European Vacation with the Napolis

My parents and my older sister visited me!!!!! Here's the blog post I have literally been waiting a year to write; the one that covers our experience on the Official Sound of Music tour. But before that, we also did some other stuff.

I got back from Paris on sunday night and was expecting to meet my parents and Rachel around 10 the next morning. American Airlines, however, had other plans. Their flight was canceled so they had to fly through London which included a 6 hour layover. I spent the day buying lotion and nasal strips and organizing all of my pictures from France and Italy into a little slideshow.

They finally pulled up to the house around 5. I went with them to their hotel and then we went back to the house where my fabulous host sister, Corinne, had prepared a raclette dinner for us. I showed them my pictures and when my dad fell asleep during the middle of my presentation, we knew it was time for them to go. Here I am with Corinne, Rachel, and my dad. Guess who just woke up from a nice nap?

The next morning I met the fam at their hotel for breakfast. It was super nice except I had several near panic attacks every time the waitress came to our table because I was afraid they would kick me out since I wasn't actually staying in the hotel and I was currently cleaning out their supply of mini croissants. 

We decided to take a tour of St. Gallen in the afternoon and do some shopping beforehand. On our way into the city, we passed this eating establishment.

I have to say that anytime I think of my home country, my thoughts instantly go to rocket ships and bald eagles and football players running over Mt. Rushmore. This is Amurica!

The city tour we showed up for was in English but since we were the only four English speakers on the tour, the tourguide would conduct the tour in English while the German speakers looked at whatever we were learning about and then we would switch. The first time she tried this system with us, she told us to "go over there" to look at something while he spoke in German but we had no idea what we were supposed to be looking for. We just walked around the street and Rachel and I talked about Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion until the tourguide was finished and actually explained what were looking at.

Our tour included the Cathedral, the famous St. Gallen Abbey Library, and the Textile Museum. We got some mileage out of this sofa in the Textile Museum.

After our tour we did some more shopping and later enjoyed a delicious Swiss dinner. Here's their hotel room in St. Gallen. It was pretty bombastic. There was fresh fruit everyday and apples in the hallway that I shamelessly swiped for myself.

I don't think there's one St. Gallen resident that is not familiar with Miami University since my parents and sister were there considering the sheer amount of Miami related attire they brought with them and wore everywhere.

The next day, a drowned rat named Me showed up at my parent's hotel ready to drive to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle in Southern Germany. We piled into our rented Mercedes (a Napoli family first) and set off. For whatever reason, my dad and sister thought it would be a good idea to set our GPS to the Star Wars setting which included Yoda reciting all of the directions. Hearing "Take the second exit of the roundabout, you must" and "Driven well you have, in one quarter of a mile" was cute for maybe about the first 2 roundabouts. If they're looking for a plot for this new Star Wars movie that's coming out in 3 years, look no further than me riding in that car since I was ready to strangle Yoda and melt our GPS with a light saber by the time we reached Germany. 

It was rainy and misty and cold when we pulled in. Everyone else there was dressed as if we were touring basecamp 3 of Mt. Everest instead of a castle so i felt more than a little unprepared in my jeans and trench coat. I was also not ready for the trek up the mountain where the castle was. We reached the top and waited for our tour. While we were waiting, I tried to go the bathroom but there was a woman standing directly in front of/on the door to the men's room. It seemed like she was in charge of a group of children and keept yelling from her position in front of the bathroom, so much so that I was too frightened to ask her to move. I've determined that there are three types of the German language; High German, Swiss German, and Scary German.

Rachel and I though that waiting to go into Neuschwanstein would be the perfect spot to begin our series of "Not Impressed" pictures. For those of you who are not familiar with the magic and sheer sass that is U.S. gymnast McKayla Maroney, then here's a picture of her when she won a silver medal for the women's vault this past summer.

Rachel and I decided that, like McKayla Maroney winning something as paltry as an Olympic silver medal, we too would be "not impressed" with some of Europe's greatest treasures.

Like Neuschwanstein.

Most famous castle in the world and inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland? Not impressed.

