The Louvre and Saint Chapelle, then off to London!

So today was the day we would get to see the Louvre. I was looking forward to that as I wanted to see the Mona Lisa. We got there and checked in around 10am and were told to meet up around noon to head to lunch. Well lets just say the Louvre is enormous. You can not keep up with it all. I went to the Mona Lisa first and then proceeded to walk around looking at the different era's of original art they had inside. While it was cool to see all of it preserved, I must admit that I did get a tad bit bored - I guess I am not much of an artist. We headed to lunch and afterward though the original group plan was the Arch de Triumph - which I had seen already and was going to skip - we instead had free time due to a couple members of our group being late to meet back at the Louvre and therefore canceling the Arch de Triumph plans for others. I was happy I had gone to see it earlier and felt sorry for those who had not.

I hopped on the metro and headed to Saint Chapelle though my battery died, due to forgetting to charge it after yesterday's events, I was awestruck by the Church itself. While Notre Dame may be more famous, this church outshines it with the intricacy of its glass work. At least...in my opinion it does. Nevertheless, I was happy to have seen both, stopping at a couple shops on the way back to grab souvenirs from Paris.

We all loaded the bus and headed for Gare du Nord, the train station we would depart from to head to England. It was a nice train ride and a surreal experience upon arriving in London to see cars driving on the WRONG side of the road. Several revelations occurred for me at that time. First of all when our bus was traveling in the far right lane, it was not the 'fast lane' instead it was the 'slow lane.' Secondly I wonder...do they call it the left of way for faster cars? As we call it the right of way in the US. Thirdly why on earth would they drive this way...I mean most of the world drives the other way. Anyways we arrived on the campus which was small and headed to our rooms which I must say are more than a bit crowded - we have 6-9 to a room - before checking the internet and going to sleep.

Versailles, the Bastille, and the Eiffel Tower!

So today was the best day of my trip, I was going to Versailles! This has been my dream since just about...forever! The morning started relatively early as I headed downstairs to grab breakfast. A group of around 10 of us set out with 8 planning to only see the garden. That left myself and one other to go inside and see the entirety that Versailles had to offer. Words can not describe what it was like, it was simply awe inspiring, to think that someone made something of this magnitude. I do not know if any man-made structure can exceed it. In fact thus far I've not seen one that can. From the Palace itself to the Gardens to the numerous areas that surrounded it, I can easily see why the French revolution occurred. After spending several hours there, we left around 130 to head to lunch afterward going to see the Bastille monument. I guess in a way we were tracing the events of the french revolution around. It was cool to see and after being unable to head inside Saint Chapelle, we headed back to the hotel to await the time when we would go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Luckily this monument had an elevator, so it was easy to get to the top and see things. The view of the city was gorgeous, yet still cold. Luckily I was wearing several layers. After the sun went down the tower lit up and you could see the rest of the city light up as well. It was very pretty, you have to be there to see just how pretty it is. A long day it was and I quickly fell asleep upon getting back. I'd have to say that this was my best day.

Arriving in Paris, a Tomb, and the Arch de Triumph!

So, today was a pretty exciting day. We finally left the Collonges area to head for Paris. I've been looking forward to this trip for awhile and despite the early morning start we had to have, it was still going to be a blast! We almost missed our train on the way there due to several late individuals, but luckily we did not, though it was close, very close. It took a couple hours to get there and once we did, we headed to our hostel, dropped off our stuff, and then went to eat at a buffet. The buffet was pretty filling and afterward we left to head to Notre Dame - a couple of us made a side visit to the Catacombs under it. All in all Notre Dame was pretty cool and we were now able to check into our hostel, so we headed back. I was lucky enough to get my own room, even if it was on the 6th floor...and began to head up the long staircase. To say my room was nice would be a lie....it was kinda...grungy. I'd have to say this is one of the worst hostel's I've ever stayed in. It really encouraged me NOT to stay around in my room.

So after checking in a group of us headed off to explore the city. We rode the subway and got off near Napoleon's Tomb. Basically it's held inside a church with a golden dome. Afterward he headed off to the Arch de Triumph. I was really looking forward to this part and several of us purchased tickets to climb to the top. Thanks to a discount for students it was around 5 euro. There was no elevator to get to the top so we had to climb, one stair at a time... That was a long climb up. The view was nice and you could see a good amount of the city. We headed down Champs-Élysées to see the sights and stuff. It was cool to be on that street, grabbed some food, and then headed back to the hostel for sleep. Tomorrow I go to Versailles and I am really looking forward to that!!

