Spring Break: Day 9, 10
Paris, France

          Days 9 and 10 of spring break were spent back in the beautiful city of Paris. The morning of April 2nd, at roughly 5:20 am, Tym and I headed to the nearest metro station where we took the train up to the airport to pick up Tym's younger brother Logan and his cousin Kirk. We got to the airport, picked up Logan first because his flight got in first and then went and picked up Kirk. Both had good flights but we glad to be out of the airplane.

Logan sleeping, like always :)

          From the airport, we rode the metro back to my apartment and Tym and I made breakfast and washed our clothes while Kirk and Logan slept. After resting and recuperating a bit we headed out so I could show them around Paris. From my apartment we walked through the Luxembourg Gardens towards the Notre Dame, along the Seine to the "Lock Bridge" by the Louvre, up by the Louvre Pyramid and on through the Tuileries Gardens. From here we walked through the Plaza de Concorde, where the guillotine was, up the Champs Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe...while stopping to get a crêpe along the way. We took the metro up to the Sacré Cœur and wandered around up there for awhile before coming back to my apartment to have dinner and sit for a bit. We ate and rested for a while and then headed out to see the Eiffel Tower for the night. After walking and walking and walking, just under a mile and a half...because we took the long, but safer, way we ended up at the Eiffel Tower. No matter how many times I go there, the Eiffel Tower will always amaze me. Unfortunately there were so many people in line that we thought we wouldn't make it up to the top in time before it closed. Instead we went to the fountains across the river and watched the light show from there. I was disappointed that Logan was not able to go up the Eiffel Tower but I'll make sure he gets to come back and go up to the top!

The Eiffel Tower during a light show.

         The next morning we woke up early and headed out to Versailles. We only had a few hours before we had to come back and pick up our luggage and rental car so we hurried to get on the train. When we got to Versailles there were quite a few people standing in line.When I came the first time, we didn't even have to wait in a line, we just went right in. From the time we stood in line, for maybe 20 minutes, the line grew and snaked up and down the large courtyard at least 5 times. I would say there were nearly 400 or 500 people in line. We were 20 people from the front when we heard alarms going off and all kinds of "important looking people" rushing to the North wing. After another 20 to 30 minutes and loads of people pushing to the front, we finally made it into Versailles, got our nerd sticks (audioguides) and headed to tour the castle. There we so many people it was sometimes hard to move! Even though it was my second time, it was still beautiful and breathtaking. We tried to get into the gardens but since it was nice enough outside for the fountains to be on, you had to pay to go into the gardens. When I went the first time, we could wander all over the grounds if we wanted to....so that was mildly disappointing. From here, we grabbed some postcards and headed back to the metro.
           We decided to take the metro straight to the car rental place and then come back and pick up our bags. Once we got there, Kirk realized he didn't have his passport and we could get the car without it. We hurried back to my apartment, got packed up and headed back to Hertz to pick up the car. After seeing how much luggage we had, the lady upgraded us to an "American" sized car. Turns out it was a Chevy car and had enough room for all of us and our stuff. Kirk drove, Tym took passenger and Logan and I took the back. After the stress of actually getting the car we then had to figure out where we were supposed to go. Paris is surrounded by a circle, anything inside the circle is Paris and anything on the outside of the circle is suburbs. We had some trouble getting the car to do what it was supposed to, it wasn't automatic, and we had some breakdowns in the middle of Parisian intersections. I think we all saw our life flash before our eyes several times while laughing so hard we were crying because the car would smell like toot every time that happened. After nearly 30 minutes, we made it to the city circle and found our exit up to Normandy.

Us in the car :)

          Although we tried to help, Logan and I realized we were much more helpful when we were asleep. So we slept, all the time :) We made it safely up to Caen to the Caen War Memorial and each pulled out our iPhones and our one iPad to download directions to each of the places we wanted to see. Mind you it was roughly 6 pm by this time and only had about 2 hours of daylight left. We decided to head up towards Omaha Beach and saw some beautiful countryside along the way. For some reason, everything in the car seemed to be funny and we all were laughing so hard! The car smelled like toot, the roads were so little and sketchy we weren't even sure we were going the right way and everything just seemed to be funny. We made it to Omaha Beach or so we thought, turns out it was a golf course/resort. This added to the funnies and after driving a little ways we found Omaha Beach. We stopped along several points to see the open area of the beach and another time to see the memorial. The sand on Omaha Beach is the finest and softest sand I've ever felt in my entire life. It was beautiful! We each took stone as a keep sake and enjoyed walking up and down the shoreline picking up rocks, getting my shoes full of sand and taking pictures. The American Cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach and we tried to get in but it had closed at 5 pm and there was no way to get in. The sun was setting and we were all hungry so we headed back on the road towards Rouen, where we would be spending the night.

