Day 27/13 - Toulouse to Paris, France!

So this was an awaited day! The day we drove to Paris! It was a 7 hour drive, and we were planning on leaving at 8. Well, that didn't happen, because my parents got kicked out of the laundry mat the night before, before all our close were dry. We tried to hang them up in our rooms, but they didn't dry overnight, and we couldn't leave with wet clothes. So my parents went back to the laundry mat to finish drying everything. How nice of them. We had hoped for McDonald's breakfast, since it was right across the street from our hotel, but they aren't open for breakfast in France =[ But, there was an awesome bakery right across from McDonalds, so we stopped there and got some delicious pastries. Then it was off to Paris! After about half way through, we had just stopped for lunch and were back on the road, going through a toll, when we realize the car in front of us was our friends!! So we decided to follow them! Our GPS was telling us to go one way, but the signs and our friends went the other, so we decided to ignore Brenda for the moment, and follow our friends (we knew they were going to Paris). We finally caught up with them, and we turned on our walkie talkie (we each had one so we could talk on the road) and my dad starts flashing his lights at them and waving his arms around. They start talking to us on the walkie talkie and it was all fun! We eventually lost them because they were going to a hotel near Disneyland Paris, while ours is about 1 km from the Louvre, but we'll meet up with them again tomorrow. So we got to our hotel, and were off to see the Eiffel Tower! We had to take the metro to get there, since it was too far to walk, but we eventually made it. It was overcast and drizzling rain, but it was still super neat to be there! We walked down the park, and across the street from the Eiffel tower, and there were all these brides and limos. So we walked over to see what was going on, and they were all Chinese! Like 8 or 10 brides and grooms! SO we weren't sure if they were actually all getting married (we've seen mass Chinese weddings before) or if they were doing a photoshoot, trying to advertise for Chinese to get married here. But it was still neat to see all them dressed up. After that, Camille desperately wanted Subway for dinner, so we got her Subway, and then we took the metro home. We were walking back to our hotel so Camille could eat, and then we'd go find food, when we passed a sign saying gyros. Now I love gyros, so we walked in. Turns out, they had way more food then gyros, and none of us ended up having gyros, but we had so much other good food. We then had baklava and crepes for dessert. We will be going back to this restaurant, and thankfully its a 30 second walk from our hotel =] That was all!

Day 26/12 - Barcelona to Toulouse, France

So the morning of day 26/12, we went to Park Gurell, a park that Gaudi created. We started off, following Brenda, but soon enough realized she wanted us to go a different direction then what the street signs were saying. So we followed the street signs, but that lead us to bus parking. The lady who only spoke Spanish pointed up ahead, so we went looking for parking. Finding nothing, we text our friends and ask them if they are lost. They said their GPS was also having troubles, but that they just followed the signs and parked on the road up by the park (we still weren't sure where the park was...) so we go in a huge circle again, and we find our friends, park, and head up a path, which, once at the top, find out is the soccer field, not the park...but at least it had good views! So the man tells us where to go, and off we go again. We find the park, get a feel for it, take some pictures, and off we go. We were driving to Toulouse, France, via Carcassonne. Carcassonne is an old, preserved medieval town that has gone untouched (with the exception of people and shops moving in...) but wasn't bombed out or anything. I only knew of it because of a board game my cousins and I have played. So we made it to Carcassonne, and we hang out there for a few hours. It was a cool little place to see. After that, it was off to Toulouse. The only reason we were staying in Toulouse is because it was a long drive from Barcelona to Paris in one shot. We got to Toulouse, and Mom and Dad went off to do laundry (thats kind of necessary after being on the road for two weeks) and the kids stayed at the hotel and had McDonalds for dinner. That was about it!

25/11 - Barcelona, Spain

So we wake up on day 11, and what do we see when we look outside? Rain. Sad, sad rain. And lots of it to boot. But, all that really means is, we aren't going to the beach to relax. Which is sad. So we get up, have breakfast (which was good because they had doughnuts!) and off we head to Catalunya to meet up with our friends. Catalunya was on the water, so we figured we could go look at the shops. We all walk down Las Ramblas, headed towards the beach, and we happen upon La Boqueria! I was quite happy, as I'd heard that was a great place to check out to take pictures at. It is a market, but I was worried it would be outdoors, and since it was raining, I was worried it wouldn't be very busy. Thankfully, it is a covered outdoor market, and was super busy! So we walked around, looking at all the fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, breads and sweets, and also looking at all the Spanish locals! It was so much fun! We picked up some salami, cheese, fruit and fruit drinks, and some bread, then headed like crazy tourists to the beach. Yes, we wanted to go eat at the water front. Not sure why, seeing as it was raining and we didn't know what we were going to find at the water front, but off we went. We arrived, found a bench that was under some trees, and somewhat protected from the elements, and we had our little lunch picnic. After lunch, we found a huge mall (yes, I know) and so we headed there. Camille really didn't eat lunch and all she wanted was a hamburger from McDonalds, so we let her get some food there, and Mom, Noelle and I, plus our friends, walked around the mall. We left our friends sons, plus Ben and Camille sitting on the steps. The rain had kind of let up, but had started back up by the time we were done browsing. So what did we do? Well, we did what we seem to do best when it rains. We sat on the steps for the next 1 1/2 hours. That was fun =] Finally we decided to brave the rain and off we went. We went to see La Sagrada Familia, a crazy Gaudi church that was by our hotel. It is about 70 years old, but isn't finished being built, even though the architect, Gaudi, is long dead. So that was fun to see. We then found us some dinner! Paella, tapes, and more. So yummy! And that was about all we did in Barcelona that day.

