Travel Fast & Furious

hello again from paris, where i am slowly learning how to use a french keyboard without looking at my hands.

due to the transportation strike, we had to walk everywhere today which means i'm pretty much completely exhausted and my legs hurt like hell. but it was worth it because i went to the rodin museum and notre dame (with just one friend, not 40 other people in my group). we walked along the seine for a long time and it was sunny and breezy. later we stopped for chocolat, which was served in two parts: a small pitcher of liquid chocolate and a larger pitcher of steamed milk.

it's sort of frustrating and exhilarating that i haven't taken french in years, but the french still understand me better than the danes. i don't even bother trying danish most of the time in denmark since everyone just cocks their head at me and looks confused. at least here i usually get a pause and then a nod, like they've translated my pathetic french into something understandable in their minds.

we had a fun waiter at the crêperie last night. i tried some french and was mostly understood, although i had a harder time understanding him. i asked him to explain something on the menu (qu'est-ce que c'est?) and his speedy reply blew past me. uh... en l'anglais? he tried again. i asked him later, mon français, c'est pas mal? and he told me it was très bien. i decided then that he was looking for a big tip or was just being incredibly sarcastic.

paris is expensive. parisian food, even "cheap" eats, can be spendy. i had water (bottled, bad choice), a salmon/spinach crêpe, hot chocolate, and half of a chocolate/coconut/vanilla ice cream crêpe and the total (just for me, not including my friend's food) was €20, or about $30. ouch.

tomorrow = museé d'orsay, the catacombes, the louvre and montmatre. and, hopefully, metro trains and less walking.

On our viking field trip on Saturday, we went to a burial mound in the middle of an open field. That opening is much smaller than it looks -- everyone had to bend over completely at the waist and squat to squeeze in. Once inside, it was completely pitch black. I couldn't see anything past a few inches inside the entrance. In addition to camera bulb flashes, the teacher lit a single match. It was actually tall enough on one side that he (at about 6'5" or so) could stand up straight.

If you ever want to conquer your fear of claustrophobia, I strongly recommend that you pile into a unlit 1500-year-old hand-mand hole in the earth with a dozen other people. Oh, and while you're in there, make sure that your professor mentions that you would all be dead instantly if it caved in. Whee!
4 taps| tap tap tap

some notes on legoland
Legoland is:

- Not very politically correct (from a middle class white American viewpoint)
- Designed for small children (all of the rides are short, fast, and small, and none of them are particularly scary, and none of them involve shoulder restraints or harnesses)
- Expensive (I paid $12 for a hamburger and french fries! It was gross!)
- cute. Miniland with its tiny models of oil rigs, castles, harbors, cities, and airports is kitschy and amusing
- The only place I know of where you can buy Legos in bulk by the gram, like drugs

I had fun, but it probably would have been more fun if I was five.

Wednesdays are sort of like a day off. There are no classes, but so far I've kept myself busy with excursions. Today I slept in until 9:00, ate some apple & fig cereal while watching That 70s Show (I love you, Topher Grace, and I love you, American television), and caught the 11:15 bus to the train station.

According to the directions in the "Danish Library Guide" provided by my program, I could catch bus 48 to the Architecture Library from København H, the central station, or Rådhuspladsen, the town square. Easy. I'm so good with buses.

But no!

After arriving at Central Station, I found that there was a bus 47 (not 48) going in the same direction as the supposed bus 48. But none of the stops for bus 47 looked like they were in the right area.

I walked to Rådhuspladsen.

No dice. No bus 48. And none of the buses looked like they were going to the area where I needed to go.

I took a bus back to Central Station and went back to the stop for bus 47. I studied the names of the stops. Nothing looked right.

I looked at the routes for the other buses and figured out that another bus that came to the same stop did go to the right place. I never thought I'd be so happy to see the words Danneskiold-Samsøes Allé.

I was the last person to board the bus and just after the doors closed behind me, the bus sped forward with a huge lurch. Then there was a commotion and I looked over the shoulder of the man in front of me: an elderly woman who hadn't sat down yet had fallen over on top of her walker and her partner, along with a rough-looking bearded dude with piercings, was trying to help her up.

"Stop!" is the same in Danish and English.

The bus pulled over and everyone stared as the woman slowly collected herself. Bearded Dude held her up by the armpits and set her in a seat. Everything was fine, but people just couldn't stop staring-- at the elderly woman and then at the bus driver. Finally, after what felt like a very long, tense moment, the man in front of me said something like de fint (it's fine) and we all moved to our seats.

When not potentially life-threatening, the bus to the Architecture Library is a great way to see the sights for cheap. It goes over two canals, passes Parliament, the Stock Exchange, and the Black Diamond (the new extension to the Royal Library), and it goes through an interesting area of town you may have heard of -- Christiania.

I wish there was a term for being culturally spoiled -- maybe privilege is really the best word -- but it doesn't feel like a challenge at all when I can walk into a library in the middle of Copenhagen and say, "I would like a library card" and the other person responds automatically. I found a couple books on Jørn Utzon but I didn't have much time for browsing before heading back.

On the bus ride back, a young man with a limp sat next to another young man in the seat in front of me. Even though the kid was wearing headphones, Limp Guy started talking to him. This almost never happens in Denmark. People just don't talk to each other on public transportation. I figured out pretty quickly why he was so chatty -- he was drinking something clear from a soda bottle like it was soda but it definitely wasn't. I don't know of any soda that makes my nostrils burn. Also, most people don't offer soda to one another, and I saw Limp Guy hold the bottle out to Headphones Guy, who was smooshed up against the window in an attempt to create some distance between them.

I have a hygge dinner paid for by the program tonight. It's meant as a way for students to socialize with each other. I don't particularly want to attend (you know how I avoid socializing at all costs) because it starts at 8pm, which means I'll get home around 11:30 if I leave at 10pm. Tomorrow is a long day, too: class from 9-4, a meeting at 4, work at 5:30.

tags: travel. trip. dinner. day. work. busy. england. europe. support friends!