We decided to go to Europe last year with our friends, James and Sharon. It was going to be the trip to celebrate our graduation. After deciding to go to France and Spain, we packed our backpacks and bought plane tickets!
When we arrived in Paris, we immediately managed to make the ticket window lady for the RER train mad at us…we didn’t know how everything worked! After navigating our way into Paris, we found our Hotel. The hotel/hostel was interesting. It was old with slanted fake wood floors, but we had our own shower! However, we did have to share a bathroom with everyone on the hall!
After getting settled in, we went out into Paris and walked around! We started off with seeing Notre Dame. It was so beautiful!
We then walked down to the Louvre and got some cool pictures in front of the glass pyramid. The Louvre is huge!
Next, we made the LONG walk to the Eiffel Tower. You can see the Eiffel Tower from the Louvre, and you think it is close…but it’s not! We finally got there and hung out in the gardens by the Eiffel Tower and walked around, but we didn’t go to the top.
That evening, we went for dinner and walked around the area by Notre Dame. We also walked along the Seine River and found were all of the locals hang out. They sit on the banks of the river and have a river picnic. We totally stood out!
The next day, the boys went to get the rental car at a train station not far from our hostel. However, it took them 3 hours to come back and pick us up! We started to get worried that they were forever lost in the city! After getting a sweet upgrade to a midsize vehicle we had to figure out how to navigate with a FRENCH GPS. We learned all sorts of new French phrases thanks to our GPS. Russ did a masterful job figuring it all out in French.
Our first stop was Chambord Chateau. The rooftop was designed by Leonardo Di Vinci and King Louis the 14th stayed there.
Then we went to Chenonceaux Chateau which was on a river. It had beautiful gardens and was very nice! 
After that we ran into many “deviations” (road detours) and finally made it to Saint Malo on the Normandy Coast. In Saint Malo, we stayed in a little bed and breakfast. We ran into a language barrier with our host when we were telling her what we wanted for breakfast. Instead of a delicious French breakfast, we ended up with one croissant and a cup of orange juice. Basically, this was all she could understand from us. Even though there was a little confusion, she was very nice and accommodating. We then headed up to Mont St. Michelle, which is a little island with a town, an abbey, and a cathedral on top of it! You can only get to it when the tide is out.
It was so cool! All the alleyways and streets were covered in cobblestones and you wind your way up to the top! We toured the Cathedral and got some amazing pictures!
Our next stop was the D-Day beaches. We ended up at Omaha Beach the day before President Obama was to be there for the 65th anniversary of D-Day. It was really neat to see the veterans driving around in their old WW2 jeeps and wearing their uniforms. At first glance of the hillside, you can’t see any bunkers. But when we got up there, there were old bunkers all over the hill. You can still walk into them and see tracks where they mounted some sort of gun/cannon. You can also see where mortars hit and explosions occurred. It was really cool but also kind of sad to think that many people died there.
After leaving Omaha Beach, we made a mad dash back to Paris to catch our 8:30 train to Barcelona. We got back to Paris at 6:30 and thought we had plenty of time! But, oh no, it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to go four kilometers. We were stuck in front of the Louvre for about 1 hour. It was pure mayhem. The drivers and people on motorcycles were insane! We eventually found the place where we were supposed to return the car, but could not figure out how to get into the parking garage because it was surrounded by one way streets and bus lanes. So after circling the building and the area a few times, Sharon finally convinced James to “just commit” and turn down the one-way bus lane to get into the parking garage. We parked the car at 8:13 and managed to turn everything in to the car rental place in record time. We then had to run to the train station with 20 pound backpacks on our backs. I was so not in shape for that! We had to cross the longest bridge I have ever seen. Russ and James were basically pulling us across streets. We accosted a French man asking where the train station was and he very nicely gave us directions. We ran into the train station (which, thankfully, does not believe in security checks) and made it to our train with about 3 minutes to spare. The French lady checking our tickets said we had plenty of time…yeah right! As soon as we got on the train and into our rooms, the train started to move. We all started laughing about it and all of us admitted that we didn’t think we were going to make it!
The train was an overnight train and it was tons of fun! We met some interesting people on the way. Going to Barcelona, we had our own private room. On the way back to Paris, we shared a four bunk with James and Sharon.
In Barcelona, we managed to get in some beach time and a little bit of shopping! We also saw the La Sangrada Famila, which is a cathedral that was started in the 1890’s and will not be finished until 2021. The famous architect, Antonie Gaudi was the mastermind behind it. After that, we went to Parc Guell, which is another of Gaudi’s creations. They were incredible.
Back in Paris, we went to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. We walked around the village area and then checked out Moulin Rouge. We ended the night with a dinner cruise down the Seine River. We had a great waiter who told us the appetizer plate was a “plate of discovery”. That soon became the theme for the night. On top of the boat, we were able to get great pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night.
We had such a great time on our vacation! I have never laughed harder and enjoyed being around my husband and friends more! It was definitely one for the memory books!
