Parlez-Vous Français?

Well! Yet another exciting weekend has come and passed, and it's looking like next weekend will rival the last as well! Many things to look forward to: visiting Windsor Castle and Diane's rapidly approaching visit being but two! In the next few weeks I'll also be joined by the lovely Lizzy, the noble Nick, and the remarkable Robie! (Alliterative adjectives, what?) Yes - March will certainly fly by as fast as February has, and soon it will be break! Insanity, no?

But for now I will finish my tea (and this post). Be warned - this one is a monster.

Creepy clock bug

On Saturday, ISA took us all to Cambridge. Cambridge is a magnificent town, filled with the Gothic churches and buildings one expects of British architecture. Our tour guide (an adorable old Dutch woman) led us around some of the University (though it's all but impossible to see all of it - for one, there are 31 colleges, and for another, many of them require a fee from those that aren't students). But we saw the Cavendish Laboratory, made famous by Watson and Crick's successful explorations of the structure of DNA, as well as the pub in which they announced their triumph. We then saw the most fascinating clock; featured in the city's center, it is made of three concentric and moving golden rings and topped by a disturbing grasshopper/cockroach sort of thing. It doesn't have any numbers; instead, there are little slit-type things that light up blue for the passing of minutes or hours. The outermost ring represents seconds, and the ring looks like it's being eaten by the bug, which is supposed to mean something about time being destructive and deceptive. We stood and goggled at the clock for a while. It's fascinating to watch - the bug will occasionally blink and move around, and the seconds will often move irregularly (again meant to represent something about the erratic nature of time).

The King's College Chapel from outside

Then we went into King's College, where we were told in no uncertain terms are we allowed to walk on the grass. That is a privilege afforded only to the Master of the college, and the college's Fellows, and to students only during the May Ball festivities, which are pretty much hugely extravagant parties held to celebrate the end of term (in June, funnily enough). We went into the magnificent King's College Chapel, which holds the last example of original medieval stained glass in England - it was spared both during the Civil War (despite being a base for Cromwell's troops, Cromwell - very much against his nature - spared the church any destruction), and World War II (the glass was removed. We also heard a very interesting story about Hitler's fondness for Cambridge, the veracity of which I cannot confirm, but I'll tell you about in a moment!).

Bridge of Sighs

From there our group went to "the Backs" of the River Cam, where we enjoyed a lovely trip down the river on a punting boat. The best way I can describe a punting boat is that it's kind of like a gondola, except squat, very low in the river, and all of the drivers are attractive males. Though that may just be a Cambridge thing. Actually, punting may just be a Cambridge thing. I honestly have no idea.

Either way, we were guided down the river and regaled with many tales about the college. Once again, I wouldn't quote any of these to factually minded friends, as you may be proven embarrassingly wrong. Here are a few:

• After students complained about ducks being able to walk on the grass while they weren't, Cambridge decided to make all of the ducks Fellows.
• Hitler's "favorite" building was in Trinity College, and he planned to make it his headquarters if he ever invaded Britain. As such, he was furious when a bomb was accidentally dropped on Cambridge because it jeopardized his beloved building. He had the pilot executed.
• Students, trying to get back at a professor, managed to float his Mini Cooper downriver and hoist it up to hang underneath the Bridge of Sighs.
• The Bridge of Sighs was named because Queen Victoria likened it to the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, which was named for being crossed by those about to be executed. Today, it is an apt name as students cross it in order to get to exam halls.
• Two of the "new" buildings at King's College (built in the 1960s) are, in fact, the ugliest buildings in the entire world. This has been proven.
• In the traditional King's College dorms, the size of the room given to the students depends on their grade levels. Our guide has an entire floor to himself.

Needless to say that even if the things learned were dubious, an entertaining time was had all around.

Afterwards we were given time to wander, and Kristen, Devyn and I explored some of the other colleges, had some pasties (as tradition for excursion days) and got ourselves some delicious fudge. We then headed back to London!

The following morning saw me up depressingly early to catch the Eurostar to Paris. After a few mishaps (including but not limited to: Emily almost forgetting her camera, me not charging my phone, and Kristen oversleeping and almost missing the train entirely) we were on our way! Luckily the rest of the trip went smoothly. Some facts about Paris you may not have known (as I didn't until I was there):

• They drive on our side of the road,
• Many Parisians speak English, which is extremely impressive to me, and
• Paris is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, putting me six hours ahead of Eastern Standard.