We finally were admitted to the castle where we learned all about King Ludwig II, who we maturely and affectionately referred to as "Crazy Ludwig". Only about 1/3 of the actual rooms are finished, including a rock cave with colored lights that was adjacent to the dressing room obviously, so the tour itself wasn't that long. The interiors were beautiful and unique and kind of spooky considering the level of crazy we were dealing with as far as King Ludwig was concerned. Even though it was foggy, it was fantastic to look out of the windows at all of the mist and scraggly mountains.

Here we are after touring the castle.

That night, we spent the night in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany. It was here where we encountered one of the major differences between Europe and America. When my sister and I walked into the room we were sharing, we saw that there were two twin beds pushed together and supported by a double size mattress frame. At the site of this Rachel immediately told me "You can sleep on the floor". After thinking through the problem more logically, she later suggested that I push two chairs together and sleep on that. Since I was actually interested in sleeping that night, my dad went to the front desk where they told him that there were no rooms with 2 separate beds. I ended up pulling one of the two mattresses onto the floor but it was a running issue throughout the trip that the American and European definitions of 2 beds weren't always the same. We had a grand time though sitting around in the hotel robes and gossiping and discussing the Real Housewives of New York. 

We were also quite giddy because the next day was the Sound of Music Tour! For those of you who don't know, my mom's family is primarily Austrian so all of us have been raised on a steady and healthy diet of the Sound of Music ever since my mom and her siblings were small children. Also, many of us sing or play musical instruments so we have an appreciation for the Von Trapp family's use of music as a means of family bonding. So while the movie is America's gem, it hold a special place in the hearts of the Glaid family, along with the Ten Commandments and the elevator game. Rachel began whining about how she didn't know what to wear the next day. I had an epiphany and pointed to the window...

"Hmmmm this could work for perhaps a pair of leiderhosen...."

 

"...and then I don't feel, so baaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaad!"

Once Rachel finished making an entire line of playclothes for children age 5-16, we set off with Yoda to Salzburg, Austria. With all of the riding in the car, I developed a Pavlovian habit of falling asleep anytime we drove somewhere for longer than 20 minutes. Even though I slept fine during the night, every time I got in the car, I was konked out. Occasionally, I would be jerked awake by Yoda telling my Dad to "Use the force" and "don't go to the left for it is the Dark Side". Needless to say, I groggily remember our entrance to Salzburg. 

Once we had dropped off our stuff in the hotel, we were picked up by a van and taken to the tour bus for the Official Sound of Music Tour. We were disappointed that the bus was not painted with images of the Sound of Music characters, but our sarcastic and enthusiastic tour guide made up for it. Our bus was mostly comprised of other Americans. According to our tour guide, the movie was first released in Austria 16 YEARS AGO even though it was in American movie theaters in 1964. Even in Switzerland, people were highly confused as to why I was spending 4 hours of my life on a tour of locations for an American movie they had never heard of before. 

The tour began and the tour guide announced that there would be a trivia question. Rachel and I thought we had this in the bag until he asked us what mountain Julie andrews was signing on at the beginning of the movie. Who would remember that??? I always fast forwarded through any scene that took place in Mother Superior's office or when the adults talked for long periods of time, so I had absolutely no clue as did no one else on the bus.

What was nice about the tour was that it featured not just the locations from the movie, but also famous sites of Salzburg as well. Also, my parents were very into the audience participation aspect of the tour. 

Our first stop was to the lake where this happend. 

For the movie, they used this lake and the back of that house behind me for all of the backyard scenes, and a different house for the front. So in the scene when the Captain is talking to Maria, they filmed him at this hose and filmed her at a different one and then put it together for the film. Crazyyyy.

We stopped at several other spots including the gazebo where 16 Going on 17 takes place.

We also drove past the street where the front of the hose that they used in the movie. I had a momentary spasm on the bus when I spotted a nun walking down the street by the house and I did not hesitate from yelling to the whole bus, "LOOK! A NUN!" I wonder if that was her first day as a governess....

Another zinger from the tour was when Rachel and I were walking onto the tour bus and the tour guide exclaimed "Oh look it's the honeymoon couple!" Rachel and I just looked at each other, cringed, and I began heaving while she explained that we were siblings, not married. He tried justifying his statement by telling us that "you just look so happy". I don't think that it's unusual to look the happiest you'll ever be in your entire life when you're on the official Sound of Music Tour. 

