The Rest.

Hey all! So I have finally finished the rest of Fall Break! Enjoy!!

Our apartment in Barcelona was absolutely amazing. It was smaller, but perfect for the four girls. We had a bed, two pull out beds, a kitchen, bathroom, washing machine, and a terrace.


Sunday morning we woke up late and just hung out for a while, catching up on things we meant to do and resting. We ventured out into the city briefly to get train tickets, but other than that we simply relaxed. That night we made a stir-fry of sorts and ate up on the terrace. It was so nice to relax and just enjoy ourselves. Monday was exploration day in Barcelona. We took of in the morning and started walking around the city. We visited several of Gaudi’s famous buildings, including the Sagrata Familae Cathedral. The Cathedral was never finished, and is still under construction to this day. It is a magnificent though. It was built in a style that was to reflect natural structure and elements. I thought it was beautiful. After visiting the church, we went in search of the Barcelona Market. By the way, markets are my new favorite things. There are so many unique and interesting things you can find! I found an amazing collection of early 1900’s cameras that we still working. Unfortunately, they were in the upper 80-euro price range, and couldn’t afford one, but I will be on the look out now. We picked up a couple of fun trinkets in the market and enjoyed walking around. After our day of exploring, we headed back to our room for a bit and rested. We then attempted to find the beach. I say attempted, because in the process we, inevitably, ended up shopping. We did get as far as the Marina and Aquarium, but we quickly got sidetracked in a mall, which was equipped with, you guessed it, a H&M. We did see huge yachts in the bay though. HUGE yachts. After our little shopping rant, we headed back to the apartment and crashed.

Tuesday was our last day in Barcelona. We got up early and hiked to Guell Park, which is Gaudi’s Park in Barcelona. I say hiked, because Barcelona is one of those cities built on a slant. For the most part, we were on slightly titled ground, but Guell Park’s climb felt like a real haul. However, the park was really cool. It was had several tiers, with beautiful mosaics on each level. After having our fill of the park, we headed back to the apartment to finish packing our things. Unfortunately, during the night it had rained, and Val and Amy’s laundry that was drying on the terrace had been soaked, so we had to make a pit stop at the laundry mat so they could dry their things. While that happened, Allison and I ventured into a little vintage store. If you know Allison, you know that this was where she loved to shop. She ended up with like 3 shirts in 15 minutes. I didn’t get anything, because I was waiting for Paris. After our laundry, we headed to the train station to put our stuff in lockers, for our train did not leave until 7:30 that night. After stowing our stuff, we were exhausted. The lack of sleep, combined with the 50+ packs (plus all the other bags we were toting around) just wiped us out. We went in search of food. Well, naturally, we ended up at the shopping district again. We got some excellent lunch, and went in search of churros. Now, you would think this would not be such an unusual venture, considering churros are an authentic food around Spain. WELL, there are no churros to be found, my friends. Seeing as how we had more time to burn, the girls decided we would go shopping again. We shopped until it was time to head to the train station. There, we had to catch a short commuter train to another station 3 hours from Barcelona where our Paris overnight would leave. Ok, so you know when you watch a movie and you see the train station where there are only 3 or 4 tracks and absolutely nothing busy going on? That was this station. The waiting area was not heated, and it was about 35 degrees outside, so we, and everyone else waiting for the train, wore pretty much everything we had with us. We had planned on getting dinner in the station, however, everything was closed. So for dinner, we had M&M’s and Buggles from the vending machine. Mmmm, nutritious and delicious. We then caught our train to Paris.

We got into Paris around 9 the next morning. We actually were staying about 30 minutes out side the city center in a little town called Epinay sur Sein. After navigating ourselves and our ridiculous amount of luggage to the town, we ended up having to follow a little, old French lady to our hotel. After thanking her in our horrible, broken French we tried to check into our hotel (which was the only hotel in the city…by the way). Even though we had told them we would be arriving around 9, and the said we could get into our apartment then, they told us upon arrival that we would not be able to check in until 2:30. This is just excellent because none of us had bothered trying to get ready to be in Paris, fashion capital of the world, until we had showered in our apartment. So, after locking our luggage in the handicapped bathroom, yeah, of the hotel, we headed out to find some lunch. Well, it ended up that there was no café or restaurant open in the city until lunch. This is the part of the story when the hungry girls begin to make crazy decisions. We hopped on the next train into Paris, still clad in our PJ’s, glasses, and lack of any showering. After getting off the train, we practically ran to find a café. We spotted one off in the distance and went towards it. As we were crossing the street to get to the door of the café, we suddenly stopped in our tracks and looked down the street. And there it was: The Eiffel Tower. Right there. Our street ran right up to the base of it. For the first time on our Paris trip, it hit us. We were in Paris!! After taking a minute to appreciate how blessed we were, we went into our café and ate. In case you wondered, they do serve French fries in France. I them…however, I think ours are better. Another thing about Paris, it is waaaay expensive. Our lunch cost around 20 euros, but it was way worth it. After stuffing ourselves, we still had a couple of hours to kill, so we explored. We saw the Eiffel Tower, up close and personal. It is amazing, absolutely amazing. Surprisingly, it was more of a brown, brassy color than I expected. I had always pictured a steel or dark metal structure, but it was not. After taking several dozen pictures we started wandering around. We walked for a bit, and ended up on the Champs d’Elyes right in front of the Arc de Triomphe. It was a cool thing to see as well. After that, we were all pretty worn out. We had seen several of the major sights of Paris…and really need showers. So we headed back to our lovely little town. The rest of the night we just settled in and hung out. We ate Ramen Noodles from the Hotel Vending Machine for dinner and watched movies.

