Paris, France

Hello my dear reader, and might I add, happy belated Easter! I'm sure you spent Easter with friends and family but I spent my Easter weekend in Paris. Yes, Paris, the city of light, the city of love, the city of ... baguettes.  You see, Easter Monday is a holiday in this country, meaning no work or class (which doesn't make sense for a "secular" country). That means more time to travel! You may be thinking that it is not a good time to travel around Europe, and you may be right in light of the recent events in Brussels. But I have to applaud France for the security throughout Paris (whether it was a recent addition or has been like this for a while I'm not certain). There were police and soldiers with machine guns EVERYWHERE... it was fantastic!

I spent most of Friday at the Musee D'orsey which is an art museum in an old train station. (Avid readers will recall my new found love of art. I encourage new readers to scroll down to my "Art" post, I think it's one of my best). Yes, we did go to the Louvre as well, but The Musee D'orsey had more of the art and artists I enjoy; such as Sisley, Monet, Pissarro, Degas, and Cezanne . Don't get me wrong though, the Louvre is incredible! We spent around six hours inside trying to see as much as we could. We focused on the rooms and rooms of renaissance art, French painters, and sculptures. I gotta say it one of the best parts was the sculpture galleries, it was pretty incredible to see something made by Michelangelo.

We stayed in a hotel that was about a 2 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and we could see it out the window of our room! Being so close to the Eiffel Tower I took loads of pictures of it and the best ones can be seen later on once you've finished reading all of my words. At night the tower was illuminated in the colors of the Belgian flag which was a lovely tribute to Brussels. Of course we also went to see the Arch de Triumph which is huge! Of course everyone knows it is big but standing next to it is completely different. The statues on the side of the Arch are very impressive and something you definitely need to experience in person. No, we did not go to the top of the Arch de Triumph because the queue would have taken around two hours.

My friends and I treated ourselves to a fancy lunch at a restaurant Will's mom insisted we try. It was great! (and might I add one of the best deals ever). I mention this because I couldn't resist telling you all about foie gras. Yes that's right, foie gras (it means fatty duck liver). I may not be the most adventurous eater (correction: I'm not an adventurous eater in any sense of the word), but something came over me that day and I decided to give it a shot (when in Rome Paris). It;s funky. Not a good funky and not a bad funky, just funky. It defiantly became harder to eat as Nate insisted it was fancy feast cat food. (I can't blame him, it kinda looked like it). WE ended on a high note however with some of the best creme brulee I've ever had. Thanks Will's mom for restaurant tip!

Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower might be one of the scariest things I've ever done. In case you were unaware my dear reader, I'm terrified of heights. On top of that it was extremely windy, like knock you off your feet kind of wind, not fun when you're 300 meters off the ground. I'm a bigger fan of the Eiffel Tower from the ground, but I can check that one off the bucket list. And to be fair, the view is incredible. We went at night when the line was shorter and I don't think the daytime view could come close to what we saw (yes, there are pictures).

On my last day in Paris I woke up a little bit earlier than I needed to so I could go to Notre Dame before I left. It's one of those "must see" things ya know? It's an impressive building and the artwork inside is beautiful but I had just one problem with it. Well two problems. First there were a large number of people there who had no respect for the religious aspect of the cathedral. They just clog the isles in large packs while taking a billion selfies with their selfie stick. The other thing that bothered me: You know those machines that they have at the zoo or the aquarium where you pay a dollar and insert a penny, turn the crank and it turns the penny into a keepsake with an image of wherever you are on it? Well they had these machines inside, and not just off in a back corner but about halfway down the side isles. It wouldn't kill them to put those somewhere else (like outside). But these are just my opinions, but hey you love my opinion. That's the whole reason you read this thing.

What's that? Ah yes you want to see pictures, well you're in luck!

The Musee D'orsey

They left the giant clock from the train station inside

Really just a super cool gallery

Honestly, I don't know the name of this Church , but it was pretty

The inside of said pretty church

This church was beautiful. You can't see it but behind the bus on the left is the security check point and my first glimpse of the French military. 

This the courtyard behind the church, pretty cool building. 

