I'm missing all of my friends, family, and mom's cooking (especially Mamma Broussard's cooking) a lot today, but lucky for us API is the best study abroad program out there and they are having a Thanksgiving dinner for us tonight! So we'll see if these spaniards can handle the pressure of beating a Broussard holiday meal, but I don't know.
Our final API excursion was this past weekend and it was the big kahuna, Paris! We left Barcelona Friday mid-morning and then returned Sunday evening, but it just was not enough time to see everything. Friday we checked into our hotel and then went straight to the Louvre for a guided tour, they know the way to my heart, and we hit all of the hot spots - Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and the Coronation of Napoleon. We could have spent all weekend plus probably a month and not have seen everything there is to see in the Louvre. We were free to do whatever we wanted for the night so a group of us decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower and see it all lit up. But let me tell you, that monument is such a tease. You see it sparkling and shining and "oh oh! there it is!" and because it is so huge you think it will be a short jump and a skip away, but no. It took us quite some time, but we made it eventually, and of course, it didn't disappoint.
Hey Mona
The next day API had a bus tour for us. Now I'm all for most tours and guides - bike, audio, real live human being, but bus tours I don't think I can endorse. I wish we had just walked around to all of the sites instead of just seeing them through a window as we passed by, but we saw most everything and got to take about a million pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. This was also the trip of solo shots because who doesn't want a solo shot for the rest of their life in front of the Eiffel Tower? I had my first french crepe for lunch, delish, and then we spent the next few hours searching for macaroons. Paris is known for them so they should be pretty easy to find, right? Wrong again. The only ones we could find were at McDonald's. So we headed to Eiffel Tower for round 2 and this time to go up to the top. From the base you could only buy tickets to the second floor, so it wasn't all the way up, but my fear of heights and I decided it was high enough for me. The sun had just set so it was beautiful and you could see for miles. That night we went to the Champs Elysees to walk through the Christmas market that was set up with booths selling anything and everything, even the elusive macaroons!
The first, but definitely not the last of the solo shots
Hunchback of Notre Dame, get it?
Inside Notre Dame
View from the Eiffel Tower!
MACAROONS AT LAST
Kate really wanted to go to Versailles, so the next day we hopped on the train and had arrived after about 45 minutes. If you are under 26 and a resident of the E.U. then you get in free to Versailles AND a free audio guide. Thanks to our visas, that included us. I really can't even explain Versailles. We only saw a fraction of it, but every inch was so magnificent and luxurious. The gardens were stunning and I can only imagine how beautiful they are in the spring when everything is blooming. Versailles took up pretty much our whole last day, but it was definitely worth it. Then everyone met back up at the hotel, headed for the airport, and flew back to home sweet Barcelona.
The Hall of Mirrors
I've traveled a lot the past months (holy smokes has it really been months already?!), but this weekend I'll be staying put in Barcelona and I couldn't be more excited. I can't believe how fast this semester is flying by and the weekends I have left to soak up Barcelona are dwindling all too quickly.
Being that it is Thanksgiving, I have never been more thankful for my family and friends both across the Atlantic and here in Barcelona as well as this experience and... peanut butter. I had really missed peanut butter.
Happy turkey day everybody! Stuff your face for me! And mom, let's have a Thanksgiving round 2 when I get back, vale? Vale :)
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