Missing Marburg

It's been pretty much a week since I left Europe. Adjusting back into American life wasn't hard, but I'm still not used to being able to order things in English and having people around me speak and understand English. I guess I got used to being the American who stood out like a sore thumb in every city I went to.

In the spirit of Marburg, my dad and I tried our hand at making Auflauf (a dish popular among students in Germany - oh how I miss it) and sort of succeeded. It was good, no doubt, but it didn't really capture the Marburger Auflauf that I long for. We plan on trying again with some changes - we'll figure it out eventually!

Yumm Auflauf

So... After 38 days throughout 2 months I visited 10 cities, had 16 days of class consisting of 80 hours of German, ate food of at least 3 different cultures, adapted to the minimalist European breakfast, took a 40-minute bus ride into Marburg about 4 times a day, spent at least 37 hours on a train traveling throughout Germany and Europe, cheered on the Deutschland Fußballbund (German football team) wholeheartedly throughout their admirable World Cup run, experienced quite a few different cultures, and had an amazing time.

Throughout these 38 days, I became quite acquainted with an adorable town in Hessen by the name of Marburg. I took a weekend trip to Munich and experienced my first Biergarten as well as Ludwig II's beautiful castle, Neuschwanstein. I visited Berlin for a day and saw the Reichstag, remaining parts of the Berlin Wall, and the Berlin Zoo. In Potsdam, I visited Sans Souci, a palace modeled after Versailles. I went to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame, and Sacre Coeur. I visited the town that I did my exchange program in four years back - Göttingen. It was great to see the city that first acquainted me with Germany again. I took another trip back to Munich to give my parents their first real Biergarten experience as well as see Neuschwanstein again. I stepped foot into Austria to see Salzburg - and the Alps for the first time. I crossed the border into Italy to experience the magical (and peculiar) city of Venice, where I saw Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge. I ended my European travels in Rome, where I found myself at the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Vatican, Villa d'Este, and Pompeii. From there I hopped on a plane and landed in good ol' Newark, NJ.

The US was greatly missed - and Europe will certainly be (and already is) missed. Here's to an amazing experience - one I will certainly never forget!

Buongiorno, Roma!

One long and boring train ride later, we're in Rome. First impression: it's hot. After we check in at the hotel, we begin a walking trek to the Pantheon and ultimately, Piazza Navona. We make a quick stop at the Trevi Fountain before heading onwards to the Pantheon, both of which are crawling with tourists (not surprisingly).

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon... damn you, scaffolding!!!

Luckily, we had my mom with us this time around and she led us around the back of the Pantheon, which was actually quite interesting. Soon we were off to Piazza Navona. We meandered, checking out the artists who were displaying and selling their work and the Fountain of Four Rivers (accompanied by an Egyptian obelisk). 

Piazza Navona

Tired and hot from our long walk, we searched out a restaurant - we narrowed it down between two restaurants right next to each other, both of which boasted umbrellas with wonderful misty-ness. We ended up choosing Ristorante Panzirone and had a fabulous meal. Our waiter was fun and attentive and the food was delicious. Definitely a good eating experience :)

Our favorite restaurant!

The following morning, we found our way to the Colosseum and took a short guided tour through it (mostly to skip the long line). It was only 10:00 am but the sun was going strong. The tour was nothing special, we ended up ditching it early to meander the Forum before our 1:00 pm tour of the Vatican. Going inside the Colosseum was cool though - last time I was in Rome, I attempted to get inside multiple times but couldn't due to crazy closing hours.

The Colosseum

Trying to see the Forum didn't happen, though, since we tried to go in the exit and then ultimately couldn't find the entrance... so we had lunch! We met up with our tour just before 1 and began our three-hour Vatican excursion. It was hot, sticky, and more hot. The Vatican museums are pretty interesting, but not on a day like Saturday -  we just wanted to be out of the heat. We eventually got to the Sistine Chapel - definitely pretty cool, but being in a room full of hot tourists slowly shuffling around was not high on our list of things to do. We went in, looked around, and left (and ditched our tour). After some water and a little rest, we walked around the walls of the Vatican in search of St. Peter's Square. The basilica was quite impressive and we walked around for a little bit in the welcome air conditioning. 

