Day 7 & 8: Germany, you win.

May 6th & 7th, 2012 ---

... I don't even feel like writing this right now. Aghh. But it's 6:45am on Day 8 and I haven't gone to sleep yet. I'm sitting on a train on my way back to Cologne after partying in Munster till the sun came up. Literally. No point in sleeping now, might as well write.........
......
...
..

Nope...... Cant do it. I change my mind. I may, to quite a surprise, be completely and 100% sober right now, but there's a major lack of function up there. I'll give it another shot later this afternoon.
ZzZzzz....

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Siiighhhh..... Okay.

Well, having already read an intro to what will come, I'll still start at the beginning.

Today was a rainy day and as rainy days usually go, they set the mood for a typically mellow day. Which it indeed was. (The day, I mean.)

We woke around 11:30, got ready and headed out with a few things to accomplish. Apropose, we go! I promised I would try on that dress and today, feeling well rested and so much better, was the day. So off we went to Apropose, with umbrellas in hand.

That morning I had straightened my hair all nice, but of course... As soon as I stepped outside, poof. Frizz. The downside of having naturally curly hair! Ugh! By the time we arrived at Apropose, even Janis was laughing at my #CurlyHairProblems.

I walked in and headed straight to the dress. Of course, being all high end and fancy, they only had one tiny size on the rack, so I found a sales associate close by who went to the back to grab my size and lead me to a fitting room. The dress was so beautiful. It was black satin on top, layers that pleated horizontally until it reached the natural waist where a black belt, encrusted with white crystals sat above the cream-colored satin skirt that had an overlay of puffed out tule. Though I felt a little wider in it, it was still so cute and classy! I did a little spin in the dressing room, opening the door to show the sales associate and Janis who wanted to see it on. After thoroughly enjoying wearing a dress worth €600, I closed the dressing room door, snapped a pic for memory purposes and then changed back to real life clothing. Twas fun!

We wandered around the store for a few more minutes... Where I found the show boutique. Dammit. I was done for. So many pretty shooooooeeeeessss!!!!! Jimmy Choo, Yves St. Laurent, Monolo and Loubtin! Sighhh.... It was shoe heaven. I found a gorgeous pair of Yves St. Laurent platform pumps in a dark beige with cognac-colored piping, heel and toe cap. Obsessed. Absolutely obsessed. With no sales associate in sight and realizing it was my size, I looked at Janis and then just went for it! I slipped it on real fast and then discovered that, as beautiful as it was, it was terribly uncomfortable. Thank goodness! My level of obsession lowered to just a high level of appreciation... So I found a way to part with the masterpiece and moved on... To where I found the latest collection from Christian Louboutin. Beige snakeskin pumps.... Classic black leather peep toe, all of which had the standard red Louboutin sole. I think I let out a small whimper when I saw the price stickers at €695 or higher. One day Louboutin... one day....

By that point, I had to leave my shoe love behind... I didn't want Janis to think I had a problem or anything... It's just a real appreciation of beautifully designed shoes and quality leather... That's all.. Sigh.. We were on our way to MAC so I could grab a few things I had forgotten. On our way, he showed me this little bakery. So adorable, it was painted a light, candy-colored pink and had bench-seating along the corridor wall and small tables adorned with lit tea lights. Walking through the doorway, I looked into the glass cases. I wasn't going to get anything, but after seeing the eclairs, I had to try one! I hadn't had an eclair in years! So I paid for a small one, sat at one of the small tables by the entry... And that's where I met a new friend! With wet, crimped, light blonde hair, beautiful structured face and dark brown eyes... I instantly fell in love. I never found out his name, but he was the most beautiful and affectionate golden retriever! Haha! And you all probably thought I meant a boy! Well, my puppy, Koda would've been jealous. I gave him an ear scratch and pet his wet fur with his head nuzzled against my leg. He was the cutest thing.. I wanted to take him home with me! But obviously when that wasn't an option, it made me miss my little fur ball back home in San Diego!

We headed onto MAC where I grabbed a few things then headed to a bar! Earlier that day, Janis had told me that the Cologne football (soccer) team would be playing a big match against Munich that would be the deciding factor on whether they would be in the first seed or not. Now I really have no idea what that means, nor am I sure I even explained that right, but I knew it was a big game and that the bars would be full of people watching! I wanted to join for the experience of watching a football game with Europeans who are known for their passion towards football! So off we went, dipping in and out of a few places looking for somewhere that wasn't super crowded.

After a few places, we settled at a place where we shared a long table with a few people and ordered some Kolsh beer, the main beer from Cologne (that's great, might I add.) I ordered a Hawaiian calzone as a late lunch and proceeded to watch the game.

Never have I ever been into soccer. I've watched it once or twice with an ex of mine that was from London and always enjoyed supporting his team, Tottenham. But I never really paid attention... I usually was doing homework or busy doing anything that didn't involve watching guys kick a ball around. But this time.... I was in the bar, beer I'm hand, not exactly yelling at the tv.. but let's just say I definitely got into it. And when Cologne lost.... It was soo sad. A few people...the opposition.. they cheered.. But everyone else was pretty quiet. You could definitely feel the disappointment in the air. None the less, it was an absolute blast just being around all the supporters of the local football team!

We went straight back to Janis' apartment following the game and quickly changed and head for the train station. We were on our way to Munster, a two hour train ride away, to party till the wee hours.... Pretty much till we could catch the first train heading back to Cologne at 6:34am.

We arrived at the Bahnhof, hopped on the train and enjoyed a nap mid-ride arriving in Munster around 8:45. When we got outside the train station, there were bicycles parked EVERYWHERE! I couldn't believe it! So many freakin bikes!!! Janis informed me that Munster is the biking city of Germany and everyone bikes here. No kidding! Geez!

Janis & I walked over to a nearby grocery store, picked up some alcohol and while we were in there I noticed a bottle with clear liquid and an apple on it! I grab it and run over to him, "Janis!!! Is this apple water??!" "Yes..." I think he was a bit puzzled why I was so stoked about finding apple water. "Its not carbonated right? Just plain apple water?" "Yes, why?" I explained to him that, Aaron, the guy from New Zealand that had introduced me to The Black Seeds, had told me about apple water once upon a time and I thought it was the neatest thing. He tried to bring me back some when he came back in March but because he couldn't bring it on the plane in his back, he never had a chance. He laughed when I told him how badly I wanted to try it and told me to just water down some apple juice because, surely, it would probably taste the same. Obviously I refused and have been waiting out for this apple water. So when I was in the grocery store i was stoked to find some!

From here, we headed over to Janis' friend Tim's apartment; a fantastically, modern and ikea decorated place. It was a cool spot! We had some drinks, listened to a bunch of amazing house music had a few laughs.... They mainly spoke German so i mainly just drank but they tried to include me the best they could. I didn't mind though, I'm in Germany, wasn't expecting everyone to speak English.

