Europe Travel Diary – Part I – Madrid

In September my mother and I took an 11 day vacation to Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting my pictures and travel diary.

I left my apartment ridiculously early in the morning on Wednesday September 10. I literally caught the first bus of the morning from my neighbourhood to downtown and then took an express bus to the airport. Originally I’d been scheduled on an 11:50am SEA – YYZ flight. I’ve been scheduled on this flight before and every single time they’ve canceled the flight and moved me to the 8am departure. This left me with a super long (OK it was only 6 hours) layover in the Toronto airport. Luckily my Dad was able to give me a lounge coupon and the time passed quickly enough. I met Mom at the gate and we boarded our flight to Madrid. I had dinner on the flight and then used my red wine & Gravol method of sleep induction (I figure my liver can handle the occasional challenge). I probably got 4 hours of sleep before we landed in Madrid.

We got into our hotel room at about 12:30. We were both pretty tired so decided to take naps and set my watch alarm for 14:00. We slept through the alarm but woke up at 14:30 anyway. We then set out to get some lunch the highlight of which was the 1 euro mini desserts. Mom had a small slice of cheesecake with cherry topping and I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with brownie bits and chocolate sauce. I should have taken a picture they were so cute.

Then we tried to visit the Royal Palace. Unfortunately after walking all the way there we discovered that the palace was closed. We assume there must have been some event going on. Fortunately we knew would have several more opportunities to make it to the palace. It’s supposed to be third only to Versailles and Schonbrunn!

After the palace disappointment we went back to our hotel for nap number two and then off to the train station to get our Euro Rail passes validated and to get reservations on the one leg of our trip on a regional train. After finding the right place we ended up having to wait about 45 minutes for our number to be called. We were both very tired by the end of the day so we picked up a sandwich at the station for dinner and turned in for the night.

We spent the morning of our second day in Madrid at the Prado Museum. This seems to be the main tourist attraction in Madrid and houses and impressive collection of paintings. Our strategy was to get the audio guide and try to see the 50 or so masterpieces listed on the map. The highlights included: The Garden of Delights, Las Meninas and the pair of paintings the Nude Maja and the Clothed Maja.

After a nice lunch in the museum cafeteria (Spanish torta and salad) we walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens. This is a museum of plants and was a nice quiet place to wander. September might not have been the optimal time to visit but it was neat to see all the different species.

For dinner we went to a Rick Steves recommended restaurant and had a three course meal which came with unlimited wine. We felt sort of odd sitting with two bottles of wine (one red one white) on our table! After dinner we headed back to our hotel to get a good nights rest before our 7:40 train to Granada the next morning.

Next: Part II – The Alhambra

Copenhagen & Paris – Wrap up

I had a wonderful time on my 10 day vacaction (September 13 – 23, 2007) to Copenhagen and Paris with my mother. It was the perfect break from school and work and a great chance to spend lots of time with my mom. I really have to hand it to her because she put together an amazing itinerary for us especially in Paris where we covered some serious ground! Photos from our trip can be seen in my Copenhagen and Paris flickr photosets. An my trip diary and be read in the following blog posts:

• Copenhagen
• Paris – Arrival & Day 1
• Paris – Day 2
• Paris – Day 3
• Paris – Day 4
• Paris – Day 5 & Departure

Paris – Day 5 & Departure

Day 5 Itinerary: Eiffel Tower, Musée Marmottan Monet, Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

Our mentor, Rick Steves, recommends arriving 15 minutes before the Eiffel Tower opens and as usual his advice worked well. Nevertheless, there were many, many people (both individuals and groups) in line before us so we shuffled on for about 40 minutes before we boarded the elevator for the second level. We immediately got into a short line to go to the highest level completing the suggested Eiffel Tower strategy.

We circled the top while I took pictures, even though the view was hazy. We were surprised that there was virtually no wind at the top – I guess we were just lucky. We went back to the second level and took more pictures from there. Most of the views were better from this level because we were closer to the subjects so there was less haze.

After the Eiffel Tower we walked about 45 minutes to the Marmottan Museum. This museum features many works of Monet including some early works and many more water lilies. Alli and Mom visited this museum two years ago and her favourite was still Bras de Seine Pres de Giverney Soleil levant 1897.

