ffeJ + PAL Adventures | Endeavors | Assorted Shenanigans
France & Switzerland
Sortie Means “Exit”
“Sortie” day. Sad (although Sarah is stoked that she gets to use one of the few French words she’s learned in a sentence). We woke up, and successfully made it to the airport using nothing but our own two feet and public transportation. It was hassle free, cheap, and easy. I wish that we could [...]
Our Night In The Red Light District
We had one last brief early morning wander through Luzern, and then hopped the train to Zurich. The train station in Zurich is huge. Lots of tracks. After what seemed like an eternity, we made it to the Tourist Office to get a map. The wifi is a little spotty in some hotels. They may [...]
Luzern
We got an early start out of Bern, hiked to the train station, and got on our train to Luzern. We were early enough to get pretzels at Brezelkonig, which are delicious, and really more of what we were expecting along the lines of food in Switzerland. Also cheap, only 2 CHF a piece. That’s [...]
…And Birds!
In addition to being awed by the stunning natural scenery in Switzerland, Sarah and I have awed by just how expensive it is here, and how there seems to be not a lot of “stuff” to do in the same sense as a place like Paris. I guess that in some way that is a [...]
…And Bears!
Sarah and I woke up and wanted to make sure that we saw some of the older town in Lausanne that we hadn’t really seen in the dark. Primarily, this meant the Cathedral, which is at the top of the hill. We walked around the cathedral, and pretty much thought that it was closed. We [...]
… And Tigers…
We got up early, and hustled down to the Metro to get to the train station. Lyon’s Metro is just as good as the Metro in Paris, but the trains don’t come quite as often. Strangely, we got our tickets checked by the Metro people right after going through the gates. This didn’t happen a [...]
Lions…
We spent the day exploring Lyon, which is an ancient city. I went for a run first thing, and got quite the workout on the hills. Randomly, I ran past ruins of a Roman ampitheater. That’s always a cool way to start the morning. I love how people just pass these things by like they’re [...]
Saint-Malo
I disappointed Sarah by not going to Cancale (it would have required six different bus rides from Saint-Malo and resulted in us getting to Lyon at 11:30 at night), which she really wanted to do. I think for Brittany, it may perhaps be best to rent a car to get around as opposed to using [...]
The Abby Road Less Traveled
Today was the day that Sarah and I decided to go out to Mont-St-Michel, which is pretty far away from Saint-Malo, and well, everything else. Sarah and I took the road less traveled approach to getting there; opting to take the public bus, which costs about 6 Euro each way a person.
We started the [...]
Off To The Land Of Crepes, Shellfish and Butter
So Sarah and I were beyond glad that we scrapped our original plane of catching the 7:05 TGV late last night after getting back from Le Chateaubriand. We decided that instead, we would catch the 10:05 TGV, which ended up being a good choice.
We woke up at 8:30, and though still groggy, booked it out [...]
Sarah Ate A Duck Heart
Since this was our last day in Paris, Sarah and I had a whole list of things to see. Sarah had a docket that was about 15 items long…I guess she finally got around to looking at the guidebooks! First, I went to get coffee. Have to start the day somehow, right? Picked up Sarah [...]
The Water Incident
Sarah and I had a good day today. First on Sarah’s list was the Pantheon, located in the Latin Quarter. To get there, we walked across the Pont Neuf and through the Place de la Concorde so that she could take some pictures. We got a pain aux cereal at a random boulongerie that was [...]
Lazy Sunday & Sunday Supper
We both slept like rocks after 3 days of back-to-back site seeing. I went for a run down the Seine, which was surprisingly populated with other runners. After coffee, Sarah and I had a random wander down to Saint Germain, which is an area that we haven’t been to yet. We decided to eat at [...]
Up We Go!
[kaltura-widget uiconfid="534" entryid="0_fsflb5rb" width="400" height="330" style="margin-left: 280px;" addpermission="3" editpermission="3" /]
Up we go! The elevator ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
We had to check out of the Hotel Raphael this morning, and return to life as humble travelers. A bitchy old French man cut in front of us in line to check out, and we had a good time with the other plebes—the bellboys—talking crap about him. When it boils down to it, the bellboys [...]
Sarah Got Lost In Napoleon’s Apartment
I couldn’t sleep this morning and woke up at 4AM. I guess that I am not completely adjusted to Parisien time yet. No worries though, 4AM is an awesome time to go for a run in most cities. Yeah, okay, maybe it’s a little early. I think the interesting thing about 4AM anywhere is that [...]
Lost In Paris
Woke up and made our way down to breakfast at the Hotel Raphael. It’s pretty clear that we are atypical patrons of the Hotel Raphael at this point. I guess two reasons in particular really drove this home for me. One was picking up the breakfast menu and nearly falling out of my chair—who pays [...]
Arriving In Style
Jet-Lagged, but we managed to make it to the Hotel Raphael via taxi (about the same price as the train when you have four people, and way less hassle). We had a little bit of a problem finding the reservation for our “room” (which was actually a ridiculous 2 room suite). The “room” wasn’t ready [...]