Geneva, Paris, Salzburg

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. It's been a crazy weekend/week. I got back to Vienna on Tuesday from free travel to Geneva, Switzerland, Paris, and Salzburg, Austria. I'm gonna separate this blog into sections because it's probably going to be a long one...

Switzerland: We took a night train to Geneva, and that was probably one of the worst nights of sleep I've ever gotten in my life. We were all cramped into the room with our seats laid out like beds and I felt like a sardine. We got to Geneva and it took us around an hour to get to our hotel. But the lady at the visitor's desk was very friendly and she even gave us free maps! When we got to our hotel, we were there early but luckily our rooms were ready. The receptionist was super helpful about telling us how to get around and helping us get ready for the morning to leave AND she gave us a travel card for the day that gave us free transportation. Hello saving money! We freshened up and headed into town. We ate at a really fancy pizza restaurant, and the lady made fun of us, but we didn't care because we were starving. After that we started walking toward the lake and stopped to buy a few souvenirs. Then we took a boat across the lake and shopped in the Old town and just admired the city. We went to bed early because our train left at 6 the next morning so we wanted a good nights sleep.

Paris: We arrived in Paris around 9 and headed straight to our hostel so we could drop our stuff off and such. We bought some carnets at the main station so we could use the Metro (subway) and we headed out. We finally found our hostel, which is WAY on the south side of town. Let's just say it was a very sketchy side of town. We got there and we couldn't check into our room because it wasn't ready, so we were going to leave our stuff, but anyone could get in the luggage room so we decided just to carry it with us. I paid for the room and we headed out to explore Paris. Our plan was to try and accomplish everything in Paris the first day, then head to Versailles the next. So we started with Notre Dame. It was a beautiful church, but it was Sunday so they were having Mass. There were hundreds of people there to tour the church, and they let them through during mass. I felt terrible taking pictures and parading around while they were trying to worship. I really think they should close it during mass since it's free to get in anyway, but oh well. After the church we had lunch around the corner and it was amazing. Then we did a little souvenir shopping and headed to the Louvre.

The Louvre was pretty neat. I got to see the glass pyramids, the Mona Lisa (had to go through a mosh pit to get there), Venus, and the Winged Victory. It was nice because we had our handy dandy Rick Steve's guide and we hit the highlights of the museum and made it out in an hour. It was fantastic, plus we didn't have to journal so that saved us some time. ;) After the Louvre it was off to the Arc de Triomphe. We got to see one of the craziest round a bouts ever there, and we went underground to try and get under it, but we ended up on the other side of the road... As we were taking more pictures someone looked up and gasped and we all looked and it was the Eiffel Tower. I got so excited. We decided that we were going to walk there so we headed off.

It was about a 20 minute walk from where we were but it was totally worth it. Every time there was a break in the buildings we could see a little more of the Tower so it was a great way to go see it. It was like oh here's a little, and a little more. It was better than getting off a subway and boom there it is! But it was everything I ever imagined. I didn't get to climb to the top because we had all of our stuff with us and we decided seeing it was enough plus it was a pretty long line. So we headed out to find a cafe nearby to celebrate Miranda's birthday. It was amazing by the way! Needless to say, I really enjoyed the food in Paris. After dinner we bought a few more souvenirs then headed back to our hostel.

Paris Day 2: We slept in this morning because we were crazy tired from carrying our stuff all day. So when we got ready we headed out to a cafe to find wi-fi and breakfast to plan our day. We decided that we didn't want to go to Versailles cause we were exhausted and we started our day to late. So instead we headed out to the Parisian Flea Market. I bought my mom's present here then we headed out to lunch at the LaFayette Galleries. After lunch we went shopping then we headed toward our train station to head out to Salzburg. We ran into The Dvoraks there and realized the other group in Paris, the Dvoraks, and our group were all on the same train to head home, only we made a pitstop in Salzburg.

Salzburg: This time on the train we had a couchet so we had beds to sleep in and it was a fantastic night of sleep for me. :) We arrived in Salzburg around 9 and we booked it to the (drumroll please....) Sound of Music Tour!! :) I've never walked so fast in my life, but we made it with time to spare. The awesome part was that we were on a bus so we didn't have to carry our stuff! Anyways so the tour... The whole thing was basically a tour of the history of Salzburg based around the Sound of Music. We got to see the garden where they sand "Do-Re-Mi," and the mountains that they walked along. We also go to see the house that they used for the back of the house, and the actual back of the house. We stood across from the back of the house so we could see where they were in the boat and all that fun stuff. Then we also got to see the church where Julie Andrews married the Captain too. So it was freaking awesome. Then we headed back to Vienna and it was nice to be back some place familiar.

So on this trip I had lunch outside Notre Dame, dinner around the corner from the Eiffel Tower, and apple strudel outside the church from the Sound of Music. It was a fantastic weekend. This week was easy, just class and visiting sites, and planning for my free travel this weekend. I'm headed out to Prague, Czech Republic, and Munich Germany this weekend so more updates will be coming soon.

Sorry it's such a long one!