Finals are over! I’d say they went pretty well. Unfortunately, I have to wait until January to receive my grades. Until then, I can focus on something other than schoolwork! I am already packed up and ready to go. I am tying all the loose ends and saying my goodbyes. Only 5 more days until my return. I am very excited!
I have a few blog posts left to write so I will most likely finish them when I am in The States. This post is all about my week with my mom and my sister Angie. 🙂
I am blessed to have been able to spend some time traveling in Europe with my family. My mom arrived on the same Saturday that Drew departed, so I waited at the airport for a few hours. I was so excited to see her! Â Angie wouldn’t arrive until Sunday so we decided to stay close to the airport. We hopped on the shuttle to our hotel, dropped off our stuff. We headed to a nearby mall and had some lunch.
We later headed to a small village at the airport. It was literally a 10 minute walk from one end of the village to the other. It was so cute!
Angie arrived on Saturday and we headed to Paris. We arrived at the hotel and then headed to the Eiffel Tower.
We lined up to get tickets for the tower. It was beautiful.
Sorry about the picture orientation. I can’t figure out how to rotate them lol.
History on the eiffel tower was posted all the way up the stairs.
On the first floor was a glass floor, the second floor was the line to go to the top. The views were amazing! I also learned that the Eiffel Tower was originally red! It wasn’t until after they applied an anti-corrosion material that it became the color it is today.
We waited in the park until the lights came on. There was a man playing Native American music. He was really good! My mom even bought two CD’s 🙂
We took plenty of pictures then headed out to grab some dinner!
The next couple of day we went to lots of museums. We stopped by the Notre Dame both at day and night and then went to the Louvre.
We saw so many well-known pieces of art. It’s really amazing the difference between seeing things or places in pictures and actually seeing them in person! I must say I agree with Angie, the lilies were my favorite too!
On our last day in Paris we headed to the Palace of Versailles. When we arrived we had to get in line. It was the longest one we waited in, but it was really worth it. The palace is huge! I love seeing furniture and buildings from the past so it was fun walking through the palace and seeing where the princesses stayed and all of their rooms. There were documentaries in each room, you could literally spend days there listening to it all!
It was such a beautiful day!
The Hall of Mirrors is the one all the way to the right. After seeing the whole place we headed back to Paris center. We still needed to see the Arc de Triomphe. It was the end of the day and we were all super tired, but we made it to the top to see another amazing view. We also had the chance to see the Eiffel Tower light up from the top of the Arc. We got to ride on the open buses. The music and the view from the top of the bus was fun, but traffic was hectic!
There was some sort of ceremony going on when we descended. We stuck around to see what was going on but we couldn’t see very well.
After we left the Arc we headed to the train station to grab a train to Beauvais. Our flight to Venice headed out the next morning from there.
My beautiful sister looking very Parisian and my mom as beautiful as ever. I love them so much!!
We flew into the Treviso Airport and took a bus to Venice. By the time we arrived and settled in it was pretty late so we headed to the center and looked for some pizza. Even at night (Venice is not well lit) I could tell this place was gorgeous. Angie was pretty much our tour guide there. Everything felt like a labyrinth to me I would have gotten us lost lol.
We had originally booked a small cabin at a campsite for both nights in Venice. It was really cold when we went and the cabin wasn’t insulated very well. Lets just say we ended up booking a hotel for the second night instead. We did have fun that night before we left (even though we were freezing). We went to the common area to connect to Wi-fi and there was a movie on. A group of tourists that were very kind and offered us some drinks.
The next morning we headed back to the center. First thing was finding a hotel for the second night. Then we walked around everywhere. It had rained pretty bad the night before and some of the canals had flooded so we ended up buying poncho boots, very fashionable. 😉
Venice is such a beautiful place. I don’t have many words to describe it other than its absolutely gorgeous… so here are some pictures!!
We had gelato, cannolis, and for dinner: spaghetti. It was the most delicious spaghetti I have had in my entire life. I absolutely loved how some restaurants on the plaza had a small orchestra and piano playing music. The restaurant we went to was so fun. The staff was amazing, and very very friendly. We had a fantastic time!
We walked around for the rest of the night and bought some souvenirs. I would go back to Venice in a heartbeat!! It was my favorite destination during my time here.
We rode a boat back to the hotel and headed to bed. We had an early flight the next morning. After heading back to Paris, we did some last minute shopping and returned to the hotel by the airport.
Angie & Mom: I really want to thank you guys for coming to see me. I know how expensive it can be to come to Europe and I really appreciate the effort you guys put into making the trip happen. I didn’t make it easy traveling with a budget-crazy college student and we had some hiccups with some of the transportation. However, I absolutely love all the memories we made together. You made this time away from home a little bit easier by coming halfway through it. I will forever remember all the amazing places we saw, all of the laughs we had, and the good times we shared. Thank you so much!! I love you both.
As for everyone else, I am back in 5 DAYS!! I’m definitely counting down the days until I see everyone.
Until then…
XOXO- Karen
Karen to France 2015 
Karen…thanks for all the wonderful reports on your experiences. It almost felt like I was there. Love, Grandpa Lou
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