We went hopped in a cab around midnight to a place called Club Fusion. We were seeing a house dj named Oliver Koletzki. When we arrived, Janis' best friend, Jana had put us on the list, so we went straight in and dropped off our coats at coat check. Once inside, we grabbed some drinks and proceeded to hit the dance floor. About an hour(?) later, Jana and her boyfriend disappeared and Janis said he'd be right back having to go find a friend, leaving Tim and I on the dance floor. As the place began to get more and more crowded, personal space was pretty much gone. Everyone around us dancing and having a blast. About another hour had past and Tim gets a few texts from Janis saying he couldn't find us in the crowd and that they were now right beside the DJ on stage! Tim & I immediately went to find them and spent the rest of the night partying up there! It was so fun!

Club Fusion was a really cool spot, the only thing that really sucked - like most places in Germany, you're allowed to smoke in the venue. It was sooooo smokey! With all the secondhand smoke around me the whole night, by the time we left around 5, my eyes were burning and my lungs felt like I had smoked a carton. Breathing definitely felt like a chore. Though the music was amazing and i probably could've kept dancing for another few hours, I was relieved when it was time to go.

Janis and I took a short taxi ride to a small diner a block from the train station, where I had an amazing wrap called a Döner Rollo. Inside was salad, a thin sliced warm meat and tzatziki sauce. Sooooo good! I had drank two bottles of water, I think all the smokey air and dancing made me sooo thirsty, as I had stopped drinking sometime around 1am, and only had about a total of 5 or 6 drinks the whole night, mostly at Tim's. It was nice to be completely sober for the train ride back to Cologne at 630.

The train ride was the lonnnnngggeeeesssttttt train ride evvvvvveeeeerrrrrr!!!! About 20minutes into the ride back, exhaustion hit. Legs, lungs, body aching. Mental function gone. Cigarette smoke embedded into every thread of clothing I was wearing. Janis and I joked how destroyed we felt. Another wild night! Non stop dancing. I literally hadn't sat down till the cab to the diner. I danced the WHOLE night! #LikeAChamp.

Like you previously read, I attempted to blog, but i just couldn't put together an interesting sentence, nor did I want to. Stoked, was I, when we finally pulled into the Cologne Bahnhof. Janis and I got back to his apartment in record time. I immediately jumped into the shower... there was no way I would be able to sleep feeling as gross I was feeling. After a nice, long, warm shower... Feeling refreshed, I hit the pillow, emailing my parents to let them know I got in okay and checking my mail. I ended up laying in bed wide awake.

'Seriously?'

Partied all night till the sun rose, exhausted train catching for a grueling 2 hour train back to Cologne and now I can't sleep?!

Okay, Germany, you win. Now let me sleep.

I finally passed out around 10:30am waking up around 1:30.

... It is currently just after midnight, I'm still in my pajamas. Today was an epically lazy day with nothing but a little packing, writing, listening to music, face booking, picture uploading and eating some super bomb pasta Janis made.

Today was needed. Off to Lucerne, Switzerland tomorrow!
I'm staying in my very first hostel! Wish me luck!

Till next tomorrow,

Goodnight!

Alice & Olivia Dress at Apropose

Yves St. Laurent Heels

Munster: Bike Capital of Germany... no kidding!

Apple Water!

Soccer game at local bar in Cologne

At Club Fusion in the DJ booth!

So much rain!

Day 6: The city of love!

May 4th, 2012 ---This morning was rough. Having been setting my alarm every morning for 10:30, my internal alarm went off at 10:29. Awesome. I managed to toss and turn and fall back asleep till about noon, but the hangover that proceeded to take over my life for the day was not so welcome, but expected with the type of night we had had.

We slowly got ready, Janis making me some epic eggs for breakfast, and then decided to head out around 2 and spend the day wandering through Cologne.

The streets of Cologne are adorable. Though a large amount of the buildings are covered in graffiti, there are little shops and cafes everywhere, typical of most places in Europe.

We walked to the Starbucks around the corner for a tea and then kept on our journey. We were headed to the Dom. On our way, Janis showed me one of his favorite stores, a concept store called Apropos.

Apropos is a large high end store. When you first walk in, you walk through a long corridor, painted in a bright magenta pink. You walk up a few small steps and find yourself in a large naturally lit courtyard with a bar/cafe to your left, all with white tables, chairs and bar stools, complete with a large shiny disco ball. To your right, a store within - the handbag boutique. Walking through the courtyard, you end up in the main area of the store. Rows of racks with only a few pieces of clothing hung them. One, specifically with a gorgeous satin & tule dress on it.

I walked up and admired it, promising to come back and try it on when i was feeling a bit less like I had just been hit by a vodka bus. So we left the store and continued on to the Dom.

The Dom is an exquisite cathedral in central Cologne, right outside of the Bahnhof (now if I could just get the pronunciation down, eh Janis?! Haha!) (for all others: the train station). It is made of sand stone and covered in black filth from years and years of pollution in the air. However, there are some parts of the exterior that are very clean and white from the ongoing restoration. Being one of the 6 million people that visit the Dom every year, as Janis just told me, we headed inside to take a peak around. The doors were tall and slender, with large lion knockers. Once inside, I was blown away with how high the ceilings went! The main sanctuary room had tall columns lining either side connecting the arched ceiling. High up on the left side over hang an enormous silver organ. The one thing I was surprised about, unlike ,at of the churches Ive been in through out the years, this one didn't have as much color as the rest. It was very dark and muted, very quiet.

While in the church, Janis explained that normally we would be able to walk around the whole cathedral but unfortunately while we were there, there was a small service going on and we would be restricted to the lobby area and up to where the pews began. So we spent a few minutes inside, saw as much as we could and then headed out, walking around past the Dom and towards the Hohenzollernbruecke Bridge that crosses one of the busiest waterways in Germany, the Rhine.

When we began to make our way across the bridge, it was hard to miss all the padlocks hanging from the fence that separates the walk way from the train tracks. I asked Janis what this was all about because it reminded me of Pont des Art in Paris (that I hadnt had a chance to see). He explained that lovers come from all over the world to hang a "love lock" on the bridge to profess their undying love for each other and then they throw the key into the Rhine below. He also explained that when making the bridge they had to take in account the weight of all the locks, in terms of the architecture, because there are thousands of them going all the way across the bridge.

As we strolled along, it was absolutely beautiful to see all the locks. Different sizes, colors, types of locks. Some were engraved, some written on with sharpie, some with ribbons or flowers... It was so touching! Some of the locks had multiple locks attached for families...the first having an engraving of a wedding date, then newer ones attached each time a child was born. Another ones saw and fell in love with, was a lock that I'm sure was placed by couple that lived near by. It had their names on it "KD und Seph" and a date of "9 Aug 2003," attached to this lock were 10 or more other locks engraved with the names of cities. I can only assume that whenever they went somewhere in the world they came back and put another new lock on the bridge alongside their own. There was Berlin, Tahiti, East Coast, West Coast, Australia. It was definitely the neatest one to me.

