This morning I had my last breakfast with my wonderful hosts in Manchester. which, besides for oatmeal, included Marmite, spread on Cream crackers with some hard cheese... Amazing! I apologize for the times I made fun of Marmite.
On the train to Windermere I saw to Asian women having a rapid and intense conversation, in sign language. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it. It was very neat to see these women's hands moving so rapidly in real conversation.
I got to Windermere at 11 or so, and, as I usually do, I went straight to the tourist office and told them that I wanted to climb Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England. The woman behind the counter told me that, because of the limited public transportation today, it couldn't be done. I would need at least 7 hours to climb and the only bus would leave Windermere at 1:10 to arrive at 2:20; the last bus returns to Windermere at 6. Public transportation seemed to be a real obstacle, but I was set on climbing this mountain. I have a train tomorrow morning to Edinburgh, and the only reason I came here was to climb the mountain. Instead of taking public transportation, I went straight to the bike rental place. They told me that I had to return the bike by five, which also would have been impossible, so I got them to let me keep the bike overnight for a bit extra. I then started biking the 14 mile ride through Ambleside and Langdale, the the very end of the road in Langdale, by the Old Dungeon Ghyl hotel. I went into the hotel to refill my water bottle at the bar, and the bartender, a real Northerner with a thick accent and a few missing teeth, told me that he strongly recommends I do not do Scafell Pike as I would need 7 hours to do the climb, and it was already 2. Actually, the lady at the tour office and the bartender didn't just recommend that I stay away from the mountain, they insisted, and told me it would be impossible, but I read about the hike, I had a mapI knew the distances, and I figured they were being a bit over the top. I went anyway.
The hike wasn't too bad, very steepa dn rocky at times, and not as scenic as any of the other hikes I have done so far, but the temperature was decent and I powered ahead. I was surrounded by mountains (small ones mind you, all around 3000 ft), rivers, valleys, and sheep. Tons of sheep. Everywhere. It was kinda cool. The mountain also was not as busy as Snowdon. Anyway, after some fast and intense hiking, I got to the peak at 4 o'clock, in just 2 hours! Then I found out that I went in the wrong direction (the direction booklet contradicts the map and misses a couple of turns) and I was actually on Bowfell Pike, a few miles and across a valley from Scafell. I descended immediately and cut across country, down the valley, through some rivers, up the next range of mountains and along the ridged, up and own, until I finally got the top Scafell at 5:30, still with enough time to get back. By then though, I was pretty wiped out. There were a few young Mancunians at the top as well, and we chatted a bit about climbing while we ate (their eyes went wide as saucers when I told tham about Mt Washington and Piltriquitron, both more than twice as high as Scafell). I descended, getting back to the hotel by 8, and did the return bike ride, getting back to the hostel at 9:05. I kind of feel like going back to those naysayers and telling them, "told you so!" I won't, but this is not the first time that the British have bastly overexaggerated the difficulty of their mountains. Maybe it is because they are all so small and they need to make them sound grander than they are. I'm kind of surprised that the first person to climb Everest was British when all the British seem to be terrified of their tiny mountains. Ah well. The shower in the hostel was amazing, and then I met a few Brasilians and a Colombian, and we chatted for a while. Now, I have to go to bed.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Peak District
I took a train to the Peak District National Park today to do a bit of hiking, and I have to say, it was quite a unique hiking experience. The name of the national park is a bit misleading; there are no real peaks in the park, it is more a collection of hills, none of which top 500 feet (I don't think). Hikers are allowed to roam almost anywhere they want to, and if you go off the beaten trails, which of course I did, the terrain gets interesting. The hilles are covered in this thick rough shrub that provides a thick and springy surface to walk on. The hills are alos covered, however, in peat bogs, which ae extremely cool. They are areas of rotting vegetation, and in consistency are like a cross between mud and quicksand. Amazingly cool stuff when they are out in the open and you can see them and avoid them, but sometimes this rough brush covers a particularly wet and nasty bog, and then you sink in way up past your ankle before you can even think of pulling out. My foot got soaked. The wind was also extremely powerful. At some points I was able to stand 50 degrees from the ground facing the wind, and the wind help me up. I got pushed around quite a bit, and if I were more thin-boned, I'd be flying high as a kite. All those factors together, even though the hike was not particularly steep or rigorous, have me completely exhausted. I met a real Northerner, Tom, who was hiking in the hills as well, and we joined up for a bit. Nice guy, older, getting close to retirement, missing a bunch of teeth and extremely difficult to understand because of his thick, old-school Northern accent. Great day, but draining. I hope I have more energy tomorrow, as I am going to the Lake District National Park (also a misnomer as there is only one lake in the Lake District) to climb Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
This past week
It has been a while since I have had access to a proper computer, so I have a lot to catch up on. I'll separate days with paragraph breaks, so if you don't want to read about the entire week in one go you can do it with breaks.
