My Mini OE - From Paris to Perugia

 

On the day I left Paris I had to get up at 4:30 am to catch my 7:10 am flight, Paris at 5 in the morning is awesome if a little dirty. My feet got so dark with dust and dirt. 

I got to the airport with little stress and it was straight onto Perugia from Rome once I got into Roma termini. Or was it.

A beautiful Roman morning

Leaving the airport in Rome is strangely easy, I got my bag and found the exit but the exit is where it gets strange. You see two options ahead of you, Anything to declare and nothing to declare. The only thing is they have no-one checking you if you say you have nothing to delare, you just walk on out.

I then got my ticket to Roma Termini Station and I was lucky to overhear an american say to her partner that you must validate the tickets before boarding the train in italy otherwise you can be fined $100 Euros. Once I arrived at the station I went to purchase my train ticket to Perugia where I would be staying two nights and it was quite easy for me, I was aware that in Rome there are a lot of people trying to get money off of you so when I got to the Bigiletti Machine I saw warning signs stating that anyone not wearing the official uniform trying to help at the ticket machines was to be ignored. I was lucky in that they didn't bother me because they were "helping" other people but when one of them spoke to me I said "I know" rudely and they backed off. 

Rome Termini is Dirty and gross, beggars are always coming up to you and its not what you'd expect from Rome Decoratively but luckily its a transporation area not a destination. Unfortunately I missed my train because I was at platform 2 and not 2e which isn't at the end of platform 2 but at the end of platform 1.  

I am not amused, I am a muppet

While I waited I grabbed some lunch and sat outside in the sun eating and hydrating. I was feeling tired and thinking to myself why don't I just go to the hostel I'm staying in in Rome and see if I can stay two extra nights but luckily I didn't and I now wish I stayed in Perugia an extra 3 nights! 

Just being creative, (Its the train to Perugia)

Once I managed to get to the hostel in Perugia (after a lot of sweat, a little bit of wet eyes and help from a Peruvian lady) I checked in and felt refreshed and happy. I was at my destination and it was beautiful!! I had a beautiful view and the bathrooms were like roman spas

I got a Pizza, and went to sleep.

Yummmmm

 

Perugia

I was lucky enough to have the time of one Reilly W. who, even though he was in the middle of exams, was an excellent tour guide. I meet Amanda his girlfriend, Genna W. his sister, her fiance Gavin and his newly married friends! We were all shown around the beautiful town of Perugia and then had a lunch of Pizzas.

Lots of people out enjoying the sun and sitting, which is what most Old Italian men do. Just sit. And stare.

Stylish Italian People, Look a man wearing white pants!

You go shopping and walk past this

I would make some sleazy joke about sleeping at Hotel Anna, but I'll leave that for you

Just pass this every day without going, wow I learn here

This is a room for learning, Imagine learning here

We also saw where Reilly studied and went into one of the class rooms which had a chalk board with chalk and a duster. I was so impressed with Perugia, It is such a charming town.

A view at the university

The gardens of the university

This is still part of the university

Another arty shot, check out the lady bug.

After lunch Reilly and Amanda took me to Reillys Dads Villa as they wanted to show me the countryside of Umbria which is the region Perugia is in. We drove past Assisi and went into Montefalco which were as lovely looking as Perugia. The rest of the afternoon was just me tagging along with Amanda as she showed me around, Amanda is cool. She is a feminist like me and is funny and I really respect her. Girl crush time! :)

In the evening Reilly and Amanda and I went to dinner at a local Ristorante and enjoyed a lovely Italian meal in which I got to have Tiramisu! My plan is to have it every day at a different restaurant while I'm in Italy. I've already gained weight but I don't care, I love my lady lumps.

We had Bruschetta for 3 people, One is covered in grated truffle and was the first time I had truffle, the other is Tomato and the third is Buffalo Mozzarella. Yum!

This was the delicious Triamisu, Amanda said she has had better so I'm going to say it was inviting and the chocolate covering really added a nice touch to the otherwise simple tasting dish. Or something foodie along those lines.

The next day I then caught the train back to Rome and got a little wet in the rain that they had as I left in Perugia.

The view from my hostel at night

The view during the day

My Mini OE - Paris

Okay I can finally upload photos! Check out my last entry and you'll see photos of my trip.

Paris is awesome, It is such a romantic, beautiful place and has great food! Because blogging is so hard in this country I'm going to write one massive blog about my time.
So on my first day I planned to hire a bicycle to check out the city but I ended up sleeping in and decided to walk instead. I'm glad I did because I saw some beautiful sights and even though Paris is set up really well for cyclists it is still dangerous on the road. French drivers are mad!

I missed breakfast that day but it was okay because I wasn't that hungry due to my cold, Once I saw a cafe with someone inside it that didn't look intimidating I went in and meet what I thought was an attractive French man, he reminded me of Russell Crowe, but it turns out he was from the netherlands! He was very nice if a little brusque and keep correcting me on my grammer. I enjoyed an excellent cappucino and then started to wander again.

