and now for the rest of the story...

I think the best part about Scotland was the people. Did I mention that they are super friendly there? Because they are! I met more people during our short stay in Scotland than I did on any of our other excursions throughout the semester. It was great! One encounter though will forever stick out above the rest. It all began on the train ride to our hostel.....

Since we had to be up and out for our Sunday flight by 5:30 in the morning we decided to book a hostel as close to the airport as possible. And because we wanted the cheapest tickets possible, that airport wasn't exactly in Glasgow but rather in Prestwick which was a mere 30-45 minute train ride away. So after exploring Glasgow a bit, we caught a train to the airport and began the journey to find our hostel for the night.

Only a few stops after we got on, a whole group of Celtic fans loaded onto the train. (The Celtic Football Club is Glasgow's official soccer team) And of course one of the very exuberant fans sat next to us. At some point while Sierra and I were chatting, we noticed our train buddy paying close attention to everything we were saying. She kept looking over at us and smiling.

Finally after a few minutes she asked us where we were from. As soon as we said "Texas" she exploded with excitement. She started asking us all sorts of questions. She couldn't believe we were actually from Texas. Apparently there is some show called "Dallas" from the 80's that is a huge hit over there now.

Apparently the show is about some man named JR Ewing. IMBD describes it as: Popular evening 'soap-opera' style television drama. The show was set in Dallas and chronicled the exploits of wealthy Texas oil millionaires. Many of the plots revolved around shady business dealings and dysfunctional family dynamics.

So the mental image of Texans came from this JR Ewing guy


She kept asking us about cowboy hats and why we didn't talk like the people on the show. It was hilarious. Of course neither of us had ever heard of this show before so we had no clue what she was talking about.

My favorite part was when she started trying to talk like us. She would pick up on specific phrases we apparently kept saying and would way them back in a high nasally voice with her face all scrunched up. She sounded so funny. Her favorite thing to repeat was "Ohh man." She would just say it over and over again.

Her husband and his friend were a few rows down so she kept leaning over to them and bragging about how she was talking to "real live Texas people and they sound nothing like JR." Basically we just spent the whole train ride laughing. It was a blast. She kept going on an on about how she would get to tell all her friends that she met real Texas people and that the show Dallas isn't what Texas people are like.

At some point in the conversation Sierra started talking about music and the band S-Club 7 came up. I have no clue how it all started, but we ended up rolling as our new train buddy started singing one of their songs at the top of her lungs. It was a mess.

When we all got off at our stop, we were introduced to the other men (Ed and George and her name was Ann)


George on the right and Ed on the left


Ann...our new train buddy

Ann began explaining to George and Ed everything we had talked about and when the S-club conversation came up, the men broke out in laughter and began singing "Reach for the stars...." (apparently thats one of their songs) and dancing. So naturally I busted out the camera and took this lovely video. Unfortunately my camera doesn't have sound, but you can at least see the craziness happening on platform 2...



After our little dance party they started asking about our plans for the evening and decided we were going to join them in the airport restaurant/pub and they would treat us to a beer. They had to catch a plane home that night but had some time to kill so they wanted to hang out with us some more. Since we had nothing better to do as well, we decided to tag along.

Ohh man. I have never laughed so hard in my life. (ohh and for those wondering...don't worry Europe hasn't corrupted me. I had a coke, not a beer. Just thought I should clear that up) During all the laughter and crazy stories, Ed leaned over and explained that he wanted to make a trade. My beanie for his Celtic scarf. Immediately I laughed and turned this offer down. The next 2 hours basically turned into an off an on conversation about making this trade. He was determined that he wanted my beanie.

I kept asking him why in the world would be want my beanie. His reply: "when people see me wearing your beanie and ask me where it's from, I will be able to tell them that I traded my cherished Celtic scarf with a beautiful young real live Texas girl who is actually from Texas and isn't anything like the show Dallas. And how many people can say that."

You see Ed is a HUGE Celtic fan. He has been to almost every game no matter where it is and he has always had this scarf with him. He started naming all the countries it had been and explained that it was over 20 years old. Man he really wanted my beanie. I don't know who had a bigger attachment to their accessory. Me and my beanie or him and his scarf. But he was willing to trade so he could have a neat new souvenir with a fun story.

