And also like this:
And many more but I will spare the rest of you. (Don't think I don't have an appropriate photo though)
This year instead of these wonderful faces I got to see some wonderful sights. For Christmas I traveled to Paris with some great girls and we celebrated at the Eiffel Tower!
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| Kings Island just doesn't compare... |
The French were great hosts for Christmas, and I even learned to spread some cheer; Joyeux Noël! There were so many different people hanging out at the Eiffel Tower for Christmas, and I heard about five different languages while walking around. I got some great views of the main attraction.
Although we did not stay long enough to make a scratch on all there is to see and do in Paris, the girls and I saw some great sights! We spent a day seeing the great cathedrals including the Sacre Coeur and the Notre Dame. My favorite sight was our day trip to Versailles. It was so interesting to see all the history I have always learned about! Louis the 16 and Marie Antoinette had a viewing area in their bedrooms for people to watch them wake up and fall asleep! It was like they were a different breed of human. The gardens outside were still impressive even in the winter with no flowers or fountains running. Here are some illustrations to my trip.
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| The Sacre Coeur has a beautiful mural on the inside and a beautiful view of Paris on the outside |
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| The Louvre Museum where the Mona Lisa is a celebrity |
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| The Notre Dame Cathedral...if I could only ring the bell! |
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| Versailles, where the French Revolution began! |
One of the exciting highlights of France was that I got to take a train into the city of Lyon, France to see Kevin Grange, who lived with my Aunt and cousins last year. He spent Christmas with my family last year, and this year I was able to meet his family! It was so nice to see him and see him in his element. I also looked through his Flemmingsberg yearbook and discovered my cousin Mahlon was voted "Most likely to bring home to your parents!" What a stud he is! I got to spend the night in the French countryside at Kevin's parents house and see his high school and where he grew up. I will admit that I did eat a total of six crepes in the six days that I spend in France, and it may or may not have been one a day. All in all, France was good to me! My favorite thing to take pictures of was all the cute little cafes that lined the streets!
I received the best Christmas present I could ask for after Christmas and it was to spend New Year's Eve with my best friend, Miss Kara Leslie! Kara and I have been best friends since first grade but this was the start to our travels abroad together!
We spend the New Year in Berlin along with my roommate Melissa, and got to see some great sights and drink some delicious German beer. The German love their fireworks for New Year's Eve, and I even convinced some guys to let me shoot some off. We took a tour of the city and saw so many historical sights! We saw the Reichstag, the Holocaust memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and stood above Hitler's bunker to name a few! It made me realize how recent all this history is and I thought it was all so interesting. My favorite part to see was the East Side Gallery, the part of the Berlin Wall that has been turned into an art gallery. I think it is so cool how a sign of repression has been turned into art.
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| Holocaust Memorial, the architect did not explain his thoughts on the design |
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| East Side Gallery of Berlin Wall |
Next Kara and I headed to Amsterdam, and even though it rained and even hailed a little, we decided it is the cutest city we had ever seen. Amsterdam is filled with perfectly constructed buildings on every street and every street is filled with canals running through them and on top of the canals are people riding bicycles. It was almost too much when I took a picture of a canal with swans on it in front of the perfect buildings. Kara and I went to the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank house, and cafe hopped to stay indoors. Amsterdam is known for tulips and there were many tulip markets with every type of bulb you could want. I can only imagine the cuteness of Amsterdam in the summer with perfect buildings, canals, bicycles AND tulips! I guess I will have to come back!
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| Never enough bikes in Amsterdam! |
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| Buildings, boats, bikes and swans! |
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| Tourists for sure |
Kara was able to come back to Santiago with me for her last days in Europe and I loved being able to show her where I live and introduce her to my friends. I forced her to go out like a Spaniard and she passed the test. Although I am bummed she had to leave, I am happy to be back in Santiago and in Spain! I can't believe I have been here four months and have four months to go. I am determined to enjoy the rest of my time here and explore Spain!