Caen War Memorial

Omaha Beach Memorial

Tym taking a picture of Logan taking a picture of a little orange tractor pulling a boat. Can you tell we're from a land locked state?

Omaha Beach

Log and I 

          Rouen was less than a 2 hour drive and Logan and I slept most of the way, again. We stopped for supper at a gas station and made it to Rouen just fine. Getting through Rouen was a completely different story and we had the same issues of the car stopping the middle of intersections, driving on the wrong side of the road because that was what the sign said, driving down several bus lanes and seeing the same group of drunk people multiple times. We all had the giggles again and we all had to go to the bathroom! We checked-in and headed up to our room where we watched television in French and I was the only person seeming to enjoy it :) And then heading to bed before heading out to Amsterdam in the morning!

Spring Break: Day 7, 8
Barcelona, Spain




           Hello everyone! Day 7 and 8 of our spring break adventure took us to Barcelona, Spain. Although it felt like we were never going to get there and we had lots of problems getting to Barcelona every step of the way, we FINALLY made it and we both decided that is was probably our favorite part of the trip. 
         After getting back to Paris early that morning and having to wait for the afternoon train, we finally made it to Barcelona that night. We got to our hostel just fine, had dinner at a chinese restaurant (rather interesting to hear a Chinese accent mixed with the Spanish language...) went to bed when we got there and were up and ready for breakfast and the beach early the next morning. We headed to the grocery store to buy some snacks for the day and clearly we were tourists because I felt like I was naked walking down the street. I had a tank top and skirt on and every other lady on the street had jeans, boots, scarves, huge coats and sunglasses. They looked at me like I was literally walking naked down the street. It was extremely uncomfortable! We quickly got what we needed at the grocery store and in comparison to prices in Paris and Birmingham, they were much much lower!! We got what we needed and headed for the beach. 

A view from the beach. 

          Once we got to the beach, we set up camp...which was a sheet that we stole off of one of our beds. They did not provide us with towels, so we improvised and used sheets. When you travel, you become really good at improvising :) By this time it was roughly 11 in the morning and 70 degrees, completely beautiful. We sat and soaked up some sun for a while when I turned over and I thought I saw a naked man. Blinking and looking again, now I saw two naked men and naked children. Getting "snoozies" attention he finally rolled over and couldn't see that far because he didn't have his glasses on. So I tried to sneak pictures on my iphone so I could show Tym. Sure enough, we made camp on a nude beach.

Not the clearest picture but no one wants to see that anyway!

          The more I looked, the more naked people I saw. Looking at the entire beach, everyone on my right hand said was naked. Roughly 40 or 50 people? On the left side, there were maybe 25 people and even though they were mostly covered it was not uncommon for women and girls to not be wearing tops. There were all kinds of girls my age sitting in groups with bikini bottoms on but no tops...they looked at me funny because I was wearing my top and I looked at them funny because they weren't wearing tops!! After the shock slightly wore off, we walked down to the beach to see how cold the water was. Yep, absolutely freezing! Cold enough that after standing there for 20 seconds anything below my ankles was bright red! Enjoying the view by the water, I happened to turn to my right and see a dad and his probably 6 or 7 year old sun playing in the sand together. Naked. Nothing like building a sand castle with your son, naked. So weird. 

          Besides these shenanigans, we just laid on the beach through the afternoon and then set out for the shopping district for Tym to practice his Spanish! We looked around for several stores for a soccer jersey that we were going to buy Logan for his birthday. We found one and Tym was so excited because he got to practice his Spanish so much in all of the stores we stopped in. Surprisingly enough, people in Barcelona do not speak very much English so Tym got to practice a lot! After "shopping" for a while we headed back to the grocery store, got ingredients for fajitas and courtesy of Tym we bought two Coronas, and went back and cooked at the hostel. We spent the rest of the evening skyping with Tym's family and registering for fall semester classes at ISU. The next morning, we walked back down to the beach to fill up our two Corona bottles. We picked up seashells and filled them up with sand before heading back to get our bags at the hostel to ride the train back to France at noon. 

Layin' on the beach. 

I got sand in my shoes when we were filling up the bottles. 

          Although we were only in Barcelona for a day and a half, it was nice to just relax and spend time on the beach! We had a great time in all of the other places but the weather was beautiful in Spain and we didn't have to rush anywhere or be on time for anything. It was a really nice part of the trip! 