Our trip took us to the beautiful town of Mondsee where they filmed the wedding. Along the way we listened to the Sound of Music CD and the group of Americans in the front of the bus who had, before boarding the bus for Mondsee bought several bottles of 2.85 euro champagne from the driver (as the woman who bought all of it eloquently stated, "it's so cheap because we bought it in bulk!), began a rousing rendition of "Do Re Mi". Here are some of the gorgeous views. And a picture of me either sneezing of being offended by something.

The top of that mountain is where they filmed "Do Re Mi".

Once in Mondsee, we toured the church and then sat down for some "crisp apple strudel". I took one for the team during this vacation and tried apple strudel in almost every place we visited. I think the one in Mondsee was my favorite because it was served with a warm vanilla sause (which was basically hot vanilla pudding) and the level of crispness matched the expectations set by Julie Andrews in "My Favorite Things".

After the tour, we visited the Mirabell Gardens in the city center of Salzburg. This is where they filmed some of the other famous sequences from "Do Re Mi".  Rachel and I had a field day.

We also found this poster for some creepy puppet theater and then my mom and I got stuck in a tour group. Good one.

That night we had a filling Austrian dinner and when we returned to our hotel at 10, what did Rachel and I find playing on the TV???? I had heard an urban legend that there is a television channel in Salzburg that plays the Sound of Music 24/7 so I thought we had struck gold when Rachel turned on the TV. Unfortunately, if was just the hotel channel and they only played the movie once a a day at 8 pm but it was better than nothing. 

The next day we took a trip to the famous Austrian Ice Caves. This is apparently the largest ice cave in the world (I didn't know there was even a contest for this) and it covers about 40 kilometers. In order to get to the cave, however, we had to do some serious walking.

It was completely misty that day so we boarded a gondola in complete fog and then broke through the clouds to this! It was grand. We then had to walk to the entrance of the cave.

I also found this weird door in the side of the mountain. No one was home.

Before we started our tour, the guide began lighting lanterns and passing them out to every third person in line. He made the biggest mistake of his life and handed me a lantern. I immediately swung around and forced it onto my dad with a jilted "Here!". I guess an ice cave isn't the worst place to be shouldered with the responsibility of fire since if I burned myself, I could have just hopped onto a glacier and rolled around for a while. But I wasn't willing to risk it. Aside from that minor terror, the ice caves were absolutely stunning. The sheer scale of the rock and the amount of frozen water was unimaginable. It was a crowd pleaser. When we left, we took some pictures in front of the mountains but it was so bright up there that we all look blinded.

After our casual tour of the ice caves, we spent the rest of the day during Salzburg. We visited the famous Salzburg fortress which is home to the scariest place on earth, the Salzburg Marionette Museum. In all honesty, it was actually a really well done exhibit (design snob, whatever) but there were some honestly horrifying creations as well. Like this wall of dead puppets.

My poor parents got stuck with two of the most unexpressive and unemotional children ever. 

That night we had dinner in a beer hall. There was a kind of food court, a beer fountain area, a wall of steins, and then several large rooms where people could eat. It was tasty and unique but after hiking through those caves, all I wanted to do was lay on my bed and watch the Sound of Music. Which is exactly what I did.

The next day, we were scheduled to travel to Innsbruck but on the way, we made a stop at the Eagle's Nest. The Eagle's Nest is a mountain peak where Hitler had a building constructed in 1938. I guess it was used to host dinner parties and for storage of precious art objects the Nazis wanted to keep safe but now it's just a restaurant. In order to reach the top of the mountain, we had to take a bus and then Hitler's famous golden elevator.

While we were waiting for the bus, Rachel and I noticed a rather motley crew of people waiting around too. We were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible but then Rachel pointed out that one of the men in the group looked like Elvis Presley. I looked for myself and, sure enough, there was a real life Elvis impersonator waiting to get on the bus to go to the EAgle's nest with us. He was wearing a black suit (an obvious choice for taking a trip to the top of a mountain), Elvis-style aviators, and his hair was slicked into a greasy pompadour. The only chink in the chain was that he spoke English with a heavy German accent. The other Americans in our group also took notice of him and began asking him questions. As we all boarded the bus, they kept saying "Elvis has left the building!" Which makes no sense since we were getting onto a bus. He seemed perfectly nice and invited the other Americans to come see his show sometime. It was then when I took a moment to reflect on how obscure my life is; I was on a bus to Adolph Hitler's mountain fortress with an Elvis impersonator.

