The Only Blondes in Paris

We landed in Paris at a decent time, and we must be getting pretty good at this whole European traveling thing because it only took us an hour from where our bus dropped us off to get to our hotel (Which technically wasn't within city limits so it ended up costing us more in travel but it was a nice hotel so worth it I guess.). We've found that if you play the cute, innocent, lost, blonde American card pretty much anyone will help you. As you can see by Katie and my face we were pretty proud of ourselves in navigating the tram/subway system flawlessly the first time. 

After we got to our hotel we took a nap as we were still tired from only getting one hour of sleep in Barcelona before we had to catch the plane to Paris. After our nap we decided to go wander the streets of Paris. We planned out our subway route and headed into the main part of Paris. The stop we had to get off at was a train station/subway station/mall/grocery store/place with no windows or exits; now referred to as "the scary place." It literally took us over an hour to find our way out of that place. 

Once we finally got out, we headed toward one of the main streets in Paris. While we were walking we came upon a tattoo/piercing place and decided since we were having a once-in-a-lifetime trip we would do something unexpected and pierce our ears. I know it doesn't make that much sense but piercings aren't permanent so we figured why not. Below is the contract we had to sign basically stating we wouldn't come back to Paris and sue them if anything went wrong. 

And here are our piercings! (The darker studs on our upper ears.) 

After our piercing adventure we decided to wander some more and stopped in a nice little restaurant for supper followed of course by some shopping. :) 

Then on our way back to "the scary place" we found this gorgeous church. We didn't go inside but with the sunset and everything it was breath-taking. 

Katie and I went to bed early that night in anticipation of getting up early to go get our sight-seeing in. Below is Katie and I up bright and early to go see the Eiffle Tower before everyone else got there. Little did we know even though the Eiffle Tower doesn't open until 8:30 am you need to be there a lot earlier than that. Showing up at 8:30 am will still result in you waiting in line for two hours. 

The Eiffle Tower as we approaced. I know people probably say this all the time, but it really is bigger in person than it is in pictures.  

Standing in line to see the Eiffle Tower. (Don't let our smiles fool you, we were freezing!) 

On top of having to stand in line for two hours to get to the top of the tower, it was also freezing outside. It was so cold I was shaking uncontrollably. We were so cold our hands were even turning purple (below). Also, I was shaking so bad an old lady even offered me her scarf because she could see how close to hypothermia I was. 

Two and a half hours later we finally made it to the top of the Eiffle Tower! It was a long and cold wait but definitely worth it to get this view. As you looked out you literally couldn't see where the city ended, it was that big. 

After getting down and having an expensive lunch and coffee, we headed to the Louvre. In the Louvre we saw.....

...the Venus de Milo, ....

...the Mona Lisa, and...

...Cupid. 

This is just a funny picture I took because as Katie and I did some research on the Mona Lisa we found out thousands of people come to see the Mona Lisa every year, but then we started to wonder how many people actually look on the backside of the wall the Mona Lisa is hung on. So I took a picture of the back of the wall as well because I felt bad for these paintings.  

After the Louvre we got on the subway and headed to another part of town to see the Notre Dame Catherdral. On the way we found a parking lot full of plugged in cars. I don't know why it made us laugh so hard as it's actually a very smart idea, but it did so I had to take a picture. 

We finally got to the Notre Dame (below). I don't have any pictures of the inside as Katie was the one in charge of that, but to be honest it looked like all the other cathedrals we've already toured. I didn't really like it that much  because it was very "touristy". They had a lot of things for sale in there and it kind of got annoying to see all of that in a place that is supposed to be more religiously focused. All-in-all I'm still glad I went to see it though because I can now say I've seen the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. 

After the Notre Dame we started making our way back so we could catch the Eiffle Tower twinkling lights at 10 pm. On our way we stopped at a nice little restaurant with a waiter that loved us. All we had to do was say, "Thank you" in our cute, innocent American accents and he brought us free h' orderves ...twice. :) Then when we were leaving we left him a little tip and a note that read, "thank you, love the American girls" and he came running out the door after us yelling, "Thank you! Thank you!" and blowing us kisses. He was such a nice guy. 

We timed it perfectly and got to a good picture/video taking spot right when the twinkling lights started. It was amazing. Watching the twinkling lights on the Eiffle Tower is something you always dream and talk about doing but never actually get to do, so to actually be able to be right by the Eiffle Tower and see those lights go was an experience like no other. 

