Liege Strasbourg Paris

... closest thing to a target or walmart here. They have clothes, a restaurant, groceries.... etc. We bought a few thing to make some dishes for dinner but with just one hot plate (a burner you plug into the wall) each we were working with the small sized pots, cooking for 3. Spaghetti (or Penne) pasta was agreed upon but we couldn't find ground beef anywhere so we settled on sausage that we took out of the casings and mixed in the tomato sauce. It actually turned out pretty decent ...

... explored the
outside fo the Louvre—walked through the courtyard at 11pm—still
crowded and bgeutifully lit. Had a LONG dinner in a café--- waiter kept
visiting with the customers. Ordering without knowing what it is
provides a huge plate of vqrious kinds of MEAT—including duck. I
had scallops.As it was so hot, we drank majitos—non alcoholic drink of
mint and rum; We were outside the ...

... supposedly offroading is illegal in Switzerland. So, we took them up to some of the towns in the hills and got some pictures of some waterfalls and the mountains, etc. We returned them and then got ready to go skydiving. The day we were going to leave Switzerland, after my last blog, we wanted to hike up the Alps. So, after Chace and I were able to do laundry for the first time on the trip, we all walked toward a place where their was a trail called Harder Kulm. We walked up it a ...

What an AMAZING weekend. At first we thought we weren't going to be able to go since our passports were in Russia (for getting a Russian visa for xmas tour). But the head of student life told us that there was a good chance our passports would come back at 5:30pm on thursday. The only problem was that my flight to Paris left at 8pm out of Pisa, which is the closest airport and an hour outside of Florence. So my friends and I got to the school at 5pm and waited and waited until ...

... centre of town but far from where I am staying, but the metro is so quick and effiencent, trains leave every 2-5 minutes. I try to sweet-talk them into seeing if they can have my computer ready by Monday as that is when my train is booked for. They are nice guys who speak english quite well but explain that the computer is in a warehouse and will not be available until Tuesday, there is nothing they can do. So it will be 4 nights I will be in Paris.

... reach up and pull some kind of red lever above me. Damn it, I'll save my own hand! The door opens, I drag my bag in and my little world is okay again. I turn to look around. There are four people there in an otherwise empty train car. I notice that no one has a suitcase. As the train starts rolling away I see that on the OTHER side of the landing there is a multitude of people with their luggage. I have a sinking feeling. "Does this train go to ...

This morning we got up and had breakfast and prepared for an early check out as we had to drive down to Paris, a trip which everyone has warned us about. The drive through the countryside was very pleasant and once we got onto the freeway headed for Paris it was pretty plain sailing. We stopped off at a roadside one-stop for lunch and were pleasantly surprised at how good the schnitzels we had were ...

... Quarter. We shared a pitcher of wine and discussed the possibility of flying home early to surprise Jamie for her and Alli's 30th birthday (sorry Jamie, I really left it up to Alli!). We discussed heading straight to Amsterdam. We discussed all of our options and put them all on the table. I have to say, though, I was extremely happy when we decided to return to Paris after a few days in Normandy. Three days in the City of Lights just wasn't enough to satisfy a lifetime of ...

... of the cheapest hotels in our whole European excursion, but was still very clean, with a great staff, good breakfast, and our room had a balcony. Located in 9eme, near Nord train station and Montmartre. Food: For tasty cheap food, visit your local bakery. Also, lots of little restaurants (cheap and expensive) can be found on Rue de la Huchette near Metro stop "Saint Michel". I highly recommend a ham and cheese crepe!

... weather was crazy, it was sunny, it was raining, it was sunny + rainy. Messed up, man. Bought Christine her miniature Eiffel Tower she demanded and Gilles (my uncle) an Eiffel Tower keychain. Visited McDonald's once again this evening. I like it there. A Big Mac Trio costs 30 francs ($7.50 Canadian) while in Amsterdam it was 7.95 guilders ($6 can). It's worth it cos ...