It took a LOT of convincing and I almost didn't do it. But just at the last second before they had to leave to catch their flight....I gave in. So after 2 hours of debating, I left that night watching my beanie walk away in one direction and I in the other while holding a new piece of cloth that contained quite possibly the coolest story ever.



the trade...


ohh Ed...

When we finally got to our Hostel we met yes again another person who wanted to talk our ear off. The lady that worked at the hostel talked to us for probably 30 minutes before she finally gave us the key and left us alone. And then of course our cab driver the next morning was super friendly. As soon as he heard us speak he said "the US? Ohh I love to hear the American accent." haha

So Scotland was absolutely AMAZING! From the scenery to the people, you can not ask for a better place to visit. I for sure would not mind living there! I think it's the only place I have ever been where the people wanted to hear my "accent" just as much as I wanted to hear theirs! Who knew Scotts were infatuated with the American accent.

Destination: Scotland...

It is done. My super duper gray beanie with a red and white stripe is officially walking around in London somewhere. Yes, that is right. My favorite beanie has a new owner. How could this happen you ask...

Well it all began a few weeks ago when we discovered our schedule included a 3 day weekend.....

Three day weekends are the best! Of course on 3 day weekends you have to take full advantage of this extra day, thus why the boys (Gavin, Jacob, and Geoff) went to Istanbul and Savannah and Barrett went to London. Due to the fact that I had already been to London and being the only girl going to Turkey didn't sound very appealing, I decided Sierra and I should do something adventurous!

Since I have always had a secret obsession with the Scottish accent and have always dreamed of visiting anywhere in Scotland, I convinced Sierra (didn't take much) that we should go out on a limb and see what we could come up with. Before we knew it we became the proud owners of 2 plane tickets to Glasgow, Scotland.

On the recommendation of one of our amazing AIB staffers (Stefanie), after arriving we decided to grab an hour ferry from Ardrossan to the Isle or Arran. If you are into the outdoors and love to just be in the pure presence of the Lord's glorious creation, then I suggest you put Arran on your list of places to go. It was absolutely beautiful!!

According to the lovely little pamphlet given to us by the nice man at the front desk of our hostel, the Isle is about 25 miles from top to bottom and 12 miles across. The road running around the outside of the Island is 57 miles across. Only 4,500 people populate the Island, and 3,000 of those live in the 3 big villages.

There are all sorts of interesting animals on the Island too. In our short time there, we were only able to see the red deer, a sea otter, and plenty of sheep scattered about. We are told though that you can pretty regularly see seals, badgers, red squirrels, golden eagles, hen harriers, and basking sharks and dolphins. Basically the whole island is just one big nature trail.

The ferry dropped us off in Brodick where we took a bus to our hostel in Lochranza. The 20 minute bus ride was absolutely gorgeous! Mostly the road followed the coast, but it often weaved into the country side surrounding us with beautiful mountains.

All around the mountains you could spot sheep.

Arran has lots of sheep! They aren't always fenced in either. Often our bus would come to a stop as a sheep decided to lazily cross the street. They were everywhere and not even afraid of the passing cars! They just chilled, eating their grass as our bus flew past them only a few feet away. It was insane!

The buses in Lochronza are a hoot. I would not describe them as punctual or structured. Sure there were "bus stops" but that really did not mean much. You just told the driver when to stop and there you were. When we asked him where our hostel was he told us not to worry, "I'll give you a shout out when we get there." And he did. In fact he took us right to the front door. It was great!

Our hostel turned out to be super neat! The location was fabulous! Standing in the driveway you could throw a rock and hit the wet land that fills with ocean water at high tide. Looking to the left, we were only about 150 yards from an old castle. It was perfect!

After dropping of our bags at the hostel, we set out to explore! We spent the whole afte
rnoon climbing through the castle and hiking around the area. Our hostel gave us information on a trail to take that would take us to a spot where there are normally seals. From there we were supposed to find another tail that passes the spot where red deer hang out.

Although we never found the seals, and our second trail decided to hide from us, we made out own path and had a blast! At one point we found 2 deer and got withing 30 feet of them. After passing many sheep, we decided our goal would be to hug one. Yeah, umm, that didn't work out so well. We could get withing maybe 10 ft, but then they were off. And those little buggers could skedaddle. So mission hug sheep failed, but it was still a great day!

