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!
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... :)
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