Paris- Part I

Oh my goodness, where to start? Paris has been on the top of my travel wish list for as long as I can remember. In the sixth grade, I remember planning a trip and researching all of the things I wanted to see during recesses. I started taking French classes in 8^th grade and continued all the way through until I had a bachelor’s degree in French. For the past couple years it’s become a running joke about me as a French major who’d never been to France and that when/if I finally made it, the Eiffel Tower would probably be closed for renovation. Well, I may have had to get here via places like Guatemala and Thailand, but I have FINALLY made it to Paris!

Although I tried not to get my hopes up too much (who would want to have their childhood dreams crushed?), I was really excited about this trip and the City of Lights has lived up to every expectation I had. Paris is beautiful and each street is dripping with charm, sidewalk cafés, and picturesque scenes. 

The first several days that we were here were raining, gray, and chilly. Although seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time in a slight downpour wasn’t optimal, the drizzle gave Paris an extra dose of je ne sais quoi and mystique (as well as keep the crowds slightly at bay).

We are staying in an apartment in the Montmartre neighborhood, which has a beautiful view of the Sacré Coœur church and the top of the Eiffel Tower. Will’s friend was with us for the first half of the trip and now Will’s family is here as well. I have taken so many photos and am going to try to organize everything down into a few posts over the next several days. À plus!

First time seeing the Eiffel Tower

Sacré Cœur Basilica

View of Sacré Cœur from our apartment

View of the Eiffel Tower from our apartment

Belgium

Greetings from Paris! We are currently in the middle of our whirlwind of summer visitors and traveling, so I haven’t been able to write a new post for a few days. We’ve been so busy and I’ve checked off two more countries from my list (three if you count 10 minutes driving through the Netherlands).

One of Will’s friends from Pittsburgh came to visit us on the 4^th of July and we got the chance to show him some of our favorite things about Cologne. We had three days in Germany and then we took a road trip to Brussels, Belgium.

Brussels was a really neat town, with a lot of old European charm. We first visited a museum called “Mini-Europe” which features scaled-down models of the major buildings/monuments in each country of the European Union (Brussels is the capital of the European Union). The day we were there, they happened to be cleaning the mini Eiffel Tower...just my luck.

After Mini-Europe, we rode the metro into town and visited the Grand Place, which is the main city square. There are lots of little shops and cafés lining the cobblestone streets-very quaint! Although we didn’t try any of their famous “frites,” we did try some Belgian beer and waffles, which were fantastic.

We are still in Paris for a few more days and I’ve taken so many photos, I might have 10 posts for France—stay tuned. Bisoux!

P.S. Germany won the World Cup last night!! I bet it was crazy in Cologne!

Mini Europe

Half an Eiffel Tower

Piece of the Berlin Wall

Streets of Belgium

Grand Place

Belgian Waffle

Brussels

World Cup Fever

We are currently in the midst of the World Cup festivities and in technical anthropological terms, it’s a BIG DEAL here. Soccer is extremely popular and Germany has one of the best teams in the competition. About a week before the games started, people started decking out their houses, cars, and businesses in World Cup decor and the flags of their favorite teams. It’s hard to go anywhere and not see dozens of German flags waving. On the days that the German team plays, many people wear jerseys, face paint, necklaces, etc. It’s like living in a tailgating party.

The United States played a few times (once against Germany and lost), but was disqualified last night after losing to Belgium. We stayed up until midnight to see the game go into overtime and Belgium score twice.

The next few weeks will be busy and we’ll be traveling a lot and catching up with some friends and family. Everyone decided to visit at the same time!

4 German flags on the neighboring buildings

Trying to fit in?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This weekend we are visiting on of Will’s coworkers again, the same family from this post: Hiking Trip to Eifel National Park. I wanted to make something to bring and thought chocolate chip cookies would be the perfect “American” dessert to take.

It was a bit difficult to track down some of the ingredients since brown sugar and baking soda are not found in typical German grocery stores. They are, however, carried at The English Shop in downtown Cologne. This is a really neat store that carries all kinds of different products from the UK and United States. I am typically drawn to the baking aisle (more Betty Crocker products than you can imagine!), but they also have snacks, candies, meats, and cheeses to remind expats of home. We also got some Reese’s (eaten before I could get a photo) and some cheddar cheese that I plan to use for mac and cheese this week.

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

“Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut. Sprechen Sie Englisch?”

“My German is not very good. Do you speak English?” This has become my main catchphrase in the last month.

For several years when I was at Pitt, I volunteered with ESL students who came to the USA to study English. We would have a casual conversation group where they could talk about life in America and the challenges of learning and living in a new language. Funny enough, I am now in their shoes.

Moving to Germany without knowing any German has certainly been interesting at times. Many people (even some Germans) have tried to reassure me that “everyone speaks English.” While many people I have come into contact with do know some English, it’s often not enough to communicate the full message of the conversation. My extremely limited German and their limited English, a conversation does not make.

On the bright side, German classes will begin in August at the Volkshochschule (similar to community college) and in the meantime, I will keep plugging away at my Duolingo program. We have also labeled the entire apartment with flashcards and I’m getting really good at the phrases that are repeated ad nauseum on public transportation.

Tschüss!

The apartment has been flashcarded.