Thursday morning we hopped up bright and early to catch our train to the magnificent town of Brussels, Belgium. And, may I say, that traveling is so much easier when you don’t have a huge pack on your back. Our train ride was relatively short, and we got in to Brussels around 9ish. Our main focus in the early part of the day was finding WAFFELS. Again, this wouldn’t seem like such a daunting task considering it is kind of what Belgium is known for. Well, we searched for about and hour and half before we finally found the tourist center, and the infamous waffles. After deciding which lovely waffle place we would grace with our presence and growling stomachs, we settled into a lovely place. It was there that we ate the best meal of the trip. I had a Belgium waffle complete with homemade vanilla ice cream on top and a little pot of dark, pure chocolate sauce to pour over it. Add to that menu the most incredible hot chocolate you can imagine, and you would be in heaven. We ate until it was physically impossible to eat anymore. We then tried to find the city square and walk off some of the gross amount of calories we had consumed. The town square was so cool; it was literally a square with old, awesome looking buildings around. I loved it. Conveniently, the Chocolate Museum was located right off the square, and who were we to defy what was only natural in visiting the little museum. There we got to taste some of the pure chocolate, see cacao pods that were bigger than our heads, and have a lovely lady explain to us, in French and English how she makes the famous Belgium chocolate. Oh, she let us taste it, don’t you worry. After being chocolate-ed out, we needed to walk again. Remarkably, Amy and Val found some place to go shopping. They shopped for a while, and we then headed out to try and find the train station again. We ended up finding the famous statue of Brussels, which is a fountain of a small boy urinating. I realize this is very strange, but there is tale behind it.

The legend goes, that several centuries ago, some conspirators tried to blow up the castle in Brussels. This valiant little boy, saw the bomb intended to explode, and in a moment of genius, peed on the bomb to diffuse it. This is how this famous statue came to be. Now, the inhabitants of Brussels will make clothes for the little statue and leave them by the fountain as a tribute to the little boy. It is quite a hilarious story if you ask me. After seeing our little statue, we headed back and caught our train back to Paris. For dinner that night, we had French Baguettes (the best I have ever had) and pasta.

Friday morning was the official exploration day of Paris, and it was also Halloween. We started the morning off by visiting my most anticipated monument of my entire abroad experience, the Louvre. Now, I have been dreaming of seeing the artwork and the glass pyramid of the Louvre since probably Freshman Year in high school. It was the one thing that I needed to see on this semester. I was in awe when I first saw the massive expanse that was complex. The pyramid was a sight in itself. We entered the museum down through the glass chamber. We didn’t have to wait in too much of a line, because we got there 30 minutes before it opened, and it was a cold, rainy day. Once we got in and got tickets, we all set off on our journey. I started with the ancient Egyptian exhibit, and ended up getting lost in it and ended up in French painters. Some advice – if you are planning to take on the Louvre in under 2 hours…seriously look at the map. I was hopelessly lost in the Sully wing, trying to get to the Grand Gallery in the Denon Wing. After maneuvering through Egypt, I ended up in front of “Winged Victory” and got my bearings. I followed the cute little signs with the picture of the Mona Lisa on them until I ended up where I wanted to be. The Grand Gallery is like the jackpot of all art. The hall itself holds a huge amount of art, and then branching rooms of the hall hold even more. After seeing one of my top works – “Madonna on the Rocks” by Da Vinci, I wandered into a room and saw of the largest paintings, “The Wedding at Cana”. I was amazed by the detail and massiveness of the painting, that I failed to notice the huge crowd of people behind me. As I turned around, I realized that they were all looking at something. Low and Behold, there was the “Mona Lisa” on the wall. I probably stood there looking at the painting for a good 10 minutes. It is a weird feeling, finally seeing things that you have read and heard about for your entire life. It is a very surreal experience. After finally regaining myself, I wandered farther into the chamber and found the painting the Coldplay is using as their cover art/logo right now. It is a picture from the French Revolution, and it is awesome. After I had finished taking in all these works, and the others I have not mentioned, it was time to meet back with the other girls.