Spring Break: Day 4,5,6

Spring Break: Day 4, 5, 6

Rome, Pompeii and Milan, Italy

          Days 4, 5 and 6 took Tym and I to Italy! Taking the train that afternoon from Switzerland to arrive in Rome that same night took only a few hours and once we got to Rome we had to wander around a bit to find our hostel. No worries, we found it after awhile and they had snacks...so I was a happy camper. We booked the same hostel for three nights so we would just be able to leave our things in the same spot each day and not have to lug them around or change rooms. Every hostel is different. Some are just like hotels, some don't offer towels...you have to pay for them, some are like a bed and breakfast which is more like this one was. It was in the basement of an apartment complex and it had probably 4 or 5 rooms and one bathroom to share between all of them. Tym and I were the only guests when we were there so it was kind of nice because it was really homey and didn't feel like we were living out of a suitcase as much as other places did. 

          The next morning we were up bright and early and since it was warm out Tym put on his khaki shorts and I had a sundress on....clearly we were American because the Italians were all wearing heavy coats, jeans, scarves and sweaters. I was sweating in my sundress and they looked cold! Besides looking like total tourists, also because we were pale and Italians are not, we headed to the Vatican since it was only a 10 minute walk from our hostel. The Vatican is very large but beautiful. We did not go in for a tour because the line was unbelievably long but we were able to see the balcony where the Pope stands and walk around the square for a bit. Were I catholic, I think it would have meant a lot more to me or I would have understood more about it (??) but I am still glad I got to see it! 

In the front middle you can see the balcony where the Pope stands to address the public.

Pillars surrounding the circle.

Tym forgot his flag....so he was trying to do a Delta. It looks like he was having some trouble with it :)

          After the Vatican, we headed to see the coliseum. We took the metro there because it would've been a long walk. In Paris, London and other big cities there are at least 10 different metro lines all over the city. In Rome, there is Line A and Line B and they make an X across the city. Makes it easy to find which line you need to get on! There are only two lines because the Romans are afraid to dig tunnels to make the metro underground because they known they will find more ruins and whatnot and they'll have to excavate. Which in turn costs a lot of money and wastes a lot of time. Anyhow, we made it to the coliseum and it was huge! Unfortunately there is a big metal gate going around most of it so some spots are not the best for pictures. We bought our 12 euro tickets to go inside for the tour and were surprised at how big it was! Although it is not all that picturesque from the inside, the outside is definitely beautiful. Because most everything has been eroded away on the inside, it is not as beautiful to look at but something a person needs to see if they're there. 

Inside the coliseum. 

The Arc of Constantine, where the soldiers would parade through after winning a big battle.

Where it is the light brown colored flooring, that is mimicking where the arena floor would have been. Past that is the underground walk ways that were below the flooring. 

A better look at the underground walkways. 

   From the coliseum we could see all of the Roman forums, which are the ruins. Even though they are just old, crumbled down buildings, it was beautiful. They Italian landscape provides the perfect backdrop for great pictures of this area. It is crazy to think how old those buildings actually were and that we could’ve been standing on top of other buildings and ruins that still had not yet been excavated.

           After the coliseum we traveled up to see the Fountaine di Trevi, the Trevi Fountain. We got out at the metro stop and there was a cute little courtyard area with a small fountain in it. I was looking around for a map or an idea of where we were supposed to go from there and Tym was looking puzzled. He asked me why I was looking for a map because the Trevi Fountain was right there and I had to tell him the fountain we were looking for was slightly bigger than that. After wandering for a bit we found the Trevi Fountain. There were SO many people. It was even hard to move there were so many people! We sat in the sun and tried to ignore the constant act of people asking to take your picture so you can pay them. Good lord those people are annoying. Rome is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful and I hope to go back again someday but the beggers and people constantly trying to sell you things are so rude that it nearly ruins the whole day. You cannot go anywhere or enjoy anything without someone in your face always trying to get you to give them money or buy something from them. It definitely takes away from the city’s beauty. Regardless, we waited at the Trevi Fountain for Tym’s Delt friend Charlie to show up. Charlie is an architecture student, also from ISU, who is studying in Rome. It was nice to see him again and he offered to buy us beers as we walked to the Spanish Steps. I got gelato instead, which is so delicious, but those two got beers and sat in the sun drinking. I let them talk for a while and I wandered around the steps and took pictures. 

