Timeless Perfection

We know we have not updated the blog in a long time, but we apparently could not find enough time to do so with the 72 hour installment of internet given to us by our hotel in Paris. Off we went, every day after we woke up to see the sites and find out what Paris had to offer for three men on one summer abroad.

We decided today that we should mix it up and experience Paris from a different perspective. The Monmartre district was the perfect fit.

If you are familiar at all with the Rocky movies you will remember the scene where he reaches the pinnacle of his training as he runs up the stairs to the movie's theme music. Today was the day we checked out a very different part of Paris but it would definitely cost us physically. The Monmartre district in Paris lies on a hill 130 meters high and is known for the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur.

The white dome of the Basilica can be seen from across Paris and is a landmark for this artisan district found just behind, which is famous for being the workplace of Paris' best artists. We toured the inside of the Basilica to observe the immensity of the structure and beauty of the architecture. It was a bit unsettling to play the role of the tourist while many worshiped in the Basilica at the same time.
Beyond the Basilica is a hip plaza with many street vendors and artists. Some artists you may be familiar with from the past are Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh. Our experience was of many artists trying to "sing for their supper" and sketch a portrait of us. Personally, we did not need an artist to show us what we look like because we have plenty of pictures. Check them out!

















While the view is not exactly the same as that of the Eiffel Tower, it is quite a unique perspective of Paris. Almost timeless. Paris is not all about the shopping and everything being as big as possible, but also about creativity and individuality. As we all know, what goes up must come down. After an afternoon with artistic history we descended to walk the streets of the surrounding areas in Paris. What would we find next?

As we ventured beyond the Montmarte district, we came to the Arc de Triumph. Here we witnessed the most chaotic-round about in the world, 8 lanes of living hell. They say an accident happens here once every 30 minutes, mostly by tourists. The trick to navigating this maze of cars is to never touch your breaks, something tourists just can't figure out. This arc was much more impressive than we imagined, but we quickly turned our sights to Champs de Elyse, one of the worlds most famous shopping districts.

Here we stopped by a store where Brett saw a jacket he thought would look good, until he saw the price tag. When we realized the jacket was 690 euros and the nearby belt was 290 we quickly realized we were shopping in the wrong mall. What a realization for three college men. So we headed on, with no destination in mind. We ultimately ended up at the Eiffel Tower for some great pictures, before heading back to the hotel for the evening. Tomorrow we have great plans, including meeting up with a K-State family. Until then, we are just Three Men, One Summer Abroad.

Anchors Away!

This is the part of our trip where we mix it up a bit.

London may be the roost for every bird, but it is time we find out what the rest of Europe has to offer. We chose not to fly but instead catch a train to the city of Portsmouth, England where we would meet our night cruise (okay actually it was a ferry) to France. This may be one of the top 5 travel decisions of our journey because simply put, Europe is not only made up of buildings and cathedrals filled with thousands of tourists but also pristine nature. It's complexity as a beautiful continent is mostly caught within the rolling hills and small farm houses with more character than one can imagine.After an hour train ride and hitchhiking with no end in sight for another 30 minutes we finally arrived at the city of Portsmouth around 4 p.m. We could say that most of our trip goes like this: lots of walking, taking in our surroundings, and trying to figure out where in the world we are going! Maybe this is how we get the most joy out of life. We think it is much more about the journey than the destination. But what is the point of going to Europe if you do not see some of the best sites in the world?!

Although today we are not really going to see anything. Well, actually we saw every little bit of a pub where we set up camp because they have free wifi (which you rarely come across in Europe) and our ferry to France did not leave until 11 p.m. We probably should have paid rent ha!

Our boat wasn't exactly the Titanic (luckily) but it did the trick. Brett learned that ferry's are not only a source of travel for people, but more so for cars and semi's. John learned that he should have brought pants because we could see our breath when we got to France, and Ryan learned that even while in the English Channel you can still be wall-burritoed.

To give you an idea of what the boat looked like we will describe it to you. It was big, looked a lot like what it does in the brochure and had a big sign that said "rent me" on the side (actually it said Brittany Ferries). The boat was a few stories high with tons of rooms. Our room had four beds (two bunks) and a bathroom with a shower. Once on the boat we went around exploring and found a ping pong table, restaurant, bar, and dance floor! After looking around we decided to hit hay because we would be landing at 6:30... or so we thought. We set the alarm for one hour early in our room so we could wake up and take a shower then get ready. However, since the time change, we managed to wake up to a lady first speaking french, then her translation to English saying "all people still in their cabins must leave immediately," since we had landed in Caen, just Three Men showerless, on One Summer Abroad!