We carried on across the bridge, seeing a few couples attaching locks, until we passed 3 teenagers. I don't think they were much older than 15 or 16. One girl was standing with her iPhone taking a picture of the other two that were standing beside the wall of padlocks. What made seeing this special, was that the other two, a girl holding a rose standing with her boyfriend. They were holding hands, smiles on there faces and posing for the picture. It was absolutely adorable. It began a conversation between Janis and I about how simple and exciting teenage love is. It's like, you don't ever have to think about distances, money, life responsibilities, anything that seems to complicate or get in the way of something really great when you're an adult. At that age, all it takes is a boy or girl holding your hand to make you feel on top of the world. I know some of those feelings, like the butterflies and excitement when someone special calls, never gets old... But I'm sure everyone can relate and understand what I mean in some way!

When we finally got to the other side of the bridge, some 15 minutes or so later, having been sauntering pretty slowly in our sorry hungover states, we decided to head over to the Triangle Tower.

The Triangle Tower is actually a tall round building with an observation deck in which you can see all of Cologne. Arriving at the top, and sitting along the glass walls were several watercolor artists painting the Dom, bridge and horizon. Definitely tugged at a few heart strings having not painted in years and recalled the last time I was in Florence where I bought a sketch pad and few pencils and drew here and there along my trip. Janis had never been atop the Triangle Tower before, so we both took some pictures then he pointed out places throughout Cologne, like the Stadium, his school, a "beach" bar along the Rhine and a few other cool places. As we walked around the observation deck, I heard this man by us explain that Cologne reminded him of Toronto. Of course my ears perked up when I heard Toronto and I asked them if they were from there. They explained they were from Montreal and then made a few hockey jokes, complete with an "eh" here and there. I love my country. Fellow Canadians make me laugh. It took the last few years living in San Diego to realize but I've found that we fit the stereotypes to a tee, and frankly... I think it's hilarious.

We headed back down the tower and decided at this point we were absolutely starving. Janis had told me earlier that there was a really great Schnitzel place by his house, called Oma Klienmann, that is incredible. So off we went to get some schnitzel!

On our way, I kept seeing these trees decorated with steamers and ribbons and hearts. They weren't actually in the ground, they were just tied to lamp posts, leaning against walls beside doors... in very random places! Janis explained to me, that when someone is in love and wants to express their love, they decorate a birch tree, usually put a heart with the persons name on it and the get it as close as possible to the persons doorway or window as they can! Hooooow adorable is that?! This city is so full of love! Pshhhh! Paris has nothing on Cologne, with their birch trees and love locks! Anything else Cologne?! So cute! I wish North America had such beautiful traditions, like these, to express love! And don't even get me started on Valentines Day, that doesn't even count!!!

Anyways, when we got to Oma Klienmann, we managed to be able to sitar a table with a time limit of an hour and a half. The table, among almost all the others, had reservations set for them! Busy place! We got the menus, of course the whole thing in German and complete gibberish to me. Janis started going down the list of what everything was until I stopped him and said, just order me whatever you think I'll enjoy with a side salad! No sense in having an entire menu read to me! Haha

So, he ordered my meal which arrived shortly after and it was the biggest piece of schnitzel I have ever seen!!! It took over the entire plate, slightly hanging off one side. It was incredible! I decided to take on the challenge and I almost finished the whole thing, but the last several bites were torture. Absolutely painful. I had made it soooo close to the end but I just.couldnt.do.it. (Especially with the hangover stomach ache I already had.) haha

We finished up, paid the bill then headed back to his apartment where I ended up sitting and writing while he took a nap. We were supposed to go out again, but after about an hour or two of relaxing, neither of us wanted to. Perfectly content, we opted to stay in and mentally prepare for the adventures we had planned for the following night!

A great, mellow and enjoyable night with much needed sleep and recovery time!

Day 5: Do as the Germans.

May 3rd, 2012 ---

10:30- I woke to my fantastic alarm, that I love so much. Again, laid around like a bump on a log for a while. Then began packing.

This mornings predicament: carrying suitcase down 6 floors without falling, dying or other on said mission.

Having realized that my suitcase was actually much lighter without my toiletries, I opted to take them out for the trip down the stairs. I zipped everything up, rolled the bag down the hallway and then stopped at the top of the first step and just looked down at the circular stairs ahead of me.

Back in San Diego, I'm a member of 24hr Fitness. I go almost every day, sometimes twice a day, and for the last little while I've been trying to do more weight lifting and such to gain a little arm muscle.. which I've always really lacked! Yes, in such a weakling. Haha So thank goodness I've been hitting the gym because I had to turn that suitcase on its side, pick it up and with it under my left arm, my right hand bracing the underside, I headed down the six floors - stopping just once around the 3rd floor to get a better grip!

By the time I made it to the bottom, I was so proud! It definitely wasn't as bad as I had thought! I slipped my suitcase to the side of the stairs in more of discreet area and then headed all the way back up to grab my purse, bag of toiletries and small bag with my book, headphones and other small things for the train ride.

When I reached my suitcase, I quickly unzipped it, three my toiletries in and got on my way. Threw the little court yard, small corridor, large entry way and out the door to the street. As I stood street side for a moment, I pondered whether I should take the metro or catch a cab.

With it being a beautiful day and the cabs being unusually cheap in comparison to North America, I decided it would be nice to catch a cab to see Paris one last time on my way to Gare de Nord.

I grabbed the first passing taxi on the corner of Ave Bosquet and Rue de Saint Dominique, the nearest cross streets of the apartment. We drove over the Siene, through the bustling streets of Paris. If you hadn't heard, drivers in Paris are crazy! There are no lanes, every one drives where ever they please, every one cuts every one else off and then you have mopeds zipping weaving around all over the place.
I could never drive here.

We arrive at the Gare de Nord and as the taxi driver pulls off to the side, a police officer immediately walks over and begins to write him a ticket. Why, I'm still unsure but I guess it just wasn't the place to stop. Needless to say he was pissed and said something in French to the officer and the officer signaled him to go. We move a little bit further down the road, the driver I believe was still in the wrong spot because he was checking his mirrors and constantly looking around to see if the officer had spotted us again. So I quickly paid my fare, grabbed my bag and headed inside for a quick lunch.

My first cheeseburger and fries in quite a while. It was great! I sat at the first floor restaurant, Cowans(?) or something like that... read my magazine, ate lunch and then after paying the bill I looked at my train ticket.
The whole thing is in French. Awesome. .. Of course not surprised. But what car am I going to and what seat am I in?
I head to the ticket booth and the woman, kind of rudely, shows me where on the ticket it has the information I'm looking for. I walk over to the main waiting area and wait, staring up at the departures board eager to find out which platform I have to head to.

