Europe Day FIVE

Today wasn’t a very interesting day.  It was pretty lame actually.  We got on a bus and drove to Switzerland.  We also made multiple stops, but the lunch stop was the best.  We stopped in a city called Beaune.  I am moving there.  It is the most perfect city on earth. It feels like nothing bad could ever happen. You know in movies, those old towns where everyone knows everyone and the same things happen at the same time everyday? That is Beaune. We ate a Creoul Sandwich which is just a chicken with a weird orange sauce.  It was huge and yummy and cheap. Can’t get better than that.  We just sat in the middle of the city and ate our lunch on a cute little bench.  Then we walked around and checked it out for a bit.  It is an old medieval city, so the streets are tiny and cobblestone.  The buildings have bars on them. Ash and I didn’t get the chance to try the Gelato in Paris so we tried it here.  Ashy got a really yummy chocolate one, and I got a banana chocolate. Both super delicious.  Then after an hour…back to the bus.  We finally got to our hotel at 8 o’clock at night in a city called Eidelstein in Switzerland.  Our hotel is called Hotel St. George.  Ha! Close to home.  We go in straight to dinner.  We started with a bread which was sourish.  Then we had some soup that tasted like cheese and Broccoli.  It definitely wasn’t though.  Then there was spaghetti with a meat.  We asked the server what kind of meat it was and he didn’t know, so he went to ask the chef. He didn’t know either and he made it…I am not about to eat it. Yuck.  For dessert they gave us a custard type thing with a caramel sauce on top.  So far, I am not a huge fan of Swiss food.  Then we go see our room.  It was a suite.  We get in and there is 5 beds but 6 girls.  The other suite had 6 beds and 5 girls.  We just switched.  We put our stuff down and explored our room.  There is a door leading outside, but no terrace or anything.  I guess it is an easy suicide jump or something?  In our shower, and on the single wall that isn’t glass, there is a full body length window. Okay? Weird.  We just shoved pillows in it so we could shower.  We went on a walk at like 11 o’clock at night.  It was so silent and beautiful.  I also learned that Switzerland is safer that West Point.  While walking, we saw a giant hippo.  Weird. Switzerland is definitely a weird place.  It is absolutely gorgeous though. Extremely beautiful. It is a completely different experience from the crazy Paris life.

Europe Day FOUR

Today we started off this morning at Versailles.  It was the palace of King Louis the 14- King Louis the 16.  We went and took a guided tour and wore these headsets that we felt like we were in the CIA.  It was so we could hear in the palace.  I didn’t really like the guide because we spent a lot of time in the rooms and we got to the Hall of Mirrors and he rushed right through it.  Like who does that? Ash and I stayed back for awhile and we looked at the hall and took pictures.  We were waiting the whole tour for this and we weren’t just going to be rushed through it.  We couldn’t hear our guide and couldn’t hear where he was.  We figured we would just walk through until we found them.  We caught up towards the end and then they took us outside and gave us about an hour and a half to explore the Versailles Gardens.  Some girls in our group just sat at the top of the stairs.  Me and Ash said, “Deuces suckas.” So we ditched them, and went exploring.  The gardens are the most beautiful things on the planet earth! Like I say that about a lot of things, but this is definitely my real favorite place on earth.  Its away from all the sound and hectic city.  You can think and feel your stress, problems, and fears drop out of care and you can seriously relax there.  I think there is a spell there where its always the good life and nothing can ruin it.  I loved it there! If I could have stayed there forever I wouldn’t have complained.  At certain points in the garden there were fountains, statues, and different theater and colloseums.  They were really pretty.  It is literally indescribable.  The best writer in the world could not put the beauty and perfection of this place into words.  Most beautiful place on planet earth. It was time to head back and I almost felt my heart break.  I did not want to leave.  We met up with our group in the front of the palace and walked down the street to lunch.  It was like a little café where there is tons of options and you pick one. They cook in and then call your number.  I got real pizza. Not American pizza, which is nasty compared to the pizza in Europe.  It had a slice of ham on it and also just some cheese and parsley.  It was really good.  While sitting at lunch Ashy started teaching me French.  I learned the days of the week which are Lundi, Mardi, Mercerde, Judi, Vondradee, Sumdi, and Damach. (Don’t judge me on the spelling.)  Ash was quizzing me and she said, “What’s Friday?” I said, “Vanity!” hahahahahah!!! We died laughing.  Then I learned that jour is day, and nuit is night. So Bonjour means good day, and bonnuit means goodnight! Then I learned the numbers 1-10.  un, du, twa, cat, sank, sies, set, wheat, noof, dis. (again….i’m an American kid sounding out French words.) Ash told me thee single most funniest joke I have ever heard.  Here it is:  There was 2 cats. The first cats name was one, two, three. The other cats name was un, du, twa. They were both on one side of the River.  They had a race, who got to the other side first? **************** One, Two, Three did because un, du, twa cat sank!

