"Travel is the healthiest addiction"
How to prepare for finals week: step 1, leave the country. step 2, after you come back, leave the country again because one trip is clearly not enough. Yep! This week is finals week! And last week I went to Dublin to visit Emily, and then went to Paris with some friends I have made here. It seems like I have done and seen so much, so bear with me. Don't worry though, it's mostly pictures.
First up, Dublin, Ireland. I had so much fun visiting Emily and Jake where they have been studying this semester. Emily was an excellent tour guide as she showed me around and took me hiking (which I've been told is called a ramble in Ireland). We went to Howth and walked around the peninsula/island. The coasts are gorgeous. We went to find a castle, Guiness, Pheonix Park, the city center, walked down the River Liffey, and visited the Trinity College Library!
After Dublin, I was in Barcelona for a total of one day before I caught my flight to Paris. I went with 4 friends I met in Spain, and we stayed there for three nights. Of course we hit all the highlights. Eiffel Tower at night, Eiffel Tower during the day, the Arc de Triomph, and the Christmas Market on Champs Elysees (one of the main roads in Paris).
The second day in Paris, we spent the whole day in Disneyland. It was amazing!! Everything was decorated for Christmas, all of my favorite rides from Disney World were there, and of course, I rocked some Minnie Mouse ears.
And now back to all the highlights of actual Paris. We visited Notre Dame, the Palace of Versailles, and the Catacombs. Versailles is massive, and incredibly extravagant inside and out. Below is a scale model of the palace and the palace gardens. We barely got to see any of the gardens because it's so giant, but it was definitely gorgeous.
The catacombs are old limestone mines under the streets of Paris that have been filled with human bones from the cemeteries in central Paris from the 16th and 17th century. In 1774 the mines started to cave in, and the cemeteries were overflowing, so they decided to take the bones from the cemetery and put them in the mines to help solve both problems. Originally the bones were just tossed in the mine, but now they are neatly stacked using the femurs and skulls to build a wall that holds all of the smaller bones. There are over 6 million people buried there, and it was a little creepy to walk through.
The catacombs are old limestone mines under the streets of Paris that have been filled with human bones from the cemeteries in central Paris from the 16th and 17th century. In 1774 the mines started to cave in, and the cemeteries were overflowing, so they decided to take the bones from the cemetery and put them in the mines to help solve both problems. Originally the bones were just tossed in the mine, but now they are neatly stacked using the femurs and skulls to build a wall that holds all of the smaller bones. There are over 6 million people buried there, and it was a little creepy to walk through.
Story time! also things I may have learned:
-So it turns out that the one week we decided to go to Paris, they were having high levels of air pollution (which is absolutely terrible, don't get me wrong), so in order to try to counteract that they tried to have less people driving on the roads by making all public transportation free. It was completely free! I didn't have to pay for a single train ticket the whole time! Definitely not excited about the pollution, but I did appreciate free transportation.
-You're never too old to wear Minnie Mouse Ears
-I maybe should go work on my final projects now
-So it turns out that the one week we decided to go to Paris, they were having high levels of air pollution (which is absolutely terrible, don't get me wrong), so in order to try to counteract that they tried to have less people driving on the roads by making all public transportation free. It was completely free! I didn't have to pay for a single train ticket the whole time! Definitely not excited about the pollution, but I did appreciate free transportation.
-You're never too old to wear Minnie Mouse Ears
-I maybe should go work on my final projects now
These two trips were both amazing, and we're not even going to talk about how I only have less than two weeks left in Spain. Emily is coming to visit me this week! And my parents are coming on Saturday. I can't wait to see them!
I'm sure you were expecting a comment about my last travel in Europe. I'm not done yet! Next week, Mom, Dad, and I are going to Berlin. That will make country number 8. One last trip!
I'm sure you were expecting a comment about my last travel in Europe. I'm not done yet! Next week, Mom, Dad, and I are going to Berlin. That will make country number 8. One last trip!