Time, you can never get enough

I am sad to say we are now on the last stretch, school for me and soon back to Canada for my parents.  We have seen 19 cities in twelve days (not including our England adventures, which would make it 27 cities in 19 days), we have braved the weather, and we managed not to kill one another.  In all honesty though we have had a trip of a lifetime and I couldn't be prouder to have shared it with my parents.  Not many people get to have as great of parents as I have and I am so appreciative that they suffered the long treacherous journey with me.  I will miss them when they leave on Tuesday but at the same time I look forward to my third and last semester here in England.  So while I wish I had more time with my parents here in Europe I know that my time here in general is also limited and soon I will be home.  So I welcome this new chapter in my story book year of adventures and continue to remind myself how incredibly fortunate I am.

Finally France: Lyon and Paris

                 The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is a minor basilica in Lyon on top of fourviere hill

 

View from fourviere hill overlooking Lyon, and of course the rain is approaching

Looking up at fouviere hill and the Basilica from Place Bellecour, also King Louis XIV riding a horse

                          First glimpse of the Eiffel Tower while walking from our hotel

                                     Mom and I, and whats that behind us? right its the Eiffel Tower

                                                      Dad and I in front of the Eiffel Tower

                                                       Everybody's got to have their turn

                                                      Yes we're those kind of tourists

                                                     bet that's heavy mom! use those guns

                                                                    Originality

         right after this photo was taken a wedding party took over our spot to have photos done

            Sacre Coeur, where we got bombarded by the rain (makes for a beautiful photo though)

                           Mom failing in every aspect to get herself up on a post, dad to the rescue

    Ten minutes later mom made it up and the photo took two seconds then she had to come back down
                                        (also a fail but no documentation for it)

                                           Mom trying to carry me since my feet were hurting

                                      Outside the Louvre where the Mona Lisa is held

               Mom with her traditional french dessert and her bottle of Rum looking happy

                                                                 Creme Brulée

                                         braving the rain to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle

                                           View from the Eiffel Tower

                                          Can never just take a photo, at Versailles

                                                             inside Versailles

                                    Versailles where Louis XIV and Marie Antoinett lived

                                                         We love Paris!!!!

                                             One last photo to say goodbye

France, our last stop on our journey.  First on the agenda is Lyon, a town known for their silk and it's cathedral.  I have come to the conclusion however that I may have jinxed the weather gods, by saying a little rain doesn't hurt earlier in our trip because we have yet to escape from the rain.  We seem to be traveling along with it, since we will hop on a train to get away but only hours after arriving at our next destination the rain crashes the party.  So here we are in Lyon and who shows up but a down pour, soaking us through to the bone, which is quite upsetting because Lyon is beautiful and we would have enjoyed exploring a little more but the rain was just too impossible for us to do that.  We had to duck for cover and run into the closest restaurant where we had dinner and quietly waited for the rain to stop.  It was late when the rain ceased so we raced back to our hotel to dry off, warm up, and cozy in bed.  Today (day eleven) takes us to our final city within our last destination, Paris.  We took a fast train into Paris from Lyon and arrived just after one o'clock.  We weaved our way through the metro to our hotel which is very close to the Eiffel Tower (two blocks, but we cannot see it from the hotel).  After disposing of our bags we became scavengers of the Eiffel Tower and since we were so close it didn't take long before finding our treasure.  Even though I have seen it before (Christmas with my sister) I continue to be amazed by its brilliance, the Eiffel Tower is so magical and inspiring it makes me think that anything is possible.  My parents were immediately in awe of it as well, I wish I had counted how many times my dad had said unbelievable.  We took our time around it taking photos but the sky started to get dark with...you guessed it, rain clouds, and we had plenty more to see so we made our way over to the Champs Elysees.  We had to pick up the pace in order to get to the Sacre Coeur before it rained and even then we didn't make it and got caught in yet another down pour.  We took refuge inside the Sacre Coeur for a little while but then braved the rain to get back to the metro so that we could continue on our way.  On our race to the metro I tried diving under a crowd of people with umbrellas, so as not to get an umbrella in the face, but as I ducked someone was putting their umbrella away and I somehow got trapped in the umbrella like a butterfly in a net, not my best moment.  When exiting the metro next at the Notre Dame it was sunny again so after spending some time there we decided to walk to the Louvre to enjoy whatever was left of the nice weather (and to try and dry off from before).  During our walk a friendly pigeon got up clase and personal with mom but she didn't reciprocate that friendship and instead did a tribal dance screaming that its wing touched her.  We had conquered Paris in one day and we were exhausted, so from the Louvre we started to make our way back in the direction of the hotel and to stop for dinner.  At our tram stop dad and I got off but somehow mom got caught and before we could get her out the tram took off with her still on it.  With no knowledge of where or how to get her back, we had to go off in search of her, hoping she had gotten off at the next stop.  Luckily she was patiently awaiting us at the next stop, so we had a giggle and then circled round back to go eat.  We found a quaint little restaurant on the corner of a street near our hotel to dine in as well as taste the famous desserts of Paris!  Moms dessert came with a bottle of rum and all, French speciatlty!  Even though it was slightly raining again, when we finished our supper we took the scenic route home, aka past the Eiffel Tower.  As we were walking the sky opened up all it's fury on us and we got drenched but refused to leave until mom and dad saw the Eiffel Tower in all it's glory . . . sparkling (my favorite).  Day twelve, our last day before making the journey back to England.  We woke up extra early to line up at the Eiffel Tower and although we may have gotten frost bite waiting in line there was no way our moods could be dampened.  Like three little children we waited impatiently to get inside, and once we were finally allowed in it, there was a flutter of camera flashes and picture taking.  That experience is something one will never forget, I was very proud to be sharing it with my parents.  The day was far from being over so we headed south west to the Chateau de Versailles.  Holy molly would I ever like to live there!!  The palace was huge and while we only had time to explore the main building (not all the other added bonuses to its history like the gardens and Marie Antoinette's room) it was spectacular!  Upon our exit of the palace Dad encountered his first opportunity to barter and got himself his prized possession, a two foot replica of the Eiffel Tower. That's right folks, our own mini Eiffel to marvel at.  And because you can't go to Paris and not shop we had to make one last stop at les Galleries Lafayette, the department store Capital of fashion (as described on the back of my map which is also my source of discovery).  We made a mad dash through a third of the store (you probably would need a whole day or two to see the whole thing) in order to make it to our train in time, but even in our scurried rush I managed to make a valid purchase.  Our journey home (although we were all sad to say goodbye) was something to be excited about since we were traveling in style on the underwater bullet train.  We couldn't have been more tired from the weeks escapades but the minute we got near that train my dad was more alert then I'd seen him since before his hair turned silver.  The whole time we were under water he counted the minutes, it makes me proud to know that I was there during these landmarks in their lives, and that they have been here for mine.