St. Peter's Basilica

Dome of St. Peter's, from the inside

We saw my favorite statue, La Pieta by Michelangelo, as well as some creepy dead popes (who knew their bodies were on display??). Soon after, we went back to the hotel to make ourselves not gross for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Ristorante Panzirone (perhaps a picture isn't necessary...) We requested our favorite waiter, Alessandro, and had another fabulous meal :)

The following day, we made our way to Tivoli to see Villa d'Este. We took a train from a slightly sketchy secondary train station in Rome and about an hour later, we arrived in Tivoli. We walked for about 25 minutes in the hot sun and eventually found our way to the Villa. Once there, we meandered through the awesome gardens of Villa d'Este, a villa built by a cardinal in the 1500s. Throughout the grounds there are fountains and statues of Roman gods and goddesses - it had a cool vibe. 

Fountain at Villa d'Este

When we were done walking around, we grabbed some food from the restaurant at the villa and walked back to the train station in hopes of getting an earlier train back to Rome. Unfortunately, our 25 minute walk was in vain as the next train was not for another two and a half hours. To kill time, we walked around the grounds of another villa nearby, but the heat was too much and we decided to chill out at a restaurant and rehydrate. Eventually we got on the train back to Rome - with the heat, we were cranky and tired. We learned a lesson: never go back to Tivoli. Perhaps it was a combination of the empty/closed town (Europeans take their Sundays very seriously), the excessive heat and dehydration, and the unfriendly Italians, but Tivoli did not make a good impression.

That evening, we had dinner at our hotel so we could completely relax. No more walking, standing, planning - just eating good food. It's definitely safe to say that we slept well that night, but that sleep was cut short when we woke up early in preparation for our excursion to Pompeii. We were herded onto a bus for the day and were given an itinerary of stops including rest stops, Naples, lunch at a restaurant (not of our choice) and a coral jewelry shop. These stops proved to be too structured and a complete waste of time for us - lesson learned: no more bus tours. Pompeii, however, was quite awesome (at least once we ditched our tour... we apparently have a tendency to do that). Our tour guide was slow moving and fluent in English and Spanish - so, lucky us, we got about 10 Spanish-speaking tourists with us. So we not only had to wait through a relatively uninteresting explanation in English, but we also had to wait while our tour guide did the same spiel in Spanish. We got through about two sights in Pompeii in 45 minutes (of a 2-hour tour) with the group and then couldn't take it anymore, so we left to meander on our own (awesome idea!). Pompeii is VERY cool and definitely too big to effectively see in the time we had. The ancient frescoes and villas were incredible and it was an awesome experience to walk around the city and inside the buildings that thrived so long ago. I definitely intend to go back at some point in my life to fully explore the city.

Ancient frescoes!

Inside one of the ancient villas

Amphitheater

The city of Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius, the deadly volcano, in the background

So overall Rome was definitely a fun experience... and a hot one. The heat made it a bit harder to fully enjoy, but I had a good time and now I have some good plans for my next trip to Italy - Amalfi Coast and Pompeii again! The trip has now come to an end - one last blog post to come!

Viva Venezia!

We arrived in Venice on Wednesday around 4:30 after our long drive from Munich. The arrival was confusing – the “giant parking lot” where all cars headed into Venice obviously had to park was hectic and unclear. Eventually we ditched the rental car in the right spot and grabbed ourselves a water taxi to head to the hotel. The parking lot begins at the west end of the Grand Canal and our hotel was at the exact opposite end – perfect opportunity to see all of Venice from the Canal. We enjoyed beautifully clear weather during our entire stay in Venice, and our ride to the hotel was no different. I stood up in the back of the taxi armed with my camera the entire time. Venice is an extremely interesting and incredibly beautiful city – the colors and architecture of the buildings are quite unique and add some great flair to the city (not to mention the fact that the roads are canals…)

On the way to the hotel

Awesome architecture!

We walked into our hotel to find that it is a very old building (yet we unfortunately still don’t know how old) with ornate decorations. We make it up to our room and reenergize, eager to explore the city. We get ready for the evening and head down to the hotel bar to chill out and enjoy the scenery (patio right along the canal!) before heading out. From there, we begin to meander. We’re armed with a map, but it’s only a precaution - we don't want to find ourselves hopelessly lost. The city is made up of small streets, some relatively wide and some extremely narrow, that wind without a pattern between narrow canals filled with gondolas. 

