arrived at the port of Calais. Bonjour, France!

Once we reached the European mainland, it was still another four hours by bus before we'd reach Paris. We finally arrived at our hotel around 5:00pm, and had only a few minutes to drop off our bags and clean up before heading to dinner. We had a typically French meal at Restaurant l'Orange Bleue: slices of fresh baguette, escargot (which I skipped...), French onion soup, and (for me) a cheese omelet with a fresh salad on the side. I really meant to take a photo of the French onion soup, but in my hunger I gobbled it all up without a second thought. By far the best French onion soup I've ever had. As it should have been!

We ended our evening with a driving tour of Paris. The city is absolutely gorgeous at night. Especially the Eiffel Tower. The driver surreptitiously parked the bus so we could get out for five minutes and ogle at the tower. Before the bus had even come to a stop, a handful of what the tour guide called 'gypsies' had surrounded the bus' exit, peddling little souvenirs. We had to run past in order to see the tower. I was quite honestly overwhelmed with its beauty. Even though I have seen it a million times in print, on TV, in the movies... there's nothing like seeing it in person. Plus, every hour of darkness on the hour, it does this (apologies for the sideways view):

Tomorrow, I hope to explore some of the sites I saw tonight in more depth, including the Louvre, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Champs-Elysees. I will also be attending a cabaret show in the evening. There is so much to do in Paris, and it makes me feel a bit ill that I won't be able to see everything. But, I am getting a good taste.

You can check out today's photos here.

My apologies for the short post lacking in details, but as I said, it was an exhausting day filled to the brim with traveling. I am pooped! Hopefully, the pictures will make up for that to some extent. :D

Au revoir,

Alyce

P.S. I forgot to mention that the roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe is INSANE. Twelve lanes, absolutely no markings on the road, complete and utter chaos. It's amazing anyone gets out of that thing alive!

Day 0: Clink Hostel

THE EURO TRIP HAS BEGUN!

I have arrived at the Clink Hostel in London, whence my magnificent tour of Europe will depart tomorrow morning. I am incredibly excited about my upcoming adventure, which will take me from London to Paris, the Swiss Alps, Florence, Rome, Venice, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and other stops in between. Jealous, right? Well, through this blog I am hoping you will be able to enjoy part of the experience with me. Throughout my trip, I will post (hopefully) every day with a few words on my experiences that day and links to the oodles and oodles of pictures I'll be taking.

You will also be able to follow my travel journal here: http://www.statraveluk.ekit.com/ekit/tj/TJM/alyce.decarteret

You will need a password to login. If you want the password, just send me an e-mail at alyce[dot]decarteret[at]gmail[dot]com. My travel journal posts will also automatically update my Twitter and Facebook friends, so you may also be able to view them that way. The journal is a service provided by my roaming SIM card, and the posts are automatically updated to mark my location (I believe) once a day. The posts may be a bit wonky because of the automatic setting, but it will cost me less money this way so you will just have to deal with it. :) Long live frugality!

Tonight, I am staying in the Clink Hostel, which was once a courthouse, evidently. I was a bit perplexed as to why the internet cafe was called the "Internet Courtroom" until I walked in and discovered it was a courtroom. They have done little to modify it other than to paint the walls and reupholster the benches (to make it feel more hip, you know). This is my first time staying in a hostel, and I've got to say it is pretty much exactly what I expected: young adults running all over the place, funky music blasting over the stereo, and cramped quarters. But, I like it! And I'd better get used to it, non?

You can check out my photos of the day here.

Hope all is well! Take care,

Alyce 

The Road Ahead

It's been a while since my last post, and for that I apologize. I've had quite a bit of work, and not a lot of time to go off and do the sorts of interesting things you might want to read about in a blog. But, I will more than make up for it with my upcoming EURO TRIP! Later this month, I'll be embarking on an insane twelve-countries-in-twenty-four-days tour around the European continent, and I hope to post to the blog frequently during this time. I probably won't be able to write the most descriptive accounts of each day of my journey (I do want to spend more time exploring Europe than sitting in an internet cafe writing lengthy blog posts, right?), but at the very least I will be sharing the wealth of photos I take. There will also be a travel map for you to check out, and I will give more details on the many ways you'll be able to follow me throughout my trip as the date gets closer.

Hilary Term finished up last week, and I am now on six weeks' worth of Easter Vacation (which is why I can take twenty-four days to travel through Europe in the first place). Although I don't have any classes, there is plenty of work to be done. Part of the requirements for my master's degree is four 5,000-word essays due in the sixth week of Trinity Term, so I am hoping to get solid drafts of those finished before I leave for Europe. This will require me to use my time efficiently... wish me luck.

In more exciting news, I took a trip to Providence last weekend to visit Brown University's campus, and I had a fantastic time. I, along with the rest of this year's admitted students, had the opportunity to meet the faculty and the current graduate students in the Anthropology Department, and tour around the various institutions and buildings relevant to our own interests (in my case, the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World). This visit marked the end of the very long and difficult decision-making process of picking where I would go for graduate school. I am now thrilled to say that I have officially accepted Brown's offer of admission, and will be heading to Providence next fall. :D

I hope everything is going well back home!
Alyce