So it all started on Thur the 5th. I got off work a couple hours early so we could go to the airport. It was pretty uneventful and we got into the New Orleans airport at like 12:10 and Ross' mom was there to pick us up, then we had another hour and a half drive to Baton Rouge. I was pretty dead by the time we got to go to bed. Then we slept for a while and when we eventually got up we went to run some errands with Ross mom and we stopped to see Ross' great grandma and his sister-in-law. We stopped at Raising Cains for lunch, oh my gosh I had the best lemonade. Its a limited time drink, its made from fresh lemons and that kind of lemonade is so much better than what you buy in the store that is bitter. Very good stuff. Then we took Ross' brother some lunch and when we walked into his band room, he is a high school band teacher, he had the kids ready and at attention and called Ross up to conduct. I guess he had told his students that a very important band director is coming for a visit and they need to be at their best for him. I got pictures of Ross "directing" the band but they are on my cell and my phone is handicap and I can't get pictures off of it. But it was pretty funny. Ross didn't want to do it but was talked into it. Later we just hung out with his brother until we had to go to dinner and then we went to the grandparent's house for a little b-day party for Ross and I. His grandma got us a cake with our names on it and the whole family was there. They gave us both birthday cards and it was funny, on mine the card said happy birthday, and they wront in "in March". It was fun. Sat morning we had to go back down to New Orleans to catch the plane. Our first flight went from New Orleans to Miami and we had a 3 hour lay over in Miami and then a 7 and a half hour flight from Miami to Madrid. Luckily it was at night and the flight wasn't totally full so I was able to take a couple of seats and lay down and get some sleep. I am not one of those lucky people that can sleep on planes very easily. But I did get some sleep. Ross wasn't able to get any sleep, which is very odd cause he can sleep anywhere. We had 2 meals on the plane and they really weren't bad for an airplane. We got into Madrid about 9am on Sunday and had another 3 hour layover.
We finally got into Paris around 2pm on Sunday and I was so glad to get out of the airport. The plan was to spend a few hours in Paris and then catch a train in the evening to Amsterdam but due to Ross lack of sleep we changed the plans and stayed in Paris the night, which I was so glad for a break in the traveling. It was nice becuase we got to go and see Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower that night. When we were at the Eiffel Tower Ross left Linda and I to go find a bathroom while I finished taking some photos. We were on a dark running path, kind of out of the way, and while we were waiting for Ross this guy approached us talking in French. I don't know what he was saying and we tried to tell him we don't speak French and he just kept talking and talking so we started to walk away and he started to follow us, kind of made me nervous, and finally Ross shows up and he left. Here are some pictures I got from the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.
Before our train left the next morning we got a chance to go to see the Arc de Triump and Sacre Cour. It was pretty cool to get out and walk around the city but it was so overcast and cold and starting to rain. I got a picture from Arc de Triump of the Eiffel Tower and the top part was missing in the clouds.
Our train for Amsterdam left Paris around noon the next day and we had first class tickets. It was kind of nice to have some time to relax. With the first class tickets we got a meal and drink and the day we went it was duck and some other random stuff that I am not sure what it was. It was my first time eating duck and it was good, it looked and tasted like ham. It took about 4 hours to get to Amsterdam and we just chilled on the train reading and playing Ross' ds. When we got into Amsterdam we got our tickets to go back to Paris the next evening and booked some hotels and went off on the search for our hotel. We got a little lost. Its a tradition with Ross and I to accidentally get lost at least once and its usually when we first get into the city. Finally we got a "taxi" it was one of those bike taxis where they pull a little cart that holds 2 people, we piled all 3 of us and our luggage and this guy had to pedal us around. When we finally got to our hotel and checked in we started up the stairs. Previous to this Ross and I had been reminicing about our first time we went to Amsterdam and the stairs they had in the hotel, they were so steep and narrow that I felt like I needed a rope and harness for safety. We started up the first set of stairs at the hotel, which weren't too bad, then we came to another set of stairs that were a little steeper and this is what we found at the top of the 2nd flight of stairs.
The door on the left is the door to our room. After opening the door to our room we found . . . .
The stairs were so steep and narrow and the ceiling over the stairs was so low that I had to crawl to keep from hitting my head and my pack on it. They were almost vertical. Then when you get to the room there was 3 twin beds. We had a bathroom in our room which was nice but the shower, that was a different story. It was right next to the toilette and had no shower curtain, the whole room was just tile and it was almost like the the toilette was in the shower. But considering how cold it was there as long as the shower was hot, thats what counted. After dropping off our bags we went out to walk around and find some food and do some shopping. It was pretty cold and starting to rain so we went back to our room and ended up falling asleep by 8pm only to be woken up at 10 by our neighbors. I think as a rule all the hotel and hostel walls in Europe are paper thin. All the places we stayed we could hear other people very easily. The next day we had a contintental breakfast at the hotel bar (in Amsterdam almost all the hotels and hostels are built on top of a bar/restraunt and the bar keepers run the hotel). It was so cold and windy and rainy all that day. We did go to the Van Gough museum, Ann Frank's house and the Heineken brewery. It was kind of funny, we got some weird looks when we declined the free samples and in one room they taught us how to fully appreciate and enjoy your beer and handed out beers to our group and we just watched. It was kind of interesting and the anatomy of the beer makes more sense to me, not that I will ever need that info. I didn't get a lot of pictures in Amsterdam but here are some I took.
