Ciao Europe!! You will most definitely be missed, but I will be back as soon as I can!
We spent one last afternoon in Switzerland shopping and chilling lakeside. It was a great way to spend the last day and I got another birthday present.. a Swiss army knife!! (that I'm SOOO pumped for!!) Then it was off to Paris for one last night. We ventured out only to realize nothing was open, so what do we do?! We rented bikes for a euro a night and rode around the city!! We saw everything we had seen the week and a half before by night on bikes with Sylvia. SO MUCH FUN. It was the perfect way to end the trip.
We started our very long journey back to the states on Wednesday at 8:30 am Paris time. We all got through security fine and had time to chill for a couple hours. Shefali and I had to separate from Danielle though unfortunately! After an 8 and a half hour plane ride, Shef and I arrived in Chicago for a 4 hour layover, only to find that Ohare had different plans for us. We expected at least one delay.. what we didn't realize is that is would turn into a 4 hour delay. So we spent over 8 hours at Ohare airport sprawled out in a corner sleeping. When we finally did board the plane, the captain tells us that we may be there another 2.5 hours. It was ridiculous since I had plans in Boulder that I was now unable to keep. After we landed at DIA, we got our bags and parted ways. I jumped in a taxi since it was 1:30 am at this time and Shef headed to Denver. Danielle's flight went well and see was in Atlanta waaaaay before we were in Denver!
Currently I'm packing up because after 24 hours of traveling yesterday, I am pushing through and driving to Nodak this afternoon with my friend Cassie. Wish me luck cause I'm gonna need it!!
Now that seemed a little whiny so I'm going to put in a few positive words!
First of all on all of our behalfs, I would like to thank each and every person that made our trip the most amazing time ever. First of all to our parents, who we could argue all day about who has the greatest rents! We love all of you so much and appreciate the opportunities we have been given!
Second, I would like to thank our hosts in Europe: Julie and Sylvia who took us in in Paris during finals and showed us a great time without complaining!! We love you girls!! Also, thanks so much to Kevin and Jean-Luc Imhof for an amazing stay in Echallens and for taking us everywhere around the gorgeous country of Switzerland. AND for making my birthday hands down the BEST birthday ever. Also thanks to Kev's friends for treating us well!
Third, thanks to our roommates at the hostels. Shaun, Dave, Monty, and Zoey.. you guys all put up with us the entire time we stayed with you and got to know you. We realize that the trio of us is kinda crazy, loud, and obnoxious sometimes (or all the time, you choose) so thanks for dealing with us!
And finally, thanks to Danielle and Shefali. You two have been the greatest travel companions anyone could ask for!! We each put our strengths into having a great trip! I miss spending every minute with you both already!! Danielle, I'm sooooooo glad that we hit it off as well as we did! Though, I'm not surprised since we both love Shefali so much!! Shef, my brown friend, I've loved every second of the last 3 years with you!! I'm so glad we could experience Europe together!! I couldn't ask for anyone better to celebrate my birthday with me I can't wait to plan our next vacation.. India?! :) Love you both!
Well that about wraps up our 2 week European adventure. We will have pics on facebook soon so no worries! You will see the amazingness we saw soon enough!!
We love you all! Thanks for keeping up with us as we ran all over!!
Peace out!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Compliments to Swiss – aka Kevin
A cultural analysis of Europeans and Americans (namely the men):
Our time has come to an end on this beautiful continent and as we sit on the train to Paris we are discussing all the differences we noticed in European vs American culture. This is not a criticism of American culture, but simply a reflection of our experience as we traveled across Europe. These are just a few things that we feel we should bring back to America as a positive addition to our lifestyle.
The first thing we noticed about most Europeans is that they simply have good manners. They opened doors for us, served us as the guests and women of the table first, offered food and wine when our plates/glasses were almost empty, etc. They were very attuned to our feelings and needs. Whenever we wanted something, or didn’t even know we wanted something, it was offered to us. During our social interactions, we found Europeans to be very analytical and intelligent. They had a worldly intelligence that we aren’t used to. In school we learn American history and not a lot of world history. In Europe, they learn it all, so their views were very interesting for us to hear. An opinion was always given that made us think and realize a lot of things. When the conversation turned into something political or controversial or even mundane, they were always there to give their opinions but also see it from our view and discuss all the details. We felt like we could give our opinion and even if it was different, we wouldn’t feel like we were wrong. We felt respected in our opinions and actions, no matter how ridiculous they seemed. We also found them to be very generous. When we stayed in Switzerland for example, Kevin and his father Jean-Luc were SO kind to us. We felt like princesses. They offered everything to us multiple times. They took us in for 3 days without question and let us take over Kevin’s room (which went from a very clean room to a mess with us three in it, thanks for understanding Kev! J). Kevin’s friends offered us everything they had and bought us what we needed/wanted, because girls don’t pay in Switzerland (or so we were told!). We were very impressed with the hospitality and generosity that these men offered us. We also noticed that Europeans are very fashionable and clean. They were always dressed nicely and smelled great because they take care of themselves well (not that American men don’t.. it’s just an observation remember!). One last quality that we noticed is that they’re very honest. We encountered a lot of people that said it like it is. Sometimes we found that they are a little forward, such as men who thought we were beautiful and let us know it multiple times, but most of them found us exotic and liked us for being American. We thought maybe comparing our hostel roommates to the Europeans would be wise to show one big difference. Our three hostel roommates were from St. Louis and they were nice guys don’t get us wrong but unlike all the European people in general that we met, these boys did not invite us into their homes in St. Louis (which is completely 100% fine.. it’s just that Europeans make a connection and wholeheartedly welcome us into their homes to learn about their cultures and cities).
