PARIS

Who ever said that people in Paris were rude, were wrong.

This weekend trip was special for a few reasons: Firstly, our friend Hilary met up with us during her two week travel around Europe! Secondly, Hilary’s parents…are really nice. They arranged for Erin, Bonnie, Hilary and me to stay in a beautiful hotel for our first night in Paris! The Renaissance Hotel was right by the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees. You can’t imagine how happy we were to have a real shower, soft towels, ice, ice buckets, air conditioning, and a comfortable bed. This was also going to be an exciting weekend, because our friend Leah was turning 20 on Friday, and the 4th of July was on Sunday!

We embarked on our journey to Paris Thursday evening via the Maastricht train station. Once arriving in Gare du Nord (Paris), we bought are 5 day metro passes and headed to meet Hilary. Upon exiting the train station, like usual, we took a wrong turn. A few nice strangers, an iphone map, and a call to Hilary later…we had made it! We felt relieved, excited, and almost confused when we saw Hilary! It was very strange to see a familiar face in a foreign place. Our entire group in Maastricht has been together for over two months now. We’ve traveled together, lived together, eaten together, experienced and seen things together and in doing so, living over here has become commonplace to us. Without meaning to, Hilary reminded us that we had adapted to Europe and the lifestyle rather smoothly, without realizing it. Europe felt like home.

The following morning we roamed around the Arc, went into few shops and headed to the “Garden Hotel,” where we would stay the rest of our nights in Paris. While we weren’t in the outskirts of Paris (as we were in London), we walked into a tiny room with four beds pushed together, and secretly wished we were back in the Renaissance. It didn’t end up being that bad. There was a garden like area outside (garden-check), and there was a lady who sometimes brought us towels (hotel-check). So there you have it, the “Garden Hotel.” We met up with our friends at the Eiffel Tower to watch the World Cup semi-final game, Holland vs. Brazil! Naturally, we put on what orange we owned and cheered on Holland to victory! Around the middle of the game it started to rain! This was a blessing, because it had been miserably hot before the game, and what seemed like half of the Brazilian fans ran away for shelter. And they call themselves fans! We went to eat dinner in the Latin Quarter, and headed back to the tower afterwards to watch it glow at night.

We woke up to the best sound in the world, rain! Groggy from the night before, we “slept in” until 9:30 listening to the rain outside our window. We originally had planned to spend Saturday at the Palace of Versailles, but with the rain, we decided to save it. Finally, the rain tapered off to a drizzle, and we headed across the street to a crepe stand for breakfast! Fact: Banana, Nutella, and Coconut crepes are the best. Next, we crept towards Sacre Cour, and spent the afternoon on the steps looking at the hazy Paris skyline, entertained by music. If you haven’t noticed, our traveling group enjoys sitting.

On Sunday, we decided it was time to play tourist for the day. We woke early and headed on a train to the Palace of Versailles. Bonnie then led us astray to a street where we bought “legal” tickets for 15 euro. (She had done this before). We managed to walk through rather quickly, and on the way out, found a Mexican restaurant and indulged. We hit the Louvre—said hello to Mona, visited the Musee d’Orsay, and Notre Dame. After a long day, we headed back to the hotel for a siesta, and woke up ready to celebrate the 4th of July! Of course, the first and most important item on the 4th-- is watermelon. We found a market, bought a melon and headed to the Eiffel Tower to celebrate our last night in Paris. We luckily found a hot dog stand and fries when we arrived; set up camp in a grassy area right before sundown, and enjoyed ourselves.

The night was perfect. Traci managed to buy a bottle of champagne for 3.50 euro…her pick up line was “2 for 5” every time someone came around trying to sell us various items. A guy from New York sitting close to us told her she was the best haggler he has seen! Per usual, we missed our train connection from Liege to Maastricht that coming morning, and arrived around noon. That night, the cooks at the guesthouse made us a 5th of July dinner in celebration! While it tasted nothing like home, it was a valiant effort which included American music, decorations, food, and friends.

This coming weekend we are headed to Interlaken, Switzerland for a few nights to go canyoning! Here’s a link to what that’s all about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7jDxUk1g7k

Our trip will be cut short by a day as we make our way back to Maastricht to watch the Netherlands play in the Finals for the World Cup!! The saying here is Hup Holland Hup! Hopefully, those of you watching will cheer Holland on to victory in your brightest orange, singing the song—“We love you Holland we do, we love Holland we do, we love you Holland we do, Holland we love you Hup Hup Hup!”