Hello everyone! I hope you've all had an amazing Christmas, and Happy New Year! I had an exciting two weeks of winter vacation this year in France, starting a week or so before Christmas and ending just after the New Year. It includes trips to Paris, a ski trip to Western Europe, and relaxing in Etampes with my host family. Since I've got a decent amount of things to share, I'll make two posts, one for each week of break.
Starting with week one! Just before the actual day when class ended and break began, I had one day where my classes ended early and another American friend (named Lauren) told me she was in Paris. We put together a quick meeting and met at a cafe nearby the National Art Museum, "Le Centre Pompidou." After a little hot chocolate, we went inside to see an expo on Edvard Munch (painter of "The Scream" - Click here to read more about Edvard Munch). The wait at this museum is long: it starts with one line to go through security and enter, one line to get your tickets (free for us international students at almost all museums!), one line to check jackets and umbrellas, and finally the line for the expo. A good hour and a half later, we finally got in, and it was worth it. The expo was really good.
One thing about the Centre Pompidou is all of the buildings piping is on the outside, going along with the "modern" theme of the building (click here to learn more about the Centre Pompidou). One really cool thing is a giant escalator that scales the whole side to take people up to the exhibits/museum and it gives really amazing views of Paris.
Inside of the escalator
View of a large church but I have no idea what it's name is. In the distance, there are some skyscrapers. This is an area just outside Paris called La Defense, a big business district.
The Eiffel Tower, and I think the large blue roof at right is the Louvre Museum.
Montparnasse Tower, the only skyscraper in Paris' city limits.
Notre Dame!
Another famous Church, the Sacre Coeur
Coming back down the escalator, it was starting to get dark and the eiffel tower was lit up.
Saturday, December 24th (when normally I have school in the morning), we all packed up in the car to head off to the Czech Republic. At 5 in the morning. It was a long car ride - 12 hours.
But we finally arrived in the Czech Republic after driving across eastern France, Germany, and stopped at the border of the Czech Republic, Austria, And Germany (kind of a 3 way intersection). It was a little town called Lipno with hardly anyone in it but it was really pretty, just on the edge of a lake.
Lipno as seem from Google Maps.
Map of all the Czech Republic.
Driving through a little village.
On the very last day of skiing, I decided to wrap my camera up in some socks and bring it up the mountain with me. I really wanted some pictures. Astrid and I sat at the top of the mountain for about an hour, just looking. It was... so stunning.
Pictures in the lift........... so cool
Pierre on the left, me, and Astrid
And that's all I have for pictures since I only took my camera with me one day. I loved it. I actually didn't do too badly at skiing either - it was my first time but after the first day, I did alright. Not good, but alright. I made it from the top of the mountain to the bottom and had fun so I guess I can say I skiied! :) I did fall a lot though. But it was okay, Astrid and Pierre always waited for me or helped me put my skiis back on (plus, they fell a few times too, but it's a secret!)
However, I should add that the first two days of skiing, the trails in Lipno were all closed for some reason. We drove 1 hour to go an open resort in Austria. I didn't take any pictures but it was also extremely beautiful. The rest of the days we spent in Lipno, though, until the end of the little vacation.
The trip home came right after this last day, the day before Christmas Eve. Another really early morning, then another 12 hours of driving. We did stop for lunch at a Burger King in the middle of a giant American Air Force base in Germany - but I didn't find any Americans! We got home tired, late on Christmas Eve.
The finish of my holiday break in Part 2!
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