Overall, all three of us have encountered Americans and found a lot of them to have some of these qualities but also a lot of them that do not have these qualities that we appreciate so much. We realize that it depends on where we are in the states though as well.
Something we noticed that doesn’t have to do with men in particular is that American news revolves around America while European news involves the entire world. We start the news with a story about a water skiing squirrel for Pete’s sake and maybe end with 3 minutes of news from the other side of the world. There are just so many differences between the oceans. Another example is Europeans eat with their elbows on the table because underneath is not polite. It started in war times because of weapons under the table, but it is still used today. We also sat down for aporos, which is wine and a snack with our hosts. Then we had dinner and finally cheese for dessert. It was little lessons like this that made us realize how different and amazing our cultures can be.
All things left out...
As thorough as that blog was sammy, it wasn't enough to cover a few essentials...namely the Vatican! On Friday, Justin (our very attractive yet very arrogant) tour guide took us on a 5 hour tour of the Vatican. Let recap, Vatican is the smallest country in the world, but it is also the richest. It likes to keep its currency within its walls and sells for about 3 Euros for a Vatican Euro. It houses 120 swiss guards and their families of which we know one! (Sup Timmy?). The pope is the king/president/big kahuna of the Vatican and he has a direct line to god. He can also excommunicate anyone he pleases (that means he decides who he can send to hell). German by origin, he is not very popular with the people. They "lovingly" call him "joey the rat" or "paparazzi". Justin, our tour guide, gave us a quick history of the Vatican and the origin of the term. Ironically, the name "Vatican" came from pagean origins from the goddess that guards the doors to the other side - Vaticinia. He talked about Nero (the most effed up emperor of the Rome that was said to have conspired to start the great 64AD fire) and his extra curricular activites... lets just say that he likes playing dress-up alot and really got into his character. We saw the beautiful Sistine Chapel and learned about all the biblical stories Michealangelo depicted on the panels. But the real master piece was "The last Judgement" by Michealangelo... he was commissioned to paint that in the latter part of his life and he resented the Catholic church for it. Its absolutely magnificint and breaks all last judgement molds. We also left the tour to check out my favorite painting... "The School of Athens" by Rafaeal! I knew it was big, but didn't expect it to be as large in scale has it really was! Finally, we ended the tour in St. Peters Basilica. A cool fact, all Popes are "decendants" of St. Peter (Jesus's bff). From the Basilica, we saw where the Pope's window was and the balcony where he waves to his people from.
OH! I almost forgot... before the tour started, Justin took us to the best Sandwich shop in the city! I am not sure what it was called but it has hot sandwiches (even for a vegeterian like me!) that were simply delicious! Danielle and I then shared some gelato (Coconut, Chocolate Hazelnut and Black Cherry - mmmmmm!). Needless to say, with the ample amouts on pastarias and pizzarias all over Rome neither of us starved.
So now here we are... in Switzerland having the best time with Kevin and his dad. Last night they made us an amazing meal (even something for a vegeteriain like me that they have never met) and we enjoyed apertif - appetizers to open up our hunger with wine and then rice veggies and some sort of meat - wouldn't know. For desert we had 5 different types of cheeses with wine and then Jean Luc (Kev's dad) gave us enough cocolate to make us all obese for a lifetime... so guess what i'm bringing back parent?
Earlier that day, we went Geneva to explore the city. All you poli si majors out there... we saw the United Nations and WTO! Couldn't see anything from inside as it was a national holiday and all shops were closed... lucky wallet. We also walked around the lake, which the Swiss (not Genevans) don't like being called Lake Geneva but rather Lac Leman due to the fact that the lake (monsterous in size) is not ONLY associated with Geneva.... oof Europeans! :) We saw the largerst man made geyser and even ran through it! (Pics to come)... and finally closed the day enjoying some icecream by the water filled with swans.