I think I left off with Cardiff. It is a nice place, very smaill for a capital city, but there were some really neat things to do there, including the Cardiff Castle, the modern Millenium Centre, where there was a free percussion concert and the Welsh BAFTAs, and the Doctor Who exhibit in the Red Dragon Centre (The Red Dragon is the symbol of Wales and any country with a dragon as its national symbol must be awesome). The next day I went to Caerphilly, a small town an hour away from Cadiff, where there was a really amazing castle, definitely my favorite of the three I saw. It was the first castle built in the UK with a concentric wall design as was extremely well planned out well fortified. It was such an intimidating castle that it was only ever attacked twice. They also have some of the first ever fully working replicas of Medieval siege weaponry, along with a cool video about the building and testing of each of the four siege engines. There was still plenty of time after the castle, so I went to St Fagans, an open air museum reminiscent of Williamsburg, VA, where people live like they did hundreds of years ago. Most intereting was a replica of an old Celtic town, complete with replica huts, tools, and weapons, and a replica Celtic warrior who gave great lesons in Celtic history, tactics, strategy, and even martial arts.
The next day I went up north to Snowdonia National Park to climb Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales (at a tiny 1085 metres), and the first of what I hope will be my climbing of the Three Peaks (the highest peaks in England, Scotland, and Wales). It ws especially cool as this mountain, in Arthurian myth, is said to be the burial mound of Rhita Gawr, a king who wore a cloak made from the beards of the kings he killed, and who was in turn slain by King Arthur. At the base of the mountain is the Lake where Arthur recieved Excalibur, where he returned Excalibur as he lay dying, and where he sailed off to Avalon. Very neat stuff. The climb, which they said should take 6 hours for a round trip, was very easy; it took me an hour and forty five minutes to get to the top. I took a detour to explore the lake on the way down, otherwise that would have taken an hour and a half at the most.
That night I stayed in Caernarvon, a block an a half away from Wales' most famous castl, which I went to see the next day, Wednesday. Unfortunately it was not as impressive as Caerphilly, and I think I am all castled out. In the early afternon I took a train to Manchester and went to the amazing family that was having me for shabbos; they let me stay by the the entire time I am in the north of England! Wednesday was a short day though, as we did not arrive in Manchester until the late afternoon and by te time I got to the Reuben's house (my hosts) it was already almost 7pm.
Early the next morning I took a train to York, which was a really fascinating city. They have one of Europe's largest and most amazing Cathedrals with the largest collection of intact 13th century stained glass (13th century!) in the world. There was a great free tour of the Cathedral, as well as a great free tour of the city itself. York is a walled town, so first I walked the perimeter along the wall, where I passed by Clifford's Tower,and infamous landmark in Jewish history, where hundreds of Jews took their life instead of converting to Christianity after barricading themselves in the tower in 1190. Interestingly, someone came up to me in the street, presumably after he saw my kippa,asked me if I saw the tower, and then, almost apologetically, told me the episode is York's most shameful moment, and how they gow special magen david shaped flowers there and hold special prayer services and everything. After the wall walk was the Cathedral tour, followed by the city tour. The city tour was led by this great old English lady (very English lady) who had more energy than a little kid, a thick accent, and that English grandma persona. It was really fun having her lead the tour, which she did with great skill and humour. Her greatest moment came when she took us to see sme yew trees, asked if there were any French in th tour, and when one volunteered, said "we beat you at Agincourt, and this is why." However, the best episode of the our was when we got to see the procession o the new Lord Mayor. Everyone wsa dresed upi in fancy-dress, very old fashioned robes, musicians played 14th centruy music on 14th century instruments, the Lord Butler (?) carieda massive sword out in front of him, some other official carried a huge gilt scepter, and the arristers all wore funny wigs, and everyone else wore hats that wouldn't look out of place in a Pirates of the Carribean movie! The British love their pomp and circumstance, and I know it is all supposed to be dignified, but to an American for whom crisp suits are culmination of proper dress, it all seemed quite droll in a ridiculous sort of way. The day ended with a tour of the York brewery, possibly the best brewery tour I have yet been on, where we were given different types of malts (the grain) to taste. Up here in Northern England they take their ale very seriously, insist on it being live, and a bit more bitter than elsewhere. The ale was very good.