To top everything off, we got back to the hostel and met a new friend. The way hostels work is that there are normally several people to a room. And you don't necessarily know your other roommates. Some are co-ed (I personally stay away from those) while others are separated by gender.

The room Sierra and I got was a 4 person female "dorm" (as they call them) so we shared it with another older lady. She was the coolest! Her name was Lindsay. She is originally from England but has been living in Scotland for a few years and loves to travel. She normally stays in her tent but decided to check into this hostel for the week because the weather was supposed to get nasty.

This is us with our new friend the mountain woman.

I am so glad she picked the hostel so we could meet her! She had the most interesting stories! Sierra and I probably chatted with her for a good hour or two. Man this lady was hard core! She just picks a place and backpacks through. The next day she had plans to hike up one of the mountains. So cool =)

The next morning we woke up super early to catch the bus back to Brodick so we could see another castle and check out the shops. Out 2 favorites were the Arran Aromatics (where they made and sold had soaps, lotions, candles, and other bath items), and the Island Cheese Co. The Cheese place was heavenly! Oh boy!

They had a table where you could sample all the different cheeses! Of course some were AWESOME while others....well lets just say some mold should not be given the label "cheese." Just throw it away for goodness sake! Our favorite sample was the raspberry infused cranberry cheese! So we bought a block and called is breakfast and lunch! Perfection!

As we got closer to town we started losing track of time in all the cute shops and ended up arriving at our ferry just as it pulled away. Thats ok, we recovered by playing around in the town while we waited 2 more hours for the next one. I was actually glad we missed the first ferry.

When we finally made our way back to Glasgow, we just walked around the town for the rest of the day and shopped. We met so many interesting people. Scottish people are sooo friendly! I definitely want to live there!

Speaking of friendly people, I suppose this leads me into my final story from Scotland and most memorable experience so far in Europe. Where did my beanie go...

But since this thing is getting so long, I will save that story for tomorrow. =) Ohh cliff hanger! But until then you can enjoy the pretty pictures =)

Locranza Castel

Brodick Castle

the sunset was gorgeous! This doesn't even do it justice...

look...its a face

this is right outside our hostel

more pics to come later...

Lost and found...

In case you have not heard: just after my trip to Scotland my wallet decided to leave the cozy company of my bag and embark on an adventure of its own. I personally did not welcome this adventure considering my wallet contained many very important items such as my transportation pass, all my id (minus my passport thankfully), debit card, untold amounts of money, and other various items I was not to keen on losing.

The disappearances, of course, happened just in time for our week long trip to Berlin. Perfect timing? Well, I think not! That was an interesting week I must say. But thankfully my lovely group came to the rescue and at least made sure I was golden in the cash department.

While we were in Berlin, however, the wonderful staff at AIB placed a few phone calls and began the process of possibly tracking down my wallet. Here in Düsseldorf they have this lovely concept of a city wide lost and found. It is amazing! If you happen to leave something on the tram or bus there is a central location where it is all collected.

Halfway through our Berlin trip I received the most welcomed message that my wallet had in fact been found AND remarkably nothing was missing. Praise the Lord!!! They sent a letter to my host lady's house with instructions on where to go and such but since I was in Berlin, I had to wait until I got back to pick it up. That's where today comes in...

This morning I woke up bright and early ready to redeem my wallet before class. Conveniently the lost and found was located on the exact opposite side of town where I had never been but with the help of google map, the rheinbahn transportation map, and a time schedule book, I charted the perfect path to get there and back just in time for class to start at 10:15 (I even gave myself a 45 minute cushion just in case). At least that was the plan.

This semester has taught me a very important concept about plans. They are made to be broken. And of course like most transportation adventures this semester, things didn't exactly go as "planned."

I was able to catch my first train right on time but that train quickly changed status from "on time" to "slightly late." And "slightly late" means that I only "slightly" missed my connecting bus to the lost and found. Lovely.

But it gets better. The stop where I was to get off and catch the 834 bus just so happened to be under construction. There are 9 different stops around the area and after jogging to each one to find where my 834 bus would pick me up, of course, it's the only one that has a big x through it.

