Pretty Paris

This post is quite late, but I have to do it for my mom, so here it goes!

Gare Du Nord - Main Train Station

Before heading back to the USA my sister Emily came to visit me here in Ober-Beerbach.  She stayed in the Frankfurt area for a few days and then, fortunately her plane was leaving from Paris so the two of us took a weekend trip to explore the city before she departed.

After searching the internet to find the cheapest way to get from Frankfurt to Paris, we bought bus tickets for an overnight bus ride to the City of Lights (or love or whatever you want to say).  We did not know what to expect before boarding the bus so we prepared ourselves for the worst.  We were fairly pleasantly surprised.  There were a few creepy guys who got on the bus but they didn't pay and the German police officers came and kicked them off. That was a relief.  I felt comfortable being trapped in a vehicle with everyone else we were traveling with.  We arrived in Paris about 8 hours later. It was 6:00am on a Saturday morning and the city was just waking up.

The Louvre

We eventually found our way from the bus station to the main train station, Gare du Nord.  We found a big map in the station then found the street our hotel was on and planned out a route.  After walking for about 10 minutes, we decided we probably were walking the opposite way than we should have gone. At least that was what we were hoping.  We were in a dirty, scary part of town.  The locals weren't too friendly and I'm sure Emily and I looked ridiculous. We were loaded down with luggage and obviously lost.  After about 30 minutes a nice woman came up and directed us to where we needed to go.  One over-priced cab ride later, we were at our hostel.  We stored our luggage, ate breakfast, relaxed for a bit then headed back into the city.

Eiffel Tower at Night

The night before while waiting in the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, we looked through travel books that we were too cheap to buy and wrote down the metro stops of all of the places that we wanted to see. So we got a metro map right away then headed to see the sights.  The first morning we headed to the main part of the city. When we reached the Seine river, we decided that we loved Paris. It was so beautiful and we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We walked along the seine to the Louvre.  We spent the afternoon in the museum and had a good time.  The building itself was beautiful and so huge.  We got to see a lot of great art.

After the museum we headed back to the hostel so that we could check in, take a nap and shower because we were starting to get a bit grumpy.  After resting and freshening up, we headed out to get dinner and see the Eiffel Tower.  That evening it was raining a bit and the city was beautiful. We had a great dinner at a nice restaurant and then headed to the tower.  Before going, I thought the Eiffel Tower (and all of Paris for that matter) was probably overrated, but I was proven wrong. It was so pretty! It was nice to go up into the tower and because it was 10:00 at night and raining a bit there was almost no line to buy tickets.  Unfortunately we couldn't go all the way to the top of the tower because it was too cold, but it was still great.

Nice Sunday Morning 

The next morning we actually went back to the Eiffel Tower area because we wanted to see the tower and the area surrounding it during the day.  It was a nice Sunday morning.  We ate lunch at the same restaurant as the night before then headed back to our hostel. We explored the area around our hostel for a while. We stayed near Basilique du Sacré Coeu, which was pretty.

After resting and repacking for the next morning. we headed back out for the night. We stopped by the Arc de Triomphe (which was beautiful!!) before heading to Notre Dame.  I loved the district surrounding Notre Dame.  There were lots of people and cool restaurants and shops.  We walked along the river then made our way to the cathedral. It was absolutely gorgeous! I think it was the most beautiful church I have seen.  I loved it. After standing and gawking at the cathedral, we headed to a book shop we read about in a Lonely Planet book.  The name of the shop was Shakespeare and Company. It was such a neat book store! It was an old, tiny two-story building full of books written in English.  There were adorable reading nooks with cots and couches.  I could have spent hours in there, but unfortunately it was late and the shop was closing.  After the book store we went to get dinner. We found cheap gyros (5 euro dinner including a coke!!) and it was great.  After that Emily wanted a glass of wine but couldn't find one she could afford so settled with a yummy gelato-topped waffle for her last treat in Europe.  Then we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep before getting up early the next morning.

Notre Dame

We had to wake up at 4:30 in order to get to the train station in time to get a train to the airport.  When we finally got to the airport we weren't able to get through the gate between the train platform and airport for some reason and there were no airport staff anywhere around. The adventure started there. We got creative and eventually got through the gate.  After that we walked and walked and walked some more until we saw some check in desks and information desks.  We stopped at pretty much every information desk we saw looking for British airways. The airport was under construction and we had to walk through parking lots and go up and down elevators and stairs and after what felt like hours we found the check in desk just in time.  When I left Emily at security, she had only about 5 minutes to get to her plane. I didn't know for sure until hours later that she actually did get to board the plane.  After leaving the airport I made my way back to the train station.  Little did I know, there are two large train stations in Paris and of course I was at the wrong one. Luckily, I figured that out early and the second one was in walking distance.  I got on the train early and headed back to Germany. In order to get back to the house I used 3 trains and a bus, but that went really smoothly. I had a great weekend in Paris with my sister. I am so glad that we got to do that together. Now, I just need to go back with my parents. 

Blessings in Deutschland

A few days ago I was talking on Skype with a few friends from home. They asked me what my favorite part of my time here in Germany has been so far.  I can't be sure, but I think they were expecting me to say my trip to this city or to this place.  I had to take a minute to think about the question.  It was a good question to make me think.  What has been my favorite part? I have been so blessed during my time here. God has new surprises for me daily, and most of them have been such a huge blessing.  But honestly, the first thing that came to my mind when they asked about my favorite part of this journey has been my alone time.  I've had some really great time to just rest and to talk to God.

Scheduling is one of my favorite things to do.  I love making plans.  Actually, I could tell you what I have planned for each week of the next year and a half.  While at school, at least 50 hours of my week are usually scheduled with class, working, class work, and club activities.  If I see I have a  few extra hours one day, I try to plan ahead the best way to use that time. I'm definitely not saying I don't waste a lot of time laying around, surfing the internet, and watching movies.  Because that is definitely something I do to relax or relieve stress during busy times and I definitely do those things to avoid doing homework and then end up missing out on sleep to hastily finish assignments.

My time here in Germany has been different. Yes, I do have daily and weekly duties.  I take the girls to school, pick them up, prepare breakfast and snacks, play, take them on shopping trips (I didn't say all of my duties are difficult... ;) ) But I have so much unschedule free time here and it has been a huge blessing.  It has made me slow down and unwind. I maybe spend a bit too much time napping, but that has been nice.  I also have spent a bit more time reading.  I just finished a great book one of my friends gave me, A Woman and Her God. It was so great.  God taught me a lot through various authors who wrote short passages to encourage and inspire women.  I am now reading Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul as well as What's So Amazing About Grace? All of these books are teaching me so much.

One thing I was scared about before coming here was being alone and away from my Christian communities at school and at home.  It was something I prayed a lot before I came and God has been blessing me by putting great Christian young adults in my life here.  But because I am not meeting weekly with others to be poured into and to pray with, I have been having a lot of great alone time with God.  I have been seeking Him in ways I never have before.  I am finding how important it is to have daily alone time with him.  The other morning I was wasting time before meeting my friend and driving around the hills near our home.  I didn't know until then just how beautiful this area is.  I stopped the car along the side of an old, narrow road and started walking on the empty trails. I spent an hour walking and talking with God and exploring the beautiful places he created. The whole time I only saw two other people and they were a few hundred meters away.  It was so amazing to have that time alone with him.  I was able to open up and he taught me so much during that time.

I am amazed by how great my time here has been. It is pretty unbelievable that I will be leaving here in one month from today. I am excited to get back home but so thankful for my time here.