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Monday April 7th

Right off the bus Michael and I were greeted by pretty little Czech girl named Sima. She took us back to her house to drop off our bags and she told us that her mother had food prepared for us. Sima’s mother and sweet pup greeted us at her flat while the smell of home cooked food spilled through the door.

Veggie soup first, then a whole meal of traditional dumplings, ham, and spinach. I was stuffed, but then out came coffee, cake, oranges, carbonated water, and the list goes on. We made plans with Sima what we wanted to see, and Mikah (Sima’s mom) stocked us with cakes and coffee for the road.

A special Czech sweet that smells delicious from even blocks away.

Sima being our pretty tour guide.

Sima

Prague from the Castle

Sima again

We watched sunset from a hill about a mile from the castle. Sima loves coffee as much as I do, so we sat with our packed coffee and watched the sun fall behind the wonderful city.

Me!

We sat and watched the city lights come on and sipped on our coffee into the night. Prague had done a good job at winning my heart over.

Tuesday April 8th –

We woke up to the smell of coffee and breakfast, and a whole lot of cuddles from Sima’s puppy Nicey.

A great thing that Prague does is that your all day transportation ticket covers subways, buses, and little boats that go all over the city.

The cutest little bookshop right off Charles Bridge.

One of my favorite things we did in Prague was hike to the Monastery on a hill.

We got home earlier in the day since we left so early, and Sima’s mother was preparing a feast for us. A few of their friends wanted to come over to meet her American friends. We watched as people prepared the food and we talked and laughed and shared about our life at home. I cannot express how amazing to me it is that people could sit around the table and have conversation and laugh together even though only Sima could understand both languages (Czech and English). These are the times I am most grateful for.

Something that really struck me with Sima’s family is how complete strangers can open their house to someone, like Sima and her mother did to me, and love them so unconditionally. Sima and her mother fed me to the point I couldn’t breath, and gave me anything I needed, whether I asked for it or not. When we said goodbye to Sima’s mother the next day, she had tears in her eyes. How could someone I just met, care so much? Her heart was so big and full of love. I thought I might even tear up. I regret now not having taken her portrait. I always kick myself for that. I left Prague that morning with a heavy but full heart. What I also left with was a feeling that I wanted to be that kind of a blessing to someone else. I wanted complete strangers to feel loved by me for no reason at all, with nothing expected in return. I think Sima and her mother are a good example of what Christ’s love is like. It’s not flashy or judgmental, and it’s not perfect. But it’s real, and it’s full and selfless–but it’s more than just a feeling. It’s an action. It does. Love does. (that’s the title of another amazing book I’d recommend to everyone. It’s life changing.) And even more than that, it’s an action that rubs off onto others.

I’m currently in Croatia, and my next blogpost will be from Munich, Germany!

April 5th our bus got into Berlin, Germany at 9am. Immediately things were a little more difficult because everything was in german, but this time we didn’t have anyone to help translate for us, no wifi, no cellphone minutes, and people didn’t seem to speak much English. We eventually made it to our correct subway stop, where there was a shopping center nearby. Once there we found a few minutes of free wifi so we could look up directions to the place we were staying. Airbnb is a site where people rent out spare apartments or rooms in their houses to tourists and that is where we found this place, so it was a little more tricky to find than a touristy hostel. After unpacking we looked online to see the things we would want to visit in Berlin. A few famous things popped up and we marked them on our map, then something called Beelitz abandoned hospital came up. I saw a few photos then told Michael, ok we are going here. Since we were to meet my friend Ana tomorrow we decided to try to see the hospital today, so off we went back to the train station. Beelitz was about an hour outside of Berlin, but now we were determined to find our way to it. I mean, who just gets to see an abandoned nazi hospital just outside of Berlin? After making it to the farthest in town train, we had to switch to a Bahn, which goes outside the city. We had no idea where to go because it was the largest station with all the transfers, so we went to an info desk. I asked if the woman spoke english and she said just German, so I just pointed to the train number on my ticket, to which she responded with some angry yelling in German. I tried to simply gesture with her, but she was not having it, since I wouldn’t speak German to her. We left and outside there was a Dunkin Doughnuts where a younger girl was working. We asked her and she warmly gestured to the correct platform, despite not knowing much English herself. A little tip for anyone traveling Europe – typically younger people are happy to help and try to communicate with you, in addition to mostly knowing English, just so long as you are polite ask if they can help and are not presumptuous that they can speak English. After speaking with the Dunkin’ Doughnuts girl we found we had missed one of the last trains out of town for the day. We decided that perhaps sunrise would be safer to go tromping through an abandoned building in Germany, and since we know knew our way, we could just go in the morning. Tourist things were then set for the rest of the afternoon. We walked around the center and ate sandwiches and watched street performers. Then the next stop was the Holocaust Memorial.

