Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!! I know it has been ages since I last updated you all, but I have been gone and busy busy busy. As most of you know I spent this Christmas in Paris. I have some great stories and I know you all want to hear about them, so instead of telling them a million times I will try to do them justice in this blog entry.
First of all, Paris was amazing. We had an absolutely amazing time. We were a little scared that we wouldn't be able to get there. Parts of Europe were having horrible weather the week we were leaving, including France. Lots of snow and ice, many flights were cancelled. But we kept our fingers cross and luckily our flight was only delayed a few hours. But this meant we got into Paris pretty late. Then we were going to take the train into the city but it was broken or something, so everyone starts rushing outside. We find out there is a bus going into the city, but we have no idea were the bus will take us, and one in line does either. So we just get on this bus and hope we will be able to find our way. As luck would have it we end up sitting by this nice Parisian woman who takes us to the metro station when we get off the bus and shows us what metros to take to get to our apartment. We were meeting my friend Kristine's (who also teaches in Huelva and my travel buddy for the trip) 2 friends there and had to meet them at a Mcdonalds by the apartment because it was the only thing open so late. I hate to say that the first thing I ate in Paris was Mcdonalds, but it was open and we were beyond hungry. So we made it to Paris, late, but we were just excited to be there.
The next day we walked around Lafayette Galaries, a huge shopping center that would compare to Macy's only much more expensive. They had a huge Christmas tree inside and it was very festive. Then we walked over to the Louve museum. We say the glass pyramid and did the whole "outside the Louve" photo shoot. We then headed back to our apartment to have Christmas eve dinner. I guess I should explain why I keep calling it our apartment. Our first 3 nights we stayed in an apartment rental in Paris. It was really awesome. We could cook food, It had a computer we could use and most exciting indoor heat and automatic hot water. There was even a piano (I busted out as much Lori Line we wish you a merry christmas as I could remember.) We cooked a Christmas eve dinner and decorated our apartment with paper snow flakes, candles and even a paper Christmas tree. That night we decided we wanted to go to midnight mass at Notradame. Wow, it was so cool. There were so many people there we had to stand, and the service was a combination of Latin and French, so I didn't understand a word of it, but it was so cool just to be there. Definitely a good choice. Christmas day was cold in Paris. But all our activities we had planned were outside, so we bundled up and headed out. We went to the Eiffel Tower, which was quite a sight and then walked over the river to the Arch the Triumphe. Then we killed some time and headed back over to see the Eiffel Tower at night. It is incredible all lit up, simply dazzling. The day after Christmas we dedicated to the Louve. We spent the afternoon inside and saw the Mona Lisa of course. It is an absolutely epic building and so large you could spend and entire week there. It was one of my favorite places in Paris. The next day we didn't have an exact plan so we just strolled along the street Champs-eelyse (main shopping street). We bought some hot wine and just walked around. That night Kristine and I went to see Harry Potter 7. We can't see it in English here in Huelva so we were both pretty excited. Our last day we made a day trip out to Versille. A castle outside of Paris, it was beautiful. That night we say Sacred Heart church and walked by the Moulin Rouge. I'm telling you, we got to see so much in Paris, it was a wonderful trip. Now for getting home. . .
Our trip home is one of the craziest traveling stories i've ever had. Our flight left from on airport outside of Paris, one that is very small and underdeveloped. That day there was intense fog which made for very poor flying conditions. Our flight got cancelled. But of course they didn't tell us it was cancelled until we had already been waiting there for 5 hours. And we couldn't leave until it was officially cancelled. So Kristine and I have no idea what we are going to do, and there is this family sitting next to us who we know are going to Sevilla also cause we herad them talking. I tell Kristine we have to see what they are doing. So I casually ask the dad what is going on with the flight and he tells me of course. Well from then on we latched onto them for the next 30 hours (not exaggerating.) So our flight is cancelled and we wait about an hour in line to get our tickets refunded, there is no flight leaving the next day for Sevilla and we don't to risk our flight getting cancelled again anyways, so we just get our money back. Then we ( us and our new Euro family) to just go back to Paris and try to find an internet cafe. We take the bus and hour and a half back into Paris and walk around until we find an internet cafe. So we are sitting side by side at the computers frantically searching for anyway to get home. We search flights, and trains, and buses and are not having any luck. We found one flight but we couldn't get it to go through on our credit cards. Well then the man says he is closing the cafe and we have to leave. Well we are no better off now then when we got there. We decide the best plan of action is to just go to the airport and see if any of the counters are still open so we can buy a ticket. We jump on the train to the airport and hurry to find an open window. It's around 9pm so everything is shutting down. We have to take a shuttle to the other terminal to find the window we are looking for only to discover it is closed for the night. We remember seeing a different window open in the other terminal so race back over there to check it out. We were so lucky this guy was still open! We was so friendly and stayed open just for us. And so finally we had return tickets home, we would no longer be stranded in Paris. It isn't until 11am the next morning but we are all just happy to have something. Well at this point it is about 11:30 and we are all tired and starving. The family we were with has a 7 year old daughter, who was just a trooper through this whole thing, but we need to get this poor kid some food. Oh and our flight was actually leaving from the OTHER Paris airport. So we have to make our way to the 3rd airport of the day. The guy at the window tells us we should just take a cab, then we can get some food at a little area close by. So we get a cab and the cab driver gets a little lost going to find food. But finally I spot the golden arches of Mcdonalds, sweet relief (leave it to an American to spot the Mcdonalds). When we get there I ask the cab driver to if he can come back in an hour to pick us up and take us to the airport. He speaks very little English but says yes and shows me that he has stopped the meeter. So I double check that he can come back in an hour and he says, "no I eat too!" So we all head into Mcdonalds to get some food: Kristine, myself, Euro family and the cab driver. What a crazy scene it was. We all just laughed about it. So my first and last meals in Paris were at Mcdonalds (and until any of you have had similar experiences you can't judge me.) We finish up and the cab driver brings us to the airport. We spent a miserable night attempting to sleep in the airport, but don't have much luck. Then the next day we take off back to Sevilla. We clapped when we landed, we were so excited to be there. We had to say goodbye to Euro family in the airport, which was sad since we had really bonded, and Kristine and I took the 52 buses we needed to take to get back to Huelva. We arrived home at 6pm 30 hours after we were suppose to. It was quite the adventure, one we could not have survived without our Euro family. They gave me their contact information and Kristine and I are planning a trip to Sevilla to have lunch with them real soon.
Although the trip back was a disaster it in no way effect the mood of the trip. Obviously we were frustrated and there were times when we wanted to cry, but surprisingly it was not that bad. Most of the time were just laughing that this was really happening. And everyone has to have at least one travel disaster so I figure this ones mine. Plus we got to meet a really sweet family who we are going to go visit, and we got to practice our Spanish in the process! The trip was still very fun and worth all the trouble. So thats the Paris story, I have more to share about New Years and such but this has been a long story, so I think I'll save it for another time. I hope you are all enjoying 2011, I am so far!
Happy New Year!
Katie