BAHAHAHAHAHA End of story, but you know that is the best joke ever.

We left lunch and went to the Arc De Triomphe.  We had to go underground to get there though because it is so crazy at the roundabout.  We met Henson there and decided to go to the top and the bonus? It was FREEEEE!! WHOOOO whOOOO! We hiked 294 stairs up and 294 stairs down.  In Europe it always seems like your on stairs.  The Arc De Triomphe is beautiful on top.  You can see all around Paris! It is so cool! The Eiffel Tower is pretty close.  It is really breathtaking to see the city of Paris from the top of the Arc De Triomphe. We walked around up there for awhile and then we went down and walked the Champs Elysees.  It was wonderful shopping.  We visited the I <3 Paris store and took some pictures.  Then we went and visited the Swarovski Crystal Staircase.  So pretty and probably 100 quadrillion million dollars. (Later learned it was 200 Million)  It is entirely made of Swarovski Crystals.  I felt like a movie star walking on it.  Ash and I were set free to go off by ourselves.  We successfully navigated for the first time on the Metro.  We are pretty much professionals.  We took the Metro from the Arc de Triomphe to the Lock Bridge.  Yeah buddy! The Lock Bridge is also known as the Lovers Bridge.  You lock your love to it and throw the keys in the ocean. It was awesome writing on it and then throwing the keys into the Seine.  So naturally my love is locked.  We also did a friend lock and wrote Ash, Kena, Bay, and Brady. Friend Forever 2013 on it.  The lock bridge is literally cool.  There isn’t one spot on the bridge that is open.  I would say there is 500,000 locks on one side.  It’s amazing and I am so glad I got the opportunity to do it.  A part of me will always be in Paris.  After that we ran to the Metro had to buy a metro ticket for 1,70 Euro on a debit card. So dumb.  We were so worried we were going to be late for dinner.  There was a super sketchy dude who followed us and moved every time we did.  He didn’t get off when we did, so its all good.  We met our grouop for dinner and ate at a place called Flems.  They served us Flemmekuche which is my absolute newest favorite, yummiest food ever.  It is a really thin crust with a weird cheese, onions, and Ham slices on it.  So yummy and really difficult to describe but it is incredible.  We also had a white chocolate and apple cinnamon flemmakuche.  I liked the apple cinnamon one best out of the dessert ones.  Dinner was over and we headed to the Eiffel Tower! We had been waiting our lives for this still…since last night.  We got on the Metro and walked to the beloved tower.  We get there and no one was there, so we are like Sweet! This will go buy really quickly. NOPE. The fetchin workers went on strike. Yup. The one time and only time I get to live my dream and go to the top.  It just wasn’t going to happen.  I was really disappointed but I guess that means I just need to go back and visit again sometime.  Cause it was such depressing news and my dreams were shattered in one moment.  After that we had loads of free time.  Henson let me and Ash go off alone because we proved to her we could use the metro.  First item on the list, since we couldn’t go to the top, I HAD to kiss someone.  We walked through the big park under the Eiffel Tower and I kept saying No, not him, no. Not him either.  Finally a group of boys was spotted.  One was way cute but I wasn’t about to go up and ask.  If I were to get denied it would be in front of so many boys and I just couldn’t let that happen. We were leaving and I was really disappointed I couldn’t get a kiss either cause Ash said, “We have stuff to do, hurry, its just not going to happen.”  So we started leaving and we were standing by the corner of the park.  Then the same boys walked out right by us.  I knew it was now or never, so I worked up the courage and said, “Hey will one of you kiss me under the Eiffel Tower so I can cross it off my bucket list?”  They did what boys do and pushed each other around and kept saying, “Eff it. Eff it.” Finally one who was probably 25 said, “What do you want?” and I said, “A kiss under the Eiffel Tower.” He said, “On the mouth?” and I said yeah then he just went for it, and I said, “wait I have to get a picture.” One of the best, worst, most awkward, and funniest moments in my life all at once. I am so glad it is over cause it was almost a horrible good. Ha! But bucket list item…CHECK.  Then me and Ash were headed to the Moulin Rouge.  On the way we got stopped by a barterer.  These guys are literally everywhere.  We needed a big Eiffel tower anyway.  So we got good this time.  We got 3 big Eiffel towers and 5 little ones for 10 Euros.  We felt pretty good.  Once again, back on the Metro.  We got to the Moulin Rouge in the Red Light District and took pictures really quick because Ms. Henson said not to stay.  We stood on this big platform that blew your hair and clothes everywhere. Makes sense to have in the Red Light District right? We needed an ATM and got directions to this fetchin SKETCHY AS ALL HECK one.  We got out some Euros and went to buy more tickets to the Metro so we could get out of this place.  We bought some and used one to get on Line 2 and Bam its broken. GREEAAAT! We stood there talking to a lady that called herself Crazy Daisy.  We cleared up for her that Mormons don’t have 9 wives, they don’t have to serve a mission and they didn’t come on the Mayflower.  We talked a good 20 minutes to this lady about religion and college.  Then we decided to get off and walk to the montmarne and the Sacre Coeur.  While walking we saw a market.  We went in and bought some candy.  I bought a caramel chocolate bar and “Smarties.” They taste kind of like m&ms in America.  We got to the check out and Ash asks if the lady knew English.  She grumpily says, “yes I know English!” We ask her directions and then ask for some coins so we can finish our collection.  Their 1 cent pieces are TEENY!  We left and headed to Montmarne.  We finally get there and its closed. Dang. The night time view is beautiful though.  We also hiked 650 stairs to get to the Sacre Coeur which is a church still running today.  While there we were walking down the stairs to get a better view and some guy throws beer bottles at us. Jerk. We decided we better get back so we started walking and my bag rips. Awesome. We make it back to the Port De Versaille with 3ish minutes left until the 11:55 curfew.  Then we get lost, have to go back in, look around, and we can’t find it.  So we go and ask the worker for help and they print us a map and point us in the right direction.  We finally made it back to the hotel about 12:10, only 15 minutes late. Oh well! Life Happens even in the perfect city.  Today was my favorite day in Paris. Perfect way to end my dream come true.