The construction people however were so kind to write a little message explaining where the new location was. Only one problem....I can't read German! That's ok though, I just decided to stand in the middle of all the stops and watch for my bus and then run to wherever it decided to stop. Problem solved. =)

Only 20 minutes off schedule, no big deal. When I got to the stop closest to my destination I pulled out my lovely scribble of the google map I looked up the night before and began to decipher which direction I should take. According to google I was to turn right and it would be across the street a block or so away. Problem: to my right a block or so away happened to be a bridge crossing the Rhein. Way to go google.

As I stood there at my bus stop thoroughly confused trying to collect my barrings, I just so happened to look over my shoulder and glance at the big blue sign attached to the fence I had been standing next to. You guessed it. I had been standing next to the building the whole time.

The building was kinda shady, but the words matched the name in my letter. I followed the signs and enter the building. The entrance lead to a long white hallway with a bunch of cold metal doors. The sign giving directions made absolutely no since. After starring at it for a few minutes I noticed a man had joined me and had a different looking letter in his hands and had the same confused look but I decided to see if he could help anyway.

After studying my letter (which by the way is in german) for a bit he handed it back and in very broken English simply stated, "I not know." And thus began my 30 minute scavenger hunt for a door that did not exist.

I checked all the floors multiple times and found nothing. Every time I passed the entrance there was always a new person with a letter and a confused look on their face. It was quite entertaining. Several times I passed that first man in the stairwell. We just laughed and kept looking for our destinations.

To get a mental picture you need to envision an old brick building that looks deserted. Long white hallways with big closed metal doors and dirty (used to be white) tile floors. The far end of the building is a big glass wall with the lone stair case in a pretty big hollow room. The only sounds are those of your footsteps echoing in the empty hallways. Now place a few people wondering around trying to find something and not succeeding, only passing each other in the stairwell. Speed up the video and put circus music behind it and ta da! my morning.

After talking to many different people, the only one I ran across that couldn't speak English was that only one that actually helped. He took me outside and the pointed to where my destination was. Apparently this place was in the basement of the building. Of course inside there is not a set of stairs leading there so you have to go around to the other side of the building, through the parking lot that goes to the lower level and there in that most hidden corner you will find a door and apparently thats the lost and found. Gee, why didn't I think of that!

Finally I was there! With my letter and passport in hand, I was ready to pick up my wallet. The nice man behind the counter retrieved my treasure from the vault, pulled it out of the folder and said "10 euro." Since I had lost my wallet shortly after returning from Scotland, I only had British pounds. My debit card was blocked as soon as I realized it was missing, and the few travelers checks I had were also canceled thus the blank stare he recieved.

Once I explained my story he said all was good and that I could just take my British pounds and exchange them at the bank. He kept my travelers check and what change I had, gave me my wallet with the pounds and gave me directions to the bank.

The directions I received: "Over there..." (he did that extend the arm and point straight thing curving to the left when his arm fully extended) What does that mean? How am I supposed to use a hand gesture for directions when the bearings of the employee is questionable in the first place due to their current location in a building with no windows. Does he even know where the street is?

Following his "over there..." directions the best I could, I wound at a construction site with fencing everywhere and thus began my hour long search for this "bank." Several times I stopped for directions. My favorite directions were from the lady who asked if I had fire for her. (she was wanting to smoke a cigarette) I said " no, but I do have a question for you." She laughed at my response and explained that I was on the wrong street and that it was on a street parallel to where we were. She pointed me in a direction and sent me on my way.

Now I am sure that somewhere in the city of Düsseldorf there is a bank on some street that happens to be parallel to the one we were on, but not anywhere near where I was. I walked up and down the next 3 streets that were "parallel" and found nothing! I must have covered every street withing a 3/4 a mile (at least) radius of the lost and found building and found nothing. The sad part is that I really could have just left without paying the 10 euros because all they held as ransom was my travelers checks that were now void because I canceled them and the 14 cents from my change purse. It was tempting...

Finally after many wrong directions, I found some random bank and got probably the worst exchange rate ever so I could pay this silly 10 euro bill.

When I got back to the lost and found place and walked in, the man threw his hands up in the air and breathed out a long relieved sigh. Apparently they figured out that they really held nothing of value and assumed I wasn't returning. I told them of my travels and we laughed for a bit.