I ended up at the Notre Dame! It was such a sunny, happy day and everyone was out taking it in.

It doesn't look sunny but it was!

My yummy lunch!

After I ate I decided to go to the Eiffel Tower and the streets I chose all seemed to have high end brands like Chanel and Prada, It was fate, Paris knew I love fashion. :)

Once I got to the Eiffel Tower the weather was really warm so I decided to go to the Summit to see Paris, I was told to queue in the stairs line because it was shorter and I'm glad I did because the line for the Elevator was massive, pretty much triple the stairs only line. It wasn't even that difficult to climb, I was really tired and had sore legs but I managed it quite easily. Even if It was hard the view was sooooo worth it, check out these photos

 

After that it was all downhill.... Haha, get it? No aside from that weak joke it was a nice descent and I really enjoyed my walk back to the hostel, heres a lovely photo

On my way back I got hit on by a french guy and it got creepy pretty quickly, when he realised I was not going to go with him and be, as he put it "crazy", He held my hands and wouldn't let them go as well as pointing at my boob with his finger like he was going to touch my chest. Bizarre.

When he left me, I headed back to the hostel for a good nights sleep.

Day two

I decided to check out the Louvre because the weather was yucky and it was definitly a day for being inside. First I started off the day with a yummy lunch and went to a cafe down the road from the hostel, I ordered a Chocolat chaud and a slice of quiche and when the waitress came over to hand it to me I dropped my pen so when I picked it up I hit my head on the tray which then spilt some of the drink! It was such a waste because it was the most delicious drink I've ever had.

The quiche was also delicious and had this large piece of cheese baked into the top

The Louvre was really good, I'm surprised because I usually don't like art. I did wish a friend was with me who studied Art History like Laura or Tess because I wanted to know more about a lot of the paintings.
 

An exhibition of Leonardo de Vinci's work, specifically Saint Anne

I learnt lots about how Leonardo painted and his methods, things that are probably obvious to others but I had never really put any thought into. For example I learnt he would draw "cartoons" of his artwork before painting them, with the Saint Anne painting he drew three editions before deciding on the final one, he also would draw over and over one specific part of the painting like an arm or a foot to get it just right. He was an amazing artist. 

The main reason for my visit was to see the Mona Lisa and it was probably the main reason for a lot of people. They had this glass case surrounding the painting, a roped off part about 1.5 metres around the glass and two guards making sure people didn't get too close!

On my way back I meet a more gentlemanly French man who asked me in french directions but I couldn't answer and he was kind enough to say I looked like a french woman. :)

Something random I noticed was on the bridges they had locks with peoples names on them, I'm not sure what its about but it was quite interesting.

Day 3

Day three was the day for shopping because it was Saturday, also I didn't know it at the time but most shops are closed on Sunday so if you ever go to Paris don't expect to shop on a Sunday!

I wanted to check out one of the Marche aux Puces and the Père Lachaise Cemetary, The easiest way was to get the Metro and I have to admit I was avoiding using it, But once I got down there I saw how easy it was and really made the most of it. I went to the Marches aux Puces de Montreuil which was supposed to be more focused on bric-a-brac, antiques and Vintage clothing.

Heres my outfit for the day, I ended up grabbing a cardigan and a scarf because it was quite cold.

I've seen some cheap furs in france, but its too heavy for my baggage!

There was so much random crap mixed in with cheap chinese clothing and hardware products, but if you really looked there were some good items also. I've had a bad experience with markets in London so I didn't buy anything except a cheap necklace and bracelet (But, the necklace broke later that night!)

Once I was at the end I wandered up the road and found a mall so I thought I would check it out. Inside they had a McDonalds so I thought I'd see what they sold and it was so much nicer than in New Zealand, especially the McCafe!

Yummmmmm!

When I was finished looking around I decided to go to the Cemetary, I only really knew a few names on the list they had at the entrance so I wrote down the locations and took a photo of the map and went looking.

Eugene Delacroix (Painter)

Oscar Wilde (Poet)

Edith Piaf (Chanteuse)

La Vie en Rose

Jim Morrison (Musician), There were gates around his grave to stop vandals

In the late afternoon I went back to the hostel and had a power nap, One of the other roomies wanted to go out for dinner and have a proper french meal so we decided to go together. She is Korean and didn't speak much french and because I knew a little I think she was happy to go with me.

My Appetizer was a Tarte au Tartin and It was delicious!

For my main meal I has a fish dish with a green curry sauce but I think it tasted more indian than french. It was good anyways!

Day 4

As it was my final day in Paris I thought I would tick off a few more things from my list, I decided on walking down the Champs-élyseés toward the Arc de Triomphe. It was an excellent day with beautiful sunny weather and even though it was sunday, as I mentioned above in France they close shops on a sunday, everyone was out!

I then decided to take a few more photos of the hostel and have dinner at one of the other Hostels because you get a full three course meal for only $10.50. I really enjoyed my stay at the hostel and it was such a great location! I would definitely recommend it to others.

I will see you again Paris, I enjoyed every second!