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Published: January 29th 2010
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Christmas Break Christmas in France was fantastic. Two friends of mine from home we're spending the break traveling in Germany and France, so they stopped in Strasbourg for a few days, and then I headed to Bretagne (the Brittany region of France) with them to spend a few days over Christmas with them and their family. The family had three girls (ages 7, 9, 13) and it was so much fun spending Christmas in a family with kids! They got so so excited about everything and their enthousiam was contagious!! The family also made excellent meals (that took two hours to eat!! I don't think Thanksgiving at home even lasts long than half an hour!) After Christmas I headed to Avignon, a town in the south of France to visit my friend Alex and her family for a few days over New Years. I visted the "Palais de Pâpes" a palace in Avignon where 9 Popes lived (I had no idea) and the famous "Pont d'Avignon". I also went to a roman amphitheatre in Orange, which is the best preserved roman amphitheatre in Europe! I had exams right after the break so I had to spend a lot of time
studying, but I'm really glad I got to spend Christmas with people from home.
Rome! The day after our exams finished, Taryn, Katherine, and I departed for Rome. Up until this trip, all our trips have gone extremely smoothly...we should have known this streak wouldn't last! To get to the airport in Germany, we had to take 3 trains and midtransfer somehow we found ourselves on a train headed in the wrong direction! Not only was it going in the wrong direction, but it was headed to the middle-of-nowhere Germany! The train had arrived at our platform at the exact time ours was supposed to so we didn't think twice about getting on it. To make matters worse, a lady had asked me if the train was going to the place we were trying to get to, and I said yes, so she was going to the wrong place as well!! Turns out she was trying to get the same flight as us to Rome. (Note to the world: please don't ask me for directions! Ever!) After realizing we were headed in the wrong direction we couldn't even get off the train right away because some of the
stops were so small there probably wouldn't be any trains returning that way any time soon! We got off at a mid sized stop and decided we would take a train back to a different station and then try to take a taxi to the airport. (Luckily for us, the lady I gave the wrong directions to was with us, because she decided what do to, otherwise we probably would have just headed back to Strasbourg.) When we arrived at the train station, we only had an our to get to our gate for boarding so we raced to a taxi and got him to drive as fast as possible to the airport (which means 180km/hour on the autobahn!) We arrived at our gate just in time!! A few hours later we landed in Rome, 10 degrees warmer and so relieved we had made it!!
Rome was amazing. The weather was perfect for walking around. Our hostel was in a really central location which was great. We also met a bunch of (British, Irish, German, etc.) students in our hostel who were studying in another part of Italy and we spent quite a bit of time with them. On
Carnac, France
A town I visited in the Brittany region of France over Christmas our first day we walked from the Pantheon, to the Spanish steps, to the Trevi fountain, to the Colosseum. Our second day we went to the Vatican, the Vatican museum, and St.Peter's square. We also went to a national museum in Rome after we got back to downtown Rome. On our last full day we spent the morning walking around the old roman ruins at the Forum and then we took the train to Ostia Antica, to spend the afternoon in the little port town half an hour from rome. Then we made a quick stop to watch the sunset by the ocean in a town called Lido. The pizza in Rome was incredible! Of course we also had Gelato. Getting home was definitely a lot less eventful than our trip there (thankfully)!
In less than a week I'm going to Paris for the first time with my sister and mom!! I'm really excited to see them (and all the wonderful canadian things they are bringing me that I have missed so much - ie. ranch dressing, instant oatmeal (not really sure why I miss this, but I do), and some other things I forgot at home when I
came here). We're going to spend a week in Paris, we still haven't totally planned our itinerary, but I'm sure we'll be very busy every day! After they leave, I am going to meet Katherine and Taryn in Munich with a British friend of ours, Charlotte. We are going to spend a few days there, since we have a week off in February. After we get home, we will be spending a week watching and giving presentations in the European Parliament as part of a project with my school.
As I'm approaching the half way mark of my trip, I'm definitely starting to feel at home here, and the thought of coming back to Canada is somewhat bittersweet (there's still so much of Europe I need to see! and croissants that need to be eaten! and French that needs to be spoken!)
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Alaina
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Hey Jean! So glad you made it to Rome and that you were able to add a little more adventure to the trip! :) Have a fantastic time in Paris and let us know if you have any questions that we can hopefully answer. We're moving today to a new two bedroom condo in New West and will probably even have a puppy when you get home!!! Enjoy the last half of your trip. It's definitely the better half. Just reading your comment about it starting to feel like home made me nostalgic. You will likely find it hard to leave, but Vancouver happily awaits your return. It's even crying here for you today. (Like most days....) Miss you lots and look forward to seeing you in a few months. All the best with your last semester! Love!