As mentioned, we rode to the top of the mountain in a golden elevator. You weren't supposed to take pictures.

Rachel and I had had our share of walking and nature so you can imagine we were thrilled when we got to the Eagle's Nest and all you could see was fog. It was hard to even see 10 feet in front of you. With some serious snark, I told my parents I could have just as well stared at a piece of paper for an hour and a half and seen the same thing. Here I am being legitimately not impressed.

And here we are whining!

Suddenly though, every now and then the clouds would move and the mountains would appear out of nowhere. It was absolutely breathtaking. And then the mist would come back and Rachel and I would whine some more.

After the Eagle's Nest, we drove into Innsbruck. We had a pretty relaxing evening with just some shopping and some dinner. The next day, we visited the Swarovski Crystal Worlds. I thought it would be like a factory tour but it was more like a museum and then a really big Swarovski store. We saw some beautiful and unique exhibits.

Here's a mouse.

The exhibits each were done by a different artist of designer. This particular one was supposed to feature 55 million crystals. Rachel and I counted 0.

Not impressed.

There was also a sculpture park and Rachel and I took full advantage.

I'm sure the artists would have loved to have met us.

After we left, we headed back to Innsbruck. My parents were interested in seeing some of the Olympic sites from the 1964 and 1976 winter Olympics. We visited the ski jump where they also had the Olympic torches. The ski jump had the double feature of being extremely high but also with a clear view of a cemetery below where the jump ended. Around the base of the torches were plaques that listed all of the medalists from the two games. Since McKayla Maroney is a summer olympian and a silver medalist, Rachel and I were not impressed for her.

That night we had a relaxing dinner at the hotel and spent the rest of the night watching the first Harry Potter movie in German. It's amazing; even though I KNOW Hermione can't speak German, it really looks like she is when it sounds like it's coming out of her moth. However, Wingardeum Leviosa, like a smile, is the same in every language.

It was our last day! We had a three hour drive to Zurich and then my parents and sister would fly back to Pittsburgh the next day. We spent the day shopping and eating in Zurich before it was time for me to go back to St. Gallen. My mom, of course, asked us all about our favorite moments and we gave my dad and Rachel some well deserved snaps for their driving and navigating respectably. All in all, it was a great time and I hope this means more European vacations in the future! 

Keepin it classy in Italy and France

I've been to Italy and France!!!!!!!!!! I can finally claim to be a person of culture and pedigree. This is going to be a long post folks but a lot went down so bear with me.

So Kate and I decided that during our fall break, we would venture out of Switzerland and spent a jittery hour of class time booking plane tickets. Our itinerary was to arrive in Rome on a Sunday night and spend two days there before leaving for Venice. After a day and a half in Venice, we planned to haul ourselves to Paris to spend 3 and a half days. Cue the stressing out.

While waiting at the Geneva airport to board our flight to Rome, I shamelessly photographed the priest that was ahead of us in line. I figured it was a good sign.

I think that Italy probably holds the record for largest amount of pedestrian nuns, priests, and monks per capita because I saw them EVERYWHERE.

Once we landed, we trudged our way to our hostel and rested ourselves for the next day since we had tickets booked to see the Vatican Museums. Or, as I liked to say, we had a date with Jesus.

The next morning we awoke to bright sunlight and 75 degrees. I guess Italy missed the memo that it was October but I was glad for a break from the rain and fog that was rapidly descending upon Switzerland. Our tour was at 12 so we strolled through the Borghese Gardens and casually stumbled upon this.

Oh why hello Rome, fancy meeting you here. This was one of the myriad moments during which we would just look at each other and say "WHATTTTTTTTT"

While on our way we kept making jokes about how excited the pope was going to be when he saw us and trying to guess what would happen to us if one of our knees showed. Those cardinals were nowhere near prepared for the pop and sparkle we were about to throw down on their home turf. 