A dream come true! 

The next day we left Paris to fly to Bratislava and then take two trains back to Olomouc. I can definitely say we are getting good at the whole independent, international traveling thing because we didn't miss any train stops or departures. These are our faces as we pulled into the Olomouc train station and we knew it would only be a matter of minutes until we were safely back home ..aka Neredin (the name of our dorms).  

Twelve day, seven countries, more money than I care to mention, and countless priceless memories was my 2012 spring break. I doubt anything can top that but stayed tuned and see what other European adventures await me!

How can one person spend so much money in 30 hours?

I don't know if it's strictly a girl thing or if it's just a problem I have, but it still ceases to amaze me how one person with only 30 hours in Barcelona can spend so much money. Katie and I literally only had 30 hours (including sleeping time) in Barcelona, Spain but somehow we managed to find a hostel (very long story), go check out the Barcelona clubs, sleep in a non-English speaking strangers apartment for 50 Euros, spend a lot of money shopping (most spent on souvenirs), find an antique market and buy one-of-a-kind rings to pass on to our children, eat supper on the beach, and sleep one hour before we had to be at the airport for our flight to Paris. Because we weren't in Barcelona very long, I don't have many pictures....but here are few of what I did get taken. 

We arrived in Barcelona around 10:30 pm and still didn't have a hostel/hotel booked so we walked around for two hours searching and searching for anywhere that still had a room open. Luckily one hostel owner pulled some strings for us, and we were able to crash at his brother's apartment in a spare room he sometimes rents out to people. His name was Aboo and when he told us that all I could think was, "Like the monkey?" (Off Aladin the Disney movie)

This is a picture of the bed Katie and I shared at Aboo's apartment. Don't let the friendly sheets fool you, it was NOT a comfortable bed and it was freezing in his apartment...and yep you guessed it, he only gave us one blanket. 

Because we didn't get to town until late at night, many of the grocery stores and restaurants were closed or closing down. We happened to run into a convenient-type store and grabbed what we could to eat. I had cold, soft vegetables, and Katie had an apple and yogurt....at least we still ate healthy! 

After a horrible but adventurous night out in Barcelona we spent the next day on the streets exploring. 

We took a quick look into this cathedral, and as you can see from the outside it was quite amazing. 

This is the sign they had posted outside the cathedral. I think it's the European way of saying, "No shirt. No shoes. No service." It made me laugh. 

These are our antique rings from this huge antique market that was outside the cathedral. I literally could have spent all day there looking at everything. It was crazy and I'm pretty sure my grandpas would have gone nuts there. 

These couple pictures are snap shots taken during supper. We ate at this nice, quite place on the port and watched the sunset. It was a nice peaceful way to end our time in Barcelona. 

Oh, and this was the sign on the ladies bathroom door. They always have some very interesting signs and posters hanging up for bathrooms. 

On our way back to our hotel it was getting chillier out so we decided to stop in a little cafe/restaurant to have some hot chocolate and Baileys liquor. This drink has grown to be one of our favorites in all of Europe. We don't allow ourselves to have it much though because we almost want to die when we think of all the calories we are taking in by drinking it...so worth it though! 

That night we packed up and finished planning our Paris adventure (well somewhat), because we were not going to go through what we did in Barcelona with not finding a hostel. By the time we were done with all of that is was 1:30 am and we had to be up by 2:30 am to leave to find the bus to the airport, so we took a quick hour nap.

An hour later we were off to Paris!! 

Finally Being Able to Say, "When in Rome"

On our train ride to Rome Katie and I decided to make a playlist on my iPad while eating chocolate, four words....best train ride ever! 

After arriving in Rome, we had to take a tram and a bus to our hostel. It was called Peter Pan Hostel. At the time I didn't think anything of it but later realized the Americans got jipped on that deal. By the time we got checked into our hostel and everything there was only one place relatively close that was still open serving food. I ordered vegetables and this is what I got....

I think it technically is vegetables but it was somewhat warm, somewhat cold and was drowning in oil. Oh well, I figured the trip could only go up from there.