By this time the train is going to be leaving in 25mins... Seriously, still nothing? .... Leaving in 20 mins..... The French really know how to leave things to the last minute. ....15mins, the train is scheduled to leave in fiiiiffffteeeenn minutes! What the hell?!
Suddenly the departures board begins to whir as the entire board changes and my train is fourth from the top with the platform number for the Thalys train being number 10. I was lucky to have been standing right beside it.

I was in car number 7. So thinking it would be at the furthest end of the platform I booked it down there. When I realized I couldn't tell where the numbers were located and I was approaching the end, of what ended up being a smaller train then I thought, I asked one of the men checking tickets where car 7 was.
"Down that way." He points to where I just came from.
Great. I thank him and head back the other direction.
When I get to the door, I pick up my suitcase, store it in the luggage area and find my seat a few rows up on the aisle.

The train ride was enjoyable. I listened to my music, read my magazine. When I arrived in Brussels, where I was transferring to Cologne, I hopped off the train and found myself walking behind some guy about my age with a skateboard strapped to his backpack. On the skateboard, a half maple leaf with the word "EH?!" drawn in silver sharpie. At first glance, I didn't think anything of it.
Whoa, wait a minute... !
"Hey! Are you from Canada?!"
"Ya, I am"
"That's awesome! I am too! I noticed your skateboard.."

We ended up chatting on our way inside the terminal. Turns out he was from Edmonton, backpacking for the month and headed to Amsterdam. He was a nice guy, seemed younger than I but we shared our stories then headed to catch our trains.

I waited an hour before boarding my next train to Cologne. Aboard the train, I was lucky to have the whole row to myself, so I parked it by the window, leaned against the window and the back of my seat, with my feet up on the chair next to me and took a nap. When I woke, I freshened up in the bathroom, and before I knew it I was in Cologne!

I jumped off the train, headed down the stairs where I was met by Janis with beers in hand! Stoked!

Last July, my old roommate Sydney unfortunately had to move back to Arizona and do we had to hunt for a replacement. After several interviews, we fell in love with a girl that stopped by named Natalie. She was bubbly, outgoing, and soooo excited about our house. It was the first person that really showed so much excitement about our house, which we thought was fantastic because we really love our house too!
There was only one catch, her boyfriend would be coming to live with us for 3 months at the end of September.
We debated because we weren't sure if we wanted a guy living with us that we had never met. What if we don't get along with him?

After a few discussions, we decided 'what the hell? Why not! It's only for a few months!' And Natalie moved in a few days later.

September rolls around and in flys Janis from Germany!

With Natalie beginning to work more and myself being home a lot, Janis and I developed a really nice friendship. We would chill and watch tv together while I worked on homework and he was on his computer; he would give me advice on guy problems, life problems, whatever. And we would all party together too! It was a lot of fun!

Janis headed back to Germany in December, and sadly Nat & him ended their relationship a month later. When I booked my trip to Europe, I asked Natalie if she would be okay with me visiting him while I'm in Germany. She, of course, had no problem with it at all since we had all been friends just a few months prior. So I hit up Janis on Facebook and we planned for me to arrive in Cologne this first week, stay with him and he would show me all around Cologne!

It was fantastic and quite relieving to know I'd be seeing a familiar face on my journeys! So when I arrived, we hopped in a cab, got back to his apartment and that's when the drinking commenced!

We decided to go to the Black Seeds show. I had told Janis about the opportunity earlier, an after checking them out, he was stoked to go see them. So we filled up a water bottle with Redbull and vodka, cracked a beer and headed out down the street! In Germany you're allowed to drink on the streets! (I love this city already!)
We grabbed a cab, who told it was cool to have our drinks in their and headed to the venue called the Underground.

The Underground is not really underground. You walk through an arched entry way into a courtyard, the trees strung with lights and tables with benches scattered in the area. We head to the open door of the venue, you can hear the band playing in the background and head up to the bouncer. I tell him I'm on the list, to which he checks then stamps the insides of our wrists.

We head in, grab drinks then push our way to the front of the stage and dancer the night away!

After the show and 2 encores later we head outside where Barnaby & Ned come out and meet us for a drink. We end up sitting outside for a about an hour chatting with them and another friendly group of fans, smoke a few cigarettes and pass around a joint (Ahh! Yeah! I know! To my family reading this: when in Germany, do as the Germans? Haha! Definitely won't be made a habit, might I add..)

After many, many drinks and laughs, a change of scenery was needed for all. Barnaby & Ned tell us they have to head over to the hotel to drop off their stuff then they wanted to meet up with us somewhere else. Janis suggests a place called Club Subway that was in relative walking distance to his apartment. So the band heads to the hotel and the group of us hop in two taxis and head to the club.

When we arrive, Janis & I are starving and decide to head to the McDonalds near by. We get there, order our food and then shortly after are met by a few of the people we were with. Mind you it's 2:30 in the morning, we've been drinking since I arrived at 8:30... Needless to say, we were both a little tipsy... I never thought I would say this, but McDonalds was bloody fantastic at that moment.

With food in our stomachs and having sobered up a bit, we headed back to Club Subway! When we arrived, we walk down the stairs (a basement club) and suddenly appears Barnaby bouncing happily around the dance floor and seemingly stoked on life! Haha

We all drink and dance and party till about 5am when we decide it was time we headed out. The group we were with had all left by then, except for Barnaby & Ned, whom we said our goodbyes to then drunkenly stumbled back to Janis' apartment and passed out around 5:30am.

What a night!

Gare de Nord Train Station in Paris

Janis & I at the Underground for the Black Seeds

Ned Ngatae of The Black Seeds

Barnaby Weir of The Black Seeds

Day 4: Success!

May 2nd, 2012 ---

Well this morning I had a bit of a late start. After having a bit of a late night, not getting in until around 11 then talking with friends and finishing up my blog posts, by morning I was exhausted. My alarm went off around 10:30 this morning and I was ready to huck it across the room. I may be on vacation, yea, but I had things to accomplish today! No sleeping into the afternoon!

I slowly got up and ready for the day... And by slowly I mean laid around for a little bit, checked Facebook, emails, texts, etc, then finally showered, dressed and was out the door by around noon.

Montmartre was on my mind. But first, to Gare de Nord to get my train tickets! I booked Paris to Cologne for tomorrow (with a transfer in Brussels) and then Cologne to Lucerne for Monday.

Following this, I headed straight for the Sacre Coeur!

By the time I arrived, it had begun to rain.. again.. So I whipped out my fantastic little raincoat and began to conquer the stairs up to the beautiful Sacre Coeur.

If you don't know anything about the Sacre Coeur, it's an incredible church, perched atop Montmartre and over looks all of Paris. So, when I got to the top and looked out the view was pretty great!

