Speak Little French

Elena, James, and I left Friday afternoon for our whirlwind trip to Paris, Strasbourg, and Madrid. Per usual, things did not go smoothly, but everything worked out. So the travel plans were to take a plane from Coruña to Madrid, and then an overnight train from Madrid to Paris. We gave ourselves a 2 hour layover between getting to Madrid and the train leaving, thinking that would be plenty. We didn't expect a 30 minute delaying, and actually leaving the airport 1 hour late. We also forgot that for the first time we were checking a bag, so we had to wait for the baggage to come in Madrid, which is a huge airport. Needless to say there was some airport running, and a hectic taxi ride. Thankfully we got onto the train though, and 5 minutes later, we were off!

 The overnight train was pretty cool. Elena and I had our own room with bunkbeds, and a sink. I have to say thought I would not recommend it to people who are claustrophobic or get motion sick. The room was verrry small, and it felt like we were sleeping in a washing machine. I think I got about 1 hour (tops) of sleep that night. Funny story: Elena and I learned that your room key can open more than just your room, when we busted into this random man´s room. But the next morning we were in Paris and I got to see Claire and Elizabeth! It was really fun to walk around, and we went to a few museums. It was absolutely freezing but still fun. Later that night we went to the Eiffel Tower which was really cool. There were all these vendor people selling mini Eiffel towers for five for 1 euro. They seemed a little unnecessary but definitely a good deal if you´re into that sort of thing!

I think they liked stained glass

The next morning Elena, James, and I woke up, and got going a little later than Claire and Elizabeth. This was partially due to the necessary trip to Starbucks that we now take in every available city. Let me reiterate: Toffee Nut Latte...oh how I love you. After getting breakfast and caffeine we headed to a church called Sainte-Chappelle. There was about a 45 minute wait to get in, but it was absolutely gorgeous. I think the combination of caffeine, cold weather, and a relatively early-morning wake up call made us a little crazy though. Elena, James, and I ended up making some weird jokes about cankles and discussing English linguistics. Normal?
After Sainte-Chappelle we headed over to Notre-Dame. Again, the line was really long so we just decided to look at it from the outside in hopes of catching up with Claire and Elizabeth. The cathedral is huge and the architecture really is stunning. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to Paris and see the inside of it! From there we headed over to the military museum and tomb of Napoleon. I gotta say, Napoleon really outdid himself with his tomb. It is humongous! After checking out the inside, the next step was naturally to take some jumping pictures outside.

 

 

 

We started a trend too

The next day was mostly spent packing up all of our stuff, since we were heading off to Strasbourg. We needed to check out of the hotel at 11:45 which meant lugging all of our stuff around Paris. It was at that moment that we formed The Clan. The Clan consisted of naming every piece of luggage, usually by their brand name. So, we had: Lucas, Lucas Jr, Misako, Big Red, and Borealis. Quite a crowd, and yes we referred to them by name in public. Lucas was the standout star...as you'll see later in the post.

We got to Strasbourg that night, where I was staying with Claire and Elena was staying with Veronica. For dinner we were invited over to Veronica's house to celebrate her birthday with all of the Strasbourg girls and her host family. It was a crepe party which was really fun, since they had these griddle things, that had 6 mini crepe spots on them. So Veronica's host parents continuously kept pouring batter onto the griddles and showed us how to flip them, and put on delicious toppings like cheese, ham, smoked salmon, and even eggs for the brave. Of course after the Crepes Saladas ("salty" crepes) we had Crepes Dulces (sweet crepes) where we smeared nuttella, marmelades, and the occasional simple cinnamon and sugar over them. So. Good.

The next morning the Strasbourg girls had to go to class so Elena and I were on our own. Poor Elena brought Lucas Jr (her huge backpack) along with her laptop in it, thinking that we were going to find an internet café, but I was in a rush and completely forgot about that plan. It was cold and rainy out, and Elena had to carry Lucas around with her which was kind of a pain. We also realized that not too many people speak English in Strasbourg when we went to this delicious chain café named Paul. The place was packed, and everyone just went in a line kind of shouting out what they wanted. Needless to say there was a lot of murdering of the french language, frustrated workers, and general chaos and confusion. Thankfully we made it through the line and got our chicken sandwiches, sodas, and pastries!

When Claire got out of class we went back to her house. Elena and I quickly fell into quite a slumber, we blame the siesta-withdrawal. Unfortunately, Elena couldn't go back to Veronica's house so Lucas came out to dinner with us! After dinner the Strasbourg girls had a planned trip to the circus, so we were once again on our own. This is when the misery began. We couldn't find anywhere to just sit and get a coffee/dessert indoors. Although there is a wonderful Christmas market in Strasbourg with crepes, and waffles with delicious topics, it was freezing, and pouring, so we really didn't even consider that an option. So we finally found a place that was open. Little did we know that a cappuccino and cheesecake would cost us 9 euros each. Let me also add that it was the most disgusting cappuccino EVER, and we later learned that cheesecake in France is nothing like the cheesecake we're used to. I'm pretty sure no sugar or sweetener was used. At that point we were pretty much miserable. We had spent a lot of money that night, in addition to a lot in Paris. Let me just say that we looked at the prices of getting a hotel room for a night. We decided instead to go to bar and drink. Of course we had Lucas with us too. Lucas, a couple beers, and intense game of the card game war. Does it get any better?
Well this is pretty long already, so I think I'll save the rest of the trip, which is basically just our weekend in Madrid for my next post. On this note, I have a few shout-outs to make. I know I said that I would only be doing 1 post at a time, but I can't choose, so this week there are 3. Why did I choose 3? Well that's because I received 3 cards today! So my shout outs go to:
1. Kelly Garvey: Thank you so much for the Halloween card, I found it to be rather amusing given that it finally arrived about a month and a half later!
2. The Rossi family: Alec and Matt you guys look amazing on your card! I think my host sisters may have some crushes...
3. Aunt Maureen, Uncle Lenny, Danny, Andrew, and Jackie: Another stunning Christmas card and I can't wait to see you guys at Christmas!