Paris

Musee du Louvre-

The Louvre Museum has a history that goes all the way back to medieval times. It was first built in 1190 by King Phillipe-Ausguste as a fortress. Following King Phillipe-Auguste, the building was lived in, improved, and enlarged by four centuries of Kings. in 1692 King Louis XIV moved to the Palace of Versailles, leaving the Louvre as place to display the royal collection. It was opened up as a museum in 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings. Due to structural problems it was closed from 1796 until 1801. Under Napolean the size of the collection was greatly increased and therefore named Musee Napolean. Since then it has obviously been renamed the Louvre. As of 2008 the vast collection has been divided into eight different departments.

Mona Lisa-

The world-famous Mona Lisa is a 16th century oil painting painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo began work on the painting in 1503 during the Italian Renaissance but lingered over it for years. He brought it with him from Italy to France in 1516 when King Francois I invited him to come and work near his palace. He finally completed it right before he died in 1519. The king bought the painting for 4,000 ecus from the heirs of Leonardo's assistant and kept it at Chateau Fontainebleau. Since then the Mona Lisa has been moved to many different locations. Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Vesailles but was moved again after the French Revolution to the Louvre. Napolean had it moved to his bedroom at Tuileries Palace for a short time, before it was returned to the Louvre where it remains today... obviously.

Notre Dame-

This building embodies perfectly the history of Paris, more so than any other building. It stands right on an island in the Seine river called Ile de la Cite (City Island). Built on the site of a Roman temple, the first stone was laid in 1163 which marked the start of two centuries of toil by armies of medieval architects. It was not completed until the mid 1240s. This building has seen many significant events including: - 1239, the Crown of Thorns is placed in the cathedral by St. Louis - 1804, coronation ceremony for Napolean I - state funeral of Charles de Gaulle

Seine river-

Palais de la Cite-

This building was originally built on the City Island as a royal palace. Phillippe le Bel chose this beautiful place to build it in the 14th century as way to show his wealth and stature. In the middle ages, the palace was considered one of the finest in the world. Later, when Charles V chose to move to the Louvre, the building was given to Parliament to be used as the kingdoms's administrative offices. In 1931, the palace had been converted into a prison. Wealthy prisoners were given good accommodations but the petty thieves were left to sleep in dark rooms infested with rodents where they often caught diseases and even died of the plague. It is now open to the public as a national historic monument.

Eiffel Tower-

Built to commemorate the centennial of the revolution, the 1,063 ft tower was originally only supposed to be temporary. It was designed by Gustave Eiffel (hence the name) and was the world's tallest building until the Empire State Building was built in 1931. Numerous stunts have been pulled here, one of which included a local man who launched himself from the tower using a cape as wings... needless to say it didn't end well.

fun facts: - there are 1,665 steps from top to bottom - the tower is held together by 2.5 million rivets - it never sways more than 7 cm (2.5 in.) - it weighs 10,100 tons - 50 tons of paint are used every seven years.

Arc de Triomphe-

Located directly at the end of the world famous *Champs-Elysees Avenue, the Arc de Triomphe stands tall at 164 feet. Building of this arc began in 1806, approximately a year after Napolean's greatest victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. After the battle he promised his med that they would "go home beneath triumphal arches." Although the first stone of what was to be the worlds most famous triumphal arch was laid in 1806, it's completion was delayed until 1836 due to distruptions with the Architects plans combined with the demise of Napoleonic power. Decorating the arc are many shields and sculptures depicting military scenes such as the Napoleonic battles of Austerlitz and Aboukir. In 1921 the body of the Unknown Soldier was put beneath the arch to commemorate the dead of WWI.

*Champs-Elysees- This world famous avenue began to become well-known around 1667. It has been know as the triumphal way ever since the homecoming of Napoeon's body from St. Helena in 1840. It became the most fashionable boulevard in Paris in the 19th century when cafes and restaurants were added.

Germany, France and... my cousin???

Due to the fact that it isn't exactly close to Vienna and train and plane tickets to get there are extremely expensive, Paris was a place that seemed a bit unreachable to me. However, this last weekend... I REACHED IT!!