 

 

Europe Day THREE

Today we woke up and went to the Louvre.  We got there and saw all these guys were selling souvenirs.  But you have to barter with them because they give you a ridiculous price.  We didn’t buy anything though.  At the Louvre we walked around the front outside for awhile before we went inside.  We looked at the huge glass pyramid and took many pictures.  Demetrious told us it was time to go inside the museum.  We stood in line for security. Yes, there is security at the Louvre. We also saw the inverted glass pyramid right below the glass pyramid outside the Louvre.  We put our bags through an extremely extensive (; security system. NOT. Lamest one ever.  We got inside, went to the information desk and got a map.  This place is massive. There is no way we could have found our way around without one.  We picked the art pieces we wanted to see most, because we only had two hours and it is said that it would take months to go through and see the whole thing.  We decided top priority was the Mona Lisa.  So we looked at the map, planned our route, and headed off.  On the way we saw many of the pieces though.  The first one we saw was the Winged Victory.  We stopped to take a picture. And….well…just our luck…Ash got pick pocketed.  Yup. So here is the story.  Ash was standing in front of it and I had her camera and said, “Are you ready?” She said, “yeah.” But right when I went to take the picture she turned her head, and I was like, “Ash, what the heck.” She said, “Someone tugged on my purse.” So she was looking in her purse to see if anything was stolen.  She noticed her camera case was stolen but nothing else and I had her camera so it wasn’t even a big deal.  We were looking at the picture and BAM. There he is.  They guy that stole her camera case was caught in the act on picture.  HA! He failed, cause not only did he get only a camera case, but he was caught, and we got a picture with him.  Idiot.  Once we got over that incident and how funny it was we continued our tour through the Louvre.  After searching and searching we found the Mona Lisa.  It is on a GIGANTIC wall with absolutely nothing else. And it is tiny. We pushed and shoved to get to the front, like a concert almost. We finally get to the front where we can take a perfect picture and they made all the people leave so others could get to the front.  We were not happy! But oh well, cause we saw it and we got a few pictures.  We went to see psyche and cupid, Aphrodite, and Michael Angelo.  It is such a cool museum and I understand how it could take a long time to get through.  We learned that if you walk the Louvre from one end to the other it is a mile long.  Talk about a huge building.  We then went outside to see the gardens.  We decided we might as well get the experience and barter with one of the guys.  But we got really nervous so we didn’t do as well as we had hoped.  We still got 5 Eiffel Tower key chains for one Euro.  We took a few more pictures outside the beautiful Louvre and by the Arch there.  We finished looking and we still had to eat lunch before we met up with our group.  We were on our own and didn’t really know French all that well, so we went to McDonalds.  Well we thought we were being all smart cause Mcdonalds has to be the same right?  Not even.  McDonalds in America is so different, like not even the same menu or anything.  We wait in line and have a hard time ordering.  Plus we don’t even know what we really ordered.  We see Melanie and she says, “oh this is the line you can order in English in.”  We struggled through but we ordered in French.  We didn’t even need to easy English line.  Its all about experience right? I ended up with a chicken sandwich and fries.  I also ordered a Fanta.  Their soda is a lot different.  My Fanta was like orange juice with sprite.  Still good but definitely not the same.  It was also warm with no ice.  That’s how they roll in Europe.  After lunch we all met up and went on a guided bus tour.  The lady was a weird one.  We just saw different sights in Paris.  We went to the city building, the gold roofed palace. And we went to the round about under the Arc de Triomphe.  Lets just say that I was pretty sketched out to be in that roundabout in a huge tour bus.  There is 14 entrances to this roundabout, no lanes, and it is a no fault roundabout.  People go in and out how and when they want.  We stopped at a viewing point for the Eiffel Tower. It’s fine, but me and my best friend Ashlie Albrecht took the worlds cutest known pictures in existence.  We couldn’t believe we were really right in front of the Eiffel Tower.  