The next day we got up early and headed to Vatican City, which if you didn't know is technically its own separate country from Italy and therefore the smallest country in the world. I didn't know that, but it's kind of neat to be able to say I've been to the smallest country in the world. Vatican City is basically a bunch of museums all grouped into one and it took us like two hours to get through them all (which is actually really fast, usually takes people a lot longer). 

Below is just a picture of one of the sculptures that went through the "castration period" when the Roman Catholic Church found it inappropriate to have sculptures and paintings revealing private areas. This resulted in a lot of the statues looking like to this. 

This is a sculpture Katie and I were joking about. I said I was the lion and she was the horse. 

Then this was the tennis court Thea and I were joking was the Pope's private tennis court. 

Tara and I were also joking this was the bowl I ate my cereal in the morning out of. I don't know if you can really tell how big it was, but it was huge. 

Ahh... the little things we use to entertain us in museums. :) 

Then there was also a mummy museum with things like this picture and also other sculptures and engraved stones. 

After all the museums you basically end up walking into the Sistine Chapel. I'm not going to lie I didn't know much about the Sistine before I went there but Ann (another lady on the trip with us) let me use her headphones and listen to an auto-guided explanation, and we just sat there for about 30 minutes just taking it all in. It was beyond amazing. I loved being able to listen to the auto and go along with the guide as he pointed out all the secret meaning and things people would never know without background information. There are no cameras allowed in the Sistine Chapel but I couldn't help but use the reverse camera on my iPhone to snap one. It was just incredible, there are no words. 

If you look close the squared picture in the middle is the famous one of God giving Adam the spark of life. 

After the Sistine Chapel we decided to climb the 551 stairs to the top of Saint Peter's Basilica to get the best view of Rome. It was an amazing view and definitely worth the stair climb, I'm not sure it was worth the five Euro they charged me to walk up the stairs however. Ha! 

Just some pictures from the top of the Saint Peter's Basilica. 

Inside Saint Peter's Basilica. This place was huge. Just to give you a little idea, do you see those letter in the gold strip across the wall? Each of those letter is six feet tall! I was literally in shock when I found that out. Katie is six feet tall and I kept picturing her up there and kept thinking to myself, "There's no way!" It's incredible how big that place is. 

The front view of Saint Peter's Basilica. 

As the day went on Katie and I split up from the other girls and headed to the Pantheon and then had some wine and gelato. While we were wandering we found a nice little bar called the Drunken Ship, so we stopped in for a glass of wine while we waited for the other girls to show up. That's when we met Fabio the bartender and after talking a little told him we would come back the next night to visit him. 


After supper with the other girls we headed on a self-guided night tour that took us a bunch of places but of course my favorite......the Trevi Fountain! Of course we all made wishes and threw coins in, and I can't say what my wish was for but so far I think things are going in the right direction. :) 

After the Trevi, our tour took us to the Spanish Steps. Katie and I did what we tend to do at any staircase we encounter....ran up them. It wasn't easy with the shoes I was wearing but we made it and it was a fantastic view. 

The next day Katie and I left early in the morning again for the Colosseum. We got there in the perfect amount of time when it was nice outside but not too many tourists were there yet. We didn't go inside but we walked all around it and stared in amazement that we actually got to see the thing we have been seeing in textbooks and on postcards since we were little. 

Katie and I outside the Colosseum. 

After the Colosseum we wondered up to the church that was built around the holy stairs where Jesus Christ climbed to  meet his fate decided by Pontius Pilot. Because the stairs are holy no one is allowed to step on them. If you want to climb them you have to climb them on your knees, which Katie and I both did. I can't even explain how I felt while climbing those stairs. They weren't smooth, marble, concrete or anything like that. They were hard, wooden, uneven steps that hurt really bad to climb, but in all honestly every time I thought to myself, "Ouch this hurts," I immediately followed that thought up with, "Do you realize the pain you're feeling is only a small small fraction of the pain Jesus suffered through for you?" It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

 On our way wandering back to the hostel we ran into the ancient ruins. I'll admit we didn't stay and look very long but it was crazy to think how old some of those rocks and structures were. 

 On our last night in Rome Katie and I ended up finding a great, cheap hotel right next to the train station, and we were finally able to take good shower and get ready so we decided we would go visit Fabio at the Drunken Ship. While we were there we met a ton of fellow Americans, some from Boston, Denver, and Minneapolis. It was a great way to end a fantastic trip to Rome. 

Next stop....Barcelona, Spain!