An awesome lady in our ward, Jen who just happens to by my friends cousin, has some sweet connections through their job and was able to find us a really good deal on a day-tour to Paris. The tour was to pick us up from the military base in Heidelberg, Germany and since Jen was going there to go shopping at the commissary for the weekend anyways, she offered to drive us there. So our trip began on Friday at about 3:30 when we left Vienna and headed to Germany. After months of trains, planes, buses and crazy european drivers, I must say that it felt incredibly good to be in a driving in a car with an american driver! Plus, I'm so used to driving everywhere, that being in a car for 6 hours almost felt like going home. :) It was great! After our nice afternoon/evening drive we arrived at the military base at around 10:00. Being on the base was really weird because it felt so isolated in a really creepy way. But at the same time it was really neat because it was like a little mini America right in the middle of Germany. Later on that night Jen took us to a little grocery store that was packed with tons of American food AND since we were on an American base, we could use american dollars! It was so cool!! It gave me a little preview of how I will be when I go to the grocery store when I get home... I had no idea how much I missed! I stood there forever just staring at pop-tarts, eggos, doritos, butterfingers.... ya know, the healthy stuff of couse... I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven with all the true american stuff they had in there! After wandering around in awe for what seemed like a year, we finally left with a couple of 'to-die-for' items... Peanut butter m&ms and honey roasted peanuts!! Keep in mind that I love peanuts and they don't eat them much here, it's all about the hazelnuts on this backwards continent! So needless to say I was super excited about my peanutty purchases! Later that night Kar and I decided that we weren't even going to go to sleep because we had to be back up at 3 in the morning anyways to catch the bus to Paris at 3:30. So instead of sleeping we ended up watching a bit of march madness on ESPN (enough to see the aggies lose :( ) and then just hung out and watched movies. When 3 finally came around we grabbed our stuff and headed out the door on our way to conquer Paris!

At first the bus seemed pretty nice but after being on it for about an hour we discovered that there was almost no chance of sleep due to the fact that it was the most uncomfortable bus in the world. It was a 6 hour bus ride from Heidelberg to Paris and I think I slept about... maybe 2 hours of it. yay! Although I was incredibly fatigued I somehow had enough energy to be thrilled when we arrived in Paris! I couldn't believe my eyes as I just stared out the window just trying to soak it all in. The first major site we were able to stop at was the Champs Elysees. It looks kind of like a bridge but really is just a huge arch thing in the middle of a road. It was really cool to see though and not to mention totally ginormous!!! Immediately following that we were taken to none other than THE Eiffel Tower!! The tour took us a to a tremendous place that is right behind the tower but sits up a little higher making it a perfect place for pictures! It really is a sight to behold... even though it was right in front of me, I could hardly believe it. After staring at it was dropped jaws for a while and taking fun pictures, we piled back on the bus and then headed down closer to the tower where we were able to drive right next to it. I dare anyone to stand at the bottom of it and not hurt their neck trying to look up at it! The rest of the day was filled with driving around the city with two major stops at Notre Dame, and of course, the Louvre! Luckily Notre Dame doesn't have an entry fee so we were able to go inside a world-famous cathedral completely free of charge! It really is a unique and incredible building and what makes it even more cool is that it sits right on an island in the middle of the Seine river. Now about the Louvre... I love history, but I'm not gonna lie, museums are boring! I was more interested in the history of the actual building rather than the random artifacts inside, most of which have nothing to do with french history. But despite the fact that museums can put me to sleep faster than a tranquilizer I did go in, because well... its the Louvre, and I did enjoy a few things. I had to laugh really hard at the Mona Lisa though. I know that it's incredibly famous but I found it a bit extravagant to put a tiny painting on a huge stonewall that's bigger than my house, in a room all by itself and then block it off with a little fence thingy. And what's more is how crowded it was by the Mona Lisa... with all the people pushing and shoving to the front and cameras flashing like crazy you'd think we were at the oscars. Being at the Louvre pretty much concluded our sightseeing and after when we were finished there we were taken to an area of town where we could have a nice dinner. We were told that there was really fancy, typical french restaurant there that we could eat at or we could just wander around and find a cheaper place to eat and do a little more shopping. Since we're young nannys on a budget we opted out of the expensive french cuisine and decided to fend for ourselves and wander a bit until it was time to leave. However, after getting off the bus and immediately seeing the Moulin Rouge, we got the feeling that was a weird area of town. Sure enough after wandering a bit we discovered that we had been dropped off in none other than the Red Light District of Paris... nice huh? After searching for a place to eat that didn't involve some eroticism something really funny happened to us... we ran into sister missionaries!!! When we approached them, the first thing they said to us was "oh dear, this is NOT a good place to run into members!!" As it turned out they had had an interesting day and ended up there totally on accident. So there we were, four little mormon girls hanging out in front of the Moulin Rouge! Obviously they couldn't stay there for long, and we didn't want to, so we only talked to them for a few minutes and then parted ways. But it's always fun to connect with random people like that even if it is only for a few minutes. When we were finally able to get the heck out of the red light district, it was time to pile back on the bus and buckle up for another six hour ride back to the base at Heidelberg. Given that I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep the night before and that we had walked around all day I though for sure that I would crash on the bus no matter what. Which was exactly the case... for a grand total of about 40 minutes!! I was able to sleep a little bit more here and there but not much. When we got back to the base at about 2:30 I had never been so glad to see a fold-out couch bed in my life!!