What a day! So now I have my lovely wallet back. It only cost me 10 euros to find it, but its back. And....I was only 1 1/2 hours late to class =)

So if you ever lose something in Düsseldorf Germany, call me. I am now a pro with the lost and found thing and know not only how to get there, but how to get anywhere in that whole area because I walked it over several times =)

I title this one…RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

When things do not go as planned, life gets interesting.

Here’s the story…

A few weeks ago Geoff, Jacob, Savannah and I decided to use up the last few days of our eurorail to take a trip to Marseilles.

The day started out like every other day here in Düsseldorf. The sun choked out by the clouds, the air crisp, and the birds signing their lovely morning melody. But heading out, I was a wee bit late.

Instead of class as normal, we were to meet one of the AIB staff at the HBF (the main train station) to go on a class trip to Neuss to visit the Museumsinsel Hombroich. Then Jacob, Savannah, Geoff and I were going to leave the group a bit earlier to catch a train to begin our journey to Marseilles. Well, that was the plan.

Our field trip to Museumsinsel Hombroich was pretty neat. We got to see all sort of things. Basically it is a playground for architects, combining nature and art. There are buildings and sculptures scattered everywhere. Of course the weather didn’t cooperate so that was kind of a bummer. But with umbrellas in hand, we survived.

After lunch is when the real adventure begins however. You see, we were supposed to catch a bus that would take us to a train that would take us to the Neuss HBF where we would catch another train that would take us to the Düsseldorf HBF where we would begin our journey to Marseilles (which involved changing trains a few times). Sounds simple enough, right? The catch was that if we missed our train in Düsseldorf, we wouldn’t get to go.

Well to make a long story short, our bus ride that was supposed to only last 6 minutes took 34 minutes. Meaning, we missed our train to the Neuss HBF. Trying not to panic, we found a Taxi and hopped in. At this point our Marseilles train was scheduled to leave in 30 minutes. No problem right? Except, the taxi driver told us that where we needed to go was 30 minutes away. YIKES!!

As soon as the Düsseldorf HBF was in sight, we threw money to the taxi driver and began sprinting with our heavy backpacks as fast as we could to our gate which of course had to be on the complete opposite end.

The gate we needed was 16. At around gate 13 I started noticing my vision was slowly fading and I wasn’t exactly breathing right (thank you asthma). After a quick stumbling blackout, I decided to use a quick walk instead of a sprint.

At the final stair case to gate 16 I regained courage and ran up the stairs just in time to see Savs, Geoff, and Jacob hanging out of the door yelling my name. After diving into the train, the doors closed and we were on our way.

Apparently Geoff had been the first one to the train and had just barely caught the door before it closed and held if for Jacob and Savs. Then they held the door until the last minute when I arrived. Thanks guys! We just barely made out trip!

Marseilles was amazing! We mainly just walked around and enjoyed the town. We also took a 3 ½ hour boat tour to the cliffs and such. It was beautiful.

The crew (jacob, savs, geoff)


This is mostly how you can find her =)





The classic whoop!


beautiful Savs on our boat tour


love orange boats =)


harbor





jacob likes being on top of the world...

This past weekend Sierra and I got to go to Scotland. Details on that soon to come...

barcelona...

Yesterday morning Barrett, Gavin, Geoff, Jacob, Savannah, and I boarded a plane and flew to Barcelona, Spain. It is pretty neat here. Finally we are able to wear short sleeves. The boys even wore shorts yesterday. We are all absolutely fascinated by the fact that it is so warm here, but yet the locals are still bundled up in their big coats and scarves. I guess they have never been to Germany.

Our fist order of business in getting here was to check out the beach. Of course even though the sun may be warm, the water is apparently freezing cold so you won't find anyone swimming about, but that doesn't stop them from enjoying the sandy shores.

We got there, rolled up our pant legs and just walked around in the sand. At one point Geoff decided to prove a point and actually jumped in. All the way! Crazy! But since we didn't have a frisbee or a ball with us, we found some amazing rocks to keep us busy for a while.

Along the shores were a few peninsulas that had these huge rocks at the end. Naturally we decided these would make a great jungle gym. The goal of each point was to get to the furthest rock without getting wet and taking a picture. It was a little tricky at times with slippery algae and rocks a little to spaced out, but eventually we reached out destinations.