We had lunch at as small a patisserie near the museum. After our salad nicoise (Mom) and quiche Lorraine (Ceci) it seemed rude not to choose a dessert. So we split a dessert that was made up of a base of chocolate biscuit followed by layers of chocolate mousse, chocolate cream, chocolate cake and a chocolate glaze. Holding all of this together were ultra thin chocolate wafers. Chocolate heaven.

We were undecided on how to spend our last afternoon in Paris so we consulted our handy guide and determined that we had seen all the three star attractions and all of the two star attractions that interested us. All of a sudden we saw the last item on the one star list: Père Lachaise Cemetery! Intensive study of the metro system revealed that even though it was on the other side of town we could get there with only one transfer and that later we could get back to our hotel with only one transfer.

The visit to the cemetery was the perfect choice. We’ve been racking up the museums at quite the rate so a stroll along cobblestone roads shaded by tall trees was just what we needed. We visited some of the more illustrious residents of the cemetery: Chopin, Molière, Edith Pief, Colette, Champollion, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. We even managed to follow the tour in our guidebook without getting lost!

For our last dinner in Paris we ate at and Italian restaurant on Rue Clar. It was an amazing meal of antipasto, red wine, gnocchi in pesto sauce and of course dessert! It was a great way to cap off a lovely vacation.

The next morning we took a shuttle to the airport. The check-in line was ridiculously line but Mom managed to figure out how to check in at a kiosk so we only had to line up to drop off our luggage. We had a decent flight back to Toronto and them Mom and I parted ways at the entrance to Canadian customs. Mom went on and flew home to Ottawa and I went to the transfer lounge, picked up my luggage and cleared US customs before my flight to Seattle. I was back in my apartment about 22 hours after we left the hotel in Paris.

Paris – Day 4

Day 4 Intinerary: Versailles, Musée du quai Branly

We got an early start this morning to avoid some of the crowds at Versailles. We arrived in Versailles after about a 45 minute train ride from Paris. We had to wait a few minutes in the security line but otherwise our entrance was fairly quick (thank you museum pass). We decided not to join an organized tour so we ploughed through the rooms in the Château with our trusty guidebook providing the commentary. We saw the King’s apartments, the Queen’s apartments, council rooms, reception rooms and the Hall of Mirrors. Everything was so ornate it was amazing. We then toured some of the gardens and wandered down the colonnade to the Apollo Basin with the incredible fountain of Louis XIV (as Apollo of course) emerging from the water in his horse drawn chariot.

We headed back to Paris at around noon. After the success of the previous night’s picnic on the Champs de Mars we figured we’d log our daily required number of minutes staring at the Eiffel Tower by having a baguette sandwich lunch in the park at the base of the tower.

After lunch we visited the Musée du quai Branly which displays artefacts from Oceania, Africa, Asia and the Americas. We found this museum very interesting especially in contrast to the Baroque excess of Versailles. Some of the embroidery just as impressive as the brocade bed covers in the King’s formal bedroom.

We were back at our hotel a little earlier than usual so I took the opportunity to log a 5 mile run through the Champs de Mars. For dinner we went to a sidewalk cafe that Rick Steves calls “the living room of the Rue Clar district.” Then we went across the street and bought pastries for dessert – one chocolate tart and one fruit tart. Delicious. When Mom and Allison were in Paris a couple years ago they had crêpes everyday. Mom and I did have crêpes once but we were much more focused on eating Parisian pastries!

Paris – Day 3

Day 3 Itinerary: Musée du Louvre, Musée de l’Orangerie, Musée Guimet

We started our third day in Paris at the Louvre. Since the collection is so large, we reconciled ourselves to viewing only the highlights. Of course, these included the big three: Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and Venus de Milo. Brace yourselves, the Mona Lisa was actually bigger than I expected! We also made sure to see the Code of Hammurabi, The Palace of Sargon II and, for Allison, The Oath of the Horatii and The Raft of the Medusa. We cruised past a lot of paintings because we were still saturated from last summer’s exposure to various Italian museums.

We ate lunch at the Louvre cafeteria and then walked through the Tuileries gardens to the Orangerie Museum. Once again our museum pass let us skip the long line to buy tickets. The Orangerie was reopened in 2006 after 6 years of renovation. The 8 huge panels of Monet’s water lilies are displayed in two special oval rooms and are quite impressive.