On friday I spent the day in Manchester, just walking around most of the city and seeing a relly amazing museum, the MOSI (museum of Science and Industry) and two superb exhibits on scientific breakthroughs in Manchester, including rooms devoted to Dalton and Ruthrford, and an amazing exhibit of fabrics and textiles, which a complete working Victorian cotton factory, with machines that did everything from clean the cotton to making threads. It doesn't sound that amazing, but seeing, on a smaller scale, how all these machines worked, the noise that they made, and the insanely dangerous conditions children as young as five years old had to work under, made it a really fascinating and eye opening experience. The rest of the city was alright, nothing to write home about, though it had its nice bits.
Shabbos, on the other hand, was phenomenal. The Reuben completely opened up teir home to me. We went to an oldr couple for the Frdiay night meal. The both of the ae over 80, and it is the only home I have ever seen where everything was homemade. Everything. The challah. The gefilte fish. Even the wine! It was undelievable that, not only did this older couple host 9 people for dinner, they made everything at the table from scratch. They were, as are my hosts and many of the people I am meeting in Manchester, South African, and over shabbos I have heard more South African accents than Mancunian accents. The rest of the company though, was English. We ate lunch by my hosts, with another South African family coming for lunch, and we had Seudah Shlishit by the hosts daughter and son-in-law. It was yet another great shabbos here in England. It is so great being Jewish; wherever you go, the community justs opens up its arms. Speaking of, if you know of anyone in Scotland, I will be there for this coming shabbos.
I think I left off with Cardiff. It is a nice place, very smaill for a capital city, but there were some really neat things to do there, including the Cardiff Castle, the modern Millenium Centre, where there was a free percussion concert and the Welsh BAFTAs, and the Doctor Who exhibit in the Red Dragon Centre (The Red Dragon is the symbol of Wales and any country with a dragon as its national symbol must be awesome). The next day I went to Caerphilly, a small town an hour away from Cadiff, where there was a really amazing castle, definitely my favorite of the three I saw. It was the first castle built in the UK with a concentric wall design as was extremely well planned out well fortified. It was such an intimidating castle that it was only ever attacked twice. They also have some of the first ever fully working replicas of Medieval siege weaponry, along with a cool video about the building and testing of each of the four siege engines. There was still plenty of time after the castle, so I went to St Fagans, an open air museum reminiscent of Williamsburg, VA, where people live like they did hundreds of years ago. Most intereting was a replica of an old Celtic town, complete with replica huts, tools, and weapons, and a replica Celtic warrior who gave great lesons in Celtic history, tactics, strategy, and even martial arts.
The next day I went up north to Snowdonia National Park to climb Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales (at a tiny 1085 metres), and the first of what I hope will be my climbing of the Three Peaks (the highest peaks in England, Scotland, and Wales). It ws especially cool as this mountain, in Arthurian myth, is said to be the burial mound of Rhita Gawr, a king who wore a cloak made from the beards of the kings he killed, and who was in turn slain by King Arthur. At the base of the mountain is the Lake where Arthur recieved Excalibur, where he returned Excalibur as he lay dying, and where he sailed off to Avalon. Very neat stuff. The climb, which they said should take 6 hours for a round trip, was very easy; it took me an hour and forty five minutes to get to the top. I took a detour to explore the lake on the way down, otherwise that would have taken an hour and a half at the most.
That night I stayed in Caernarvon, a block an a half away from Wales' most famous castl, which I went to see the next day, Wednesday. Unfortunately it was not as impressive as Caerphilly, and I think I am all castled out. In the early afternon I took a train to Manchester and went to the amazing family that was having me for shabbos; they let me stay by the the entire time I am in the north of England! Wednesday was a short day though, as we did not arrive in Manchester until the late afternoon and by te time I got to the Reuben's house (my hosts) it was already almost 7pm.