Day 24/10 - Nice to Barcelona, Spain

I’m caught up! We are currently (were) driving from Nice to Barcelona. We didn’t get breakfast at the hotel and so we were going to go to McDonalds. We typed in McDonalds into our trusty Brenda, and she gave us some directions. We started following them, but quickly realized what Brenda was telling us wasn’t matching up with where we actually were. She was super confused, kept loosing GPS signal, and soon enough, we don’t even know where she was. So we saw some signs to the high way so we followed those. I took Brenda and reset her to her factory settings, and then once we were out of Nice, reprogrammed her to take us to Barcelona. Poor Brenda didn’t like the narrow streets and tall buildings of Nice. We are really only going to Barcelona because our friend has business there, but we are excited to hopefully go to the beach and to eat Spanish food!! So yummy!

So we are now in Barcelona, and we are waiting for our friend to finish his meeting, and then we are going to a tapas restaurant for dinner! We are here for two days, and were hoping tomorrow would be nice enough to go to the beach, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen =[ Its supposed to rain and be cold all day. So we'll see what happens!


ETA: Our friends ended up going to dinner with their company, so we went and found a braserie (grilled meat) restaurant that was really good. The La Sagrada Familia was right near where we were, so we went and walked to that, and walked around that. That was all we ended up doing. 

Day 23/9 - Rome to Nice, France

So the reason we were going to Nice, France was a stop over to get to Barcelona. We didn’t want to drive straight from Rome to Barcelona, so we stopped in Nice to sleep. We also drove through Monte Carlo, Monaco on our way so we could see the fanciness of it all. We didn’t do a thing in Nice except go to dinner and watch TV =] It was by far the nicest hotel we have stayed at, complete with free internet on the TV, free movies, and it was just super nice looking. It was a very nice relaxing evening. 

Day 23/9 - Rome to Nice, France

So the reason we were going to Nice, France was a stop over to get to Barcelona. We didn’t want to drive straight from Rome to Barcelona, so we stopped in Nice to sleep. We also drove through Monte Carlo, Monaco on our way so we could see the fanciness of it all. We didn’t do a thing in Nice except go to dinner and watch TV =] It was by far the nicest hotel we have stayed at, complete with free internet on the TV, free movies, and it was just super nice looking. It was a very nice relaxing evening. 

Day 22/8 - Rome and Vatican City

So Tuesday we got up early because we needed to be at the Vatican by 8:30ish. I was so excited to go to the Vatican!! So we get there (after taking the bus there and our driver not letting us off when we pushed the button) and I text our friends to see where they were. Turns out they had yet to even get on the bus to come, and they were clear on the other side of the city! So we go in (we had reserved our tickets online, highly recommend that!) and we head straight for the Sistine Chapel because I heard it was better to go there in the morning and then backtrack through everything else. So glad we did that because while there were a lot of people there then, it was nothing like later on. So we are about to go into the Sistine Chapel and I see that you can’t take pictures in there. Bummer. But I took some anyway. We sat along the edge of the chapel for about 30 minutes and my dad was telling us about all the pictures and what they are depictions of and such. And I sat there taking pictures discretely =] After that, we texted our friends again, and they had just gotten there! This was like 1 ½ hours after they wanted to be here. So we just went through and continued on with the rest of the Vatican Museum, backtracking to things we had zoomed through, and going and seeing everything new. All in all, we were in the Vatican Museum for 4ish hours. I was really hoping we’d see the Pope somewhere, but alas, no Pope for us. We randomly ran into our friends right before they went into the Sistine Chapel, so we went through and waited for them on the other side, and then we all exited together. We then of course went to St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square! I was so excited!!! Walking into St. Peter’s Basilica was just amazing. It is huge!!! And beautiful! So we spent 2 hours there, just walking around and taking it all in. Afterwards, my dad mentioned going up to the cupola (dome) and I wanted to go! So we walk over, and it was kind of pricy, so my dad let just me go up there. So I took the elevator up there, and you then walk into the inside of the dome. That was incredible! Being up so close to the paintings on the ceiling, and then looking down and seeing everyone who was down below. You don’t realize how large it is till you are up there looking down at everyone else! I spent probably 30 minutes there, and then was going to head back down, not realizing you could walk up 320 stairs and go on the outside of the top of the cupola!! So I did, and wow, that was amazing! It was so beautiful up there, you could see all of Rome!! I took a lot of pictures and a video of the 360 view from the top. I just couldn’t believe it. I spent about 30 minutes there as well, then headed down. I went down, found my parents and then we found my siblings and our friends. My dad was like, what took so long, and I was like, I was just taking pictures and such. I was like, why, how long was I gone? And they were like, an hour! Oops, I didn’t realize I had been gone so long! So we were there for about 7 ½ hours! I had wanted to go to the Borghese Museum, but we didn’t have enough time =[ After the Vatican, we took a bus to the Pantheon and saw that. Then we were hungry, but tired of pasta and pizza, so we went traipsing around the city looking for McDonalds =] We found one and ate there, then walked over to the Trevi Fountain. Wow was that beautiful! We threw in our monies (one for a swift return to Rome, two to find your husband…I threw two =) ) and then we just hung out for an hour or more. It was really awesome to just chill there and enjoy the scenery. We left once it started getting dark, and we ran over to the Spanish steps to see those, and then we had to go. It was past 9, but my dad didn’t really believe that the metro was closing at 9, so we walked to it anyway and sure enough, it was closed, but they had a night bus that would stop at all the metro stops, so we got on that and home we went. That was the end of Rome!