Ice Club Rome

An ice bar has been on my to-do list ever since I watched Travel Channel's Top 10 Las Vegas several years ago.  And that, of course, was before I really knew anything about drinking - that alcohol couldn't freeze, but it tasted awesome cold.  I just wanted to go for the igloo aspect and the opportunity to dress like an eskimo.

So when I read about Ice Club Rome in my Let's Go Italy tour guide (Let's Go is a travel book written by Harvard students after their studies abroad, so it's a great guide for college students that is informative about nightlife and understanding of our somewhat limited budgets when it comes to food and accommodations), I really wanted to go.  Luckily, my friends were equally excited about the opportunity to drink alcohol at -5 degrees Celsius.

You Can't Sneak a Fifth Person into a European Hotel... And other weekend travel discoveries

I had started this post several weeks ago, so now I'm back-logging, which is always annoying.  The internet here is spotty and I actually (believe it or not) do have studio work to keep me busy during the week, so I apologize for the slow-coming blog posts.  I will attempt to pick up the pace!

Our first trip as a class was to Reggio Emilia  to do some research for our project on a Thursday and Friday, and we had the weekend free.  We decided that we needed to do an independent trip just to have it under our belts - to say that we had been somewhere and that we had done it ourselves, with the idea that after planning the first independent weekend trip, it would only get easier.  So we booked transportation and accommodations in Torino (also known as Turin), Italy.  If it sounds familiar, it's probably because it was the host city of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Disneyland Paris: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Dinner Show

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Dinner Show Spectacular is located in Disney Village at Disneyland Paris Resort and has been running since 1992. The dinner show occurs twice daily - 6:30 PM and 9:30 PM (except Wednesdays and Thursdays). The show is included in the full or half board Premium Meal Plan (second category seating only). I had the Half Board Plus Meal Plan, so I purchased second-category seating to the dinner show separately ($66.10 USD).

After I had been assigned a section, I was given a cowboy hat, with a colored band indicating my seating section. I really wanted the yellow band because that's my favorite color, but I got red. I suppose that's more western. And I liked my cowboy hat enough to bring it with me not only from Disneyland Paris back to Genoa, but from Genoa back to the United States!

Trip Report: Disneyland Paris [Day 1]

We slept in after our fun night at Moulin Rouge. Abby and Alex weren't leaving until the next morning, but my Disney trip began today. So we went to the metro station together, and after much trial and error, finally learned how to enter our own destination in the kiosks for an out of town RER ticket. The RER was about a 40 minute journey from where I got on at Charles de Gaulle Etoile.

Disney has its own train station - Marne la Vallee. After arriving there, I followed signs to take the bus to Sequoia Lodge. I must have just missed the previous bus because it was about a 15 minute wait in the cold until it came. I checked in and was relieved to learn that the CMs spoke very good English. My room wasn't ready yet, so I left my bags at the hotel and headed to the park.

But first I got a little lost in the resort...



It feels a lot like the Wilderness Lodge.... but with snow!



I finally emerged by the lake which is across from Disney Village.

Trip Report: Paris [Day 3] Cinema Museum and Moulin Rouge

The next day was quite an adventure. Eliza had a test that day, so we had planned to visit Versaille, as it was included in our Museum Pass and what would make it all worthwhile, as Versaille costs around 25 Euros to visit. So Eliza told us how to get there using the metro and RER, and we headed out bright and early.

Well, we ran into our first struggles at the La Defense station. We couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket to Versaille using the machines, so we finally just hopped on the metro to go to the station we would have to catch the RER at, anyway. So we find a ticket booth there and ask to buy tickets to Versaille, and - "Oh, it's closed today. The garden is open, though." It's snowing outside and the garden is free (so we wouldn't be helping 'pay' for our Museum Pass), so that was a no go. We opened up our Museum Pass books to see if there were any interesting museums that we could go to. A Cinema Museum in a building designed by Frank Gehry ("starchitect" who also designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles) - that sounded cool. So instead of using up another Metro pass, we decided to walk from there (Abby's idea) which was cool at first because we got to see the city, rather than underground tunnels.

And then it was just too freakin cold, so we had to go into another cafe. We did get wonderful omelets for brunch and more overpriced cappuccinos. I suppose we're spoiled by 2.50 Euro Italian cappuccinos, but the 5-6 Euro ones in Paris were really getting old.

Trip Report: Paris [Day 2] Pompidou and Eiffel Tower

We woke up bright and early to visit the Pompidou.

I actually really enjoyed staying in the business district. The buildings were new refreshing after being surrounded by Italian architecture on a daily basis, and the escalators weren't bad, either.

Trip Report: Paris [Day 1] Overnight Trains, Sightseeing, and the Louvre

In the 2013 spring semester, I studied abroad with the Clemson Architecture program in Genoa, Italy where I lived and studied in the Charles E. Daniel Center, also known as "The Villa".  The program is actually quite a rigorous study abroad program, but we were allowed a week of travel at the end of February to go wherever we liked.  So naturally, I chose to visit Paris and Disneyland Paris.  Of course, when I was imagining Paris, I was thinking of warm spring afternoons and beautiful flowers..... in February, Paris was anything but.

I traveled the Paris portion of the trip with my friends Abby and Alex.  Alex's friend, Eliza, was studying abroad in Paris and so kindly invited us to stay with her at her apartment in La Defense.

Overnight Train to Paris

One of the awesome things about Europe is how advanced their transportation system by rail is.  The three of us booked a private room on an overnight train to Paris, which was more for the experience than to save time or money.  We traveled from Genoa to Milan on the regional train and took the overnight train to Paris from Milano Centrale.  Our train departed at 11:30 PM and arrived in Paris at 9:30 AM the next morning.

We booked a private cabin for three people. Alex was first to the room and says, "I call the bottom bunk." Then Abby poked her head in and quickly says, "I call the middle bunk.' I poke my head in and.... top bunk?

So we were basically sleeping in a closet, but we would wake up in Paris - it's an adventure!

It was actually a pretty nice set-up. They gave us nice toiletry kits with slippers, toothpaste/toothbrush, soap, etc. We also each got water bottles (hey - that's a 2 Euro value!). And, we were given vouchers for a free drink and free breakfast. We were just one train car away from the bar/restaurant, so we headed right down to use our drink vouchers. They offered us champagne or orange juice... is that even a question??

I actually slept surprisingly well on the train. I only woke up a few times and it was because it was hot, so I kept reaching over and turning down the thermostat. I feel like I had to have been the hottest, being in the top bunk. But besides that, I really didn't mind sleeping up there.

La Defense

Alex's friend, Eliza, is studying abroad in Paris, and she so kindly invited us to stay with her at her apartment in La Defense. Our train arrived at Gare Lyon, and Eliza told us how to take the metro to La Defense. We exited the metro, and she was there waiting for us!

The metro is right by the Grand Arch -