On to Switzerland! (Zurich, Bern, Montreux, Laussane, Geneva)

                                         Swiss Pride down the streets of Zurich

                                                     Mom and I by the Limmat river, Zurich

                                            Beautiful Bern, ya we set our camera on timer

                                              Parliament building in old town Bern

                                            Mom and Dad by the clock tower in Bern

                                                  Mom and I, statues for the fountain

                                                    Dads first Kebab, he loved it!

                                 All of us on our walk in search of Le Chateau de Chillon in Montreux

 

The Alps in the Spring time

 

                                           Found the Chateau, Alps in the background

                                       Le Chateau de Chillon in all its glory along the Geneva Lake

                                                           Wooh Montreux!

                                  Launasse, great shopping, very hilly and beautiful as per usual

 Yup another timed photo in Launasse over looking the Alps and the lake with a cathedral in the background, couldn't get any better then this

                                           Jet d'eau in Geneva, last stop in Switzerland

                         Took mom six tries to get it positioned in my mouth, typical

             Photo op by the Jet d'eau, soon not only the jet d'eau got us wet by the looks of the sky

                             Dad happy to be going down the stairs not up them in Geneva

As we were unable to pre book a place to stay online for Switzerland we thought walking around and just going into places would result in an easy victory but boy were we wrong. For some odd reason the stars would not align for us and it took about four hostels and ten hotels to find one that would take us in. Finally around midnight we were broke but in bed.  We are well rested and ready to hit the Alps... And by that I mean look at them from afar.  We walked around the city the following morning (day nine) but I seem to have acquired a mild foot impairment which makes walking very painful (tissue damage or my heel is just bruised) so we didn't stay long. Instead we decided to go to Bern, the capital of Switzerland, to tour around.  So we get to the train station and we put our bags in a locker so we could walk around but we had no change so my mom and I set off to get change while my dad continued watching the bags and this is when the incident occurred.  My mom, having no sense of direction and not knowing any French (they speak French in parts of Switzerland), got lost.  I had been with her looking for a info center and across the way I saw it and so turned around to say I found it and then started walking, well apparently she did not hear me so when I joined the line at the info center and turned around to talk to her she was not with me. I went back outside to look for her and there she was in the middle of the crowd in a panic. Just as I spotted her she started to run in the opposite direction so I had to call out to her not knowing where she was going. When she recounts the events of the story she says she was lost for ten-fifteen minutes but it all happened within one minute. She survived. Bern was beautiful, we really enjoyed the town, and mom and dad experienced their first kebab, one of my favorites. From Bern we took a train to the small town of Montreux, where the Chateau de Chillon is located on lake Geneva. We had a gorgeous hotel along the lake that had an incredible view of the Alps and after dropping off our bags we went for a walk along the water to the Chateau, and although it was closed we got to see inside and take lots of pictures from the shore line. From the Chateau we bused right into old town (our hotel gave free bus passes to its guests) and stopped at the only restaurant that was open, a Chinese restaurant (I wonder if Chinese is a delicacy in Switzerland?). The next morning (day ten) was foggy so we were lucky to have seen the Alps yesterday. We had the opportunity to finally talk to krystal on Skype since we are really missing her on this trip, although I am very happy to have the chance to travel with my parents (and very fortunate) my sister means the world to me and I would've enjoyed having her with us.  After talking with her we set sail to Launasse, which was only a bunny hop away, where we got in some much needed shopping.  The town itself was cute but hill-y, never a good thing when you are traveling with seniors, so we packed up again with Geneva on the agenda.  When we arrived in Geneva the sun was shinning but that did not last, we had the chance to see the famous jet d'eau and to quickly scramble through old town before the rain came so as per usual we resorted to the train (common occurrence). Our final destination today is Lyon, France, hopefully  we can get ahead of this rain and see the town tonight (we'll probably do it regardless but sun would be much appreciated).