Narrow canals and gondolas

Along the streets are small restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops and we begin to hunt down a good restaurant for dinner. We find ourselves meandering the little streets, crossing bridges and stumbling upon small piazzas. More than once we found ourselves along the Grand Canal, but who knows where… Eventually we begin to walk back towards the direction of our hotel, finding some familiar-looking streets. We find a small restaurant and relax as we eat some (supposedly) delicious Italian food. The appetizers were not good – it did not bode well for the rest of our meal. Luckily, the entrée was a bit more enjoyable (though still not great), and we headed back to the hotel soon afterwards.

The Germany v. Spain game was on in the hotel bar, and I went to go check the score -  the bar was packed, so we ended up watching the last 20 minutes of the game in the room. It was disappointing for sure. Guess we’ll just have to wait until 2014 for some Deutschland glory (looks like Sportfreunde Stiller has to change their song… again).

The following morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel (my first scrambled eggs in Europe! Not as good as home, though). We then walked over to Piazza San Marco and checked out the basilica and the Doge’s palace. We went to the top of the campanile in the square, which was beautiful. The weather was perfectly clear and we could see the whole city. 

View from the campanile - our hotel was right across from that church

The breeze at the top of the tower was also quite welcome on such a warm day. Afterwards, we got online for the basilica. I was evidently “indecently dressed” so I had to pay a euro to get a stupid paper shawl to wrap around my legs. It made for a less-than-ideal church visit but the mosaics in the basilica were certainly impressive. We made our way to the balcony that looked over the square, which was a nice view as well. Afterwards, we grabbed a quick pizza lunch (delicious!) and then shopped around for some carnevale masks. My mom and I got some pretty sweet ones! Who knows what we’ll do with them, but they were cheap and fun to get. We then walked back to the hotel to recharge and drop off our purchases. From there, we walked around the city again and went to a hotel that had a roof terrace bar (and a cool view). Afterwards, we walked towards the famous Rialto Bridge and crossed to the other side of the Canal, where we grabbed dinner at a cute outdoor café. 

View of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

The food was amazing and served in perfect portions – I had lasagne and it was some of the best I’ve ever tasted (still can’t decide if it was better than the one at Café Barfuß… I thought that one would be hard to beat, but this one is definitely giving it a run for it’s money). After some rich chocolate gelato, we meandered back to the hotel and enjoyed the evening on the hotel’s patio along the canal.

This morning, we headed out at around 10:15 am to get to the train station. We’re off to Roma! It’s the last leg of the journey, and definitely going to be a busy few days. It’ll be great to see some of the awesome sights again (ancient Rome, Colosseum, Pantheon, Forum, the Vatican, etc), as well as some new ones (Villa d’Este and Pompeii)!

Oh, the Hills are Alive…

Not exactly with the Sound of Music. Day trip to Salzburg, Austria went off without a hitch – sorry, von Trapps, the set location of your movie was not included on the day’s list of things to do. No doubt we managed to look like dumb, lost tourists anyway (getting on the bus going in the wrong direction and having the bus driver single us out as the lost Americans… he did point us in the right direction, however, so perhaps it was necessary).

We opted to take the train to Salzburg to give my dad a break from driving, and besides, who can beat the “Bayern Ticket” price of 28 euro for up to 5 people round trip? (I love Europe’s hidden ticket specials). The train ride was beautiful – our first real good view of the Alps. Of course once we arrived in Salzburg, the weather decided to become dreary and rainy and continued to get harder until we cracked and bought some umbrellas. We made our way through the Altstadt (old town) and up towards the medieval fortress (one of the most well-maintained fortresses from the Middle Ages in Europe). The fortress is known as Hohensalzburg and we took a funicular up the steep hill. 

View of the Fortress

Despite the rain, the view from the fortress was incredible – beautiful Alps to the west and the adorable city of Salzburg below us. Our mini guide book promised us a tour including dungeons, towers, and a torture room so we got ourselves some tickets. It turned out to be an audio guide leading us through models of the fortress from it’s beginnings throughout the years of additions by paranoid rulers. We learned all about how it was a force to be reckoned with and that I was never taken by force… only to learn that it was surrendered without contest to Napoleon (disappointment, much?). From there we were herded into the “torture room” which was filled with shackles and a supposed death wheel. They reassured us that no torture ever took place in that room – they just “stored” the torture instruments there. We were skeptical – I must say, it looked pretty legit. Next we hiked up a never-ending spiral staircase to the top of the Reckturm, the highest point of the fortress, and stood in the cold rain learning about the sights to be seen. 