I went inside, dipped my fingers in the holy water and enjoyed all that my Catholic upbringing had to offer. I browsed around and then found myself sitting in one of the pews just gazing up at the alter and magnificently tiled ceiling, colourful and shimmering gold. I sat there for awhile, debating if I should say a prayer.. Or do anything that connecting me to the religion I was raised on but in all honesty I just sat. I was in such awe of the church itself, the fact that I was in Paris and the idea that I had become so unconnected with religion and frankly, feeling awkward about a prayer attempt. So, I sat. I observed. I thought. I enjoyed. And then I took a picture or two and went on my way.

On my way, I noticed a sign leading into a basement entitled "Dome & Crypt" then a larger arrow. My curiosity led to go find out what it was all about.
In a deserted tourist area, I found myself face-to-face with a woman in a ticket booth asking me to pay a few euros to see what the crypt and dome were all about.
After getting my ticket I ended up in a tiny, tiny circular staircase that I swear went on foreverrrr! (300 steps to be exact.) It was cramped, literally could only fit one person up at a time and had few windows. About half way up, not only was I out of breath but with no sign of life, I was also getting quite nervous.
If you know me well, you know I have quite the imagination and don't do well with scary movies, haunted houses or the like. So my nervousness slowly turned into utter fear. Why was were there NO people at a what is supposed to be a tourist attraction?
I decided it was now or never to face my fears -- I mean, I had already made it, what seemed, to be half way to the top!

Finally, I see natural light! Horray!

Suddenly, I'm on a roof, complete with stone gargoyle to my left. What the..?! Okay... I guess I'll just follow the tinnnnyyyy, what im assuming is a walk way in front of me. This is the point where I ask myself if Im even supposed to be here... Did I take a wrong turn? Did I miss a door? Anything...?! I couldn't have. Theres no way. It was just a staircase...

I walk a little further and as I turn the corner of another dome with a small gated opening I here the flutter of a bunch of pigeons. Scared me half to death! It was like watch tower-type deal. Oh, hunchback? Where are you??

I keep walking and suddenly see someone taking pictures! YES!!!! Another human being/ tourist!!! Fear disappears almost immediately.

I head up the few steps to the doorway he's standing at, which of course leads to *another* staircase. But at the top of this one, I walk through and I'm on top of the world!
...Okay well Paris, at least! I was literally at the top of the Dome with only but a handful of others. I could see in every single direction! All that fear and all those damn stairs definitely paid off. I could see the Eiffel Tower, church steeples, Gare de Nord, and downtown Paris, miles away. It was quite a sight to be seen!

After enjoying a solid 20mins, atop the Sacre Coeur, I headed back down the stairs, pathways, more stairs to the basement.. Also known as the Crypt. It was dark, quiet, smelling of age and there was an eerie feeling in the air. In the crypt, there were small alters, swords, lit candles and statues of all sorts - everything from Jesus, various saints, catholic figures and even one that particularly stuck me was headless but holding its head in its own hands.

I didn't spend too long in the crypt... was in need of some fresh air and somewhere that felt a bit less death-like. And this is when I found Rue Foyatier!

Rue Foyatier is the "street" with all the stairs and tram-like car that goes up to the Sacre Coeur. It's also the street that I walked up last time I had come to the Sacre Coeur. Standing at the very top, I stood and looked down with a grin on my face admiring all those stairs... Why? Because this time I came prepared with a slinky in my purse! Hahaha!

I must've looked so absurd with the large smile I had, bouncing down the steps looking for the perfect spot to send off my classic metal slinky - but I didn't care! This is my trip and my bucket list I'm checking off! And the French have seemed to be a bit stuffy for my liking anyways!

I get about a quarter of the way down, squat and whip out the slinky! It didn't take long to realize that the stair-to-slinky size ratio was going to make this impossible. Dammit!! If only I had brought a bigger slinky!

Still, I let the slinky slink one large step and smiled and laughed with full content that I still did what I had come to do!

I carried on bouncing happily down the rest of the stairs, slinky in hand and then when arriving at the bottom I realized it was still fairly early and could go explore a lot more. Since I was only a few stops from the Moulin Rouge, I set out to check it out.

Well, I got off the metro, which happened to be literally across the street, looked at it for a minute, snapped a couple photos, got bored and got back on the subway. Haha! At night it's a little more glamorous but during the day, it's really quite dull looking and the neighborhood is... well, quite lewd. Sex shops, strip joints, erotic museums, "head through the velvet for a good time" kind of area.

So with a few hours to kill before I had to head back to the apartment to get ready for my evening plans, I decided to make a third attempt at seeing the Louvre.

This time when I got there, not only was it open, there was only a line of about three people! Wahoo! I went through the entrance of the pyramid, through the standard security bag scan, down the escalator and grabbed a ticket and the museum map. I was on a hunt for the Mona Lisa!

It was pretty crowded in the museum, which made it pretty warm and humid. Within about 10mins I was using that great brochure-sized map as a make-shift fan.

On my way through the museum, I turned a corner (following directional signs to the Mona Lisa) and found myself in a large corridor, one set of stairs away from the statue "Winged Victory" - a very famous statue.

I remember years ago seeing this statue in art class and then again when I came to the Louvre on that school trip but every time I see it, it's pretty glorious. The way the "fabric" looks like its draped is amazing. Of course, I, like the many other people around, snapped several photos before continuing on my adventure to find the Mona Lisa.

When arriving in the room where the painting hung, there were hoards of people all pushing and shoving to get a picture of her - the Mona Lisa. The one thing I noticed is that there weren't many people that were actually looking at it, like reeeeaaallly looking at it. Everyone was taking pictures and then looking at their cameras. What's the point? .. I mean common, go google it if you're just going to look at the picture rather than admire the real thing. And in that case, get out of my way!

It takes me a few minutes to push my way through, having people completely ignore any sort of personal space I may have had, but when I get about 2 rows of people from the front I stop and just check it out. Sitting behind a pane of glass and guarded by security, its so much smaller than everyone believes and I had believed. So I admire it a little longer then go wander around the museum.

When I finally decide that the crowds were becoming less enjoyable and I'm ready to head back after an hour or so, trying to find the exit was a mission in itself.

While trying to find a door that led to the outside world, I managed to stumble upon the Venus de Milo statue which was pretty neat. And then I found myself in a room of Venus' & statues of other women.

I slowed my pace a bit and stood and stared at this one statue for about 3 or 4 minutes. It was another "Venus"-entitled statue, one holding a child's hand. But the one thing I noticed, and began to notice more about all the other statues as well, was how natural they all looked. Which got me thinking about how the perception of beauty has changed so drastically from then to now. It really gave the statues a whole new meaning for me. It was nice! :)

Shortly after I finally found the exit, with almost having a run in the security attempting to go through the wrong door.. I made my way back to the apartment.

