Paris, France

[January 28-29]

Following our weekend in Amsterdam, we went on a girl's trip to Paris! After looking into the prices for both transportation and lodging we decided to only go for two days and one night because the hostels are very expensive. 

At 4:45am on Friday morning Tricia, Laura, Kara and I were out the door of our hotel in Brussels with a good night's sleep and a four hour bus ride ahead of us.  We caught the 6am bus from Brussels and arrived in Paris before ten o'clock! The timing actually worked out perfectly because the four of us were able to sleep on the bus and by the time we arrived in the city we were ready to see the sights! After buying a metro pass for two full days we rode the metro to our hostel and checked in.  While I would have to say  it was not as nice as our hostel in Amsterdam, we had no big complaints.  We went exploring around the area after locking up our belongings and settled on eating at a local pastry shop that had a sign for a sandwich, drink, and dessert for 6.5 euros.  However this was not any little pastry shop.  We all ordered these amazing looking chicken sandwiches on fresh baguettes and then when we asked what dessert we could get (assuming a cookie or something small) she pointed to this display of homemade gourmet desserts and all of our mouthes dropped! We were overwhelmed with our options, and needless to say they were as delicious as they appeared to be.

Delicious pastry shop we had lunch at

After starting our day off right with a scrumptious lunch we headed to the center of the city to catch the free tour.  Our tour guide was just as entertaining, if not better, than our tour guide in Amsterdam and was an overall phenomenal tour. He took us by all of the main sights in Paris and told us great stories about the history of the city. The only down side to the tour was that it was freezing! None of us expected it to be that cold, so by the end of the the tour I had my scarf wrapped around my head and my toes felt like ice cubes. Nonetheless we stayed on the full tour that lasted almost five hours and I am very happy we did. We ended the tour at Napoleon's tomb and then finally headed back to the hostel to get some dinner and warm up! Friday night we all had our first French crepes and they were mouth-watering. Definitely a must get if anyone goes to Paris =)

St. Michael's Fountain where we began our tour

"Lock" Bridge where lovers put their initials on a lock and toss the key in the river

The group of girls outside of the Louvre on the tour

CREPES!

Our bus back to Brussels was leaving at 6pm on Saturday so we woke up that morning at 8am in order to be able to see everything we wanted to before leaving.  Our hostel had a free breakfast of cereal and baguettes so after grabbing a quick bite we ended for the Eiffel Tower. Since it was so cold the day before we all layered up, but we were pleasantly surprised when we walked out of the door and it was sunny! It made the Eiffel Tower even more spectacular with the sun shining behind it.  We walked up 670 stairs in order to make it to the second tier of the Tower, and it was more than worth it. Such an amazing view of the city that really put things in perspective.  All four of us were able to sign the tower and we took many pictures in order to remember that moment forever.  

Eiffel Tower

On the second tier -- after 670 steps!

From the Eiffel Tower we took the metro to the Louvre and were able to get in for free since we are students studying in the EU. It is huge and has more artwork than anyone could possibly see in one day! While most of the paintings and statues were very detailed and impressive, none of us are big art people so we only stayed in the Louvre for an hour or so.  We walked to the Mona Lisa, it was by far the most popular exhibit, but it wasn't all that everyone makes it out to be. The painting itself is very small and there were so many people around it that it was hard to really analyze the 'mystery' behind it. Still happy we were able to see it though!

Following the Louvre we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the Notre Dame church.  It was quite a sight from the outside and even more breathtaking on the inside. We were able to walk around the inside and it had some of the largest and most intricate stained glass windows I have ever seen.

Outside of the Notre Dame

After our history and sight-seeing filled day the four of us girls decided we needed to end our day in Paris at the shopping district. Oh yes. When got off the metro we saw all of the name brand stores in a row and it was spectacular! With Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Burberry, Longchamp, and many others we only did window shopping, but it was fun to be in that environment and get a feel for what "shopping in Paris" is all about.

Our whirlwind of a Paris trip was very successful and we boarded the bus to come back home on time and arrived back in Brussels with lots of fun times to look back on! Contrary to popular belief, the French were all very nice and we did not have any bad interaction with the locals. Because of the cold weather that slightly put a damper on Friday I would love to go back again for just another short trip in the Spring when it is warmer in order to enjoy the sights even more!