Early the next morning I took a train to York, which was a really fascinating city. They have one of Europe's largest and most amazing Cathedrals with the largest collection of intact 13th century stained glass (13th century!) in the world. There was a great free tour of the Cathedral, as well as a great free tour of the city itself. York is a walled town, so first I walked the perimeter along the wall, where I passed by Clifford's Tower,and infamous landmark in Jewish history, where hundreds of Jews took their life instead of converting to Christianity after barricading themselves in the tower in 1190. Interestingly, someone came up to me in the street, presumably after he saw my kippa,asked me if I saw the tower, and then, almost apologetically, told me the episode is York's most shameful moment, and how they gow special magen david shaped flowers there and hold special prayer services and everything. After the wall walk was the Cathedral tour, followed by the city tour. The city tour was led by this great old English lady (very English lady) who had more energy than a little kid, a thick accent, and that English grandma persona. It was really fun having her lead the tour, which she did with great skill and humour. Her greatest moment came when she took us to see sme yew trees, asked if there were any French in th tour, and when one volunteered, said "we beat you at Agincourt, and this is why." However, the best episode of the our was when we got to see the procession o the new Lord Mayor. Everyone wsa dresed upi in fancy-dress, very old fashioned robes, musicians played 14th centruy music on 14th century instruments, the Lord Butler (?) carieda massive sword out in front of him, some other official carried a huge gilt scepter, and the arristers all wore funny wigs, and everyone else wore hats that wouldn't look out of place in a Pirates of the Carribean movie! The British love their pomp and circumstance, and I know it is all supposed to be dignified, but to an American for whom crisp suits are culmination of proper dress, it all seemed quite droll in a ridiculous sort of way. The day ended with a tour of the York brewery, possibly the best brewery tour I have yet been on, where we were given different types of malts (the grain) to taste. Up here in Northern England they take their ale very seriously, insist on it being live, and a bit more bitter than elsewhere. The ale was very good.
On friday I spent the day in Manchester, just walking around most of the city and seeing a relly amazing museum, the MOSI (museum of Science and Industry) and two superb exhibits on scientific breakthroughs in Manchester, including rooms devoted to Dalton and Ruthrford, and an amazing exhibit of fabrics and textiles, which a complete working Victorian cotton factory, with machines that did everything from clean the cotton to making threads. It doesn't sound that amazing, but seeing, on a smaller scale, how all these machines worked, the noise that they made, and the insanely dangerous conditions children as young as five years old had to work under, made it a really fascinating and eye opening experience. The rest of the city was alright, nothing to write home about, though it had its nice bits.
Shabbos, on the other hand, was phenomenal. The Reuben completely opened up teir home to me. We went to an oldr couple for the Frdiay night meal. The both of the ae over 80, and it is the only home I have ever seen where everything was homemade. Everything. The challah. The gefilte fish. Even the wine! It was undelievable that, not only did this older couple host 9 people for dinner, they made everything at the table from scratch. They were, as are my hosts and many of the people I am meeting in Manchester, South African, and over shabbos I have heard more South African accents than Mancunian accents. The rest of the company though, was English. We ate lunch by my hosts, with another South African family coming for lunch, and we had Seudah Shlishit by the hosts daughter and son-in-law. It was yet another great shabbos here in England. It is so great being Jewish; wherever you go, the community justs opens up its arms. Speaking of, if you know of anyone in Scotland, I will be there for this coming shabbos.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Cardiff
Cardiff is a funky place. The first experience I had was in the tourist office, with an unbelievably nice fellow who worked there. I cannot stress how nice he was. It was kind of not normal. He was jumping through hoops to help us at the slightest hints, calling people and looking things up and constantly smiling and saying please before and after every sentence and just nice in a very surreal way. Everyone else here, middle aged and above, was the same way, very very nice and itching to share their culture, history, and language. Weird language too, but awesome. Walking around the parks however, and observing the Youth, you get the feeling that you are in a kind of country hicktown. Droves of disenchanted youth sitting around in the parks drinking and smoking and drinking, talking and looking like they might be from some backwater place like Frederick.
Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is a very nice city, small, quaint and modern at the same time, with a wacky newage cultural center and an old castle that used to be a roman garrison. Overall a very fun city.
Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is a very nice city, small, quaint and modern at the same time, with a wacky newage cultural center and an old castle that used to be a roman garrison. Overall a very fun city.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Shabbos in London
Shabbos here was as great as Shavuos. The community is extremely warm and open and welcoming, and a lot less 'segregated' by 'type', that is, the modern live in the same place as the chassidish and the yekkish and the yeshivish and everyone seems to get along splendidly. the meals were just smashing, both because of the food and theg great company. I've met so many people, so many different people from different levels of observance and even different countries (many South Africans and even a slovak!) and they are all really friendly and genuinely interesting people.
Tomorrow I'm off to Wales! And the weather continues to be amazing.
Tomorrow I'm off to Wales! And the weather continues to be amazing.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Shavuos in London
I have wanted to visit London for about 22 years now, so when I finally arrived, 2 hours early, at four thirty in the morning on tuesday, it was a dream come true. I took a bus from Paris that drives into a train, which takes it through the chunnel, and then drives to London from Dover. I took the overnight bus so that I did not waste a day; theoretically, I would have slept on the bus and woke up, refreshed and ready to see London at 6:30 the next morning. However, between having to spend an hour going through customs at 3am and meeting all sorts of fun people (an israeli, and australian, a french expat among them) I got maybe half an hour of sleep. Arriving 2 hours early did not help much, and besides for depriving me of sleep, I had to walk around with all my stuff for two hours before I could go to Golders green, where I would be staying. The upside, however, was that I saw some of the most touristy areas of London empty, at sunrise, ehich was ana amazing experience, and one that would never have happened otherwise (no matter how early you wake up, the Tube only wakes up at 5:30).
