The laundry situation is getting dire. Tomorrow we are going to stop putting it off... Oh, just to note because we've been getting multiple questions about this, when a blog post says something like, "I (Erin) am sitting in the hostel...", then I (Erin) wrote the entire blog post, otherwise if it is not indicated, all three of us wrote the blog post together. So here are my (Erin's) impressions of Paris so far. The city is HUGE. Way bigger than Amsterdam, in Paris it's louder, the buildings are taller, the streets are wider, the traffic is heavier. Amsterdam was easier to navigate because we were able to walk everywhere and there were many roads without any car traffic at all. It's harder to get a grasp of Paris because we have to take the Metro (especially because my legs are incredibly sore from the workout yesterday...) and every time we emerge from the Metro station the streets look exactly like where we got onto the Metro. Biking is almost non-existant in Paris. They started a bike program, where people put coins into a machine and can rent a bicycle to commute with, however the program has not been very successful. All the bikes were still parked perfectly in their bike racks, we didn't see one in use...
So after a crummy breakfast of cornflakes in warm milk, we arrived in the city, grabbed some food and headed for the map shop. In one section of the city there are about 15 "Au Vieux Campeur" stores, each one specializes in a different area of camping. One sells all hiking boots, another shop sells all sunglasses, another sells all tents, one for backpacks, etc. The shop that sold the maps was amazing. We found a bike route that goes across France from East to West starting on the coast near Nantes and finishing on the Switzerland border at Bale. The route follows the Loire river on mostly bike paths and is about 1350 kilometers long. We decided we'll take a train from here to the begining, and then follow the route. I am excited to have a preplanned route, and I've been enjoying visiting smaller towns so I am excited for that as well.
We met up with Beth, a high school friend of McKayla and mine and a fellow Hamilton student, who is studying abroad in Paris for the semester. We also briefly walked with Kylie, another friend from Hamilton! It was awesome to see a familar, friendly face. We went with Beth to the Choco-Story museum. There we read about the entire history of chocolate (cocoa beans were origingally used as offerings to the gods and as currency in the Mayan era, then turned into a spicy drink, then a sugary drink for the wealthy in the 1500s, then became a solid, edible product in the 1800s). We saw a demonstration of how to make chocolate and tried some free samples. I was hoping that we'd get to try sample chocolates made with different cacao (originated from the word kakawa) beans, so I was a little bummed that we only got to sample white, milk, and dark chocolate, which I am already very adept at distinguishing amoung... After, we grabbed some groceries and headed back to the hostel. Amie cooked up a delicious, rice, bean, lentil, and vegie dish that we topped with Emmental cheese. Emmental is my new favorite, I kind of get the feeling that Emmental cheese is the cheddar of France (because they do not have cheddar here). It's a swiss-like cheese, that's not as sharp as cheddar, but more flavorful than swiss, with a nice bite like parmesian. Tomorrow we'll do our laundry, and I'm hoping to experience some more of the touristy aspects of Paris, like the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
C'est le temp pour parler Francais
Wednesday, Sept. 15th
Kortrijk, Belgium to Paris, France via train
Last night we had the entire hostel to ourselves. The couple who run the hostel are incredibly friendly and very hospitable. Upon check-in we were given a tour of the entire hostel, and the woman explained everything to us including the specific table where the tea would be located in the breakfast room and how the water in the showers starts out cold but then warms up (shocking). This morning we had a personal breakfast tray for three waiting for us, along with a buffet of cocoa crispies, corn flakes, bread, cheese, nutella, fruit, coffee, and tea. We ate leisurely and are now packing up for what will probably turn into an interesting day given our history with hostel finding. I am excited for Paris!!
I made another list of the things we're learning:
1) When the hostel clerk tells you your room is on the first floor, you have to walk up a flight of stairs to get there.
2) Belgium checks for train tickets
3) The Belgians who speak French think that France French sounds hoity-toity similar to the way British English sounds to us.
4) Supposedly french people like American accented French... we'll see.
5) It's much more useful to ask for directions and info about hostels than to try and figure it out on our own.
6) Don't make assumptions!!!!!!
7) All the countries Napoleon dominated drive on the right side of the road.
