Eurotour! Part 1

The highlight of the year for most exchange students in Europe is "Eurotour", a huge trip all around lots of different countries. We finally get to play tourist instead of immediately trying to fit into society. This year, the Czech/Slovak trip was a little shorter than in the past, but still a wonderful experience. Monday, 30 April, I rode a bus back down to Tabor, and met the big group. We had a huge Mercedes tour bus for all 43 students and 3 adults (great ratio, eh?) We drove to Plzen to pick up the rest of the group, and we were off. Our route took us through Germany, then straight through the night to Paris. We arrived in Paris brgith and early. After a quick driving tour of some of the sights, we went to Notre Dame and looked around for a bit. We had free time until mid morning, then walked on to the Luxemburg gardens. Some of the toured around the fountain/pond and then took a little nap in the sunshine. Then, we went to the Invalides, where Napolean is buried. After lunch, we had more free time, and I went with some other girls to the Effiel Tower. We climbed to the second story via the stairs, but then took the elevator back down because the wait for the very top was too long.

The next day, we went to La Defense (the modern business district of Paris) first thing in the morning. After some window shopping and picture taking, we rode the bus to Monmartre, my favorite place in the city. I dragged my friend katie to the top of the hill, where we looked inside Sacre Coeur, then looked through the artist neighborhood on the top of the hill. Of course we had to also make a stop at the famous Moulin Rouge for pictures. Then, the group had a cruise on the Bateux Mouche down the Seine. The weather was perfect the entire time for pictures and just enjoying the sights. Our next block of free time was at the Louvre. I got in for free (yay for being under 18!) and just soaked in the famous art. After dinner at the food court, we were about to return to the hotel, but they let us off thebus to take night picture of the Effeil tower. There was also a man playing the accordian on the side of the square. He heard us speaking Czech/Slovak, and struck up a conversation. It turned out that he was a Slovak, who lived in the Czech Republic for a while, and is now touring Europe!! What a small world!

The third day in Paris was out free day. I set out with two other girls to Pere Lachaise, the famous cemetary, to see the graves of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and others. I knew it was a long walk, but I had no idea it would take us over 2 hours to get there!!! But, in theend it was worth the distance. After looking around, we took the metro back to the louvre to save time and out feet. I then headed towards the Musee D'Orsay, which was my favorite museum. The impressionist art was amaing to see in person, after seeing it in books my entire life. Then, I walked up the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triumph. I got my pictures, then slowly walked back to the Place de la Concorde to meet the rest of the group.

Day 4 was the visit to Versaille, early in the morning. I took the audio tour with some other students, then we playing in the garden for a while. The bus took us to the Normandy area, where we stayed for the night.

Our visit to Normandy was another of my favorite days. we started at Pont Hoc, to look at the battlefield. There is nothing like seeing Canadians running around in military gear, Americans pretending to be bombed, and Mexican flying their flag from a flagpole. Maybe exchange students can be responsable, but we are certainly not boring! We then continued to the American cemetary and to a little town nearby where the Allies built a harbor right after D-Day. There was a good museum in the town, which we wandered through. We then had another long bus trip to Boulogne sure Mer. It was a quiet town, with nothing to do there, so we just ate and caught up on sleep bofre the next leg of the journey.