We are now headed off to Luasane to shop and chill before we jump on a train back to Paris! We are going to attempt to go up the Eiffle Tower ( hopefully in the knick of time) and see the Arc de Triumph by night! The trip is almost over and we are all a little sad as we enjoy our last day in Europe. We are looking forward to sharing our stories and pictures in person! See you all very soon. Much love people of America! See you in a few days!
OH! I almost forgot... before the tour started, Justin took us to the best Sandwich shop in the city! I am not sure what it was called but it has hot sandwiches (even for a vegeterian like me!) that were simply delicious! Danielle and I then shared some gelato (Coconut, Chocolate Hazelnut and Black Cherry - mmmmmm!). Needless to say, with the ample amouts on pastarias and pizzarias all over Rome neither of us starved.
So now here we are... in Switzerland having the best time with Kevin and his dad. Last night they made us an amazing meal (even something for a vegeteriain like me that they have never met) and we enjoyed apertif - appetizers to open up our hunger with wine and then rice veggies and some sort of meat - wouldn't know. For desert we had 5 different types of cheeses with wine and then Jean Luc (Kev's dad) gave us enough cocolate to make us all obese for a lifetime... so guess what i'm bringing back parent?
Earlier that day, we went Geneva to explore the city. All you poli si majors out there... we saw the United Nations and WTO! Couldn't see anything from inside as it was a national holiday and all shops were closed... lucky wallet. We also walked around the lake, which the Swiss (not Genevans) don't like being called Lake Geneva but rather Lac Leman due to the fact that the lake (monsterous in size) is not ONLY associated with Geneva.... oof Europeans! :) We saw the largerst man made geyser and even ran through it! (Pics to come)... and finally closed the day enjoying some icecream by the water filled with swans.
We are now headed off to Luasane to shop and chill before we jump on a train back to Paris! We are going to attempt to go up the Eiffle Tower ( hopefully in the knick of time) and see the Arc de Triumph by night! The trip is almost over and we are all a little sad as we enjoy our last day in Europe. We are looking forward to sharing our stories and pictures in person! See you all very soon. Much love people of America! See you in a few days!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Bonjour from the Alps/amazing views of Switzerland!
Well hello to all of you that haven't heard from us in DAYS!! We apologize for not keeping you updated, but it's been busy!!
We are now in Switzerland.. Echallens to be exact if you wanted to google map it our of curiousity!! SO to update you all on the days we've been having, we will start with Friday since we ended on Thursday! The night was a blast and we met a lot of cool people.. Canadians and Brits actually. The next morning/afternoon we headed to the Pantheon, which is AMAZING (just like everything else here!). We spun around in the middle and had our minds blown!! Raphael's tomb is there as well. We got some super delicious coffee drink and then headed to dinner, which was great!! :) We saw the Trevi Fountain, made our wishes, and started our journey back to the hostel!
Saturday, we woke up in a frenzy and packed as quickly as possible. Danielle and I tried to see the Cappuchian crypts, but were 15 min short sadly. We about cried! BUT instead of getting ripped off paying 25 euro for the cab, we only had to dish our 5 euro! So we thought positively!
We jumped on the train to Switzerland next. Shefali slept until Milan while Danielle and I looked at pictures and watched movies on our ipods. We had a stop in Milan so we grabbed a bite to eat at the restaurant and ran into people that we had met in Rome! Small world!! After chatting with them we hopped on the next train to Bern where Swiss (Kevin, my friend who studied abroad at CU last year) picked us up.
We arrived at his house with all of our luggage and changed for the night! We LOVE the drives and houses here, they are so cute (a word we overuse, or so Kev thinks so!) We had only 1 hour to go until the birthday celebration commenced so we headed to his friends house to chill before they took us dancing and showed us the nightlife of Lausanne! We were very safe since they are all part of the Swiss army and knew Kevin very well!
We got home pretty late with the best sandwiches in Switzerland in our hands and hit the hay.. when we finally woke up, we got ready and headed up the windy Alps to a panoramic view of the country! It was fantastic! We could see all of Lake Geneva, the Alps, France in the distance, the place where they make all the super duper expensive watches, etc, etc, etc. As we headed back down the mountain, Swiss explained all of the great views and little villages to us.
By that time it was time to head out for the night.. so we had no idea where we were going because it was my birthday surprise. Good thing we dressed up because it was the most beautiful and classy place EVER! Like literally had the best view of Switzerland.. I would say and everyone else would say it's honestly top 3 views in the ENTIRE world! We sat on the patio for awhile before dinner and watched the sun go down. Omg, best birthday ever?! I think so. I don't know what could have made it more perfect?! Maybe just all of our readers being there with us!?! After dinner and a very good chat, we went to a little festival in another village that was a very good time! For you all we would compare it to like a fair.. but with Swiss people speaking French! They did have karaoke, but the line was too long for us to get in! Bummer!
