Paris

Cityscape from the top of the Arc d' Triomphe

Ahh, Paris. What a gorgeous city. We arrived late in the morning by train, and were immediately struck by how little English the Parisians know. Luckily some nice lady pointed us in the right direction using gestures and my broken French.

Our hotel was outside of the city by a little, and the best way to get there was to take the train out of the city (only one stop, though). We got there too early to check in, but the concierge let us up anyway. We then went back into the city to explore. First we found the Arc d'Triomphe, where we went to the top. Then down the Champs Elysees for a bit, headed towards the Eiffel Tower. We got there, rested, and moseyed down to the Louvre. The Louvre is nice, and HUGE. It's practically exploding with art...unfortunately all of the great impressionist work that I love is in the Musee d'Orsay, which we did not visit.

Kiersten and I left the Louvre together and headed toward the metro. Unfortunately, we went in the wrong side, the side where we couldn't buy tickets. Some lady, being nice (we thought), held the exit open for us to sneak in. We squeezed by her and she disappeared...a minute later Kiersten realized that she'd lost her phone. Good thing we were both holding our purses/wallets protectively! Kiersten was pretty upset, and we decided to retrace our steps just in case. But we're both pretty convinced that it was the lady. Oh well, live and learn. At least it was just her phone!

That kind of put a damper on the rest of the day, so Kiersten and I headed back to the hotel, leaving Bryce in the Louvre to wander some more, where she called her parents from a pay phone. We finished the day with a delicious dinner of pizza and wine.

The next day we took the train in and ate the most delicious pain au chocolat for breakfast. I had two, they were so good! We found a department store called Prientemps that lets you go to the roof, where it has a spectacular view of the city. From there, we went to the Opera where the Phantom of the Opera was inspired. It was gorgeous (see pictures). Then we went onwards along the Siene to Notre Dame, ate some crepes, bought some postcards, saw the crypts in the Pantheon, and headed back to RueRoyale to eat the most delicious desserts ever. No joke. The place was called Ladurée, and it was heaven. I had macaroons and Marie Antoinette tea, which were soooo amazing. By that time we were exhausted, and Kiersten and I headed back to the hotel so that we could get up at 3am to catch our plane. Bryce stayed out to watch the Eiffel Tower light up, something that I hope to see when I'm back in a few weeks!

Arc d'Triomphe

Inside the Arc, they compare all of the other Arches in the world. I found my favorite.

From the top of the Arc d'Triomphe

Kiersten and Bryce walking down the stairs in the Arc

Kiersten, sitting underneath the Eiffel Tower

We got some baguettes, because it's one of those things you have to do in Paris

And we got really excited when we found American things, because nobody in Paris speaks English. It feels much more foreign than Germany.

The Louvre

Winged Victory

One of the many giant hallways

EVERYONE wanted to see Mona Lisa. You couldn't get close to it!

Kiersten, finally with a clear shot of Mona

The Louvre itself is gorgeous

This pictre of the crowning of Napoleon was in my European History book back in high school. It's also huge!

The Louvre has so much art that it has to hang some in the hallways by the bathrooms

Venus

Kiersten, preparing to attack Bryce with a pillow

Bryce retreated

We weren't sure what these giant bunnies were for outside of Prientemps...

Lone poppy

In the Opera

I made Bryce do this.

Box 5, the Phantom's box

This couple got angry at the person before them that was hogging the view. And then they hogged the view.

Notre Dame

The crypts. Alexandre Dumas is in the coffin on the left.

Delicious food at Ladurée!

Konstanz, Munich and Neuschwanstein

Oh my goodness, I have so many posts to do! The weekend before Pentacost break, IES took us to Konstanz and Munich. I was actually upset at first, because they originally told us that we would be going to Lindau and Munich. Oh well. Konstanz is also beautiful, and we had fun. IES hired a bus to drive us from Freiburg to Munich, which was gorgeous and gave us a chance to see the countryside (when we weren't sleeping, because the bus left at 7 am).
Our bus took us to some little town outside of Konstanz to see churches, then Konstanz for an hour, Meersburg for two hours, and finally into Munich. Konstanz is right on the Bodensee, across the lake from Lindau. We just kind of wandered around there. In Meersburg we saw the old castle, which I actually saw the last time I was in Germany. Somebody still lives there! It's crazy - I would never want to live in a castle that gives hundreds of tours every day!

Munich was gorgeous, as usual. This was my second trip to Munich this time in Germany, my third time overall, and will be one out of four trips to Munich! Crazy. When we finally got there that night, we all jumped in the shower and went out to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. The Hofbrauhaus is HUGE. It was like being at Oktoberfest without actually being at Oktoberfest. We sat upstairs at one of the long tables, while a polka band played in their dirndls and lederhosen. And then the dance group came out with their whips and silly German 2-step, and some other silly looking dance that involved jumping. The food was spectacular, and the beer was incredible. We made friends with the silly dance group, and they taught us how to crack whips (I didn't try it, but I took pictures). And then my friend Justin grabbed Kiersten and made her dance the 2-step on stage. It was so much fun!

The next morning we were taking on a city tour, which was actually very good. Our tour guide was animated, and conducted the tour in slow, clear German. We watched the glockenspiel, then broke up into smaller groups to wander the city. My group had no clear destination, so we wandered until we got to the English Gardens. Oh my. If I wanted to sunbathe naked, I would not do it in a garden in the middle of the city, and I certainly wouldn't be playing frisbee. But this is what happens in the English Gardens in Munich. And most of the people who are naked are older German men who are not in very good shape, and stand up and stretch...

After our English Garden experience, we went to a sportsbar to watch some of the FC Bayern soccer game. There my friend Kelly and I ordered nachos, but got.....not nachos. Doritos with dip. Hmm.

At the end of the day, we went back to the Biergarten in the English Gardens, enjoyed good German food, beer, and the fact that the naked men were gone since the sun had gone down.

The next day we went to Fußen to see Neuschwanstein. I've already done that trip too, but the castle is still gorgeous, so I took pictures.

Pretty German countryside

St. George and the Dragon statue in the St. George church

Paintings in the church from the late middle ages (I think)

Boats in Konstanz

Some of the silly fountains/statues in Konstanz

Countryside out of the Meersburg castle window.

The group at Marienplatz on our way to Hofbrauhaus

Hofbrauhaus

Each of these giant beers is called a Maß. They're huge and really heavy, and the waiters/waitresses can carry up to 16 of them in their hands at once.

The silly dancing

This guy snapped his whip while standing on our table.

Our dancer friends

Learning to crack the whip

German 2-step. These two girls are on my program

Justin and Kiersten trying the 2-step on stage.

Beautiful church in Munich

If you look closely, you can see some of the naked men. On the left there is one wearing nothing but a hat....he kept stretching awkwardly.

Giant chess in the park

Not nachos

Kids playing in the fountains

Neuschwanstein