Montmartre and Memories

The semester is screeching to a halt, and I can barely believe it. I turned in my last paper of spring semester this morning...it hasn't quite hit me yet. I still have two final exams to go, but no more essays! I can't believe how four months have passed already. I feel like I'm just starting to blend into this city. I've had an incredible time here, though.  It felt like everything came full-circle today. Early on in the semester, I visited Montmartre with my friend Sarah, and we talked about how we envisioned the semester playing out.  I remember commenting about how everything--the weather, the flowers--would be just starting to get nice by the time we had to go. I was right. BUT we are taking advantage of everything by cramming in tons of last minute sightseeing. 

Today we squeezed in all the things we missed on that first trip to Montmartre. We had an overpriced tourist snack at Le Café des Deux Moulins, the restaurant in Amélie. It looks the same, just a bit smaller and minus the tabac.  The place was packed solely with English-speaking tourists. 

I even ordered crème brulée to crack the sugar with my spoon. 

Afterwards, we managed to find the Montmartre Cemetery, which we missed the first time around. 

I finally saw Degas! 

This picture doesn't show it well, but Paris is absolutely packed with tourists now. Huge school groups flood the streets and the métro, and I hear English everywhere. It's good preparation before going home, I guess.  

My French, though still far from where I'd like it to be, has improved quite a bit. I laughed at the name of this store: The Monkey who Reads. 

Another week of school, and then it's summer! I have a little while in Paris by myself before heading over to London and starting a crazy adventure with my sister. 

Edinburgh: Castles, Kilts, Fog, Vikings, Llamas, and Cemeteries

April 21-24

Edinburgh was probably my favorite city that we visited, perhaps because I didn't have to use public transportation and could see everything just by walking (though we did constantly have to circumnavigate around the castle multiple times a day because, of course, it was right in the center of everything...good thing I like castles!).  The unicorns, ghosts in the underground vaults, and potatoes served in the diners played a huge factor into it, too, though. 

The playground even had a castle!

The first day was blue skies and sun. In the afternoon, it felt warmer than London.

UNICORNS!! The national animal of Scotland! 

We ate nachos at a Frankenstein-themed restaurant. 

The next day, the buildings were hidden in a thick layer of fog. It was gorgeous. 

This is the cemetery that J.K. Rowling saw from her spot at the Elephant House Café, where she started writing Harry Potter. 

The most famous gravestone in the cemetery belongs to a dog. People leave sticks on top for his ghost to play with. 

Edinburgh wins for best museum. There was such an odd assortment and everything was interactive. It felt a bit like a children's museum, but it wasn't labelled as one. All museums should be modeled on this principle, where hands-on is not just for kids. After so much travel, lack of sleep, and constant bombardment with history and cultural facts, I enjoyed and retained the most information from this museum.

Yes, that is a hippo hanging from the ceiling, with all the other sea creatures. 

I found out that the scientific name for a llama is "llama glama." 

Dolly the sheep! 

The medieval feeling of the city appealed to me, and Scotland seems best experienced in the fog. 

This church has a stained glass angel playing the bagpipes inside. 

Locals spit on this heart. They also know not to jump when the cannon is shot off every afternoon at one o'clock. 

In the evening, we took the most chilling ghost tour in the UK, to the underground vaults. This is the only picture I took, but we were led through an underground labyrinth. Each tiny room was only lit by a few candles placed in the center. The dim lighting and shadowy corners made the place seem truly haunted. Our guide was dressed in a cape, and she told us the three main ghosts seen below: a little boy, a cheerful shoemaker, and a crazy man who wants everyone to get out of the tunnels. I didn't see any, but I'm happy that I'm not the person who is sent down there in the dark to light the candles.