Anyway, it's now late so I'm off to bed.. but thanks everyone for the birthday wishes on facebook and email! I love you all as does Shefali and Danielle!
On another quick note before I go, I believe our French is getting a little better (or so we think).. we even ordered our own meals today! Props to us! :)
We will try to post again before we leave this amazing, beautiful, spectacular, fabulous, (and every other word that means GREAT) place. It's not guaranteed, but cross your fingers :)
Ciao America!!
We are now in Switzerland.. Echallens to be exact if you wanted to google map it our of curiousity!! SO to update you all on the days we've been having, we will start with Friday since we ended on Thursday! The night was a blast and we met a lot of cool people.. Canadians and Brits actually. The next morning/afternoon we headed to the Pantheon, which is AMAZING (just like everything else here!). We spun around in the middle and had our minds blown!! Raphael's tomb is there as well. We got some super delicious coffee drink and then headed to dinner, which was great!! :) We saw the Trevi Fountain, made our wishes, and started our journey back to the hostel!
Saturday, we woke up in a frenzy and packed as quickly as possible. Danielle and I tried to see the Cappuchian crypts, but were 15 min short sadly. We about cried! BUT instead of getting ripped off paying 25 euro for the cab, we only had to dish our 5 euro! So we thought positively!
We jumped on the train to Switzerland next. Shefali slept until Milan while Danielle and I looked at pictures and watched movies on our ipods. We had a stop in Milan so we grabbed a bite to eat at the restaurant and ran into people that we had met in Rome! Small world!! After chatting with them we hopped on the next train to Bern where Swiss (Kevin, my friend who studied abroad at CU last year) picked us up.
We arrived at his house with all of our luggage and changed for the night! We LOVE the drives and houses here, they are so cute (a word we overuse, or so Kev thinks so!) We had only 1 hour to go until the birthday celebration commenced so we headed to his friends house to chill before they took us dancing and showed us the nightlife of Lausanne! We were very safe since they are all part of the Swiss army and knew Kevin very well!
We got home pretty late with the best sandwiches in Switzerland in our hands and hit the hay.. when we finally woke up, we got ready and headed up the windy Alps to a panoramic view of the country! It was fantastic! We could see all of Lake Geneva, the Alps, France in the distance, the place where they make all the super duper expensive watches, etc, etc, etc. As we headed back down the mountain, Swiss explained all of the great views and little villages to us.
By that time it was time to head out for the night.. so we had no idea where we were going because it was my birthday surprise. Good thing we dressed up because it was the most beautiful and classy place EVER! Like literally had the best view of Switzerland.. I would say and everyone else would say it's honestly top 3 views in the ENTIRE world! We sat on the patio for awhile before dinner and watched the sun go down. Omg, best birthday ever?! I think so. I don't know what could have made it more perfect?! Maybe just all of our readers being there with us!?! After dinner and a very good chat, we went to a little festival in another village that was a very good time! For you all we would compare it to like a fair.. but with Swiss people speaking French! They did have karaoke, but the line was too long for us to get in! Bummer!
Anyway, it's now late so I'm off to bed.. but thanks everyone for the birthday wishes on facebook and email! I love you all as does Shefali and Danielle!
On another quick note before I go, I believe our French is getting a little better (or so we think).. we even ordered our own meals today! Props to us! :)
We will try to post again before we leave this amazing, beautiful, spectacular, fabulous, (and every other word that means GREAT) place. It's not guaranteed, but cross your fingers :)
Ciao America!!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Best Day Ever ( In Italia-Roma)
Bonjourno!
So this is my first official blog as me ( Sam was posing before, she wants a legit i-talian name lol). So we started the day off yesterday morning really stressed out! You have no idea how hard it is to contact/ cancel flights on Ryanair, which suprisingly (not) does not acknowledge any excuse short of death haha. So we then skype all our family members to ensure them that we have not fallen into a crypt and printed vouchers for our hop on/off bus tour- they refused to look at my netbook for the confirmation #. After that debacle, we ran around trying to find our neon green bus, not knowing the name of the company.... Only us! We get on and get off at the Trevi Fountain stop after Shef dozed off for like 10 minutes on our 20 euro tour only to shop for the next 4 hours without hopping back on... WE GOT THE SICKEST CLOTHES EVER-Be jealous. We're poor now though :( Despite the finance issues, we splurged on a glorious feast of wine, bread, pasta in true italian style. Then we actually made it to the fountain we tried to get to originally, throwing in coins for a copious amount of wishes- to be safe.