The rest of our time up until now has just been filled with seeing different parts of Barcelona. There is another group of architecture kids from A&M studying here, so they have been kind enough to give us the grand tour. It has been great.

Hopefully later I will throw in the rest of my spring break story with the family. Have a lovely day!
­­

Rolling hills….

I have decided that I am in love with rolling hills. Hills blanketed with all sorts of things. From dense forests to simple green pastures to little towns neatly tucked away in the folds, they are simply beautiful.

Why am I talking about rolling hills you ask? Well, simply because I am starring at them right now. I am currently on a train headed back to my lovely home away from home, Düsseldorf, and the window to my right is providing a most interesting view of the German country side.

In the distance I am almost positive I am watching snow gracefully fall (Either it is snow or really slow falling rain that wonders rather than falling in its usual straight path to the ground). Though the clouds have control of the sky today, the sun makes sure its presence is known. In scattered places the sun’s rays can clearly be seen shining through. I like it when that happens. It gives a gloomy day character.

The whole reason for this journey was to take my dad to the airport. We hoped on a train at 5:30 this morning to send him back to the states. For those that do not know, my dad and sister flew in last Monday (march 10^th) to spend spring break here. And that is where my story begins.

The public transportation in Germany has been having a series of what they call “warning strikes.” Apparently they are not happy with their pay so they schedule these strikes and then negotiate with whomever about whatever and if all goes well then there will not be a strike. Apparently things never go well. Düsseldorf has experienced 2 of them since we have been here.

Normally the strikes are just local. Meaning the national trains still run. Though they are not much help to us students because we have to take a local train to get to the station with the national trains, but if you so desire to walk then you can catch one and go from city to city.

Well, the week before my dad and sister arrived, we got word about a national strike soon to happen. And wouldn’t you know, that strike landed on the day my family was to arrive. Meaning, when they flew into Frankfurt they could not catch a train to Düsseldorf like they were planning.

Thats when Julie (my missionary friend) decided we would drive and pick them up. Of course telling them this would take all the fun out of things. So when they boarded the plane they were expecting to arrive in Frankfurt and take a 2 hour train ride to Düsseldorf. Little did they know someone would be waiting there for them…

After finding their gate and the perfect place to stand so that we were just out of sight, we waited. Finally after watching several flights arrive and passengers leave, my dad and sister appeared through the gate doors. Ohh man was I excited to see them! But I remained calm and tried to come up with the best way to make our presence known. It was quite exciting!

Their first task after getting to the airport was to call me and let me know they were there, so they were supposed to be heading towards a pay phone. But they passed a few. So as I stalked behind them for a while I decided to walk up next to dad.

After a few steps and him not catching on, I decided to inform him that the pink T-Moble signs were in fact pay phones. At this point they both gasped and stopped dead in their tracks. Becca who was ahead a bit quickly turned around to look with her mouth hanging down to the floor. It was priceless!! Mission complete! Apparently just before I walked up, Becca had just mentioned that she was disappointed I wasn’t going to meet them at the airport and wished I had come. Perfect timing =)

Once we loaded up the car, we set off to show them a bit of Germany. Our first stop was a stretch of the Rhine River where there are a lot of cute little towns and old castles. It was amazing! We got off at a few different spots, but the best was Bacharach. There we got to tour the Castle Stahleck. Oh man it was a blast!!!

If you ever come to Germany you have to check out this area. It is absolutely beautiful!!! Small towns lining the river with castles scattered about, man it’s a sight! The terrain was, once again, those rolling hills. Instead of pastures like lots of other places, there were vineyards everywhere! At some parts the hills where so steep that we couldn’t figure out how in the world someone could harvest the grapes! But they did and it sure made for a fascinating sight.

After the River, we took them to Köln and showed them the Cathedral. I think they really enjoyed it. The weather in Köln was pretty bad, but we stayed in the Cathedral the whole time so I think it worked out. After eating lunch and introducing dad to wiener schnitzel, we headed back to our final destination of the day, Düsseldorf. I think it turned out to be a very successful day =)

The rest of the week’s story is soon to come…

Here are just a few pics

Posting

We like snowboarding =)

I apologize in advance for the length of this next post. There is just so much to cover =)
Alright, here we go...

