Paris treated us well.. And Vienna too!

On Saturday morning, I was so excited to see everyone that I got up way too early and had to wait in the hotel cafe for a couple hours. The anticipation only kept building! Finally they arrived and, after we exchanged big hugs, we enjoyed a nice brunch at a local cafe. Our tour on Saturday started at the St. Pierre Cathedral which overlooks a lot of the city. We had some beautiful spots for pictures:

   

   

We drove around the city for a while and finally made it to the Eiffel Tower. We were lucky and got to enjoy both the afternoon and dinner on the tower, thanks to the grandparents! I tried ox cheek and some caviar and really enjoyed both, of course!

              

Ben, Taylor and I (aka the Taylor gang) stayed out for a while and enjoyed the city at night. We also stopped at the lock bridge:) thanks for the photos, Ben. When we got back to the hotel, we all hung out for a while in their bar before calling it a night!

   

We visited the Palace of Versailles on Sunday. I really enjoyed hearing our tour guide talk about the lavish lifestyle of the kings and queens of the time. They lived in such excess, yet the people still loved them for a long time while they lived in terrible conditions. It was also cool to hear how the French history coincides and contrasts with the Hapsburg empire we have talked about all semester in my classes.  

         

Then we headed back down to Paris proper to do a boat tour of the city down the river.  

   

After lunch we went to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Élysées Avenue. We saw some fun shops along the way, but had to get ready to head out much too soon:( 

   

After an action-packed weekend with so many people I care about, Taylor and I left for Vienna while my parents and grandparents visited Prague. 

We had a busy day trying to sight-see Vienna in one day, but we were up for the challenge. We started off at the Nashmarkt, one of my favorite local markets in the area. Then we went to the Albertina museum. It was my first time there as well, so it was fun to see that together!  

 Of course we stopped for a Weiner at lunch and one of my favorite cafes for an afternoon snack! My history class took a tour of the Vienna artillery that featured the car where Franz Ferdinand was shot and many more WWI and WWII momentos.  We got lucky with really nice weather and a beautiful sunset at Belvedeere Palace!

   

 

After some shopping for Taylor in the first district, we did dinner at a very Viennese restaurant with some great Weiner schnitzel! Dessert was gelato from a shop down by the Danube and then we met up with some of my Flow House friends at the Kangaroo Bar for drinks!

I had such an amazing time and feel pretty lucky that she made it! What an experience!