The nameless stones were striking. I walked through the maze of pillars and ran my fingers across the cool smooth surface. How many people did this stand for? countless. It was a somber experience as I walked further and the ground sank deeper and deeper below. The memorial starts at road level, then in the middle it dips below, making the columns tower over you. It’s quite a somber experience. My thoughts were interrupted by laughing children playing tag through the endless rows. The laughter was a little eerie.

Walking around the Museum Island.

The last thing to see was the wall. We went to the East Side Gallery – this is where they built the wall right in the street between neighbors and families.

Metal posts lined where the wall once stood and a few of the fragments were still up and in tact. It was bizarre to think that a wall had once physically divided a city. Local walked by and seemingly thought nothing of what they were strolling by.

The underground station near the East Side Gallery.

A lot of stations in Berlin don’t have maps, so beware that you know what trains you’re taking before getting to a station. This one, was really desolate. No maps. No other people. Shattered windows. And only one sign. We got home about 8pm and I got to Skype Amanda and my parents. I miss everyone a lot. I’ve never really been homesick before. It’s a weird feeling.

Sunday April 4th we were off at 7:30am for the first train into Beelitz, Germany. Immediately off the train there is a few small houses and in the distance are looming buildings, surrounded by trees.

I’ll be honest. I’ve snuck into a lot of places. But this was different. We were in a foreign country. What if we got caught and thrown in jail because maybe the cop couldn’t speak English? What if they deported us? Can they do that? I had read lots of blogs that people had snuck in before, but I was just really nervous for some reason. I had detailed notes with a few friends in case they didn’t hear from me by midnight that night, so I felt that even if anything did go wrong, it’d be okay. So heart pounding, on we went.

The first building was a dash through the woods and into an open door. Once inside, every single sound seemed to make me jump. “What’s wrong with me? I’ve done this so many times, why am I freaking out?” I guess it was a combination of having no weapon, besides a tripod, and being in Germany, and the fact that is was an abandoned Nazi hospital all came into play. I always wonder how places get left like this.

I accidentally leaned against a wall and it crumbled all over me, scaring the pee out of me when the first piece hit me, feeling like a finger tapping on my shoulder.

The last building we had to enter through the cellar. A body suit had been strung up in the middle of the room. Just other people trying to make the place more creepy I guess. As if it needed any help.

After giving myself mild heart attacks all afternoon, I decided it was time Michael and I headed back to the station (by station I mean the one railroad track with a lone bench and old tattered sign reading Beelitz on the abandoned building behind it.)

Once back in town we met up with a photographer named Ana, and she took us for Falafal. I got Haloumi.

Next Ana took us to an abandoned Nazi airport. It wasn’t so terrifying because it had been turned into a park. It was sunny and warm and children were running around flying kites and playing with puppies. Yet another place that had been so terrible in history, that was now bringing locals together. We found an open spot in the cracked airstrip where the grass had begun to grow and took a little nap in the warm sun.

Ana wanted to take us to a rooftop bar called Klunkenkranich, because the view was supposedly one of the best in Berlin. So after the park, we went into town. Ana led us into an empty mall where all the stores were closed. We went up as far as the escalators could take us, then took to the stars that led to the parking garage. We hadn’t seen any signs for this bar and as we walked the 3rd lap of the garage’s circular incline, I began thinking, “There’s no way a bar is up here, if this is the only way up, and there’s no si–” My thoughts were cut off when I heard loud Indie music above me. Two more laps around the incline and the garage opened up to the rooftop, and up on the very top was a greenhouse/garden area with a bar sitting behind it.

Ana and me

It was a warm and beautiful day and a perfect close to the short time in Berlin.

My next blog post will be from Prague! For a current update, I am in Croatia right now.

