Spring Break

[twarga]

I put in a reserve request to work at the Pentagon (they posted a request for a reservist) from early March to the end of April.  How cool is that?  I'll know tomorrow if I got it or not.

[One Step Ahead]

RM,
What are your friends up to in Paris?

[Omegaman]

I'm going to Paris from the 11th-18th. Very excited!

Have fun. I love Paris to me way better than London, Paris tries its best to resist the Americanization process, there of course are the McDonalds ect but you get the feel your really in a different counrty, plus the places in Paris truly ethnic. and of course the Muse de orse

[twarga]

I'm going to Limerick (Ireland) March 11-14; friends are visiting March 14-21 (I think we will go to Cork for the Blarney Stone and Edinburgh while they are here); 21-23 I'll be in Paris; possibly heading to Berlin 23-26 ??  Then I'm flying back to the US for a couple weeks of law school visits...hurray!

So you're going to Scotland, too?  We went last year and loved Edinburgh (skip Glasgow- yuck! but go to Sterling to see the castle and all the Braveheart stuff).  I'd live there if I could.  Also, skip Berlin and do Frankfurt instead (I lived in Germany for 5 years and those are my 2 cents.)

Have a GREAT time.

[lil_token]

Although I am not particularly fond of the place, I respect Paris and Parisians for a number of reasons that have already been mentioned.  They do not succumb to American political or cultural pressure and are imensely in touch with their own cultural identity.  

I do not think that the hostility I experienced was the result of a language barrier, as I did speak some French when I went there and had my bi-lingual friends to fill in the blanks.  I just had a nasty experience at the hotel.  The clerk at the front desk was all smiles to the native French customers in front of me, but when I came by to ask him how to use the phone with the phone cards I had purchased from the hotes (ie, what numbers to dial to get an outside line), he literally yelled at me.  The next morning I had to take a cab to the airport, because the earliest shuttle from the hotel wouldn't get there in time for my flight.  Well, I asked him if he could call me a cab, because there was no phone book or anything in the rooms and he yelled at me saying that if I didn't show up for it, he would have to pay out of his own pocket and he wasn't going to do that.  I calmly explained to him that I would have no choice but to ride it because of the time of my flight, but he still refused.  I ended up having to call a manager, who apologized profusely and called the cab for me.

Some cities in Europe I think are more beautiful and an overall better experience than Paris:  Malaga, Vienna, Rome, St. Petersburg, Vilnius, Athens.

[Omegaman]

Although I am not particularly fond of the place, I respect Paris and Parisians for a number of reasons that have already been mentioned.  They do not succumb to American political or cultural pressure and are imensely in touch with their own cultural identity. 

I do not think that the hostility I experienced was the result of a language barrier, as I did speak some French when I went there and had my bi-lingual friends to fill in the blanks.  I just had a nasty experience at the hotel.  The clerk at the front desk was all smiles to the native French customers in front of me, but when I came by to ask him how to use the phone with the phone cards I had purchased from the hotes (ie, what numbers to dial to get an outside line), he literally yelled at me.  The next morning I had to take a cab to the airport, because the earliest shuttle from the hotel wouldn't get there in time for my flight.  Well, I asked him if he could call me a cab, because there was no phone book or anything in the rooms and he yelled at me saying that if I didn't show up for it, he would have to pay out of his own pocket and he wasn't going to do that.  I calmly explained to him that I would have no choice but to ride it because of the time of my flight, but he still refused.  I ended up having to call a manager, who apologized profusely and called the cab for me.

Some cities in Europe I think are more beautiful and an overall better experience than Paris:  Malaga, Vienna, Rome, St. Petersburg, Vilnius, Athens.

What St.petersbug like, I read alot of russian literature, so Ive always wanted to visit there.

[twarga]

Germans are very abrupt, as well.  But I don't think they mean anything by it.  You see them practically yelling at each other but they're just shooting the breeze.  They are a 'no-nonsense' lot, and don't suffer fools gladly, that's for sure.  We used to sarcastically call the German legal advisor at the base legal office where I worked 'Sonnenshine' (or Sunshine in English) because she was so abrasive.  We loved her but Jeez Louise what a biotch!  She'd have clients running out of her office in fear.  God, I miss Frau Bromme and her stop-sign red hair!   

[lil_token]

Some cities in Europe I think are more beautiful and an overall better experience than Paris:  Malaga, Vienna, Rome, St. Petersburg, Vilnius, Athens.

Interesting.  I've heard from numerous people that Athens is a horrible city - in fact, I've been told to only spend one day there seeing all this historic stuff and then go somewhere else in Greece.  What do you like about it?

I found Parisians to be extremely kind.  My meager knowledge of French plus my very obvious (southern) American accent, which I expected to be hindrances to their kindness, were not a problem at all.  My passport was actually stolen while I was there, and random people on the Metro system stopped to help me look for it...this would have never happened in "friendly" Dublin from my experience.  The only person who was evil that I met in Paris (besides the thief who took my wallet) was the American clerk lady at the US Embassy!

Perhaps it appealed to me more because it is so ancient and I spend hours watching the Hitler Channel specials on ancient Greece.  I do agree that you should probably be able to see all there is to see in no more than a couple of days, but I can say the same for Paris.  Generally, I found the city to be cleaner, the people warmer and the culture more interesting.

[twarga]

Thanks!  Yep, I've heard that about Glasgow, which is why I finally decided we'd do Edinburgh instead.  Interesting about Berlin v. Frankfurt...why?  And what is your opinion on Munich?

Munich is drab and dirty.  Berlin is so big and spread out and has a cold feeling to it.  With Frankfurt, you have the big city feel but it's very pretty and there's always a lot going on in a relatively close proximity.  You can go shopping on the Zeil, which is blocks and blocks of closed to traffic shopping area, the museums, the zoo, etc.  It's clean and the train will take you right to the heart of the city from the airport.  The hotels are nice, the food is great.  I think it's one of those little gems that go unnoticed.  Munich.. Yuck!  We passed through there on the way to the Austrian Alps (spent Christmas week skiing- Hooray!) and we were so unimpressed.  When you live in Germany, you get spoiled by the nice cities like Trier and nearby Luxembourg, that you turn your nose up at the gray, dirty cities, no matter how famous they are.  And don't worry about nightlife.  That's great in every European city.

[One Step Ahead]

Mobell,
What is the deal with the big O?  discuss over IM?