This blog is long overdue and is not as detailed as it should be. Oh well, here it is:
Starting on July 30th, after we nearly beat the German national team in a friendly match on the 29th, was our two week break. During this time, Sonja and I planned a trip to Paris and Barcelona. After this I would go to Switzerland for Kristin's American Party on August 6th. We had everything planned....
Lesson 1: never plan an entire trip without securing train reservations. Although we both had train passes (mine Eurail, Sonja Interail) that allow us to travel on any train within a certain amount of days, some trains require reservations. Sometimes these reservations cost money but only 2-20 Euros and not all trains require them. Anyway, we went to the train station a couple of days before our trip in order to secure a reservation from Munich to Paris on Saturday the 30th. Well, the entire, yes entire weekend was booked from Munich to Paris! After a quick plan B action we decided to head to Zurich on Sunday the 31st and then from there hopefully secure a train reservation for Paris on the 1st. Also, from here on out we decided we were not making anymore plans! Improvising through Europe, interesting...
Thankfully, Kristin said it was okay for us to stay with her and the Lehmanns. So it was set, the morning of the 31st we headed off to Switzerland. Although we missed the first train out of Munich, we hopped on another and eventually found our way. Kristin greeted us at the train station and we drove back to her farm. It turned out to be a great evening and Sonja and I both said that although we didn't make it to Paris this was great alternative.We left Switzerland the next morning, I was sad Kristin couldn't come with us because her, Sonja, and I got along so well...but alas, we arrived in Paris in the afternoon. We walked from the train station to our hostel, checked in, got settled, and headed off to eat. We found a nice cafe/restaurant nearby and to start my vacation off right I got a steak and a mini banana split. We got back to the hostel, looked at some brochures and decided that the hop on hop off bus tour would be perfect.
The next day, we got up early to not waste anytime. Our hostel provided us with breakfast (croissant, orange juice, milk, and coffee). After that we headed down to where the bus tour met, hopped on, purchased the ticket while the bus driver was driving, almost got into an accident because of this, and made our way to the top of the double decker bus. Transportation with facts about everyplace you go, I love these tours! First stop, the famous Louvre museum that is home to the Mona Lisa. Next stop, Notre Dame (where we ate). Then finally the Eiffel tower. After a long, exhausting day of sightseeing we went back to the Hostel. We freshened up, rested, and decided to go see the city at night. We met an Aussie and three guys from Switzerland at our hostel to accompany us. We thought this was a good move, being girls and in a foreign country at night. After a couple hours out we headed back for a good nights sleep. Paris is also beautiful at night!
Day three of our adventure started out with us going to this beautiful old church on a hill that was only about a 15 minute walk from our hostel. We did not expect to stumble upon this but it was spectacular and I was happy that improvising was in our favor. We did the same bus tour but a different route. This time we did not stop at as many places to get off because we were both tired. After the tour we went back and rested. Then decided we wanted to see the Louvre and Eiffel Tower because we heard it was even better at night. This time we met up with a guy from Texas. He was the definition of a Southern gentlemen, so nice! We got a little lost trying to find everything and ended up at an Irish Pub for french fries and some Guinness. After that we found the Louvre and then the Eiffel Tower. We discovered that at every hour the Eiffel Tower has an awesome light show. :-) It was another great day in Paris.
Day four of our trip was suppose to be spent in Lyon, France. However, we were having such a great time in Paris we decided to stay and the Mona Lisa was the priority of the day. So we went back to the Louvre, and stood in line for 40 minutes to get in. It was definitely worth it. Not only was it free for us (because we are under 26) but it was spectacular inside. This was the museum to end all museums. It would take you at least a week just to look at everything. After exploring ancient Egypt for awhile we headed off to see the famous lady with the ambiguous smile. It was so surreal to see something I have seen a million times in person. Our trip inside the Louvre was great despite the insane amount of people who had the same idea as us. After a couple of hours, we decided to get a little snack. Then we went back to the hostel because later that night we planned to go out to eat and then to the top of Eiffel Tower.
We headed out to get something nice to eat via their train system which is not as clean as Munich but still easy to figure out. We stopped at our favorite food destination which was near the Notre Dame area. We stumbled upon this amazing little restaurant. The food was great and we even met this older couple from Minnesota who were both very friendly. After dinner we headed to what we had been waiting for all day! Up, up, up the Eiffel Tower to see all of Paris. After waiting in line for an hour we finally made it up. Simply amazing, it was such a beautiful sight to see :-)
While I was in Paris, I found out that Lisa was leaving for California on Friday. Instead of going from Paris to Switzerland on Thursday I made a last minuted decision to go back to Munich to see Lisa off. I got into Munich on Thursday around 3pm. I hung out with Lisa, her friends and the family. Went to bed at 12am and at 3am got up to go with everyone to the airport. After we said good-bye, we drove back to the house and I sprinted to get everything together so I could catch the 6:40 train to Central Station for the 7:13 train to Switzerland.
The next couple of days were a lot of fun :-) Kristin had an American Party at her host family's restaurant on Saturday. Kristin, Roman (her host brother), and I comprised of the grill team. It was a successful evening but I was beyond exhausted!! The rest of the time was pretty chill compared to Saturday. It was nice to get to know her host family better especially Roman!
On my return journey, I got a little mixed up. Lesson two: Make sure when you get off at a stop that its the right one. Yes, I made this mistake. I got off at a stop that had the name of my stop in it but was not the one I was suppose to be at. This little mishap added an additional 4 hours to my trip back to Munich. It also caused me to miss practice. In the midst of this my german phone ran out of money...oyeee! Eventually I got back but I hope I never make that mistake again!
I learned sooo many things, ate wayyyy too much, had a lot of fun, barely slept for a week straight, traveled by myself, got lost, met new people, and improvised my way through Europe...What a trip!!!!