The Paris ladies at our hostel =)

Amsterdam

[January 21-23]
Unfortunately I have been having some computer issues and have been without a computer for over a week now. Sorry for the delay but here is an update of two weekends ago when we went to Amsterdam!!
Our bus was scheduled to leave at noon on Friday so being unsure of exactly how to get to the bus station, we left at 10am..and got there by 10:20am. Needless to say we overestimated how much time we needed and spent the first two hours of our first weekend excursion sitting at the back of Burger King waiting for our bus to arrive. However once we were on the bus it was smooth sailing! There were eight of us that all traveled together from Friday to Sunday and then another group of Clemson students that were in Amsterdam from Thursday to Saturday so our trips overlapped on Friday night.
The bus that took us was similar to a charter bus with semi comfortable seats and a bathroom, so no complaints. The bus only took two hours and 45 minutes so we were in Amsterdam before three o'clock! Even though we were tired from getting up early and the ride, we all had quite the pep in our step when getting off the bus =)
The first thing that we noticed was that there were so many bikes!! We had heard that there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam, however it is hard to imagine until you really see it in person. It is also interesting because all of the bikes are very simple and old fashion style. (We later learned this was because they are just for cruising in the city and they don't want them to get stolen)

Just a casual bicycle parking lot

We were pleasantly surprised when we first arrived in Amsterdam and realized that almost everyone spoke English very well. This was especially useful when we first got off the bus and were confused in how to get to our hostel.  However after talking to one sweet old lady we boarded the metro and were on our way to Central Station.

Central Station

Central Station is the main hub in Amsterdam and it is also beautiful. Our hostel had a perfect location which was walking distance from this station and many other attractions in Amsterdam.
Our first hostel was much better than any of us could have imagined. In addition to the great location, it was a very secure setting with key cards to enter the building and individual lockers to lock up your belongings while you were away from the hostel.  I felt safe at all times there, and we even made friends with some of the other travelers in our room. Our room consisted of 10 sets of bunk beds, but thankfully we only had one snorer! 
Friday night we met up with some of the other Clemson students there and had a fun night all together.

Tricia, Laura and I in the hostel

My roommates and I did a lot of research before going to Amsterdam and we found a free walking tour online that showed all of the main historical and hot spots of the city. So, Saturday afternoon all eight of us bundled up for the cold weather and put our walking shoes on to see the city. There was a large group of other people that joined us for the tour, and we had the best tour guide! He was a graduate student that walked us all around the new and old parts of Amsterdam for close to four hours with a short 30 minute break in the middle. Yes...four hours. It was quite chilly outside though so half of the group bailed at the break, but Tricia, James and I stuck it out and I am so happy that we did. I took a ton of photos during the tour but here are a couple below:

Our walking tour group

Main square in Amsterdam

One of the main churches

 Canal that ran through the city

All of the houses are very narrow and tall and are slanted!

Our tour guide told us so many interesting things about the architecture, history, and culture of Amsterdam that really brought the city to life for us.

Sunday was our last day in Amsterdam so after checking out of our hostel we went on a search to find a local place to eat breakfast. We are traveling college students so I have to admit that some of our meals were spent at fast food restaurants and/or just picking up a cheap sandwich at a small store, so we really wanted to end our trip eating a true meal from Amsterdam! After walking around for what seemed like forever we finally gave up and just walked into this little hole in the wall place because we were so hungry and it had a breakfast menu on its door. However hole in the wall or not, it was DELICIOUS. Ah so yummy. Everyone got something different and it was such a small place that our group of eight took up the whole upstairs and we could see the cook individually cooking all of our meals. I got a plain pancake but when it came out it was a huge, thin pancake that took up the entire plate.

Pancake breakfast

Once our bellies were full and satisfied we headed to the Anne Frank Museum which was our last destination before leaving Amsterdam.  We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes and pay 8.50 euros, but it was definitely worth it. It was a humbling experience to say the least but we were able to actually walk through the house that Anne Frank lived in for the two years while she was in hiding. It was a very impressive museum that had video segments and quotes from her diary in each of the rooms that we walked through. Although I have read the Diary of Anne Frank it hit home a lot harder seeing it all in person, something I will never forget.
We caught the bus back to Brussels Sunday afternoon and were in our hotel by dinner time.  It was a perfect first travel experience and we already have so many great memories to reminisce on! We bonded so much more with our small group of eight, and it was so interesting to see a different part of Europe. In addition it made us SO much more excited for our other weekend excursions.