At 6:30 I took the tube to golders Green, where I was met by Avi Friedmann (thanks Ephraim) who is having me at his house for my time here (he, along with everyone else I've met here, is amazingly hospitable). After dropping my stuff off I went into the city and walked around in a kind of exhausted daze, seeing a lot but not really processing that much, though I have to say I did kind of like the Tate Britain (all the museums here are free!!!) and I love the policemen's hats.
The first night of Yomtov I spent at the Van Messels,cousins of Sarah Weill (this seems to be turning into the Weill family tour; thanks Sarah!) who were amazing. hey daven at a very Yekish shul, which reminded me of the shul I went to in Belgranom but they say all the piyutim (torture).We started eating at around 11 or so, and I hadn't slept for almost two days, but still the food was amazing (and milchig!).
The next day I went to a shul that was pretty much a larger version of Rabbi Friedman's shul in Queens, complete with the Oomayn prunciation, same nigunim, streimels and white hose, and there was even someone who said "I'll kille m" at v'al kulam. Ah the memories. And, the Matjes herring was the best I ever had!
I ate lunch by the Barron's (thanks Safta), their two daughters, son-in-law, granddaughter, and his mother, a very nice family (the baby is amazingly cute and terrified of grass) and stupendous cooks. Stupendous. I ate by them that night as well. The next day I had lunch back at the Van Messel's, but I was not going to sit through that davening again, so I went to the JLE, the Ohr Samayach shul here. The rabbi came up to me and got me a place for shabbos lunch, and everyone was really very friendly. Lunch today was great, again with great food and great company, including mister Van Messel's brother and parents, and I hung out all day by their house, talking and playing games with the kids, which was rather fun. Now I am here, a bit tired, writing, in a very abridged version, about the last 48 hours, one of the best shavuots I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. England is turning out to be a great experience!
At 6:30 I took the tube to golders Green, where I was met by Avi Friedmann (thanks Ephraim) who is having me at his house for my time here (he, along with everyone else I've met here, is amazingly hospitable). After dropping my stuff off I went into the city and walked around in a kind of exhausted daze, seeing a lot but not really processing that much, though I have to say I did kind of like the Tate Britain (all the museums here are free!!!) and I love the policemen's hats.
The first night of Yomtov I spent at the Van Messels,cousins of Sarah Weill (this seems to be turning into the Weill family tour; thanks Sarah!) who were amazing. hey daven at a very Yekish shul, which reminded me of the shul I went to in Belgranom but they say all the piyutim (torture).We started eating at around 11 or so, and I hadn't slept for almost two days, but still the food was amazing (and milchig!).
The next day I went to a shul that was pretty much a larger version of Rabbi Friedman's shul in Queens, complete with the Oomayn prunciation, same nigunim, streimels and white hose, and there was even someone who said "I'll kille m" at v'al kulam. Ah the memories. And, the Matjes herring was the best I ever had!
I ate lunch by the Barron's (thanks Safta), their two daughters, son-in-law, granddaughter, and his mother, a very nice family (the baby is amazingly cute and terrified of grass) and stupendous cooks. Stupendous. I ate by them that night as well. The next day I had lunch back at the Van Messel's, but I was not going to sit through that davening again, so I went to the JLE, the Ohr Samayach shul here. The rabbi came up to me and got me a place for shabbos lunch, and everyone was really very friendly. Lunch today was great, again with great food and great company, including mister Van Messel's brother and parents, and I hung out all day by their house, talking and playing games with the kids, which was rather fun. Now I am here, a bit tired, writing, in a very abridged version, about the last 48 hours, one of the best shavuots I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. England is turning out to be a great experience!
Friday, May 14, 2010
The biggest head, great weapons, and a concert
Yesterday I went to the Invalides, to see Napoleon's tomb and the Musee de Armee.
I must say that I was blown away by Napolaon's tomb; I know that he is France's greatest general, possibly the greatest Frecnh military leader since Charlemagne who has not been preceded, or followed, by any great military leaders, but a tomb like that for one guy... It seemed a bit ridiculous, as if all of France's national pride has been invested in this one monument. His grave is...huge. It's just obscenely huge and ornate and, I have to imagine, wildly expensive. It was a beautiful building and very impressive, but the thought that this is a bit much for just one guy just hung out in the back of my mind the whole time.
