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Post for our weekend in Nice coming soon!

Ah, Paris

Paris for the weekend. A very successful weekend indeed!

Started Saturday morning at about 5:30. Got to the train station and got on our TGV. Arrived in Paris at about 9:20. Found our way to our hotel. Then started the great adventure!

For day one, we decided to walk around and hit all the big monuments, so that Sunday we could spend all our free time inside Musée du Louvre. So we got off the tram at Cité and  saw Notre-Dame de Paris.

For those who don't know, all cities have a Notre Dame (which translates as Our Lady), because these are the cathedrals that are found in the center of the town. Generally, when a new town was being built, they would build the cathedral, and then build from there. But the Notre-Dame de Paris is the most famous, and therefore can just be called Notre-Dame and people will know what you are talking about. But downtown Strasbourg, there is Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. So be careful!

Point Zero - if you touch this, you will return to Paris one day : )

After walking around Notre-Dame we got lunch from a sandwich vendor. My mom and I split a mozzarella and tomato panini. It was very delicious. This we ate in the little park behind Notre-Dame.

After we had our fill, I wanted to find Shakespeare and Co. Which is a super old bookstore that is one of the haunts of Hemmingway. This turned out to be a bit more difficult than I'd anticipated. I had been to it before with my school group when we came two spring-breaks ago. But this had been a day that was full of walking all over Paris, and it was impossible for me to even attempt to mentally retrace our steps. So we ended up asking half a dozen different people along the way. But, we finally made it!
Then we made our way towards Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

On our way, we found a little sidewalk café that looked perfect for my dad's needed experience of sitting in a french café drinking a coffee. So we stopped and had a little snack. I got hot chocolate, and the best crème brulée of my life. Yum. My parents both finally got the pain au chocolate (essentially a square shaped croissant with chocolate on the inside of it. Super delicious) they had been craving.
Then we continued on our way towards Champs-Élysées. We walked on the Rue de Rivoli side of Le Louvre.

Then we walked through Le Jardin de Tuileries, coming out to Place de la Concorde, with the huge Obelisque in the middle. Then continued down Champs-Élysées. 

At the end of this grand shopping street, stands L'Arc de Triomphe. We crossed under the street and while my dad wandered around it and took pictures, mom and I rested our feet. Then we started to make our way to La Tour Eiffel.
On our way we looked at different restaurants, figuring we would stop for an early dinner. But we ended up coming across a really neat looking English Pub with surprisingly good prices. The food and atmosphere was excellent. I highly recommend Frog XVI along avenue Kléber ( Frog Pubs website ). I had the best veggie burger of my life.

We reached La Tour Eiffel around 6:00ish (18:00). We took some pictures, and wandered down towards it. There was a vendor selling french snacks (such as guifres (waffles)) and they had Barbe à Papa (which translates as Grandfather's beard, and it's cotton candy!) Of course I had to get some! (My mother is Grandma Wonka after all). For the first time in my life, I had fresh cotton candy. The guy poured the sugar into the machine and spun the cotton candy right in front of me! It was awesome. Usually you get cotton candy from a bag at home!
So I ate my fresh cotton candy as we wandered around the Eiffel Tower and looked at it.

My mom wanted to see it when it was all light up at night, so we decided to find a café and wait for dark. We found a neat place and got our first french macaroons. They were yummy. We got rose, pistachio, coffee, chocolate, and pomegranate.

Then it was time to head back to our hotel. Which was (unfortunately) a Best Western, and located on the outskirts of Paris in Malakoff. But, it had an awesome view from the back patio!