I had an odd experience that I would never have in the states. On our way back to Paris we had about and hour and a half layover in Brussels. We decided to use the restroom and get something to eat before we had to get back on the train, the bathrooms on the trains are so disgusting, urin all over the floor and seats and it just reeks. Most train stations you have to pay to use the bathroom and its only like 2o cents so its not a huge deal, but this bathroom was co-ed, the guys on one side and the girls on the other and a half wall in the middle. When I came out of my stall there was a man mopping the floor right in front of my stall. Here in the US its always a female cleaning the womens restroom if there are people in it.I was hoping when we got back to Paris that it would be warmer and drier. It was a little warmer and we had a couple days of sun but it was still pretty cold. I wore long johns under my jeans and a couple long sleeve shirts along with my hat, scarf, gloves and coat. Even Ross got cold, and that just doesn't happen. The rest of the time in Paris we saw Versaille, Louvre, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, tried to see the catacombs and did some shopping. Let me correct, we tried to see the catacombs but we were like 30 min too late, they had closed and we didn't get to see it but it was ok, I was bummed but not the end of the world. Instead Ross and I just went and got ourselves lost. We have done that when traveling, just wander and go down random streets and we usually find interesting things and its kind of cool. Here are some photos of parts of Paris.
Versailles
I really had to go to the bathroom when we were at Versaille and was surprised to see they don't believe in toilette seats.
This is the Louvre. For those that have seen Davinci Code this is where it starts. The pyramid actually continues down underground to the middle of the museum.
This is Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
This is Gare du Nord, the North train station and the central point for us in the city, it was our point of reference.
The next morning, Friday the 13th, we had to be up at 4 to get to the metro to catch a train to the airport. That night between the road noises and the people in the hotel Ross and I got about an hours worth of sleep. It was a very very long night. On the walk to the metro it was snowing and by the time we got on the plane there was a little over an inch of snow. It was def a good time to be leaving Paris. However it was also the beginning of the longest day of my life, quite literally because we gained 7 hours coming home. When we were flying over the ocean for about 4 hours we were in the noon hour. So we had a couple hour flight from Paris to Madrid, a 3 hour layover in Madrid and just as we were getting on the plane they pulled us to the side to ask additional security screening questions. I was not happy cause in Paris they made us check our bags, I never check my bags, they said the flight was too full, however, there was plenty of room for bags and others had bags about the size as ours. So, we eventually got on the flight to Miami and that flight was about 10 hours. It was a very long flight and I got so bored. The movies they had on the flight were pretty boring and to show the extent of my boredom Ross and I ended up watching Beverly Hills Chihuahau, never again. Finally we got into Miami and had an 8 hour layover. Linda got a hotel room which was the best ever, we got a shower and some real American food, Wendy's, and just relaxed. I was thinking it was the best ever to get back into the US but everyone in the airport spoke Spanish and at Wendy's they were Spanish, so it wasn't really as great. The shower was nice because the bathroom in our last hotel in Paris, the shower didn't work. It was one of those where the head was attached to a hose and you can take it off and move it, but the hose had so many holes and leaks very little water came out of the head, and there was no shower curtain. That and the bathroom didn't have a door, it had a big opening into the room that was covered by an accordian curtain that had big holes and gaps, very little privacy. So I was very excited for a real bathroom and soft towels. The flight from Miami to New Orleans was only like an hour and a half, part of that a little kid was screaming hysterically and wouldn't shut up and so the mom was yelling at the dad, the dad was yelling at the son and a huge family fight on the plane. I was so glad to land in New Orleans about 11:30. Grant picked us up and it was another 2 hours before getting back to Ross' mom's apartment. So, when we were in Paris, the last full day there, Ross and I were shopping and he was telling me he was really sorry he didn't get me anything for Valentines Day and just hamming it up, I told him it was ok cause we were going to celebrate it when we got home (I had his gift ready at home) and it wasn't a big deal. He kept going and he wanted to buy me something in Paris to make up for it. Then on the drive to his mom's it was like 1 am and officially V-day and he wished us a happy v-day and when we got home, I was falling asleep standing up (I had gotten about 2 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours), we went into the room we were staying in and on the desk was a vase of flowers and a teddy bear. Ross had asked Grant and Leah to pick up something and have it there for when we got back. It was the sweetest thing, and he kept it a surprise. Best husband ever, I never would have guessed it. Such a sweetie.
With how exhausted we were I thought we would sleep till noon the next day but we both woke up around 7:30-7:45 and couldn't go back to sleep. My eyes were still tired but I couldn't sleep anymore. I was amazed that we were up that early and it was also very warm. After leaving the freezing weather it was so nice to be in a such a warm place. Ross and I went and got some shorts to wear. I loved it, I heard it was snowing most of the time at home while we were gone and I didn't want to leave the warmth of Louisianna.On Sat we went to New Orleans for some Mardi Gras parades with Ross brother and sister-in-law, Grant and Leah. It was fun hanging out with them and getting to know them. Its hard to get to know Ross family when we only get out there a couple times a year so this trip was a good time to get to know his mom and then hang out with Grant and Leah. While we were waiting for the parades to start it started to rain and rained off and on, but it was ok cause it was pretty warm. We stayed for 2 parades and they were pretty small so I didn't get a whole lot of beads, which considering the lack of space we had going home, it was ok. On the way home Ross slept and Grant asked me random questions about myself. I also learned how to use Tony Chachery's to season mean. Something I am going to try. Here are some photos of us before the parades started.
Then Sunday morning it was yet again to New Orleans to the airport, my 4th time there in 9 days. I was so excited to be going home and looking forward to my own bed. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun on the trip and enjoyed it thoroughly, but it was time to get home and be done with planes and airports.
1 comment:
Jealous.
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