After walking all day, my feet were killing me and I was exhausted... About 10x more exhausted walking back up those 6 flights of stairs too!
I really believed I would be prepared having been using the gym Stair Master like a boss before this trip.... Guess not! Haha

It's around 6pm and I'm heading to a concert around 830. So I sit and relax for about a half hour, catch my breath.. Change and head to the restaurant on the corner for a drink, supper, creme brûlée then hop on the metro.

Back in January, I started hanging out with this really great guy from New Zealand and he introduced me to the band, The Black Seeds. After falling in love with the band, he had told me they were going to be in San Diego on April 6th and that he wanted to take me to see them! Well plans were changed a bit when he had to fly out to Fort Lauderdale for a job but I still went to the show.

At the show, my friends & I all drank in excess and being the friendly, social butterfly I am - I made friends with several of the band members! After talking with them, we realized that we were going to be in Paris at the exact same time! They encourage me to come to the show, we exchanged information and then went our separate ways!

Well here I am, in Paris, the day of the show and ready to go enjoy some good music! Turns out one of the band members recalled I was here and hit me up with a text asking if I was still coming to the show! (Cool!) And hell yeah! Of course I was! I already got a ticket!

I had googled the name of the place, mapped out which subways I had to take and headed proceeded to head that way. Once I arrive, I realize I'm walking in circles around the same few blocks looking for the bar.
Okay seriously.. Where is this place?
I whip out my phone, look at Google Maps.. One block up.. Alright perfect.
... No bar, venue, sign or anything that could remotely be a place where a band would be playing.
Look at google one more time.. It says I'm at it.
Seriously, wtf? I look up at the very cute handbag boutique I'm standing infront of, "La Maroquinerie".
Gahhh! Dammit!!!!
If you didn't catch on, that would be the same name as the place I'm going. Excellent.
I look at google once more, this time I zoom out. Oh, look at that... Another little red pin on the map across town. Peeeerrrfect.

One long metro ride, with one switch, later and it turns out I'm in what looks to be the ghetto of Paris. Awesome.
But wait it gets better...
I decided it would be nice to wear my new wedges I got last month (that I looove) to this little shindig. Was no problem until I realized I had to walk about a mile... Against the wind... in the rain... Uphill. By the time I get to the place, I'm relieved, wet, pooped and my hair has never looked better, #absolutefrizz, #curlyhairproblems.

The band is already playing, so I quickly grab a Jack & coke and make my way downstairs to the basement-located stage. After dancing and downing my drink, I pushed my way closer to the stage. I got about 2 people away from the stage and decided that was the spot for me. It was an absolute blast and ended up getting mouthed a "heyy!" from Ned Ngate, the bassist that recognized me and a smile from the lead singer, Barnaby Weir who ended up coming up to me after the show asking if we had met prior because he, too, recognized me.

Ned caught me just as I was leaving and thanked me for coming out and supporting them again, then invited me to stay and hangout at the bar with them on the street level of the venue.

Hesitant at first because I had quite a journey to get back to the other side of town, I ended up staying for a drink. I chatted some more with Ned, Barnaby, the trumpet player of the band, Johnny and some other people that had been at the show. It was a lot of fun and once again, nice to hangout with people that spoke the same language!

I decided to head out around 1230, and having been talking with them about their tour and my adventures, we both realized (again) that'd we'd both be in Cologne tomorrow! Hahaha! Crazy! They told me I had to come out, see the show and hangout with them again! My train arrives in Cologne at 815 and they go on around 9, 9:30ish... So I said I would try and that I would have to check if my friend that I'm staying with would want to go.

As I said my goodbyes, Barnaby again encouraged me to come tomorrow and said that he would even put my name on the guest list so we wouldn't have to buy another ticket! Score!! So nice of him!

I got on my way and headed to the metro and stood looking at the map for a second figuring out if I had to go left or right to get on the one I needed to go one. A man standing beside me said something to me in French.
Me: "uhh.." He says it again. "I sorry, I speak English!" He chuckles, holding his suitcase and says with a shrug, "it's closed!"
"what?!"
"closed!" - He points to the screen above. Last run at 12:47. I look at my phone. It's 12:48.
Whhhhhaaaaat?!!!!!! NO! No, no, no, no! Shit!!!! I had no idea it stopped running, the thought never even occurred to me! Ughh!!

I end up taking the last subway to a different station where I could get a connection that would take me close enough to my apartment. I prayed that the connecting subway would still be running by the time I got there.

Of course, as a good story would have it, by the time I had got there it stopped running too.

Miles and miles away from my apartment, I get up to street level with nothing going through my head but curse words. How much would a cab back be? Could I find a cab? Are they gunna rip me off by taking a really long route? Which way am I even going?
I start walking.
Suddenly a cab appears! I run for it!

If you're a girl and a fan of Sex and the City, you may recall an episode where shes late on the morning she has to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange... She dashes out the door, screaming "Taxi!" as loud as she can and the taxi comes to a screeching halt.
That was me.

I open the door, gasping "do you take card?" The driver looks at me puzzled.
Crap. Does he not speak any English either?
"Visa. Do you take visa?" I ask, while attempting to make a rectangle with my fingers.
"Ah! Visa! Oui! .. Uhh.. Minimum £15"
"ummm.. Ya, sure. Okay, whatever!"
I hop in and we start driving.

I have a new appreciation for Paris after that ride.

We drove through the cobblestoned neighborhoods, down Quai de Montebello, passed the Norte Dam and other famous sites, all places I've visited over the past week. And while sitting in the back of the cab, all I could do was admire Paris.

Paris is a completely different place in the dark. It lacks all the hustle-and-bustle, the tourists and tour buses.. the traffic and the noise. It's calm, quiet and serene. It seems as if there is no one around and that's when you can really see the beauty of Paris.

By this time the rain and clouds had passed and the wind had calmed down. All the tree-lined streets were lit with decorative Parisian street lamps, and the Seine was relatively calm, looking very much like wet pavement. The Notre Dame was completely dark except for one single light on the very top left corner. The Eiffel Tower had turned off its lights as well. It was like Paris had gone to sleep.

I arrived at the apartment sometime around 1:30. I took a shower and now off to bed.

Today was a success and another fun adventure.

Tomorrow?

Cologne, Germany!

Cheers!

Sacre Coeur

In the Dome, the Eiffel Tour in sight!

Creepy Statue in the Crypt of the Sacre Coeur

Slinky time!

Moulin Rouge (obviously)

Winged Victory at the Louvre

The Black Seeds at La Monquinerie!

Day 3: When all else fails...

May 1st, 2012 ---

After feeling like I missed half the day yesterday, by waking up so late. I was determined to make sure I was up-and-at'em early today! Set my alarm, woke up, got ready and headed out the door.

On my way to the metro, I walked by Rue de Granelle - a market was going on. So I took a gander, grabbed myself a water and a small bag of grapes and kept on my way.