Poland: Krakow; Czech Republic: Prague

                                                               first glimpse of Krakow

                                     Market Square, inside this building was the coolest market

                                                 The square from a different point of view

                                    rock salt as crystals on a chandelier, 135 meters below the surface

      salt statues depicting the miraculous return of the princesses ring from Hungary to Poland
Story: The Princess of Hungary was to marry the Prince of Poland and as her wedding present from her father he gave her a salt mine in Hungary. To claim the mine in Hungary as her own she threw her engagement ring down the mines shaft, but upon her wedding day her ring was miraculously retrieved by miners in Wieliczka salt mine in Poland.  Her ring magically traveled the distance back to her.

                                                                  tasting the salt, yummmm

                                                     lake in the mine made of brine

                                    playing cards on the night train to Prague from Krakow

                                       Next morning on night train, looking exceptionally well rested...

                                                       Archway to the Old Town in Prague

                                                                Colorful Prague

              View from the top of the mountain that almost gave dad a heart attack to hike up
                                           (you can see Charles Bridge)

                      Me with a guard outside the Prague Castle (the castle surrounds the
                St Vitus Cathedral above river Vltava)

                          Inside Prague's famous Cathedral, St Vitus cathedral

Last night before bed we had book a tour for the krakow salt mine which was to start around eleven so we got up to tour the city on our own before then (day seven).  We awoke to more rain which made taking pictures very difficult but didn't take away from the beauty of the old town.  There was an amazing market right in the center of town sheltered in an old building so we ventured through and found many great purchases, including something very special for my lovely Nana who gave me my roots in Poland.  Luckily our tour picked us upright at our hostel because the mine was out of town and it would have been very difficult to find on our own ( time saver). We learnt that the mine has not been active (excavating salt) since 1992 after an accident occurred allowing water into the mine on the fifth level which also led to worry that the town may be at risk of caving into the hole.  There are however still parts of the mine that they obviously still use as a tourist attraction and that is what we toured.  Although the mine had been. Made up of eight levels they are currently trying to fill the lowest levels with sand while the top three levels remain for tourists and a health spa.  We first descended 380 steps (a depth of 60 meters) into the first level of the mine, it was incredible! The walls and floors, everything, is made of salt but it resembled  polished marble! The second level was a depth of 90 meters under the earth, the crazy thing is that it also houses many lakes made from brine which is 30% salt so as not to cause harm to the mine by the absorption of water making the salt dissolve.  The third and final level we visited was 135 meters below the surface with huge high ceilinged roofs and cathedrals.  The tour was very informative and to make it even better our guide had a wonderful sense of humor, and kindly answered all our questions and boy did we ask plenty.    After the tour an educated mind deserves a belly full of traditional polish food, we indulged in soup, beef strogonauf, boiled potatoes, and cabbage rolls.  We said our final goodbyes to Poland and boarded our overnight train to Prague. The only thing more fun then sleeping in my dorm with my parents was being in a tiny train compartment with my parents for ten hours, luckily they are good sports about the whole thing.  Day eight we arrived in Prague at eight the next morning and have a whopping five hours to explore! What to do with all that time...  We  walked through old town to the Staromestska mostecka vez (a famous bridge). Then almost gave my dad a heart attack climbing the mountain to get to the look out point at the top which held more stairs for him to climb.  We then got to have a quick visit at the Prazsky hrad, their aw inspiring palace that makes modern yet authentic look easy.  We were running low on time so we bolted back through town to make it in time for our bus to Munich where we will then transfer to a train and continue on to the land of the Swiss.