When we arrived, we went through the whole security shenanigans, cut through giant tour groups, and made it past the knee and shoulder police before learning that the Vatican Museum was a 10 minute walk from the Basilica. Such newbs.

The Vatican Museum was OFF THE HOOK. But it was unlike any museum experience I had ever had. As a self-proclaimed Museum Freak, I thought I had seen it all. But passing out chisels and goggles every Saturday at the Bonehunter's Quarry could not have prepared me for the sensory overload we were about to embark on. Because of the sheer number of people, we had to go through the galleries in just one big amorphous herd. If you wanted to stop and take your picture with the Augustus Primaporta, well then tough cookies because you'd get trampled by everyone. One does not swim against the current at the Vatican Museums. 

We did see some pretty spectacular art and artifacts, including the School of Athens and the Sistine Chapel. 

In one hallway, the walls were lined with what looked like fancy gilded wardrobes. Kate suggested that those were probably where the pope keeps all of his outfits and hats. So if you see the pope in that particular gallery, he's just switching out his summer bag for his winter one. 

We left the museum and walked back the the Basilica, went through security, and proceeded to bask in the glory and splendor of St. Peter's. Here's me after we did a walkthrough. As you can see, I wore my Jesus sandals in honor of the occasion. 

Because of the rules about wearing shorts and tanktops in the Vatican and other Roman churches, I was nervous that I would get clocked for exposing my toes. But as I read on one blog, Jesus and all his friends wore sandals so they are deemed acceptable.

After the Vatican, we had a late lunch where we were seated next to three Danish women. When our tiramisu arrived and we proceeded to pillage it, they began chatting with us. One of them told us that they would have talked to us earlier but they all thought we were Italian. Best. Compliment. I. Have. Ever. Received. Ever.

Next on the agenda was the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We got slightly lost on our way and ended up arriving to the Colosseum from the back. This confused us profoundly. We literally looked at each other and asked "Is that the Colosseum?" From behind, it looks kind of small so we just assumed that there was the real Colosseum and this was a baby one. We went back and forth for awhile until we arrived at the Forum and determined that, yes, it was in fact the Colosseum. 

"That's really the Colosseum!"

The next day, we rounded out our Roman Holiday with trips to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps. On our way the the Trevi Fountain we stopped at the Santa Maria della Vittoria church to see the Ecstasy of St. Theresa by Bernini.

The fun part about Rome was that we would just be strolling around, eating some bread, living life when, very suddenly, you turn a corner and BAM the Pantheon or the Trevi Fountain is staring you in the face. It was a pretty grand experience.

Here I am unintentionally serving some "McKayla Maroney: Unimpressed" at the Pantheon. Trust me, it was pretty difficult not to be in shock and awe at the sight of everything. Question of the day: "How did they DO that???"

I might as well have an Olympic silver medal around my neck.

After spending the rest of the day eating gelato and shopping, Kate and I were back at the airport ready to board our flight to Venice. Luckily for us, Italy was in the midst of a transportation strike. We were able to rely on airport shuttles to get us to the airport in Rome and to the main bus station in Venice. But once we got there, we were force to walk to our hostel since the water buses weren't running and we didn't want to spend the money on a taxi. 

If you're looking for an effective workout, just walk around Venice with a rolling suitcase. By the 10th bridge I had to carry my bag over, I was ready to give the transportation union whatever they could possibly desire just so I could sit down and ride the water bus. The walk to the hostel was about 30 minutes and as torturous as it was to schlep all my possessions over all those bridges, it was a really beautiful night and gave us a great first impression of the city. 

While we were in Rome, Kate had the idea for us to sign up for a tour of three of Venice's islands. The tour was a boat ride with stops at the three islands and the whole thing lasted for four hours. Kate deserves a Nobel Prize for coming up with that one. After trudging around Rome and now Venice, a four hour boat ride was the only thing I wanted in the entire world. And the tour did not disappoint! While sitting down was one of the highlights, we also got to see a glassblowing demonstration in Murano, a lacemaking demo on an island I can't remember what it's called, and some beautiful landscapes.

