Notre Dame

December 25, 2009 - Christmas Day

My first morning in Paris! After everybody woke up, we put away the air mattress and then I went to a bakery a few doors down to pick up some fresh croissants, chocolate bread, and baguettes. Apparently this is normal in France, to live a few doors down from a bakery... and to eat fresh bread every day. I love it!



After eating breakfast and having some coffee, we decided to go see some of the sites in Paris. We hopped on the train to Gare de l'Est and from there took the M4 train to Cité station, which is on an island in the Siene River. From there, we walked past the Palais de Justice to one of the bridges over the Siene and took some pictures.



Then we walked back across the island and over to the famous Notre Dame cathedral. We waited in line to get inside, but once we were in we took lots of photos. My new camera was able to get much better pictures in the low light than I've ever been able to get before!

After winding our way through the cathedral, we got back on the M4 at Saint-Michel and took it to Montparnasse-Bienvenue where we transferred to the M6 and rode that to Bir-Hakeim, the closest Paris Métro station to Eiffel Tower.

Basel -> Paris by Train

After picking up some snacks at Aldi and packing things frantically, Andreas drove us to the train station in Basel, called Basel S.B.B. I took a couple pictures in the station of the other trains while Andreas told me from what country each had originated. Then I boarded the train with Isabelle and her mom. Once the train got moving I got up from my seat to explore the other cars.

We were riding the French TGV - the fastest train on wheels in the world! The ride was so smooth you could hardly tell we were moving at all. It was also dark outside so we could not see the scenery flying by. I walked to the cafe car where there were tables and a small bar that served snacks, coffee, beer, and wine. I opted for an Alsatian Riesling and enjoyed it with a stick of landjäeger - a German smoked meat snack. Isabelle and I spent the rest of the ride looking at the photos I had taken in Australia the month before.

We arrived in Paris at 9:35 and made our way to the commuter train that would take us out to Christéle and Papito's apartment. This was a quick ride but at first I thought that I had lost my train ticket and the conductors were coming through the car to check! After frantically searching all my pockets, it turned out to be with Isabelle and we were relieved that I would not be fined by the train conductor on my first night in Paris.

We arrived at the Vaires-sur-Marne station and met Papito waiting for us on the other side of the turnstile. I was excited to finally reach a destination, and when I pushed my bag through the turnstile it came back up and hit me in the knee -- hard! This would leave me sore and limping for the rest of the trip...

It was Christmas Eve in Paris and all the decorative holiday lights were on. We walked a few minutes to the apartment and met Christele and baby Sohane and a HUGE meal already prepared! We had some Champaign and Desiree had prepared a platter of toasted bread with foie gras, lox, and a pink spread made with caviar. For the main course, we had roasted chicken, goat, and fried plantains. I was stuffed by the end of the meal! I sat back and listened to the family members catch up in Ewondo - not understanding a word. Every now and then Isabelle would try to explain what was going on.

We watched the Christmas Eve mass in Rome on the TV and finally we were ready to sleep. We inflated an air mattress and got the earplugs ready for a noisy night of crying Sohane. I slept well dreaming of all the things we would see the next day in Paris... my first visit to the City of Lights!

Liestal

Thursday, December 24th

On Thursday morning I woke up to Susan the dog tapping his toenails on the floor outside the bedroom door. Isabelle and I wandered downstairs and I found the bacon and eggs. Andreas has a Nespresso espresso machine, so making coffee was a breeze! I called the airline again to find out if there was any sign of my clothes, since we would be traveling to Paris for a few days. They had no news, so we needed to buy some things for me to wear. I cooked breakfast for us and then we got ready for a quick walk into town.

The walk into Liestal's city center was very short. Isabelle and I do not speak any German, so it was a little bit of fun finding our way around the clothing store. People kept asking me questions in hurried German and I would have to shake my head and shrug my shoulders. We found a couple sweaters and a pair of pants that would get me through the next couple days until my luggage was returned. Isabelle bought her mom a bracelet at a jewelry store and then we walked back to the house.

We took a few pictures outside the house before heading to St. Louis station to get train tickets to Paris for later. Then we stopped at Aldi, a respectable grocery chain in Europe, to pick up snacks for the trip.

ORD -> PHL -> AMS -> ZRH

PHL -> AMS, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Off we go to Europe!

I spent a few weeks in cold, dark Chicago watching movies and eating out while searching for cheap flights to Zurich. Isabelle was spending the month with her mother in Switzerland and I planned to join them for the holidays.

I found a flight that connected in Philadelphia and Amsterdam on its way to Zurich. This was a marathon run, but I enjoy seeing airports and I had never been to Philadelphia before. I really like the Amsterdam airport and always try to stop for oysters there. They had the airport decorated for Christmas so I took some photos.





Finally I made it to Zurich and discovered that my checked luggage didn't make it! Swiss Air gave me some clothes and a bag of toiletries to hold me over until they could locate and return my luggage.





I met Andreas, Isabelle's step-father, in the Zurich airport and he drove me to his home near Basel where we would wait for Isabelle and her mother to return from shopping. Andreas doesn't speak very much English and I speak virtually no German or French, so it we needed to pantomime to communicate. We had some coffee and cheese and then picked up Isabelle and mom from the train station.





I called the airline to see if my bags were found but didn't have any luck. After trying a couple beers from Andreas' European collection, I was ready for bed! We were planning to take the train to Paris the next day so I needed to get some rest.

Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights! Lincoln Park Zoo Entrance, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

It was a shock going from summer in Sydney to winter in Chicago, but I had a lot of things to look forward to. Isabelle bought me a new camera as an early holiday gift, a Canon T1i DSLR. This is my first SLR camera since high school and my first DSLR ever! The day after I returned to Chicago, she left for Switzerland to spend December with her parents. I was going to join them later in the month, but for now I had a lonely couple of weeks in Chicago.

I wanted to try out my new camera so I went to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, a favorite place of mine for taking photos. After leaving the conservatory I decided to walk to the zoo, since it's right next door. I stumbled into an event the city hosts called Zoo Lights. Every year they put Christmas lights all over the zoo and play music and have activities for kids. After learning about this, I decided to come back the next week when it was darker and after learning a little more about taking low-light photos without a tripod. Here are some of my favorites!















Clearly, they went all out. I was impressed!