After the Orangerie we staggered along the Seine (enjoying views of the Eiffle Tower) to the National Museum of Asian Art (Musée Guimet). Here we saw some Japanese prints are artefacts from ancient China, Korea, Cambodia and Japan. There were even a few pieces from Burma. After that we crossed back over the Seine on a pedestrian bridge and walked under the Eiffel Tower and down the Champs de Mars.

For dinner we we strolled along Rue Clar and assembled a picnic of baguette sandwiches, cookies and a 375 mL bottle of Bordeaux. We then went back to the Champs de Mars and enjoyed our picnic dinner while alternating between gazing at the Eiffel Tower in sunset colours and dodging the ball from a pick-up soccer game. When we got back to the hotel Mom’s pedometer read a whopping 25062 steps! We feel certain this is a personal best and it didn’t even include all the shuffling steps we took in museums. All told, we probably walked about the distance of a half marathon on day 3!

Paris – Day 2

Day 2 Itinerary: Sainte-Chapelle, Notre Dame, Centre Pompidou, Musée Cluny, Panthéon

We got a reasonably early start on the morning of our second day in Paris and took a Metro/RER combination trip to Sainte-Chapelle. We got there just after it opened so it was quieter than Mom had seen it previously. The stained glass was absolutely amazing but challenging to photograph.

We were in the line to climb the tower of Notre Dame just before the 10am opening time. It was a pretty easy ascent (with an obligatory stop in the gift shot) and the view was well worth it. I took lots of pictures of the Eiffel tower, gargoyles and the Paris skyline. I also got to see Notre Dame’s flying buttresses. I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t really understand what a flying buttress was until a few weeks before my trip to Paris. It’s a good thing Allison gave me Rick Steves’ “Europe 101″ for my birthday! After descending the tower we walked through the main church concentrating our attendion on the rose windows.

Next we visited the Museum of Modern Art, which is in the Pompidou Centre. It was, um, interesting. Mom said that the paintings of people with both eyes on the same side of their faces look a lot more like art after you’ve passed through the rooms displaying inflatable furniture, ropes and a life sized red plastic rhinoceros. There were a few pieces that I liked but they were few and far between.

After lunch we visited the Cluny Museum of the middle ages. The most impressive thing we saw were the The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Then we went to the Panthéon where many of France’s famous men and one woman, Marie Curie, are entombed. The Panthéon was another highlight of the trip for me because there we got see Foucault’s pendulum.

Above you can see a huge pendulum swinging from the top of a what is a domed roof. The pendulum is not restricted in its axis of oscillation and was an early proof that the earth actually rotates. We spent a long time observing the pendulum because we couldn’t figure out why it only rotated through about 272 degrees. There were hours marked in a circle around the pendulum which made us think they must have the restart it every day. There was no explanation in the 7 minute video playing about the pendulum or in any of the books in the gift shop. We discussed the pendulum almost exclusively on the metro ride back to the hotel and concluded that it must have something to do with latitude. We reasoned that if the pendulum was at the north pole it would complete 360 degrees in one day and if it was on the equator it would not rotate at all. We googled it when the got home and found out that the total degrees of rotation per day is related to the sine of the latitude! Trust Mom and I to bring math and physics into any vacation!

Paris – Arrival & Day 1

We arrived in Paris at about 8pm in the evening on what I will refer to as Day 0. There was a mix up with our shuttle transportation (apparently no one wanted to answer the phone) so we took a taxi to our hotel. The taxi line was quite long – we got into the 82nd taxi that arrived. The highlight of the drive was experiencing the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomph and then driving down the Champs-Élysées. We checked into our hotel, Hotel Muguet, in the Rue Clar neighbourhood, unpacked and then turned in for the night.

Day 1 Itinerary: Le Musée Rodin, Musée d’Orsay, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides

We started our first day in Paris at the Rodin Museum. This was a great idea since we bought our museum passes here (4 days for 45 euros) and there was no line up. We really enjoyed the Rodin Museum (in fact it was one of my favourite parts of Paris) because it turns out Mom and I like sculpture.