As I hoped down the stairs to of the metro to the self-service machines to buy myself a ticket, I met my first language barrier. What the heck is this mumbo-jumbo?! Son-of-a...!
Alright, alright.. Recall grades 1-9 French... Click here, click there... Accept?... Sure, why not... £1.70. Cool.. Think I got the hang of this. Ticket prints, and I'm off!
Take 2, on my mission to the Louvre!

After a few subway transfers, I make it.

I follow a herd of people and my google maps in the direction of the giant glass pyramid... As I walk through a beautiful and large corridor, I spot the pyramid! Stoked!

As I trot around the enormous courtyard, take some pictures, I head to the entrance....That's funny... Why is there no line up?

A sign:
"Le musée du Louvre est fermé Le mardi."

You have GOT to be kidding me. ... For you English folk, the louvre is closed.

Well hmm.. Alright. Next idea?

I get back on the metro, take it to the Notre Dame.
The one thing I forgot to anticipate about coming during the beautiful month of May were the lines. Tourists everywhere! The line to go in the Notre Dame was probably about a solid 45mins long. Thankfully, on that good old' school trip back in the day, I had been in it before. I cruised around the area taking more pictures, when I seethes girl with bleach, bleach blonde hair... Had to have been from California, especially with the fake boobs she was sporting. Haha... Turns out I was bang on. It was Holly Madison, Hugh Hefners ex-girlfriend of many years from the Playboy mansion. Solid celebrity-spotting on my part.

I carried on, walked along Quai de Montebello and ended up finding one of the original editions, 2451/2663 of Le Petit Prince... But was soon devastated to find out that the woman wouldn't sell it to me without buying all other 6 volumes in the collection for £550. Rats!

So on my way I went, again. When I was a lot younger... Maybe 5 or 6? My dad came to Paris for a few months to teach baseball. He told me that him and his friends always used to hang out along St.Michel, which happened to be a few blocks from where I was.

As I headed that way, I ended up discovering a fantastic bookstore, which later found out was quite famous, called Shakespeare & Co. Its a two-story bookstore, with old signs above door frames, "Old Smokey Reading Room" and "Blue Oyster Tea Room", with rickety wooden ladders to high up, stocked shelves. It featured old typewriters and organ upstairs. There were little nooks with benches to sit and read all the notes left by visitors over the years that hung on the wall. The place had so much character and history it was almost overwhelming - so much to look at! After spending about a half hour or so exploring the bookstore, I felt a bit hungry... Stomach growling.. I headed to back to the street of Saint Michel and found myself a restaurant with a good looking menu and decently priced too.

Le Cloud de Paris, it was called. I ordered myself a Croque Monsieur sandwich (ham & cheese) and a creme brûlée! At the end of my lunch a couple sat next to me that spoke English. I was so excited to hear people speak English that I said hello and had a chat. It was nice, but I was brought the check, paid up, and headed to the washroom before figuring out where to go next.

Not to get so descriptive, but while I was in washroom someone tried to open the door... Thank goodness i locked it or their would've been one of those awkward moments, but when I came out the woman apologized and I told her it was alright and started to wash my hands. This is when she did the same thing I had done just shortly before, "you speak English! Hunny! Where are you from?!" I told her I was from San Diego and, what-a-freakin coincidence, so was she! From La Jolla, not just a few minutes down the road!

We chatted a for a few minutes, told her about my adventures and she told me I had to come meet her family at their table! Well long story short, they turned out to be an absolute riot!

I sat with them for about an hour, had a glass of wine or two and cracked up while chatting with them. It was fantastic! It turned out that the woman I met, her family owns Mr.A's downtown San Diego, a favorite of my parents, and her son was an editor of Celebrity Apprentice & The Amazing Race, which I'm dying to do to some day when I'm am American citizen! (haha) it was a fantastic afternoon, and so nice to sit and socialize with people that spoke English, were funny, annnnnnd from the same city!

After exchanging information, we parted ways and I headed back to my apartment. When I got back I decided to change into a good ol' tshirt and headed out to climb the stairs of the Eiffel Tower.

Ya, you heard me. Climb the stairs all the way up.

Well when I got to the Eiffel tower... Not only was there a line that wrapped around for days and days... There was also an enormous line just to go up the stairs! Who knew that so many people Had the same idea I did.
Once again, plan failed.

The sun was setting, and I didn't want to be out when it was really dark just as a precaution while traveling alone in Europe, so I opted for a chocolate banana crepe and a walk over to the cafe across from my apartment for a glass of champagne. Not bad, if you ask me!

Tomorrow I'm headed to the train station to pick up my next ticket to Cologne and then to Montmartre and then the Black Seeds concert tomorrow night!
Should be a nice day! :)

The Louvre!

Closed on Tuesday

Notre Dame

Shakespeare & Co.

Rosalie, from La Jolla! 

La Tour Eiffel!

Day 2: Right Up the Champs Élysées!

April 30th, 2012 ---

...apparently the combination of wine and a long day of traveling was a sure knock out! Having woke up around 1, I was eager to get up and conquer the day!After getting ready and dressed for what, the forecast told me, would be a cool and possibly rainy day, it turned out to be warm and humid as all hell! Aghh! There was no way I was walking back up those 6 flights of stairs just to put my sweater away.

My goal for today was to hit the Champs Élysées and the Louvre!

I had completely forgotten that at the end of the Champs Élysées was the Arc de Triomphe! As soon as I spotted it- to the Arc, I went! Of course, I stopped along the way, enjoying the shops... Zara, love... And a few others.. As well as finding the little sandwich shop I had enjoyed on my last trip to Paris back in high school.

The Arc was beautiful! I had seen it once before, but really, it never gets old. There was what seemed to be some military remembrance ceremony going on. I had a chance to be an onlooker of for a while before heading back down the otherwise of the street, passing by the most incredible and large Louis Vuitton store I've ever seen! It was enormous! Huge windows lined the street, with carousel horses, gold walls and LV printed bags. Of course, there was a lineup around the corner just to go in, so my casual designer boutique browsing would have to be put off for another time!

I continued on my way back to "my neighborhood". Just as I was getting close, I was caught in some rain... Finally had the chance to whip out that sweater and my brand new , lace-printed, Free People scalloped-hood rain coat and go find a place to have supper till the rained slowed. I landed on Rue de Granelle at a cute little restaurant that I'm failing to remember the name of but had a fantastic beef carpaccio and some mozzarella/tomato dish. At the tables, they also brought bread, balsamic & oil but the neat thing was that the oil & vinegar were in spray bottles! Such a cool idea! Will definitely give that a whirl when I get home! :)

After supper I decided to head home and call it a day.

Glass of wine now in hand, chatting with friends about my day via facebook and thinking osbout tomorrow's plan of attack!

Cheers!

Day 1.5: Paris in a nutshell

April 29th, 2012 ---

After sitting in my apartment and letting it all sink in, I decided to go for a stroll around the neighborhood.My apartment is at 16 Ave Bosquet. Google it. It's a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower, just across the river from Champs Élysées and a quick metro ride away from the Louvre, Notre Dame and Montmartre... It's fantastic!