Charlie took us to see so many different sights after this that I seriously cannot even begin to remember them all. He was a great tour guide because for his architecture classes they have shown him around the city many times and he knows all about the structures and buildings all over the city! We saw so many different things, every time we turned around we were standing on a different landmark. I feel like that in Paris too but Rome has so many more landmarks! By this time we were starving and took a potty break at Charlie’s school before heading off to find supper! Finding lactose free meals is difficult in France but much more so in Italy considering all they eat is ice cream and pizza. And yes I had gelato, but being in Italy, I stomached it for the day because the gelato was delicious. At the restaurant they did not have pasta without cheese so I ordered a calzone with only ham. A calzone with only ham is exactly was they brought out. No sauce no nothing, just salty ham in bread. People in Europe have no concept of not being able to eat dairy. They just look at you like you’re an alien when you ask for no cheese or if that specific dish has milk in it. We ended up having the waitress bring some sauce out and then it was more edible. After dinner we headed back to see Charlie’s apartment and took the metro home from there. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.

           The next day Tym and I took the train down to Pompeii to see Mount Vesuvius and the Pompeii ruins. Now that has been awhile and I can’t remember everything that went wrong that day I will just briefly overview what I can remember, a very creepy strange man hitting on me on the train, almost getting kicked off the train because the ticket checker thought we had the wrong tickets, getting on the wrong metro line because it was not clearly marked, getting harassed by more men on this metro, getting off that metro because it was the wrong one, having to wait 30 minutes for next metro to come, getting on different metro and off again to wait for next line to come only to find the lines were shut down for an hour, waiting in the boonies of Italy for an hour, having to pee so bad I thought I was going to pop and cry, security man watching Tym and I wait for an hour on the security screen, him coming and letting me go pee in the weirdest bathroom in the world, yelling at us because we were “dumb Americans” who were lost, making it to Pompeii where within one block of walking distance we were harassed by so many people selling us tickets and tours that we almost did not even want to go in, coming out of Pompeii to grab a quick dinner which the man said was “the best in the world” clearly not because we watched his employees microwave it….just saying!, and finally we made it back to our train to Rome, tired, pissed and hungry. After so many bad things going wrong we were both in sassy moods and that made Pompeii hilarious. The cobblestone streets were so rough that is was hard to walk and Tym tripped several times and I laughed so hard each time I was in tears. Then I tripped and completely wiped out which was much worse than Tym had done so I go made fun of back, which was completely deserved….I supposed. Pompeii was neat when we FINALLY got there. Mount Vesuvius is huge. Literally huge. If I was alive when that volcano blew I would have been headed for the hills like it was my job. The top is flat, like the top literally blew off when the volcano erupted. Pompeii is an ancient city with all kinds of Roman buildings, a mini coliseum, a theater and whatnots that make up a small city. It was beautiful and that day was warm too so that helped perk us up after the long awful morning. Having just come into Pompeii there was a lady with a strong southern accent who seemed worried and frantic. All of a sudden she goes up to this young Asian man and says very slowly and shakily “ Dooo yaaaa’llll speaaak Ennnglishh?” and he says” Um, yes?” Turns out she had been looking for the exit for an hour and couldn’t get out. Although we felt bad for her, it was a hilarious situation. Probably much funnier in person but still funny.

Mount Vesuvius!

Court yard in an ancient Pompeii home. 

MOUNT VESUVIUS! 

A street in Pompeii.

A view of a vineyard and Mount Vesuvius! 

As you can see, the cobblestones are not the friendliest....

This is right before I ate the cobblestones.

Mount Vesuvius in the background! 

          That night we headed back to Rome and had dinner with Charlie again. This time, the dinner was completely delicious and made me look forward to Westergard spaghetti back at home, woot!!! We said our goodbyes to Charlie and headed back to the hostel to pack up and leave the next morning. 

          We were supposed to go to see the leaning tower of Pisa the next morning but the Italian train lines ruined my dream and we were not able to go. I was rather upset about it but that just means I will have to go back to Italy again some day! From Rome we headed to Milan to catch our train back to Paris. Got to the station just fine, had some last minute gelato and headed to find our train home. Turns out it was at a completely different station in Milan. We realized this too late and spent the next two hours in many different lines, information booths and talking with tourist booths trying to figure out how to get back to France to catch our train to Barcelona the next morning. Turns out they did not have anything until 11:00 PM that night and magically our railpasses did not work for this specific train so we had to pay the full fair and wait nearly 6 hours in the train station just twiddling our thumbs. We were exhausted and upset but after way too long, the train finally came and we got on board. After the longest, most stressful and most completely uncomfortable ride to France we safely arrived the next morning. It was nice to be back in a somewhat familiar place and to go to my apartment to shower and make our own lunch. 

Two sad kids just wanting to get on the train. 

          Italy is beautiful! The people are rude, aggressive, loud and pushy. The men are also 100% first class creepers and I am so glad I had Tym with me because they are very pushy and completely rude. Besides the majority of the people and the travel frustrations we had, Italy was beautiful and we had a great time! Roma is amazing and I would love to go back and spend more time there! Maybe spend a day or too on an Italian beach?