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Newark International Airport
We spotted the ocean at the head of the trail, but where are we going so far away
In Newark, looking at my Northwest flight to AMS waiting at Terminal B, Gate 42. This plane will take me on my first trip to Europe, not counting that now legendary Christmas trip to London a year and a half ago. This trip is far more ambitious and complicated. I have a Eurailpass, a backpack and 17 days to get from Paris to Rome, after that, there’s not all that much planned. I am landing without a hotel reservations and instead will just be staying in hostels as I go, and I don’t even have any train reservations, which I’ll also be figuring out day by day. There’s a certain freedom in this that I’m not used to, I have a bunch of guidebooks, my Thomas Cook red rail schedule book (that just showed up by FedEx yesterday) and a loose framework of things to see along the way. And a lot of film, which explains the pictures.
After flying Newark-Schipol-Orly I ended up in Paris, secured shelter at my second choice hostel (probably ended up in a better location than my first choice sold out hostel) and spent my first day seeing the standard things that you see on your first day in Paris. This is from the south tower of Notre Dame (gargoyle rain spout on left). Gustave's precipitous creation hovers on the left with that (yes, that) tunnel just to its right, the arch is dead center just beyond the Louvre buildings, Pompidou is deep on the right.
Among all of the standard things you see in your first day in Paris, I also included a trip out to La Defense to go up the Grand Arch there. It’s a great big hollowed out cube that looks really cool in person, even if the view from the top isn’t all that great (it’s just too damn far away from everything else).
My Eiffel Tower picture (not counting the one above from Notre Dame) is from the inside, where I was somehow kind of surprised that the first floor (and by that I mean the second floor) is a big open square. I decided to save 30 FF and walk up and down the first two levels, a pretty amazing experience, although one that did knock the hell out of me and made me grateful for the glass elevator that takes you to the very top.
The cathedral at Chartres, more impressive to walk through than I can adequately describe. I took the stairs up to the towers, took lots of pictures inside where it’s too dark for my camera to take a clear photo, and then bought the best baguette of my life (so far) from a local bakery and devoured it on the train back to Paris Gare Montparnasse. Another great day in France.
This is the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles where it appears many of the mirrors may be a bit dusty.
The palace itself was excessive in every imaginable category, it gave me a warm feeling to know that at least some of its residents were decapitated in a grizzly public ceremony. I went out there primarily to see the gardens, which were equally vast and also occasionally excessive. I'm glad I went, however I don't see myself ever returning. Too much is (sometimes) enough. Plus they charged me 2.5 FF to use a urinal, although I guess they probably need a lot more francs just to pay to give those mirrors a good cleaning.
This is the Centre Pompidou, an arts building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers and one of the buildings I wanted to see in person. It looked just like all the photos, which is good I guess. Inside the escalator tubes are fun but they were really warm inside, at least when I visited.
I used a commemorative ticket given me by my sister 5 years ago to see a replica of an American Main Street in France. It was entertaining nonetheless. The Space Mountain looped and was very well done, other rides were carbon copies of rides I've been on in Florida. This is a picture of an entertaining hedge maze themed around Alice in Wonderland, with the 5 year anniversary castle in the background.
Disney has made a practice of hiring big name architects to design the non park buildings (hotels, etc). I was especially looking forward to Antoine Predock's hotel Santa Fe and was somewhat disappointed. It looks better in pictures than in person. Michael Graves' Hotel New York was not great, Frank Gehry's entertainment complex was ok but not as much fun as I expected.