The next day, we thought we were going to be heading home around 9 in the morning meaning we could get back home early and have a nice relaxing sunday afternoon in the comfort of our own rooms.... however, Jen decided that the she needed to do some more shopping at the commissary so we ended up staying there for a long time and just wandering around the base. (but careful wandering so as not to get shot at...) After a couple of hours of waiting and wandering (patiently of course) , Jen and her friend Barb finally met up with us where we decided to hit the Taco Bell before heading home! Despite the fact that I was more than ready to go home I was thoroughly looking forward to americanized mexican food... cheesy double beef burrito never looked so good!!! mmmm... :) But before I was even able to enjoy my food, I turned around after filling up my drink, and was distracted by a guy who looked incredibly familiar. My mind was racing with all the possibilities of who it could be before it finally settled on the fact that I was in Germany and it couldn't possibly be someone I knew. And then... the familiar face said... "Nicole? is that you?! How did you get on the base?" As I stood there in shock, staring at the familiar face that was talking to me, it hit me... IT WAS MY COUSIN CHRIS!!! Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that he was stationed over here in Germany but it never crossed my mind that I might actually run into him! And what's even more coincidental is that he was only visiting that base for the weekend and is in fact stationed on another base 2 hours away from there! The odds of me running into my 1st cousin on a military base in Europe are too slim to even comprehend... and yet, it happened! So we were able to have lunch together and visit for a few minutes which gave me the opportunity to see how he was doing and get to know his new wife a little bit. Perfect ending to a great trip. :)

Proof that we live in an incredibly small world! ... when looking at this picture, please keep in mind that I hadn't slept in two days... :)

Reunion with my favorite european city

Apparently I loved Venice so much the first time I went there, that I just had to go back for a reunion. :)

taking a break :)

pondering ...

chillin on a bridge

the famous Rialto Bridge

on Accedemia Bridge

hangin' out

I love Venice :)

on the banks of the Mediterranean looking across to another Venetian island

I just love the street signs

Budapest

And now for the more fun blog (at least for me) of the history and facts about Budapest. :)

Budapest:

In 1873 2 towns on the west of the Danube, Buda and Obuda, were unified along with the town of Pest on the east side of the Danube. All three of the towns had originally grown through the 12th century and Buda was the seat of Hungary's rulers from 1247. The area was under Turkish rule from 1541 to 1686. In 1686 and army called the Holy League, containing over 74,000 men, reconquered Buda and within a few years almost all former Hungarian lands were taken from the Turks. The territorial changes were officially recognized with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. In 1788 the entire Hungarian Kingdom was removed from Ottoman rule. The city was destroyed in a battle and was then incorporated into the Hapsburg Empire. Throughout the 19th century, Hungarians struggled for independence and modernization. 1867 was the year of reconciliation that brought the birth of Austria-Hungary which made Budapest a twin capital of a dual monarchy. After losing the war in 1918 Austria-Hungary collapsed and Hungary declared itself an independent republic. In 1920 Hungary lost over 2/3 of it's territory as a result of the Treaty of Trianon. The city suffered intense damage caused by American and British air raids during WWII in 1944, and also suffered major damage from attacking Soviet troops in defense of German and Hungarian troops. The country was declared communist in 1949 but was followed by the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 collapsing the leadership on October 23rd.