Thursday April 3rd – I was on a morning train from Brussels to Amsterdam. Train rides are always something I look forward to because I can be alone in my own mind. My trance of watching trees zip past my window was broken when the song “Little Hell” by City and Colour, started playing in my headphones. I used to listen to City and Colour all the time in my college dark room while I developed my film and prints. That was Junior year. I can’t believe that was already a year ago. Now whenever I hear their music, it makes me think about how things were then. I started thinking about how a broken heart can really change someone. I think it can completely alter who someone is. In the end you have to decide what you want to do: become calloused or try to heal. For a while it feels better to ignore the two options and simply drown in your own pain. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s just nice to have some self-pity. To know that someone knows what you’re going through and agrees that it’s terrible, even if it’s only you and God. It’s numbing, and the numbing is a nice feeling. It suspends time in a way. You can run. Pretend it’s not real. But at some point, you come-to and have to accept reality, and from that point on you are always different. Always. That’s what my senior show in college was about. (I was glad I found a concept that actually meant a lot to me and wasn’t a load of bull-crap made up to fit some literal representation in an arranged photo like I’d seen in years past). I still think about it. Once we are exposed to something, we can’t ever go back to not knowing it. I pretend like I’ve discovered some profound thing, but the idea is laid out even when you look at the story of Adam and Eve. Once they understood they were naked, they could never stop trying to hide. Once we realize that our heart can be broken, we guard it a whole lot more. I guess that’s why people always say “don’t grow up too fast.” Once you get through a situation, you’ll always be a little broken or a bruised, but luckily we have a Father who is there to help bandage us to keep the scaring to a minimum.

We got to Amsterdam around 6pm and photographer Laura Kok met us at the station to escort us to our hostel. After dropping off our gear at the hostel, we took off to see a bit of the city.

Stopped at the must-see tourist attraction.

Laura took us around the main canals and shopping area, so we could get a grasp of the layout of Amsterdam, but also learn to not be hit by the bikes. And the trams. And the small golf-cart cars that drive in the bike lanes. And the actual cars that drive in the street. SO MANY THINGS TO POSSIBLY GET HIT BY. Laura had to leave after we walked through the town to the central station. I was sad to only see her for a few hours but it was so nice to get to meet!

Michael and I headed back to our City Hub hostel for the night. We each had a room that looked like a futuristic spaceship. The lights could change colors and my iPhone plugged into the wall so that music played all around. I couldn’t believe we got to stay somewhere so cool for so cheap! Definitely a unique experience.

We passed out after planning our route for the morning. We were out to see everything possible tomorrow!

Friday April 4th – We started off the day wandering through the canals and leisurely wandered to a few destinations.

I’m obsessed with the canals.

Get ready. For those of you who love plants and coffee and wood and everything cute in life. THIS IS THE BEST COFFEE SHOP. Oh. Also. DO NOT say coffee shop in Amsterdam if you want coffee. Say cafe. I just say coffee shop out of habit, but in Amsterdam a coffee shop is a place where you go to buy and smoke weed. That’s not a joke. Luckily a local corrected me before I found myself in an awkward situation. haha. But literally this cafe gave me the best Hazelnut Latte I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot of them. It’s called CottonCake and is located in southeast Amsterdam.

If you’re in the area. GO HERE. Michael rolled his eyes when I said I wanted to go to the edge of town just for this cafe. But it was so worth it. I loved it.

Just around the corner of the coffee shop was a ton of adorable thrifty markets. I much prefer these to all the major touristy shops.

I picked up this awesome blanket from a lovely Indonesian woman with a stand in the market.

A lot of shops in Amsterdam were multifaceted. This place was a cafe on top, and a barbershop/ clothing store on the bottom.

This is a tiny car. We were told that they’re mainly driven by the kids that are 16 and really want to drive. For some reason they’re allowed to drive these at 16, but for all other cars you have to be 18 to drive. These cars also apparently can drive on the bike roads. We almost got hit by one.

Andddddd Amsterdam has Cannabis flavored everything. We even saw a place that had ice-cream. 

There are tons of tiny apartments because apparently the dutch used to be taxes for how wide their flats were. So they did the only logical thing to do, and built up instead of out.

Tulips everywhere! Flowers everywhere. The floating flower market was full.

A moving bar. The guys were all guzzling drinks while pedaling. Don’t worry though, the driver was not drinking. Just the powerhouses for the driver were drinking.

