What a week it was! France was overall one of the best excursions we have been on. We began our trip in Colmar. It was such a nice and sweet little town, and I really loved how it seemed to be in its own world. The mix of French and German cultures gave it a unique look and feel to the town. We got to see the Isenheim altar, and that was one of the most beautiful paintings/altarpieces that I had ever seen. We then headed to Beaune. The bus ride to Beaune was beautiful. I never knew how beautiful the French countryside was. Compared to Texas, it was absolutely astonishing. Once we arrived in Beune we settled in, and went out for dinner. We had pizza at apparently the best pizza place in Beaune. Which I guess isn’t that hard to believe since Beaune is a pretty small town. After we ate, a few of us went to go get wine at a wine bar. It was here that I gained a new appreciation for wine. I had some of the best burgundy wine ever! Granted, I haven’t had much wine in my lifetime but the general consensus was that the wine was delicious. The following morning I woke up and went for a run around Beaune. I was so glad that I did because I saw some of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen!
We then went to Hotel Dieu; that place was very cool, and I’m glad we got to see a really old hospital. I learned to appreciate how people were treated in medical facilities way back in the day. We then left Beaune and headed for Paris.
Paris was tons of fun, and I got a new perspective on the French people. They seem to be very passionate about the things that they do, and I really admire that. We got to do all sorts of cool things. We saw Notre Dame, the Palace of Versaille, Sacre Coeur, the arc de triomphe, the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, and Sainte-Chapelle. The one thing I wish we could have seen was the catacombs. I was really looking forward to that, but it just never came into fruition. Nothing particularly exciting or crazy happened in Paris, but crazy stuff happened when Ana and I tried to get to Lisieux. We woke up at around 6:15 to catch a train to Lisieux. We ended up going to the wrong train station and barely missed our train by one minute. We spoke to someone at the ticket desk and they said another two tickets would be 60 euros. Ana started crying when she heard that, but she thought that he said 60 euros for just 1 ticket. We took a moment to recollect ourselves and we then decided to buy the tickets. We figured that we had already seen enough of Paris. It was time to see something new, and I knew that going to Lisieux was really important to Ana. So we went to Lisieux to see Saint Therese. I had a great time. It was very spiritual and very well needed. Despite me not being catholic, I was still able to appreciate St. Therese’s impact on her community and on people’s lives. We left and returned to Paris in the same day, and went to the hostel to pick up our bags. As soon as we tried leaving the hostel a fight broke out and we had to sneak out the back of the hostel in order to escape the fight. We got to our overnight bus and headed back to Bonn. I fell asleep immediately and woke up at the Cologne/Bonn airport. Then I headed to Bonn and then to Bad Godesburg to get some rest. It was an awesome week, and I was really able to enjoy myself in France.
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