Sunday morning we got a little bit of a late start. Due to 1) we were exhausted from all the walking the previous day, and 2) we had quite the morning. We woke up and got ready. Since our hotel was out of the way of Le Louvre and the train station, we decided to take our luggage with us, and put it in a locker at the train station.
We finally got to our train station...only to discover that their lockers were closed. But the sign said that we could go to Gare du Nord, (our train station was Gare de l'Est). Luckily, these train stations were only one metro stop from each other. The unfortunate part being that for some reason, my two day metro pass hadn't worked that morning when we left our hotel, and the predicament hadn't been magically fixed when we tried to re-enter the metro.
So we had to wait in line for the info counter, and the guy just wrote on my ticket the days it was good for and told me to show the ticket to the people at the desks so they could just buzz me through into the metro.
So he buzzed me through, and we went to Gare de Nord. We found the lockers after a few moments of confusion in the large train station. You have to go through security to get to the lockers, and so my mom and I decided to wait outside the caged area while my dad took the bags inside. "It's like the amazing race!" My mom commented at one point. Basically, you get through security, and then everyone rushes off to find an open locker. But I guess the lockers had no indication of whether or not they are taken, so you have to run around, trying each handle. Then, my dad discovered he didn't have enough money with him for one of the medium sized lockers (which seemed to be the only ones left open). By the time our suitcases were safely tucked away, it had been about an hour since we had left our hotel.
Then, we made our way back to the metro, only to discover that the info desk where I had to show my ticket not only had a half hour long line waiting in front of it, but was no where near the metro entrances. The only thing to do was wait in line, and when we finally got up, I asked the woman for a new ticket. She seemed to have a better grip on the situation than the guy who had previously helped us, and she gave me a new, working, ticket.

Finally, we arrived at Le Louvre, two hours after we'd left our hotel. We made our first priority La Jocande (The Mona Lisa). As you make your way towards the tiny painting, you go past La Victoire de Samotrace (Winged Victory) on her pedestal.

After seeing  Mona Lisa, I took my parents to see Venus de Milo.
Then my mom was ready for lunch, so we wandered around the other side to a restaurant/cafe. I had my first Croque Monsieur! This is a french sandwich, consisting of bread, with ham in the middle and covered in cheese and then grilled. It's quite delicious.

My mom's favorite sculpture
Amphitrite (goddess of the sea)

Then we went to see Napoleon III's apartments. Which were amazing! And then we wandered around Cour Marly. 








We had an hour left to go to the gift shop, so we did this, and then made our way back to Gare du Nord for our bags.

The ITSY Bitsy Spider

Well, I made a new friend here in France. He's dark, with long legs, and eight lovely, FREAKY eyes. Yes, he is a spider. A very creepy spider. With VERY long hairy legs.
I was just sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Now, something to keep in mind, the pattern on our coach is very busy (as you can partially see from the picture), so it took me a moment to discern the pattern from my new buddy chilling next to me.
But I can definitely say that it didn't take me a moment to leap off the couch and start pulling the typical "girl hops around" pose. I managed to capture the little bugger (after chasing him all over the couch, behind the door, and under a table with a floor length drape).
Let me just say, he was FAST! Holy cow. Did I mention he has really freaky long legs? At one point, no joke, I thought there had to be at least three of them running around. I didn't see how it was possible for him to be scarpering behind the door, and then suddenly two inches from my hand on the couch armrest. Freaky... But anyways.
I captured him in a tupperware. I left the tupperware on the counter with a note saying, "DON'T TOUCH! (TRUST ME)" This morning, I transfered him to a blue glass jar to show to my dad after he got home from work. He then set him free...I hope he doesn't come back for revenge...

The red spiral is the same size as my palm...

And the chase begins...

After sealing my new bff in his jar, I got ready to meet Justine and Marion downtown. I got there just a little after the scheduled time (due to complications with the bus ride). Claire met up with us shortly after and we retreated from the rain into a salon de thé (tea house). We attacked our noses with wonderful smells of different teas for a few minutes, and then decided to get a snack at a café.
We went to a little place and got some drinks. I got a sirop de pomme vert (green apple sirop). Essentially, what they do is pour a glass of water, and then add a flavored sirop to it. There are probably hundreds of different sirop flavors. Justine got violette and Marion got mangue (mango). We each tried each others, and I definitely liked mine best, but all three were super delicious. I also had a sip of Claire's green tea, which was pretty darn good as well.
We wandered through a couple shops and then it was time for me to head back home for dinner. A very good day. Especially for the cold and rainy weather.

So that's why I keep her around...

Once again, before I begin my story, let me reiterate how much I despise exercise...