This may look like lens distortion, but it’s not. TONS of the buildings in Amsterdam are crooked. I’m not sure how structurally sound they all are, but I guess they have to be okay since there’s so many and people are living in them.

This is Tuelshi. He was passing out bird seed for everyone to feed pigeons with him. He’d whistle to the pigeons and they’d come flying up to him. He was at the main square in Amsterdam where the queen of Sweden was inside a governmental building for some sort of meeting. Tuelshi kept repeating “make peace not war.” I asked him why he feeds the birds, and he said because he saw his father shoot his brother when he was a child and the birds had given him peace, so he liked to feed them to repay them for their kindness.

Tuelshi gave me some birdseed so I could frolic with the pigeons for a bit. And on the right is a photo of the waffles that Laura bought for me to try. They’re really thin and have melty carmel inside. They’re only 1 euro for like 8 of them! They’re so sweet though you can only have one every few days.

We ended the night at the Red Light District. It had a very sad feeling over it. I hated that. There are windows all over the buildings and there are red lights illuminating the girls standing inside. Women were making provocative gestures and men walking by and selecting whom they wanted like a piece of meat from the grocery store. How very different Amsterdam became with the turn of one corner. It had been so charming to me (minus the occasional smell of weed), it had even been one of my favorite places so far, but once I saw this, my heart broke. It is so bizarre to me how opposite Amsterdam could seem, depending on the area you were in. Next up is Berlin.

CURRENT UPDATE : I am in Austria at this moment, and the next blog post will consist of Berlin, Beelitz, and Munich from Germany and Prague from Czech Republic.

Tuesday April 1st we arrived in Brussels, Belgium at about 3:30. It had been a long morning, since we got up at 6:30am to make Luc and Lea pancakes before leaving Paris. We had about 1.5 hours to kill in Brussels before our train to Waterloo left. We decided to wander around the town just outside the station, even with our gigantic backpacks on. We walked out of the station and out of pure guessing, turned right and headed down a street. Within 5 minutes we stumbled into a busy square. I looked at Michael and asked “wait, what day is it?” (We are often asking each other this question) and we were both confused as to why the square was so crowded on a Tuesday afternoon. Sure it was warm out, but there were SO many people. We found out that we had stumbled upon a festival where they were giving away free food made from things that would have normally been thrown out. It was called feed 5000. SCORE. Free lunch. Somehow we keep managing to find these one day markets, right on the only time they are open.

It was basically a veggie soup.

With our now extra money, we decided we could splurge on sharing a waffle. I mean, we were in belgium. We had to try one!

And boy did we load that thing up. The chocolate half was mine, since Michael is allergic.

After enjoying the sunshine and our scrumptious waffle after our free meal, we hopped on the train to Waterloo. We were greeted there by Michael’s friend Ellen and her mother. Ellen had gone to our college and worked on staff with Michael, and her family had just moved to Belgium for her father’s work. They live in an adorable little house in a cute Belgian neighborhood.

It was so warm I could wear my sundress and sandals! We borrowed some bikes to pedal down to the market for some groceries. Life was surreal in that moment. Golden light was streaming through fences and across yards in this quaint neighborhood in Belgium, Germany; and here I was on a bike, warm sunlight on my face and gentle wind trailing through my hair. Ellen and her mother graciously served us dinner that night, and we were happy to save some money again on food. We would save the groceries for coming nights.

