Sortie

Paris is absolutely wonderful. There is love all around us. When we first arrived at our hotel we were greeted by a very old, solely French speaking woman. She did not understand us and we did not understand her. I used my limited French knowledge to communicate and get us checked in. She was so sweet, it amazes me how people can still comprehend each other while speaking completely different languages.

Our room is very small and cozy with 4 twin beds lined across the room. Our window opens to the fresh air and just across the street is a beautiful park where we can hear children laughing and playing every day. We spent the first day in Paris walking around and getting acquainted with the area of our hotel. I asked a local on the street a favorite eating spot for dinner and we were referred to a quaint little place just around the corner from our hotel called Plein Soleil. We were sat at a nice table open to the outside air and enjoyed delicious food complete with a bottle of wine. Half way through our meal the sky opened up and rain started pouring just feet from where we were sitting. The rain felt warm and smelled amazing. I can't even put into words how it felt to be sitting in Paris amongst this beautiful setting. Blissful. Needless to say it was the best moment thus far in this journey for me.

The next day our sights were set on seeing the Eiffel Tower. We ventured onto the metro and were on our way. Paris has a great metro system, the best I have seen anywhere. They literally have a metro that runs anywhere and everywhere you want to be and they arrive within 6 minutes of each other at all hours of the day. This helped us out so much transporting around town. I will never forget the overwhelming feeling of turning the corner and seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. It is breathtaking and almost overwhelming. The fountains and green grass surrounding the Tower only add to its magnificent beauty. We took photos and sat on the lawn for awhile, then walked the streets grazing art stands and souvenir shops.

The famous Arc de Triomph was walking distance from the tower so we ventured over to see it. We felt almost miniature standing under the massive Arc. All the walls are scripted with the names of dead French soldiers and under the Arc sits a memorial for the unknown solider. The sculpture art is so detailed and emotional, you can feel the passion that went into making this beautiful memorial. After our sight seeing we stopped for some dinner. French Onion soup is the most delicious soup in the world and go figure, it's perfect in France. It's safe to say I didn't let a day go by without some FOS. I'm going to miss that.

Besides the delicious tasting food, seeing some incredible monuments and practicing our French we also visited the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral. An overwhelming feeling of calm immediately consumes you as you enter the large wooden doors. The vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows stare down upon the thousands that enter this church everyday. We walked around in silence absorbing the peace and serenity. It was wonderful.

Unique to this city visit, I tested my fear by going deep underground in Paris to visit the Catacombs. Everyone else was very excited for this trip, however, I did not feel the allure about surrounding myself with hundreds of thousands of skulls and femur bones buried deep under the city. All in all, it turned out to be a remarkable experience and yes, not as scary as I may have thought.

Collectively and individually we did and saw amazing things in Paris, now it's off to Italy :) Au revoir!


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Location:Paris

"Sex, Love and Bikes"

Our flight into Amsterdam was a quick 45 minute jaunt. We flew over the English Channel right at sunset, making for some gorgeous views. When we arrived at the airport we took a train to Amsterdam Centraal, central station, and from there caught a tram to our stop in Dam Square. Our tram driver was quite the character. As we were all hustling onto the tram, trying to fish out the euros from our pockets to buy our tickets and hand them to the lady in the window, the driver yells over the intercom, "hurry up my little snails!" seasoned with a very thick Dutch accent. Most likely referencing the fact that we had no idea what was going on and we all had our huge backpacks. It was a perfect welcome to Amsterdam!

Our hotel was only a few blocks from Dam Square so we made our way walking in the dark. When we got to the lovely Hotel Galerij, we rang the bell to be buzzed in only to see the the most treacherous stairs in the world, I'm pretty sure. The stairs went straight up, might as well have been climbing a ladder. :) We got quite the workout coming and going during the 4 nights we stayed here. We had a private room with our own shower, sink, 3 beds and a great terrace right off of our bedroom looking over the city. It was a pretty cool place to stay and very central to downtown Amsterdam.







We had our sights set on several different events throughout our time in Amsterdam. Although it seems just walking down the streets and looking up at all the rooftops is something close to a history lesson. Amsterdam is full of churches and museums so we decided to hit a few touristy spots. We started at the Van Gogh museum, a few miles south of our hotel. We took the tram down to the museum, but realized the €2.60 it cost wasn't worth the ride. After the museum, and a brief refresher on the transition from Impressionism to pointillism and beyond, we walked home and didn't fail to stop at a Turkish food mart for some quick shoarma.

Through our walk home I found it odd to imagine a German occupied Amsterdam city. The people today, while hustling on bikes and vespas, seem so relaxed and carefree. We are all lucky to be able to share time in this gorgeous city. I absolutely loved the many canals that carved through the intercity, we decided to take a Canal tour which provided some insight into the history of the town.







Another highlight of our time in Amsterdam was touring the Heineken factory. Matt and I are fans of this delicious brew, so we were looking forward to this for quite some time. Neil and Charley, his dad, brew their own beer at home so this experience was especially enticing to Neil.























Amsterdam is most definitely a biker's heaven. There are bikes everywhere and everyone does it. If you're too small to ride a bike the parents would just strap the children on and off they went. The parking garages are not full of vehicles like in the U.S. they are full of BIKES. It's awesome. This city was so much fun, some memories are unsharable ;)







We loved Amsterdam, and now it's off to Paris!

On a sad note, RIP Tiffany's bracelet, looks like you found a new home in Amsterdam. I'm really sad you decided to fall off my wrist while walking down the street.


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Location:Amsterdam

You sound like you're from Lonnndonnn.