Update: We made it to Paris! This morning we did a lovely plyometirc workout in the park to kill some time before heading to the train station. When we got there we found out a train was leaving for Lille, France in about 10 minutes. So we booked it to the train with our bikes (good thing our heart rates were still up). However, our effort proved futile because when we arrived in Lille at 1pm we found out we couldn't get a train to Paris with our bikes until 4pm. So we went to the grocery store. Despite the HUGE Carreforre store, it took us about 45 minutes to find some peanut butter which we have been craving. The train to Paris was nice, but it's always a bit stressful traveling with bikes and panniers. When we got off the train, we located a map of the Metro, found our hostel, determined our Metro route, and bought metro tickets. As we tried to enter the metro though we were yelled at, and told that the only way we can get through the city with our bikes is to ride them. So, we exited the train station and I found myself getting quite nervous. People were staring at us, making comments at us that I didn't understand, and we were clearly not in a good part of town. Luckily, our hostel was a straight shot from the train station, and with a somewhat decent bike path we were able to bike to the hostel with more ease than I was expecting. The hostel is outside of downtown Paris, also in a sketchy part of town, but everyone inside seems very friendly and our bikes are safely locked up in the basement. There is a kitchen in the hostel and we cooked up a yummy root vegetable stew for dinner. The metro stop is right near by so we will venture into the nicer part of Paris tomorrow!
Kortrijk, Belgium to Paris, France via train
Last night we had the entire hostel to ourselves. The couple who run the hostel are incredibly friendly and very hospitable. Upon check-in we were given a tour of the entire hostel, and the woman explained everything to us including the specific table where the tea would be located in the breakfast room and how the water in the showers starts out cold but then warms up (shocking). This morning we had a personal breakfast tray for three waiting for us, along with a buffet of cocoa crispies, corn flakes, bread, cheese, nutella, fruit, coffee, and tea. We ate leisurely and are now packing up for what will probably turn into an interesting day given our history with hostel finding. I am excited for Paris!!
I made another list of the things we're learning:
1) When the hostel clerk tells you your room is on the first floor, you have to walk up a flight of stairs to get there.
2) Belgium checks for train tickets
3) The Belgians who speak French think that France French sounds hoity-toity similar to the way British English sounds to us.
4) Supposedly french people like American accented French... we'll see.
5) It's much more useful to ask for directions and info about hostels than to try and figure it out on our own.
6) Don't make assumptions!!!!!!
7) All the countries Napoleon dominated drive on the right side of the road.
Update: We made it to Paris! This morning we did a lovely plyometirc workout in the park to kill some time before heading to the train station. When we got there we found out a train was leaving for Lille, France in about 10 minutes. So we booked it to the train with our bikes (good thing our heart rates were still up). However, our effort proved futile because when we arrived in Lille at 1pm we found out we couldn't get a train to Paris with our bikes until 4pm. So we went to the grocery store. Despite the HUGE Carreforre store, it took us about 45 minutes to find some peanut butter which we have been craving. The train to Paris was nice, but it's always a bit stressful traveling with bikes and panniers. When we got off the train, we located a map of the Metro, found our hostel, determined our Metro route, and bought metro tickets. As we tried to enter the metro though we were yelled at, and told that the only way we can get through the city with our bikes is to ride them. So, we exited the train station and I found myself getting quite nervous. People were staring at us, making comments at us that I didn't understand, and we were clearly not in a good part of town. Luckily, our hostel was a straight shot from the train station, and with a somewhat decent bike path we were able to bike to the hostel with more ease than I was expecting. The hostel is outside of downtown Paris, also in a sketchy part of town, but everyone inside seems very friendly and our bikes are safely locked up in the basement. There is a kitchen in the hostel and we cooked up a yummy root vegetable stew for dinner. The metro stop is right near by so we will venture into the nicer part of Paris tomorrow!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Burn carbohydrates, not hydrocarbons. Eat Nutella.
9/13/10 - 9/14/10 Oostende to Oostduinkerke (30k)
Erin and McKayla started the day off with an invigorating, pre-breakfast run along the Belgian beach. We all enjoyed another respectable hostel breakfast, spoke French and Spanish with three Belgian girls who shared our hostel room with us, and we then headed along the Atlantic coast toward Oostduinkerke. We found our hostel in record time, and had the entire afternoon to explore the town, grocery shop, and find another "Fietsnetwerk" map, or LF cycling map of Belgium. In town, we sipped koffie and chocolat-chaud at a cafe and joined in on an outdoor jazzersize class for 8-year olds.
When we returned to our hostel, Amie selected our "arms and abs" routine for the day. We took full advantage of the playground for our arm exercises. We shared the hostel with about 150 Flemmish 13-year-olds on a school field trip, so I'm sure we got some funny looks as we were hanging upside-down on the various playground elements. We made a delicious stew for dinner, complete with white beans, tomato, potatoes, scallions, corn, and carrots. All of this, plus gouda cheese and a baguette, cost us only 7 Euros!