So then we hit up our sketchy little hostel ( no really it was cute other than the bed bugs and room raider worthy sheets). We started to get ready to hit club ALIEN ( non-existent btw after a 30 euro cab ride spoken in Spanish) when our roommates walked in on a a team-work effort of prepping. Sam practically cornrowing my hair standing on the bed ( cute french braids) in her dress, me holding up Shef's mirror, etc. They were in awe ( and impressed) with our efficiency needless to say. At 1 we finally headed out and arrived to an irish pub on karaoke night. I am no longer a karaoke virgin since our sweet rendition of.... Baby Got Back. We rocked it pretty hardcore, so good that Sam got propositioned by a forty year old couple!!! Can you say menage cinque? After a great night we got up early to switch hostels, less sketch but minus the St.Louis trifecta! If you guys are reading this, whadup?
Fast forward, today. After switching hostels, we got at The Yellow ( Sam was pumped to see Chuck Norris paraphenalia on like all the walls and is super excited to try the Chuck-Norris-Roundhouse-kick-to-the-face shot. Sam says: "This one's for Ali!') and settled in and headed for the Colosseo ( The Colosseum) by day for round two. After some gladiator re-enactments, we spent like an hour posing for pictures spelling out the letters- once again only us :) Then it rained and we headed back ( after dancing in it first) on the metro (sardine style- pushing old ladies and all). So what's next you say? An Australian guy at the Colosseum convinced us to go on a pub crawl - it better live up to the hype. Check back for the deats!
Ciao,
Dani, Shef, and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.
So this is my first official blog as me ( Sam was posing before, she wants a legit i-talian name lol). So we started the day off yesterday morning really stressed out! You have no idea how hard it is to contact/ cancel flights on Ryanair, which suprisingly (not) does not acknowledge any excuse short of death haha. So we then skype all our family members to ensure them that we have not fallen into a crypt and printed vouchers for our hop on/off bus tour- they refused to look at my netbook for the confirmation #. After that debacle, we ran around trying to find our neon green bus, not knowing the name of the company.... Only us! We get on and get off at the Trevi Fountain stop after Shef dozed off for like 10 minutes on our 20 euro tour only to shop for the next 4 hours without hopping back on... WE GOT THE SICKEST CLOTHES EVER-Be jealous. We're poor now though :( Despite the finance issues, we splurged on a glorious feast of wine, bread, pasta in true italian style. Then we actually made it to the fountain we tried to get to originally, throwing in coins for a copious amount of wishes- to be safe.
So then we hit up our sketchy little hostel ( no really it was cute other than the bed bugs and room raider worthy sheets). We started to get ready to hit club ALIEN ( non-existent btw after a 30 euro cab ride spoken in Spanish) when our roommates walked in on a a team-work effort of prepping. Sam practically cornrowing my hair standing on the bed ( cute french braids) in her dress, me holding up Shef's mirror, etc. They were in awe ( and impressed) with our efficiency needless to say. At 1 we finally headed out and arrived to an irish pub on karaoke night. I am no longer a karaoke virgin since our sweet rendition of.... Baby Got Back. We rocked it pretty hardcore, so good that Sam got propositioned by a forty year old couple!!! Can you say menage cinque? After a great night we got up early to switch hostels, less sketch but minus the St.Louis trifecta! If you guys are reading this, whadup?
Fast forward, today. After switching hostels, we got at The Yellow ( Sam was pumped to see Chuck Norris paraphenalia on like all the walls and is super excited to try the Chuck-Norris-Roundhouse-kick-to-the-face shot. Sam says: "This one's for Ali!') and settled in and headed for the Colosseo ( The Colosseum) by day for round two. After some gladiator re-enactments, we spent like an hour posing for pictures spelling out the letters- once again only us :) Then it rained and we headed back ( after dancing in it first) on the metro (sardine style- pushing old ladies and all). So what's next you say? An Australian guy at the Colosseum convinced us to go on a pub crawl - it better live up to the hype. Check back for the deats!
Ciao,
Dani, Shef, and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Bonjourno!
Now that we are no longer in France, we had to start speaking Italian which has proven to be much easier than French!
We spent most of our day on the train yesterday.. made some friends from the US and Canada on it and tried to sleep! The countryside was beautiful!! We saw the infamous Swiss Alps and super cute little villages!
When we got in last night we got to the hostel. It's actually not too bad and our roommates ended up being 3 boys from St. Louis! They are also doing Europe up in 2 short little weeks!
After getting settled and showering we got some Indian food.. and surprisingly I very much enjoyed it! Shefali has FINALLY after 3 years turned me on to liking it! Then we headed off to see the Colosseum at night and it's amazing!! After that we tried to find the Ice Club, and along the way ran into some hilarious people from Ohio.
We finally made it to the Ice Club, which is great! I will post the link at the bottom of this so check it out! It's literally a club made of all ice including the glasses! They give you a warm cape like thing and gloves and send you into the igloo! Pictures to come! :)
Anyway, today we are off to do a hop-on-hop-off type of deal and see what crazy adventures we can get into!!