I had to take deep breaths as it was taking my breath away.  Holy Heck. I saw the Eiffel Tower. After we took it all in we went back to the bus and went to the opera house.  It is a huge building, but we didn’t get to go inside.  We also drove through the Fashion District.  It is super cool, I wish I could afford something there.  Even though I definitely didn’t even feel rich enough to be there.  We also drove down the Champs Elysees and it was Beautiful.  We decided we would have to come back on our free time.  We finished our bus tour and got dropped off back at the Opera House.  We then went to a perfume museum and learned about how they make perfume. When we first walked in they put a sticker with an F on your shirt.  Ours was square and purple.  The other EF group was orange and round.  This random kid said, “Only the cool kids get orange and round. Oops sorry.” And Ash said, “Only the sexy kids get square and purple.” It was Hilarious. If you want to become a perfumist there is only 2 available schools in the world. Both in France, and it is extremely competitive and expensive.  You have to be able to recognize 150 different scents and the combinations.  We took a test with 8 and got a 100.  I am practically a professional (; We also learned that it takes 3 tons of flowers or plants to make 1 liter of perfume.  After we learned about it and saw the museum we went and sampled some of the perfumes.  Mine and Ashy’s favorite was called Etoile, which means star.  We loved it so much we pretty much bathed in it.  After we left we had free time.  We decided to go to the Galleries Lafayette.  Best Mall Ever.  It was absolutely crazy in there.  We walked in and looked around for awhile.  We walked past the macaroon place and the dude seductively reeled us in to the samples.  Well it worked for him, cause I bought a banana one.  I wasn’t really crazy about it. We left and then went to dinner.  We had pork, potatoes, and a chocolate mousse.  After that we went on a night time boat cruise.  It takes you down the river Seine.  Boys were waving and then chased after the boat.  It was almost a perfect romance story.  We saw tons of lovers by the river and it made a lot of us girls extremely jealous.  We all want a Paris Love, but who doesn’t.  Then we got off the cruise and went to the Eiffel Tower at night.  I have been waiting for this moment for almost my whole life.  I was born to be here.  We get there, stand in line for a bit and then find out, it was to late to go. EFF.  For real, like this would be my luck.  So instead we just had some free time.  We went to a shop across the street and waited for it to twinkle.  We watched in and it was gorgeous.  I just don’t understand how some medal and some lights could be my absolute favorite thing and biggest dream. But it is and it absolutely was perfect.  After we watched that for awhile we went back to the hotel and went to bed. 

 

Europe Day TWO

We finally heard the pilot say that we were about to land, so we all woke up and watched out the window to see what we had been waiting for forever to see. It was way cloudy and we had to fly through them.  Ash was in heaven.  She was so excited and it was hilarious to hear all her funny comments.  When we broke through the clouds and saw the city, it was so much different from what I was expecting.  This is what I thought was going to happen. We were going to break through the clouds and BAM there’s the Eiffel Tower and all the city and tourist places I have been dying to see.  That was not the case at all.  We broke through and saw all these little neighborhoods with a few cute little houses and tons of grassy fields.  Not cityish at all, but more like country.  It had such a peaceful feel and I knew I was going to love every second of this country.  We got to the airport and looked for our tour guide.  He seriously was holding up a sign for us. I thought that was fake and only in movies! DAY MAKER. We met him and his name was Demetrious.  He is half Greek and half German.  He knows Greek, German, French, and English. He is a looker for sure.  First thing we did in my dream city is go check in to our hotel, drop our suitcases, and get ready for the day.  Yes. It was morning.  We didn’t get a night yet. But who needs to sleep when you are in the city of lights? After we got all settled in, we went on a walking tour and saw many of the sites.  We saw countless old, BEAUTIFUL buildings.  We rode on the metro for the first time of many.  We also saw a street performance.  This guy was crazy! He was doing handstands, one armed handstands, the splits, and tons of other crazy things.  This dude was one amazing dancer. 

