Europe

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We were ready to head off to France, Bordeaux, driving in Dale thought it looked a bit run down but I was really excited to explore. We soon found Bordeaux to be a beautiful place and I can see why the French are considered chic, just look at the shops! Bordeaux is one of Frances premier wine growing areas. There are over 5000 chateaux around producing seven million bottles of wine a year. We were both excited to try the wine on a full day wine tour of the Sauternes region. We got to try some sweet wines almost too sweet for our pallets but we soon enjoyed them as the day went on. The four course meal was delicious it consisted of pate with bread and onion marmalade, stuffed chicken with potato and zucchini. Then we devoured a cheese board and last but not least coffee and apple custard pie. We meet some really nice people on the tour as well.

1 Night in Paris
We arrived late in Paris and got to our accommodation opened the door and noticed we had a great view of the Sacre Coeur. We went to La Marmite for dinner with another couple we had met and enjoyed an entrée of snails (not bad) we also had a great big salad it was huge we couldn’t finish it and so tasty.

Off to Switzerland we went with Bern the first destination we stayed in a nice hotel the first night then did some sight seeing the next day. We went and saw the bear pits and saw Pedro the bear, it was sad to see such a beautiful animal stuck in a small enclosure. I felt better when I saw people feed him fruit (money going towards a new bigger enclosure for Pedro).

Dale purchased a Swiss Army knife which came in handy when we had our picnic lunch, he even gave me a turn cutting the cheese but said I made the slices too thick. (Ill leave the cutting up to him). We walked past Einstein’s House where he spent two years developing the theory of relativity. But the best thing we did was buy 100g of Swiss chocolate and sit in the park to eat. That afternoon we caught the train to Fribourg to meet Anne-laure one of my friends from Switzerland. Anne-laure took us to her brothers house to watch her brother and his friends sky dive and land in their back yard. It was amazing to watch them all land and fold up their parachutes so quickly ready for their next jump. Anne-laures dad cooked us a delicious soup called Soupe de Chalet we enjoyed talking to the sky divers and drinking red wine. The next day we woke up early so I could get on the sky diving plane and watch them jump. It was a bit scary being explained the safety procedure. I was given a parachute and told to pull the cord straight out if I was told to leave the plane. (AHHH). Once we got up in the air I was enjoying the view too much to be scared it was amazing, one of the divers pointed out the Matahorn to me. The sky divers went so fast once they left the plane I leaned forward in my seat so I could watch them blow away. I got a great photos because once they went they left the door open. We went down really quickly once the sky divers left we even bet them down. What an amazing experience.

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Photos

Lunch Time
Lunch on the wine tour

Flower
Behind it is all the grape vines

Paris
The view from our hotel

Plate of snails
France

Us with snails
France

Bern
Pedro the Bear

Anne-laures
After the sky divers jumped they fold so quickly

Comments

[Leah1]

Hi guys!
I wondered who had done the big jump! Sounds like your trip is going well, you're having so much fun and experiencing very cool things! Keep enjoying it.