So mom went for a bike ride yesterday (while I had my nose stuffed in Harry Potter). She rode a loop of bike paths through Lingolsheim and back to Holtzheim.
This morning, we knew we wanted to go and find the H&M we knew was hiding somewhere downtown Strasbourg (due to seeing people everywhere with H&M bags), but first she said she was going to ride again and asked if I wanted to come this time.
Since I somehow allowed my dad to make me feel guilty about not joining her on her bike ride yesterday (never again will guilt fill me for this), I agreed to go along...and now I remember why I dislike exercising.
After the ride, with a sore butt and excruciatingly painful elbows, I told my mom that it was good, for her to remind me why I hated working out. "It's nice of you to get me out and exercise...I might just think I enjoy it if I never do it!"

After recuperating from the treacherous ride (it really wasn't that bad. It was only an hour. My legs didn't hurt hardly at all. It was mostly my butt, and my elbows because I'm not used to low handlebars... and randomly I got a really awful inner-ear ache. Perhaps from the wind just whistling through my ears as I sped along! HAH!) with a yummy lunch, we hopped on the bus and headed downtown.
The centre commercial, mall, that H&M was hiding in was really easy to find, go figure. It's actually quite big, and mom and I had walked past it on several occasions, not even realizing what it is.
So we did some shopping (and purchasing on my end) and then met dad for dinner. Since we have been having such awesome weather, we decided to enjoy our last day of it (it's supposed to be cold and rainy for the next week) by sitting outside at a restaurant for dinner. We wandered down to Petite France, in search of two restaurants my dad had recommendations for by a friend at work.
We found the first one, but it seemed to be closed, so we moved on. We passed a souvenir shop, and I stopped in to get some postcards. As mom and I were wandering around the cute shop, dad was outside, looking at a menu. When we came out, he pointed it out to us and said we could try there. I looked at the menu and jumped on the idea.
Me being such a picky eater, it can be tricky to find a place I'll be able to find something to eat. But this place had at least four dishes I liked. So we decided to eat there, and save the recommendation for another evening.
The food was delicious! So delicious, in fact, that my oh-so-very-american-mother decided she HAD to take it home, because she just couldn't IMAGINE them throwing away something she could enjoy for her lunch tomorrow. I was none too pleased at the prospect of having to ask our waitress for a "doggie-bag". It was painful...and humiliating...and oh-so-very-american.

Hello, my name is Taylor, and I have a problem...

Read half of the 7th Harry Potter today...I have a serious addiction problem...  : )

Happy Birthday to me!...Happy Birthday to me!...Happy...Birth...no? sad

Well, mom and I road into Strasbourg today to get some of our weekend travel train tickets reserved. We got Paris booked for this weekend. Nice booked for the following weekend. Then we asked the woman to look up London. My parents had agreed to go to London for my birthday weekend. But, after looking up the trains for Strasbourg to Paris, Paris to London, we discovered it would be an extra 600 euros round trip. Yikes. So, no London for my birthday.
Then we went over to Germany to get a few things, and I stopped to get a little retail therapy. I got a really cute skirt, sweater, and earrings. I feel a little better. : )

Something that makes me feel A MILLION times better, is thinking about a boy waiting for me at home... who apparently bought something small, expense, and sparkly last night...happy happy happy

Poor Cows?!

Quite a weekend.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and hit the road. Since Switzerland is so close, for this weekend trip we took the car, rather than taking a train.
We entered Switzerland and bought our sticker for driving on the road. The road tolls are very expensive (supposedly... though we never actually came upon one) but if you buy a sticker, you pass through the tolls without paying. According to everything my parents had looked at before we left, this was best way to go. Only now does it seem ridiculous to have paid $40 for a sticker we never used. Oh well!
The plan for Saturday was to drive to Mount Pilatus, and take either a cogwheel railway or a cable-car to the top of the peak. However, once we got to the ticket booth, and discovered it cost $65 a person, we scratched that plan. Hiking to the top was also out... due to the fact it would take 4 hours. So, from there we moved on to our next adventure.
My dad had mapped out a driving loop that would take us to the Swiss Alps. There was only one problem with this plan... the "driving" part. Not on my dad's end, he has done a phenomenal job of navigating the insane traffic in Europe. No, the problem came from my end. Something about the swaying of a car, and the scenery passing by quickly just lulls me right to sleep. Especially when I'm only running on 1 1/2 rounds of REM sleep. So, pretty much any time I say "we drove..." it generally means I passed out in the car.

