Paris

I always hope for smooth traveling, especially when it comes to getting from the airport to where I need to be.  Sadly this hardly ever happens, and my trip to Paris was no exception.  I got to the Paris airport after a delayed flight, no big deal.  I had my route mapped out for my trip to the city on the train.  And wouldn’t you know it?  The train station at the airport was closed when I got there, not sure why.  So they bused us somewhere, I had no idea where.  I had to figure out how to get from that station to downtown so I could make my metro transfer.  With the help of a nice metro worker I finally made it to the correct platform.  The rest of the trip went without a hitch and I made it to the hotel.


The rest of my trip was surreal.  I started my day of on Saturday by eating a crepe with Nutella in the lawn of the Eiffel Tower.  It was amazing.  I just sat there and people watched for a little while.  Then I made my way to Hotel de Invalides.  The garden was beautiful!  I took a few pictures (of course) and was on my way to the Arc de Triomphe.  On the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, I stopped at few stores and did some shopping.  The city workers were starting to set up the grandstands for the final leg of the Tour de France.  It was a bustling street!  After seeing what there was to see, I took the metro to Notre Dame – the cathedral, not the university.  The inside of the cathedral was beautiful.  I also decided to go up to the towers and take pictures of the city with the gargoyles.  The wait was really long, but it was worth it.  The view of the city was amazing.


For dinner I sat down at a random café not too far from Notre Dame.  While I was looking at the menu, some random French guy sat next to me and tried to talk to me.  The problem was that I speak no French and he spoke no English.  We communicated a little, but not very effectively.  He tried to find someone to translate for us, and asked the man sitting behind us.  The man also spoke no French, but I could talk to him!  He turned out to be Tom the physics professor from Duke University.  As I was leaving the café I gave the waiter a tip, and in return he dragged me inside to the bar and gave me a glass of champaign. :-) The professor and I went to a concert outside of Hotel de Ville.  Eventually I had to leave for my photo tour.  The photo tour was worth every penny.  I learned a little and got some great pictures out of it.  Please see my flickr account to see the pictures!  I will try to post them as soon as I can.


Today (Sunday) I slept in because the photo tour went kind late.  I didn’t get back to the hotel until after 1am.  I ate breakfast at a café near the hotel.  It was delicious!  My first stop was the Museum d’Orsay.  I love Impressionism, especially Vincent Van Gogh, and so that was my museum of choice.  Sadly I didn’t have time to go to the others – maybe next time?  After that I wandered through the garden near the Louvre.  There was a lot going on around there – the spectators were waiting for the bikers to go through on their final race leg.  I spent a good amount of the afternoon reading in the Royal Palace Garden.  They have chairs all over the garden, so I pulled one up to the fountain and did a little reading.  I was surrounded by Parisians doing the same.  I could really get used to life in Paris… Unfortunately I had to leave and go back to Poland.  C’est la vie.  I would definitely recommend Paris if you ever have the opportunity.  I know I will definitely try to make it back.  

Poznań Trip

This weekend, Meagan and I ventured to the west side of Poland.  We made the 2.5 hour trip to Poznań.  In the middle of the trip my GPS freaked out because there are new highways not on the map.  So I decided to follow all of these people going the same way.  Sadly I believe they were all part of a wedding party that were on their way to the reception or church or something.  There were tons of people packed into the cars and they were all going to this small town... I should've known better than to follow them!  Oh well, they kind of helped me out.  Meagan and I figured it out from there and were on our way again.

Beer and Peanuts

Our first stop after we checked into our hotel was the hotel restaurant.  Apparently they had tex-mex.  We tried it.  It failed.  The fajitas had a curry flavor.  I burned my finger on the iron plate they give you with the meat and vegetables.  The nachos were lacking.  But at least we got beer and peanuts!

We went to pretty much every church in the town.  The first one we went to was Parish Church - it was so beautiful!  There was also this cathedral that was built between 968-1000.  It was a really old church.  I was kind of confused by the statues of some of the archbishops.  It looks like the bishop is straight-up chillin.  

Supposedly Poznań was the birthplace of Poland.  The royals lived there until a certain time, at which point they decided to move to Krakow.  

Meagan with man and his best friend the cougar

Stary Rynek

Stary Rynek

Love to those in Reggaeland - Ya mon!

Believe it or not, Płock is known for the Reggae Festival they hold every year on the beach of the Wisła River.  I went on Saturday, along with my other UOP crew members, and it was a lot of fun.  Sadly they wouldn't let us bring our beers into the main stage area, but what can you do?  Chug it really fast and then go dance along is the theory I followed.  There were a good number of people there, all with dreadlocks of course.  I didn't really fit in, I was lacking dreads and/or braids.  Next time I'll try harder to fit in.  

I found paradise

Have I ever mentioned that there are sometimes I love my job?  Extremely early Friday morning I left Warsaw for Dubrovnik, Croatia.  I had heard good things about Dubrovnik, unfortunately not all of them were completely true.  I'm pretty sure this is what my heaven would be like if I died.  The Adriatic Sea is so blue and clear - it is absolutely amazing.  Old City in Dubrovnik has tons of great picture taking opportunities.  My hotel is the best in the city - at least I'm convinced it is.  I sincerely wish I didn't have to go to work on Monday.  I'd stay here for forever.

One of the pools at the hotel

So my flight to Dubrovnik was interesting.  As I was in line waiting to board the plane, I realized that Gabourey Sidibe - the girl who played Precious in the movie Precious - was standing a few people in front of me.  Sadly I didn't get an autograph or a picture taken with her.  I left her alone, as I'm sure she wanted to be.  However, I did help her get her luggage off of the carousel at the Dubrovnik Airport. 


When I got to Dubrovnik I took a cab to the hotel, and my taxi driver was the nicest guy.  He was pointing things out as we went along, he told me a brief history of the city, and he gave me suggestions of what I should do with my time here.  He said the most important thing was to relax and enjoy every minute.  I took his advice.


I slept a lot - finally.  I laid in the sun and tried to remember to put sunscreen on every 30 minutes.  I was doing ok until I fell asleep by the sea this afternoon... Oops.  I had sushi and Croatian shrimp (which is actually crawfish...)  and both were very fresh and delicious.  I made a few friends out at the pool today.  Overall this has been the best weekend I've had.  I'd say it outranks Prague.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Prague, but it is no Dubrovnik.  I'd love to come back as soon as I can.

Old City of Dubrovnik