The connected Musee de Armee, however, was amazing. Remember when I said that Buenos Aires had the greatest arms museum ever? Well, I take it back. This museum was amazing, with the armor and weapons of actual nobles, great and exhaustive exhibits of warfare in every time period, especially Medieval Europe, Renaissance Europe, Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and the most amazing WW1 and WW2 exhibits ever. Some of the weaponry on display was amazingly cool, like a combination boar spear/ wheelock pistol. They also had a great exhibit on the Hundred Years War, especially on John Froissart's chronicles of the war (part of which I read for a Covington paper) which was so extensive I spent hours reading, not leaving enough time for the rest of the museum. Maybe I'll go back.
On the way back I saw a poster for a string ensemble concert that would be playing Mozart, Pachelbel, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The concert was awesome, of course, but what was maybe more awesome was that when I went to buy the ticket at the Eglise St Germain du Pres, located in Sartre and Beauvoir Square, there was a marching band on the corner playing the Looney Tunes theme!
Speaking of street corners, they have something amazing here in Paris.
No, not that! On many of the street corners in the city there are hundreds of these small buildings, really just a free standing room. These little edifices are free public toilets! Everywhere! But it gets better. After each person finishes, the door closes and the toilet is cleaned, and not just the seat; the door closes and the entire room is sprayed and cleaned between each use! A sensor in the floor detects the weight of a person so it knows when not to run the clean cycle. How cool! It totally beats the self-cleaning toilet seat in Zurich, though the first place for nicest public bathroom ever goes to Bryant Park. Seriously, if you have not been to the bathroom in Bryant Park you are missing out.
All is good for Shavuos, I am sufficiently set up, though it took most of the day by the computer to get that done. Thanks to all who helped! I'll be in Paris for another few days and then it's off to London!
Have a great shabbos!
I must say that I was blown away by Napolaon's tomb; I know that he is France's greatest general, possibly the greatest Frecnh military leader since Charlemagne who has not been preceded, or followed, by any great military leaders, but a tomb like that for one guy... It seemed a bit ridiculous, as if all of France's national pride has been invested in this one monument. His grave is...huge. It's just obscenely huge and ornate and, I have to imagine, wildly expensive. It was a beautiful building and very impressive, but the thought that this is a bit much for just one guy just hung out in the back of my mind the whole time.
The connected Musee de Armee, however, was amazing. Remember when I said that Buenos Aires had the greatest arms museum ever? Well, I take it back. This museum was amazing, with the armor and weapons of actual nobles, great and exhaustive exhibits of warfare in every time period, especially Medieval Europe, Renaissance Europe, Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and the most amazing WW1 and WW2 exhibits ever. Some of the weaponry on display was amazingly cool, like a combination boar spear/ wheelock pistol. They also had a great exhibit on the Hundred Years War, especially on John Froissart's chronicles of the war (part of which I read for a Covington paper) which was so extensive I spent hours reading, not leaving enough time for the rest of the museum. Maybe I'll go back.
On the way back I saw a poster for a string ensemble concert that would be playing Mozart, Pachelbel, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The concert was awesome, of course, but what was maybe more awesome was that when I went to buy the ticket at the Eglise St Germain du Pres, located in Sartre and Beauvoir Square, there was a marching band on the corner playing the Looney Tunes theme!
Speaking of street corners, they have something amazing here in Paris.
No, not that! On many of the street corners in the city there are hundreds of these small buildings, really just a free standing room. These little edifices are free public toilets! Everywhere! But it gets better. After each person finishes, the door closes and the toilet is cleaned, and not just the seat; the door closes and the entire room is sprayed and cleaned between each use! A sensor in the floor detects the weight of a person so it knows when not to run the clean cycle. How cool! It totally beats the self-cleaning toilet seat in Zurich, though the first place for nicest public bathroom ever goes to Bryant Park. Seriously, if you have not been to the bathroom in Bryant Park you are missing out.
All is good for Shavuos, I am sufficiently set up, though it took most of the day by the computer to get that done. Thanks to all who helped! I'll be in Paris for another few days and then it's off to London!
Have a great shabbos!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Montparnasse and Luxembourg
Wednesday was so far the only sunny day we've had, and I spent it walking around in the Parc du Luxembourg, and amazingly beautiful park right by the place I am staying. The parks and public buildings in Paris, for the most part, used to be private gardens and palaces of the insanely wealthy nobility, opened to the public after said nobility lost everything in the revolution, including their heads, so these public spaces are especially nice.