View from the Reckturm

View of the mountains for the Reckturm

The tour basically ended there, with no visits to the dungeons (with the exception of looking down a shaft in the torture room that led down to them). It was an interesting experience to be sure, but I would say it didn’t live up to it’s expectations.

By that time, the rain had stopped and we meandered around the Altstadt some more. We purchased ourselves some “Mozart Balls” – chocolate truffle things that have light and dark nougat along with pistachio marzipan – which were pretty tasty. From there we walked into the cemetery of St. Peter’s Abbey - a very interesting, yet ostentatious, graveyard. I was expecting to see very old grave sites, but most (if not all) of them were from the past century, many of which were from the last twenty years.  It had an interesting feel to it, to be sure, and the older buildings of the Abbey created a cool atmosphere.

Awesome building built out of the rock face

For dinner we opted for an amalgamation of the cultures we’re visiting this trip – an Italian restaurant in Austria, which speaks German. Our waiters were speaking Italian though, which was a bit strange. The food was alright – I’ll have some higher expectations later today as we arrive in Venice.  After dinner we did some quick shopping to kill some time before our train and then made our way back to the train station. The ride back was quite picturesque as well, with the sun setting in an array of bright oranges and pinks.

This morning, we left Munich a bit later than anticipated and got lost attempting to get out of the city in the correct direction… We did eventually orient ourselves properly and sped our way out of Germany (it will be missed!). We crossed into Austria around 11:30 am, and subsequently crossed the Austria-Italy border about an hour later. Since then we’ve been winding through the mountains and vineyards of Northern Italy, awaiting our arrival in Venice. There we will lose the rental car, find our way to the hotel (right next to San Marco!) and explore the city!

And so we meet again, Göttingen und München!

It’s been busy.  I enjoyed my last full day in Marburg by visiting my favorite cafes and hanging out with the remaining RITers.  I was able to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning before I packed and met up with my parents. I took my parents to one of my favorite cafes in the Oberstadt (the Early Café) and had some DELICOUS Auflauf! I showed them around the old part of the city (and of course got some Eis with them). We didn’t spend much time in Marburg since we had to get on the road, so I said a quick goodbye and we headed off.

In Göttingen, we checked into our hotel (a cute little hotel near the center of the city) and realized that it did not offer us any air conditioning in the mid-90s heat (it was “broken”). We hung out in the room, watched the last 20 minutes of the Germany v. Argentina game (Deutschland won 4-0! Off to the semi-finals against Spain tomorrow night!) and relaxed until we had to leave to meet my host family (from my exchange program) for dinner.  When Germany won, the city went crazy (just as Marburg did during the earlier games). People were driving around, honking their horns, and waving anything they could find with German colors on it. It was cool for about 10 minutes, but when it continued for over an hour, it got pretty old. We met my host family (everyone except my exchange partner, Franzi, who is currently in Wales) in the city center and were surrounded by excited, loud, and drinking Germans. 

City center of Göttingen after the game

We ended up at quite a nice restaurant called Junkernschänke and ate delicous food and enjoyed good company for about three and a half hours. It did get a bit long, especially in the heat and, again, no air conditioning, but it was definitely a good time.

The Junkernschänke

The next morning, we slept in a bit so my parents could fight off the evil jetlag monster. We hit the road around 12:30 towards Munich. After a few stops, one of which took an hour longer than expected because the restaurant would just not make our pizza in a timely manner, we made it to Munich around 7:00pm. We hunted a Biergarten down on Neuhauser Straße which was delicious but pretty much as touristy as it gets. The building was authentically old, but when a German restaurant doesn’t even have a menu in German (but English, Italian, French, and Russian were all represented), you know you’ve hit tourist jackpot. 

All in all, it was a lot of fun though. As we walked back to our hotel, it began to pour – we had too far to walk to even have a chance of not getting soaked so we enjoyed it to the fullest extent. 15 minutes later, we arrived at our hotel, soaking wet, and very happy.

