Ah, Paris!

We have finally returned from class trip to Brussels and Paris...

After 20 hours of bus riding, a handful of gas station stops and delicious CocaCola lights we have arrived back in Strasbourg. The trip started early Thursday morning when we left on a five hour bus ride to Brussels, Belgium. When we arrived in Brussels, it was cold, rainy and wet; fortunately, it was well worth enduring the nasty weather. The first stop in Brussels was at an infamous Belgian waffle stand, all I have to say is Belgian Waffle, a LOT of chocolate and perfect bananas all mixed together. Yum! Of course after all of the sugar I had to find something salty to eat and what better than French Fries (Belgium is where French Fries were started). The French Fries were pretty good, except for the fact that I spilled half of them and all of the ketchup all over my new shoes, luckily they're already red. :) These red Converse shoes have been my favorite purchase...definitely the most useful. Eventually, I felt full enough to return to the hotel and get ready for our visit to the European Commission. The Commission was very interesting, they have over 77 buildings in Brussels and thousands of employees. We had two presentations and the better of the two was on the "Trans-Atlantic Relationship" between the US and Europe. To wrap up the busy day, a few of us decided to venture down a street of restaurants and find somewhere to relax and taste more Belgian cuisine. We were all pleasantly surprised when we found ourselves being recruited into restaurants; apparently, they all had the best deal etc. At the end of the street we decided to sit down and received our promised free drink and ate a great dinner, I even tried a mussel, interesting. Since the rain had cleared up after dinner, we had the opportunity to look around the square and enjoy some live music at a local tavern. All in all, Brussels was a nice expereince and I would love to spend more time in the city.

Ah, Paris! I am in love with this city. Everything you hear about Paris, at least all of the good things are TRUE. I am truly captivated by this city; I love the paradox of the old and the new all mixed together. We arrived in Paris around 2pm on Friday, grabbed some lunch and unfortunately jumped on another bus for a bus tour. I just about died, I was so ready to walk around the city and experience the sights, not just look at them through a window. I guess the best part of this tour was that our tour bus was pulled over for running a red light...oops! After the bus tour, we found ourselves at the bottome of the Eiffel Tower. I could not believe I was actually looking at it, IN PERSON. We rode up to the second floor, took in the expansive area Paris covers and explored the lawn surrounding the tower. To end the day of touring, we got a large boat and cruised the river and listed to some interesting history in French; therefore, I learned nothing. But I did find myself sitting next to the cutest little French boy, he was probably in Elementary school and kept trying to speak French to me. I just kept smiling, haha. This night Anna and I were feeling a little under the weather because of the cold weather our allergies have been miserable, so we hit the sack around midnight. I am so glad that I got some sleep because Saturday was AMAZING. We started the morning with our typical French breakfast, a crossiant (or two) and left for the Palace of Versailles. (sp?) This was the "country" home of King Louis XIV, by home I mean opulent palace. This place was the epitome of French Royalty, it is decked out in huge murals, impressively high ceilings and over the top furnishings, but the part I enjoyed the most were the gardens. Acres and acres and acres of ornately designed gardens, fountains, statues and fountains surround the palace. Seriously, I think I could spend an entire day in this place. The next part of the day was started at the Louvre right after we grabbed a traditional French crepe from a street vendor. The Louvre was magnificent and completely overwhemling. We stopped at all the touristy spots such as the Mona Lisa, Venus and Milo, Winged Victory and some others. Once again, I could spend an entire day and then some in this place.

Now, for one of my favorite parts of my entire trip to Europe, Fat Tire Bike Tour. It was complete fate that I ended up going on this tour because I forgot it was in Paris. Friday, I ran into some Aggies I knew underneath the Eiffel tower who were working for FTBT and they told me I should definitely go on a tour. I decided I needed to do some recruiting from my group and told them I would be back Satruday night. Thankfully, I foud some people who were interested. So, after our already long day on Saturday we found ourselves racing along the subway trying to make it to the 7pm tour. We almost didn't make it and I owe it all to our sprint from the subway to the base of the Eiffle Tower....this was not small feat. Anyways, sweating, dishelved and outbreath my group shows up to the meeting spot and who do I see other than more Pi Phi's, Paige and Morgan! I can't believe that we were both in Paris at the same time and decided to go on the same tour, I was so excited to see more familiar faces. Long story short, the tour started at FTBT's office aka an area with about 100 bikes and lasted for 4 hours and ended with wine on a night boat cruise. As I said earlier, this tour was one of my favorite times on my entire trip. We saw so many areas of Paris at dusk, stunning, ate the city's best ice cream (no joke) and had a blast! To end an already perfect day, we decided to get yet another crepe from a late night stand and experience the 1am Eiffel Tower show. At 1am they turn off the back lights of the tower and turn on only the sparkle lights, it looks as if they are dancing up and down the tower. This morning we closed our time in Paris with mass at Notre Dame. I loved the church and was very intrigued by the service, since I have never been to a catholic service. Most of the sermon was in French, but it was worth it to hear the accousitics and look at the stainglass windows.

To be honest, I am exhausted from typing and sad to say this is only a small taste of my trip. Needless to say, I will be back in Paris someday because it is a truly life-changing experience. I hope all of you are doing well and keeping everything together for me back in the States.

p.s.
I don't think the French know what toilet seat is....never thought of these as a luxury.
Dairy, Dairy and more Dairy; who doesn't love a diet of cheese and ice cream :)