Free Travel: Paris and beyond

Well, turns out we didn't have any more internet opportunities once we left Barcelona. So I will do my best to provide an adequate update with the highlights of the rest of the trip without rambling on an on...

First of all, after my last post we had one more full day in Barcelona. We visited La Sagrada Famiglia, which was really fascinating. It is this huge church, started in the 1800s, that is still being built. The original architect is Gaudi, and his work is all over Barcelona, which we got to see a lot of while walking around the city. After a full final day in Barcelona, our group split in 2: five people in our group spent more to get another night in the hostel, while the other 5 of us went to the airport to spend the night. We got one of the very last trains and metro lines out there, and after a few miracles made it to the airport safely. Once we were there, we grabbed a corner of one of the terminals and just played cards, laughed, and enjoyed ourselves all night. It was a lot of fun, and saved us a good bit of money.

The next morning, we caught our plane (which was delayed) to Paris. We finally made it to Paris, and made our way to the guy's hotel. Ethan's dad had a bunch of Hilton points saved up, so he was able to get the guys 2 free rooms in the Hilton that is like a block from the Arc de Triomphe (with access to the Executive Lounge). It was definitely awesome.

We ended up spending 3 nights in Paris. While there, we saw all the big attractions: the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, Montmarte, and the Louvre. I was much more impressed by the Eiffel tower than I expected to be. It was absolutely enormous! It truly is a must see if you are ever traveling in the area.

Kendall, Ethan, and I all got to climb the Towers of Notre Dame, which was a really cool experience. We got to be within arms reach of all the famous chimeras (not gargoyles) and got a great view of the city of Paris from above. I would also recommend doing that if you have the time (and dont mind climbing a few hundred stairs in a straight, tight vertical spiral.
Honestly, one of my favorite parts was visiting the neighborhood or Montmarte, which is a small town above Paris, which was definitely off the beaten tourist path. We took it easy there, saw some historic windmills, then sat in a park, ate delicious crepes, and enjoyed the park scenery with children playing around us for a few hours. It was quite relaxing.

One of the days we were there, 6 of us took a train north and visited Normandy and the American Cemetery there. It was a wonderful, humbling experience. The museum and memorial there were all free, and it was really well done. There were close to 10,000 graves all overlooking the ocean. We also walked down to Omaha beach, which was pretty, but also crazy to think about the thousands that died at that very spot to defend the rights of others. My only regret is that we didn't have more time to spend there.

We were able to get into the Louvre for free with our Student Visas, so that was pretty awesome. Of course we saw the most famous things there: the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.
Long story short, after the French ended their train strike, all trains leaving Paris to anywhere were full. We spend several hours stressing and trying to figure out how in the world we were going to leave. We were saved by Helena, a worker at the train station nearest our hotel. She spent close to 30 minutes looking for any possible way to leave. Our final path ended up being as follows: Paris -> Lyon -> Geneva -> Bern -> Interlaken, spend 8 hours in Interlaken just to grab a little sleep, then Interlaken -> Spiez -> Milan -> Florence. 7 trains in less than 24 hours. It was crazy, but we were just glad to get home.

We were a little upset we didnt get to truly visit Interlaken and do all the acitivites we had planned, but we are planning on going back there at the end of the semester on our second free travel.

There were a few pretty stressful events, especially when trying to figure out how to get home. But I think our group handled it extremely well and without much complaining at all. We rolled with the punches and remained flexible, which is crucial to a good experience while traveling abroad. I had a great experience, and I will be even more prepared for the second free travel.

Ciao!
Taylor