The following day, we headed out to Füssen to see Neuschwanstein. Right as we pulled into Füssen, it began to rain – it got steadily harder for the next half hour and continued for two hours. It was slightly miserable until we were able to find some cheap ponchos for sale at one of the gift shops, after which we made our way to the castle (by horse-drawn carriage, of course). We made it just in time for our tour through the castle, which was interesting but a little difficult to enjoy fully with about a gazillion other people on the same tour. It stopped raining just as we got outside of the castle and we made our way to the Marienbrücke (the foot bridge overlooking the whole castle) and enjoyed the view. 

After our lovely carriage ride back down to the little tourist town, we ate some delicious Bratwurst and enjoyed the finally sunny afternoon. We left the area around 5:00 and found ourselves in Munich once again by 7:00.

We opted to find another Biergarten for dinner last night and ended up at the most famous one in Munich: the Hofbräuhaus. It had a good vibe, a better menu than the first one, and a fairy authentic German band playing. With the good food and good conversation it was quite an enjoyable evening.

The Hofbräuhaus

German band!

Today we’re off to Salzburg, Austria (filming location of the Sound of Music) and I’m hoping to see some beautiful Alps. It’s supposed to rain yet again, however, but hopefully that doesn’t bring the experience down too much. More updates to come!

Tschüß, Marburg!

This is it. My last day in Marburg. I knew it would FLY by, but still I am amazed at how fast time went. Even so, when I think back to the morning on June 6th, when I landed in Frankfurt and stumbled my way through my first few hours in Germany, it feels like an eternity ago. On one hand, I'm glad it's come to an end (my last day of classes was today!) but I will definitely miss this town.

bye bye, Marburg...

I've gotten to know it pretty well - I've finally figured out how to navigate the Oberstadt and how to walk back down to Universitätsstraße, I've got the A2 Bus schedule memorized for the stops I frequented most (:06 of every hour from Rudolphsplatz! That has served me well...), I know which cafes have great Auflauf (Early Cafe), which ones have great crepes (Barfuß Cafe), and which ones have good Eis (Cafe Markt), and I've seen all the great sights worth seeing (Marburger Schloss and Elisabethkirche)... I've even grown somewhat fond of my temporary home on Ernst-Lemmer-Straße. It's strange to think that I'm leaving it tomorrow, and who knows when I'll be back?

While I am sad to be leaving, I'm also REALLY looking forward to my parents jumping across the ol' pond from the US to Germany! I can't wait for our leg of the trip! Marburg tomorrow, then Göttingen for a night, then Munich (which includes Neuschwanstein Take 2 and Salzburg, Austria), then Venice, and finally ROME! It's going to be AMAZING. I'll admit, I'm a little worn out, but I'm sure I'll get a second wind (or maybe more like a fiftieth wind, considering this trip) and jump right in for more sight seeing!

YAY! MORE EUROPE!

I can definitely say I'm not looking forward to packing everything up tonight, but I can't wait to see my parents tomorrow, so that'll keep me going. Besides, most of the group has already left Marburg and Prisca and I have a movie night planned so that I can pack and she can edit photos from the trip which we watch something. Last night's let's-study-and-watch-a-movie-night theme was Shrek! Tonight may be Hook, but that is yet to be determined.

Time to go enjoy more of the city! I'll update after our first leg of the trip!

Paris, je t'aime

A three-day weekend well used. My trip to Paris was well worth it!

I left Marburg at 11:35am on Friday, got a connection in Frankfurt to Paris. I got in around 5:00pm, but had to wait around for Urna to get off work so she could get me. I tried to walk around the city a little to kill time, but I was suffering a little culture shock so I opted to just sit in the station and wait. Once she picked me up, we grabbed some dinner near the station and then went to her apartment to change quickly. We were going to meet up with some of her friends and go to a club. Once we finally met one of her friends, it was around 11:30pm and no one really felt like going to the club, so we opted to go to a little café right by the Eiffel Tower. Afterwards, we walked around the tower, which is incredibly striking and beautiful at night. It was flooded with tourists, but I suppose that should be expected. The Eiffel Tower has a light show that goes off every hour so we were able to see that as well. The night was perfectly clear and there was a beautiful full moon, so it was an awesome experience.

