I don't know that I thought I would ever be able to say that I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but I did last night. I have been in Paris since Thursday and it seems completely surreal. When we first arrived on Thursday, I was a bit disappointed because it looks nothing like what I expected. When you see pictures of Paris, you see lots of glamour and cafes and everything, but that is not what I saw when I got off the Metro. I did have a clear view of the Eiffel tower, which was exciting, but everything else was just kind of... dirty. I went up to my hotel room and realized that I can see the Tower while laying in bed (which has been really great when I go to bed at night) and got pretty excited.
The first day that we were here, we went to the Eiffel tower and then to the Arc du Triomphe. It was really great being able to see those places and just being here. Thursday started off rough. Sara and I woke up a little late and it just seemed like nothing was going right-- and we were both cranky because we thought that we didn't like Paris. The day ended up turning for the better. The group went to Versailles, which was a little different than it normally is because they had these random and retarded pieces of "art" in a lot of the major rooms. It was really unfortunate that they were there because not only were they tacky, but they distracted from the actual palace. I don't remember most of the things that I saw, or what each room was. After Versailles, a group of about 8 of us went to the catacombs which were really cool. It was a little creepy down there because thousands of bones are throughout the whole thing and random security guards would pop up to tell us that we weren't supposed to use camera flashes. After the catacombs, the four of us girls who went to the catacombs broke off from the group and went shopping :) It was great! We spent several hours shopping and then came back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off and went to watch the Eiffel Tower light up. We sat on the wall of the Trecadora (sp??) and watch the tower become blue as the sun set and then begin to sparkle at exactly 9:00. As I sat there it all just felt completely surreal. I could not believe that I was actually sitting there looking at the Eiffel Tower.... even though I was looking at it. It was just completely insane to me. The next day a couple of girls wanted us to show them where to shop, so we did that and had another girls' day :) We went to the little shops with all the good deals and then went to the Pantheon and to the Museum of Natural History. I was pretty proud of all of us for managing our way through Paris on the Metro system with no problems! On Sunday (yesterday) we got up and went to the Musee D'Orsay which is an art museum and then we went to the Louvre. It was really neat being at the Louvre, but I did not want to stay for long because it was RIDICULOUSLY crowded. I could not walk anywhere without almost running into someone. After staying in the Louvre for a little bit, Cory and Ian and I went to look at some original street art and we all bought a few pieces. They had some really great stuff for really great prices. Then we went to look at a few souvenir shops for them because they hadn't gotten any gifts for family and everything yet and then we went to the Luxembourg gardens! They were so beautiful! It was the absolute perfect day to be there. It was a little bit chilly in the shade, but the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. At 5 we went to an English service at the local church and it was wonderful. It is so nice to have services in English sometimes, especially after struggling so much with the language barrier when trying to do everything else around town. My favorite part of yesterday, however, was the Eiffel Tower! I went with Andrea, Cory, Rebecca, Clay, Jack and Sara up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and it was so so so so amazing! The city of Paris is incredibly beautiful at night and it was so great to be able to ride up to the top with great friends :)
Today was a very long day. We left the hotel at 6:20 to catch a train to Normandy. We spent the entire day visiting the places where the D-Day invasion occurred and it was just absolutely incredible being there. I can not begin to explain how surreal it was because the beaches are so beautiful, it's hard to imagine that thousands of people gave their lives on those beaches. The American MIlitary Cemetery on Omaha Beach was beautiful. I was not fully able to appreciate today though because I was sick. There has been some kind of stomach bug going around and I felt completely miserable for nearly the whole day. The good news is that I was taken care of by someone and it was really nice. It is no fun being away from your Mommy when you don't feel well, but it helps when you have someone to take care of you :)
I hate that these blogs have to be devoid of lots of details and that they are so spread out, but it is very hard to keep up with everything when I am going from sun up to well beyond sun set and get very little time to relax. This weekend we get our first free travel time and if all works out, I think that a group of us will be going to Amsterdam :) I need to go, it's time for me to do room check. I hope that everyone is doing wonderfully and that you all know that I love and miss you very much!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Could I Be Any More Blessed?