Have a great day America!!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Helloooooo!!!
Hello everyone!!
We have had a crazy few days!
Today we were supposed to leave for Barcelona like in the AM.. but we ran into some problems (just our luck).
Eurail wouldn't let us board soooooooooo after a very long time we finally decided to travel to Roma roma ma ah.. (or Rome for those of you who are non-Gaga fans!), very early tomorrow/today morning.
We are leaving for Rome a day early putting us in Switzerland a day early as well.
We WERE quite upset about the no-Barcelona trip until we went to the Musee d'Orsay today (which is amazing!!.. exhibits such as the Von Gogh exhibit.. and others.. amazing! :)
After that we hit up a bike tour which turned out great as well! Our tour guide was awesome and we got a ton of exercise while seeing some great things around the city! It was super fun as we ended the bike tour with a boat tour and free wine for those who felt inclined!
We leave super early in the AM so we are letting you know what the new deats* are! Wish us luck in Rome!
Peace and love to all!! :) :) :)
We have had a crazy few days!
Today we were supposed to leave for Barcelona like in the AM.. but we ran into some problems (just our luck).
Eurail wouldn't let us board soooooooooo after a very long time we finally decided to travel to Roma roma ma ah.. (or Rome for those of you who are non-Gaga fans!), very early tomorrow/today morning.
We are leaving for Rome a day early putting us in Switzerland a day early as well.
We WERE quite upset about the no-Barcelona trip until we went to the Musee d'Orsay today (which is amazing!!.. exhibits such as the Von Gogh exhibit.. and others.. amazing! :)
After that we hit up a bike tour which turned out great as well! Our tour guide was awesome and we got a ton of exercise while seeing some great things around the city! It was super fun as we ended the bike tour with a boat tour and free wine for those who felt inclined!
We leave super early in the AM so we are letting you know what the new deats* are! Wish us luck in Rome!
Peace and love to all!! :) :) :)
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Oh the packing continues...
So as Sam mentioned we leave for Barcelona tomorrow! We are embarking on a 11:29am train and arriving in Barcelona at around 8. With one back pack and a tiny carry on each, the three of us have managed to pack 10 days worth of clothes/supplies/food... AMAZING.
Few highlights of our trip so far:
1) Julie, her roomate Silvia and her ADORABLE Parisian apartment
2) The DELICIOUS chocolate crossiants from the downstairs bakery.
3) Louis XIV and his balling life style
4) CREPES! CREPES! CREPES! (Sam disagrees)
5) Rick Steve and his tours.
6) Montmart and the racy shops/ businessmen on the carvings in the sacred church.
7) BEAUTIFUL Notre Dame and its flying buttresses
8) Sam trying to speak French
We will try to upload a few pics for your enjoyment soon!
More to come... from BARCELONA! The Eurrail adventure starts NOW! Take care party people!
Cheers,
Shefali
Paris a la Rick Steves
Greetings from the city of lights!
This is all of us writing from Shef's account so we would all like to say bonjour! :)
It's been a busy freaking trip already! The metro and Rick Steves have been our best friends! Rick Steves by the way is the man who wrote a whole tour guide book of Paris and we have referred to him for a lot of things this trip :)
When we got in on Thursday we headed out to Pere Lachaise, then had our first cafe experience of the trip eating fries that cost an arm and a leg! Then we went on a boat tour, which Danielle and I (Sam) have done before so we thought it would be good.. it wasn't. It was the tour guide's first time and we were unable to understand most of it.. but we saw all of Paris from the Seine! Then we headed back to Julie's and passed out... dang jet lag!
Yesterday, we woke up and went to the Louvre.. saw the Mona Lisa and followed Rick Steves masterpiece tour around the museum.. We decided that he pretty much rocks! As we were standing outside the museum by the triangles (built by an American :), we met the first people that fell in love with us because we were American.. we had a crowd of 10 French kids gathered around us as we talked.
After the Louvre, we walked through the Tuilleries and hit up another cafe to buy coca cola and coffee. Coke by the way is about $5.. for one about the size of a can.. nuts! Then we headed to Notre Dame as it started raining. By the way.. the weather in Paris is terrible!! After Notre Dame we headed to Sacre Coure which is 240 steps up (yay for exercise!).. but there was a French catholic service going on so we sat in and tried to understand it... very interesting! After that we headed to Montmartre which is a street where a ton of famous artists lived and it's pretty cool. We saw Moulin Rouge along Pig Alley and headed back to Julie's for a night on the town! Six of us hventured out for a night of dancing and fun! :)
This morning we headed to Versailles on the train. We saw the royal palace and everything inside! We decided we want to live like Louis XIV because all he did was spend money, party, and have a good time. We tried to see Marie Antoinette's quarters, but it was closed by the time we got there because we were frolicking in the gardens all afternoon.
