Last Thursday, Janice and I took a train to Munich, Germany then a plane to Paris, France. Janice is a junior at Ohio State and is also stuyding abroad for the entire year. We decided to stay in Paris for about 5 days with a friend of mine from Wofford, Danielle, who was finishing her semester of study abroad. Luckily Danielle speaks French so we were not completely hopeless in a foreign country.
I saw the Eiffel Tower from a dozen different angles, saw the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre Museum, went into the Notre Dame, and ate amazing crepes and chocolate. I took 350+ pics so as soon as I delete the bad ones, I will post them online for you. Aside from nearly missing our plane home, all went well.
Oh do you want to hear that story?
Well on Tuesday we left the hostel at 6:30am. So maybe I wasn't fully awake at the Lufthansa ticket counter at Charles De Gaulle Airport. Or maybe the miscommunication happened because my conversation with the employee occurred in 3 languages. (We were in France flying on a German airline, and showed him our USA passports. But I remember him saying Gate 68. Well Janice and I got through security no problem and went to Gate 68 where a plane in fact would be going to Munich. We sat and waited awhile. I never checked A) my pass to tell the boarding time B) my watch to see how close it was to our departure time and C) the screen that updates which gate you actually should board from. For future reference, make sure to do each of these and you will be fine. However I didn't so during a pause in our conversation I hear "Ms. Broadwater" being said over the loud speaker. It's not a common name in the US so it is definitely uncommon in France. I listened a second time and it was a "LAST BOARDING CALL" for the two of us. I calmly told Janice to come with me. Then when I heard the announcement say Gate 62, I sprinted, well honestly I just jogged, through the airport to get to our gate.
There was no trouble from then on and following another train ride to Salzburg and a bus ride to my dorm, I was home again. We returned on the 23rd and since then I have talked with family and friends on Skype, watched the entire season of The Office from this fall, and watched 3 movies. I celebrated Christmas by having dinner with other friends in town on Christmas Eve. Following dinner at an Indian restaurant, we went to a traditional mass service. The church was packed which is a common trend in the US as well. But where most churches I go to will bring out more folding chairs if the pews are full, it became a standing room only for those of us who got there early but not early engouh. The music and experience was overall good but I would have preferred not to stand for 1.5 hours while a priest spoke/mumbled in German phrases I don't even know in English.
On Christmas day, I met Sammy and her family, who are visiting for awhile, at the Christmas market in town. We walked around to all the shops that were selling things like candles, ornaments, wreaths, nativity scenes, and food. We went into the main Catholic church in town called the Dom and into a few other churches in the old city. It was snowing so anything to stay warm. Today I intend to be more productive in an academic sense. Goals: finish cleaning room, buy a liter of milk since stores are closed tomorrow, and read 1 of 3 books for school.
Below are two images of what downtown Salzburg looked like with the Christmas market, which officially ended yesterday. Then the other 2 are links to photo albums from Schloss Hellbrunn, a palace in Salzburg with water fountain types of tricks and things. Our professor got a personal key to everything so he could show us around just like a tour guide would. Unfortunately since working there is not his day job he mistakenly got us wet a few times. The videos show how silly and imaginative the creator of the palace and water fountains must have been. A Christmas Market was also held at Schloss Hellbrunn if you can imagine that by blurring the sets of pictures a bit.
Well I hope to post again soon. Still other things to share that I didn't get around to when they actually happened. Hope you will forgive my delay.
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| From Salzburg |
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| From Salzburg |
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| Schloss Hellbrunn Oct 31 |
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| Schloss Hellbrunn Videos Oct 31 |
hey, sounds like things are going great over there. i have been reading your blogs but this is my first message. i wish i could come visit.
ReplyDeletecaleb