Then we had some free time.  Me and Ash walked around the Latin quarter for awhile and saw many different and interesting things.  The streets are extremely thin and cobblestone of course.  It is so cute.  I am in love with this city already.  We saw really cool graffiti, tourist shops everywhere, and also random dead animals roasting in random windows. Nasty. Me and Ash were getting a little hungry so we decided to eat cause we weren’t going to be having dinner for awhile.  We ordered a sucre crape. Which is a sugar crepe.  It was SUPER yummy.  We later met up with the group and went to see Notre Dame.  We went to the park across the street to get a picture of the whole building and see the oldest tree in France.  There was birds all over this park. Hated the birds. But it was a beautiful park and the view of the Cathedral was breathtaking.  We then headed to the church.  We had to stand in a GIANT line. We thought it would take ages, but it actually goes by way quickly.  Henson knows a lot of facts about Paris because she went on her mission there and she has been there many times.  She showed us point zero.  It is a little circle which is where everything in Paris is measured from.  There is a legend that says if you put your foot on point zero, you are bound to come back to Paris.  You best believe that I tapped my foot on that thing so many times it was ridiculous.  We got to the front of the line to go into the cathedral.  We got inside and the stained glass windows were stunning.  So many little details and patterns, I could look at them all day.  The statues there were extremely tall and beautiful as well.  It was really dark in the church though.  As we were walking through, we saw these confession rooms that were made of solid glass. You could go in and confess your sins to the church guys and I guess take care of whatever you did? It was a lot different then what I was used to because you could see them and it was very public.  But I guess I shouldn’t judge because I went into their culture.  After touring in Notre Dame for a while, we went out and met our group.  We went to dinner at a restaurant called the Hippopotamus.  We had some salad, this really weird but yummy cheese roll thing, and chicken and rice.  DELISH! Except it was like a family style meal and there wasn’t a whole lot.  But so far, I have no complaints about the food here in France.  We were all so exhausted we were practically falling asleep at the table so Demetrious decided we had better go back to the hotel.  It had been like 48 hours since we had been awake.  We were ready for bed.  It decided to downpour on us though. Oh well. We literally were super tired. 

 

Europe Day ONE

Today is the day!!! We finally, FINALLY get to go to the beloved country of FRANCE! Im seriously so excited I could pee my pants! Ashy and her momma picked us up and we rode to the airport together! It seemed like THEE longest ride in history. Like I could have driven to California and back faster.  We finally got there and found our group and got all checked in. Then we said our goodbyes to our moms and we were off. We go through security and first off…Guess who had to be patted down? Yep. Me and Ash. Of course. They had to pat down Ashy’s head? Wait what? And my sweats pocket.  Yeah…Weirdos. We finally get through and wait for awhile and then we get on the plane and take off.  It was SO exciting!! Then we headed to Boston.  We slept a lot of the way there because we were exhausted.  When we finally got there we looked out the window and it is literally a gorgeous city.  The first thing we saw was the ocean with little islands and things with lighthouses and millions of sailboats.  Take me there.  It was beautiful.  I plan to visit and actually stay there one day.  In the Boston airport we went to order food and we got fries and onion rings but they were out of onion rings.  All the cashier kept saying was “Fries, Fries?” Yes, we want fries but we also want our onion rings too, or our money back.  We don’t just want extra fries.  And all she would say is “Fries, fries.” This lady was a joke. Like she definitely didn’t know English well enough to be working as a cashier in the airport.  It was a hilarious memory though.  Then we got on the long, dreaded, 9 hour flight to Paris, France. It was thee single most smallest plane the airport could find and they packed it full of people.  So uncomfortable and so smashed.  It was awful.  But we found our ways to get through. So the time is very different there. So we left Boston and saw the sunset. Then we had a few hours of dark. Saw the sunrise like 2 hours later and then just get brighter and brighter. It was weird because we had 2 nights, but only like 5 hour time for it.  Weird feeling.