Upon arrival in Paris and a quick trip from the Gare du Nord to our pretty nice hostel, we boarded a tour bus and headed out to a full day! We decided that instead of spending money on tours and tickets to the metro/taxis/etc, we would instead use L'Open Tour bus service to get around, and I still can't decide whether or not this was a good decision. I think that if we had been there at peak season, when the buses ran every 10-15 minutes rather than every half hour, it would have been. But, as it were, we enjoyed being able to see much more of Paris (and we probably learned a lot more, as well) than had we taken the metro every time we wanted to get anywhere.

On the first day, we started our trip at the Louvre and a visit with the unfailingly beautiful Mona Lisa. Fantastic! After a little more exploration, we left the Louvre and walked along the Seine, and enjoyed lunch on the steps of the Musée d'Orsay. Unfortunately, the looong lines at the Musée prevented us from going in, but that was alright. We then took the bus down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triumphe, and walked from there to the Eiffel Tower. We then waited in line for what seemed like forever watching a little boy taunt two little girls and basically climb all over everything (including the gentleman in front of him), which was adorable. Then we took a packed elevator to the second floor (a name that is incredibly deceiving, as we were way up there), and saw the sun finally peek through the clouds and set over Paris!

By the time we emerged, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated, and while it was certainly beautiful, it still didn't hold a candle to my London skyline. Yes, I've been here less than two months and I've claimed the skyline as my own - oh well.

We then wandered around in the hopes of finding a grocery store, which we finally did (things in Paris shut down on Sundays - reminded me a bit of the south, to be honest). We purchased ourselves some bread, cheese, wine and chocolate, and sat on a bench in the park besides the Eiffel Tower to enjoy our meal. It was marvelous. After this, we made our way back to the hostel (on foot - who's stupid idea was that? Oh, right...) and collapsed for the night.

Happiness is a warm crêpe

The next morning we were once again up bright and early, and we enjoyed a delicious continental breakfast at the hostel. We walked to Montmartre and were unfortunately accosted by some very pushy men trying to sell - string, or something? Well they were clearly pickpockets, and not very pleasant people. We pushed our way past them and ascended the steps to the top of the Basilique du Sacré Cœur, where we looked down on more magnificent views. We then headed to find the Moulin Rouge (deceptively enough there is a windmill quite near the theater itself in the opposite direction but on the same road - silly Paris making things difficult for us tourists to stand outside a building and gush about Ewan McGregor). On our way a man saw us with a map and approached us, speaking in rapid French and gesturing around us. It went on for a long while, and he gave us no chance to cut in and tell him we didn't understand a word he was saying, so we just sort of stood there and smiled and nodded. Finally he gave us a look and said, slightly exasperatedly, "Parlez-vous français?" The answer, of course, was no, but - undeterred - he gave us his whole speech again, this time in English. I didn't catch all of it but he said something about being the last true poet in France, told us some places we should go, and that the store next to us would try to sell us the jacket he was wearing (that he had acquired for €10) for €400. After a lot more smiling and nodding he left, bidding us luck.

Picture shamelessly stolen from Emily

We found the Moulin Rouge, and hopped on the bus to meet Emily's splendid friend (who is studying in Paris) for lunch. It took us quite a bit longer to get there than it should've, and this is where the whole ride the tour bus plan fell apart - we had to wait quite a while for a bus that wound up just sitting around at some stops for half an hour at a time. Oh well. It all worked out, right? We enjoyed some sandwiches at an adorable and delicious little place, and sat outside in the gorgeous sunlight to do so! Then I finally got my crêpe (banana and Nutella, of course!) and we sort of headed in a direction we thought might be right to get somewhere that we decided not to go to anyway. Luckily our aimless wanderings brought us to a L'Open Tour bus stop, where we saw a DeLorean (the door opened up and everything! And it was decorated just like the time machine!) We then had to wait (again) for the bus, and we saw a good amount of the Latin Quarter before getting of at Notre Dame, which was absolutely gorgeous. Free admission and no flash photography brought me a plethora of blurry photographs that don't do the church justice. Simply amazing.

From there we headed back to the hostel to pick up our luggage and were off to the Gare du Nord and pulled into London at about 18:45! All in all, an extremely successful three day weekend - now it's back to reality for me as I try to write a paper on Shakespeare before Di gets here. Hopefully I will be successful - I am determined to have to do as little schoolwork as possible when entertaining my various and sundry guests in the upcoming weeks, which will mean a lot of work for me in the next few days. Worth it, though! I can't wait to show people around London - it's going to be brilliant!

 Until next time. :) Cheers! xo

(P.S. - As always, more pictures can be found for those interested on my Facebook!)