My first view of that French tall pointy thing

I took this right outside the front door of our hotel, incredible location!

Our hotel room view 

Look mom! I'm in Paris! 

Tried to keep a straight face but couldn't

Everyone else was doing it and if you can't beat em join em!

Our first attempt at a group photo. My roommate Nate is on the left (my right) and Will is on the right (my left).

Second attempt: with a cameo from the photographer's finger (which is why the picture looks weird)

The Arch de Triumph. It's massive.

I'm the tiny thing in front of the really big thing

To clarify that's the wind and not a new hair style.

We left the arch and walked down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. There was a Peugeot store with three Peugeot race cars! (still cool even if they are Peugeot's)

Pikes Peak race car

Le Mans race car 

Dakar rally car

Near the Eiffel Tower there was this small race track for little kids in pedal cars. As much as I wanted to, they wouldn't let us race.

Next are the pictures I took at the top of the Eiffel Tower. As you might be able to tell, I stood as far from the edge as I could. As I said before, we went up at night because the line was much shorter and the views of Paris at night were spectacular.

Now before you say anything, I did get my picture taken at the top of the Tower. This is me safely inside the Tower, not on the terrifying deck. We had already left the top deck when I realized I didn't get my picture taken at the top and there was no way I was going back.

much better than outside if you ask me

I guess you'd call this a park which lead from the Louvre to the river. More cities should have places like this. Green lawns with fountains and marble statues. 

You can never have too many big arches if you ask me.

The Louvre

I'll be honest, I think the glass pyramid is a bit silly.

The Mona Lisa. One of the least impressive paintings at the Louvre if you ask me (and by reading this blog you did ask me). Across the room from The Mona Lisa is a painting the size of a house which far more impressive.

Rather than having the sculptures in a gallery they were places around a glass roofed courtyard.

I like to call this the Paris Eye because I think it's catchy, plus I don't know what they call it.

I'm a big fan of these cities with rivers running through them.

Notre Dame, but no hunchback.

To top off the trip I had a window seat on the Euro-star back to London. That may not sound cool when the train is under the English Channel, but what most people (including myself) don't realize is that most of the journey is above ground and through the beautiful French countryside. A big plus for taking the Euro-star rather than flying if you ask me. Well my dear reader that about sums up my weekend in Paris, stay tuned for the next adventure you can live vicariously through me.

Long Live the King

Visit from a Marine

Another friend visited me this week! In case you do not know who he is, my dear reader, Steven Southworth is a family friend. He's a Citadel man (Romeo Company) and an officer in the Marine Corps. About two years ago Steven received orders that stationed him in Okinawa, Japan so it has been roughly two years since any of the Mercer's have seen Steven. Well Just like Harrison, Steven messaged me on Facebook (Clever thing this Facebook is) and told me he was going to have a 14 hour layover on March 15th. Coincidentally I didn't have any classes on that day, how lucky!

Steven arrived in London around 6:00 in the morning and meet me my residence. For a guy who just got off a 13 hour flight he had much more energy than I had! We got breakfast at a cafe near Kings Cross that I've been wanting to try but never had (It was great, shouldn't have waited!). Over breakfast I asked Steven what he wanted to do during his one day in London and he had a short list. 

1. Buy a Liverpool football jersey for his Girlfriend to give her brother

2. Buy something for his girlfriend

3. Have a real English Bitter

4. Have an English Oatmeal Stout

With a little breakfast and coffee in the tank we headed off towards Oxford St to buy gifts he wanted. Oxford St. is one of the big shopping areas in town and is a pretty fun way to spend an afternoon (even if you hate shopping like I do). Luckily we didn't receive too many dirty looks as we bought a Liverpool jersey, I mean it could've been worse had it been a Chelsea jersey! (note: If you only know one thing about soccer it is this; everyone HATES Chelsea). We went across the street to some girly store (the kind that assaults your nose with smells and gives you a headache) to buy something for his girlfriend. Oh I almost forgot to elaborate on that! Yes, Steven has a girlfriend. They meet in Okinawa, which is where she is from, she's very cute and don't ask me what her name is because I forgot (sorry everyone). Ok, now that that is cleared up, back to the story!

