Spring Break Blog-a-Palooza, Part 2: Marturanos (and Katie) in Paris

It's been a while. 20 days (March 22-April 10) and 5 cities (London, Paris, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Brussels). We have a lot to cover.

I will be splitting my coverage of my spring break travels into a couple of sections. *If you missed Part 1, use the navigation bar on the side of my blog to find it!* This second part covers Paris, March 27-April 1, which I shared entirely with my family and, for the last few days, Katie as well.
Here it is in pictures and captions. Enjoy!

March 27-April 1: The Marturano Family (and Katie) in Paris

Jimmy and I enjoying a surprisingly decent meal on the Eurostar train, which goes from London to Paris through the English Channel and throughout the French countryside. Trains in Europe are pretty comfortable!

Once we got settled at our hotel (The Westin, Paris-Vendrome), it was getting fairly late, so we walked around the park across the street - Jardin des Tuileries, from which you can see nearly every Parisian architectural icon (including the Eiffel Tower!).

The next day my family took a trip out to Versailles to explore our European History textbooks France a little more. It's a pretty awesome place, but as you can see, it's preposterously garish. No wonder the multitude of starving French revolted against the royal family in the late 1700s!

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles is one of the most memorable things I saw during my trip. Versailles in general was pretty fun, but I think a lot of it had to do with how early we got there. It was already pretty crowded (as you can see behind me) at 10:00am and by the time we left in the early afternoon, the line was insane. Lots of pushing/shoving in small hallways = not the best way to see a palace.

Me and one of my favorite Philosophers, Rene Descartes. You can read more about him here if you're interested.

The outside of Versailles is incredible. It's like the super-bowl of gardening. Unfortunately, even though it was near the end of March when we visited, it was too cold to really get the full effect.

Must be nice, being the King.

ROYALE WITH CHEESE

CREPES CREPES CREPES CREPES CREPES

One dinner we enjoyed had a lovely street view of the lit-up Eiffel Tower, as you can see over my shoulder. Paris is incredibly beautiful, possibly the most architecturally beautiful city in the world.

I had a great time with these guys. Can't wait to see them in a month!

The Louvre was....big. Like really big. I don't know if I could handle all of that art. Luckily, we had a guided tour of the "Three Ladies" - Venus de Milo, Nike, and of course, Mona Lisa.

I found this hilarious. Geese and swans are vicious creatures that terrorize children. It's nice to see some cartoonish revenge here.

Venus de Milo

Nike

Mona Lisa. She's like a rock star in the Louvre. HUGE crowds all around her. I never knew though that...

...she was this small! I'm about as close as you can get too, there's about 8 feet more of space and then the small painting. Seems hard to appreciate the painting under these conditions.

Luckily I saw my brother Jimmy saw this after we exited, or else I would have been he would have been clamoring that we use the 3DS as a tour guide.

The Louvre is an interesting structure. From above ground, it looks like a big U-shaped haunted house with a big glass pyramid in the middle (surrounded by smaller pyramids). Underground, it feels like a museum built by mole-people. It's a pretty fun place even if you don't like art.

Bridget and I went to Musee d'Orsay, which unfortunately didn't allow any pictures inside. It had a lot of Van Gogh, Renoir, and Monet exhibits. I really enjoyed this museum, which is absolutely beautiful on the inside - of an old train station!

Possibly the best dessert I had in France was this Banana and Chocolate Souffle. It really doesn't get much better than that.

With a few days left in our trip, my girlfriend Katie joined our family after traveling with her own family in London and Berlin. Like the awesome girlfriend she is, she brought German candy and chocolate. Adding to the good times, we decided to add our own lock to "Lover's Bridge" (she threw the key into the water, so I guess after almost 2 and a half years, she's pretty serious about me). She's honestly the best - I'm very lucky. Perhaps we will go back one day and find it! I love you very much, Katie.

We also went to the Eiffel Tower because that's what you do when you're visiting Paris. Here's me and Jimmy just enjoying the view.

Katie, my Dad, Bridget, and I walked around Paris for a long time one afternoon. We went from The Eiffel Tower to the Arch of Triumph (above) and down Champs Elysees back to our hotel area. I can't say it enough - Paris is absolutely beautiful. It's a shame the people aren't nicer

Notre Dame on Easter is a madhouse. I found this hysterical.