St. Stephen's Basilica:

This basilica is named after Saint Stephen I who was the first King of Hungary (975-1038). At 96 meters it is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest. The building took 54 years to complete, largely due to the collapse of the dome in 1868 which required complete demolition of the completed works and starting over from the ground up. It was finally finished in 1905.

Parliament:

This building is one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings, the largest building in Hungary and the third largest parliament building in the world. 7 years after the unification of Budapest, the national assembly decided to establish a new Parliament building expressing sovereignty of the nation. Construction began in 1885, was inaugurated in 1896, and completed in 1904. Sadly, the architect went blind before it's completion and was never able to see the final result. At the same height as St. Stephen's Basilica it is the other of the two tallest buildings in Budapest.

Chain Bridge/ Szechenyi lanchid:

Named after Szechenyi who took the initiative to build the bridge making it the first connection between Pest and Buda. The bridge sparked economic revival and lead to Budapest's golden century. The bridge serves as a symbol of Hungarian liberty.

Vajdahunyad Castle:

Built between 1896 and 1908. It is a copy of a romanian castle by the same name. It was originally made from cardboard and wood for the millennial exhibition but because it became so popular it was rebuilt from stone and brick.

Hero's Square:

One of the major square's in Budapest and is full of historic and political symbols. In the center of Hero's square is the Millennium Memorial that has statues of the leaders the 7 tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century. Construction on the monument began on the 1000th anniversary of the country in 1896 but wasn't finished until 1929.

Buda Castle:

This Royal palace was originally built in by King Bela IV and was replaced by a Gothic palace around 1400. It was again remodeled by Kind Matyas in 1458. Under Turkish rule it was completely destroyed in 1686 but later the Habsburgs began construction on a new palace in 1719. This too was destroyed in 1849 and had to be rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century. Remains of the 15th century Gothic palace were found during the reconstruction of the latest one and were incorporated into the restored palace that we see today. Today the palace is home to many important nation collections, includeing the Szechenyi Nation LIbrary with over five million books and manuscripts.

Fisherman's Bastion:

Fisherman's Bastion is a neo-Gothic/new Romanesque terrace that sits on the Buda band of the Danube. It was designed and built between 1895 and 1902. It consists of 7 towers that represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896. It takes the name of a fisherman that defended that particular stretch of the city walls in the middle ages. From the towers you can look out over almost the entire city.

Matthias' Church:

This church was built originally in 1015, reconstructed in the late 14th century and extensively restored in the 19th century. It was the 2nd largest church in medieval Buda. The church's 700 year history is looked at as a symbol of the city's rich yet tragic history. The church held many coronations including the one of the last Habsburg king, Charles IV. It was also the location of Kind Matyas' (Matthias) two weddings.

Me on Chain Bridge with Parliament in the background.

Its Days Like These...

Buckle up... It could be a long one...

Seeing as I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep on Friday night, I was rather disappointed to hear the alarm go off at 4:30 on saturday morning. However, after remembering that the alarm signaled the beginning of my long-awaited trip to Budapest I suddenly had enough energy to stand up and quickly get myself ready to go catch the train. But just as I was almost finished, my friend Kar, asked me a question that forced the blood to completely and quickly drain from my face... she asked, "Nicole? are we going to need our passports?" Knowing that the answer was obviously 'yes', it reminded me that I knew exactly where my passport was. Can anyone guess where it was? Perhaps in the inside pocket of my backpack with my wallet where I ALWAYS keep it when I go on trips?... NOPE!!! It's precise location was at the bottom of the middle drawer of the wooden cabinets in my room, all the way back at my house... an hour away from my friend's house, whose house we had stayed the night at. SMOOTH MOVE NICOLE!! But seeing as I'm generally a smart and sensible person I figured it would be better to go all the way back and get it, rather than risk getting in trouble at the border with the Austrian AND Hungarian police. So, after trekking all they way back for a teeny tiny little book and missing our original train to Budapest, we trekked back into the city to try and catch the very next train which would be the last train for a few hours. Unfortunately for us two 'american visitors', we are completely at the mercy of public transportation and can only drive as fast as public transportation will allow... which is NOT that fast. It was probably the most agonizing bus ride I've ever had to endure, full of impatience, early morning crankiness, and a lot of praying! When we finally got to the city, we rocketed as fast as possible and bolted into the train station, completely out of breath, just in time to jump on the train. The next three hours were filled mostly with sleepy conversations about what Budapest will be like, and failed sleeping attempts.