Paris day 3 and 4:
Day three started off with a visit to The Hôtel National des Invalides where Napoleon’s tomb is located. There they had an extensive museum entailing the history of France pertaining to the wars. It was very interesting. There was also an armory that we got to browse in. Everything was in glass cases. Glass cases provide lovely reflections. So being the creative group we are, we discovered that if you stood a certain distance from the glass you could get your reflection to line up with the armor inside therefore making it look as if you were wearing the armor. Brilliant! We proceeded to take pictures using this lovely discovery.

Some examples:

jacob

me

savs

Our travels then took us to Sante Chapelle where we got in for free due to our current status as architecture/art students! Being artsy pays off I suppose. Sante Chapelle was beautiful. The sun poured through the windows splashing the colors of the stained glass everywhere. Have I mentioned that I absolutely love stained glass yet? Because I do! This stuff is ridiculously amazing! What was so neat about this building though was the stories in the windows. There are 1,113 scenes depicted within the 13 stained glass windows. They tell the story of mankind from Genesis to Christ's resurrection. It is pretty impressive. Everything here was over the top. You see Sante Chapelle was the private chapel of the king. He would allow only his close friends and family to join him in the upper chapel. (the one with all the windows). The lower chapel was for the palace staff. It was neat, I am glad we experienced this place.

After the chapel we were going to go to the catacombs, but they were closed for restoration until March. Instead, we ventured to the Pompidou. It is a modern art museum built by Richard Rogers. Inside there were lots of works by some big name artists like Picasso, Kandinsky, Braque, Dali, and Pollock (just to name a few). It was incredible. Of course half of the art was, in my opinion, rather ridiculous. Some pieces of modern art are interesting and then others you just have to wonder about. For instance, one room proudly displayed these 4 massive beams leaning against the wall and wrapped in large rope. I mean really. Art? Who buys this stuff? I am also convinced that some of the paintings could be replicated by a 4 year old, but I guess there are people out there who actually like this stuff. So if that is you, I apologize for not knowing what makes a composition art. I do admit that I have been brain washed by this major into liking some pieces of art that I previously made fun of, but there is definitely a line where that brain washing stops. Some of that stuff was just silly looking.

The Pompidou center finished out our day 3 in Paris. The next morning we decided to sleep in a bit which only meant 9am. Then we packed up and headed out to complete out spectacular journey through Pairs. We had a few more things we wanted to accomplish before we left. This included the Basilique at St. Denis and the Palace at Versailles.

St Denis was very pretty. It looked older than the other cathedrals but that was just because it hasn't been kept up as well as the others. The rose window on one side was completely missing as where other parts of various windows. Again we found ourselves with a sunny day meaning lots of color filling the walls and columns. It was beautiful! The museum was free here as well due to the fact that it was the first Sunday of the month (in Paris, the museums are all free on the first Sunday of every month) so we got to tour some other parts of the church.

Our final destination was the Palace at Versailles. WOW! This place is massive! It was probably the touristiest thing we did while there. It was so crowded. We took an audio tour of the inside, but we found ourselves just wanting to get out of there and go see the gardens. Things might have been different if the crowd wasn't so large. Inside you were basically shoulder to shoulder with people everywhere you went. It was like a herd of cattle being shuffles through a small space. Not cool! The outside on the other hand was amazing. Unfortunately the statues were covered up and the fountains where dry, but it was still quite a sight to see!

Here ends our absolutely amazing adventures from Paris. Paris was such a wonderful place to visit. I could never live there, but I could definitely visit it again. All in all, we had an absolute blast. To get home we got to experience another overnight train ride. This meant board the train at 10:55pm, arrive in some city at 4:40am, chill for an hour before our 20 minute ride to another destination where we waited for 13 minutes to load our final train home to Dusseldorf 2 hours away. Fun stuff. Let’s just say that it was a long night.

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Since we got here Gavin, Geoff, and I have been dreaming up a snowboarding trip in the Swiss Alps. After looking into it a bit we realized that we would have to "settle" for the German Alps, but still we had no definite plans. Wednesday rolls around and we are trying to figure out what to do for the quickly approaching weekend. Snowboarding is mentioned and suddenly plans start formulating and we magically found ourselves with reservations for a hostel and a train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the site of the Winter Olympic Games in 1936. Holy cow! We spent 2 days snowboarding in the Alps!!! It was fantastic!!!!

