From Fat Feet to Fat Tires

As I finish this trip up I am going to try to blog more and bring you all the fun details of my last week.

A week ago if someone asked me, "Nicole, how fabulous was Paris?" I probably would of anwsered, "Eh, it wasn't my favorite."

But, after one day, it is rising on the charts. Maybe it was because my first impression of Paris was after 36 hours of travel, exhausted, and cold and rainy, that I wasn't really all that excited to come back. Plus, I thought what am I going to do there for 6 whole days..... Well, I've been proved long.

I arrived yesterday and checked into my hostel, cleaned up and out I went. My plan, was to take the Fat Tire City Night Bike Tour. Now, as some of you may know, this was the company for which I orgionally had planned to work for, and how I planned to spend my summer in Paris. I was a little iffy to take the tour because it meant seeing what my summer could of been like, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go there, especially in my last week. But I did. And the tour was absolutely fabulous! I would recommend it to anyone who ever comes to Paris. Riding a bike through Paris, at sunset, is something out of a movie. And you finish the tour with a boat ride on the Seine, taking off as the Eiffel Tower "sparkles" for the first time of the night. And as I was sitting there on the boat, drinking wine and talking to our tour guide, Andrew, who just so happens to be from St. Louis (weird!), I realized something....

Things definetly happen for a reason, and life has a plan to it. Yes, working for Fat Tire probably would of been a blast, but had that worked out I probably wouldn't have seen all the places that I have, nor would I have met all the people that I have met. But more importantly, I would of probably left town before Eric and I were able to hash things out and I probably wouldn't be engaged right now. It's weird to think how close I was to having a completely different life rolled out before me.

Fat Tire Bike Company will probably never know what a significant role they have played in my life. Their rejection of my application lead me to the best 10 weeks of my life, and set me up for a future I am so excited to begin.

Alright, alright, none of you signed up to read about my theories on life paths, etc...

I will leave you this morning with the image of the Eiffel Tower shining at night.

And, if you can, try to picture 4 really horrible street dancers lip syncing to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean underneath the Tower. I watched in amazement for a good 15 minutes yesterday.

100 Kilos and Fat Feet

First sign that my trip is coming to a successful end: My luggage successfully weighs more than me at this point and my feet are swollen and covered with blisters.

Amsterdam was a successful trip. I would mark it as one of the cities that I would love to come back to and explore more extensively some day. Especially the outlying areas. The city is full of life and is like none other that I visted in Europe. And in truth, I think that Eva and I did a great job of picking cities that were each going to be unique and different from each other in our little mini excurion. Budapest was very Eastern Europe, with it's communist history. Vienna was a big romantic city feel, with excitement in the air for the coming Euro 2008 Championships being held in the midst of the city. Frieberg was a small rural town in Germany where you felt safe no matter how late you were out or where you were at. And Amsterdam was a party city, with sex, drugs and drinking laying around every corner.

And after a short stay with the Sevette's back in Beauvry, I am heading to my final destination before coming home - Paris. I will have a total of 6 days to dive into every crevious of Paris, and hopefully then some. Although I have a feeling that 6 days will only be enough to skim the top.

And before I go, there are a few things that I have forgotten to mention as I have been backpacking around the last 2 weeks. 1) I can add Octopus to the list of weird things I have eaten, and 2) first class trains have children swinging from luggage racks.

Okay, I feel better now. You are fully informed.

See you VERY SOON!

I just arrived in Amsterdam and all I have to say is "Holy Woah!"

I don't know if it's the kick off of the 2008 Euro Championships, the good weather, or just typical Amsterdam, but there are people EVERYWHERE!

Looks like it's going to be a good end to our mini trip within the trip.

Gotta go. Canal ride awaits.

To Travel, or Not To Travel, That Is the Question

Today I will bring you the travel blog that got postponed due to the engagement....

Ah, travel days.

A good portion of this trip is about travelling.... Oh, really? you say. Who would of thought.... Yes, it's true. Throughout this trip I have spent complete days at a time going from train station to train station and sometimes even an airport in between. And there are times when this really tests my patience. Like in London for example, when I had to take the train into the city, wait in two different lines to have them tell me I was in the wrong place, then take the tube to the right train station, wait in another line, take another train to the airport, and then have my plane delayed for an hour and half.

And then there are days like today, where there were absolutely no complications but still it was 8 hours of being on a train, which is exhausting.

Those would be the parts that I hate.

But there are parts to the travel days that I have come to love - the people watching and the amazing sites and views.

The airports usually provide for the best people watching. They are usually filled with families where the parents seem so stressed out and the kids are beyond excitement because vacations, or holidays, are a time when you (as a child) get to eat things you wouldn't ordinarily. Vacations for me as a child meant chocolate pop-tarts and fudge dipped oreos. For the kids sitting next to me in the Luton airport it was potato chips and skittles. And it's always dad who gets the pleasure of presenting this surprise to the kids and mom who watches in dismay.

And all complications with travel delays disappear when you fly over the Swiss alps and try to decipher between what is the top of the snow capped mountains and what is a cloud. Or when you come into Greece as the sun is setting and you try to figure out what is land and what is water. Or, when like today, you ride through the countryside of Austria and Germany and sing (to yourself), "The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Music..." and picture the Van Tramp family marching through the very hills to escape the German army.

So, I guess I would say that I have more of a love relationship than a hate relationship with travel days. Or at least until the next time someone throws themselves in front of my train to committ suicide and delays if for an hour (yes, actually happened in Paris). Till then, travel is pretty fabulous.

Right now I am in Frieberg, Germany, after having spent 2 nights in Vienna, Austria. Both cities have offered fabulous accommodations, provided by people whom I had met in Wales. Tomorrow we explore Frieberg, the Black Forest, and maybe some shopping.

Saturday - Amsterdam!