We then walked on to the Musée d’Orsay which is in a former train station. It was a Tuesday and the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays so we expected the Orsay to be busy. The line to get in was huge but we were able to skip it and walk right in since we had our museum passes. We spent about 2 hours here mostly following the Rick Steves highlights tour. We especially liked the Impressionists rooms.

After Orsay we walked across the Seine to the Place de la Concorde and then all the way up Champs-Élysées … in the uphill direction! We stopped for an excellent lunch of salads, Perrier and a cherry tart at a cafeteria near the Arc de Triomphe. After lunch we climbed to the 284 steps to the top of the Arc to take in the views of Paris. At the top I took a picture of each of the 12 streets that converge in the traffic circle. We also marveled at the six lanes of traffic spinning around us. It’s the only traffic circle in France in which cars entering the circle have the right of way!

Next we took the metro back towards our hotel and walked to Les Invalides to have a look at Napoleon’s tomb. We were back at the hotel just before 5pm and were both pretty tuckered out. I actually had a nap. For dinner we went to one of the Rick Steves recommended restaurants: Restaurant La Litote near our hotel. The meal was fabulous and every course was beautifully presented. Service was slow but … c’est Paris!

Copenhagen

Last month I went on a ten day vacation to Copenhagen and Paris with my mother. The adventure started when I tried to check in for my flight at the Seattle airport. My itinerary was to fly to Toronto, meet my mother there and then fly to London-Heathrow and then on the Copenhagen. For some reason the United agent could only give me a boarding pass to Toronto and check my bag through to Heathrow. This was not good because we didn’t have a lot of time in Heathrow and the idea of having to go through customs, pick up my bag and re-check it was not very appealing. To make a long story short, when I got to Toronto I was able to get one of the Air Canada baggage agents to go back into the bowels of the airport and retrieve my bag for me. It took about 2.5 hours to get my bag and get it rechecked through to Copenhagen. It’s good that I had a 4+ hour layover!

I met Mom at the gate and we flew on the London. The flight was fine and I managed to get a few hours of sleep. In London we had to connect to Copenhagen. A few weeks before our trip, Mom and Dad had made a similar connection in Heathrow and had to deal with a horribly long line to get to security. This time Mom and I just walked right through! The flight to Copenhagen was fine and I managed to get about another hour of sleep. Both of our bags arrived in Copenhagen (yay!) and then we took the train into the city center. One thing I love about Europe is how well connected the public transportation systems seem to be. I think we arrived at our hotel 25 hours after I’d left my apartment in Seattle.

We started the next day with breakfast at the hotel. I love Scandinavian breakfasts. The bread, the cheese, the yogurt, I love it all! Our first stop of the day was the The Little Mermaid, a condo building that used to be a torpedo hall, the new opera house, the Royal Library and the world’s fastest drawbridge (Seattle needs a few of these). It was a great way to see Copenhagen. We also spent a lot of time spotting and identifying different Nordic flags. After the canal tour we walked up to Nyhaven (another canal) and then back to our hotel along a pedestrian shopping street.

The next day we took a 50 minute train trip to Helsingør to visit Kronborg Castle. This is the setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. How cool is that!? He just changed the spelling to Elsinore. We walked through the castle, learnt a bit about its history (the king used it to collect a fee from all ships wishing to enter the Baltic) and looked across the strait to see Sweden. After taking the train back to Copenhagen we went out for a traditional Danish lunch of smørrebrød. These are open faced sandwiches with a buttered slice of rye bread topped with meat, fish, cheese etc. I had salmon with egg and Mom had shrimp and caviar. Lunch was delicious and we were glad to have tried a traditional Danish dish. Later that afternoon I went for a 4 mile run around Copenhagen’s Lakes. It was a great run on a gravel path and a really neat way to see a different part of the city.

On our final morning in Copenhagen we attempted to go to on a tour of the Royal Reception Rooms at Christiansborg Palace. We’d hoped to see the set of 17 tapestries depicting the history of Denmark. Unfortunately the Queen Margrethe was in the Palace (this Palace is not her residence but is, among other things, the main Parliament) so they weren’t running any tours. Instead we visited the Royal Library and then took a leisurely walk around the city. After lunch we took the train back to the airport and flew off to Paris!

The rest of my Copenhagen pictures are here.