Okay, so a little more concrete synopsis of what I did in Paris.... here goes....

Wednesday:
Brittany and I left the school, caught the train to the airport just in perfect time, got to the airport, checked in and left. Got to Paris that evening, around 8 p.m. I think. We then rode the bus into the city of Paris. When we got there after a tiny bit of wandering, following other bus passengers, and asking questions, we found the metro!! We then rode the metro to hostel and got situated there, that situation was a bit interesting, but it was mostly clean, people were friendly and it all worked out. We went to bed exhausted.

Thursday:
We slept in a tiny bit because we were waiting to meet our friend Amanda. We got ready and went to go see the Sacre Coeur, a 5 minute walk from our hostel. It is a huge, white, grand cathedral and really quite beautiful. We then rode the metro to the Tuleries Gardens, huge and would be more impressive in the summer, but all in all still beautiful. We ate some sandwiches in the park, basked in the sunshine (we had PERFECT weather, sunshine EVERYDAY!), we then went to the Orangerie museum and say Monet's nymph collection, and some other famous artists whose names are evading me at this moment. We then walked down the Champs Elysees, took pictures, wandered over the Royal and Petit Palace. I didn't really understand though why it was called the Petit Palace, there is absolutely NOTHING petit about it. haha. We finally made it all the way down the Champs Elysees after some shopping of course and to the Arc de Triomphe. We walked ALL the way around the arc trying to find a way to get to it, because there is a circular very busy road around it, we finally found the signs for the stairs to go under the road and up to the arc and we were successful. The arc is amazing. There is some really cool carving work done underneath it and it is huge. Brittany and I then walked to the Eiffel Tower, seeing the full length of it for the first time, was just absolutely amazing. Took my breath away. We got to the Eiffel Tower right around sunset and we walked the stairs up it, LOTS of stairs to the first level, then more to the second and then finally an elevator (because there were no stairs) to the very TOP. It was amazing, we saw it all at sunset and then spent time in it at night. We ate chocolate waffles in the Eiffel Tower and just had a wonderful time. The Eiffel Tower at night does this thing like for 10 minutes every hour, where it twinkles, big twinkling bright lights running up and down it, it was amazing, I will try to post a video of it. After all that we went back to our hostel finally met up with Amanda and had a wonderful reunion!! We went and got coffee, my first experience with french/european coffee, amazing! It's in this little cup, it's black and you put in lots of sugar and drink it slowly. Ahhh, SO good, I'm addicted, haha. What a wonderful first day in Paris!!

Back from Paris!

Hello everyone, or should I say Bonjour! Unfortunately, that is only 1 of the 3 french words I learned while traveling. My favorite phrase, was "speak english." I usually got a head shake "no" or someone saying "a little." The "little" was VERY encouraging and I would then ask directions, ask a question about a food or how much something cost, what something was, etc... Overall I found that the French are not as snooty as previously though (unless you are referring to airline people, grr). The French will like you if: you are giving them your money, or asking them a question with a smile on your face. Otherwise, mind your own business, don't take TOO many tourist photos, try not to speak english too obnoxiously loud, give them your money and enjoy the things that you are paying for (in other words food). I also tried to enjoy having to pay ridiculously high prices to get into "famous" French places, aka, the Palace of Versailles, the Orangerie Museum and the Eiffel Tower. Yes I know that these are in fact very famous, but having to pay the equivalent of $22 to get into Versailles was a tid bit frustrating especially after riding the wrong train for 45 minutes and having to buy another train ticket. BUT, it was WORTH IT, that's why I say ENJOY IT. Versailles was amazing, the palace is SO BIG and ornate and gaudy and just overall astounding and beautiful. I would not have minded being a princess or queen in France, unless I had to be Marie Antoinette, getting my head chopped off is not so appealing. We got to see the king and queen's crown's and jewlerey, bedroom's and living areas, life couldn't be too hard if all that was included... : ) Overall, Paris was amazing, I want to go back in June because I need to be able to see the gardens in full life and bloom and see all the fountains properly working with water actually inside them. Please go if you have the chance. I have heard that Paris is overrated, but in my opinion, I would say that it is underrated. I only spent 3 full days there, but I wish it could have been longer. There is SO MUCH to do. Paris is made up of a million wonderful things, history, architecture, art, trees, gardens, amazing food, better dessert, shopping, romance and so much more. I would have to say that it was the most romantic place I've ever been in my life. The romance is actually palpable. I don't know how to correctly describe it, but I'll try. The city is filled with the expressions of millions of people's hearts. Architects, artists, fashion designers, chefs, bakers, musicians, and so many others have poured the dreams of their hearts out into reality in Paris. Someone's dream of the eiffel tower, the millions of artists contained in the Louvre, King Louis XIV love of gold and ornate things poured into Versailles, how the Arc de Triomphe honors the soldiers who fought for the love of their country and so much more. The city is exquisite and absolutely amazing. I had an amazing time and I would go back in a heartbeat, I took 350 pictures, but I honestly don't think that was enough... haha. It was one of the most amazing opportunities of a lifetime. It was a great trip!

Planning Paris

planning paris, and am so lost, one because I do not speak French, 2 because map reading has never been my forte (BUT I am getting better, much better actually) and 3 because there are SO many things that I want to do and so little time... It's so hard for my roomate and I to decide what is important and what is not, but then again it's hard to know because we've never been there and we are relying on friends who have been there, travel guides and the internet... I think it's turning out well though, here's a tentative schedule... also, take note that I am planning this at midnight on a saturday night (this is because we got the chance to go into town (sagunto, puerto) for free and eat good food, kebabs -- not yucky caf food, and AMAZING real Italian gelato, the store opened tonite, quite amazing.

tentative itinerary....

thursday: opera, museums, gardens, champs de elysees, arc de triomphe, boat ride excursion getting to see all the highlights of Paris at night...
friday: versailles, eiffel tower and the Louvre (kinda an intense day I know, but we're getting in free to the Louvre, bonus, we can handle the intensity)
saturday: sacré coeur (a church), notre dame, pantheon and Luxembourg palaces and gardens, sorbonne, latin quarter

we then fly out saturday night and leave for Madrid sunday morning, this is an intense power trip and I am SO excited!!

I leave Wednesday February 6, love you all so much, don't know when I can blog again, maybe when I'm back from my Toledo, Segovia and Madrid trip, but you can be sure that my pictures are going to be amazing and news will be exciting. I promise to travel safely but prayers would be appreciated. Love you all, Happy Early Valentines, xoxoxo from Spain!

My Address

Hi everyone, just wanted to give you all my address in case you wanted to drop me a note and say hello. I hope all is well. It's Sabbath here and I just ate a really good meal (for Spain) of haystacks, it was the best Sabbath meal here so far!! It's a little chilly and gray and so I'm staying in my room. Okay, well here is my address. If you want postcards, you need to give me your addresses, I'll leave my 2 e-mail addresses, love and miss you all! I can't believe it's already February, it's going by so fast and I'm going to be back in no time. xoxoxo from Spain!

livluvnlaf22@yahoo.com
sashasuzanne@gmail.com

--write me an e-mail, I'd love to here from you all, I'll write back too I promise

Address in Spain...

Sasha Sloop
c/o Seminario Adventista Español
Sagunto College (ESDES)
Carretera de Petres s/n, Partado 52
46500 Sagunto (Valencia), SPAIN

oh and you have to use international postage, it's 90 cents. Love you all!