The Adventure Coming To A Close...

Came back from the Christmas Market trip through Bavaria today and realizing that I will leave Europe tomorrow morning at 10am to travel all day back to Seattle.

All I can say is one word: WOW

I can't believe all of the things that I have done in the past four months.  Experienced new things...I am very glad I did this trip.

On to the adventure of this weekend....

Thursday met at the bus at 5am! That is right 5 am! We were on the way driving to Bamberg where we spent all 3 nights.  On the way to Bamberg we stopped to our first of three cities.  We stopped to Rothenberg to the Christmas markets there.  Afterwards we got to our hotel in Bamberg.  One of the coolest things...I had my own room! :D

The next day, Friday, at 9am we loaded the bus up to head to Nurnberg.  This Christmas market is one of the most famous markets that we went to.  Aunt Anna and I wandered the market during the day and met up with Uncle Doug and friends later and wandered some more.  At night, this Christmas market is CRAZY! So many people! But very fun.  Because Anna and I wandered earlier, we decided that we were cold and found some therapy in Starbucks and waited for Doug and friends to come back before heading back to the bus.  

Saturday we a really fun day.  I decided to sleep in and meet Anna and Doug at 11am and we went into downtown Bamberg to obviously the Christmas markets! :D  We wandered the market and then met the bus at 2pm for a 3 hour ride around the mountains and villages around Bamberg.  We actually got to see some of the places where the Harry Potter movies were filmed! It looked very familar! :D 

Today (Sunday :D ) we wandered the markets a little bit more before we had to check out at noon.  After that, we headed back to the base where we were picked up.  And now I am packing and getting ready to head back to the states. WEIRD!  All I can say is that this is bittersweet.  I am sad to leave Europe...but very excited to see friends and family at home!

Love you and miss you all!  Can't wait to see you!

A weekend in Trier, Germany and Paris, France!

So lets just say that this past weekend was pretty much really awesome!

Thursday night, Aunt Anna, Uncle Doug and I head out to Trier, Germany and check into our hotel. Then most of friday we explored the city of Trier. There was 2 or 3 Christmas markets going on and we looked at those. The main reason sight we saw were the Roman baths in Trier. It was so cool to see what Romans use to live in and crawl below ground through the tunnels!

After our time was done in Trier we drove to PARIS! We got to Paris around 7pm and checked into our hotel. We got a really good hotel on the outskirts of the city. Our hotel was right across the street from a metro station! How perfect right? At around 8:30 we head into town to go see the Effiel Tower!! It is all lit up blue and has the circle of yellow stars like the EU flag because the president of France is the president of the EU right now. So I saw Effiel the first night! :D And I saw it SPARKLE!

The next day, we started at the Louve. We only hit one wing because it is SO BIG and so much to take in! We hit the wing that had the Monna Lisa. So I of course said hi to Monna! Then we had lunch at a place nearby and we all had the Croque Royal. SO GOOD! If you ever go to Paris get this! It is a ham and cheese panini with melted cheese on top and also and egg! :D

After the Louve, we went to the Museum d'Orsay. Saw some Impressionism paintings and I think those were my favorite! I really liked the layout of this museum more because it was smaller! :D Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to relax and then went it got really dark, we went back into town to go climb the Arch de Triumphe! This had the most amazing view of the city I have ever seen! I saw the Effiel Tower sparkle again!

Sunday morning, we got up early to go see Notre Dame! AWESOME! We were inside while mass was starting and we saw all the people of the church process into mass.  This was one of the most beautiful churches I have seen! And I have seen a lot of churches! :D  After Notre Dame, we checked out of the hotel and drove back to Germany!

So here I sit! Back in Germany, tired and happy!  This was quite possibly one of my favorite trips I have been on since I have been to Europe!

Hope that was enough for you! Love and miss you all!