The lace making island (I was enjoying that boat ride too much to remember anything apparently) had all of these beautifully colored houses. The tour guide (who did the whole thing in Italian, English, and Spanish, snaps for that one) explained that each house is owned by a different fisherman family and they use the colors to denote which family lives there. It was cool to see how bold and saturated the colors were. I felt very proud to be Italian looking at those houses :). ALSO Pisa is not the only game in town with a leaning tower. I saw at least three on our tour. Get it together.

After we got off the boat, we had a solid lunch and then proceeded to tour the Doge's Palace. Since we only had a loose itinerary, we went to places like the Pantheon and the Doge's Palace without really knowing much about them. So it was fascinating to walk through the beautiful, albeit smelly, rooms and marvel at the ceilings and wall paintings. They even had a gold staircase. It was ALMOST as many carats as the one at my house, but it was still impressive.

So ever since we arrived in Italy, both Kate and I went back and forth on taking a gondola ride. By that morning, I was perfectly content not to do it but while were crossing the Bridge of Sighs, I think both of us had a change or heart and we just said "let's do this" and scoped out a gondolier. We went at kind of an odd time so we were able to take a longer ride since the canals were pretty empty. It was well worth it. Our gondolier even sang. A couple of times, it sounded like he was starting in on the opening chords of "Kiss the Girl" from the Little Mermaid but he kept his repertoire to strictly Italian and whistling. Oh, and he also talked on his cell phone a couple of times but it was in Italian so it sounded nice.

Our favorite moment was when we were about to pass under a bridge and some tourist straight up took a picture of us in our gondola. So as you read this, some family somewhere in the world is staring at a picture of us taking a gondola ride in Venice. Oh the memories. 

After our little tour, we literally scoured the streets of Venice looking for this one specific pizza place that we saw once. The cool thing about Venice was the combination of no cars and narrow streets. We got lost a lot but it was the sort of place that I could get lost in and not mind because there was always something fascinating to see and it was kind of fun trying to navigate through the maze of streets. We found our pizza place and had one of my top three pizza experiences ever. Afterwards, we sat down in a restaurant for some tiramisu and proceeded to St. Marks Square.

That night, each of the restaurants in the square had a small musical group performing outside. It was a gorgeous warm night and I think both of us enjoyed just walking through the square and stopping to listen to the performers. One of the groups performed "My Heart Will Go On" and we lost it. Too much to handle; Venice, Titanic, and Celine. 

In the square, there were a bunch of men trying to sell flowers. They would walk up to a girl and try to force a rose on her or go up to her date and try and convince him to buy one for her. We were over this real quick. At one point Kate emphatically told one guy "We're not dating" and told another one "Sorry, I'm allergic". I told one guy that I was too poor. After the square, we decided to venture over to the famous Harry's Bar, home of the original peach Bellini. We made it to the bar with no problems. But as soon as we opened the door and saw the hoards of people and the 16.85 Euro price tag on one of those Bellinis, we were over and out. I can say I've been to Harry's Bar but I guess I'll have to find a Bellini elsewhere. 

The next day, we arrived at the Venice airport ready for our afternoon flight to Paris! Kate was going to stay with one of our design bffls, Marissa, while I was planning on couchsurfing. for those of you who don't know, CouchSurfing is an online orgainzation in which you create a profile and offer to host your "couch" to a traveler or you're a traveler looking for a couch to sleep on while you are visiting a particular city. The nice part is that you get to stay with someone who is very knowledgeable about the city and can offer advice on how to get around or good places to visit. It is totally free which is why I decided to take the plunge. We arrived in Paris, took the train into the city and parted ways. I rode the metro and arrived at my "couch" safely.

After a very very very long night's sleep, I ventured into Paris to visit the Musee D'Orsay. The Musee D'Orsay is a converted train station and is famous for it's extensive Impressionist collection. They were hosting a temporary exhibit about fashion and Impressionist art and it featured several pieces from the Art Institute of Chicago, where I basically spent my entire summer.

It was fabulous!!!! Afterwards, I had one of my greatest life triumphs when I ordered a croque monsieur AND a water in French at a take-away window of a cafe! I haven't spoke French in almost five years so that croque monsieur tasted extra delicious as I walked along the Seine.

