Fin

Sorry I haven't posted since my London post but my final few weeks of living in Paris and the week of coming home has been extremely busy! Instead of taking you through every single thing I did before I had to leave the most beautiful city in the world, I thought I might as well list my top 10 favorite things about living in Paris. So here it goes...

1. Travel! With not knowing when the next time I'll be back to Europe and also having an unlimited Eurail Pass for 3 months, I wanted to see as much of Europe as possible. In total, I visited 12 countries and 22 cities. NEVER would have thought that was going to be possible before experiencing how easy it is to hop on a train and 3 hours later I'm in another country.

2. Paris is always full of surprises. Paris is not just a city of charming architecture, rich history, and beautiful culture. There are little things that would pop up in the middle of nowhere that would make me love the city that much more. Everything from walking over the Seine on my last night in Paris just trying to take in my last moments and seeing an engagement happen right on the Love Lock Bridge, to going to a jazz concert in a small cave bar with a few of my friends and it turning into one big swing dancing social with locals that couldn't speak a lick of English.

I just loved walking around Paris. I would never be bored! 

3. It's a city of many dimensions. I cannot think of one thing that Paris is known for. It is the fashion capital of the world, home to the largest art collection in the world, home to some of the best chefs and the list goes on and on. This city has so much to offer, I was never bored.

4. To go along with number 3, there is an endless list of things to do in Paris, no matter what you're interested in. I was doing things I had never done in Paris before until my very last day in the city!

5. Outdoor markets! Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE fruits and veggies, and a lot of them. I looked forward to the weekends for when I would bring a big bag to a nearby "marché" and stalk up for the week. The fruits and veggies were always so much cheaper there than any of the grocery stores and I always felt more immersed in the culture because that was where I would interact with the most locals. My last week of going to the market on my street, the guy at the stand I always buy from finally asked me where I was from. I said I was from the United States and I was headed back later that week. They told me they were going to miss seeing me every week! Finally, French people sounding affectionate!

6. Shopping, duh. Whether you want the smaller boutiques in the Marais, or the more expensive shops on Avenue Montaigne, Paris has gotchya covered from head to toe. I'm not complaining about there being every shop you could ever want, but my bank account sure is. I really enjoyed going into the high-end shops like Hermés, Louis Vuitton, Chanel (the list goes on and on) and just people watching. I'm amazed and some of the sized shopping bags people walk out with! My favorite, though, were the small boutiques located in the Marais. I stumbled by this one, one day when I was just walking around, that was extremely unique. It was nothing I would buy for myself but I just had to go in and check it out. While I was looking around, I noticed the owner had a room full of fabrics and sewing machines in the back. She told me that she makes every single one of the pieces in the boutique, in the back of the store. It's shops that those that make Paris one of a kind!

7. Fashion...I mean it's Paris do need I say more? Everyday for school, I felt as if I was dressing up. Wearing jeans to class felt "casual". That is something that's entirely different from school in the US, I would never see anyone in workout clothes or yoga attire for that matter!  I love fashion so it was really fun getting dressed up almost everyday. Sure, I'll pull out the Lululemon clothing a little more when I'm back at DU but I'll definitely try dressing up more for class.

I also really enjoyed writing for CollegeFashionista while abroad! I was the University of Denver Style Guru and I wrote for the "Fashion From Abroad" column that came out every Friday. You can check out all of my posts here on the CollegeFashionista website!


8. Hidden gems are everywhere. It takes a while to find the areas of Paris that aren't on every tourists list of "Things To-do in Paris" but 4 months is a good enough amount of time to find them if you're willing to put yourself out there. Like the "pay as you go" cafe in Marais and a free yoga class every Saturday at The American Church in Paris that one of my friends found. I also loved the FREE fashion show at Galeries Lafayette I went to right before going home! It's the little things that separated the time I spent in Paris from being a tourist, to living like a Parisian.

The Galeries Lafayette fashion show! 

9. Skating around the world. Skating is one of those things that makes me feel at home so it was so nice to be able to skate in Paris at multiple rinks. First, I skated at Bercy which is where they hold some of the bigger figure skating competitions and also some concerts. I skated on public session so I wasn't able to do much but it was nice to get out on the ice! Then I had an amazing opportunity to skate in front of the Eiffel Tower. Talk about a once in a lifetime experience! Skating around the rink and seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle at the top of the hour gave me chills. And on my last night, I skated at a huge outdoor rink in front of Hôtel de Ville, one of my favorite buildings in Paris. Such a great experience doing what I love in a city I love! 

Skating in front of the Eiffel Tower! 

10. Last but definitely not least...friends!! ! Being taken out of your comfort zone and put into an extremely different environment can make you pretty close to who to surrounding you. I was so lucky to meet so many people that loved to laugh at our experiences from abroad and who were always willing to try new things with me. I met new DU students that I didn't know before studying in Paris and also students on my program from all over the US. Not to mention, the numerous International students in all of my classes. Sometimes it was difficult because our only common language would be French.


Now that an unbelievable 4 months of traveling, eating, and playing in Europe has ended, it's time to get back to real life. Nothing is going to kick me back into reality like becoming the new President of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority back at DU, taking a full load of classes, and continuing to skate on the DU figure skating team. Paris definitely lived up to and exceeded my very high expectations. This was an amazing experience that is going to stay with me forever. 

Paris, I will be back! 

xoxo

Sam

Lovely London

I was lucky enough to be able to squeeze one more trip into my semester in Europe and it was to London! I wasn't really planning on going to London but everyone was telling me that I would love it. I stayed with my roommate from last year, Rachael. I took the Eurostar there and back which was extremely easy. After getting in early Friday morning, my friend picked me up at the train station, we dropped my bags off at her place and headed out to tackle everything touristy. We walked to Buckingham Palace then through Green Park. After that I walked through Westminster Abbey. The only thing I could think of as I walked through was the Royal Wedding. After watching it on TV, I pictured it so much bigger than it actually was. I got the audio guide and walked through looking at all the beautiful details in the church. It was breathtaking from every angle. Then we walked across the street to see Big Ben and Parliament. He actually wasn't as big as I thought he was going to be! After that we took the tube to the Tower of London and London Bridge. I walked around the Tower of London for a while, tagging along on the free tours they constantly have going on in there and also saw the Crown Jewels. The Crown Jewels outshone any Swarovski crystaled skating dress I have seen, but then again, it is the biggest jewel in the world. There was a moving sidewalk in front of both sides of the jewels so I obviously went back and forth multiple times looking like a little kid in a candy store.

Buckingham Palace

Typical tourist picture...

Outside Westminster Abbey, couldn't take pics inside :( 

Rachael and I at Big Ben!  

Tower Bridge.

After leaving the Tower of London, we were exhausted from everything we had done in just one morning. For lunch, we went to try out some Indian food. It was a little different than what I usually eat and I can't say I knew exactly what I was eating the whole time, but it was good and pretty cheap for London, nonetheless! That evening we went to Harrod's. Oh. My. God. Amazing! I have never seen department store like this ever before. They didn't have just furs, but an entire section of them with every color and animal you could think of. And not just shoes, but multiple levels of whatever style and designer you could think of. Not to mention the food section! Every inch was as gourmet and perfect as the next. Rachael and I could have walked around for hours getting lost in this massive maze but then it was off to the Christmas Markets! If there is one thing that I've fallen in love with while abroad, it's Christmas Markets. Everyone is always so cheerful and happy and I love stopping by each stand to see what they offer I was especially happy because I was going to be able to skate for the first time in 3 months! I brought my skates to London because Rachael had mentioned something about the rink. It was the perfect skating atmosphere; a little chilly, bright holiday lights, live Christmas music, and being able to just skate with no worries! After grabbing some food at the stands and enjoying a cup of mulled wine, we went back to Rachael's dorm to crash before our next day of touring.

The questionable but GOOD Indian food.

Harrod's! 

The Christian Louboutin area...

Skating in Hyde Park at the Christmas markets! 

The next morning I wanted to get up pretty early to make it to Portobello Market before the chunk of the crowd showed up and also so that we could fit the most sightseeing into our day. Rachael reassured me that the vendors won't even be there until at least 10. We we got there around 11 am, some of them were still setting up! I love the markets in Paris but the London was were like the Paris ones on steroids. There were blocks and blocks of stands with antiques, kitchenware, vintage clothing, leather goods, jewelry, specialty foods...ANYTHING you could think of! We were walking down only looking at one side when we noticed that almost 2 hours had passed so we decided to turn around and walk back to go onto the next thing on our list. Next, we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Its the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. They had a great fashion exhibit and photography exhibit. I really enjoyed walking through it. The museum was in South Kensington so we walked around that area on our way to afternoon tea. Groupon's are the best. I found one for tea for two at a tea place in Covent Gardens for only 10 pounds! I really wanted to do tea time while I was in London but I always heard it was very expensive so this Groupon worked out perfectly. After our tea time, Rachael and I explored the Covent Gardens area. There was so much going on like live music, more outdoor markets, Christmas celebrations....we had such a great time!

The never-ending Portobello Market.

Tea time at Covent Gardens!

Saturday night was a pretty late night for us exploring the London night life....so we gave ourselves a little longer to sleep in :) . After taking our time on Sunday morning, we went to catch a train to Cambridge. Rachael has a friend of a friend who is in school there so we were lucky enough to be able to meet up with her. She showed us around a large part of the campus. We got to go into different colleges, her dorm room, and meet some of her friends! The campus was so beautiful. Walking around Cambridge really made me miss DU a little bit. There is something about walking around, seeing familiar faces wherever you go, and everyone is around your age. I definitely love living in a big city but it has only made me appreciate the time I have left at DU a little more. That night, her friend pointed us in the direction of a pub in Cambridge where a lot of students go. It was a really cozy pub and we ordered mulled wine and I enjoyed my final night in the UK.

Fish and chips in Cambridge.

Cambridge is beautiful. 

The touristy Harry Potter picture at King's Cross train station. 

London was a great last trip in my European adventure. It was probably my favorite city that I have visited. It could have been that it was a little easier to understand the language...but everyone was also so nice and helpful! After a jam packed weekend visiting a beautiful city, I couldn't wait to begin my last two weeks of living in Paris. My time here has flown by so unbelievably fast. Even though it seems like I landed in Europe yesterday, I look back on the past 4 months and can't believe how much I have done. Writing this post, I have one more week left, so here is to an amazing final week living in the best city in the world!

24 Hours In The French Riviera

So I decided to go to the French Riviera last weekend...about 12 hours before my train departed. The girls I went on fall break with had one more weekend left of their Eurail pass and wanted to use it so I decided to go with them! We went to Nice for a day and the next day we went into Monaco and Monte Carlo. It's so weird that we can take a short train ride from Paris and we are down at the beach right by the Mediterranean Sea. It was getting dark when we got into Nice so we just found our hostel and explored the city to find somewhere to eat. We went into the Fruit and Flower Market which is an area with a lot of restaurants down by the beach. Our hostel was about 5 minutes from it. There were a ton of smaller side streets with hidden restaurants and bars. We had such a fun time meeting locals and exploring these hidden streets! 

Adding another 2 countries and 2 cities to our extensive list! 

On the beach in Nice, France at sunrise.

The next morning we woke up early to see Nice in the daytime and take a day trip Monte Carlo since we weren't there for that long. The beach was beautiful! There are colorful buildings built up along the coasts that lead up to miles of beaches. The city was so lively even that early with people running, biking, or just strolling along the quant town. Our bus ride to Monaco was amazing. It took us on a street along the coast so the views were unbelievable. 40 minutes later, we're in another country! We got off the bus in Monte Carlo and explored the beautiful scenery. We couldn't have gotten luckier with the weather that weekend. Everyone walking around Monte Carlo was so chic. I couldn't even count the number of designer bags, expensive furs, or luxury cars. It was amazing how much wealth was in one town. We didn't have much we wanted to do in Monte Carlo so we chose a small cafe along the water and took our time as we ate lunch and people watched. One of my favorite people watching spots in Europe so far! Before we headed back to the bus station, we stopped at the famous Monte Carlo Casino. My mom told me a story before I went abroad about how when she traveled there with her friends while abroad in Vienna, she pulled out her camera in the casino and they immediately took it and pulled out all the film. No pictures inside the casino for me! My friends and I played a few games and lost a couple euros...very quickly. It was totally worth it though because the casino was beautiful inside! I could have stayed in the casino for hours but good thing for me (and my bank account) that we had a train out of Nice to catch! 

                         

                                 Our view from the bus ride along the coast.

Monte Carlo.

Gave this casino a donation of 10 euros :) 

It was such a lovely weekend being a backpacker again with the friends that helped me explore 5 other countries earlier that month. I did get to spend Thanksgiving in Paris, though. Our program rented out a small restaurant on Rue Mouffetard to celebrate...and eat. The program provided all of the food and the students were the ones to cook it all. I didn't have time to cook but the other students made a pretty good meal! There was turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, and a few other Thanksgiving staples. It was such a great night that I was able to spend with all the friends that I have made abroad. I'm so thankful to have them in Paris with me! I was back in Paris for only a few days then it was off to London for my final adventure of my time abroad. I will post later on my jam-packed weekend in the United Kingdom but first, it's time to start studying for my finals. This semester is going by way too quickly! 

                           

                                      Thanksgiving dinner! 

 

Thankful for these people in Paris.

The David's do Paris!

As sad I was to finish my week long fall break that flew by so fast, I was excited to come back to Paris to see my parents! They rented a flat near the Luxembourg Gardens which is very close to my school.

The first full day they spent in Paris we went to the Marmottan Museum and also toured the Marais. We saw an exhibit on Napoleons sisters and also a lot of Monet's paintings. It was a Sunday and most of the Marais is known for being open on Sunday's. We toured the Jewish Quarter which was a lot of fun because it was PACKED. Its on a small street with a few Jewish jewelry shops, Jewish bakeries with piles of Challah, and everyone is walking around with Falafel in their hands. We went to L'As du Falafel which is one of the most famous falafel places in Paris. It was so good! My mom loved all the smaller boutiques we went into. They are all so unique to Paris and some of them are unlike anything you will see anywhere else in the world. Then I took them to my FAVORITE cafe in Paris. It's called l'Anticafe and it's in the Marais. This cafe is different because you pay 4 euros per hour you are there, but you get unlimited coffee drinks, tea, snacks, nutella, fruit, vegetables, juices, and wifi! It's such a good deal if I want to spend a few hours getting homework done and need a few cups of coffee to keep me going. That night we went to a French restaurant on the outside of the Luxembourg Gardens called Au Petit Suisse. It was so good!! I loved having my parents here because then I could try the really elaborate french cuisine :)

Eating our falafel in the Jewish Quarter with my dad wearing his Chiefs shirt looking like COMPLETE tourists. 

My mom and I went to all the big department stores like Le Bon Marche, Galleries Lafayette, Printemps, and BHV. They are all different in their own way. Le Bon Marche is a smaller version of Galleries Lafayette and Printemps but has an unbelievable food section. (Don't worry, we tasted it.) Galleries Lafayette and Printemps are very upscale and HUGE. Galleries Lafayette has entire floor dedicated to kids clothing, but it wasn't just any kids clothing, it was Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Gucci and many other top designers covering the entire floor. BHV is in the Marais and it has more affordable clothing. There are also much more accessories, kitchenware, stationary, and things for the home than the other stores.

Galleries Lafayette getting ready for the holidays!

On Tuesday, I met my parents at the Rodin Museum. Rodin was a French sculptor. The museum was breathtaking itself along with his pieces inside the museum. That night, we went to a really good restaurant called Les Papilles near my parents flat. It's pretty small restaurant so it can be hard to get a reservation. The restaurant only serves one menu per night. When you sit down they tell you what's going to be on the menu, the wine pairings they suggest with the menu, and automatically bring out the appetizer. Our appetizer for that night was a roasted butternut squash and pumpkin soup poured over nuts, chives, and butter and cinnamon. Then the next course was one big pot of roasted chicken with vegetables and pasta in a creamy pesto sauce. Before dessert they brought out goat cheese and dates, then the dessert which was a light mousse with figs and honey. I think we got pretty lucky with what the menu was that night because I couldn't have pictured it any better!

On Wednesday we woke up early to catch a train to Reims for champagne tasting! We met our tour guide at the train station and picked up a couple who was from Australia and here on their honeymoon. First he took us to a vineyard and showed us fields of champagne grapes and we got to try some. They are very small and sweeter than any grapes I had tried before. Then we went to a cellar where we saw the equipment they used to make the champagne. It's a lot of manual labor because they have to physically turn the bottles every few hours to keep the sediments from collecting on the bottom. Then it was time to taste! We went 3 different places in the region. They were all so beautiful and the champagne was amazing.

Our souvenir from Reims.

Toasting with our tour guide! 

The next day I met my mom in the Montmartre area to help her look for some fabric for some chairs she wanted to recover. She had just finished a food and wine tour of the area with my dad and told me about all the amazing restaurants the tour guide took them too. I was so jealous! Once we found some beautiful fabric at one of the many fabric stores lining an entire block, we hiked up to Sacre Coeur and looked out at the beautiful view of Paris. Definitely another one of my, "Wait, I live here?" moments. That night I took my mom to this amazing brasserie by the Musee d'Orsay for some french onion soup because I know it's one of her favorites. While we were eating outside, we ran into one of my best friends from the Paris programs and who also goes to DU and her mom, who had just flown in. For being such a big city, Paris is so small! We then toured around the Musee d'Orsay for a little and saw some amazing impressionists works.

The last full day my parents were in Paris was packed because of how much we wanted to cram into one day! On the agenda for the day were a few markets, Saint Germain de Pres area, crepes for lunch, Sainte Chapelle Church, the Conierge (where Marie Antoinette's jail cell was) and more of the Marais to stop and get as many gifts and last minute pastries as possible. The day was a successful and we finished it off with an amazing meal at Sorza, a small restaurant on Ile Saint-Louis. I love this little island behind Notre Dame because it's filled with small, cobblestone streets and off the beaten path restaurants, boutiques, and pastry shops.

Dinner at Sorza.

Sainte Chapelle Church

I had such an amazing time showing my parents around Paris! We saw and walked so much, I'm sure they need a real vacation after this one. (and also happy 25th anniversary :) )

8 cities, 5 countries, 8 days.

Yep, you read the title right. 8 cities, 5 countries, 8 days. My fall break consisted of being in almost an entirely new city, culture, and way of life for 8 days in a row. An amazing experience to say the least!

A few other girls on my Paris program and I wanted to create our own adventure for our fall break. There were so many cities that we wanted to see so we decided taking the trains everywhere would be our best bet. We did a few overnight trains which made it possible to see everything we wanted to see.

Our first stop was Interlaken, Switzerland. What a breathtaking city! The town is beautiful itself because its surrounded by mountains and also in between two lakes. We took a tram up (literally straight up) the side of one of the mountains. Up at the top there was a restaurant, playground, trails, and an incredible view. We had so much fun just being kids and playing around for the day! The next morning, we took a 30 minute train ride up into the mountains to a little town called Grindelwald. It's where I competed when I was 12 for my Young International skating competition so it was great to see it again. I went back to the rink that I competed in and the hotel where we stayed and had a lot of our team dinners in. We ate lunch at a cafe that was right on the side of the mountain with an amazing view. After indulging in some chocolate fondue, we took the train to Zurich that night and explored the city with our gigantic backpacks looking like the ultimate backpackers, then hopped on our longest train to Budapest. It was a 12 hours, overnight train but it was surprisingly not bad at all! We paid a little extra for beds so we had a comfortable place to sleep for the night. We were sleeping within the first hour of being on the train and didn't wake up until we only had 2 hours left until Budapest. 

Playing in the Swiss Alps. 

View of Interlaken.

The rink in Grindelwald. 

Having lunch in Grindelwald. 

Once we got to Budapest we put our bags away and met up with one of my friends from DU studying there. She was so nice to show us around for the entire day! There was no way we would have been able to find all the sights on our own in only one day. We started out at the House of Terror Museum. It's a museum all about the communist era in Hungary and its in a building where they did a lot of their torturings. The museum definitely gave me chills as we walked through! After that, we ate some Lángos for lunch, walked around Heros Square, saw some beautiful government buildings situated along the Danube river. Everything in Budapest is incredibly cheap. We went out for a nice meal that night and it came out to not even $10. Quite the change from a normal meal at a cafe in Paris being around 12 euros. One of the things we heard we had to do in Budapest was go to a ruin bar. They are bars that were built around the leftover ruins after World War II. They were very cool because each one was completely different and had its own personality. The next morning we woke up a little earlier to go to Grand Market Hall since it wasn't open the day before. It's a huge food market where there are vendors that sell huge quantities of produce, pastries, breads, condiments, meats and seafoods and of course, paprika. On the top floor they were selling souvenirs and gift items. I wanted to bring so much back but I knew that whatever I bought, I would have to carry for the next 5 days! We had so much fun just looking around though. Everything was displayed so beautifully! 

The Chain Bridge

Heros Square

Grand Market Hall

Our next adventure was Vienna. I was really excited to see this city since my mom studied there when she was my age for an entire year. We only took a quick day trip there so we got in that morning and left that evening for our overnight train to Prague. My mom gave us a list of "must-see's" so that definitely kept us busy for the day! On the itinerary was Hofburg Palace, the poplar Kartnerstrasse shopping street, St. Stephans Cathedral, a Ringtram city tour, and last but definitely not least.....Demel's, one of the most beautiful pastry shops I have ever seen! The architecture of the city was gorgeous with the teal and gold accents on all the off-white buildings. Vienna seemed like a very old time, laid back city. We had some extra time that night before catching our train so we sat at the bar in Demel's and we all had a pastry. So yummy!! After grabbing some souvenir gifts for my mom, we headed back to the train station to continue our adventure.

Kartnerstrasse Street

View from St. Stephans Cathedral

Demel's! 

Hofburg Palace

We had a pretty early arrival into Prague the next morning (4 am) so we just hung out in the train station until at least the sun came up in. We should have been so tired because we all barley slept on the train but we were so excited to see Prague that we were running on copious amounts of caffeine and adrenaline. We began our Prague sight seeings with the beautiful Prague Castle. Its situated on a hill with some amazing views. The architecture of the city reminded me of a mix between Paris and Florence. There were small winding streets everywhere that led up to some picture perfect sights. Then we wandered through that area a little more and crossed the Charle's Bridge which only gave us more beautiful views of the city. We continued to explore more in Old Town where the apartment we rented for the night was. That's where the Astronomical Clock was and also a ton of cute shops and restaurants. Later that day we explored more into the Jewish Quarters called Josev. There were many old Synagogues including the Old New Synagogue which is Europe oldest active Synagogue. We also went to Europe's Oldest Jewish Cemetery. Everything in that area was packed together so closely that it was hard to get a good view of anything but the history was so rich. I loved Prague so much! I would have to say it was my favorite city we visited because it felt so charming. (Still no Paris though :) ) 

Old New Synagogue

Charles Bridge

Prague Castle

Old Town Square

Next stop....Germany! The first city in Germany we went to was Berlin. I was so excited to see it because I heard it was unlike most other European cities. It was very modern and chic to say the least. The train station we got into was so different than any train station we had been to in Europe. It was practically a shopping mall with one of the biggest food courts I had seen. After awing at everything in the train station, we took the metro to our hostel. Our hostel was very nice and in a good area but it was almost a 15 minute walk to and from the metro station. That night we saw the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag Dome and walked around the Mitte area of Berlin with a ton of very cute, high-end boutiques. The next day we sought out to do the majority of our touring. We started the morning out my stumbling upon some outdoor markets with multiple food stands that we then headed back to later that day to grab some bratwurst for lunch. We spent a good amount of the day at the Berlin Wall. Its amazing to think that this one wall was such a huge symbol for eastern Europe not too long ago. The part of the wall that was still standing had graffiti on one side and a gallery of paintings done by artists on the other side. After taking numerous "artsy" pictures, we went down to Checkpoint Charlie and got our passports stamped. Later that day we say the Holocaust Memorial for the European Jews. It was so beautiful! The outside of the memorial had stone blocks that, from the outside, looked like they were all the same height. As you walked through the middle, the blocks would be getting higher and higher and the city would get quieter. The inside of the memorial had some really neat parts to it. One room was filled with information on about 15 families from countries all over the world that went through the Holocaust. There was information on everyone in their family and what happened to them after the Holocaust. That was connected to a wide open room with someones name projected on each wall. On a loud speaker, there was a 30 second blurb about the person, like where they came from, how old they were, what their occupation was, etc. They recorded these for all 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. To listen to every single one of these bio's, it would take approximately 7 years. Berlin was such a cool city and I would have loved to explore more but our next stop was Munich.

I didn't get to stay in Munich too long because I was headed back to Paris the next day to meet my parents there. I toured some of the famous beer halls which was really cool to see! It seems like such a lively city but it had a much different feel than Berlin. It was a lot dirtier and not as modern.

The graffiti side of the Berlin Wall

On the gallery side of the wall. I didn't even notice it said Denver, Colorado on the bottom until I was looking back through my pictures! 

The Ampelmann pedestrian symbol in Berlin.

The tallest blocks in the middle of the Holocaust Memorial. 

My fall break was an amazing adventure.  The three of us shared so many great memories during the week that we will for sure never forget. So here is to some great friends and even better journeys! I'm happy to be at home in Paris for a little while but I cannot wait to travel to London soon!