amsterdam to paris

okay so it has been a few days since I was able to write a blog since I did not really have computer access and didnt have time to pop into an internet cafe....well, here is my update from amsterdam to paris and I am in wattwil switzerland...well, i will get to that part in a bit.

I did make it to anne Frank`s house in amsterdam and i am very glad I went. Although it is a very depressing it is eye opening...the struggle that people went through during the war is just unreal...its hard to even think about. The rooms that where stuck in for months on end without being able to go outside or make noise during the day is flat out rough...anywho I will try to stay awaz from the depressing stuff...haha...

Shane and I both had trains around the same time departing from the main station in amsterdam. My train actually was scheduled to depart about an hour before shanes but got cancelled...after freaking out for about 2.2 seconds I realized that they where going to add us to another train to get us there but we would have to change trains in brussels belium...Shane and said good bye and he took off for berlin and I was off to paris... The train ride was okay but the train the put us on was not as nice nor was it the highspeed train that we thought we where going to be on but oh well...I didnt care becuase I fell asleep anyways.

When we got to brussels I remembered they said that it would be very easy to find the connecting train to paris but this was not true at all...the station was very busy and the lines where not short at the information windows....we only had 10 min to find our train...i noticed there was a girl on my frist train that was looking the connection aswell and she spoke french!!! So i talked to her for a moment and asked if she would mind if i would follow her to make sure I would not miss the connection...in the end we found it just in time and ended up sitting near each other and then went to the bar to grab a beer on the ride to paris. We where talking for a while and she asked where I was staying in paris and when i told her i had a hostle in a certain area of town she gave me a look of terror and then asked if I would rather stay at her place cause she had a pull out couch bed in her living room that was free...

I took this offer up right away cause it was free and I would have someone to hang out with at night and such. Alexandra is actually from London and had been working in paris for 9 months. She actually was super cool and very nice to offer to put me up and everything. Totally was not expecting that one.

Alexandra actually lives fairly close to the eiffel tower so she suggested that we hire some bikes (they are free for the first hour or so...totally cool) and bike to the tower to see the light show that happens at night on the hour. after going down a few streets that all looked the same we got the the long park of grass fields that lead up to the eiffel tower and right as we stopped the biked the light show started. It was beautiful...just sooooo cool. I loved it. okay i think you get the idea. After the show then we biked back to her street, dropped off the bikes and had a quick beer then it was bedtime as she had work in the morning and I had a very long day.

Okay so my first full day in paris was a very long but awesome day. I must have walked miles and miles. I left around 10:30 in the morning and was walking or on my feet until about 6pm. I hopped on a bus right outside her flat which took me directly to my first stop of the day...the Louvre. I was expecting a decent line but I basically walked right in. It was awesome! man oh man can that place be overwhelming... it is huge. I decided to get an audio guide to help me find my way around and give me a bit of history about the museum and such. I did not realize that the mona lisa was so small. But it was cool going during a time of year that is not all that busy becuase i was able to walk right up to her and take a few pictures and admire leonardo`s work. all in all i spent a few hours in the lourve and grabbed a ham and cheese baguette and a coke to eat outside by the pyramid before taking off for my trek to kick it with the hunchback of notre dame...

So the walk from the louvre to notre dame was very nice...it was along the river down paris through the heart of paris. On my waz I met a couple from austrailia that was also looking for it so we joined forces to boost to odds of us finding it quickly. They where very nice and very interested in my trip and where I was off to next and such...very cool couple. When we got to notre dame we stayed outside to admire the architecture and the details of the building. It is crazy to think that this one church is older than the united states..hahaha....nutz that we have such a young country and we just dont have buildings like this in the states. When I went inside the church it was even more beautiful...from the stained glass windows to the beautiful painting and statues it was just amazing...The one thing I did not get to do was go up in the tower. They only let 20 people in at a time and there was a really long line so I decided to save the view of paris for looking from the tower!

...to be continued....

Okay, so here is the deal.. I still have lots to write about Paris but its after midnight here in switzerland and we are tired over here so I am going to go get ready for bed and finish up tomorrow...gnight for now