Upon arrival at Budapest our energy was once again restored with a buzz of anxious excitement. As we stepped off the train, we realized instantly that this was definitely going to be an adventure to remember, whether a good adventure or a bad adventure, we had yet to figure out, but an adventure nonetheless. And of course, the spazzy randomness known as the inside of my brain, stepped up to the plate to yank out an applicable reference from a movie I despise and haven't seen in years, and throw the words "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore" right out of my mouth. One quick scan of the place allows one to take in the view of the obvious lack of money and corrupt government. However, I was in Budapest fulfilling another small dream so I made a choice to keep a positive outlook and try to enjoy and learn something from any experience.

Just being in Budapest is a huge, eye-opening experience!! Around every corner is just more and more evidence of a poor, 'formerly' communist country. Homeless people begging on almost every street, dilapidated buildings pleading to be bull-dozed, and public buses that fit no description within the comprehension of any middle-class american. Yet, despite the downsides to this city, we were able to see some amazing things (see other post for details) and gain experiences that will forever burn in our minds.

And now for the most memorable part of the trip... At the end of the day, after we had seen and done everything on our list, we headed back to the train station to await our train to take us back to our beautiful city of Vienna and our beautiful beds that are situated in beautiful homes! Being incredibly tired at this point we were looking forward to a nice, boring, and relaxing train ride home. However... our hopes of riding back in peace were completely obliterated after we had been on the train for about a half an hour and the ticket controller came to check our tickets... Knowing that our tickets were completely and 100 percent valid, I simply handed him my ticket without a care in the world and waited for him to return it to me. As he was inspecting it he mumbled something I didn't understand, but assuming it was german and that I just wasn't listening carefully, and knowing the normal procedures, I reached for my passport to show him that as well. And then, practically throwing my passport and ticket back at me he proceeded to say (in english, with a really annoying accent), "Dees teecket ees not valeed." To which I gave the response (with, of course, a sarcastic snotty accent of my own) "Yes, eet ees! Check eet again!!!! And this was only the beginning of a very long and intense argument. I honestly did try to be patient with this man at first to try and solve this ridiculous problem, but keep in mind that I have very little patience for crap to begin with, I was incredibly tired, and he was a certified, class A idiot!!! So basically the patience thing lasted about as long as Penny can keep her room clean... which rounds up to be about... 3 1/2 minutes... on a good day. (love you Penny!) After spending a few teeth-pulling minutes having a conversation full of broken english and frustration he finally asked me, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" which means "Do you speack German?" and I answered "Ja, ein bisschen aber nicht viel", "yes, a little but not much". From here I proceeded to experiment with my unpracticed german, which only resulted in the realization that I in fact spoke more german that he did, meaning that our chance of decent communication and problem solving had diminished greatly! So there I was with boiling blood and spitting fire, trying to convince a man who understood very little of either of the two languages I was speaking, that he was wrong about our completely valid tickets being invalid. And just so you know I really wasn't kidding about the 'spitting fire' thing... I was so angry with his attitude and incompetence that the poor guy looked like he was about to wet his pants. He just kept stammering over himself saying the same thing over and over..."you must get off at the next stop... I can do nothing" (remember to say it with the snotty accent) After 2o minutes of fruitless, insane arguing he finally left, actually ran out of our compartment with a final "you must go", (said with a huge hint of nervousness) and slammed our compartment door shut. So at this point I'm about to freak out because the thought of being kicked off a train in a teeny podunk town in Hungary didn't really appeal to me. But, not being sure what to do, I looked at my phone to see that I had 3 bars of battery left and decided to call Isabelle just to at least let her know what was going on so she would have some sort of clue in case we really did get ditched. Isabelle, of course, was also very angry because she also knew that we were right and the stupid hungarian weasel was wrong, and thankfully she gave me some very good advice. She told me that he really isn't allowed to touch me and that I should just stay on the train until he's inclined to call the police. Just then, my battery went from 3 bars to 0 and completely cut me off leaving me with no form of communication or s.o.s. and leaving Isabelle at home in suspenseful panic. At this point I had about 40, 000 emotions running through me ranging from blood-curdling anger to a new level of hysteria! The thought of spending the night in jail wasn't the most welcoming but I had just the right amount and combination of anger and adventure to be willing to fight everyone on that train until they dragged me kicking and screaming to a hungarian jail for the night! However, on the inside I was a lot more nervous then I was letting on and my friend Kar was also extremely nervous so naturally we were both saying about a million silent prayers! After a few minutes of sitting there trying to figure out what we were going to do when the train stopped, Kar asked me if we could say a prayer together. So we calmed ourselves for a few minutes while I said a small prayer to help us communicate with these people and get us home safely to Vienna. Once the prayer was said we both felt immediately that we were going to be ok and that the problem would be solved. So now all there was to do was wait until the next stop to see if he was going to come back with reinforcements for round 2. However, about an hour and fifteen minutes and 3 stops later, no one had come by or said anything.... and then we came to the last stop... which was right before we crossed the border into Austria. Originally we were only supposed to be stopped there for 10 minutes so we were just watching the clock praying more with every second that with any amount of luck we could make it through this stop too, meaning we could make it all the way to Vienna. But of course with the luck we were having the train was not stopped there for not only 10 minutes but instead an hour and half!! Still no one had come to kick us off, but we had absolutely no clue what was going on and why we were stuck at the stop for so long! They kept making an announcement over and over but considering neither of us speak Hungarian very well, or at all, it didn't do us much good. So eventually we assumed that the train had broken down, and just continued to sit there full of suspense, impatience, and questions. When the 90 minutes of waiting had passed and the train started moving again we considered ourselves very blessed to still be on the train and to not have had any more pointless confrontations. But I also knew that they would most likely be coming around to check tickets again soon and I really didn't have the energy to produce the would-be-needed amount of spunk and composure for another argument. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes a man came. Luckily for us it was a very different man (I really think the other was cowering somewhere with very wet pants) so I decided to act innocent and hand him my ticket as if nothing had ever happened. So when he said "Fahrkarte bitte?" I nonchalantly handed him the ticket and waited. Very routinely, he simply glanced at the ticket, punched it with his little puncher thingy and handed it back it to me and then proceeded to follow the same steps with Kar's ticket. After returning our tickets and saying "Danke Schoen" he slid out of the compartment and went on checking tickets throughout the train. That was it... really.... After all that aruging, yelling, stressing, praying, frustration, preparing etc. etc.... THAT WAS IT!!!!! I basically learned that I was in fact right all along and our tickets were, as I've already said, COMPLETELY VALID!!! Upon this revelation (that wasn't really a revelation because I knew all along that I was right! ... not that I'm stubborn or anything) I looked at Kar and we both let out a very loud... "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