Much to Danielle's dismay, we went to an American restaurant to eat and Danielle and I ordered burgers.. it was like eating raw meat it was so pink.. like literally eating the cow. Uck! Shout out to Ali since you would be the only one to enjoy that!
On our way out of Versailles, we had to pull out our train tickets which in typical Shefali fashion, we missed the first train because it took her 5 minutes to find her ticket!
Now we're back at Julie's packing for Barcelona since we head out in the am on the Eurail for our next adventure! (if anyone was wondering why I haven't mentioned the Eiffel Tower it's because we haven't gone yet.. we are climbing it when we get back from Switzerland on the 25th!)
Well, that's all for now folks! We hope our blog is sometime entertaining, but if not, that's just too darn bad!
Have fun on that side of the world beautiful people! We love all of you!!
This is all of us writing from Shef's account so we would all like to say bonjour! :)
It's been a busy freaking trip already! The metro and Rick Steves have been our best friends! Rick Steves by the way is the man who wrote a whole tour guide book of Paris and we have referred to him for a lot of things this trip :)
When we got in on Thursday we headed out to Pere Lachaise, then had our first cafe experience of the trip eating fries that cost an arm and a leg! Then we went on a boat tour, which Danielle and I (Sam) have done before so we thought it would be good.. it wasn't. It was the tour guide's first time and we were unable to understand most of it.. but we saw all of Paris from the Seine! Then we headed back to Julie's and passed out... dang jet lag!
Yesterday, we woke up and went to the Louvre.. saw the Mona Lisa and followed Rick Steves masterpiece tour around the museum.. We decided that he pretty much rocks! As we were standing outside the museum by the triangles (built by an American :), we met the first people that fell in love with us because we were American.. we had a crowd of 10 French kids gathered around us as we talked.
After the Louvre, we walked through the Tuilleries and hit up another cafe to buy coca cola and coffee. Coke by the way is about $5.. for one about the size of a can.. nuts! Then we headed to Notre Dame as it started raining. By the way.. the weather in Paris is terrible!! After Notre Dame we headed to Sacre Coure which is 240 steps up (yay for exercise!).. but there was a French catholic service going on so we sat in and tried to understand it... very interesting! After that we headed to Montmartre which is a street where a ton of famous artists lived and it's pretty cool. We saw Moulin Rouge along Pig Alley and headed back to Julie's for a night on the town! Six of us hventured out for a night of dancing and fun! :)
This morning we headed to Versailles on the train. We saw the royal palace and everything inside! We decided we want to live like Louis XIV because all he did was spend money, party, and have a good time. We tried to see Marie Antoinette's quarters, but it was closed by the time we got there because we were frolicking in the gardens all afternoon.
Much to Danielle's dismay, we went to an American restaurant to eat and Danielle and I ordered burgers.. it was like eating raw meat it was so pink.. like literally eating the cow. Uck! Shout out to Ali since you would be the only one to enjoy that!
On our way out of Versailles, we had to pull out our train tickets which in typical Shefali fashion, we missed the first train because it took her 5 minutes to find her ticket!
Now we're back at Julie's packing for Barcelona since we head out in the am on the Eurail for our next adventure! (if anyone was wondering why I haven't mentioned the Eiffel Tower it's because we haven't gone yet.. we are climbing it when we get back from Switzerland on the 25th!)
Well, that's all for now folks! We hope our blog is sometime entertaining, but if not, that's just too darn bad!
Have fun on that side of the world beautiful people! We love all of you!!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Bonjour! Greeting from Paris, France
So getting here was no easy task... after a dramatic departure from Denver (Shefali!) and arriving to the gate in the knick of time... and taking off 2hours later (Damn Ohare!) we arrived at ORD- Chicago 5 hours ahead of our Paris flight. Boarding the flight, here was the list of things to worry about upon arrival to Paris:
1)Passing 8 hours on a flight that had Fantastic Mr. Fox for its main entertainment.
2) Immigration - Shefali and her Visas
3) Finding Danielle in the hustle and bustle of the Paris airport.
4) Contacting Julie- this is a more dramatic story for later.
5) Getting to Julie (after a 50 Euro taxi drive)
Here is an unexpected one :
6) Hauling 10 pieces of luggage up 6 - that's right SIX! flights of stairs.
How did we overcome all these obstacles? Let me start from the beginning.
1) Sam and I spent 8 hours on the flight braiding my hair, learning/ teaching sign language, practicing sign language by signing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (This one goes out to Lexi!) and sleeping.
2) Well immigration was no problem at all... as I played it cool as a cucumber. Said my "Bounjours and Mercies" perfectly and strutted out to "no return zone" forgetting to claim my bags! Typical.
