A lot can happen in 10 days...

So, I am really behind on this blogging thing. I went on spring break and traveled through Europe for 10 days and obviously that means that there is a lot to talk about which just seemed so overwhelming to do I put it off, and put it off, and put it off. Which meant that I also spent a weekend in Dublin, Ireland that I haven't talked about yet and then another weekend with a revisit to Tivoli and a day trip to Tuscany to talk about as well. And then a weekend in the Amalfi Coast and not to mention a weekend of travels to Florence and Cinque Terre with Sarah and Hanna that happened BEFORE spring break.

As you can tell a lot has been happening and will be until the end of this journey. But first of all I want to tell some stories of spring break and that will take a while so bear with me.

I left the morning of Friday, March 19th. My plane was at 6:50 am to Zurich, Switzerland. Instead of waking up at essentially 2 am to go through torturous public transportation methods because of the hour to get to the airport on time I chose to take a set rate taxi. They said they would pick me up at 4:30. They were right on time... and made it to the airport at 4:40. This ride is supposed to take 35-45 minutes depending on traffic, there was no traffic, oh and the taxi driver was going 200km/h which is approximately 125 mph; let's just say that was a slightly scary cab ride.

I got to Zurich and had an interesting time finding my hostel; which even though it was sorta far from everything I was only there one night so it wasn't a big deal. The hostel was HUGE and extremely nice. The first day in Zurich I took a bus tour or the city and we also went in a cable car ride in the surrounding area and then a ferry across the water. It was gorgeous. You can see the alps like behind that water which is an amazingly beautiful combination.

The next day I walked around and saw some of the churches, climbed to the top of one to look out over everything, and most importantly of all I purchased a lot of Swiss chocolate. (Which I will be returning to the US with so if you catch me in time I might share a bit before its all gone!) Over all, Zurich was a really cool city and its not the most commonly visited but I would highly recommend it!

Then I was off to Interlaken. Not much to mention. The alps are of course gorgeous. Due to time and weather constraints I didn't get to ski in the Alps. The weather would have made it miserable and not worth how expensive it would have been to rent all the gear including a coat and snow pants etc.

But that does not mean my visit to the alps was adventure-less. I ended up going canyon jumping. I will post a video on facebook soon; but in short. They took us up into the alps and we hiked out to a canyon where there is a small metal platform. There are some intense rope set ups from which a big rope hangs that they attach to your harness and you then jump. It is about a 200 ft drop or so and then you swing back and forth a few times. It was AMAZING. One of the best things I have ever done! You should go try it like NOW and bring me with you.

After that adventure, off to Brussels I went. On the whole I was not a huge fan of Brussels. It was kind of cool but I just wasn't feeling it. Definitely not one of my faves but I am glad I saw it. I didn't do that much exciting. Just walked around seeing the sites and ate a lot of french fries and waffles.

Then my most anticipated and last stop of spring break: PARIS!

I have some family that lives and Paris and they were extremely kind and let me stay with them. Also, one of my roommates from Rome was in Paris at the same time so I saw some stuff with her and her friends a bit. The first day I did a walking tour and we saw Notre Dame, the Sorbonne, the Paris Pantheon, Les Invalides, the Rodin Museum, and got caught in a massive down pour.

The next day was the iconic Paris day: the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and Le Tour Eiffel. We stood in line, freezing, for over two hours. But it was really cool to see over Paris at night from the Eiffel Tower, we had planned to see it in the day... but the two hour wait kind of changed that. But we saw it sparkling from the second floor so that was really cool. (For those of you who don't know at night the Eiffel Tower sparkles every hour on the hour for five minutes making it seem even more spectacular.)

My last day in Paris I went to brunch with one of my cousins and walked around different parts of Paris seeing different things by myself. I got to see the Moulin Rouge which was exciting in the sense that that is my all time favorite movie.

There are a lot of things that I didn't get to see in Paris (including Versailles) but I guess that just means I have to go back!

That pretty much sums up my Spring Break. It was incredibly exhausting and I was sick for the entire Paris portion that was sort of a bummer but it was a great experience and I am so happy I got to see and do all those incredible things. It still blows my mind all this traveling I am doing!

Ciao Ciao!