"LOOK A PRIEST OMG LETS TAKE A VIDEO AND SHOW IT TO THE EASTER BUNNY". In all seriousness though, it was pretty interesting to be in Notre Dame on Easter. I felt even more blessed because we didn't have to stay for the whole service (which in Latin or French, really does me no good). Quite a spectacle!

We met up with our friends, Sarah Nitenson and Mike Neville, who are BC students studying abroad in Paris. It was awesome seeing them!

The end of our trip in Paris marked the time when my family had to return to the United States for important things like school and work while I continued my travels around Europe. It was really awesome to see them. I can't thank them enough for their support while I've been abroad and, even though I have a lot of traveling left to do, I truly can't wait to go home and hang out with them all summer. Thanks Mom, Dad, Bridget, and Jimmy - I love you all!

Next stop: Katie and I head to Istanbul. Stay tuned.

Spring Break Blog-a-Palooza, Part 1: Marturanos in London

It's been a while.
20 days (March 22-April 10) and 5 cities (London, Paris, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Brussels). We have a lot to cover.

I will be splitting my coverage of my spring break travels into a couple of sections. This first part covers London, March 22-27, which I shared entirely with my family.
Here it is in pictures and captions. Enjoy!

March 22-March 27: The Marturano Family in London

The Park Lane Hotel in London, where my family and I stayed during the duration of our time in London together. Definitely beats my dorm flat!

An old looking book at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which I went to with my mom and sister. It makes me think of this

Inspirational, isn't it? Just kidding, this is painfully sad.

There was a David Bowie exhibit. We didn't go, but this poster more than made up for it. #neverforget

My brother Jimmy could carry my bag, even though it was nearly as big as he is!

A great place to be, no doubt.

We went to Oxford. The bookshop here, Blackwell, is one of the most highly regarded bookstores in the world.

Does it look familiar? Does it, Harry?

Latin isn't quite dead yet

Oxford is full of awesome architecture!

They fully embrace the Harry Potter movies/books at Oxford as well. Hogwarts U.

This is one of the "colleges", which is Oxford-British for "dormitory". Seriously, the best comparison are the houses in Harry Potter (except you get to pick for yourself). Students apply to one of the 30 or so "colleges" and basically live and participate socially there during their time as Oxford students. No, there isn't a Gryffindor, I asked.

On the way to Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's Hometown), we stopped at Anne Hathaway's house. [the one that isn't the actress]

Stratford-upon-Avon. Kind of fun, if you like Shakespeare!

I'm one of the people who think that William Shakespeare didn't actually exist, so, for me, it's sort of like going into Mickey Mouse's house. Still fun though.

There it is! Thatched Roof and all. The snow is real, by the way, we had horrible weather during our time in London. Side note: for a place that gets a ton of precipitation (mostly rain), the people of England don't really handle snow well. I'm not sure why. They handle public transportation incredibly well, isn't fighting the elements just an extension of that? Oh well, I digress...

Easily the best beer I've had anywhere. I don't think I can say more than "Banana Bread Beer" to explain why.

Adding to the Shakespeare experience, we explored the Globe Theatre (in London), or at least the new replica they built and actually perform shows in. It's a pretty cool place if you're into, well, plays by Shakespeare.

Jimmy and me outside the Tower of London. I really enjoyed walking around this riverside fortress. Castles/fortresses in general will always be fun for me. England was a good choice to study abroad in.

Not the best picture of the Tower Bridge, but this is the view from the Tower of London.

My family and I decided to show our appreciation for the Beatles and (like many others) wrote our names on the wall outside Apple Studios, which of course is located on...

...Abbey Road! If you can't tell, cars don't particularly like everyone taking this picture all the time. I'm pretty sure I ruined this. Jimmy and my Dad nailed the poses. The real hero, though, is the lady who took our picture, because that is HARD to do with a zillion cars honking at you. Useful traffic tip in London: Don't take Abbey Road to and from work.

It was my birthday March 26. To celebrate we went to MASH Steak House, which has the best steaks in London in my opinion (at least the best meal that I had). I'm 21 now by the way. I'm also graduating college next year. I feel old.

Next stop: Paris!

Being in London with my family was a lot of fun. After spending three months here, it was really a unique experience to show them around a city in another country (given, the fact they speak English here helps a lot). I was really glad that they all came out to see me during my brother and sister's spring break. Fortunately, that wasn't the end of the fun - our family vacation continued through the English Channel into Paris! Stay tuned for more!