To show him a little bit more of the city, Steven and I cut through Chinatown to get to one of my favorite places, Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square is where the National Art Gallery is located (where I have spent many hours for my art class) as well as several embassies, a church, restaurants, etc. It's a beautiful place, especially on a sunny day. Unfortunately our day was overcast but that didn't damper our spirits! 

It was finally time for Steven to get the bitter and oatmeal stout he so craved. I'm not sure if you know this my dear reader, but English bitters are cask beers meaning they do not have added carbonation nor are they cold. They are definitely an acquired taste for foreigners. He knocked having an English bitter off his bucket list of things, but funny enough I don't he cared too much for it! To cap it all off we grabbed some pub grub (i.e. fish & chips and bangers & mash) and one of those stouts he was looking for. Turns out Steven came all the way to London for an English oatmeal stout but the one we found (one of the best you can find according to the bartender) was brewed in Wisconsin! Hey it still counts.  

Just as quick as he arrived, Steven was off again headed to Iceland, Copenhagen and Armenia. It was a really great catching up with an old friend and I'm glad we got to meet up even if it was just for a couple of hours. I know the rest of the Mercer's are jealous!

One of the few pics we took was a selfie in Chinatown 

Long Live the King

Random Stuff

This post is just a few random things I wanted to post and figured I'd just throw them all together.

Some of you may know my friend Harrison Kennedy. He and I have known each other since 3rd grade and both go to Wofford College. He messaged me on Facebook back in January asking if he could stay with me while on a trip to London. Of course I was on board! It was great to catch up with a friend from school and talk about our experiences abroad. Harrison is studying in Copenhagen, Denmark so he wasn't too bothered by the London weather. I sent this picture to my family who said it looked like trouble but I promise no trouble was found (for better or for worse).

Second I thought I'd share this for all those Boy Scouts out there: 

For my art class we took a field trip to the National Portrait Gallery last week. (For avid readers of my blog, this field trip was the reason I had to move my flight to Dublin to Friday morning). We walked around looking at paintings of royalty; most of which was surprisingly interesting. Not always for the artistic merit but because most of the portraits had lots of history behind them. Well I'm not going to bore you with a portrait of a King or Queen you probably don't care about. But I will share this very cool portrait of Sr. Robert Baden Powell. For those of you who may not know, Sr. Powell was the founder of the Boy Scouts and as a boy scout myself I immediately noticed the portrait, though my art professor couldn't be bothered with it. I figured my scout master Ted Gage would appreciate this.

We didn't stop and talk about this portrait but I made my way back to it at the end so I could get a picture of it. Granted the story behind it is probably not very interesting and the painter was no one of consequence.

Long Live the King

New look!

You may have noticed the updated look of my blog header. I thought it would be cool to add the flags from the countries I have visited to the design of my blog. After all I'm blogging about my travels so might as well incorporate the something from each country into my blog!

It's a small change but I thought I'd mention it.

30 hours in Dublin

Life doesn't always go as planned. I know you might be thinking that such hardships in life do not happen to Kings like myself but that is where you would be mistaken. As I planned to travel to Dublin this weekend fate had its own plan for my journey.

The original plan was to fly to Dublin Thursday night and return to London Saturday night. This gave my friends and me maximum time in Dublin while also avoiding an expensive Sunday flight home. Well then I had to move my flight from Thursday night to Friday morning because I had a conflict with a class Thursday night (a mandatory class Thursday night which is not the usual time slot). Leaving Friday morning was not ideal but that's the way it had to be. My flight was scheduled to leave London at 9:40 Friday morning so I'd be in Dublin around 11:45. As I stood in the airport staring at the screen to get my gate info, instead of saying "go to gate X" it said "Flight delayed till 11:45". NOOOOOOOO! I didn't arrive in Dublin till around 1:15, which started the clock on my 30 hour adventure.

I had the idea to write this blog as if it were an episode of 24 and tell you about my weekend in an hour by hour fashion. However there was a significant lack of hunting terrorists, firing guns, car chases and explosions so I don't think it would really work. (I thought you would enjoy this little note).