Wednesday April 2nd

I woke up to a knock on my door (Michael says he was actually shaking my leg, but I never  can remember things when I’m sleepy). Uh oh. I overslept. I jumped out of bed and yelled “Be ready in 5!” I glanced at my clock on my phone… 6:03. Dangit. I was supped to be up at 5:40 to make breakfast. I threw on my clothes, quickly brushed my teeth, and made it to the kitchen at 6:08. I packed sandwiches for lunch. PB&J for me. Just jelly for Michael. I don’t kno show anyone dislikes peanut butter. I was getting ready to pour cereal at 6:11 when Michael yelled, “Hey what are you doing? We don’t have time for that!” I looked at my watch, “But we have 9 minutes!” He told me, no look at the clock again. It was 7:11 not 6:11. Oh no. We were an hour late! Not that we really care, but Ellen’s mom was generously taking us to the train station, and her only request had been to not be driving during rush hour, which she probably would not be doing. I grabbed an apple and out the door we went. The man at the train station didn’t speak english, but we used hand gestures and got the tickets we needed to Brussels. We had to connect to Bruges from there. We got to the machine at 8:30am to buy our return tickets at 28.50 Euros each. Michael has a card that has a chip like all do in Europe, however, Michael’s card had been having issues since we left the UK, because it requires a signature, unlike the European ones. The ticket machine declined our purchase attempt. There was a long line to the ticket desk so Michael got in line while I grabbed some coffee. I came back when Michael had reached the desk. The woman told us about a pass one card for under 26 year-old travelers. It would make our trip only 12.00 Euros each! The problem was that the ticket desk couldn’t sell these to us, only the machine could. I had previously seen that a lot of European ticket machines take coins, so we went to withdraw money from a machine. We got cash, but it was in notes, not coins, which the machines needed. We went to the coffee shop and got 40 Euros in coins, which I think they were a little annoyed about, but they remained smiley and friendly. With our coins now in hand, we bounded up to the machines, happy to be saving money and feeling quite clever. We ordered the tickets, but when we went to pay, they wouldn’t take our coins. WHAT. ok. No matter. We had two more machines. Neither of them would take our coins either! Back to the ticket desk. The line was taking forever and our hopes were diminishing that we’d be able to save money on our tickets. Then a friendly train worker approached us. I had just been contemplating asking the European girl behind us to purchase our tickets with her card in exchange for cash when the worker asked, “can I help you?” We explained the situation and she led us downstairs to another machine as she laughed at how ridiculous our situation was becoming. That machine declined our coins as well. The worker hypothesized that maybe the machines were too full of coins, but that she knew of one other that was in the back of the station, and less used. It was 8:54am and the next train left at 9:00. The worker also decided that this time she would order our tickets separately, because maybe the machines didn’t like accepting 24 Euros in coins all at once, perhaps they would like 12 Euros at a time better. She ordered the first ticket, and finally success! She ordered the second and with a smile she said, “hurry on! You still have 2 minutes to catch your train!” We did a short job down to platform 4 and made it with one minute to spare. Though it sounds stressful, we were both relaxed during this whole morning. We got there eventually! So notes for anyone traveling – Always ask for under 26 or student discounts. Always have cash on you, especially coins. And always be flexible. Things can and probably will go wrong from your plans.

The moment we stepped from the train to Bruges I was in love. This city is so adorable.

Bicycles everywhere.

Waffle truck.

We got to the town center and the streets came alive. When we first arrived they were mostly empty. Smells of waffles filled the air and we found that we had stumbled onto a market that only takes place in the town square of Bruges on wednesday mornings. Conveniently the day we were visiting.

We had already tried a waffle, so for lunch we got cheap pastries from the market. Oh my Belgium knows how to make its sweets.

The bikes were countless. Everyone had a bike. And everyone was coupled up and kissing and holding hands. Europe in the springtime I suppose. After spending all morning and some of the afternoon in Bruges, we headed back to Brussels.

Once back in Brussels, we walked the streets with my friend Karen, who we had planned to meet up with. She goes to a University near by and was able to get the afternoon off to show us around.

Karen and me.

Karen took us on a little hike up to see above the city.

There are waffles literally everywhere. And nutella. I have never seen jars so big full of nutella.

Karen told us the true Belgian way was to get this waffle and eat it plain. It was different than the “Belgian waffles” though this one was more what the locals ate. It was basically a crispy doughnut. UHMAZING. and they’re only 1 Euro when you find them in non-touristy areas.

Once Karen left, Michael and I spent the evening just wandering around, and ended up sitting on a ledge and watching the sun go down around the pretty buildings. Michael and I agree that we love Belgium. Obviously for the smell of chocolate and waffles that constantly lingers in the air, but it is so beautiful and the people are so very nice. Belgium is definitely somewhere I would go back.

CURRENT UPDATE : I  am in Prague tonight, and my next post will be from my time in the Netherlands!