Last week was our Germany trip. I hate that it has taken me so long to get caught up on this, but it is really difficult to find time when you get back from a week long trip where all you are carrying is a backpack. That's right, I'm officially a backpacker :) I never thought that I would be able to fit everything that I needed into a backpack for a whole week, and let me tell you, it was really difficult and I ended up wearing the same pair of jeans for like 5 days, but so did everyone else... and I'm in Europe! So who cares? :)
I never expected that I would have loved Germany so much. I knew it was going to be beautiful, but I was a little bit discouraged by the places in Germany where we had already traveled. I thought: "If they're going to be like those places, how are we gonna find enough things to do for a week??" Oh me of little faith. We spent more than 10 hours traveling to get to Freilassing, Germany which is where we slept the whole trip but spent very little actual time. Freilassing is a little bitty town on the border of Germany and Austria, and it is adorable, but there is very little to do in the town past 6 p.m. and because we were having to leave so early to get places and getting back late, we never really were able to see very much of the town. We were only a seven minute train ride to Salzburg, Austria so we spent a great deal of time there, and I loved it!
I suppose the best idea to tell about the trip is to just quickly tell what happened day by day and try to include major details. We spent forever on a train on Monday, September 1, to go to Germany. We arrived at around 8 that evening at went straight to our hotel. The owner of the hotel had dinner for us (not for free, but for cheap! And it was good dinner too!) all ready and it was frites and schnitzel (basically french fries and fried pork chops). I was so exhausted at dinner that I pretty much sat there staring at the ceiling before our food came, and even accidentally dozed off a few times :) After that we got settled into the hotel (a few of us had a room to ourselves-- it was AMAZING!) and went to bed because we were off to an early start the next morning. The next day we went to Berchtesgaden, Germany to take a cruise on Lake Konigssee which is situated in the middle of the Bavarian Alps.. GORGEOUS! We spent some time doing some shopping and then headed to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is where The Sound of Music was filmed (well, mostly) and where Mozart's house is. Let me just tell you, the town is covered in everything Mozart. There are little chocolates with his face on the wrappers everywhere. We finally gave in and got some an they were pretty good-- ridiculously rich though. The next morning we went back to Berchtesgaden and went to Hitler's Eagles Nest and the Salt Mines. The view from the Eagles Nest was AMAZING! It was so gorgeous up there. Then we went to the Salt Mines that are there. That was pretty awesome, the tour was boring but we got to put on these jumpsuits that were like spacesuits and we went down these giant slides and on a tram to the center of the earth :) Basically, it was great. The next day we went to Cinderella's castle!!! We took like 14 hours of buses and trains and made it to Neuschwanstein and climbed a mountain to get some amazing views of the castle. It was beautiful! The next day we went to Vienna and didn't have a whole lot of time to stay there, but we were able to see Schonbrunn palace and while it wasn't as pretty on the outside as Neuschwanstein, it was WAY prettier on the inside. Saturday was one of my favorite days of the whole trip. A group of us left Freilassing at 12:30 A.M. and went to Budapest, Hungary. It was not as beautiful as Germany was, but we had a really great time walking around the city and going to the zoo!!
Sunday gets its own paragraph. We went to Dachau Concentration Camp. Dachau was the first concentration camp to open and it remained open for all 12 years of Hitler's "reign." I can not begin to explain how sobering it is to visit a places where so many souls have died at the hands of men so merciless. All I could think the whole time was the fact that these Jewish people thought that they were following God... and yet, they died for something that was not right. It was so sad to wander through the area and see places where people's ashes had been scattered. To think about the people who were so completely malnourished and ill and yet they still had to work harder than I will ever have to work. It's just impossible to imagine just what they went through. That'll really make you stop to think, huh?