Oostduinkerke to Kortrijk (50k)
We had an early start this (Tuesday) morning, and made our way south to Ieper, Belgium. Despite a strong, cold cross/head wind, we moved fairly quickly through the LF trail system. We rode between farms, through small towns, on dirt paths, and along canals to reach the small city of Ieper before lunch (50k). We locked our bikes and walked around the city in search of an inexpensive cafe/bakery to warm-up in, but ended eating our lunch on a cold park bench. Afterwards, we made our way to the train station and hopped on a train to the city of Kortrijk, which is only about 30k from Lille, France. Tomorrow we plan to either bike or train to Lille, and then catch a train into Paris where we will spend the rest of the week! Let us know if you are in Paris, or if you know of any good biking routes in western France!
Erin and McKayla started the day off with an invigorating, pre-breakfast run along the Belgian beach. We all enjoyed another respectable hostel breakfast, spoke French and Spanish with three Belgian girls who shared our hostel room with us, and we then headed along the Atlantic coast toward Oostduinkerke. We found our hostel in record time, and had the entire afternoon to explore the town, grocery shop, and find another "Fietsnetwerk" map, or LF cycling map of Belgium. In town, we sipped koffie and chocolat-chaud at a cafe and joined in on an outdoor jazzersize class for 8-year olds.
When we returned to our hostel, Amie selected our "arms and abs" routine for the day. We took full advantage of the playground for our arm exercises. We shared the hostel with about 150 Flemmish 13-year-olds on a school field trip, so I'm sure we got some funny looks as we were hanging upside-down on the various playground elements. We made a delicious stew for dinner, complete with white beans, tomato, potatoes, scallions, corn, and carrots. All of this, plus gouda cheese and a baguette, cost us only 7 Euros!
Oostduinkerke to Kortrijk (50k)
We had an early start this (Tuesday) morning, and made our way south to Ieper, Belgium. Despite a strong, cold cross/head wind, we moved fairly quickly through the LF trail system. We rode between farms, through small towns, on dirt paths, and along canals to reach the small city of Ieper before lunch (50k). We locked our bikes and walked around the city in search of an inexpensive cafe/bakery to warm-up in, but ended eating our lunch on a cold park bench. Afterwards, we made our way to the train station and hopped on a train to the city of Kortrijk, which is only about 30k from Lille, France. Tomorrow we plan to either bike or train to Lille, and then catch a train into Paris where we will spend the rest of the week! Let us know if you are in Paris, or if you know of any good biking routes in western France!
9/12/10 - Dudzele to Oostende, 40 km
Breakfast at the Herdersbrug hostel was a lot like our usual Stayokay affair - brood, cheese, meat, yogurt, cereals, melk, juice, koffie, etc. etc. It was a rainy morning, but despite my (amie's) grumbling we decided to bike anyway. We headed down to Brugge, only a short 6k away, and we parked our bikes near the city center. Remembering it was Sunday, we realized our errands would have to be put off until tomorrow. Brugge is a sprawling but very old city, that seemed particularly quiet this morning. We saw a band play in the main plaza, and heard a church bell ring for about 10 minutes, but that's about it. We hopped back onto the bikes after a short loop in the city, and realized our maps stopped about 1/3 of the way into Brugge. I used my awesome navigation skills and a city map to at least get us back onto the LF trail system, then we all used our senses of direction to make some smart choices, and before we knew it we were back to following our usual numbered intersections. We played on a playground we found (while still lost). The rest of our ride was amazing, we followed a canal, I learned how to ride without hands, and before we knew it, we were already in Oostende. As usual, it took us another hour to actually find our hostel, good thing we budget this kind of time. Oostende is a surprisingly hoppin' city, right on the coast, full of older, wealthy people and expensive chocolate shops, and we're starting to hear more French. Currently we're chilling in the lobby of the De Ploate hostel on Langestraat (they won't be back until 5:15) so hopefully we actually do have a place to sleep tonight. In the meantime, we've been doing ab workouts, giving massages, and listening to Erin's Glee playlist on her ipod touch.
--UPDATES--
5:17pm: Yep, we've got a place to stay, don't worry! Hostels aren't too busy on Sunday nights.
8:36 pm: Just came back to De Ploate hostel from "Sunday night out on the town"....aka an inexpensive sandwhich shop dinner, delicious ice cream (breadpudding for Erin), and a view of the sunset over the Atlantic. We are now chillaxin' in our hostel room. Erin's reading Forest Gump, Amie's listening to her I-pod, and McKayla's writing this, but plans to do some journaling and investigate our map of France.
Quote du jour: "If you're worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on."- Lance Armstrong (nope, I'm (McKayla) not too worried about falling...today it happend twice. I can already feel a couple bruises.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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