2013....An Adventure: April 2013

Well it's hard to believe I'm at this moment....all packed up and passing the hours till we leave for outreach! This lecture phase has flown bye and I have enjoyed every moment. It's a bittersweet moment - I'm sad to leave Wiler (which I now call 'home') and the other half of our team but I am looking forward to this new adventure. I am really excited to see the way God moves and for the miracles He will perform. I'd say one of the biggest things He has taught me so far is to expect everything from Him and be surprised at nothing He does.
We will have very limited internet access so this will be my last post for who knows how long! Thank you so much for your support over lecture phase, it has been so encouraging and sustaining to know I am in your thoughts. Keep me in your prayers as I go on outreach, I will surely need them!

Thank you! Be blessed xx

Yes, yours truly spent the weekend in PARIS!!! I'm quite the cultured one now (cue funny accent) after a weekend in the city of love (yes it's true, everyone in Paris seems blissfully in love - or at least just very open with their affection!) What an adventure-packed weekend it was...the best kind!
We caught the bus from Switzerland at 11pm Thursday night (correction: was meant to leave at 11 but we didn't leave till 1am!) and arrived in Paris 8am Friday morning. Some of the group took our bags to the B&B we were staying in and the rest of us spend time starting to explore. We found this arch which we thought was THE arch so we took photos in front of it...and then walked a bit farther and found the real one! We were accosted by men selling souvenir Eiffel Tower's (even though we were no where near the tower) and wandered through a massive park full of naked statues (I think naked statues was pretty much Paris in a nutshell), played on the kids equipment and jumped on the back of a carousel for photos while the man wasn't looking. After we all joined up again, we made our way to the Palace of Luxembourg. SO beautiful. The day was sunny and moderately warm and just made everything more glorious! Only time for a quick look around then we navigated the bus system to the Eiffel Tower. Note: We were so lucky to Elijah with us! He spoke French and is just generally smart at everything...if not for him, we probably wouldn't even have found the B&B!

In front of the not-really-the-arch arch!

Whitney and I reliving our childhoods!

Of course, I had to be a tourist for the moment :)

Rachel, Elijah, Becca, Joey, Krista and Whitney

Krista and I in front of Luxembourg Palace

So we're driving to the tower, get to our stop and get off and WOW! THERE IT IS!! I had a moment right then and there. I"M IN PARIS!!! It was so close it was unbelievable. It is truly an amazing structure. We joined the long line to enter but eventually...we were going up! You take the elevator to the second floor, then join another line for an elevator to the top. It was soooo cold up there but worth every moment. Unfortunately the day was a bit cloudy and we didn't get a good sunset but the city was so beautiful when it started to light up. We were on the second floor about the join the line to go back down when a light show started! We didn't want to miss it from the ground so we ran down all the stairs from second floor to the bottom! Worst experience, never doing that again (actually, I think that's a given anyway!) but the view from the ground was spectacular! We were lucky - the show finished just after we took our pictures.
After this we made our way to our accomodation, about 45 minutes away. We were staying in a Bed & Breakfast we found on a travellers website. The price was really good and when we got there we discovered why...it was actually just some beds set up in the lounge and spare room of this guy and his wife! They hadn't cleaned anything and their food was still sitting in the pots in the kitchen. It was kinda gross, but then again it was affordable!

Saturday was so exciting....we went to the Palace of Versaille!!! All Christmas's come at once for a history buff! We bought a pass which enabled us to skip the lines...just as well, there was probably 1000 people line up waiting! We toured the gardens first. Honestly, not really worth seeing at the end of winter as everything is brown and bare but I still enjoyed it. Then we started the tour the palace. My goodness, so much richness! Everything was gold-covered and so much thick velvet and satin. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind living in Marie Antoinette's bedroom at all! The palace was just so amazing, I am so glad I got to go there.
After a full day there, we headed to the Eiffel Tower again. Ok, let me back up...on Friday when we all went, Becca got sick in the line and spent the whole time in the bathrooms, poor thing (actually, no one knew what had happened to her for ages and we experienced something of a parent's 'I've-lost-my-child' panic!) So we went back for her but just as she was about to buy her ticket, after an hour of standing in line, the police closed the whole Tower because of a bomb scare! WHAT?!?! How often does that happen? So we headed home with a dejected Becca and ate dinner from the pot cause no one could be bothered to wash the dishes :)

Versaille!!!

Fair ladies in the garden!

The gardens go on forEVER!!

This was my fave room

French fries in France!

Sunday was spent having 'adventures' (read between the lines: things didn't go to plan!) - to start with, we forgot about the start of daylight saving so instead of leaving at 8:15 we left at 10. We went to some cute French markets and bought lunch (only successful thing of the day!). We excitedly made our way to Notre Dame but then discover that, being Easter Sunday, everyone else in the world decided to go then too! So we listened to the bells then went on our way. On a good note, we climbed the Arc de Triumpe today. 200 and something steps!! I just about died but the view was totally worth it! Next we tried to find the famous 'hill that people paint on' (sorry, don't remember the name :/ ). That failed miserably but we were able to help a lady into her house with her shopping :) Then we went to find the Louvre to see the famous Mona Lisa. This also failed...we got there as it was closing and all I got was a photo of a sign with the Mona Lisa :( Considering that we now had a free evening, we headed to the Eiffel Tower for the THIRD TIME!! This time Becca was successful! Krista, Joey and I had a cute roommate (minus Sam) dinner at a French restaurant.
We made our way to the bus to catch the 10:45 out of Paris. This time I got stuck next to some guy who was unimpressed with my lack of languages and took up half my seat. I spent half the night stretched out on the bus aisle..... (haha, Mum and Dad - you know I can sleep anywhere!). Even our trip home was eventful - we got stopped at the border at 6am and everyone had to get off the bus and line up outside with their luggage while a dog checked us for drugs. Very inhumane, making us stand outside for ages in the freezing cold!