Saturday March 29th at 8am our overnight bus from London pulled into the stop. We were an hour late, which normally I wouldn’t care, but the couch surf we were staying with that night had come to pick Michael and me up from the bus stop at 7am. Oops. I hoped he wasn’t too upset. We had a rough night of sleep as our bus stopped once for passport checks, then again to unload onto a ferry. Everyone was running around giving instructions in French. Michael and I just followed the crowds into the ferry and then out again after 1.5 hours. Back onto the bus. It was impossible to sleep. But we woke up as we pulled into Paris, overjoyed with excitement. Luc greeted us with a smile and we were off to his flat. After getting settled and having a croissant, Luc and his girlfriend Lea started our tour around Paris. Luc used to be a tour guide in Paris, so we were very excited to have him to show us everything around the city. We had no idea how much walking we were about to do.

Down the street from Luc’s flat.

Paris is full of courtyards at every corner.

Another thing I love about Paris is that there is fresh baked goods and fruit on every street.

Notre Dame on the left and a government building on the right.

(A little tip, if you go to visit Notre Dame, it’s prettiest from the back.)

One of my most favorite things about Paris is that music is playing at every street corner, bridge, and cafe. Once one band is out of earshot, another takes over. It’s like Paris has its very own soundtrack.

Lea and Luc in a Cathedral we explored.

Luc and Lea wanted us to have traditional lunch crepes (not the dessert kind) so here is where we ate. Everything was in French and we really tested Lea’s translation skills as we had her translate practically everything on the menu. The lunch crepes are really delicious by the way, I’d recommend them. Mine had cheese, tomatoes, pecans, and salad.

Another Cathedral we explored.

Lea is a girl after my own heart, and she LOVES her sweets. She took us to a gelato stand, the best in all Paris according to her and Luc. I can’t remember the name unfortunately, but I ordered in French, thanks to Lea’s coaching. Violett and Vanille.

We walked around a bit more, sightseeing local things. I love seeing those in addition to the touristy things.

This man was outside smoking and I had liked how he looked, and I asked if I could take his photo. At firs the said no, then as I went to go and said sorry, he said “ok ok, wait. I’m sorry yes you can, just let me pose like this.” Apparently he would’ve gotten in trouble for sitting and smoking on his break since he worked at the nice cafe just behind him. The cafe is the photo below.

According to Lea this is the most expensive Cafe in Paris.

Paris men love their scarves.

More street music. This time on the bridge of locks.

Laduree is the most expensive and nice place in Paris to get a Macaroon. Lea helped me find the place so I could buy one little guy to try. I ate it on while we sat and listened to music at the bridge of locks. Macaroons are lovely. I’m afraid I may now be spoiled though because my first one was so nice.

We walked through the Louvre after the bridge. Lea said goodbye to us here, she had work to do for her job, but Luc kept on truckin. I wondered if we’d see all of Paris today. We had been on foot all day, and my feet began to ache terribly. Onward we went!

By the end of the day we reached Montmarte. I had heard about this place and I was excited to see it. You takes hundreds of stairs up to the top, and once up there you can see Paris. There are also painters at the tops of the stairs and small markets and cafes, and tiny back roads that make you feel like you’re in old Paris. This was one of my favorite places we went.

At Montmarte.

Montmarte.

After we watched the sun go down on the hill at Montmarte, we walked down to Moulin Rouge.

Finally, we hopped the metro to see the Eiffel tower. We stepped out from the metro as the whole tower was sparkling. Apparently it does this every hour for 5 mins. It was brilliant. We stood there watching for a long time after the sparkles faded. Then the whole city went dark for 5 minutes. We asked Luc why, and apparently there was some sort of power saving movement going on all across the world at that moment for just 5 minutes. We had just gotten there to see a bizarre sight of the tower standing in utter darkness. Once everything lit back up we made our way down to the fountains and perched for another shot and to watch the tower some more.

It’s funny how something so simple, a tower of metal, can be so sublime. It looms over the town and sparkles and captivates the soul. I can’t believe I get to see all these things at just 21.

This happy guy was my soundtrack on the way back to the flat. Once we got there I peel off my shoes and socks and rubbed my feet as much as I could through the pain. I didn’t ever look up how far we walked that day, but I know it was from 9am until probably midnight that we were out walking, and we only took the metro once. I think we saw most of Paris (the surface of it anyway) in just one day. I was excited to have seen so much, but I was honestly limping from how badly my feet hurt. Bed couldn’t come soon enough. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough though. Tomorrow I was excited for. We were going to Versailles.

Sunday March March 30th.