The following morning, Urna and I went to the Louvre. It’s a beautiful museum, but I was a little surprised at the commercialization of it all – there was a whole shopping complex attached to the museum, including an Apple store. I was able to score a free ticket inside by showing my school ID (usually only European college students can get in for free, but the ticket person let me in anyway). We only had a few hours in the museum, so we went to the European paintings section to see all the famous paintings (yes, we did see the Mona Lisa). We also went through some Ancient Egyptian and Greek, but a lot of the awesome classical Greek work was not on display because they were “reorganizing” those rooms L After that, we hung outside the Louvre by the pyramid and fountains while we waited for Urna’s friend, Lauren. It was a clear, warm day and it was so nice to lounge out by the fountains.

When Lauren arrived, the three of us went to a small café that was apparently “very French”. I had a Croque Monsieur, which was a glorified grilled cheese… it tasted good, but was slightly disappointing. Right across from the café was an old medieval church called Saint Germain. We took a look inside and it was beautiful. I saw quite a few churches this weekend, all of which were incredible. Right outside was a crepe stand, so I was able to have my first truly French crepe (and it was DELICIOUS!) From there, we took the metro to the island in the middle of the River Seine that houses the famed Notre Dame Cathedral. When we got there, the square in front of the church was blocked off for what appeared to be a wedding, so we couldn’t go inside. Urna and Lauren had to go to a chocolate museum for their class, so I was on my own for a couple hours. I opted to go to another cathedral near Notre Dame called Saint Chapelle. It was amazing inside because it was almost entirely stained glass windows. Unfortunately they were restoring the main altar, so that was covered up, but for the most part it was awesome. Right near Saint Chapelle is the Conciergerie, which was a palace and a prison and it was where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before her execution. I checked that out as well, and it was quite interesting. It was kind of nice to explore these things on my own because I was able to do whatever I wanted, stay as long (or short) as I wanted, and just go at my own pace. After the Conciergerie, I decided to see if Notre Dame was open to go inside yet, which it was, so I explored that a little bit. Definitely an incredibly space. I almost find the outside more impressive, however, with it’s towering flying buttresses and ornate details. After I finished Notre Dame, I met up with Urna and Lauren again and we headed back to Urna’s apartment to make dinner. We were planning on heading out to Notre Dame later in the evening to see it at night, but we ended up staying in and talking as a group.

Saint Chapelle

Notre Dame Cathedral

The next day, I ventured off to the Eiffel Tower on my own. It was bloody hot and the lines were super long. I waited in the sun for about an hour and a half to get to the 2^nd level (about halfway up) of the tower, as the top was “closed for congestion” at the time that I had bought my ticket. It did open later on, but the view would have been pretty much the same and it would have taken way more time and more money. So I was content with my Eiffel Tower experience. The view from the top of Paris was beautiful. Again, it was another perfectly clear day. The tourists were beginning to annoy me (I know that I was a tourist as well, but there is definitely a distinct breed of super annoying tourists) so I was glad to get on the ground and begin my walk back to Urna’s apartment. Once there, we made leftovers for lunch and I took a two hour nap (the sun was killer). 

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

At around 5:00pm, we went to a basilica on the other side of the city called Sacre Coeur. It was built on a hill, so from there you can see all of Paris as well. It was an extremely beautiful structure and inside was breathtaking. We walked around it during mass, which was quite striking. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any photos on the inside, but I got some good ones from the outside. They area of Paris that the basilica is in is apparently where the artists hang out, so it had a really cool vibe – artwork on the street and lots of street musicians. 

Sacre Coeur Basilica

From there we grabbed some dinner at a really cool café (we ordered a crepe “formula” meaning we got a drink, a dinner crepe, and a dessert crepe) and watched the first half of the Argentina – Mexico World Cup game. Then we bought a bottle of wine and sat along the Seine right across from Notre Dame to see the sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL. Another clear night, watching the sun go down and the city light up was incredible. Definitely an awesome way to end my weekend in Paris. From there, we went back to the Eiffel Tower to see it one last time at night (it’s far more beautiful at night) and then we walked back to Urna’s apartment.

Light show at the Eiffel Tower

This morning Urna and I parted ways around 9:00am and I made my way to the train station. I had three hours to kill, so I walked around and found the canal that goes by the station. I sat along the canal, ate a chocolate croissant, and listened to music for about an hour. Then I killed some more time and eventually found my way to the train!

It was an incredible weekend in Paris and I’m so glad I was able to make it happen. Looking forward to the last week of classes, but I can’t believe it’s my last week in Marburg!