Day 12: Europe

 Kasey- So we had until 11am to have our car parked by the hostel which meant we only had a few hours to see Luxembourg City. Ya know, Luxembourg is a hidden gem. The main part of the city is almost on this plateau with steep ridges that are really pretty. We enjoyed walking around the city. We saw the Grand Duchy, Notre Dame of Luxembourg and saw scenic streets.

 
We made it back to the car in time, checked out of the hostel, and started to France. The whole time in Europe we didn't have any maps or GPS--just directions written out. That led us into some problems but for the most part we were able to get around with just a few delays because we would get a little lost. We got a little lost going towards France but we found our way to the main highway. We stopped in Verdun and did a little tour of the city.

 
The thing I love about Europe is how much history there is in each city. We went to the Battle of Verdun sites and man was that overwhelming. The Battle of Verdun in WWI was the largest battle in history--close to a million people died. The landscape is changed from all the fighting and we walked around a town that had been completely wiped out. It was interesting to walk the former streets of the town so you could see where the buildings were. We went to a fort and walked around there and then drove by a cemetery. You can spend a lot of time there, there's so much to see. It's tough to be there, though, and constantly be reminded about the worst parts of humanity.

 
We drove through the country side to Reims. I really enjoyed that drive. It was beautiful weather in the late afternoon and we just drove through small town after small town. This was my second time in France and like the first time we just kept singing the Beauty and the Beast song- "Bonjour, Bonjour!" In Reims we walked to the cathedral and saw a little bit around there.

So I was Dad's navigator when we were in Rome last time and I gotta say that it was one of my worst experiences in the car because we were constantly lost and just going around in circles. I did not want to have that same experience in Paris so I wanted to make sure we caught the ring around Paris and then park close to the ring for a few days. I missed it somewhere and when we came out of a tunnel we were right in the middle of things. I knew it could be really bad but it ended up only taking us about 20 minutes to get to our hotel. One thing nice about driving in Paris is that if you know where your hotel is in relation to the Eiffel Tower and Seine then you can figure it out. So we found the Eiffel Tower and then the Seine River- followed it to Notre Dame and then found the Luxembourg Gardens and there was our hotel. We seriously lucked out--it could have been bad. So we got to our hotel and we ended up being on the top floor and even though it didn't feel the cleanest it was fun to have 2 huge rooms and to be on our own. We got some baguettes and skyped with the family. It was really, really good to see Jimmer again. We were really happy to hear that he had been doing great with my parents. We went back to the hotel, watched most of I Robot completely in French. It was so nice to just sit there and relax, and then we crashed.