We had a nice lunch at Starbucks, yes there is one in the Louvre, and got to see the inverted pyramid, D.B. would be proud, we headed off into the city. We walked through the Tullieres, the garden outside the Lourve, up to the Champs d’Elyes again. There, Allison and I decided we needed a break for our poor feet. We sat down while Amy and Val went back to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures, because they had not been there during the day. Allison and I had a lovely break that included real French Éclairs and Café au Lait. Yum. We had agreed to meet at Notre Dame an hour later. I loved Notre Dame. Not only is the outside fadeout incredible, the inside is breathtaking. It was free to get in, so we hopped in line. The stained glass is just wonderful. I loved that Cathedral.
We wandered some more, trying to find the Church of St. Chapelle, but it was closed. The church is almost entirely made of Stained Glass, so I wish we could have found it when it was open. After seeing all the famous sights, we inevitably ended up shopping again. This time though, I finally found something I wanted to buy. I got this awesome black dress that is straight out of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and it was on sale. After this, we went back to our apartment to get ready for our Halloween out in Paris!

The four of us got all dressed up in our cute clothes (for once on the trip) and donned our masks we had gotten in Venice. We then headed to the Eiffel Tower to start. Until Christmas time, the Eiffel Tower is completely covered in blue lights. It is spectacular. All along our way, and at the tower, we had little kids shouting “Halloween!” at us, because we had our masks on. That made us feel better, that at least some one in France got that it was Halloween, and we went just crazy people in masks. We decided that we were going to go to the top of the tower, despite the fact that it was very cloudy, so you couldn’t actually see the top from the ground. On the ride up, Allison and Amy were completely having come-aparts, while Val and I were just excited. We went to the middle level first, where you can actually see out onto the city. It was beautiful all light up. There we met 3 guys from the Netherlands, who took a picture with us in our masks. We then caught a ride up to the very top of the tower. It is actually in two parts. The bottom of the top level is completely enclosed in glass, like an observation tower. Here there are little markers all the way around showing the distances to major world cities. We saw both of our homes on there – Wien and America! The next level up was more like a cage. It was open, but had caging around it, so you wouldn’t fall out. All you could see was blue fog, but it was still really cool. It is awesome to say I have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
After coming down, we decided to get some food. We had a nice dinner and headed back to the apartment to clean up and pack for the next day.
Saturday, we dropped our stuff off at the train station, and then caught a train to Versailles. Let me tell you first hand, that place is absolutely colossal. We took a tour of the grand palace, but did not have time to go into Marie Antoinette’s quarters. The Hall of Mirrors was probably my favorite room. Everything was either reflective or gilded. There was an exhibition going on in the palace, which I thought was ridiculous, but it was this show of these metallic objects like huge balloon animals and what not. I hated it. It drew attention away from the palace and looked completely out of place. Anyways. After we finished the Grand Palace, we headed out into the gardens. They are just spectacular. It would take forever to walk through them all. After wandering through them for a while, it got too cold for us, so we headed back to the station. We were starving by this point, so we went to the nearest restaurant, AKA the awesome huge Chinese Buffet. There was some sort of family gathering going on, but we just hung out and ate until we were full. We headed to the train station, but still had 2 hours to kill.

This is when we met our creeper. This girl came up and sat behind us on the benches and starting talk to us. See was from the states, but worked in Munich. She was a rather butch type girl and she carried her camera with her. She pulled some sort of alcoholic beverage out of her bag and started drinking; even though it was obvious she had already had enough. She then began taking pictures of us and encroaching on our personal space. She even sat on Val’s stuff. However, the weirdest part was her taking pictures of us. She kept at it, until I said we needed to go check the train times. We got all of our stuff, and made a run for it to the nearest hiding place. Once our train platform came up on the board, we ran and hid in our compartment. We heard her once or twice in the halls, but we locked our doors and tried to be safe. We ended up sleeping a car with a man and a woman from Germany, so we slept with all of our stuff by our feet. We changed trains in the morning in Munich, and got on our last leg home to Vienna!

Once I got home, I unpacked and watch High School Musical 3 with Al and waited until Mommy and Gary got to Wien! It was so great to see them. We had an awesome time seeing Vienna together. We got to see at Ballet, though I am not sure exactly what happened in it, other than a very long dream sequence involving about 50 ballerinas. We got to see the Van Gogh exhibit at the Albertina, as well as the Klimt exhibit at the Belvedere and then Schonbrunn. We also got to go see a real movie in theaters…in ENGLISH! It was so nice. We say Burn After Reading… which is absolutely hysterical if you like that type of humor…which we do. I was sad for them to go, but I am excited to get home and see everyone in 3 weeks!!

If you read all of this, congratulations! It was a novel to write. I had an amazing 10 days traveling, and could not have asked for a better trip. I think the count of days until I come home is around 25 now. I hope you are all well, I am doing great here. I am headed to Interlaken, Switzerland this weekend…and I may be skydiving…more to come on that thought. Vienna is finally getting colder, and the Christmas markets are opening this weekend! Christmas time is coming up quickly here, and it is marvelous. Starbucks has already put out their Christmas cups, so you know it is coming. This past weekend, Claire and I stayed home to recuperate from break, and we spent a majority of our time listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies – so I will definitely be in the Christmas spirit when I get home! I am going to go study for my German test now. I love and miss you all!!

Love - C