When I meet up with my friends at the hostel (this hostel was worse than the hostel in Lisbon) we went straight to the Guinness brewery. The tour focused heavily on the history of Guinness which was very interesting. Now most people will say that the Guinness you drink at the top floor of the brewery in the Gravity Bar, where you can see an amazing 360 degree view of Dublin, is the best Guinness you will ever drink. I'm here to tell you dear reader that these people are wrong. The best Guinness you will ever taste is in the tasting academy. Before you reach the top of the brewery you can take part in a tasting lesson where they teach you how to drink a Guinness. You enter a bright white room where there are cylinders coming out of the floor with vents in them, each giving off a vapor with the smell of a different ingredient of the beer. They encourage everyone to literally stick their heads into the four clouds of vapor to know what tastes we should get from the beer. They then hand out 4 oz. glasses of Guinness and take the group into a darker room (away from the strong smelling vapor) to taste the beer. That 4 oz. glass my dear reader is the best Guinness you will ever drink, because you taste every little flavor of the beer after sticking your face into clouds of the stuff!

Now before my dad comments on this post saying the vapor clouds we were breathing was actually some form of drug, I figured I should go ahead and counter argue that a drug which heightens your senses would in fact make for a better tasting experience. That would actually prove my point that it is in fact the best Guinness you will ever have... but I digress.

My friends and I did as much as we could in our short time in Dublin. They actually had longer because they got there Thursday night. We visited St. Patrick's cathedral, the Dublin Castle, the Jameson Distillery and the rest of the time we spent exploring the city. Unfortunately we were unable to do as much in Dublin as I would have liked but that is just how life goes sometimes. Despite the aggravation of getting there I am truly thankful that I was able to go to Dublin at all. Dublin is beautiful and it’s such a fun place. Though I was only there for such a short amount of time it was worth it.

Now enough of my blabbering on.... I know you want to see some pictures!

The Crew: Will Torres, Dan Scofield, and of course me.

                   

The Tasting Academy is where you learn how to drink a Guinness (don't worry, its not hard!)

As described in great detail above... the best Guinness in all of its 4 ounces of glory.

I even got certified in how to pour a Guinness! I think I'll put this on my resume under special skills.

The view from the top of the brewery. If you look at the mountains the peak on the right side is snow capped from the previous day's snowfall.

I never plan it, but I seem to always find myself in a fantastic location to watch the sunset.

Again: Will, Dan, and me.

If you have ever been to London, the river scene in Dublin is very similar.

We stumbled onto a band street performing who were actually pretty good. We hung around for a few songs. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral: built on the sight of St. Patrick's first baptism.

The Church is beautiful and with all the artifacts inside it sort of feels like a museum. Behind the camera is a gift shop with a cash register and several cases with nick knacks to buy. If I'm honest that irritated me; there shouldn't be a shop inside a church.

This is the last surviving section of Dublin's castle. The walls of the tower are 15 feet thick!

These are some of the newer buildings attached to the castle.

As you can tell the architects went with traditional castle designs when building on to the remaining tower.

The castle had a very artsy garden beside it. There were half a dozen photographers set up trying to take the perfect shot (you might be able to see them on the far side of the grass). I was far less picky with my photos and just used my phone.

The weather was wonderful (except it was a little cold)

The original distillery is no longer in use for making spirits but it is a great place to visit!

The rest of the photos I took while wandering around the city. Not sure what everything is but the architecture is cool and it shows the downtown area.

City hall was just down the street from where we stayed, pretty cool building.

You might be a little confused by this post and my previous post both describing "last weekend". I was slow to publish the Lisbon post which is about the weekend of February 26-28. I visited Dublin this past weekend on March 4-5. Lots of traveling back to back was quite exhausting but worth it! To wrap up this post I thought I would leave you my dear reader with a lovely conversation I had with my grandmother  as soon as I got home from Dublin Saturday night.

Mema: Did you find our relatives in Dublin?

Me: No I didn't.

Mema: Did you go to jail?

Me: No...

Mema: That's your problem. All the Cleary's are probably in Jail.

I haven't laughed that hard in a while, glad to know I come from an upstanding family!

Long Live the King