We are leaving for Paris in about two hours and I need to shower and finish getting all packed. I should have internet while I'm in Paris, but I don't know how much time or energy I will have to post much on here. Hopefully I will. I'm going to the Eiffel Tower today!! :) Yay!
I love you all so very much and miss you more than you know!!
I never expected that I would have loved Germany so much. I knew it was going to be beautiful, but I was a little bit discouraged by the places in Germany where we had already traveled. I thought: "If they're going to be like those places, how are we gonna find enough things to do for a week??" Oh me of little faith. We spent more than 10 hours traveling to get to Freilassing, Germany which is where we slept the whole trip but spent very little actual time. Freilassing is a little bitty town on the border of Germany and Austria, and it is adorable, but there is very little to do in the town past 6 p.m. and because we were having to leave so early to get places and getting back late, we never really were able to see very much of the town. We were only a seven minute train ride to Salzburg, Austria so we spent a great deal of time there, and I loved it!
I suppose the best idea to tell about the trip is to just quickly tell what happened day by day and try to include major details. We spent forever on a train on Monday, September 1, to go to Germany. We arrived at around 8 that evening at went straight to our hotel. The owner of the hotel had dinner for us (not for free, but for cheap! And it was good dinner too!) all ready and it was frites and schnitzel (basically french fries and fried pork chops). I was so exhausted at dinner that I pretty much sat there staring at the ceiling before our food came, and even accidentally dozed off a few times :) After that we got settled into the hotel (a few of us had a room to ourselves-- it was AMAZING!) and went to bed because we were off to an early start the next morning. The next day we went to Berchtesgaden, Germany to take a cruise on Lake Konigssee which is situated in the middle of the Bavarian Alps.. GORGEOUS! We spent some time doing some shopping and then headed to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is where The Sound of Music was filmed (well, mostly) and where Mozart's house is. Let me just tell you, the town is covered in everything Mozart. There are little chocolates with his face on the wrappers everywhere. We finally gave in and got some an they were pretty good-- ridiculously rich though. The next morning we went back to Berchtesgaden and went to Hitler's Eagles Nest and the Salt Mines. The view from the Eagles Nest was AMAZING! It was so gorgeous up there. Then we went to the Salt Mines that are there. That was pretty awesome, the tour was boring but we got to put on these jumpsuits that were like spacesuits and we went down these giant slides and on a tram to the center of the earth :) Basically, it was great. The next day we went to Cinderella's castle!!! We took like 14 hours of buses and trains and made it to Neuschwanstein and climbed a mountain to get some amazing views of the castle. It was beautiful! The next day we went to Vienna and didn't have a whole lot of time to stay there, but we were able to see Schonbrunn palace and while it wasn't as pretty on the outside as Neuschwanstein, it was WAY prettier on the inside. Saturday was one of my favorite days of the whole trip. A group of us left Freilassing at 12:30 A.M. and went to Budapest, Hungary. It was not as beautiful as Germany was, but we had a really great time walking around the city and going to the zoo!!
Sunday gets its own paragraph. We went to Dachau Concentration Camp. Dachau was the first concentration camp to open and it remained open for all 12 years of Hitler's "reign." I can not begin to explain how sobering it is to visit a places where so many souls have died at the hands of men so merciless. All I could think the whole time was the fact that these Jewish people thought that they were following God... and yet, they died for something that was not right. It was so sad to wander through the area and see places where people's ashes had been scattered. To think about the people who were so completely malnourished and ill and yet they still had to work harder than I will ever have to work. It's just impossible to imagine just what they went through. That'll really make you stop to think, huh?
We are leaving for Paris in about two hours and I need to shower and finish getting all packed. I should have internet while I'm in Paris, but I don't know how much time or energy I will have to post much on here. Hopefully I will. I'm going to the Eiffel Tower today!! :) Yay!
I love you all so very much and miss you more than you know!!
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