At 11am we were on our way to Versailles! Oh I had dreamed of this day so long. I had always wanted to see Paris, and most of all Versailles. I had heard so much about its beauty and I wanted to see for myself. As soon as our train got to the stop I bounded from the train, leaving poor Michael trailing behind. We rounded the corner and immediately saw brilliant gold glinting in the sunlight up ahead of us, and we were still 5 blocks away from the entrance. I let out a little squeal of excitement. Michael rolled his eyes. He didn’t understand what I was so giddy about. I guess I didn’t really either. I had no huge reason behind it. I had just always dreamed of seeing it. And here I was. We dashed past the other tourists and out to the far garden where Marie Antoinette had her country estate, because we figured that would leave the Palace more empty when we got to it just before closing time.

Inside the King’s quarters, a stop between the palace and Marie Antoinette’s estate.

Cottages at Marie Antoinette’s estate.

Cottages at Marie Antoinette’s estate.

Some friendly animals being kept at the estate. Marie Antoinette had wanted a little village all for herself, that’s why the estate was created.

Wandering back through the gardens back up to the palace.

Walking back up through the gardens. FINALLY we will get to see the palace! The gardens were huge. We spent about 4 hours wandering through and seeing the estate, and we probably only saw half of it. It truly was spectacular.

The front gate.

Inside the palace

The famous Hall of Mirrors.

Symmetry was the trend in all of Versailles. I’m a fan.

We got back from Versailles and decided to take a train into town since there was still daylight. Michael and I got a Panini to share and sat on the side we hadn’t yet seen of the Eiffel Tower while we ate. I watched the sky turn light blue as the tower turned a hazy rose-gold color, to match the pink tree blossoms below. All I could do was stare and take it all in. God’s creation is so beautiful.

Monday March 31st

We slept in a bit today, as we’ve been walking so much in Paris. First thing that we decided to see today was the Grand Opera House. Oh my it did not disappoint.

l’opera garnier

l’opera garnier

Inside the Opera house again.

After that we walked about a mile towards the Louvre. We wanted to be able to walk around to see some art inside! We sadly couldn’t make it to that and the Impressionist museum, which I partially regret because I later found out that is where the famous Venus painting is kept. Ah well, as Michael and I have been saying.. “next time.”

In front of the Louvre. Paris really is the town of love. I’ve never seen more people giddy, giggling, holding hands, and kissing each other.

Inside the Louvre.

There she is. The Mona Lisa. Something I’ve found so interesting is that people pay money to come to Paris. Pay money to get into the Louvre, then wait in line to run up to this painting, (which is very similar in technique to many of the other pieces in the gigantic museum) only to run up and snap a selfie in front of it then take off. No one even actually looks at the painting. No one even knows why it’s that important. Everyone is just told this is important and it’s recognized, and I feel like we all just want to check it off our list and be able to say “ya I’ve been there. Here’s the proof! Look how cool I am!” I mean, I myself too was in that position, minus the selfie.

After the Louvre, we waited around by the Pyramid entrance for Luc. He was going to show us around again. My feet weren’t ready for another one of his tours. But hey, we’re only in Paris for a few days. Michael and I shared a crepe and watched the sun begin go down on the gorgeous glass building for quite some time, then Luc showed up around 7pm.

We took a few more photos as the light played on the architecture, while Luc snapped some street photo shots.

Paris you are so beautiful.

Luc took us all around to a few other bridges and to the Arch de Triumph, and a few other things I couldn’t name you. I had my camera away and was just enjoying seeing everything. We stopped for a few groceries to make pancakes in the morning. Lea had asked if I had a pancake recipe, so I thought I’d make her and Luc pancakes in the morning and leave her a recipe from scratch as a thank you for them hosting us.

Monday April 1st.

We were up early to make pancakes for Luc and Lea like planned the night before.

I got an approval from Luc, Lea, and Michael. The pancakes were good. Extra vanilla extract always helps the recipe a bit. After breakfast and packing, we were off for our train. We hadn’t expected that because it was the 1st of the month, all the locals would be topping up their train card. We waited in a line of probably 50 people, panicking that we would miss our bus. But, we got through the line far faster than we thought, and made through the metro and to our bus in time. On to Belgium! 🙂

For any confused, my posts aren’t up to date, I’m currently in Berlin, Germany, but my next post will include photos from Belgium and the Netherlands!