(Shefali went to shower in Julie's very strange, very interesting shower so this is Sam taking over! Hello!)
3) After forgetting our bags, we went back to retrieve them.. as we passed the security guards with their AK-47s (haha), one called us what we can only assume was the word "idiot" in French.. a language barrier that has already proven difficult for us! Even with our French and Italian phrase books!
4) Next we hopped into a taxi with a man that barely speaks English.. (he also had his English phrase book).. Shefali attempted to speak French and succeeded!
5) So after the very expensive taxi ride, we arrived at Julie's with no phone to contact her. As I watched the plethura of baggage, Danielle and Shef ran to a pay phone.. with no luck.. then the Orange store to get a sim card.. with no luck.. finally they came back to me much later and went with a calling card.. finally we got ahold of her!
6) So we're at Julie's while we all shower.. in a shower with a handheld spout, one shower door (so her bathroom may be soaked now :)
Anyway, we're off to Pere Lachiase (the cemetery with Jim Morrison's and Oscar Wilde's graves), then the metrorail to Notre Dame and the Louvre and a boat tour!
We will catch ya'll on the flip side!!
1)Passing 8 hours on a flight that had Fantastic Mr. Fox for its main entertainment.
2) Immigration - Shefali and her Visas
3) Finding Danielle in the hustle and bustle of the Paris airport.
4) Contacting Julie- this is a more dramatic story for later.
5) Getting to Julie (after a 50 Euro taxi drive)
Here is an unexpected one :
6) Hauling 10 pieces of luggage up 6 - that's right SIX! flights of stairs.
How did we overcome all these obstacles? Let me start from the beginning.
1) Sam and I spent 8 hours on the flight braiding my hair, learning/ teaching sign language, practicing sign language by signing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (This one goes out to Lexi!) and sleeping.
2) Well immigration was no problem at all... as I played it cool as a cucumber. Said my "Bounjours and Mercies" perfectly and strutted out to "no return zone" forgetting to claim my bags! Typical.
(Shefali went to shower in Julie's very strange, very interesting shower so this is Sam taking over! Hello!)
3) After forgetting our bags, we went back to retrieve them.. as we passed the security guards with their AK-47s (haha), one called us what we can only assume was the word "idiot" in French.. a language barrier that has already proven difficult for us! Even with our French and Italian phrase books!
4) Next we hopped into a taxi with a man that barely speaks English.. (he also had his English phrase book).. Shefali attempted to speak French and succeeded!
5) So after the very expensive taxi ride, we arrived at Julie's with no phone to contact her. As I watched the plethura of baggage, Danielle and Shef ran to a pay phone.. with no luck.. then the Orange store to get a sim card.. with no luck.. finally they came back to me much later and went with a calling card.. finally we got ahold of her!
6) So we're at Julie's while we all shower.. in a shower with a handheld spout, one shower door (so her bathroom may be soaked now :)
Anyway, we're off to Pere Lachiase (the cemetery with Jim Morrison's and Oscar Wilde's graves), then the metrorail to Notre Dame and the Louvre and a boat tour!
We will catch ya'll on the flip side!!
Monday, May 10, 2010
36 hours until the best two weeks ever!
For everyone just joining us, welcome!!
We leave the states Wednesday and reach Paris on the 27th bright and early!!
After spending the weekend in Paris with a friend, we will be heading to Barcelona the 16th to stay in a hostel and have a good ol' time!
The morning of the 19th, we fly out to Rome for the next 4 nights! The morning of the 23rd, we are off to Switzerland to see another friend. By the 25th, we will be back in Paris ready to leave the next morning!
Wish us luck :)
We leave the states Wednesday and reach Paris on the 27th bright and early!!
After spending the weekend in Paris with a friend, we will be heading to Barcelona the 16th to stay in a hostel and have a good ol' time!
The morning of the 19th, we fly out to Rome for the next 4 nights! The morning of the 23rd, we are off to Switzerland to see another friend. By the 25th, we will be back in Paris ready to leave the next morning!
Wish us luck :)
Friday, May 7, 2010
5 DAYS!!!
Soooooooooo we need to skype and figure out some stuff.. such as who will be bringing what and Eurail and flight info :)
It's so close!! YAY!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
10 Days!!!
It's getting sooooooooooooo close!! I can hardly contain my excitement! I have no motivation to study for finals.. haha.
As for shoes.. 2 :)
Anddddd, I've told some of my German friends where we will be and when so they may or may not come see us!
Gearing up?
Well its getting to be close to the trip... I'm typing this while chatting with Danielle on the phone and she is going on and on about a duche bag at work, but my mind is on nothing but this trip! The only thing that is standing in our way is FINALS! At least my international finance class is coming to some use for this trip.. i'm an expert at calculating exchange rates. I ramble....
The big question on everyones mind is how many shoes do I pack!?
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