I wrote a bit about Wednesday's meeting in the market and the top of the Tour Montparnasse last week, so I will skip to Thursday. I was introduced to a friend of a friend who showed me around the Montmartre neighbor, the location of both the Moulin Rouge and the 'Amelie' cafe, a movie I have not seen but that everyone tells me is iconic. If you say so. It is also the location of the Cathedral Sacre Couer, the newest and second most iconic Cathedral in Paris. As always, the building was amazing, and the area was packed with tourists.
I wrote a bit about Wednesday's meeting in the market and the top of the Tour Montparnasse last week, so I will skip to Thursday. I was introduced to a friend of a friend who showed me around the Montmartre neighbor, the location of both the Moulin Rouge and the 'Amelie' cafe, a movie I have not seen but that everyone tells me is iconic. If you say so. It is also the location of the Cathedral Sacre Couer, the newest and second most iconic Cathedral in Paris. As always, the building was amazing, and the area was packed with tourists.
Cimitiere Pere Lachaise
On Tuesday I walked to the largest, and perhaps most famous cemetary in Paris to see the graves of some of the greatest cultural figures ever to have died in Paris, including Jim Morrison, Gertrude Stein, Frederick Chopin, Marcel Proust, Honore de Balzac, Eugene DeLacroix, and of course, Oscar Wilde. Judging by his grave, he has to be the most popular dead guy in the world.
The cemetary is huge, and they do not give out maps, but luckily I met an Israeli girl who had a map, and we hung out together at the cemetary. We even attended the funeral of a ballet dancer who, judging from the size and pomp of the send-off, must have been very popular.
The cemetary is huge, and they do not give out maps, but luckily I met an Israeli girl who had a map, and we hung out together at the cemetary. We even attended the funeral of a ballet dancer who, judging from the size and pomp of the send-off, must have been very popular.
Paris
I've been really bad with blogging of late, but I will try to get back on it.
Last week on Sunday Gerard and Marisa, cousins of my grandfather, picked me up from the train station. I had taken a TGV (high-speed) train from Strasbourg to Paris, where I sat next to and had a long conversation with a very nice and friendly Parisien.
The LeClairs took me out to eat, insisting on paying, which was the start of what has been the most hospitable stay in a foreign city that I have ever experienced. After lunch we drove around Paris and saw all of the famous sites, a grand tour that I replicated by foot the next day, despite the consistently terrible weather. We went out to dinner as well, where I had a very good Chukkus plate, and then went to bed early (or tried to; jet lag was killing me).
On Monday I spent the day walking almost all of Paris, seeing, from the outside, almost everything there is to see, though I did go into the Pantheon where I saw the graves of Rousseau and Voltaire. I also got to join a tour after I was able to quote Guy de Moupassant (I quoted him but I don't think I can spell his nale correctly). The guide was really psyched that an American barbarian knew something about French literature; it was kind of funny. The French are very proud of their history, language, and culture, and they fight tooth and nail (or try to) to protect it.
Last week on Sunday Gerard and Marisa, cousins of my grandfather, picked me up from the train station. I had taken a TGV (high-speed) train from Strasbourg to Paris, where I sat next to and had a long conversation with a very nice and friendly Parisien.
The LeClairs took me out to eat, insisting on paying, which was the start of what has been the most hospitable stay in a foreign city that I have ever experienced. After lunch we drove around Paris and saw all of the famous sites, a grand tour that I replicated by foot the next day, despite the consistently terrible weather. We went out to dinner as well, where I had a very good Chukkus plate, and then went to bed early (or tried to; jet lag was killing me).
On Monday I spent the day walking almost all of Paris, seeing, from the outside, almost everything there is to see, though I did go into the Pantheon where I saw the graves of Rousseau and Voltaire. I also got to join a tour after I was able to quote Guy de Moupassant (I quoted him but I don't think I can spell his nale correctly). The guide was really psyched that an American barbarian knew something about French literature; it was kind of funny. The French are very proud of their history, language, and culture, and they fight tooth and nail (or try to) to protect it.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Shabbos in Strasbourg
Shabbos was amazing. I was in Strasbourg, a small city and the capital of Alsace in Estern France, right along the border with Germany. I was hosted by the Kahns, whose eldest son is a fiance of a friend (Thanks Sarah!) The family is amazing, but let's keep things in order. When I first arrived in the city after an uneventful 3 hour train ride from Zurich, I dropped my bags off at the Kahn's apartment and took a walk. The weather was terrible (and remained so for days) but I saw the EU Parliament and Human Rights building, and the very nice Parc de l'Orangerie, which has beautifully landscaped flozer gardens, a lake with swans and a waterfall, and pigeons that are actually scared of humans! It was a bit sad to see such a bird that is so tough and macho in NYC so scared and helpless, but what can I say; this is France.
