Strasbourg, France

Kylie and I took a day trip with Jeff and Renee to Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is just over the border and is a cute little canal town that was long fought over between the French and the Germans. The area went back and forth between being a part of France and a part of Germany before France won it for good. I can definitely see why both countries would want it because it was just an awesome little place! We took a boat tour of the city, went to the giant cathedral that's called Notre Dame of Strasbourg, and had dinner at a wonderful Indian food restaurant. The boat tour takes you all around the city in the canals and gives you a history of the area. It was fun and definitely informative! After the boat ride we walked back to the cathedral and went inside. It's a gorgeous Cathedral, and after seeing Notre Dame I can see why this one is Called the Notre Dame of Strasbourg. We also walked to this area called La Petite that was just cute little houses along the canal and was just the most perfect little French village you have ever seen! After our self-guided tour of that area we stopped to get drinks before dinner and just ordered sort of randomly off the menu. The beer I ordered ended up being a cherry beer and it was super delicious! It was very very red, and pretty sweet, but I enjoyed it! We then found our way over to an Indian food restaurant and had some awesome food! So far I have had Indian food in England and France and it is definitely something I would go to back in the States.Overall it was a gorgeous day and it's always a fun time with the amazing Jeff and Renee!

Paris, France

Our Parisian adventure was, once again, with the fabulous USO. We took a bus into the city, got a free tour, and then were set loose to explore the city on our own for the day. We started off right by the Eiffel Tower, so we took pictures and marveled over it but we didn't climb it or take the lift because the lines were outrageous! We then walked to the Arc du Triomphe where my camera promptly died. Sad day. :[ It was really cool to stand under the arch though and watch the traffic whiz around the giant roundabout! We then trekked down the Champs Elysee and popped into Laduree for fantastic macarons! I got three morsels of pure delicious delight. I got raspberry, black currant violet, and carmel. They were all wonderful, but the black currant violet was my favorite. After our snack we proceeded to the Louvre. I went in with Kylie and Ashley, and that was where we said goodbye to Paul and Katie. We did a sort of whirlwind tour through the Louvre where we somehow missed the Venus de Milo, but made certain to see the Mona Lisa. The crowd around the Mona Lisa was gigantic, but I just sort of wiggled my way up to the front to see her. I was afraid that I wouldn't find her impressive because she's so hyped up, but standing there taking it all in I just felt so awe-struck to be in the presence of daVinci's most famous work. After the Louvre we worked our way over to Notre Dame. On the way we ended up on the lock bridge where we found a lock that said "Allison, will you marry me? Colin" which was just SO perfect! So I got a lock for Colin and I and wrote our names on it, locked it on to the bridge and tossed the key into the Seine. It was so very romantic! Then we headed over to Notre Dame and walked around the outside of that as well. Again, the line to get inside was insanely long and we didn't have too much time left before we had to make it all the way back to the Eiffel Tower to board the bus. So we grabbed some crepes for the road and made our way back. It was a wonderful day, but it was a little disappointing that we didn't get to see the city, and especially the Eiffel Tower, all lit up at night. I would definitely go back to Paris to be able to spend more time and to be able to give the Louvre the proper amount of time. I'm definitely grateful for the time we got to spend there, though, despite the fact that my camera died right away! Here are some of the picture I DID manage to take.

Switzerland

Switzerland - The land of cheese and chocolate! The interns headed off the Switzerland to the small Alpine town of Gruyeres to take a tour of a cheese factory and also to take a tour of the Nestle chocolate factory. On this trip we had all of the interns except our two newest, Jocque and Heather from Marymount in Virginia. We started with a tour of the Nestle factory that gave a brief history of chocolate as well as how Nestle got its start. We got to then sample a ton of chocolate for free! It was deliciously sickening. We all got back on the bus after that and headed to Gruyeres and to the cheese factory. This tour was a self-guided audio tour that we breezed through so we could go ahead and get on with seeing Switzerland! We spent the day hiking around the town and in the foothills of the Alps. It was breathtakingly gorgeous and our first sunshine-y and warm trip! I would gladly go back to Switzerland again and again just to see those incredible mountains known as the Alps!

Germany Interlude

Here are some photos of what was going on in Germany between all of these fabulous trips!

Fasching!

The lucky Heidelberg monkey!

Interns

Tie statue in Frankfurt

Pretty cathedral in Frankfurt

Schwetzingen Palace

St. Patty's Day!

Our first of many picnics by the Neckar River

Pablo and Frieda

Spring has sprung in Heidelberg with the blossoming of the cherry trees!

Another one of our picnics

Feeding Pablo!