Location: Centre Pompidou, Metz, France.
I will miss you Europe. I am sure we will meet again in the future.
I am a bad blogger
Been swamped these past 2 weeks. Sorry.
I am coming home in one week. I miss Zaxby’s, Barberitos, Taco Bell, Chick-fil-a, unlimited refills in drinks, not paying to use public restrooms, not having to put the price sticker on your own vegetables at the grocery store, sweet tea, a soft bed, not having anything to do, playing basketball, friends, roommates, family, and family of friends. Not in that order.
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands.
My thoughts on Amersterdam:
It almost felt like going to 2 places. During the day, Amsterdam is a lovely little city. Bikes and bikers are everywhere. My guess is probably 10 bikes for every car I saw. The city itself is built on a system of canals, so there are a lot of little bridges and pathways near the water. Boats everywhere too. I saw one guy on a boat with his friends, had a small grill, drinks and picnic while cruising around. Art around every corner. No 2 buildings were designed the same way, each one had its own face. Every person we met was really chill for the most part too. But that may be for other reasons.
Night time was probably everything you imagined. I was amazed at the number of tourists who brought their kids with them, which was more than zero. Eye-opening stuff.
Location: Reims, France (pronounced “Raas” strangely enough) and Epernay, France
Reims is a really chill city in the Champagne region of France. A very relaxing weekend. I went with Mark and Eric once again, and we took a tour of some of the champagne caves and then eventually took a bike ride through the vineyards. More stuff happened, I don’t really remember. My blogging skills have decreased.
So my friend Mark is staying with me for awhile. He’s just coming off working at a hostel in Nice, France, and about to do research in England. A couple nights ago he made massive sandwiches with baguette, goat cheese, sausage, tuna, boiled egg, tomato, and Dijon mayonaise. They were big. (understatement)
Location: Paris, France
A busy weekend with Eric and Mark. We only had about a day and a half’s worth of time, so it was definitely a little bit of a blur trying to experience all of the City of Lights. The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, etc., there was so much to see and so little time. We probably could’ve spent an entire day in the Louvre itself, instead of the 2-3 hours that we did. I think my interest in seeing all the touristy sights in each city I go to decreases little by little, instead of spending large amounts of time at a few places. At the same time, I’m always a little torn in that it may be my only chance to see some of these places for many years, or maybe even in my lifetime. Relatively speaking, a good problem to have.
By far my favorite time was from about 11 pm to 12:30 am Saturday night, me Mark and Eric settled down on the lawn in front of the Eiffel tower. The Tower itself is already really nice and lit up and night. However, every hour on the hour, there is a ~5 minute lights show when all the bulbs on the Tower flicker and shine like a giant Christmas tree. After running around all day it was great to be able to just chill without an agenda and have some time to relax. It reminded me a lot of waiting on the lawn for the fireworks on the 4th of July. Nothing like 3 dudes watching the lights in front of the Eiffel Tower. In hindsight, it probably would’ve been more fitting to bring a girl or two along, just to fit the mood better. Maybe in the future though :)
This weekend is exciting
because…
1.) I will be going to Paris this weekend with my boy Eric to meet my boy Mark. Nothing like three bros chilling in Paris.
2.) Mark will be returning to Metz and staying with me for awhile.
3.) The World Cup final is Sunday night.
Location: Cinque Terre, Italy;
So just got back from a 4-day weekend in Italy this morning. We spent the first 2 days in Cinque Terre which is actually 5 separate towns on the cliffs of the Mediterranean, all interconnected by hiking and walking trails. Absolutely phenomenal. Pizza, gelati, beach, hiking, and incredible views. We took an intense hour and a half hike between two of the towns on the first day, there were steep slopes and 1-foot wide pathways with no railing. We also did a little cliff diving in one of the towns, and did a good bit of swimming. An obscene amount of money was spent on pizza, foccacia, and gelati. My time there was too short to say the least.
After those 2 days, we took a train to Rome. It was crazy how much history was at every single street corner, probably could’ve spent a week there as well: the Coloseum, The Forum, St. Peter’s Basilica, Spanish Steps (overrated), Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, etc. Once again, phenomenal.
We had a crazy time getting back to Metz from Rome, we ended up traveling through 4 different countries to do so. Here’s what it looked like:
- Leave Monday at 7:40pm to get to Rome Airport.
- Arrive at Rome Airport around 8:30pm
- Flight from Rome Airport to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport in Germany 10:10 pm to 11:45 pm.
- Layover in Frankfurt-Hahn airport until 4:20 am
- Bus ride from Frankfurt to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Arrive around 6:10 am.
- Train ride from Luxembourg to Metz, arrive home around 7:15 am.
4 countries and 3 means of transportation within 12 hours. And then class at 9am. I will probably need a vacation from my vacation when I get back to Georgia.