An hour later we returned to Vienna in peace considering ourselves very lucky and blessed.

It's days and experiences like these that remind me that my life is incredibly blessed. I am so grateful for my relationship with my Heavenly Father and that I can turn to him in any situation! I am also so grateful for my life and my family and for the way I was raised. After seeing how people live in poor, corrupt countries and finding myself helpless in a silly confrontation, I am truly proud to be an LDS American!!!!!

A little song I made up in my state of giddy fatigue...

"I'm proud to be an american, where at least I know I'm free...

where I won't get kicked of a stupid train, by a man who's afraid of me...

and I proudly stand up... next to Kar... and defend ourselves today...

Cause there ain't no doubt I know I'm right!!! GOD BLESS THE UUUUU SSSSSSS AAAAAAAA!!!

Belvedere Palace

Last weekend a friend and I went to visit a palace in Vienna that I have wanted to see for a long time. It was one of those things where I kept saying, "eh, I'll do it next weekend," But now, after being here for 9 months, I've finally done it.

The palace is called the Belvedere Palace. The word 'belvedere' is of Italian origin and literally means 'fair view' or 'beautiful view', which fits this palace perfectly because not only is it incredibly beautiful, but the view from the top floor captures the majority of the city and can take your breath away. It is a baroque complex that was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy. It's original purpose was to serve as a suburban entertainment villa. The work began 1714 and what is now called the Lower Belvedere was finished in two years later in 1716. It was built as a garden villa, with an orangerie and paintings gallery, and also *suitable living quarters.

The Upper Belvedere was not built until 1720 and was only finished 3 years later. It was originally intended to only be a 'proper end' to the main garden, but was later enlarged to become the main summer residence of Prince Eugene. The Belvedere complex was sold to the empress Maria Theresa by the Prince's heiress in 1752. It was Maria Theresa who first called it the 'Belvedere'. In the Upper Belvedere there is a central 'Marmorsaal' (marble hall) which was the site of the signing the Austrian State Treaty that formed the modern Austria on May 15, 1955.