I crossed the river and made my way to the Centre Pompidou. Because this is me, the Centre Pompidou is also a museum but it's collection is only modern and contemporary art. Also the building looks like it's inside out. 

While I was walking to the museum, I came across this.

First, her own television network. Now, her own french retail empire.

After the Centre Pompidou, I literally ran into Kate and we met Marissa and proceeded to a real French bakery. They had this pastry that was literally just called "Elegance".

Welcome to France ya'll.

The next day, I decided to visit Versailles. Ever since I read a book about Marie Antoinette in the third grade (yeah, I know), it's been one of my dreams to visit Versailles. I arrived around 10 in the morning and it was already packed. I made it inside the palace after narrowly avoiding several attempts of others to cut me in line (this was a recurring theme throughout my experience, people trying to cut me in line. This isn't the elementary school cafeteria, there are no french toast sticks or stuffed crust pizza, know your place and stay there). The palace itself was stunning. It was just as grand as the Doge's Palace or the Vatican but in it's own unique way. The thing that really floored me about Versailles was just the sheer scale of everything; the Hall of Mirrors, the giant fountains, the tall trees, the long stretches of grass. Walking around the grounds, Versailles almost felt like one big golf course with a really nice club house.

Unfortunately, for me at least, the crowds were overwhelming. It was like the Vatican Museums in that we all just moved as one big group from room to room. I ended up moving through the rooms rather quickly just so that I wouldn't get run over or sat on.

After the main palace, I walked through the gardens to the Grand Trianon and the Petite Trianon. The gardens were playing classical music from the bushes and even though I didn't see any of the fountains when they were turned on, it was nice to walk through the hedges with Hayden and Mozart playing around me. Once I was out of the gardens, I walked down the tree lined streets and arrived at the Grand Trianon and the Petite Trianon. As far as I know, they served as "retreats" for Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. They were a retreat for me too after squirming my way around all those tourists. The trianons were far less crowded and much quieter so it was nice to actually spend some quality time looking around.

This guy was walking around with a pack of tiny horses. No explanation.

Everything at Versailles was beautiful; the nature, the gardens, the buildings. And after visiting all three palaces, I basically felt like I was on an episode of House Hunters International. "Will Tim go with Option 1: the mid-sized palace with the original 18th century furniture, Option 2: the smaller sized palace with it's own working farm and billiard room, or Option 3: the large palace complete with secret passages and it's own chapel?" Too much to handle.

After the sheer opulence and grandeur of Versailles, I felt that the only way I could spend the rest of my way was to go shopping. It was rainy but that didn't stop me.  First, I made a quick stop at the Eiffel Tower. Like the Colosseum, I approached it from the back so I was in some weird park, looking up at it. I also saw some police on bikes chase down a criminal so it further cemented this as a quality first Eiffel Tower experience.

This was the wall of a museum about Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas and the wall was just covered in plants. Quality.

I made my way to the Right Bank to the Avenue Montaigne so that I could visit the Maison Dior. I have been completely obsessed with Christian Dior, especially Dior Haute Couture, since I was 12. So along with Versailles, visiting the Dior headquarters was something I have been waiting to do for a long time. Dior has consistently been one of my biggest sources of inspiration since middle school and I was just excited to be at the place where it all went down. As evidenced by these pictures.

I really know how to handle myself in public. 

I spent the rest of the day shopping until I met up with Kate and Marissa. We spontaneously decided to go to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. It was cold and rainy but I wouldn't have it any other way. The best part was that we got to watch it glitter while we were on it.

Classic.

That night we threw down with some solid crepes from a street vendor and the next day, we did one better and had street waffles. Whoever came up with waffels, nutella, and bananas deserves to be canonized. For lunch that day, I decided to be fancy and ordered duck confit. I'll admit that 70% of the reason I ordered it was because it came with both fries and a salad but it was DELICIOUS. And it felt super French.

After my lunch of duck and fries and salad and nutella/banana waffle, I said goodbye to Kate and Marissa and rolled myself to the train station in order to catch my train to Zurich.

Stay tuned for Part Deux of my European travels!!!!! In the next episode, my parents and sis ter arrive and......WE GO ON THE SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!!!!! Thanks for reading :)