Okay, my trip journal turned word document turned copy/paste.More pictures still to come.
Day 1: Sunday, April 1, 2007[/b]
LAX àMunich, Germany à Brussels, Belgium(Monday April 2, 2007)
Day 2: Monday, April 2, 2007[/b]
Brussels, Belgium à Bruges, Belgium
After a very long plane ride, wearrived in Munich, Germany for a short layover. I got somenice pictures of Germany, from the airport and the plane.During our free time I got some good Germany souvenirs.
Once we landed, we collected ourbaggage and met Thierry, our ACIS tour guide and Peiter, out busdriver.
Peiter drove us a few hours intoBruges, a small, old, Belgian town. The streets were sonarrow that the bus couldnt fit down them, so we had to walk a fewblocks to the hotel. The cobblestone streets and aged, brickbuildings gave the town a comfortable, welcoming feel. We hadabout an hour to get ready for dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Our meal was asparagus soup, turkeywith really pretty fried things of mashed potato, and a decadent applepie/cake thing with home-made whipped cream.
After dinner, we walked into the townsquare where we admired the city hall which had been built in the1350s. We then returned to our hotel room to shower andsleep, ready for a 7:00 am wake up call to return intoBrussels.
Our trip started out with 3 Seniors(Sabrina, Myrna, and Margy), 2 juniors (me and the other Christina) and19 sophomores. We also had 3 teachers and our tour guide,Thierry.
Day 3: Tuesday April 3, 2007[/b]
Bruges àWaterloo à Brussels
First we went to Waterloo for a cheesydiorama with a video. My favorite part was the putting toflight of the French then the blue lights started moving away from thecenter of the battle. Then we climbed the 226 steps to thetop of the mound that had been constructed in memory of the battle sothat we could see the whole field.
We drove back into Brussels.We saw the city hall and a building created for the Worlds Fair as amodel of an atom. We also saw the statue/ fountain mannekinpiss. We had Belgian waffles, mine with bananas and chocolateand hot chocolate and more Belgian chocolate. I bought somechocolate to bring home, and some to eat and a lace butterfly becauseapparently Belgian lace is important too.
Dinner was a chicken stew with boiledpotatoes after an interesting salad. Dessert was vanilla icecream. After dinner we walked around the canals, but it wasso cold (remember, were California girls) that we went back to thehotel early to shower, pack, & sleep.
I watched BBC on the tv, because Iwanted English. We watched the Underdog. I alsosent out about 10 postcards.
Day 4: Wednesday April 4, 2007[/b]
Belgium à Reims, France à Paris,France
At breakfast we learned that 2 girlshad gone clubbing in Bruges we didnt really see how that waspossible. That was 2 of the sophomores. About halfof the sophomores are officially annoying and wont stop asking stupidquestions. Those two girls got sent home onThursday.
We took a really long bus ride intoFrance. Then we went into Reims to visit Notre Dame at Reims,the cathedral. We had a little free time, then continued toParis. The Paris hotel was really nice. The roomswere smaller, but the beds were wonderful.
Dinner was tuna salad, chicken& potatoes (surprise), and fruit salad. There arecrepes everywhere.
It took us over 2 hours to go up anddown the Eiffel tower. We were waiting in lines the wholetime. At the top, we met a group of guys from New York whotook their picture with Margy because they were impressed that she gotinto Yale, Harvard, Princeton, etc.
While we were waiting for the elevatorfrom the 2[suP]nd[/suP] floor to the ground, there was no line, just amob. It takes a while for the elevator to show up and peoplewere getting antsy. When it was finally our turn, we gotsmashed against the wall as the whole crowd tried to get into theelevator.
Day 5: Thursday, April 5, 2007[/b]
Paris
We took a guided tour of Paris with agreat guide. Then we saw THE Notre Dame cathedral and hadcrepes for lunch. Mine was nutella and banana, akayummy. After lunch we took the metro to the Louvre where wesaw the Mona Lisa and the Coronation of Napoleon among otherworks. We even saw an Egyptian Sphinx. Then wevisited the local shops where I got a scarf and a sweatshirt.
Then we took the metro back to thehotel to dress for our special dinner. We finally got to picksomething other than poultry and potatoes. I had a reallygood salad with cheese and olives and even tried theescargot. It had a pesto-like sauce on it that Iliked. I also had veal which was excellent. Then we had theseice cream things for dessert. I also drank the entire carafeof coke because it was free, for the first time, and no one else wantedany. After dinner: a night tour of Paris where most of usfell asleep.
Day 6: Friday, April 6, 2007[/b]
Paris
Our last day in Paris. Wewent shopping at the Galleria Lafayette where I quickly learned that Iam not willing to pay for anything sold inside a building. Wealso saw the opera that the Phantom of the Opera was writtenabout. It has a pool of water underneath to enhance theacoustics.
Then we took the metro back to thehotel to meet the bus that took us to Versailles.
Versailles was reallybeautiful. The gardens were somewhat bare since it was stilltoo cold for flowers and fountains. It was neverthelessimpressive.
After Versailles, we had crepes fordinner. I had egg & cheese, then chocolate.Id had a quiche for lunch.
Then we went to moumart, the mount ofmartyrs. We visited the Basilica there then the local shopsand artists. I had my portrait drawn for 30 Euros, I talkedmy way down from 50. It was impressive. We walkedback by the Moulin Rouge and the café from Amelie. We didntreturn to the hotel until 00:30. I still cant get used tothat military time.
Day 7: Saturday, April 7, 2007[/b]
Paris àGeneva à Lausanne
We took the TGV train from Paris toGeneva. The train ride was about 3.5 hrs. Most ofus slept on the train, no that the view was that great: tree, hill,bush, grass, cow, grass.
It took us a long time to get to ourhotel which can basically be described in 4 words: shiny, blue, silver,pink
aka ugly. In Geneva it took an hour to find SwissFranks since the banks, even the famous Swiss banks, are closed onSaturdays. Then we had Ice cream. We walked fromLausanne to Ouchy for dinner: tomato soup, spaghetti, veggies, turkey,and ice cream. Then we went to a neat park and played on theswings then walked back, though we got lost.
Day 8: Sunday, April 8, 2007[/b]
Lausanne à Gruyers à Chateau deChillon
Gruyers was a nice town. Wedid some shopping. I am now the proud owner of a cuckooclock. J We had afondue lunch which was excellent. Then we went to the Chateaude Chillon, an old Chateu on its own island. That was reallycool. Dinner at the hotel was not so cool. I thinkthey went to the stupid American section of their grocerystore. We had alphabet soup, flavorless chicken and rice, andchocolate pudding stuff that was really, really bad.
Day 9: Monday, April 9, 2007[/b]
Geneva àMunich à LAX
We woke up at 3:15 to leave at4:00. Our plane left at 7:00 for Munich. In Munichwe shopped in the DFS. I love duty free. Then weflew over 11 hrs back to LA. It was nice to be somewherewhere the people who wanted to see my passport spoke mylanguage. Customs took over an hour, though we had nothing todeclare. I went home and slept for 14 hrs. I lovesleep.
