Starting February 13th, 2023 I got on a plane to go to Paris. I had a plan and a schedule of traveling to France and seeing Germany and London for a weekend. Little did I know I would plan so much more. BUT this post is about the 13-26.
I arrived in Paris on Valentine's day at 10 am and after going through the worst confusion finding my suitcase and getting my ride I was able to nap at my friend Sami's aunt's place. I was miserably tired because I wasn't able to sleep on the plane, nerves maybe, or my horrid fear of flying which seems to be dissipating since I took about 8 planes during my time in Europe.
I thought I was strong enough to beat jet lag but I did cave in and nap through one of my precious days in Paris.
DAY 2 Was full of the Eiffel tower, Louve, and every tourist trap imaginable. It was amazing to see but my feet were crying. I checked I walked 10-15 miles each day in Paris because my friend apparently doesn't believe in public transportation. I had to take ibuprofen at night because my legs were so sore, just to fall asleep.
The louvre was so huge and overwhelming I had a hard time enjoying the art. Even the Mona Lisa had a 20-minute line to the front that we decided to skip I really enjoyed seeing the sculptures from ancient Roman Greece since I know so much of that history I did wish that I got a second look at the Louvre to really soak it in. The architecture of Paris was much different than I expected everything was beige and a lot of things looked really cool. Walking inside the cathedrals and seeing their stained glass windows was one of my favorite things. This being said I don't actually remember very much from Paris because my brain was so exhausted with jet lag and energy usage. I met some of Sami's friends at happy hour and we ate dinner it was just a nice way to end my three days in Paris.
GOING TO STRASBOURG
I originally planned a weekend getaway to see my friend Verena in Strasbourg on the border of Germany and then we went to Heidelberg together. I took a train from Paris to Strasbourg and it was the cutest City ever. We ate tarte flambe the first night and caught up and it was just so easy to talk. The next day we walk around Strasbourg in the light and enjoy the cute petite France and walk into three different bookstores and purchase too many books to take home. We are both extreme book nerds and this is why we get along so well. We ended up going to Strasbourg cathedral where you could pay $5 for a tour or so we thought we actually paid to walk up the church spire which was so tall and so scary that I really wanted to back out of it. Imagine a super tall spiral staircase and windows looking out with no glass. My fear of heights was triggered. But the view from the top was absolutely amazing. Inside the church is an astrological clock which is one of the oldest clocks in the world and it was so cool to watch it chime. We didn't have much time so we went on our way and drove to Heidelberg on the Autobahn or the German Highway that has no speed limit. We arrived in the evening time checked into the hotel and got some food and that was about it. Our hotel was really really nice for the price we paid still the nicest place I stayed on my entire trip. The next day we went to Heidelberg Castle which is mostly in ruins but has a really awesome apothecary museum and it's just the most beautiful Redstone that I enjoyed seeing. We took pictures and enjoyed our time as well as visited the university after going on a little hike. Heidelberg was probably one of my most favorite cities and I'm very glad I got to spend time with Verena there. While we had to say goodbye to each other we made a plan to go on another trip through Germany and Austria in about a week's time now that will be my second blog post.
Unfortunately, as we were leaving Heidelberg we got in a very minor car crash, it shook us up quite a bit because it was the first crash we had really had. Especially right before driving on the Autobahn, it was a bit startling.
I took the train and arrived back in Nantes after my long train ride I met some of my host Sami's friends. We went to a bar that night and I talked to his friends and got to know the city and then got some well-needed rest.
While in Nantes I was able to see the castle fortress Art museum beautiful fishing villages that are more colorful than I imagined eat amazing cheese and check out all the bars.
Let me just say every single cheese I had was the best thing I've ever had. I was also surprised to see how many different foods they had within the city so many Asian cuisines so many Turkish cuisines Indian and everything. So far I had noticed a few things, graffiti is everywhere in France along with broken windows. France also loves to strike I know I was here during a busy protesting time but wow I could barely go anywhere with the strikes that happened. Everything was cheaper than I expected but still expensive. And no one ever lets me speak French because I give off an English Vibe I guess.
That is the first blog update of my trip to Europe France and Germany so far they're still so so much more to talk about.