The group consisted of Gavin, Geoff, Sierra, and me. Again our travels found us on an overnight train. This time fortunately it was an 11 hour non stop train. One day I will get the hang of these things. I do not understand how this works. When I am in class I have to fight extremely hard to keep my eyes open! It never fails: walk in, sit down, lights turn off, PowerPoint appears with the sound of the professors voice explaining the material, and then WHAM, you are hit with the overwhelming urge to sleep. In a desperate attempt to keep your eyes open, they cross and suddenly the PowerPoint starts appearing twice. Your head oddly becomes much heavier and the words of the professor begin to sound like a beautiful lullaby singing you off to sleep. Sleep comes so easily in class. This is not the case on these trains. Why is this? When you want to sleep you can't and when you don't, you do. Maybe they should start playing boring documentaries on these trains. Maybe that will fix things.

Once in Garmisch we set out to find the ski place. Establishing its location, we decided to just walk. I would say we ended up walking a mile or so to get there. Walking through the streets of the town was so neat! Garmisch is a small town tucked away at the base of the Alps. Everything was so cozy. The smell of fireplaces filled the air! This of course happens to be one of my favorite smells!

We find our destination and spend the day snowboarding in the Alps with absolutely perfect weather! The whole experience was simply amazing!!! The only trouble was when Geoff and I attempted to use the t-bar lift. If you have no clue what I am talking about then click on this link.... T-bar lift .... To keep a long story short lets just say they ended up having to stop the lift 4 different times for us before we finally made it up. Well, we actually only made it halfway up the lift before falling again but decided to give up. So we popped of our boards and walked through the woods to the nearest run. =) My advice to you: never ride a t-bar lift with a person where there is a significant height difference. It just doesn't work.

After a long day we loaded up our gear and set out to find our hostel. And when I say loaded up our gear, I mean everything. We walked to the complete opposite side of town with our heavy backpacks, boards, and boots in hand. That was quite a walk. I would say that we walked for a solid hour. This hostel was forever away. But our walk did provide us the opportunity to see more of this cute little town. The sun set and we got to walk under a blanket of stars. Everything was still and quiet. The smells of the chimneys filled the air. It was great! Finally we arrive at our hostel where we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the place. It was only 11 euros per person so we were glad to find that it was so nice!

The restaurant we found for dinner was amazing. The staffers were all dressed up in traditional German clothes and there was live music provided by a man playing the accordion and a woman playing the guitar. It was so much fun! The food was strange but delicious. I had some kind of white sausage with a fresh pretzel and mustard. After we finished eating a couple who had been sitting near us came up and asked if we where American. The man then looked at me and said "I giggled internally as I watched how you ate your sausage. (I cut it with a knife and ate each piece with a fork) You ate it the German way! You should have eaten it the Bavarian way!! You stab it with a fork and suckling the whole thing up!" It was hilarious.

The next day we decided to check out the other side of the mountain where we would find ourselves skiing above the tree line on a glacier at the highest point in Germany. The only way to get there was by a 20 minute gondola ride. It was absolutely AMAZING!!!! The views were breathtaking!!! The skiing area was basically in this bowl on the top of the mountain. Once inside you were surrounded by mountains as far as the eye could see! The day before, the runs were often icy and the snow was packed. But here, there was a blanket of powdery goodness =) I highly recommend this place for skiing. It was amazingly cheap too. And even if you don't ski, the gondola to the top is for anyone. Lots of people just went up to see the view. I basically fell in love with this little town!!

Unfortunately our adventures there had to come to an end and that night we hopped on yet another overnight train home to Dusseldorf. We arrived at 6:50am just in time to shower and leave for class at 9am.

The whole gang!

The group minus me obviously =)

Going home for the day

Sierra and I on the slopes

View from the top. Yes that is a frozen lake. AMAZING!!

View of the town from the top

very important sign...

The ski slopes

view while on a ski slope

snow angel =)

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Due to the length of this post I think I shall save Amsterdam and Rotterdam for tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed!