Switzerland: Home of the Alps, Cows, Chocolate, Watches and Coukou Clocks!

Hi everyone!
We arrived in Switzerland early Saturday morning to heavy downpours, freezing temperatures, and strong winds. In the airport we had to exchange our euros for francs. Thankfully our flight was not delayed and after taking a taxi to our hotel and checking in we took the local bus into the main town of Geneva. Our hotel was located on the boarder of France and Switzerland. (We literally looked out our hotel window to the checkpoint between both countries!) The buss passed by one of the sights we had planned to see so we quickly jumped off to snap a picture of The United Nations and the Broken Chair before getting back on the bus and out of the rain. The Broken Chair is a chair built in 1997 with a broken leg to represent the campaign against land mines and is ten meters high. After that we made is as far as the Office of Tourism where we found out where the rest of the sights we wanted to see were located. We then decided it was too cold and rainy to walk around anymore (our umbrellas were both inside out and we very wet!) so we took the bus back to our hotel. We were exhausted from getting up early and a busy week so we ended up taking a several hour long nap before dinner!

We got up early Sunday morning and were happy to see that even though it was still windy and extremely cold, it had stopped raining! We once again took the bus into town and were able to see all of the sights we had planned. We started off with Notre Dame and then crossed the river connecting Lake Geneva with the Rhine River into the Old Town of Geneva. There we saw the famous Flower Clock, the Statue of Geneva and Helvetia which represents the union of Geneva with Switzerland, Saint Peter’s Cathedral, the Grand Theater of Geneva, Tour de I’lle, Jardin Anglais, Place de Neuve, and the Parc des Bastions. We also stopped for lunch in a small café, ice cream and of course some shopping! We were very disappointed that we did not get to see the Jet d’Eau, the water fountain that Geneva is famous for. Due to the bad weather it had to be turned off. After walking around all day we noticed that Geneva is very famous for several things including: coucou clocks, Swiss watches, cows, Swiss army knives, chocolate and of course the Alps! Everyone on our flight and in the airport was already dressed in their ski clothes and ready to hit the slopes since many buses left directly from the airport. We also had day light savings time here Saturday night and we were careful to change the times on our phones so we did not have a repeat of last weekend!

One extremely weird event we encountered was when we were approached by a group of many older Asian men. We were asked to pose with each of them individually for many pictures in front of several different sights. They took turns standing in between us while the rest of them snapped away on their cameras. They spoke little English and we are still not sure who they thought we were or why they wanted their pictures taken with us! Don’t worry, Em fired back and started taking pictures of them once we said no more pictures! Very bizarre! Next weekend we are headed to England and are very excited! England has been on the news here a lot because of the G20 summit. There have been protests all week which are expected to increase towards the end of the week, just in time for us to arrive! President Obama is even flying in on Wednesday. Despite the bad weather we still had a great time in Switzerland, but were very upset that we missed Granny’s birthday! Happy 86th birthday Granny, we love you and miss you and wish we could have been there for your party! We also saw that Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl are filming a movie in Nice and Antibes this week so we are hoping to find out exactly were they are filming and try to see them if we can! Hope everyone is doing well at home! Only a few more weeks until we come home, we are so excited to see all of you! Love and miss you lots!

Love, Jen and Em

***The first picture is of the sunrise over the alps on our way back to Antibes. The second picture is of Jen under the Broken Chair. The third picture is of Em in front of the sign for the United Nations. The fourth picture is of Em in front of Notre Dame. The fifth picture is of Em in front of Lake Geneva and the sixth picture is of Jen in front of the Rhine River. The seventh picture is of us in front of the flower clock. The eight picture is of Em in front of St. Pierre's Cathedral and the ninth picture is of Jen at Place de Neuve. The final picture is of the old town of Geneva.

Ireland Has Stolen Our Heart’s!

Hi Everyone!
Wow -- what a trip! We have so much to tell you. Of course, once again we got off to a rocky start and had an even rockier ending but we still managed to have an amazing time and fell in love with Ireland! As always, our plane was delayed almost two hours heading towards Ireland. We were forced to pay 40 euros to check in and 20 euros to check our bag. Em was stopped at security because she was carrying peanut butter and we were not going to leave that behind no matter how much it cost! We were very upset and angry for having to pay all the fee’s and let the check in people know! About an hour later one of the ladies came over to us and told us she had a present for us. She gave us priority boarding because we had to pay so many fees. While this was helpful since the plane was full and very big- it still didn’t make up for the money.

The plane ride was about and hour and a half and once we arrived in Dublin we had to take a taxi to our hotel. (It was our first time experiencing driving on the wrong side of the car and street which was very different and hard to get used to!) We were already excited after seeing the green fields from the airport and hearing all the accents from the passengers around us! After checking into our hotel we took a double decker bus about fifteen minutes into the main town. Once there we saw many sights including the Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Temple Bar, O’Connell Street, Trinity College, the Spire, Christ’s Church, Phoenix Park, the Guinness Storehouse and Grafton Street. Everyone we met was so friendly and we loved being able to read and understand the language, we especially loved the Irish accent! One of our favorite things we notice right away, even going through customs was that everyone calls each other “love!” We were exhausted after traveling and then walking around all day so after seeing the sun set over the Liffey River, which separates the northside from the southside, we decided to head back to our hotel for dinner. (We put the peanut butter to good use and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!)

Our taxi driver had explained to us that Dublin’s rugby team was playing its final game of the season, the championship game the night we arrived in London. The team was undefeated and the town was going crazy hoping for a win. They had played in Dublin the previous week and were away playing in London so all the pubs were packed full of fans watching the game. As soon as we entered our hotel we heard screams from the cooks and people watching from their rooms that Dublin had won! Everyone was really excited and wearing their jersey’s the next day.

We woke up early the next day to take the double decker bus into the town to meet for a tour that Dad had set up for us. We did not have any idea of what to expect from the tour, especially once we saw a tiny red van pull up but could not have asked for anything better! Dad did an amazing job booking the trip which turned out to be our favorite part of our entire trip so far besides seeing Mom, Dad and Jul! Fourteen of us crammed into the van from all parts of the world including Alaska, Germany, the US, Belgium and Mexico. Our driver Paul was from Dublin. We headed straight for the country on a narrow, tiny road that all other tour buses could not fit on. This was why our tour was so special. No other tours were able to explore the country; they simply stayed in the city. The road we traveled on was built by the English army 200 years ago. Today it is hardly used by cars today but was used for the filming of the movie “Brave Heart!” The entire movie was shot in Ireland. Within minutes could see nothing but wide open green fields. We were so lucky to have three sunny days while in Dublin, Paul explained that they only have weather like this every two years! We drove about 25 minutes until we came to our first stop. We pulled over and were able to see the entire city of Dublin which was built by the Vikings and today where 1.5 million people currently live. As we drove along we stopped every so often to take pictures and Paul would explain the history of the sights to us.

We saw the towns of Glencreen, Killakey, Guinness pond (known as that because the water that runs into the pond is brown), Roundwood village (which is the highest village at 232 meeters and was the first town to have public toilets!), Blessington Lakes, the old monastery of Glendalough and even drove through the only town in the entire country that does not have a pub! (Paul explained this was due to aliens!) For lunch we stopped at a local pub called Lyhams of Larach Pub. We ate with two guys from Germany, David and Maxamillion who were really nice. We had Guinness and beef stew and pork and mashed potatoes (Finally some recognizable food!). Afterwards we continued on, stopping at several more sights. One of our highlights of the day was seeing all the sheep wandering the green fields. Everywhere we looked we saw tiny white specs covering the green fields. We even had to stop to let some sheep cross the road- all of the American’s were very impressed by this! Another highlight was on our way back to Dublin. We were able to experience a real Dublin traffic jam; we had to stop the bus as a herd of cows were being lead across the road after escaping from their field!

Overall it was an amazing day and the sights we saw were breathtaking! We arrived back in Dublin around 5:30 pm and walked around the town for a little bit before heading back to our hotel to have dinner and pack for an early flight the next morning. The next morning is where things get a little rocky again! It was hard for us to remember that Ireland was an hour behind France and did not bother to change the time our phone since we were only visiting for such a short time. We had to leave our hotel at 5:15 am but accidentally left at 4:15 am! We did not realize that instead of waking up at 4:30, we had waken up at 3:30 and had arrived at the airport an hour earlier until we started panicking when we saw that our flight was not boarding at the correct time, no one else was around and it was not delayed! After finally figuring it out we finally realized that we had woken up, left the hotel and gotten to the airport all an hour ahead of schedule but were happy for the extra hour to study for midterms! (We still cannot figure out how the taxi driver was waiting for us though since we asked for him to pick us up at 5:15!)

We were so sad to leave Ireland; we really fell in love with it. Everyone we met was so nice, we enjoyed seeing both the city and the country and loved being able to speak, understand the read everything! (We were even able to watch Friends and American Idol in our hotel room!) The weather was very nice and it was a trip we will never forget. It was also so weird being in a city where everyone looked just like us- with pale skin and reddish/blond hair; we found that to be very strange!

We are already back in the swing of things in Antibes, with two midterms down and one more to go this week, we still have lot’s of studying ahead of us. We miss you all like crazy and can’t wait to see you soon, only a few more weeks! We will update again soon on our next adventure! Love you all!

Love,
Em and Jen

** 1: Em in front of the spire. 2: Trinity College. 3: Jen in front of Christ Church. 4&5: Us in front of the Dublin Castle. 6: Jen in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral. 7: The Guinness Storehouse. 8: Fitzgerald's Pub - just for you Aunt Chris! 9: Sunset over the Liffey River. 10: Along the road where Braveheart was filmed. 11: One of our stops on the tour, a hidden pond. 12: Two sheep that we had to stop to let cross the road! 13&14: Guinness Pond. 15: Jen in front of a waterfall during one of the stops of the tour. 16: A green field filled with sheep! 17: Em making a wish on a famous Celtic cross at the old monastery of Glendalough. 18&19: More sheep! 20: One of many bright green open fields! 21: A herd of cows that caused a traffic jam while crossing the road on our way back to Dublin.

Hi Everyone!
How are you? Hope you all had a nice St. Patrick’s Day! Just wanted to write you a quick a note to say hi! We have had a busy week of studying and getting ready for our second week of midterms that we will have next week. We were sad to see Mom, Dad and Jul leave and returned to our apartment and our daily routine; we had such a great time with them! We saw Grandma on Saturday and she too was sad to hear about them returning home. We are getting a little better communicating with her, though it is still very hard to understand her. She knows very little English and we still know very little French!

In our Composition class on Tuesday we got into groups again to work on poems together. It’s so interesting finding out little differences between the French and us. This class especially always seems to have such a hard time finding the French words of English words. It took us about five minutes to describe a swan to our group and it took the entire class to discover that the French do not have a word for the English word “knuckle!” One girl in our group explained to us that almost every student’s starts taking English classes at ten years old and some also take Italian since they are so close to Italy. She also said they understand that classes in America are much stricter, especially talking wise. They said they don’t feel that they are very good students.

Not too much else is new here. We are heading to Dublin on Saturday; we are hoping the weather will be dry there since we hear it rains a lot. The weather has continued to stay warm and nice here. We have even been wearing short sleeve shirts to class; some American’s are even wearing shorts to class! We look crazy next to the French though because they are still wearing their winter coats, black, sweaters and scarves since this is winter for them! We hope it’s starting to warm up at home for you too! We miss you all like crazy and are counting down the days until we see you! Love you all!

Love,
Em and Jen

** A few more pictures from Spring break! 1: The beach in Nice. 2: The glass triangle in front of the Louvre. 3: Notre Dame. 4: Changing of the guards in front of the prince's palace in Monaco. 5: The harbor in Monaco. 6: The beach in Cannes. 7&8: View from on top of the Eiffel Tower. 9: The view of the sunset from our apartment in Antibes. 10: Paintings on the street in Nice. 11: Em, Jul and Mom at a fancy table in Nice! 12: Jul, Mom and Jen after eating lunch outside on the steps in Nice. 13: Candy at the markets in Nice. 14&15: Flowers at the markets in Nice.

Family Fun in France!

Hello Everyone!
(Sorry in advance for how long this blog is, feel free to skim!)

This was definitely a spring break to remember! It started off a little rocky, but in the end we had a great time! Our flight from Nice to Paris was scheduled to take off at 6:30am. We had to be at check in by 5:45am but since buses and trains did not run early enough to get us to the airport in time and a taxi would be too expensive, we decided to take the last train the night before and sleep in the airport. We arrived at the train station in time to catch the last train to the airport at 11:00pm, but after sitting on the train for about fifteen minutes we were confused as to why it was not leaving the station. Eventually the conductor came on the loudspeaker and made an announcement, but since it was in French the only part we could understand was that they were having mechanical difficulties. We did not understand that we had to evacuate the train and the two of us along with one other English speaking man remained on the train thinking we would be leaving soon. We understood why everyone had gotten off and were standing on the platform when all of a sudden the lights went off and we were left sitting in complete darkness. (We thought all of the French had decided to take a quick smoking break while they were fixing the train!) Because all of the electricity had been shut off we could not open the doors to get out and because it was so late at night and dark no one could see us inside the train! After screaming for about five minutes one of the train operators finally saw us and eventually figured out that we could crawl out the conductor’s door in the back of the train that opened automatically.

We waited for a new train that arrived at midnight and thought the hard part was over until we got off at the train stop closest to the airport and realized we had no idea which direction to walk in and because it was now after midnight there were no people around to ask. The airport is about a twenty minute walk away so we looked at the signs around us and picked the best direction and started walking. We eventually saw a lady on a moped and flagged her down and she told us we were walking the wrong way so we turned around and began walking in the other direction. Normally we would have no problem walking but it was absolutely pouring rain, we were dragging all of our luggage and we were exhausted! We walked for a while and eventually saw a man on a bike who told us once again that we were walking the wrong way and that the way we were initially walking was correct. Long story short we eventually made it to the airport soaking wet after walking for over an hour. We were the only ones in the airport except for a homeless man doing his wash who was very angry with Jen for some reason! (She didn’t like him talking to himself and he didn’t like her telling him to be quiet!) We didn’t get any sleep because we were paranoid about him and our luggage being gone if we did fall asleep. Around 5:30 we discovered we were at the wrong terminal so we took the first shuttle to the other terminal only to discover that our flight was delayed SIX HOURS!! We could not believe it! We had waited two months to see our parents and sister and now we had to wait another six hours! Jen immediately started crying while Em yelled at the check-in lady in English who only proceeded to yell back at her in French. We caused quite the scene as you could imagine! We eventually made it to a chilly but dry Paris from a soaking wet Antibes and we could not have been more excited to see Mom, Dad, and Jul!

They were waiting for us when we landed and after lots of hugs and kisses we took a taxi from the airport to the house we would be staying at. The house was very cute, nice and warm, cozy, quaint, and definitely not built for tall people! The ceilings were very short (so short that we could not stand up straight in the shower!) and we were told that we would be in big trouble if we broke the railing on the spiral staircase leading to the second floor! (It was over a hundred years old and they wanted to keep it for another hundred years!) We loved the house though; it was perfect for family dinners and relaxing nights of reading and tea and cookies after long days of walking and touring. After unpacking and settling in we walked to Sacre Coure and visited the church and walked around the town. We stopped for Panini’s for dinner at a small outdoor café on the way back to our house. The second day, Friday, we took the metro to Notre Dame and toured the church, walked around the streets and shops of the island Ile St. Louis, and went to the Latin Quarter where we tried gyros for lunch. (Jul did not tell us until we were done that we were eating lamb and not chicken like the menu and waiter said!) We stopped by the Deportation Museum but it was closed and Saint Michelle but the line was too long so we got crepes and walked to the Louvre and then to the Arc de Triomphe where we climbed the 184 steps for the incredible view of the Champs-Élysées and the rest of the city. By that point we were exhausted so we took the metro back to our house and grabbed a quick dinner along the way.

On our third day in Paris, Saturday, Mom and Dad visited Versailles where they walked the gardens and the palace and saw the art work and the hall of mirrors. Jul and us decided to sleep in then took the metro to some outdoor markets and then came back to the town where our house was and had lunch and went shopping. We relaxed until Mom and Dad came back and then we all went out for a nice dinner! Sunday was our last day in Paris and we first went to the Musee D'orsay and then had a nice lunch at a nearby café. Afterwards Mom, Jul and us walked around the little shops and got crepes while Dad went in a few museums and then we met at the Eiffel Tower. We walked up the first half of the stairs (710 steps!) and then rode the elevator the rest of the way up. The view was amazing from the top and we could see all of the places we had visited earlier in the week! We were sad to leave Paris as our taxi arrived bright and early the next morning to take us to the train station where we rode the TGV, the fasted train in the world but excited to explore Antibes! We loved just getting to see and catch up with Mom, Dad and Jul and explore Paris with them!

From the train station in Antibes we walked to our apartment located in the old town. The house was very nice with large, bright rooms and a huge balcony overlooking the streets where we ate some of our meals! We unpacked a little bit and then walked around the town, stopping at the food store for some food for dinner. We also showed them our apartment and they got to meet Grandma next door and talk to her for a little bit! On Tuesday we had class in the morning from 8:30-11:30 so Mom, Dad, and Jul spent the morning walking around the town and shopping and once we returned from class we had a quick lunch then took the bus to Cannes. There we walked around the shops in the town, walked along the beach and got some ice cream. It was a little windy but sunny and nice weather! We then took the bus back to Antibes and we took Mom to Carrefour to show her around and to get some groceries and then came back to the house and made dinner. On Wednesday we had class again in the morning, but Mom, Dad, and Jul took the bus to school and met us after our class was over. We showed them around the school and then introduced them to our CEA advisor Kristin. Afterwards we took the bus back to Antibes and then took the train to Monte Carlo, Monaco where we had lunch at an outdoor café overlooking the harbor and then walked around the town stopping at the Monte Carlo museum, the palace, the church where Grace Kelly was married and buried, the gardens and a few stores and we also got some gelati. Once back in Antibes we stopped for Chinese for dinner before heading back to our apartment. Once again we had perfect weather and a beautiful day!

On Thursday Dad stayed in Antibes in the morning and went to a few museums while we took Mom and Jul on the bus to Nice. We visited the market in the morning, walked along the promenade, climbed the mountain to see the view, walked around the old town and did a little bit of shopping. We then took the bus back and met Dad and then went to our apartment to give Grandma the gift mom and had brought her and then made a nice dinner at the house and relaxed for the rest of the night. On Friday we had planned to go to Ventimiligia, Italy for the markets but decided instead to sleep in since we were tired and then spent the day at the beach and walking around Antibes, shopping and then packing. At night we went out for a delicious dinner at a restaurant right down the street from our house. The restaurants don’t open until 7pm so we were very hungry but Dad picked a great restaurant, he and Jul had fish and Mom and us had chicken- it was delicious!! The cook was very nice and made the meals special for us and then we had strawberry cake for dessert. It was a perfect ending to such a great visit! We then came back to the house and packed because Mom, Dad, and Jul had a very early flight the next morning, they had to leave for the airport at 5:30am.

We were so sad to see them leave! We had an amazing time getting to see so many places with them and being able to spend time together! You don’t realize how much you have missed someone until you don’t see them for so long! We were so fortunate that they were able to come over and visit and for the opportunity to travel to Paris and see all of the sights. We have been blessed with a great family and we wouldn’t change them for the world! We cannot wait to come home and see everyone else; we wish you all could have come! We spent most of this weekend catching up on work and looking for flights and hotels to fill up the weekends we have left in France. We are excited to see travel to more places and see more things, but we are getting ready to come home and see all of you soon! Thanks for an incredible ten days Mom, Dad, and Jul! We love you so much and miss you already! Talk to you guys soon!

Love, Jen and Em

***1: Mom outside of a bakery near Sacre Coure. 2: All of our in front of Sacre Coure. 3: Us in front of Notre Dame. 4: Our feet on the center part of Paris where everything is measure from. 5: Mom and Jen eating their gyro's! 6: Walking along the Seine river in Paris! 7: Jen and Mom standing in front of the pyramid in front of the Louvre Museum. 8: All of us on top of the Arc d'Triumph with the Eiffel Tower in the background! 9: Standing in front of the Arc d'Truimph on the Champs-Élysées! 10: All of us on top of the Eiffel Tower - it was very windy! 11: Sitting in front of flowers in Cannes. 12: Along the beach in Cannes. 13: Monte Carlo, Monaco with a view of the harbor! 14: Dad in front of a smart car in Monaco! 15: Mom and Dad in front of flowers in the garden's in Monaco. 16 and 17: In front of the Eiffel Tower! 18: Climbing the stairs of the Eiffel Tower! 19: Mom and Em enjoying some gelato in Cannes! 20: Overlooking the beach in Nice! 21: Mom and Jen drinking from a fountain - we were very thirsty and you can drink from fountains that are spread our all over the town! (Most people use water bottles!) 22: Jul and Mom in front of a lemon tree in Nice. 23: Mom and Dad at the beach in Antibes. 24: Eating lunch on our balcony at our apartment in Antibes! 25: Out to dinner on our last night in Anbites at Carono's! 26: Dad with his fish at dinner!