When I returned to the house I got to meet the family. Besides Andre, the eldest son, who amazing and spet hours showing me the city, they have three younger kids. The eldest girl, 9, spent all of shabbos trying to teach me some French and learn English. The second sister, age 7, was very shy, and the youngest boykept talking even though I had no idea what he was saying. The parents were extremely hospitable and friendly, and if all European Jews are like them I won't have any problems during this trip. She was really open and welcoming and his sense of humor was worse than Uncle Larry's. I loved it. (Family joke).
Besides all the normal shabbos things, Andre and I took a long walk in the city, a very old city (founded in 12 bce, though looking very young, postively Medieval), and it's main highlight, a magnificent Cathedral that rivals Notre Dame in Paris.
When I returned to the house I got to meet the family. Besides Andre, the eldest son, who amazing and spet hours showing me the city, they have three younger kids. The eldest girl, 9, spent all of shabbos trying to teach me some French and learn English. The second sister, age 7, was very shy, and the youngest boykept talking even though I had no idea what he was saying. The parents were extremely hospitable and friendly, and if all European Jews are like them I won't have any problems during this trip. She was really open and welcoming and his sense of humor was worse than Uncle Larry's. I loved it. (Family joke).
Besides all the normal shabbos things, Andre and I took a long walk in the city, a very old city (founded in 12 bce, though looking very young, postively Medieval), and it's main highlight, a magnificent Cathedral that rivals Notre Dame in Paris.
Catch Up
Well, it has only been five days since my last post, but I have a lot of catching up to do, but before I go back to shabbos in Strasbourg, I want to write about something interesting that happened today. To put it in context, I have to mention the rhetoric that is not so uncommon that says that the Palestinians want the Jews out of Israel because they are anti-Semites and don't like Jews, that they are "Amalek" and want to kill us. It may sound extreme, but I have heard it more than twice. To the story:
Today I went to the top of Tour Montparnasse, probably the best view of Paris, and when I exited I saw a street market. Of course, being obsessed with food I wandered around, salivating over the cheeses, meats, fish, and all of the other items that make up a gourmands dreams but a kosher-keeping Jew's nightmares. Of course, the fruits and vegetables are A-OK, so I decided to buy some. The vendor did not speak any English, but with pointing and knowing how to say 'demi-kilo' I was able to communicate what I wanted. He saw my kippah (yes, I am wearing a kippah; France is anti-Semitic, but it is not as bad as people make it out to be), gave me a huge smile, and said "Shalom!" I thought he may have been Israeli, wouldn't have been the first I met, so I said back "Atah medaber Ivrit" (you speak Hebrew)? He responded, "Mah shlomcha, Baruch Hashem!" Clearly, he did not speak Hebrew either. With some rudimentary French I asked him where he was from, and he said, Palestine, Gaza. He has been in Paris three years, and seems to be glad to be here.
That was the end of our interaction, but I wondered, if all of these people hate us so much, why would he go out of his way to engage me in a friendly manner? Sure, it was a crowded area, he can't express his hatred, but then t least give me my fruit brusquely and then be done with it. Of course, I never bought into that rhetoric of hatred, but it was nice to see some real proof.
Today I went to the top of Tour Montparnasse, probably the best view of Paris, and when I exited I saw a street market. Of course, being obsessed with food I wandered around, salivating over the cheeses, meats, fish, and all of the other items that make up a gourmands dreams but a kosher-keeping Jew's nightmares. Of course, the fruits and vegetables are A-OK, so I decided to buy some. The vendor did not speak any English, but with pointing and knowing how to say 'demi-kilo' I was able to communicate what I wanted. He saw my kippah (yes, I am wearing a kippah; France is anti-Semitic, but it is not as bad as people make it out to be), gave me a huge smile, and said "Shalom!" I thought he may have been Israeli, wouldn't have been the first I met, so I said back "Atah medaber Ivrit" (you speak Hebrew)? He responded, "Mah shlomcha, Baruch Hashem!" Clearly, he did not speak Hebrew either. With some rudimentary French I asked him where he was from, and he said, Palestine, Gaza. He has been in Paris three years, and seems to be glad to be here.
That was the end of our interaction, but I wondered, if all of these people hate us so much, why would he go out of his way to engage me in a friendly manner? Sure, it was a crowded area, he can't express his hatred, but then t least give me my fruit brusquely and then be done with it. Of course, I never bought into that rhetoric of hatred, but it was nice to see some real proof.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)