*they say 'suitable' with a high class snobby tone as if it means barely okay enough... when really each room is bigger than my house

Kid Pictures

Timon and Fanny on the U-bahn... Such a cute picture of Fanny... Timon was talking on his phone... too bad no one was on the other side because his phone doesn't actually work. :)

Timon and Christoph staging a hostile takeover of my bed

Flora and me... this was taken my first week here

Christoph likes to think he's really cool... much to his dismay he's only 3 years old. But a pretty dang cute 3-year-old if you ask me :)

The girls looking cute and Christoph looking 'cool'

Update from Austria

I know I haven't updated the blog with anything for a long time, so today I decided that even though there is nothing too exciting to record, I will just give a brief update about general everyday life.

First of all... It is completely blowing my mind that I have been here for 9 whole months now! I literally cannot believe it. It seemed like 5 seconds ago that time was stuck in molasses and I thought I'd never see the end of November, and then I blinked and suddenly it's March 2nd! In the beginning things were incredibly frustrating with the kids. I would have 1 good day for ever 6 bad days and it was really starting to wear on me. But as the time has gone by the kids and I have gotten used to each other and adjusted well. Especially the last couple months. Lately I have really been able to establish good relationships with 3 of the 4 kids. When I first got here, Fanny was the one I was frustrated with the most, but with each day I realize that it just might be her that I miss the most when I leave here in June. She has been really sweet and fun lately. In fact in some ways she really is like a little mini-me. One day when I was taking her and Timon to Kinderstunde (children's hour - church kids group), we were sitting on the U-bahn (underground train) and as we were sitting there I glanced at Fanny... She was sitting there with her little gold pig-tails, red glasses, completely in her own little world, and avidly chewing her fingernails... it was literally like looking into a de-aging mirror. It has been really fun with Christoph lately as well! He is the one that I spend the most time with so things have gotten really good with him. The other day I was wearing a shirt from San Francisco and Christoph, pointing to the Golden Gate Bridge, asked me about it. After explaining to him what it was and that it was in America he thought for a second then jumped on me, put his arms around my neck and said, "Nicole, I wann in Amewicka mif you go, " then proceeded to give me a very slobbery kiss.... so cute!!! Things with Flora have been pretty steady from the beginning. Her and I have always gotten along well. There are bad days, but the majority of the time with her is good. She's quite the little smartie pants too... I have been reading english books with her (that is, having here read them to me) as practice because in a couple weeks she will join a bilingual school for a few days to see if she fits in well with them. If all goes well, then she will be attending and english/german school next year. Fanny has also been accepted into this school for when she is older. As for Timon... I'm not going to say too much about Timon because I don't want to spoil the good mood I'm in right now. All I'll say is that there are good days and bad days... more bad than good... but I can't complain too much because things with the other three are more good than bad. :)

Isabelle has officially found and hired the new au pair as my replacement in June. The new girl's name is Kelsey and she is from Portland. She seems really nice and will be coming sometime around June 16th. My favorite thing about her is that she is also really young AND she is also LDS! For some reason I find it really funny that this family will be getting 2 mormon au pairs in a row... coincidence? ... guess we'll find out someday... :)

As for my social life... well... it's pretty much non-existent. Ok... not non-existent, but it is pretty slim. I have had zero desire to hang out with the kids from my Young Single Adult church class. They call us adults but unfortunately most of the guys in the class act as though puberty is still about 3 years in the future. I can't even tell you how many conversations I've sat through about comic books and super heros... it gives me flashbacks of Stephen and Keith... when we were FIVE!!! Needless to say my social outings are few and far between so it's a good thing I know how to sink into my own little world. :) I do however have a new friend who just got here. She is from Utah and she came here to be an au pair as well. But unfortunately she got stuck with a crazy family and will be returning to the states in just a few weeks. But I have been hanging out with her on the weekends lately and will be taking a couple of trips with her before she flees the country. Other than that my social life basically consists of facebook, letter writing with Jason and his creeper friend, and skype dates with Ryan. haha :)

Well I guess that's all for now but I'll try to keep up better with updates these last few months. I miss everyone like CRAZY! ...only about 3 1/2 more months to go! :)