Sorry for the delay on writing another post, we are having troubles transferring our pictures to the iPad. Matt bought a device called eye-fi that is supposed to send the pictures directly from camera to the pad, but it is not working for us. This makes it more difficult than I thought to keep everyone in the loop! Also, when we checked into our hotel in Paris Matt accidentally left the iPad on the counter. When we noticed it was missing, we immediately went to the desk and asked for it. Luckily, they were nice enough to give it back to us, however someone had put a lock passcode on it. More to come with that story. Anyways- I wanted to update on the rest of our time in London.

Our final day spent in London was wonderful. The attractions I mentioned earlier were a pretty good distance from our hostel, so we decided to rent some bikes! London drivers are not the most patient, and the bike riders immerse themselves amongst the cars. We had quite the adventure weaving through busses, cars and vespas trying to stay alive long enough to see Buckingham Palace. If you are ever in London, we highly recommend taking a bike ride through the city on the streets with the locals :)












Buckingham palace was huge and jam packed with people crowding around the gates watching the guards and the commotion. We were able to squeeze in to see the changing of the guards, which was a great experience! Those silly little men take themselves so seriously ;) I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the pretty princess Kate, or the Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge, if you will, but noooo dice.











After seeing Buckingham Palace, we rode through the most beautiful park I have ever seen, Hyde Park. This park is gigantic and filled with beautiful flowers and trees, open spaces and park benches. There were people biking, running, holding hands and having picnics. It was a gorgeous site, and one I will never forget. We rode through Hyde park on our way to see Big Ben; which was indeed, a very large clock. We got to hear Ben's clock chime just as we were biking away which was quite humbling.











Our time ended on the bike rental, so we dropped those off and made the trek back to our hostel by foot. We walked right past the London Eye and the Thames River. Matt, Neil and I stopped for a bite to eat and then we all met back at the hostel to gather our packs and make our way to the airport. Amsterdam!!








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Location:London

Common Pence

Hello all-

Wow... Where to begin. I feel that I have so much to tell! After landing in London, we waited for Kerry and Neil to arrive at their terminal. While sitting in the lobby area, there was a little British boy there with his dad. He was singing Jingle Bells and with the combination of his accent and his smallness, it was the cutest song I've ever heard. I think that was when it hit me that we were indeed in London.

After the group had gathered, we caught the express train from the airport to Paddington Station; another really neat experience. The station was enormous with vendors selling flowers and people hustling every which way. Although I am not a Harry Potter fan, sorry friends, Matt said it reminded him of something described by J.K. Rowling. We made our way to the taxi line and climbed into the most adorable little box of a taxi. The seats in the back all faced each other, unlike the US taxis where someone always has to 'take one for the team' and awkwardly sit shotgun next to the driver. Taxis aren't cheap in London, so that was a one time ride to our Hostel.























Our Hostel is AMAZING!! I highly recommend this trendy little gem. The lobby has computers to use, games, couches, flat screen TVs and a mini bar serving wine, drinks and snacks. We have our own private room with 4 twin sized beds, 2 bunk beds to be exact. That's right... More room for activities!!! We also have our own bathroom in the room, which is really nice. After getting situated we walked down the street and came across a place called Tower Tavern. Chalk that baby up as the first delicious meal we have all had. We ordered entrees like fish and chips, sausage with mashed potatoes and gravy, and steak mushroom stout pie with peas! All was delicious, but we collaboratively agreed my pick, the sausage, was the best. Mmmm mm mm! We then headed back to the hostel and had a bottles ;) of wine, we were making conversation with one of the receptionists who told us about a club on the South side of London.
























We took her recommendation and off we went, across the river! We took the underground "bullet" as they call it and then proceeded to stand in line for an hour for this club called Plan B. It was very different from clubs in America. The music was reggae mixed with house and I LOVED it!! We all got our boogie on, called it a night and took a double decker bus back to our hostel.





We are lucky enough to be coincidentally in London during the known, annual Notting Hill Carnival. The carnival spans over a 3 day period and today, because of London's bank holiday, was the biggest day to go. So of course we went! There were people as far as the eye could see in every direction, a new smell of delicious food with every new wind change, and around every corner was a different type of music with bass heavy enough to vibrate your bones.. It was awesome!! Definitely a cool experience to be a part of. We unfortunately did not bring our cameras due to the gypsies!! (or so the locals say) But we found some pictures online that were very exact to what we saw today.



















I could go on and on about how wonderful London is. We are all falling in love with this city. Tomorrow, which is our last day here, we plan to see Buckingham Palace, The London Bridge, and Big Ben. We have to check out of our hostel by 10am and our flight to Amsterdam leaves at 7pm, so we will have some time to kill! The journey of EuroFest! continues!! Still so much ahead and sooo much to look forward to :)











Our view from my bed :)






Also! Side note... Did you know the UK equivalent of our cents are pence? Well, we didn't. But we use it frequently now, and you should too.... Which makes a lot of pence.



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Location:London

London, James.

After months of preparation and hours of planning... The day of our departure has finally arrived!! We're locked, loaded and ready to cram into that long metal tube that will take us half way across the country for the first leg of our trans-Atlantic journey!!







Neil and Kerry are flying a different airline and are currently at another gate. We will connect with them in London and make our way to our first Hostel! Our first couple of days will be spent at YHA London Central. This hostel is part of Hosteling International and is super close to downtown London, most specifically Oxford street. We will arrive tomorrow around noon, but for now... HotLanta here we come! Not much more to report for now. Blog you soon ;)