It was a beautiful day, high 50s, sun shining, I walked over to the Eiffel Tower through the park to École Militaire...down the cobblestone streets and then found a small bakery filled of croissants, lasagnas, scones and several varieties of quiches - which I had to try! Note: best quiche everrrr! Oh Paris, why can't San Diego have such fantastic food?

From here I strolled a bit more in the direction of my apartment.. Walking down the street I noticed the most beautiful building... As I got closer, I began to realize that I recognized the it from a photo I had once seen a few week prior! It had the most beautifully architected doorway I have ever seen! So naturally, I took a thousand pictures of it, stared at it for a while then carried on my way in complete awe and delight of my finding within the first few hours of being in Paris!

I soon found a little cafe nearby where I sat, people-watched with a glass of wine in hand. I noticed that at every restaurant and cafe, all the chairs are pointed toward the street and everyone sits beside each other looking out the street... A city made for people watching, I believe.

Since I arrived fairly late, by this time it was beginning to get dark. I found a nearby wine store, picked up a bottle for the road, per see, and headed back to the apartment for several glasses before falling asleep!

The door :)

The Neighborhood!

Day 1: Bonjour, Paris!

April 29th, 2012 ---

If you've ever seen the movie Eat Pray Love then you can recall the scene where Liz & Dalia are upstairs in a bedroom. While Dalia is changing her child's diaper, the two talk bout the whole institution of marriage and starting a family. Dalia admits that her life is the one she always wanted, that she secretly kept a box stored under her bed of little dresses, toys, etc for what she hoped would be for her future daughter. To this, Liz explained that she had a similar box but not full of baby joy, but of pictures and clippings of places and cultures around the world that she wanted to experience one day.

When watching this movie, that's based on a true story, I found myself completely relating to the story being told at that moment. Yes, I'm a girl and dream of getting married, etc and that whole sha-bang.. But I have a similar destination-filled box.

Ive been traveling since I was 3 months old. My first trip to Rancho Bernardo, California - which actually seems kind of ironic now that I live a few miles away in San Diego!

Anyways, I grew up with my parents always encouraging me to be adventurous.. they encouraged me to explore, use my imagination, be creative and as an only child - be independent. Over the years, this led to incessant curiosity about the world around me. So for as long as I can remember I've been on a fun and inspiration-seeking life path, and though there has been ups and downs, I wouldn't change a thing! Sometime along this path, I started collecting pictures and articles and making mental notes of places I'd discovered or heard about- thus further developing my passion to see even more of the world.

Now to continue with how THIS incredible trip came about... This trip has been planned in my head since about the age of 14. I've always been somewhat of a planning-type... Yes, I'm incredibly spontaneous, but it's nice to have a general plan.. And mine was to either do a study abroad or big trip (such as this one) before I graduated college.
Why?
Because when you graduate college, if successful, their will be job opportunities that one shouldn't turnn down. And then once you get a career started, it gets harder to take time off... And then say you meet someone, fall in love, start family... Before you know it, you're on the brink of a mid-life crisis trying to figure out where time went! Now, I'm not saying that happens in every case, obviously, but I'm fine with diving head first into a really fantastic career when I graduate... It's the big pay-off for all the studying I have to do; it's when it all finally becomes applicable. So this whole theory and plan has been in my mind for a very long time.. And after years of discussing this topic with my parents they noted how hard I've been working in school and gave me the green light! Wahoo!

It also became one of those now-or-never situations, as well. With the beginning of the National Student Advertising Competition quickly approaching in October - I have to commit 6 months of schooling to that and then I would have a few quarters to go till graduation; who would bail out to travel right at the finish line? So if I was going to go at all, now was the time... Take a quarter off, enjoy what the world has to offer in a big way and then get back and buckle down... Getter done!

My adventure began on April 21st. I flew from San Diego to Toronto, Ontario. From there, I drove the 45minutes out of the city back to my hometown of Kitchener and spent a fantastic week with friends and family. I'm pretty sure I left with a new set of abs from laughing to the point of tears everyday I was there! It's so nice to get back to the home spot every once in a while!

Anyways, now I've flown from Toronto to London Heathrow... Landed at 8:20am, took the subway to St.Pancras International train station.. Then boarded a train to Paris. From the train station in Paris, I navigated myself on the metro to La Tour-Maubourg, where I got to street-level and simply marvelled at the surroundings. I was blown away.

I walked down Rue de Granelle, a tree-lined street with beautifully Parisian buildings all around and felt that unbelievable moment of appreciation and surrealism when I looked up to see the Eiffel Tower peeking over the buildings. Incroyable! I turned down Ave Bosquet, walked a few more blocks and reached the large brown doors with big brass handles that led into the apartment I would be staying in.
After ringing the bell, I was buzzed in by a man named Edouard, I walked through a tiny corridor to a small courtyard - having had trouble trying to figure out what door to go through in said courtyard, Edouard suddenly appeared and happily escorted me through one of the doors. And with no elevator in sight, he politely grabbed my bag and told me to go up the very small, steep, circular staircase up to the top (6th) floor. I felt awful for him carrying my suitcase, offered to carry it part way, but he assured me he had it!

When we reached the top floor, we hung a left, then a right and I found myself face to face with what would be my door! Edouard opened it up for me and the very first thing I see is the Eiffel Tower, bold and beautiful, clear as day from the window.

Speechless, was what I was that moment. Then I just laughed in utter amazement at such an incredible beginning to my solo European adventure!

So here I am top floor, Eiffel Tower in sight!
Bonjour, Paris!

Let the adventures begin!

My plane from NYC to London!

Walking down Rue de Grenelle to my apartment!

The view :)

Europe Itinerary!

For all of those that may be curious about where I'm going and when! :)

---

April 21-28: Kitchener, Ontario

April 29: Arrive in London, England
(April 29: Eurostar to Paris)
April 29- May 4: Paris, France
(May 4: train to Cologne)
May 4- 7: Cologne, Germany
(May 7: train to Lucerne)
May 7-10: Lucerne, Switzerland
(May 10: Train to Milan)
May 10-13: Milan, Italy
(May 13: Train to Venice)
May 13-16: Venice, Italy
(May 16: train to Rijeka)
May 16-19: Rijeka, Croatia
(May 19: Train to Rome/Chivatavecchia)

May 20-27: Med Cruise (Sicily, Athens, Crete, Turkey)

May 27-29: Rome, Italy
(May 29: train to Florence)
May 29- June 1: Florence, Italy
(June 2: train to Monaco)
June 2: Monaco
(June 3: Train to Barcelona)
June 3-6: Barcelona, Spain

(June 6: flight to London)
June 6-8: Southampton
(June 9: Train to London)
June 9-12: London

(June 12: flight back to San Diego!)

Wahoo! :)