But I was awake for a bit of the Alps at least! Which were gorgeous. It was amazing to go from village to village tucked in the footfalls of these massive mountains. It had been a slightly hazy day, so we could fully see to the top of the peaks, but we got the gist of how high those suckers go!
The neatest part to see was the random spattering of houses up the side of the mountains! It was remarkable that they didn't just slip right off the side. There were also cows grazing in pastures everywhere you looked! My mom made a comment at one point, saying, "Those poor cows! They have to stand on a hill all day! That has to be really hard!" At which my dad responded with, "Poor cows?! Look at their view! These are the luckiest cows!" And through the whole conversation I couldn't help thinking... you two are talking about a bunch of animals that are being raised to slaughter and then eaten, how lovely to give them emotions now, and not think twice about them when they are sitting between two hamburger buns. But, hey, that's just my vegetarian side showing.

After awhile of car traveling, it was time for some food. But the problem was that we were going from tiny village to tiny village, places that really don't have restaurants. We did find a cute country restaurant to eat at though.
After that, we moved on and stopped in a small shopping village. So we got out and wandered around, looking in some shops. After that, it was time to start heading to Basel to check in to our hotel for the night.

This turned into quite an adventure. We found the way to our hotel just fine... at least we found our way to the street our hotel was on just fine. Getting to the hotel was an issue. There was a festival going on, and because of it, the road was blocked off. In the end, we parked in the city parking and walked to our hotel. The man at reception told us that that was good, because he would have told us to park there anyways!
So we got all checked in, and then wandered down to the festival. There was live music in the center, and food booths set up all around it.
Now, in case you were unaware, in Switzerland... they don't speak French, or even German, they speak Swiss. So neither I nor my dad could understand anything. Granted, Swiss is a bit of a mix, and together we could understand a few things here and there, but it was very disorienting to not understand anything.
But we were able to find something for dinner just fine. I got a crêpe with chocolate (yummy) and my dad got a typical german/swiss sausage meal. It's essentially a very large bratwurst, and they give you a slice of bread, or sometimes a roll to eat with it.
Then it was time for bed, so we went back to the hotel room. Did I mention that the hotel only had one room available... and it only had one bed? Luckily, it was a large bed, so the three of us fit comfortably.  At least until my dad's snoring started...

Sunday we got up and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the hotel dining area. Then we set out for the Rhine Falls. This was really cool. It is the largest waterfall in Europe! Although... to those familiar with Niagara Falls, it can't compare. It is actually more along the lines of really intense rapids. But cool just the same. You can actually walk out onto a platform, and part of the rapids is rushing right underneath you. Kinda freaky to put all your trust in a single pole that is slowly being worn away from the powerful water 24/7...

After this, we drove to Zurich and visited Lake Promenade. Which is a really neat area around a lake with grassy areas and benches and things. There were tons of people milling about, having a relaxing Sunday afternoon in the beautiful weather.
My parents got lunch, my dad getting a bratwurst again, and my mom getting really delicious potato salad, with french fries on the side. I got a really yummy pretzel.
Then we decided to drive back to the Alps, to see them one last time. After that, it was time to head back home. Not of course, without stopping somewhere to attempt to find an open restaurant before 7:00 (19:00) on a sunday... ummm... hello mom and dad! What are you not understanding about restaurants not doing this? Someday they will remember that we are not in Kansas U.S. anymore.
And for those of you wondering whether Grandma Wonka ever got Swiss chocolate... have no fear. It was a very close call, but on our way out, she ran into a gas station and grabbed a pill of bars. Probably not the proper way to have gone about it, but when do the Zillmer's do anything properly?

While we were sitting, having lunch on Saturday, a bunch of people with a herd of cows, all dressed up fancy came down the street! It was quite a sight. Notice the giant cowbells around their necks? This was when I said, "Poor cows."

This was the first car of a wedding parade that went by while we were wandering through the small village on Saturday. There was probably a dozen cars (the rest were normal, this one decorated for the newlyweds), and they all threw candy out the windows!

The sun setting on the Alps (at least the baby alps) as we drove home Sunday night