Rain...Rain

Another slow day today. The rain was coming down, a downpour at times. I just decided to take the day to do laundry and pack. Tomorrow will be exciting, we leave for Paris! I cannot wait! Another leg to the journey.

Slow Fade

So today was what I would characterize a very slow day. Basically we had around six hours of class....ughs and then afterward a bit of free time until dinner. Basically after dinner I then had to start studying for tomorrow's class. I tell you the worst idea ever is having a class like this. Sitting by a window, looking outside, it's about torture and you always want to leave. Anyways nothing big to report about today aside from being more than a bit worried that a strike by British Airways will cancel the return flight from London to Geneva. I'll wait till tomorrow. More to come then.

Majestic Grandeur and Epic Failure

Today was a day I was highly anticipating. We were going to Mont Blanc! To say the least, I am stoked. The only thing that held me back was the early wake-up time, but that's okay. So we got on the train to head to Chamonix, the town where Mont Blanc is located. The train ride was long, around 2-3 hours however with the beautiful scenery and good reading I was not really too bored. We only had to ride two trains on the way there and both times I had a good view to the area around me. Upon arriving in Chamonix we headed over towards the lift that would take us to the top of Aiguille du Midi, one of the highest cable cars in the world. There was no cable going to the top of Mont Blanc specifically, however we were on the mountain next to it. It was extremely cold out there and I was very happy it was not raining and snowing. With a peak height of 3842m or 12604ft there was quite a climate change and I was wearing layers. I wish I had brought a coat but I did not think it would be needed. Either way I still enjoyed myself. There were a number of skiers or snowboarders there, however it was an extremely treacherous place to do so. With holes in the snow/ice and the speed and rocks and lack of ski patrol this really is living on the edge. Not a place I am qualified to snowboard or ski, that is for certain. We finally came to the bottom around 2pm after having spent 3 hours around the top. Next stop was lunch afterward we had free time and I headed to call relatives for mothers day while it rained. That completed, I headed outside, took pictures of the area, and toured around before heading back to load our return train. The return ride was much longer and we had 4 trains we had to ride on the way back, even arriving at a different station. Around 11pm we headed back due to not being able to contact the bus. It was a wet rainy evening, I finally straggled in soaking wet at midnight. Really it good day but the end was quite disappointing and infuriating.

Hiking Mont Salève!!!!!!

So I awoke today quite excited. It was first off Sabbath and secondly I was going to be able to go to the top of Mont Saléve. At first, I thought it would be simply a bus ride up...at least that was what the group had planned. However when I went downstairs around 2pm for departure, I ran into Shelley a girl who goes to school here, who asked me to join her on a hike to the top. I..could not really say no and said yes. To which effect I had a blast! The top of the Mont is 1300m or 4265ft. I don't know what altitude I started at, however lets just say it took about 2hrs to get to the top and it was some climbing. What better way to spend Sabbath? In nature and in the view of such a majestic foe that the mountain offered, it's hard to imagine a better day. I did get understandingly tired on my way up however once there, it felt good. I was and still am quite proud to have hiked to the top of it. Probably one of the hardest hikes I've had in awhile. Anyways once getting to the top we walked across some cow pastures, apparently they feed the cows at the top. As well we also saw a lot of para-gliders on their way down - the top of Mont Saléve is good for that. We went over to another path which brought us by a flag that had been painted on as an April Fools joke by a group of American students roughly 20 years ago. The story behind it is quite funny. In essence one night they went up and painted the Swiss flag on the Mont. The French guard was mobilized as well as police etc because it was believed that Switzerland was invading. However they found out it was an American prank and made those who had done it go up every day to scrape off the flag before they had to leave...eventually it was repainted to do a French logo that is in this region. Similar to the Swiss cross, however also not the Swiss flag. We went there and then we began our descent which took around an hour or two in total with the hike to see the flag. I arrived back to the school at 6pm worn out and ready to eat then relax for the evening. What a beautiful Sabbath Day!!!